~Absolutely not.

Apophis hissed from his cage.

I blinked, caught off guard.

Just moments ago, I had Leona swallow Micah, Fleur, and the stack of incriminating documents. Everything was going smoothly. We were so close to wrapping up the rescue and making a clean escape.

However, Apophis blankly rejected being swallowed whole himself.

[[ What do you mean, 'no'? Why?" ]]

I inquired, using Illusion Magic.

Still, I signaled Leona to hold off.

Of course, I could have had Leona swallow Apophis, despite his refusal, but that would have needlessly sown distrust. Besides, knowing him, there was probably a good reason for his refusal.

Apophis' purple eyes stared at the spot on my right shoulder, where Leona just landed, her warmth evident.

~Her mind is too fragile. There's no telling what might happen if I let her swallow me.

I exhaled sharply.

Deep down, I knew that a few days with the monks wouldn't be enough to completely mend Leona's mind. But her bright demeanor and precision during this Round had given me hope. And more than that—

[[ She already swallowed the rest of us and brought us here just fine. Nothing happened. ]]

I pressed, still hoping to salvage our original exit strategy.

If we couldn't get out the same way we came in, we would have to utilize a less elegant method. And I hoped to avoid the alternate plan if possible, as it increased our risk of detection.

~Sure. That time worked out. But relying on one lucky outcome in a gamble where the odds are stacked against you? That's foolish.

I bit my lip.

Damn it.

[[ Should I have her spit everyone else out? I don't have any other way to get the children out. ]]

~Hahhh. No. Have her keep them in storage. There's still risk, but with you out here instead of inside her, it might help keep her grounded.

[[ Are you saying that purely because there's no other way to get the children out? ]]

Apophis gazed at me for a moment with his purple eyes, silence filling the air.

~Yes. I'm afraid so. It's a risk, but it's better than leaving them here.

I nodded grimly, suspecting as much.

"Leona, slight change of plans," I said aloud. "Can you bring Fleur and my brother back out?"

If we were going with the alternative plan, I'd need their help, especially Fleur's.

"What happened?" Fleur asked the moment she reappeared. "Why are we back here?"

"The artifact hit its maximum capacity limit," I lied without missing a beat. "We'll need to exit through the front door instead. Fleur, can you disable the traps on the way to the first floor?"

"Ah, I figured your teleportation method had some limitations," she said with a nod, already moving toward the staircase. "Give me a few minutes to take care of them."

[[ Leona, can you fly out and be a lookout for us? There are two guards. Let me know when the coast is clear so we can exit. ]]

Unfortunately for us, unlike in the previous Round, Ridley was currently occupied with saving the children. Thus, he couldn't be our lookout again. However, given that Leona was invisible, she could.

[[ Once we're out of the courtyard, meet me back around the bend. ]]

Got it.

I felt her warmth leave my shoulder.

"Micah," I said, turning to my older brother, "you might want to put that invisibility cap on when we exit. Just in case."

Even though Leona would act as a lookout, there was no telling what could happen.

"What about you?" he asked, frowning.

I understood his concern. Unlike in the previous Round, I wasn't wearing the Stealthy Pull Tab Necklace to hide my presence. Leona was.

However, I had a different card up my sleeve.

"I'll manage with a bit of magic," I said, pulling out a small mana potion and downing it in one go.

Honestly speaking, I didn't use Illusion Magic that much today, but I did use it. And given my tiny mana core, I felt it prudent to replenish every drop of my mana as a precaution.

Gripping Apophis's small black cage, I walked alongside Micah as we started down the stairs.

A few steps ahead, Fleur was already crouching near the trap mechanism. After a moment of quiet work, a soft click echoed up the stairwell.

"Trap's neutralized," she said, glancing back at us.

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With that, the three of us descended to the first floor, and Fleur pulled out the mana key that she had prepared based on the description I had previously provided her.

"I'll let you know when it's safe to go out," I whispered to the pair.

Outside, the guard's footsteps echoed faintly across the broken stone courtyard, then slowly faded into silence.

It's clear.

Leona's voice sounded in my mind.

"Now," I whispered to Fleur.

She swiftly unlocked the door, and we slipped into the sunlit courtyard. I cast a quick Illusion cocoon over the two of us, distorting the air around our bodies so we blended into the crumbling scenery. The effect wasn't perfect; the space where we were shimmered like a heat mirage, but it was enough to mislead most observers.

The three of us moved quickly, our footsteps muted against the cracked stones. Once we rounded the ivy-ridden wall and passed through the shadow it cast, I let the illusion dissipate.

"We made it," Micah said, relief evident in his voice as we walked toward the street.

I returned his smile, glad that everything turned out well, despite the last-minute change in plans.

But then his face darkened, mirroring my own.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice low.

"Can you ask Ridley if The Alchemist is nearby?" I said quickly.

By my calculations, using past Rounds as the baseline, there was still about an hour before The Alchemist was supposed to arrive. But Leona's voice in my mind shattered that sense of security.

That evil woman. I see her!

Micah clicked open his looking glass and quietly posed the question to Ridley.

"No, I don't sense her presence," came Ridley's reply.

"Good," Micah said, as he snapped the device shut.

Both he and Fleur appeared relieved that the monstrous mage wasn't close.

However, I didn't share their relief, despite the good news. Because through it all, Leona's voice kept ringing in my mind, hot, wrathful, and unwavering.

I am going to burn her to a crisp.

Either Ridley's senses had failed, or Leona was wrong. And neither possibility sat well with me.

Damn it.

This is what Apophis meant back then…

My mind wandered to a quiet moment in Round 9, when I was meditating amongst the monks in the desert.

"Apophis," I had asked him then regarding my affliction, "what's the benefit of staying sane if the price is my memory? Isn't forgetting vital things just a different kind of madness?"

He hissed a low laugh.

~Hahhh. That is a good question, and ultimately, why you ought to train your mind to prevent further memory loss due to 'Ignorance is Bliss'.

But there is a significant difference. The memories you lose through sanity's shield are often the ones most likely to corrode you from within. Trauma, obsession, grief. Some truths burn too bright to hold without damage.

"But not always," I said quietly. "I forgot my older brother. Completely until I came back on my first loop, only to watch him die in person. I forgot Leona previously. I only remembered her because Henry mentioned her, and the System filled in the blanks."

~Yes, yes. Mistakes happen. No method is perfect. But consider this—

He slithered across the clay floor toward me.

When you are sane, what you do remember stays intact. Undistorted. Anchored in reality. But those who descend into madness? They may retain every detail, but through a warped mirror.

His purple eyes gleamed at me as he continued.

They trust hallucinations. They believe paranoia. They react to shadows as if they were beasts. Their knowledge becomes poison because they've lost the ability to discern truth from delusion. That's the real danger. Not forgetting, but remembering wrong.

A sane mind filters truth gently. It lets go of shards too jagged to grasp. An insane one clutches every blade, and bleeds for it.

Now, with Leona seething in my mind and Ridley insisting The Alchemist was nowhere nearby, I realized the depth of Apophis' warning.

Leona remembered. But what if her perception was skewed?

Was the woman she saw truly The Alchemist… or just some random passerby, whose image had been distorted into the likeness of the evil mage?

I didn't even know where Leona was to send a message back to her with my Illusion Magic, and inform her that The Alchemist was nowhere nearby, as Ridley had stated.

But even if I could, would it matter? Would she believe me over her distorted vision?

Ah, damn it.

I couldn't even say that I shouldn't have brought her along—she was my only method of getting the caged children out.

In any case, for now, I needed to get Leona to return no matter what.

"Micah, you and Fleur go on ahead to the carriage. I need to take care of something," I said. "And please take him with you."

I handed Micah Apophis' cage.

Without waiting for a reply, I closed my eyes and summoned the memory of the palace feast. The one that Leona enjoyed so much.

In my mind's eye, the long banquet table shimmered with golden platters bearing towers of food. There were skewers of herb-crusted lamb, flaky meat-filled pastries with buttery crusts that crumbled at the touch, and crisped tartlets overflowing with spiced squash.

Then came the scent: rich, warm, and utterly irresistible.

I summoned the memory of the slow-roasted meat, its juices caramelizing at the edges; the buttery crust of freshly baked bread; the sharp tang of red wine in silver pitchers. Then, most importantly, were the works of the palace pastry chef. I recalled the scent of honeyed glazed tarts, atop which berries glistening like rubies beneath their amber sugar glaze.

I opened my eyes slowly, still holding the vision and scent of the feast in my mind.

Raising my hands, I gestured toward the top of a nearby broken building. It stood high enough to avoid ground-level attention, but low enough that Leona—if she was circling where I suspected—could catch sight of it.

Channeling the vision, I cast the illusion.

While I couldn't see my own illusion from where I stood, I knew that it appeared vibrant, steaming, and glorious.

Then, expanding my reach, I layered in the true lure: the scent.

Extending the illusion's reach, I spread the aroma outward like an invisible net. It hovered only in the air and concentrated in the upper currents where I believed Leona was flying.

While concentrating on the enormous illusion, I uncorked a new mana potion and downed it.

I sincerely hoped that Leona's love for food was stronger than any misplaced want for vengeance.

While Leona was my target, she wasn't the only one in the air.

The air above filled with the sound of birds and bugs, caught in the net of the irresistible aroma. A large flock of black crows descended, their sharp cries filled with eagerness as they scratched and jabbed at the illusory feast.

Luca!

Leona's voice thundered in my mind.

This is your trickery, isn't it?! How dare you deceive me!

I smiled at her outrage. That meant my trap worked precisely as intended.

Snapping the connection, I released the illusion. The feast vanished, the scent dissipating immediately into nothingness.

"I was giving you a preview, that's all," I said aloud, knowing she must be nearby now. "The real thing's happening tonight. I'll take you."

A sudden warmth brushed my right shoulder, and I felt the familiar weight settle.

You did that on purpose.

Her voice was still smoldering at the edges.

I was going to burn that evil woman from the face of this world. You stopped me. Why?

"Yes," I admitted, reaching up to stroke her feathers, "because if you had, this whole area would've gone up in flames. And the feast would've been canceled. That would've been a disaster, don't you think?"

My explanation was a bit of a fib. Julius had blown up the block before, without affecting the planned feast. However, it was true that Leona's fire could have resulted in something far more catastrophic.

Leona fell still beneath my touch.

…I didn't think about that. That would have been disastrous.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Even if her mind wasn't whole, her priorities were still the same as ever: food above all.

Still, I needed to bring her back to the monks soon. Having a phoenix with an unsteady mind felt like carrying a volatile firebomb on my shoulder, radiant and powerful but one wrong thought away from disaster.

But first… I had to survive taking her to the actual feast, as promised. With any luck, we'd get through it without accidentally setting the capital ablaze.

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