Although it could be assumed that Merlin’s method of extracting secrets or general information was similar to scrying or divination spells.

But in truth, they were not the same.

A regular caster, anything below the level of a Grand Caster, attempting to use a regular scrying spell on someone like Anton would have gained nothing. The difference in level alone would have rendered the attempt useless.

Merlin’s illusion spell functioned on an entirely different principle. He was not attempting to breach Anton directly as it may not have worked.

Instead, he was using a third party, the environment, the world itself. And the world had no concept of hierarchy in that sense.

Although, of course, there was a limit to this, which was the amount of mana needed for this kind of spell. The consumption was stupendous, and the further back in time or the deeper the secrets he tried to access, the more mana it drained.

To extract even a full year’s worth of information from a single person would, in essence, burn through Alistair’s mana reserves, which was what Merlin was currently connected to.

Even so, this was one of the few times Audrey had slipped.

There had been a point in the past when Merlin had tried the same method on her, only to find very little of use. Most of her life had been lived behind concealment.

She was consistent in remaining careful.

Over time, it became Esmeray’s duty to shroud her lady’s dealings, casting secrets concealment spells over every location Audrey visited, down to her personal room.

Except for that one time.

That day, Audrey went to see Anton without Esmeray.

__

At the Stark Manor...

Isabella had arrived only a few minutes ago, emerging from shadow transfer after Percival had explained the urgency to her over the phone.

The journey had taken just over five minutes. Longer than usual, but only because daytime limited the density of shadows along her path, forcing her to move in shorter intervals instead of flowing freely.

Now, after Percival had walked her through the full situation, she was already preparing to leave again.

Francesca stood off to the side, watching them with a heavy expression, while Ishtar remained beside her in silence, having already lost the argument about coming along.

"Are you guys ready?" Isabella asked.

Percival and Hayley both nodded.

In that moment, a sudden darkness spread beneath their feet. Their legs were swallowed almost instantly as the dark miasma rose from the ground.

"Heads up," Isabella said calmly. "Ignore whatever you see down there."

Percival and Hayley exchanged a brief glance before looking back at her and nodding again.

Then their bodies began to sink into the shadows. Once they were gone, the darkness receded, folding back into Isabella.

She turned to Francesca and gave a reassuring nod.

Then her form broke apart into shadows, flattening onto the ground before slipping outward, gliding along every shaded surface as she moved beyond the manor.

—

In an unknown dimension...

Ethan reappeared into a plane that made no sense the moment his eyes adjusted.

The ground beneath looked a glowing blue surface that extended in every direction. It had been divided into sections, forming a vast grid as though the land itself had been carved into massive tiles.

And scattered across that expanse were remnants of different things. Wrecked trucks and crushed cars lay overturned at odd angles. Broken structures and incomplete houses partially sunk into the glowing grid as if the ground had swallowed them halfway.

Debris littered everything. Metal, concrete, shattered glass, all mixed without order.

On one side, was sand dunes that rose to form a mini-desert-like stretch. Above it all, the sky was dull and empty.

The glowing ground was the foundational surface of Anton’s dimension, while everything inside had been marked and sent in there by him.

Ethan still held both swords in hand, while one of Rue’s cats still remained along his neck, since it was on his body when Anton sent him to this place. Arael, however, would have to be summoned again here.

Ethan had barely begun to take in his surroundings when a blur cut through the distance in an instant.

Pow!

Ethan reacted on instinct, raising Nina’s blade just in time. The flat of the sword met the incoming strike as Casper Novachrono’s fist, glowing with an orange light, crashed into it.

The force from the impact sent him skidding backward, his boots tearing across the glowing blue platform as they carved deep lines into the surface of the pocket reality.

Momentum carried him a few meters before he forced himself to a stop.

He then lowered the blade from in front of his face and saw Casper standing there with a maniacal smile on his face.

"I was wondering when they were going to send you," Casper said, then burst into laughter that dragged on for a few seconds. "I almost died from waiting."

Lucien was beside him, fully fused with his summon, Emperor Nishi Imagawa, the former ruler of the Fu Hua dynasty.

His white hair was now predominantly red, long and flowing like the emperor’s. The armor of a samurai wrapped his body, and in his hand was the emperor’s katana.

There six other figures around them, standing at a short distance and forming a loose surround. These were members of the League, brought in from Vanburgh.

It was not coincidence that Ethan had been sent here. Audrey had already decided what his fate would be if he refused her.

And that was to send him straight to people who wanted him dead.

Ethan’s eyes moved around, taking them all in.

Casper was either a warrior or a guardian, but it didn’t matter which. The strength in that body alone placed him around SS-tier for either class.

Then Lucien. The magic radiating from the summon he was fused with was at least emperor class.

For the others, two of them were S-tier at minimum. The remaining four were most likely A-tier.

Ethan finished the evaluation in a single pass, and didn’t even look bothered by it.

"Come forward quietly," Lucien said as he stepped forward. "And lay down your life."

"You should listen to the man, buddy," Casper added, his tone amused. He stretched his hand sideways, gesturing to the others. "As you can see, even if you called that summon of yours..."

His grin widened.

"You’re still outnumbered, and stuck here with us."

Ethan tilted his head back staring up at the empty sky of the dimension. He sighed and shook his head amusingly before dropping his gaze back to the eight of them.

He raised Ragnarok and pointed it toward the six unknown figures surrounding Casper and Lucien.

"Culling points."

Then his arm shifted, angling it toward Casper and Lucien themselves.

"New summons."

A devious smile pulled at his lips. "That’s all I see before me."

And right then, an unnatural amount of mana surged out of him. It flooded the space with a dense, suffocating pressure as a purplish aura expanding outward.

Lucien, Casper, and the others frozen in shock. It struck at both their expressions and instincts.