The Extra's Regressor Wives

"Fate."

Aldric said the word lightly, but Lathel did not feel the slightest bit relieved.

He stood in front of the stairs leading down into the basement, while behind him, the red barrier had already sealed the entire chapel. Kiyome remained not far away, her two fox tails almost completely still behind her, while Aldric slowly stepped down from the final stair with a calm expression, as though everything happening right now had already been calculated.

Lathel looked at him for a moment before lowering his gaze to the board in his hand.

[How are you planning to take it?]

Aldric raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You’re not going to ask whether I can actually do it?"

Lathel ignored the question and continued writing.

[You prepared all of this. I don’t think you brought me here just to talk.]

The smile on Aldric’s lips faded slightly.

Kiyome, meanwhile, looked at Lathel for longer than usual.

His reaction was different from what she had expected.

Lathel did not panic and strike at the barrier. Nor did he lose control and demand to know why she had betrayed him.

Instead, he silently observed everything around him, from Aldric’s position to the hidden runes beneath the stone floor.

He was no longer the Lathel Kiyome remembered from the early years of her previous life.

Back then, he had still trusted people too easily. Even when he realized he was in danger, his first thought was often whether the other person had a reason, or whether he himself had misunderstood something.

Now, there was caution in his eyes.

A very small change.

But Kiyome knew that people like her were the ones who had created it.

Aldric did not notice her reaction.

He walked toward the center of the chapel and raised a hand.

The magical lines hidden beneath the stone floor immediately lit up.

One circle of runes after another spread along the walls, then converged toward the spot where Lathel stood.

"It’s not as complicated as you think."

Aldric looked at the glowing lines beneath Lathel’s feet and spoke in a very natural tone.

"You only need to stand there for about ten minutes. After that, everything will be over."

Pandora immediately spoke inside Lathel’s head.

"I don’t like the way he used the word ’over.’"

Neither did Lathel.

He lowered his gaze and studied the Magic Array.

His current knowledge of magic was still extremely limited, but even Lathel could tell that the mana flowing across the floor was not moving toward him.

It was being pulled away from the place where he stood and transferred down into the basement.

’Can we break it?’

Pandora remained silent for several seconds before answering.

"Yes, but don’t get too excited. With the amount of mana you have right now, you can’t destroy the whole array."

Lathel immediately asked:

’Which node?’

"To your left. Three steps away. There’s a black stone between two array lines. That’s a secondary node."

Lathel did not turn his head, but the corner of his eye had already found the stone Pandora mentioned.

"Breaking it won’t be enough to stop the ritual," she continued, "but at least it’ll force them to restart part of it."

Lathel tightened his grip on the board.

Aldric was still speaking in front of him.

"I don’t want this to become too painful either. As long as you cooperate..."

Lathel suddenly stepped to the left.

Aldric immediately paused.

"What are you doing?"

Lathel did not answer.

The small amount of mana inside his body was forced down into his leg.

Then he drove all his strength straight into the black stone.

Crack!

The stone shattered instantly.

The entire Magic Array began flickering violently.

A ring of runes on the right side of the chapel vanished, causing nearly a third of the remaining glowing lines to fall into chaos.

Aldric’s expression immediately changed.

"You...!"

BOOM!

A stream of mana rebounded and struck his arm directly, forcing him half a step backward.

Lathel did not waste the opportunity.

He immediately rushed toward the barrier.

But Kiyome appeared in front of him.

She did not attack immediately.

The two stood facing each other for several seconds before Lathel raised his board.

[Move.]

Kiyome looked at the word and tightened her hand slightly.

"I can’t."

Lathel continued writing.

[You know this ritual will kill me.]

Kiyome remained silent.

[Right?]

She still did not answer.

But that was enough.

Lathel’s gaze turned even colder.

Kiyome almost immediately felt something invisible around her fluctuate.

That familiar chill ran along her Fate, causing her body to tense slightly.

Behind her, Aldric shouted:

"Kiyome! Hold him!"

Kiyome clenched her hand.

For one very brief moment, she remembered her tribe.

The faces that had disappeared in her previous life.

The reason she had agreed to stand here.

In the end, she stepped forward.

"I’m sorry."

Lathel immediately stepped back.

But at that moment,

BOOM!

The entire chapel shook.

The impact had not come from inside the Magic Array.

It had traveled directly through the barrier outside.

Aldric immediately turned his head.

Kiyome also froze.

...

Outside the stone gate, Elias stood in front of the red barrier with one hand already visibly swollen.

He had just punched it for the third time.

The red curtain only trembled slightly, while Elias’s fist had turned red all the way to his knuckles.

He looked at the barrier, then lowered his gaze to his hand and seriously concluded:

"Harder than a wall."

A cold female voice sounded from behind him.

"If you hit it two more times, the bones in your hand will crack."

Elias immediately turned around.

Seven people were standing at the end of the corridor.

The six in the back all wore the black-and-white ceremonial robes of the Church, with Judicator emblems on their chests.

The woman leading them was tall, with dark brown skin and long silver hair tied neatly behind her.

The black-and-white ceremonial uniform with golden trim on her body was so clean that there was not even a visible crease.

Both of her hands were covered by black leather gloves, while a massive greatsword was being carried by one of her subordinates directly behind her.

Rhea Valcrest looked at Elias once, then at the handprint he had left on the barrier.

Finally, her gaze stopped on the dirt he had tracked all across the stone floor.

Her brows immediately furrowed.

"Who are you?"

"Elias."

"That wasn’t what I asked."

Elias froze.

"Then what did you ask?"

Rhea: "..."

One of the subordinates behind her turned his face away slightly.

Rhea decided not to waste time on him.

"Why are you trying to break the barrier around a sealed area?"

Elias immediately pointed inside.

"My friend is in there."

"Friend?"

"Lathel."

The hand Rhea was using to undo the clasp holding her greatsword suddenly stopped.

Only slightly.

But the subordinate closest to her still noticed.

Rhea raised her head.

"Who did you just say?"

"Lathel." Elias did not notice her reaction at all and enthusiastically explained, "Black hair, can’t speak, always carries a board. He just went inside with a woman who has fox ears."

Rhea asked nothing else.

She only held out one hand behind her.

Her subordinate immediately passed her the greatsword.

The blade was nearly as tall as Rhea herself, yet when it fell into her hand, it looked so light that its enormous weight seemed meaningless.

"Back up."

Elias immediately stepped back three paces.

Rhea’s gaze fell on the dirty footprints across the floor.

"Farther."

Elias obediently moved back again, then asked:

"Am I far enough now?"

"Enough."

Rhea raised the sword.

One of her subordinates immediately warned:

"Judicator, this is a high-level barrier. If you forcefully break it..."

The greatsword had already come down.

BOOM!

The entire corridor shook violently.

A crack appeared across the red barrier from top to bottom.

Elias’s eyes widened.

Rhea pulled the sword back.

"Again."

BOOM!

The crack spread even farther.

On the third strike,

CRACK!

The entire barrier shattered into countless points of light.

Elias looked at the greatsword in Rhea’s hand, then lowered his gaze to his own fist.

"...I should get one of those."

A Judicator behind her calmly replied:

"You should first make sure you can lift it."

Elias thought for several seconds before nodding.

"Fair."

Rhea had already walked inside.

...

Inside the chapel, Aldric’s expression changed the instant he saw the barrier break.

Kiyome reacted even faster.

She had recognized the familiar mana from the very first strike.

"Rhea."

Aldric turned toward her.

"What?"

"We need to leave."

Aldric immediately frowned.

"There are only a few minutes left."

"There are no few minutes left."

For the first time, the smile on Kiyome’s face disappeared completely.

She knew Rhea.

She had known her in the previous life.

And in this life, she understood her even better.

If Rhea only suspected something, she would investigate.

But once she confirmed that someone had crossed one of her boundaries, she would simply cut them down.

Aldric was about to say something when a figure appeared in the doorway.

Rhea stepped through the fragments of the barrier still dissolving into points of light.

Her gaze swept across the entire chapel in only a few seconds.

Aldric.

Kiyome.

Lathel.

The Magic Array.

Finally, her eyes remained on Lathel the longest.

He was still standing.

There were no new serious injuries on his body.

Only then did Rhea lower her gaze to the stone floor.

Old blood, dust, ash, and leftover magical fluid from the ritual had mixed together into a filthy layer that immediately made her frown.

Elias ran in right behind her.

"Lathel!"

His shoe stepped directly into a streak of blood.

Rhea immediately turned her head.

"Stop."

Elias froze.

"Is there a trap?"

"You’re dragging blood everywhere."

Elias looked down at his foot.

"...Oh."

Rhea turned back.

Aldric had already regained his composure.

He even laughed.

"Judicator Rhea, I think there’s been a misunderstanding."

"There hasn’t."

Rhea answered immediately, causing the smile on Aldric’s lips to freeze.

She pointed the tip of her greatsword at the runes beneath them.

"Forced ritual."

Then her gaze stopped on Lathel.

"Non-consenting subject."

Finally, she looked at Kiyome.

"Saintess candidate Kiyome is cooperating in the use of a forbidden ritual inside an area under Academy jurisdiction."

Rhea turned back toward Aldric.

"I don’t see which part of this resembles a misunderstanding."

The smile on Aldric’s face slowly disappeared.

"You don’t know what you’re interfering with."

Rhea tightened her grip on the sword.

"I know more than you think."

Kiyome immediately looked at her.

The two women’s gazes met.

Rhea asked:

"You truly chose to stand beside him?"

Kiyome did not answer.

She did not need to.

Rhea understood.

A faint trace of disappointment flashed through her eyes, then vanished immediately.

"Then move."

Kiyome tightened her grip on her fan.

"Rhea..."

"I don’t want to fight you here." Rhea’s voice remained completely calm. "Don’t make me change my mind."

Kiyome looked at the greatsword in her hand for several seconds.

Then she actually stepped aside.

Aldric immediately turned toward her in disbelief.

"Kiyome?"

"Quiet."

Her reply was very soft.

"You can’t beat her."

Aldric gritted his teeth.

"And you?"

Kiyome looked at him as though he were an idiot.

"Neither can I."

Rhea disappeared from where she stood.