***
Later, I sat across from Zoey, the firelight casting shadows on her face. I needed answers. I asked her about her father, who was the general, the iron-fisted leader of the very country I had fallen into by chance in the other world.
Her eyes darkened at the ntion of him. "My father is ruthless," she muttered, bitterness laced in her tone. "I've never seen him act sweet toward anyone. Not once. His gaze is always distant and focused on one thing only. And that is power. He's obsessed with it. Every breath he takes is for the sake of climbing higher, tightening his grip over others."
She paused, her fingers curling into fists on her lap. "That's why he developed a specialized team… people tasked with uncovering everything they could about portals how they worked, how many other worlds existed, and how to reach them. All so he could learn to dominate even more."
It was clear from the way she spoke—like her throat burned with every word—that this wasn't easy for her to say. But with war knocking at the door, she no longer had the luxury of silence.
"I never imagined… he'd go so far as to invade other worlds just to amplify his might," she said, her voice nearly breaking. "But I guess… he's finally lost it. Years of chasing power twisted his thoughts until nothing else mattered."
I looked over at Chloe, who was hunched over her keyboard, tapping away with focused urgency. "What about you, Chloe? Do you have any idea about him?"
"I've never actually t the general," she replied, not turning away from her screen. Her fingers didn't pause. "But the rumors I've heard... they're enough to make your skin crawl. People say he's terrifying. He's cold, commanding, and relentless."
She clicked her mouse, the glow of data reflecting off her glasses. "Oh—and back when we were conducting portal research, there was a ti our forr team leader t with him. I overheard sothing... not the full conversation, but just fragnts. They were discussing weapons. Weapons that could destroy magic and erase it entirely. The specifics were fuzzy, but it definitely wasn't just theory."
Weapons that destroy magic?
That made pause. Back in their world, when I had fought there, Guardian had failed to activate. It had shattered completely from just a single bullet.
At first, I chalked it up to differences in the world's laws, like rules of magic that didn't apply in their dinsion.
But if what Chloe said was true... if they had really succeeded in building weapons that could nullify or obliterate magic, then maybe it wasn't just different physics. Maybe it was by design.
I turned to Zes next. "What about you?"
She looked up at , her face stoic. "The general is… a mystery," she admitted. "Even to , soone who takes direct orders from him. He doesn't trust anyone. He's blinded by ambition, so desperate for power that he's willing to do anything—anything—to get it. Honestly, I think he's a madman."
She folded her arms, her lips pressing into a tight line. "To be honest, none of this surprises . It was only a matter of ti before he did sothing like this. That man… he wouldn't blink if it ant sacrificing everything—people, lives, even his own soldiers—just to see his vision co true."
I clenched my fists. I knew it already... how far that man would go. Back before I'd returned here, he'd ordered the complete mobilization of his army to have eliminated. Even if it ant killing his own daughter, he didn't care. That alone showed who he really was.
Zoey's voice trembled as she looked at . "Leon… I think my father will use everything he has—every resource and every invention—to conquer this world. And if he succeeds… this place, all of it, will fall under his control."
I t her eyes, my expression hardening.
"Don't worry," I told her. "I'm not going to lose."
Her father might be driven by power, but my drive was sothing even greater. Sothing far deeper than his greed for power and ambition.
If he wanted to dominate this world... then he'd have to go through first.
"Leon!"
The door slamd open with a bang that startled everyone inside.
Rose ca rushing in, her expression tense and urgent.
"Here," she said quickly, holding out her phone to with both hands, her knuckles visibly tight around the device.
I blinked in confusion, already reaching for it. I was about to ask what was going on... when I noticed the screen was active. A call was already connected.
"Hello?" I said cautiously, bringing the phone to my ear.
"Hello." The voice on the other end was rough. I recognized it imdiately. It belonged to soone I had encountered in the Principality of Cohona.
"Eris?" I muttered in surprise. Then I turned my head toward Rose. "Why did you call her?"
But it wasn't Rose who answered.
"It's because I'm currently in the Principality," Eris responded from the line.
My eyes narrowed slightly, and for a second, I didn't see the connection. But then—like a puzzle piece snapping into place—I rembered. The portal I had used to go to another world… it was located within the dungeon in the Principality. If that's where I had entered, then that was most likely the very sa portal the general used.
Shit. No wonder Eris was contacting now.
"What's going on over there?" I asked.
"The prince has been overthrown," she said gravely. "Soone seized power and forcefully. And right after taking the throne, the usurper declared the prince's execution."
My grip on the phone tightened. "Is that happening now?"
"Yes," Eris said, her voice tinged with urgency. "The declaration was imdiate. And now, the entire village is being forced to gather and watch it happen. I'm about to switch to video. I'll try to capture it discreetly."
The screen shifted as the call changed to video mode. I leaned closer.
The cara shook slightly as Eris maneuvered it through what looked like a window. The scene it captured made my blood run cold.
A mass of villagers stood silently, forced into place by ard soldiers. Their faces were etched with dread, powerless to intervene. In front of them knelt the defeated soldiers of the Principality... hands bound and heads bowed. And there… at the very front… was the prince.
His once-proud expression was gone. He was trembling. His sobs were audible even through the shaky audio, his voice cracking as he pleaded, tears streaking down his cheeks. He kept insisting he wouldn't go against them, begging for rcy, his fear naked.
A rifle was already aid at the back of his head.
Then...
The sharp, rciless crack of gunfire exploded through the speaker.
The prince's head jerked forward violently. He collapsed in a heap. Then ca the next shots.
One by one, the soldiers were executed with precision. Each bullet struck their heads like clockwork.
The cara caught it all.
"Right now, the entire nation's fallen into chaos," Eris narrated quietly, her voice heavy. "Martial law has been enforced. The usurper commanded his troops to gather every single citizen within the city."
"Shit! They're headed this way—I have to go!" she exclaid in a whisper, panic now clearly setting in.
Then ca a sudden, loud crash—the unmistakable sound of a door being kicked in. Boots thundered across a floor. Shouting followed.
And then the video feed went black.
I stared at the screen, motionless. My mind reeled with what I had just witnessed. I didn't know what was happening to Eris now—but if her being a good fighter was any indication, she wouldn't fall so easily.
I slowly lowered the phone and stared at it for a mont, then raised my gaze to et the others standing nearby.
Without saying a word, I handed the phone back to Rose.
I grabbed my own phone instead.
My fingers tapped quickly as I brought up my contacts. There was only one person I needed to reach right now.
The ID on the screen as I made the call was... Princess Myrcella.
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