"No… that's not it. That's definitely not it. It's not good enough if we're trying to snare and trap a trickster."
Kai snapped the chalk in his fingers, the line of light on the stone flickering as if offended by the action itself. Julia winced and Alicia leaned forward, squinting at the glowing geometric runes running across the wall.
Kai rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand.
"Well, this would go smoothly if we had a stable skirt of magic but nooo. Someone decided to gobble that up, didn't they?"
They all looked involuntarily at Martin.
Martin Chatwin, the Beast himself, was still petrified from the neck down, frozen in a column of stone, only his head free. His expression was a mix of boredom and disdain. If he could've crossed his arms, he would've just to spite them.
The identical throne room around them. Kai's pocket realm was a staggering sight for Julia and Alicia. A perfect replica of Fillory's great hall, except every inch of floor, wall, and ceiling was flooded with diagrams, formulas, dimensional glyphs, looping runic wheels, and fragmented spell-sequences rotating in the air like orreries of light.
Kai sat on the throne, one leg crossed over the other, looking very much like a king who also moonlit as an arcane engineer.
Martin sniffed.
"Yes, well," he said in a tone of casual superiority, "it would be better if we had a more stable conversation juncture, instead of…"
He gestured with his eyes the only part of him that could move toward the insanity of symbols coating the entire room.
The pocket realm hummed faintly under the pressure of their work.
Kai didn't even glance at him.
"Thank you, Martin. Your feedback is noted, categorized as trash, and immediately discarded."
Julia stifled a laugh.
Alicia moved slowly in a circle, eyes wide. "It's… the exact replica. Like, exact. Down to the cracks in the columns."
Julia was still staring as if the walls might tell her the truth if she blinked enough times.
It wasn't pocket worlds that shocked her they'd seen plenty of those.
No.
It was the fact that Kai had his own.
And it wasn't just a space, it was a perfect Fillory, suspended and under his control.
And the even more disturbing part?
He was just… casually chatting with Martin. The Martin.
The Beast.
The monster who terrorized Jane's loops and nearly destroyed them.
And here they were, the two of them discussing the mechanics of recreating god-magic.
Not using god-magic.
Recreating its effects.
Mathematically. Arcanely and Surgically.
A method to be used on a god.
Julia shivered.
The problem, as Martin had explained, was simple and horrifying:
To affect something divine, even indirectly, you needed something divine as a foundational ingredient.
Alicia finally worked up the courage to turn to Kai.
"Why do you still keep him alive?" she whispered, looking at Martin with blatant distrust. "I mean… him? After everything?"
Kai sighed like someone tired of explaining the obvious.
Without even turning, he answered:
"Well, Alicia… when you have an engine…"
He raised his hand, rolling his wrist in a lazy circle.
"…and it still has its uses, you don't throw it out."
Alicia blinked. "An… engine."
Martin blinked back at her with a dry, irritated expression.
He didn't like being called an engine.
Kai finally turned his head to her, face calm.
"I have my reasons," he said, more seriously. "That's why he's still breathing."
Then the seriousness vanished as fast as it came.
Kai tilted his head, studying Martin the way someone might examine a zoo exhibit.
"And besides…"
His grin grew sharp.
"He's company. And I get to torment him whenever I want."
Martin's eyes burned with pure murderous rage.
Kai raised both eyebrows in amusement.
"Aww, what's that look? What exactly do you plan to do about it, hmm?"
Martin said nothing.
He couldn't.
And Kai's smirk widened because of it.
Julia swallowed, whispering under her breath:
"This… is so unbelievably messed up."
——————————-
The tension in the pocket-dimension courtyard hung so thick it almost hummed. Nobody wanted to be the first to break it until Julia finally exhaled sharply and spoke.
"Alright, enough of this staring contest. Kai… why didn't you bring Marina? You just finished warding them with your personal spell, didn't you?"
Kai lifted his eyes lazily, as if he was being asked why the sky was blue.
"Hmmm… well, I'm making preparations for the catch. And the only way to get a good catch…" His lips curled into a sly smile. "…is to entice it with a hunt."
Julia blinked. "I'm sorry what?"
Kai tilted his head toward her. "Raynard loves the hunt, apparently. He's more interested in prey that thinks it's safe from him. That's what excites him the most, the look on their face the moment they realize their protection means nothing. When they finally understand nothing can stop him from claiming them."
Martin burst out laughing. "Cold! Spirits, I would have done the same."
Alicia stared at Kai like he'd grown horns. "You're using her as bait."
Kai blinked twice, exaggerated and slow.
"Uhh, duhh. Yes. We've established she will be the bait for the mad fox-god."
Julia pinched the bridge of her nose. "If that's true, then wouldn't the warding make it harder for Raynard to get to her? And even if he does, wouldn't she be vulnerable? You're literally a pocket dimension away from her!"
Kai looked at Martin.
Martin looked at Kai.
Then the two of them broke into laughter.
Alicia and Julia exchanged a look, the kind that silently asked: Are we missing something, or are these two actually insane?
Kai rolled his wrist dismissively. "Relax. That's already taken care of."
Alicia opened her mouth. "Taken care of how—?"
"The benefits of having minions and soldiers," Kai said, cutting her off with a flick of the hand. "It makes things convenient. The more soldiers you have to throw at a problem, the easier that problem becomes to solve."
He spoke with an unnerving calm but his eyes…
His eyes were deadlier than his tone, carrying a glint that made even Martin frown a little. The sort of smile he wore wasn't human. Even a villain would reconsider approaching him.
Martin chuckled again. "The irony. A fox-god being hunted by someone who actually has tricks."
Julia crossed her arms. "Then why are you here? What are you developing? Some… new spell?"
Kai grinned as if she had asked the right question for the first time today.
"Yes. And it has a name."
Alicia froze mid-breath. "Wait… isn't that the spell that converts energy from one form to another?"
"Yes," Kai replied smoothly.
Julia whispered, "What kind of energy are you trying to convert?"
Kai didn't answer. He simply turned his head toward Martin.
Martin frowned, his eyes narrowing in warning.
"Don't you drag me into this."
Kai only smiled. "Unimportant for now."
Then he reached into his coat and pulled something out.
A soft, golden hum filled the room.
Julia's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
Magnus Mutatio Vis
"Is that—"
"Yes," Kai said with a grin that bordered on wickedness. "The Leo Blade."
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