"Damn useless mark…"
I gritted my teeth as a wave of burning pain spread across my chest.
The purple mark glowed faintly beneath my shirt, as if it had a life of its own. It hurt. Not an unbearable pain, but a constant one. Annoying. Like something inside me had awakened and was hungry.
I was in the middle of the forest, training magic like I did almost every night.
Nothing unusual.
Teleportation.
Earth manipulation.
Physical enhancement spells.
The usual.
But then, without warning, the mark began to burn even more intensely.
"Tch."
I placed a hand over my chest.
"Why now?"
The sensation worsened.
It felt as if someone had pressed a red-hot iron against my skin.
I could endure it.
I had gone through worse.
But it was still extremely irritating.
I took a deep breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Trying to stay calm.
I had no special training for this kind of thing. Most of what I knew had been learned through trial and error. Sometimes I even copied ridiculous ideas from anime and TV shows.
The difference was that those protagonists had systems, mentors, or guides.
I only had experience...
And an absurd amount of problems.
The burning continued.
Then I noticed something.
The sensation seemed to change depending on where I was looking.
I frowned.
"Don't tell me…"
I slowly turned my head.
The pain increased.
I looked in another direction.
It weakened.
I turned back.
It intensified again.
I froze.
"Interesting."
For the first time since this thing had appeared...
The mark seemed to be pointing me toward something.
Like a painfully annoying compass.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
"Well... let's see what you're trying to show me."
My body vanished.
---
Over the next several minutes, I moved through the forest using teleportation.
I wasn't going to run around like an idiot checking every tree.
The mark was giving me a direction.
And I followed it.
Every time I got closer, the burning intensified.
Every time I moved away, it weakened.
Eventually, I stopped.
The pain reached its peak.
It felt like my chest was on fire.
I looked ahead.
And then I saw them.
Two women.
My expression immediately changed.
"..."
I recognized them instantly.
The vision.
That old vision.
The same two women I had seen dead.
The same two women I had spent weeks trying to find.
Or rather...
The two women I should have been looking for.
Because I had gotten distracted by too many things.
The twins.
The subordinates.
The entity.
Nexum.
Too many problems.
And in the end...
I forgot about them.
My eyes remained fixed on the two figures.
They didn't look human.
Their skin had a sickly gray tone.
Their eyes remained open without blinking.
Their movements were stiff and unnatural, like defective puppets.
There was no life in them.
No soul.
Only their bodies remained...
Moving because something else wanted them to.
The mark burned again.
Even harder than before.
My eyes narrowed.
"So you're connected to it…"
Of course.
The purple entity.
I lowered my gaze for a few seconds.
I had seen this coming.
I had received a warning.
And even so...
I hadn't arrived in time.
An unpleasant feeling settled in my chest.
It wasn't guilt.
Not entirely.
But I couldn't ignore it either.
Then it happened.
Both women stopped at the exact same time.
Their heads slowly turned.
And they looked at me.
Silence.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then both of them opened their mouths.
And roared.
An unnatural sound emerged from their throats.
Something closer to the cry of a wounded animal than a human being.
I watched them silently.
"Yeah..."
"They're definitely not human anymore."
The two women suddenly charged toward me.
Clumsy.
Uncoordinated.
But fast.
I didn't move.
I simply raised one hand.
"I'm sorry."
I snapped my fingers.
The earth trembled.
Two enormous stone hands erupted from the ground.
And one second later—
BOOM!
The ground split open beneath them.
Both women were swallowed by the crack.
The earth closed again, leaving only their heads exposed.
Immobilized.
Still trying to reach me.
Still roaring.
I watched them for several seconds.
I felt no fear.
No hatred.
Only sadness.
Because none of this was their fault.
The true culprits were something else.
Other beings.
Other monsters.
I looked up at the night sky.
Then lowered my gaze once more.
"I can't save you."
My voice was barely a whisper.
"I can't bring you back."
Electricity began gathering around my hand.
Small blue sparks illuminated the darkness.
"But I can give you something better."
The energy continued to grow.
"Rest."
The two creatures roared one final time.
Then I raised my hand toward the sky.
The lightning answered.
Two bolts tore through the darkness.
For an instant, the entire forest was illuminated.
BOOOOM!!
The thunderous explosion echoed through the trees.
Then...
Silence.
The two figures stopped moving.
Forever.
I remained standing there, staring at the spot where they had fallen.
The purple mark suddenly stopped burning.
Completely.
My eyes narrowed.
"..."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
The mark hadn't been reacting to them.
It never had.
It had been reacting to the energy keeping them moving.
To the entity's influence.
To its presence.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
"So that's it."
I looked into the darkness of the forest.
Toward some distant place.
Toward something I still couldn't see.
But now I knew it was there.
"I found you."
And for the first time in several days...
I felt one step closer to discovering what was really happening.