Kortopi endured the agony screaming through every nerve in his body and looked around.
Still night. Still the beach. Couldn't have been unconscious long.
The kid was gone. The Meteor City girl with the glasses, also gone.
Were they exiled too?
But I'm still here.
Razor manifested a hovering sphere of aura in his hand and pressed it against Kortopi's skull, smiling in a way that promised nothing good. "I want to kill that lying kid. But first, I need to know how he controlled you."
Kortopi's mouth worked. Finally, words came out, weak and hoarse. "I want to kill him too... but..."
Pathetic. Used like livestock by some twelve-year-old brat. Zero dignity. And after all that, Kortopi still had no idea how the kid's ability worked.
"Seems like this Liam kid hides his abilities well."
Razor nodded to himself, then turned and started walking toward the island town, calling back to the two enforcers. "Bring him."
Kortopi exhaled quietly. Relief.
The two muscle-bound men sighed internally for entirely different reasons.
Razor was a demon. He didn't show mercy. He didn't bend rules on a whim. If he said they were following game regulations, they followed game regulations. The kid who'd been chatting and eating with them earlier got teleported away without hesitation, no invitation to stay in town extended. So why would Razor suddenly make an exception for a Phantom Troupe Spider?
This Spider numbered 12 probably doesn't realize it yet, they thought. But tomorrow morning, around seven or eight a.m., he's dead.
"Razor! Just wait for me! I'll be back!"
Liam's vision drowned in white light. The world spun for half a second. When the light faded, everything had changed.
Still night. Still dim moonlight. But no island. No ocean breeze. No wave sounds.
Instead, city lights glowed in the distance. Neon signs flickering. Street noise humming. Car horns bleating.
He was standing on the balcony of a dilapidated building's stairwell, and his expression probably looked ridiculous.
Liam rubbed his face and scanned the area. No Shizuku. Obviously. No Kortopi either.
Hopefully Razor kept Kortopi, Liam thought. Be a shame if that Spider escaped after all that.
I remembered right. In the manga, when Phantom Troupe members invaded Greed Island by yacht, Razor had used the administrator Exile card to scatter them to different corners of the Azian Continent. Which means Exile disperses targets.
That's why Liam had removed Kortopi's Star Mark the instant Razor revealed the card.
If Kortopi had been exiled while still marked, they'd have been separated immediately, control severed by physical distance.
Unless Kortopi got injured and triggered the mark's healing function, giving Liam a chance to "reconnect." But even ignoring the risk of having a Star Mark wandering around unsupervised, the idea of a Phantom Troupe member benefiting from his healing passive felt like a massive waste. Better to cancel it entirely.
"Wonder where Shizuku got teleported to?"
Liam patted the rusty stairwell railing and stared at the unfamiliar neon glow. "Razor switched spell cards at the end, so the first thing to confirm is that we're not on the Azian Continent."
Anywhere but there.
Liam had zero interest in running into the Kakin royalty "Succession War" situation right now.
"Determine location first."
He turned and headed down the stairs, taking three steps at a time, boots clanging on metal. "Then contact Shizuku."
His thumb brushed the Ring A on his index finger. Just as he was about to activate the Moon Mark, he felt a faint pulse.
Incoming call.
Shizuku was contacting him first.
Liam grinned and looked up at the dim crescent moon. No idea how far apart we are, but the Moon Mark's signal range is solid.
He activated the mark inside the ring, where it touched his skin.
[Liam, are you okay?]
Shizuku's mental voice came through immediately.
Liam imagined her appearing in some random location, not finding him, and instantly reaching for the ring to call. The mental image made him smile.
[I'm fine. You okay?]
He started moving toward the city lights as he sent the thought.
[I'm fine too,] Shizuku replied. [But I suddenly changed places. Jaku and two crows got teleported with me. I don't know what city this is.]
[Same situation here. Let's figure out our locations first. Maybe we're in the same city?]
Rewind time. Just a little.
Somewhere on the Azian Continent, on a mountainside observation deck with sparse traffic, white light flashed.
Pariston appeared out of thin air, expression shocked.
For a long moment, he stared at the suddenly changed environment around him, surprise and confusion mixing on his face.
Then he smiled, amused, and turned his hand palm-up.
A sphere of aura emerged and transformed into a silver business card holder.
He opened it, pulled out a card, examined it briefly, and threw it away.
Mountain wind caught the card. It tumbled through the air, swaying in the night breeze as it fell from the observation deck.
"Conjuration-Type: Who Am I?"
Pariston can conjure two types of business card holders: one gold, one silver. Place a written identity card inside for it to take effect.
Only one card active at a time.
Gold business card holder: Whatever you write becomes true.
Silver business card holder: Whatever you write creates a corresponding opportunity, which may manifest as resistance or assistance.
Vow and Limitation: Pariston will never use the gold holder. This restriction dramatically amplifies the silver holder's effect. If broken, both holders are destroyed permanently, and Pariston loses all Conjuration abilities forever.
The business card landed silently on stone. The front displayed a single line:
"Visitor from Greed Island: Pariston Hill."
Spiderweb cracks spread across its surface. The card disintegrated, dissolved, and vanished into the wind without a trace.
"Everika Continent?"
On a night street in this unfamiliar city, Liam checked his phone and quickly confirmed where he'd landed.
Originally, he and Shizuku had planned to take the airship to Sahams Continent, where the Kukan'yu Kingdom was located, then transfer to Everika Continent, where the Heavens Arena waited.
Instead, they'd accidentally detoured through Greed Island, and Razor's spell card had delivered them directly to their final destination.
Razor's basically a saint, Liam thought. Good deeds with no credit taken. Living Bodhisattva right there.
[Liam, I'm also on Everika Continent,] Shizuku's mental voice cut in.
[Good. Confirm your specific location...]
In front of a newsstand, Liam unfolded a map he'd just purchased. He quickly located the city he was currently in.
And couldn't help grinning.
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