Chapter 93: Run If You Can't Win!

"What about Wang Yu?" Though he had tried to contact others to no avail, and had initially intended to call upon Charles, he had dismissed the thought once he learned Penia Lyde belonged to the Lyde family. In truth, however, he had always wanted Wang Yu by his side.

Could Wang Yu have encountered some obstacle on his way? Or perhaps Penia’s prophecy was flawed? Yet, judging by the power she had displayed thus far, the precision and accuracy of her foresight seemed impeccable. Edward still leaned toward the former.

Still, he had to see if Wang Yu would arrive. If he succeeded, it would mean more than just an extra pair of hands; it would be the key to breaking the shackles of many things.

"As expected of the Grand Duke's son, your reflexes are swift. But this is meaningless. Just stay here and try to survive, shall you? You cannot hinder me."

Penia’s voice echoed from every direction. Edward could not fathom where she was speaking from, nor what her purpose was in keeping up the chatter.

But for now, his options were limited: maintain his composure, expand his field of observation, and wait for an opportunity—or for the turning point Wang Yu might bring.

"Crack." The sound of the floor fracturing reached his ears. Edward’s expression darkened; he had underestimated the intensity of Penia’s arcane power. Even lying perfectly still, disaster sought him out.

Observation—this was a major characteristic of Penia’s ability that Edward had identified. At the periphery of his vision, in his blind spots, things that seemed plausible yet jarringly abrupt would always manifest to harm him.

Once he moved, the terror of this ability became even more pronounced. The objects appearing in his blind spots would frantically obstruct, injure, and potentially kill him.

So far, Penia hadn't even used her wizardry to attack him directly; she had simply shrouded him in her arcane power, rendering him immobile.

"The weakness of a Fate-Seer is that their innate ability isn't inherently lethal. The strength of her arcane power must be an anomaly. Peering into fate demands a price, and this Penia must be no different. There is a chance..." Edward’s mind raced as his expression shifted.

He lunged into a roll, adjusting his posture to lie flat on the floor, all while deliberately sweeping his gaze across the surroundings to minimize his blind spots.

"Good, it worked." Edward breathed a slight sigh of relief. His hypothesis was correct: those abrupt obstacles originated from his own blind spots.

"Boom." The initial cracking sound transformed into a continuous collapse. The spot where Edward had been lying moments ago had vanished into a gaping hole; had he remained there, he would have plummeted with it.

The hole continued to widen. Due to shoddy construction and years of neglect, the floor was severely compromised; once one section failed, a chain reaction of disintegration followed.

"Yes, this is exactly the effect I wanted." Edward felt a surge of resolve. He wasn't panicked by the spreading collapse; on the contrary, this was his intention.

As the collapse reached his feet, Edward, already braced, seized the moment. He followed the falling debris downward.

If he could escape this building, the threats he faced would diminish significantly. Penia’s arcane power required sufficient environmental elements to function—like this dilapidated warehouse, where the chaotic, aged structures served as catalysts for her power.

Edward was certain that in an open space, Penia’s ability would lose almost all its efficacy. His goal was to ride this collapse to the ground floor and then burst out of the building.

With extreme focus and eyes darting across his surroundings, Edward descended rapidly, hitting the ground and rolling to dissipate the force.

"Clang!" His rolling body slammed into a pile of iron farm tools that had tumbled down. Among the pitchforks and hoes were heavy iron hammers used for quarrying rock, seemingly brought down by the stones that had fallen when Edward first moved.

The two-story drop had imbued these iron implements with immense force. Tied together with hemp rope, their combined weight was staggering. The massive impact sent Edward sprawling, pain radiating from the points of contact.

"Pah!" He spat out a mouthful of blood. Fortunately, his armor had deflected the sharp pitchforks, preventing more severe injury. His internal organs were bruised, but he would hold.

The various interferences during his descent had inevitably created blind spots, but he had successfully reached the ground floor. Once he broke out, many of his troubles would be resolved.

"Bang!" Kicking aside the tools blocking his path, Edward kept his eyes on his surroundings and charged toward the window.

Yet, just as the window was within reach—as he prepared to leap and vault out of the building—a familiar sensation washed over him. His face turned ghastly pale. This sensation... Penia herself was intervening.

"Spatial displacement..." Edward gritted his teeth, identifying the source of the fluctuation. It was identical to the feeling of Charles’s Star Tarot card teleportation. Penia had used spatial displacement on him.

His vision blurred, and he found himself on an unfamiliar floor, surrounded by piles of stone, scattered implements, and corners filled with unidentified alchemical raw materials.

"Crack, clatter." The moment he was teleported, Edward was unable to observe his surroundings, and the sound of shattering stone and breaking containers erupted around him.

"Damn it..." A shield manifested around him. Edward’s expression was dark as a storm. The surrounding masonry began to collapse, dragging with it jars that shattered and sprayed unknown liquids.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied his mind. He would not cower; he began to run. No matter the circumstances, he would never give up.

……

"Almost there..." Wang Yu silently sensed the guidance from his Void Blade bracers. He was close, but Edward had been out of contact for quite some time.

The lack of response to his communications was a dire sign. Something had definitely gone wrong—either the signal was blocked, Edward was too busy to answer, or something far worse...

Leaping and sprinting across the ramparts, Wang Yu moved faster than Edward. His higher vantage point gave him a better view, and he immediately spotted the clearing and the building. He noticed something amiss on the fourth floor.

A fissure had opened in the wall, and a viscous, tea-colored liquid was leaking out, mixed with grit.

"Wait, fuel additive?! What is Edward doing?" As an amateur alchemist, Wang Yu recognized the liquid instantly—a cheap alchemical byproduct common in the wall district, often a failed attempt at making incendiaries.

It didn't have the explosive ignition of a true incendiary, but it was cheap. Mixed with wood, it could burn at terrifying temperatures. The wall district often used it to survive the winter.

But what was happening? Why would Edward have so much of it? Was there something inside that required fire to purge?

No, this couldn't be Edward’s doing. Edward likely wouldn't even recognize the stuff. Besides, as a failed incendiary, it was full of impurities...

Once ignited, it would produce not just fire, but massive amounts of toxic gas—far deadlier than carbon dioxide. Without proper ventilation, an ordinary person would pass out after a few breaths, let alone the waterfall-like volume on the fourth floor. If it ignited, everyone in the building would be poisoned to death.

"Damn it, Edward, what are you doing? No time for that, observe first."

Wang Yu’s scalp tingled. If that much additive burned, Edward would be finished if he were trapped. He had to charge in. He expanded his ripple-sense to its fifteen-meter limit.

……

Inside the building, Edward stood atop a pile of wood and stone, staring at the tea-colored liquid pooling at his feet, afraid to move. As Wang Yu suspected, Edward didn't recognize the substance and dared not test it.

Across the small mountain of debris on the fourth floor, Penia faced Edward with a smile. "How is it? Fate has guided you here. You cannot hinder me."

Edward’s expression was grim. He had dodged and weaved, only to be cornered here. He didn't know what the liquid was, but he dared not touch it.

Penia watched the stern Edward with a sweet, beautiful smile. Behind Edward, in a blind spot, a piece of flint fell from a crack in the ceiling.

The flint struck a metal shard below, sparking silently. By sheer coincidence, it landed on a piece of oil-soaked paper. Flames flickered to life, destined to ignite the entire floor’s supply of additive.

The next moment, the flames rose, and then... they vanished instantly.

Edward watched in astonishment as Penia’s expression twisted into one of terror, disbelief, and utter shock as she looked toward the floor below.

"How? How is this possible? Who is he? A wizard? Void fluctuations! He is peering at me?! He is a wizard, a Fate-Seer too? How? There was only supposed to be one! He’s here, he’s here!"

"Huh? What’s going on? Wang Yu is here! Her prophecy failed!" Edward froze for a second, then realized: Wang Yu had arrived. The chance to break the deadlock was here.

Seeing Penia in such shock—her previous confidence and calculated poise completely shattered, leaving her looking disheveled and pathetic—Edward knew this was his moment.

"This is the best chance! Attack!" Edward didn't hesitate. An enemy’s vulnerability was his greatest opportunity. He picked up a stone, channeled his strength, and hurled it!

"Whoosh!" The stone blurred through the air. With a knight’s raw power, even a common rock could pierce flesh with lethal force.

No matter how powerful Penia was, a direct hit would kill her. This was the eternal difference between traditional mages or wizards and knights: durability. Never try to out-endure a knight.

Edward was momentarily stunned. He had thrown it with total abandonment of his own observation, fully prepared to be struck by Penia’s arcane power due to his blind spots. Yet, her power didn't trigger. Why?

No time to ponder. He had to link up with Wang Yu. The stone was about to strike Penia’s chest; her frail body could never withstand such a blow.

But then, a shift occurred. His vision blurred, spatial fluctuations rippled, and in an instant, he had swapped places with Penia.

"I will not accept you rewriting the fate that has been set. The Lyde family will always hold the reins of their own destiny," Penia’s voice came, calm yet absolute.

Edward’s eyes widened. The stone he had thrown was now right before him—and it was massive. It had been enlarged. Sorcery. Penia had altered reality, using the power of the Void to change the stone’s size! She was finally using her full wizardry. This was trouble.

"Bang!" The stone’s mass increased, but its velocity remained the same. The immense impact slammed into Edward’s chest. His Iron Sun shield shattered, his armor buckled, and his internal organs screamed in agony as he was sent flying out of the building.

Simultaneously, the sparks from the stone’s collision with his armor ignited the additive. In an instant, the fourth floor became a hellscape of fire. The ceiling collapsed, and the entire building began to disintegrate.

"Cough, cough... still alive." A knight’s constitution kept him from losing consciousness despite the horrific blow, though his sternum was shattered. Thankfully, the impact had thrown him clear of the building. Perhaps there was a silver lining—wait!

Spatial fluctuations reappeared. As Edward fell, he was snatched back into the building. As the transfer ended, he saw Wang Yu confronting Penia.

Wang Yu looked a mess; the burning debris he’d fallen through had singed off most of his hair, his leather armor was in tatters, and his leg was pinned under a fallen wall.

Opposite him, Penia, now calm, displayed the true power of a wizard. Around Wang Yu, objects manifested frantically: falling stones, burning timber, iron shards piercing the air—the true ability of a wizard: twisting reality.

Wang Yu dodged incessantly, unable to strike back, his body accumulating wounds. Above them, the burning ceiling swayed, ready to collapse.

Edward, having been teleported back, felt the full force of the impact without any buffer. He couldn't climb to his feet; his injuries were compounding, and his body was pushed far beyond its limits.

"Damn it, it's my turn now. You really think I'm out of tricks, don't you?" Wang Yu's voice cut through the chaos, laced with fury and irritation.

"I know not why you exist outside the prophecy, but a clumsy hedge-wizard like you can change nothing!" Ponia's tone was chillingly cold.

"Looking down on me, are you? Prepare to die—lights out!" Provoked to a roar, Wang Yu slammed his palms together.

Edward was momentarily stunned; Wang Yu never spoke during combat, and suddenly, the world plunged into an abyss of absolute, suffocating darkness.

"Futile... hmm? A divine art? You sever my senses, hmph, yet you cannot harm me. A useless struggle; embrace your fate." Ponia was slightly startled, yet remained utterly composed, as if prepared to repel any assault.

Edward’s heart hammered in his chest, wondering if Wang Yu’s desperate gamble could possibly succeed.

Suddenly, he felt a firm grip on his waist.

"Run." Wang Yu’s voice was grave as he hauled the dazed Edward forward, sprinting wildly under the cover of the primordial dark—if you can't win, you flee!