Jasmine's head tilted to the left, seemingly listening to something, then he took a deep breath, focusing beneath them.

The scratch won't last. But he couldn't be too early, otherwise, the conditions of the ritual would have been missed.

He looked at the audience that he'd needed for the ritual.

The witch lys stood among them, but notably, the rank two space path mage, Haldon, was missing.

Since he would need to teleport with all of them, he'd only ordered the rank one mages up here and Haldon the only rank two to and the witch to "oversee" things.

"Hold hands," he said, and this time, they all heard him clearly, complying.

In the next moment, they all flickered and vanished, appearing on the ground right at the edge of the rift.

The static down here was louder and a tremendous force pulled them forward.

Luckily, they were further behind than Jasmine, about another twenty metres.

Even for jasmine, a rank five of the space path, his perception was being distorted. One miscalculation and he might step into it.

He smiled, tapping his finger on the dark metal of Thena's cage.

"A- A…. Any …. " Seeing his words being distorted, he gave up, looking at Thena's face, acceptant of her fate.

He snapped his fingers, the cage and Thena vanishing, appearing twelve metres in front from him.

To him, Thena's mouth parted to a frozen scream.

Veins bulged in his temples, gritting his teeth as he resisted the pull.

After a few minutes of this, he stretched out his hand, such that Thena and the cage were in between two fingers, and he attempted a carry.

He failed.

It's still too strong.

Behind him, the other mages struggled to hold on, the wind howling in their ears, strong heat on their faces and skin.

…

Giving the grey ash remains of the witch one last look, The rodent bolted out of the room, on its path to reunite with his other vessels.

Through Baruch, Hadrian saw Jasmine blink on to the platform and teleport down with the other mages.

After sensing the disturbance, he'd sent Baruch back up.

Channeling force path essence, Baruch's eyes narrowed forward, an ache behind them, as he tried to focus on the spot Jasmine stood twenty metres closer than them to the rift.

The distortion was making it hard.

He suspected he'd been sensed in the wall's hallway, but with the ritual, jasmine didn't come for him.

Subtly, Baruch felt that presence withdraw from him as he regained control of his body.

In one of the narrow hallways, Hadrian, with the rock bracelet around his wrist, tugged at his centre, entering that space.

He did not wish to trust the witch and her rock bracelet, but Jasmine's ritual wouldn't last forever.

And his fog shroud was about to disappear, meaning he would become detectable. And perhaps, once jasmine rose to rank six, it wouldn't matter if he were to summon another.

In the second layer, the box flew up to him.

After a moment of hesitation, he flicked his wrist above the box, making it vanish.

Instantly, he felt his essence being depleted at a ridiculous rate.

Hastily, he sunk out of the space, summoning the box in the real world.

The rock bracelet tied around his wrist vibrated in reaction.

Swallowing, Hadrian eyed the box in his hand, waiting to see what it'll do. It remained still.

Am I that valuable?

He thought back to the witch saying she would rather he escapes than Jasmine have him.

Though he'd relinquished control over Baruch, he kept his perception through him.

Partially convinced Jasmine would not be suspicious, he'd decided to not bring Baruch with them.

After all, he needed eyes back here.

He felt the vibrations through his bones and teeth of that rift beneath on the frozen battlefield.

The rodent vessel approached the three human vessels, and its paw held on to Haldon's robes.

With his last remaining essence, Hadrian subtly sent his intent to the box, all his vessels in contact with each other.

This time, however, it wasn't as instantaneous as last time.

The rift!

He realized as his heart sunk.

It was obviously connected to the space path, but seeing Jasmine blink and vanish without any worry, he'd not registered the risk.

He cursed, not having any way to stop it.

…

Jasmine wiped the blood coming out his eyes and nose, gritted his teeth, and once more stretched out his hand.

With Thena and the cage in the distance between his index and thumb finger, he pinched the air, Thena and the cage vanishing.

He'd felt the vibrations of the rift subside, even if by a little, and had made multiple attempts after the first.

Completing this task, he immediately blinked from the spot, materializing in one of his "marks" that he'd left behind.

In a well lit underground location, his body altered between incorporeal and corporeal, seemingly within an invisible barrier that didn't let him involuntary teleport elsewhere.

With Jasmine vanishing, the mages realized he'd been using an ability of his on them that had reduced the effects of the rift.

With him gone, the effects tripled, but that far, they had a chance to save themselves.

The witch tapped Emil's shoulder, pointing back to the wall.

Understanding, Emil nodded, and in the next moment watched as the witch turned to grey ash.

…

Hadrian saw everything stretch in front of him, different locations seemingly merging into long illusory ribbons.

His mind and bodies were strained to their limits.

When he felt he was about to shatter like a mirror into hundreds of pieces, reality set back into normal.

He wasn't in the narrow interior hallway of the wall anymore, but neither was he in Krager's wild like he'd expected.

After all, The box had a limit.

The sun was hot above him, the waves slapping the reef in chaotic rhythm as birds called out from the distance.

Without much of an expression, Hadrian's gaze was fixed on the vast stretch of water before him.

Feeling essence backlash, his eyes grew heavy, and reality spun in his vision as he fell, all his vessels hitting the ground.

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