Chapter 138: You Are Coming with Me Now
Lucy opened her eyes slowly, her soft gaze sharpening into a look tinged with a fair share of suspicion and astonishment... In her mind, she recalled Cain’s complete memories of Earth—its geography, the nature of its material life, and its true essence.
This world was distinguished by nothing beyond technology that was only slightly more advanced than their former world... ordinary humans who understood nothing of the concept of magic and possessed not the slightest grasp of mana’s nature or how it was manipulated! How then... how could beings of such material superficiality forge a dimensional tear and imprison "Darren" within an isolated dimensional cavity?!
This concept transcended ordinary mana usage; only mages who had ascended to the "Noble Level" within the magical hierarchy held the ability to penetrate dimensional concepts and manipulate the spatial fabric!
Granted, from the moment she arrived on this planet, she had noticed a few humans possessing minuscule traces of mana—it was not entirely absent from this world as she had initially presumed... It was bizarre and suspicious; she had seen no mana in Cain’s past memories, but she had attributed that at the time to Cain having been a mere ordinary commoner who was wrongfully imprisoned, never part of this world’s elite or secret circles to be privy to such truths.
Yet, even with those few, Lucy could not bring herself to believe that a magically primitive planet like this—where humans possessed energies thousands of times weaker than the absolute minimum required to operate and shape dimensional cavities—could hold a fortified dimensional cell of such precision!
To her, the notion was utterly laughable and absurd to the highest degree!
Lucy began to sink into deep thought, forgetting the nature of their critical mission for several moments... until Cain’s voice snapped her back through the telepathic link:
[Lucy!... It seems things are spinning entirely out of control above... I sense they have brought in heavy, highly lethal weaponry to surround the prison... It appears we have failed in this mission; we must pull back and leave immediately!]
No!... That decision was not what Lucy desired in the slightest!
She had already succeeded in pinpointing the precise location of Old Man Darren... Would leaving now—merely so the military assault wouldn’t shed the blood of guards and prisoners alike—not be a complete and frustrating waste of all their efforts and mission?!
If they surrendered this easily and departed empty-handed, they would be lesser than mere mortal humans carrying painted pieces of iron they called destructive weapons!... Primitive toys that did not even warrant the lifting of her eyelid or the twitch of an eyelash!
It was the most absurd and despicable thing she had heard in her entire life!
Highly lethal weapons?! They were worth nothing and weighed less than a speck of dust on the scale of her power!
Besides, if the lives of these tiny humans—referred to as prisoners and murderers—carried no value to their own kind and fellow citizens, to the point where they were willing to shower them with burning bullets without batting an eye... why should she, a cosmic stranger to this planet, carry the burden of their souls upon her shoulders and care for their lives?!
She had never been a pure hero of justice!... Even when her character was embodied within one of this world’s web novels, she had been accurately depicted as an obsessive, crazed villainess (Yandere)!
If they were prepared to open fire on their own world’s people without the slightest care, why should she bear the burden of protecting them?!
Cain was undoubtedly restricting his movements and suppressing his power because he did not want these humans to die; after all, they were the people of his former planet and old world... It was natural for compassion to claim his heart and for him not to wish to see them crushed, even if they were criminals and ruthless killers.
However, Lucy made her parallel decision... A decisive idea formed in her mind: she would snatch Darren right out of his dimensional cell, even if this direct abduction sparked a far larger crisis and battle! For removing the Godfather would set off a sweeping security alarm surpassing all previous prison alerts, appearing as an urgent national threat touching the entire state!
Because quite simply...
After mobilizing the largest force of military troops to surround the perimeter, and upon Godfather Darren’s sudden disappearance, the military brass would never believe he had been pulled through the dimensions by two entities existing far beyond the limits of their human comprehension! Thus, the army would launch a blind, indiscriminate massacre and sweep to prevent his escape or liquidate the prison entirely!
The original plan had called for transferring the Godfather and revealing him immediately on a live broadcast to the world, forcing the military to halt its assault and freeze liquidation operations inside the facility... But if he were pulled now without a broadcast, a bloodbath would inevitably erupt!
Lucy replied telepathically in a calm, deceptive tone: [Very well, Cain... let us withdraw and leave this prison. You go first and transport the members of the Ian family safely to the palace; you will find me right behind you... There are a few magical traces and links I must erase right before my departure.]
On the other side, within one of the prison corridors... Cain was disguised, maintaining mental contact with Lucy.
Cain breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that stepping back and retreating at this critical moment was the most rational and superior choice. Transporting the innocent members of the Ian family to protect them was paramount; even if this retreat sealed the door on their return to Earth forever, their lives remained the absolute top priority that could not be gambled away.
At that moment, Cain moved at his absolute maximum speed through dimensional portals. He anchored portions of his magical aura as hyper-precise tracking markers to pinpoint the location of every single member of the Ian family, urgently pulling them through one by one... while a heavy sense of guilt and sorrow consumed him for failing to complete the mission.
Yet for Lucy... the mission had not failed at all! On the contrary, for her, the real operation had only just begun!
She stood with absolute composure and majestic stature, having silently stepped through a private dimensional portal of her own into the luxurious suite reserved for Old Man Darren himself!...
Because this bore no resemblance to a prison whatsoever.
The instant she stepped inside, hyper-precise security sensors detected the presence of an intruder within this isolated cell—which resembled a lavish royal suite far more than a holding cell—and sirens blared, piercing the silence with a sharp, deafening scream!
Old Man Darren sat with quiet dignity in his wheelchair, bound on every side by encrypted steel chains restraining his every movement...
Lucy looked down upon him with a cold gaze and declared sternly: "Hey, you... You are coming with me now!"
She knew deep down that if she pulled Darren out now, there would be no time to display him across live broadcast screens; the Godfather would vanish from the prison, the army would believe he had been abducted, and the generals in Washington would not wait to verify the truth... instead, they would storm the facility with every ounce of brute force they possessed!
But... what if they didn’t have to wait in the first place?!
Lucy had already found Darren... And now, nothing remained except to take this old man out of here!