'This won't work… I'll be caught!' — Kane knew that if he didn't do something, he likely wouldn't live to see sunrise.
He stopped conserving spiritual energy and began casting higher-level magic.
At once, a thick, hazy mist spread out, covering a vast area.
This mist wasn't just for obscuring vision.
Its unique property was the disruption of the senses, making it impossible for anyone inside to discern direction.
Not only that, but it could also create illusions of himself to mislead enemies.
Yet once again, the result did not go as he wished.
Tris only paused briefly, then immediately locked onto Kane's exact direction and continued the pursuit without error.
'What kind of method is he using?' — Expending a large amount of energy with no results only made Kane more frantic.
To understand an opponent's magic, the best way was to determine their affinity.
'Earth attribute, perhaps?' Kane recalled that Tris had used "Stone Wall" in his fight against Zarek, and some of today's methods resembled Earth magic.
'If it's Earth magic… is he tracking me through the ground?'
Based on that assumption, Kane acted immediately.
He pulled out a spherical item from his spatial ring and crushed it. This was one of his life-saving trump cards.
Once activated, it granted the user a brief burst of high‑speed flight.
As the magic took effect, two long wings suddenly sprouted from the puppet beneath Kane.
With a single flap, both he and the puppet shot into the air.
He also deliberately changed direction to test Tris's tracking ability.
The result—
Even off the ground, he still couldn't shake his pursuer.
Through the magical mist, Tris continued heading straight toward him without the slightest deviation.
'So it's not Earth magic either…' - Kane's despair deepened.
After eliminating possibilities, an answer he hated surfaced:
'That brat is using Space magic.'
It explained everything.
But the problem was—how could Tris even use such magic?
Even if he had talent for the Space attribute, the village shouldn't have any teacher or book capable of teaching it.
Knowledge doesn't appear out of nowhere, and he is still far too young to have had enough time to research and develop magic from scratch.
Setting aside the unanswerable question, Kane focused on the only thing that mattered now—escape.
Pouring more spiritual energy into his puppet, he flew toward the nearest mountain.
He planned to use flight and difficult terrain to slow Tris down and escape.
But just as he ascended—
Another unexpected situation struck.
From above, a flock of birds suddenly intercepted and attacked him.
From their beaks, continuous "Magic Bullets" were fired straight at him.
The sudden, rapid assault left Kane no time to react. Combined with his upward momentum, the projectiles struck with even greater force.
As a result, Kane and his puppet were hit and sent crashing down.
Falling into the bushes below, pain burned across his back and shoulders from the impact.
But worse—he had been severely injured by the attack.
With quick reflexes, he had flipped his puppet beneath him to block most of the damage, but one projectile still struck—blowing off his left arm.
Covered in wounds, missing an arm, and with his puppet half-destroyed, he knew he could no longer escape.
A sense of despair and helplessness overwhelmed him.
Lying on the ground, a realization suddenly struck him:
'Those birds… they're what killed Silas!'
'Is it control over magical beasts?'
'No… that's not right! That attack resembled "Magic Bullet." There are no known beasts like that here… it's more like—'
Even with his body broken, his mind continued analyzing.
"Caught you."
A voice suddenly cut off his thoughts.
Tris had arrived, along with his two puppets.
"Can I buy my life?" - Kane asked hoarsely, forcing a smile as he lay on the ground.
"Of course you can. As long as you can pay the price," Tris replied with a cheerful smile.
Seeing that expression, Kane knew—he would not be allowed to live.
Why? Because it was the same expression Kane himself wore when facing prey.
"I'm just someone forced into this job. I'm willing to tell you everything I know about the real mastermind.
I also have a large hidden fortune—I'll give it all to you.
And more than that, I can even help—" Kane continued with a long, uninterrupted tirade. And while still speaking, his puppet, in its half-destroyed state, suddenly launched an attack.
From the beginning, he had secretly maintained a connection with it through a magical thread pressed into the ground and hidden beneath the grass.
With a single finger movement, the puppet—positioned behind Tris—fired a thin stream of water from its mouth straight at his back.
"Water Stream, right? You used this same trick to ambush my father earlier, didn't you?"
As if he had eyes behind him, Tris instantly commanded one puppet to raise its shield and block the sneak attack.
The other puppet swung its sword—severing several of Kane's fingers.
"Agh—!" Kane screamed in pain.
Tris was exactly the kind of enemy Kane feared most.
The kind who never left even the smallest opening.
Worse—his own calculations and plans could be turned against him, just like when he was ambushed by the birds earlier.
Tris wasn't surprised by the sneak attack.
He understood that someone as cunning as Kane would inevitably attempt it.
While Kane analyzed Tris, he himself had also been analyzed in return.
In many ways, they were alike.
Both were the type to use any method—no matter how underhanded—to gain advantage and eliminate their enemies.
Those naive enough to believe in fair fights were often the first to die.
"So, Kane… let's have a little conversation and get to know each other better," Tris said, taking out a toolkit from his spatial ring.
Opening it revealed a jumble of saws, chisels, pliers, and more.
Such tools were common among the village's Mages, who frequently crafted and repaired puppets.
'Knowledge from those dreams that once seemed useless… can suddenly become very useful.' - Tris thought, recalling certain "gore" contents no child should have ever seen.
Kane would go on to experience the longest night of his life…