"I don't want you to misunderstand. We did capture Mr. Lucian, but we didn't harm him, nor do we intend to antagonize you," Mara tried to explain, her tone much softer now.
Gone was the attitude she had when speaking with Lucy.
She knew better than to play with fire when it ca to Asher. One misstep, and she'd be the one getting burned.
"You're really easy to read. You were disrespecting my wife before, and now you change your tone?" Asher's voice dropped to a dangerously low register.
"Did the royal families think I was a pushover just because I let those demon kings run for their lives?"
Mara tensed, her breath hitching as a chill ran down her spine.
She had heard the stories—how even demon king Zagan fled from him—but now, standing in his shadow, she finally understood why.
Her fingers twitched at her sides, a subtle, useless urge to defend herself, but she forced them still. When she finally found her voice, it was weaker than she intended.
"T-That's not… I didn't an…" The words faltered, her throat tightening.
"I don't care about what you an. Just take us to the demon world. How I choose to interpret your actions—that's for to decide later."
Her gaze darted toward Lucy, silently pleading for help
But Lucy only rolled her eyes, arms crossed.
Mara's stomach dropped. No help was coming. She was on her own.
"I will accompany you to the demon world," she forced a reply.
The crushing weight pressing down on her lifted, and she sucked in air.
Only now did she realize how tense she'd been, her muscles stiff, her lungs barely working.
She rolled her shoulders, testing her movent—finally, she could breathe again.
"Don't waste my ti. Lead us to the demon world," he commanded, his tone leaving no room for argunt.
The sooner this was dealt with, the sooner he could leave and isolate himself , and increased his mastery over his dragon bloodline.
"Please, take us with you. I need to see my husband,"
Theressa interjected, her voice filled with urgency. She heard that Lucian was okay, but worry still gnawed at her, refusing to let her rest.
However—
She would be a burden—another weight dragging him down when he needed to move freely.
The more people he brought, the more fragile links he'd have to guard.
"It's too dangerous. You should stay here. Don't worry, I'll make sure to bring him back."
Theressa hesitated, her hand clutching at her chest as it trembled.
"Please… I know I'll just be a liability, but I need to see my husband as soon as possible," she pleaded.
"Yes, Brother Asher, please take us with you. I want to see father too," Lariel chid in, running up and grabbing his hand.
But he could tell—her concern wasn't genuine.
She cared more about keeping up the appearance of a dutiful daughter than any real concern for her father.
Then her sisters began stepping forward, their silence speaking louder than words.
"Alright, all of us will go," Asher gave in.
His gaze swept across the courtyard until it landed on his airship. That would solve the issue of travel ti.
At the sa ti, the airship would provide additional protection—far better than having to drag them along, exposed and vulnerable.
"I'll make a few modifications. Wait here," he instructed.
Without waiting for a response, he vanished, teleporting straight to the ship's engine room.
There, at the heart of the engine room, a dragon core hovered in place—suspended within a reinforced glass tube filled with water.
Thin, arcane engravings spiraled along the tube's glass surface, glowing faintly as they regulated the core's imnse energy, and adding extra protection.
After examining the core, his eyes shifted to a thinner tallic tube connected to both the top and bottom of the glass chamber.
This conduit served as the primary channel for transporting the energy generated by the core.
His eyes trailed along the length of the tal tubing, following its path until it led him to a large compartnt—roughly the size of a small car.
The reinforced tal casing humd with contained power, faint traces of heat radiating from its surface.
'So this is the Arcane Engine,'
Inside the cylindrical housing, enchanted turbines spun at impossible speeds, guided by floating runes that adjusted airflow with near-sentient precision.
The result? A near-limitless power source, capable of propelling the airship at breakneck speeds while maintaining efficiency.
However, even with all these enhancents, there were still limits.
Push the system too hard, and the magical stabilizers would struggle to keep up—risking a catastrophic energy overload.
'The issue isn't the power source ... Rather, the engine can only handle so much output before it starts overheating.'
The sorcerers of Eryx were undoubtedly geniuses in their craft, but their work still had plenty of room for improvent.
He turned his attention to the blueprint conveniently posted on one of the tal walls.
Its placent was intentional—a failsafe in case of a malfunction, ensuring that anyone with so knowledge could make the necessary repair.
But for Asher, this was more than enough to grasp the secrets behind its engineering.
'Let see ...'
The intricate schematics detailed every component, from the compression chambers to the turbine stabilizers.
Lines of magic symbol ran alongside technical annotations, blending arcane theory with chanical precision.
His eyes traced the pathways of energy flow, noting areas where the enchantnts reinforced the structure—and where they fell short.
Whoever designed this engine had skill, but it was clear they had prioritized stability over speed.
Asher cracked his knuckles and got to work. The stabilizers were the first priority.
He traced his fingers over the runes lining the conduits, muttering a low incantation.
The symbols flickered weakly—barely enough to keep up with high-speed output.
'Yeah, this won't do,' he muttered.
With so minor adjustnt, he carved additional stabilizing runes along the lines, enhancing their ability to regulate energy flow.
The vibration steadied, pulsing with a stronger, more controlled rhythm.
Next, the cooling system. He pried open a panel near the compression chambers, heat washing over him like an open furnace.
This was the real problem—without proper cooling, the whole thing would overheat and shut down, or worse, explode.
He etched a set of magic circles with ice related effect into the surrounding fra, infusing them with additional frost-elental magic.
The air shimred as the runes activated, pulling excess heat away from the core and dispersing it harmlessly.
'Better… but let's make it count,' he mused, redirecting a portion of the heat to a secondary propulsion booster.
If he tid it right, this excess energy could give the ship a permanent speed boost rather than going to waste.
Moving on, he examined the compression chambers. The energy intake was inefficient, wasting raw energy instead of refining it.
So, he swapped out the old filters for high-density crystal regulators, ensuring a more controlled and sustained energy release.
Finally, the arcane turbines. He didn't have ti for a full overhaul, but a bit of enchantnt should do the trick.
He placed his palm against the tal casing and whispered the spell.
A faint gust of air spiraled around the turbines as his modifications took effect, reducing friction and boosting efficiency.
He reinforced the structure, making it more durable to withstand higher rotations per second, and simultaneously lightened the material to minimize energy consumption.
Each adjustnt worked in tandem, fine-tuning the ship into sothing faster, stronger, and far more efficient than before.
Stepping back, he watched the engine hum to life.
'That should do it,' he muttered, wiping his hands on his robe.
Now that the modifications were complete, he teleported back to Lucy and the others.
His gaze swept over the group before he spoke.
"Everyone who's coming, get aboard the airship now. We don't have ti to waste."
No one spoke—they simply followed his command.
In the end, Theresa and all her daughters boarded, along with Mara, who wandered the deck, eyes scanning every detail of the ship.
It was massive, far larger than she had expected for sothing that was supposed to move at high speeds.
She couldn't help but wonder—how could sothing this big possibly be fast?
Asher stood on the upper deck.
Below him, the ship responded to his presence—a section of the deck shifting as a tallic steering wheel slowly erged from the floor.
This was the manual mode.
He wrapped his fingers around the wheel, the cool tal steady beneath his grip.
Turning slightly, he cast a glance at Mara, who was still observing the ship with barely concealed curiosity.
"Which direction are we heading?" he asked, his voice cutting through the ambient hum of the engines warming up.
Mara blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. She stepped forward, hesitant at first, then pointed toward the horizon. "Southwest. "
Asher nodded, adjusting his grip. With a turn of his wrist, the ship rumbled to life, the engines surging as the airship lifted higher into the sky.
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