A voice echoed through the stark white chamber, cold and emotionless. Thick glass walls surrounded it, reinforced to withstand magical strikes. Beyond them stood heavy iron bars.
From the darkness, a shadow slowly approached Mai.
He looked about fifteen to eighteen years old. Half his face was covered by a red birthmark, his skin pale from long deprivation of sunlight. Black hair fell deliberately over the marked side, as if to conceal it.
He wore a sleeveless shirt torn at the shoulder, giving him a gritty, defiant edge. Joker pants and a pair of worn-out sneakers completed the outfit.
Mai narrowed her eyes, studying the eye within the red mark. It was glossy crimson, with no visible pupil. A chill ran down her spine. It was the first time she had ever seen eyes like that.
"Release me," the boy said. "I'll help you deal with them, blonde girl."
Without waiting for her response, he continued, "Just pull the lever by your right hand and I'll be free. I promise I'll help you handle them."
Mai's thoughts spiraled. She was exhausted after running and fighting the Dye-Haired Siblings, and now she faced someone far more unsettling than any of them. She didn't have the strength left to battle Witchiecoop's forces.
The three siblings closed in, their voices dripping with menace.
"You've got nowhere left to run!" Purple Hair cackled.
Golden Hair sneered. "Oh? Well, hello there, Experiment Subject 271022. Don't meddle. Best stay put in that cell."
Fear tightened around Mai's chest.
*What if he's a monster?
What if he kills me—and them too?
But if I do nothing… I'll die here.*
If every choice led to danger, then—
She pulled the lever.
"Noooo!" Golden Hair screamed.
Even as she did it, doubt raged inside her. She had no energy left to escape. The boy had offered help. Maybe he hated Witchiecoop. Maybe that was why he had been imprisoned. If the Dye-Haired Siblings caught her, she would rather gamble on him.
The chamber exploded outward. A surge of frigid air blasted through the hall. The pressure radiating from the boy forced the three siblings to recoil in fear.
"Damn it! Experiment 271022 is loose—this is bad!" Golden Hair shouted, ordering the Codings to drop into the area around Mai and the boy.
In an instant, the boy teleported Mai, Miki, and Mimi away, dodging the attack.
"That's impossible!" Platinum Hair yelled. "You're imprisoned—you shouldn't have any EN left to cast spells! And where's your AI Witch?"
Vines lashed forward to bind him, but he flickered in and out of sight, teleporting so seamlessly they couldn't touch him.
Mai noticed it too—he had no visible EN, yet he teleported effortlessly. And there was no AI Witch in sight.
"Idiots," he muttered.
He brushed his hair aside, revealing the full red birthmark. The crimson eye flared.
Golden Hair's face drained of color. "Everyone run! That's illusion magic—from the Eye of Eris!"
"Hahaha… too late," the boy laughed, his voice echoing like something from a nightmare.
Flames suddenly formed in a circle beneath the siblings' feet, erupting upward and engulfing them. They screamed.
"Mom! Mom, where are you? Help us! Save our mom!"
They clawed at the floor, trembling, sobbing like children.
The illusion of fire dragged them back into the nightmare of their past.
***
In a small house in the Manualee district, a single mother lived with her three children. As they grew, they became healthy and bright. One day, she took them to dye their hair.
"Mom, why are our colors so flashy?" they asked.
"I want your lives to be colorful and happy," she said gently. "Not harsh and dark like mine in Manualee."
"Yes, Mom. We'll live colorful, happy lives so you can smile."
She pulled them into a tight embrace.
Later, the children overheard villagers arguing with their mother.
"No! We will never invest EN in an AI Witch. If we promote it, it will replace us in the future. Is that what you want?"
The mother of the three dyed-haired children replied firmly, "That's not true. Stop being so extreme. We can coexist with an AI Witch. It will make life easier. Many of you already use it in secret—you're just too proud and afraid to admit it. We have to change…"
Stones were thrown. A dull thud echoed.
The children rushed out to stand beside her. She remained upright, brushing dust from her clothes.
"It's okay. They're just afraid. Don't worry."
That night, she held them close.
"My good children, study hard. Live alongside an AI Witch. Join Witchiecoop one day and earn a good salary. I'll save enough EN to buy each of you an AI Witch."
They studied relentlessly.
The day finally came. The poor mother emptied her savings and borrowed EN from other Manualees to buy AI Witch. There wasn't enough for all three. The eldest, Golden Hair, gave up his share for his siblings and chose a tablet as his magic tool instead.
When the villagers found out, they were furious. They burned down the house.
Their mother perished in the flames.
The three children screamed, "Please—someone save our mom!"
***
Back in the present, the smell of burning wood filled their senses. The echoes of their mother's screams rang in their minds. Their bodies stiffened in agony. They shrieked—and then collapsed, unconscious.
Mai turned to the boy and shouted, "That's enough! Don't kill them. Just incapacitate them!"
He continued casting, laughing darkly.
Mai stepped forward and slapped him hard across the face.
"I said that's enough! Are you deaf?!"
The slap broke his concentration. It was the first time anyone had ever struck the Eye of Eris.
Mai walked over and covered Purple Hair's unconscious body with her coat. Perhaps the illusion's heat had made her strip it off without realizing.
The boy let out a low, eerie chuckle.
"You're a fool. Pitying your enemies."
Mai replied calmly, "It's called basic human compassion."
Her battle here was over.
"Thank you. I need to go somewhere else."
She walked away quickly, not wanting to face that boy again. She felt a flicker of sympathy for the Dye-Hair siblings when she heard them cry for their mother.
Mai brought Mimi to safety, then ran straight toward the battlefield between Manualee and Witchiecoop.
Mimi had been saved.
From afar, the boy watched her, smiling faintly.
Rain poured outside. Witchiecoop's dome sealed off every escape route.
A thunderous explosion split the sky.
Long and Dung's battle had reached its climax.