A shadowed chamber, like night pooled in stone.

A slash of white light cut the gloom; five figures, trailing seawater, crashed down in a messy splash.

"Damn, Doc, you good or not?"

Ling Yi propped herself up, worry beating first, then checked Yekase. Yekase lay face-down like a stiff plank, lifted a hand, OK.

"There's an inner volume after all... ancient ruins, for real!" Professor F shed her helmet, eyes gleaming like fireflies sweeping the dark.

"How'd we get in?"

Crimson Field popped up in a carp-like kip, scanned like a hunting hawk, found nothing, exhaled.

"Looked like the outer wall pulled us in automatically?"

But that teleport effect screamed Dragon God Pioneer. The ruin's machines use Omega Ray; same principle, same skin?

The four ringed Yekase, watching her shiver like reeds in wind. After a long breath, she sat up, and they laughed.

"Didn't expect the Doc to be afraid of the dark. Hush, mama's here."

"Guna!"

Yekase cursed, then fear flickered, and she blinked. "Down in the trench... I saw eyes. Met mine for a heartbeat."

"Hallucination, right? We swam outside forever and saw nothing."

"Hopefully a hallucination..."

Her [Arcane Sensitivity] had been on, feeling what eyes miss. But she'd only just learned it; flaky as mist. Professor F said the deep held energy reactions; in pitch black, it's easy to spook at sparks.

Let it be so.

They checked for injuries, then moved deeper into the ruin. Dew's kit had a spotlight, but not enough for five; Yekase lit two [Dancing Light], fireflies rising to brighten the void.

By that pale glow, the scene unfolded.

A vast plaza stretched to the horizon of darkness.

The two lights split and flew outward, pushing the edge of her control, yet found nothing worth noting.

No enemies, no buildings, no machines—only tiles extending like an endless chessboard into a sea of night.

Are we under a spell? An illusion?

She killed the thought the next beat; her [Arcane Sensitivity] still thrummed.

"Which way do we go?" Crimson Field asked.

"No clue. Play it safe—use this as the center, spiral outward."

"No need," Yekase shook her head, calm after the jitters. "I’ll crank [Arcane Sensitivity], feel where the energy ripples from."

"...[Arcane Sensitivity] does that?"

Dragon God Shark, of all people, asked.

So they teach magic in basic schooling now? Some folks won't export Mind Energy west, yet they import magic nonstop—aren’t they afraid kids will toss Mind Energy like old bread?

Yekase drifted through that thought, wearing a thoughtful mask. Then she said, slow and steady, "I work with Infinite Power year-round. Like you feel killing intent after enough fights, I resonate with traces of Infinite Power in me to sense others. [Arcane Sensitivity] adds to it, amplifying and focusing the feel."

"Boss-level!" Crimson Field understood none of it and knew it was cool. Research was too high a sky for him. So he shifted to what he did best:

"With open space on all sides, if we get swarmed, it’s hard to shield Professor and Doc."

Actually, I don’t need shielding—she wanted to say. But after being misread as a mysterious ace by various factions, being treated like staff and protected felt sweet. Yekase let herself enjoy it.

"Don’t be fooled by the Doc’s slim arms. She hits hard. Without armor, I might lose."

—Ling Yi!!!

"That so? Hope we can spar tomorrow, Doc," Dragon God Shark added the coup de grâce.

Yekase shook her head like a rattle drum. "Nope. Can't fight. I'm fragile! Just a tech nerd!"

"Your swimming strokes were smooth."

"You finished five kilometers without fuss."

"Yesterday you went to Chuanshan City and meddled in the C-tier group Queen’s Avenue's infighting, right?"

"Uh?"

"Knew it."

"N-no, I didn't!"

Sharp eyes! …No, Chuanshan’s the nearest city. We went, picked up a hero, next day a blast hit the news. Anyone would connect the dots.

Professor F tapped Yekase’s head. "Yes, justice matters. But let villains fight villains. Do you know what crossing a C-tier organization costs?"

"I do..."

Why am I the one getting lectured!

Zhang Wendao, this is on you!

(A certain Magical Girl: I’m not apologizing.)

"If you can’t stand it, and you ruin a big organization’s play, come hide on our island."

"............"

Yekase knew that promise weighed more than “fight side by side.”

Fight together and lose, you get hauled in for tea, tools confiscated. Hide a hero secretly wanted by a big organization, and you might get disappeared.

Heroes are the weaker side, even relying on laws drafted by the Sinister Organization to protect themselves in daylight. Playing under someone else’s rules—how do you ever win?

She nodded, solemn and hard.

They formed a four-man ring, shielding the utterly non-combatant Professor F, and moved toward the energy Yekase felt.

They held that formation for over ten minutes.

"This place is massive..."

"Doc, you sure the direction’s right?"

"Should be... and it’s empty everywhere. Any direction’s the same."

Yet Yekase felt the wrongness.

She had picked the path off a thread of Omega Ray disturbance. After hundreds of meters, even at a cautious pace, that thread hadn’t faded or sharpened.

It felt like they hadn’t moved at all.

"Something’s off... the space is wrong! [Celestial Speech], [Dancing Light]! Fiftyfold!"

At her call, fifty light-orbs rose like a migrating flock, shooting to all sides. In a blink, they tiled across the ceiling, a perfect grid of lamps.

The mystery snapped into noon. Still barren as a desert, but the brightness eased the heart.

"I didn’t want to waste Sorcery. Now we need a full picture."

"Doc... lowest-tier spells, yet you look like a grand mage."

"That’s a big array."

"Low-tier or not, guiding fifty units at once and lining them up that clean is no joke." Professor F began her customary praise. Second only to Ling Yi and Jiang Bailu, she was a master flatterer.

Yekase floated on the flattery. "Huh? Hm-hm? I just set column and row widths like a program. That impressive?"

Ling Yi chimed in. "Doc’s great at making simple skills hit like big guns. That sky-high [Levitation Spell] against the heavy mecha, too!"

"Mm, mm... I pre-calculated angles and thrust, so even without mid-air steering, I dropped near the cockpit. I’m happy with that—"

If this were an anime, Yekase’s nose would point at the moon.

Since school days, new toys came and she only had herself to praise. Black market trips earned transactional compliments. Being ringed and showered like this was a first.

So this is what recognition feels like. Useful, livable—

...

Click... click.

......

Clickclickclickclickclick...

"What’s that sound?"

Everyone raised weapons, nerves taut as bowstrings.

From the ceiling...

A swarm of robots drilled through.

Spherical bodies caught the light; each camera a single eye; four mechanical arms unfurled like squid tendrils.

Hundreds dropped like iron rain, circling them tight.

"Guess the brightness tripped a defense routine." Yekase regretted, and welcomed it. Robots beat beasts for her odds.

"Prepare to fight. Professor, there are too many—please keep safe."

"For this, I prepared this."

Professor F pulled an arm-shield from her lab coat and snapped it on. Four silver, half-transparent walls sprang up—an Omega Ray barrier, like on the Prismatic War Chariot.

Then she produced a canvas folding chair, sat right down.

"Now I’m at ease. Everyone..."

Crimson Field crouched, muscles coiling.

"Fight to your heart’s content!"

"No, no, are you here to enjoy the brawl?"

Yekase’s quip didn’t reach Crimson Field or Dragon God Shark; they were already charging, blade and staff cutting two paths into the bots.

Ling Yi traded a look with Yekase. They had to join.

Expecting she'd go hands-on, Yekase had pulled [Nayuta] from her jacket. No need to bother with the [Legion] mask now.

She drove the blade into the nearest arm root, twisted half a circle, tore it off, kicked it away. With a limb gone, the bot’s path skewed; she slipped aside; it crashed into a rushing partner.

Yekase grabbed both their arms, shoved each claw into the other’s camera eye. The two bots toppled, clutching each other like lovers.

"The camera’s the weak spot! Get through the shell from there!"

She shouted toward Crimson Field—

Only to see mangled halves piled into little hills on his side.

"Fair. I should’ve known."

She snagged another arm, tucked the bot’s body under her armpit, stabbed backward through its eye, then swung the intact corpse in circles, sighing as it traced bright arcs.