When Fors asked the question, Xio hesitated for a moment before replying:
"We've been discovered…"
They had said something similar just moments ago, but repeating it now carried a different meaning. Before, it referred to the discovery that they had identified Sherman — that his secret protectors or watchers had caught on. Now the emphasis was on the fact that their own choices and subsequent actions were all anticipated or orchestrated by the person pulling strings behind the curtain. They had no secrets whatsoever.
This meant that the opportunity Xio had been longing for might truly have arrived, but what lay hidden behind it was impossible to guess.
"If we do exactly what the 'note-leaver' intends, the final outcome will depend entirely on whether she harbors goodwill — and that is something we cannot control," Xio added from a rational perspective.
She used "she" to refer to the person behind the scenes because she recalled the faint, sweet fragrance she had caught the last time they lost Sherman's trail.
Fors listened quietly and nodded in agreement:
"You're right. We've been far too passive in all of this. The best option is to leave…"
The moment those words left her lips, she glanced toward that warehouse, opened her mouth, but added nothing further.
She was thinking about what Sherman's situation might be at this moment — suspecting that "he" was deep in danger — but ultimately chose to ignore it deliberately, refusing to mention that point.
For her, Sherman was merely a person who existed in Xio's descriptions, no different from a character in a novel. If she had the ability and the opportunity, she would be happy to lend a hand on a whim. But to take on real risks on his behalf, to make her close friend reckless and place her in mortal danger — that was something she would never consider.
Xio nodded and said:
"All right, we'll leave right now.
"However, the 'note-leaver' certainly won't be pleased to see us do this. There will definitely be some form of obstruction.
"Here's what we'll do — we flee in different directions, forcing her to choose only one side. Whoever successfully breaks out of this area immediately makes a scene and draws the official Beyonders here."
"Why not just make a scene right here?" Fors asked instinctively.
"That would definitely be intercepted or disrupted!" Xio gave her own reasoning.
Fors nodded thoughtfully:
"Fair point.
"All right, no more stalling. Let's move."
Xio said nothing more. She gripped a translucent, nearly invisible triangular spike, hunched low, and darted out from their hiding spot, racing along the shadowed areas toward the outer edge of the docks.
That triangular spike was a magical artifact she had commissioned through the
Anyone struck by this weapon — even merely grazed by it — would be plunged into an icy rigidity, unable to control even their own thoughts, as though possessed by a resentful spirit. Furthermore, as a battle dragged on, enemies of the "Blade of Cold" would gradually find their thoughts slowing and their movements growing stiff and sluggish, even without direct contact with the spike.
As for the "Blade of Cold's" negative effect, it was comparatively less terrifying, and there was only one: it slowly drained the bearer's body heat, gradually transforming them in the direction of the undead. Once the inevitable time limit was exceeded, this process could never be reversed.
So recently, Xio had taken to running more and more, or cycling at breakneck speed, all to generate body heat and fight against the loss of temperature.
Yet even so, all she managed was to push the interval at which she had to let the "Blade of Cold" leave her body from three hours up to four.
After running some distance, Xio glanced back and saw that Fors had already passed through the wall and vanished from the spot where they had been hiding.
She stared for two seconds, lightly bit her lower lip, then abruptly spun around and changed direction.
She was heading straight for that warehouse!
Soon she reached the side of her destination, but rather than make for the entrance, she looked upward, scanning the area as though searching for another passage — one more concealed, one less likely to draw the attention of anyone inside.
It was at that moment that her sharp instincts made her tilt her head, and she caught a figure flickering around the corner of the wall.
The figure wore a black dress, had wavy brown hair, and a pair of light-blue eyes — it was
"You already left?" Xio blurted in surprise, though she didn't forget to keep her voice low.
Fors twitched the corner of her mouth and said:
"Weren't you trying to escape here yourself?"
For a moment Xio couldn't find the words, and it was several seconds before she asked:
"How did you figure it out?"
"You didn't even mention Sherman once — that's completely unlike you! I had all my reasons for persuading you ready to go!" Fors replied at a rapid clip.
"…" Xio froze for a beat, then said with a complicated expression, "You didn't need to come back."
Fors ignored her words, pressing a hand against the warehouse's side wall as she spoke:
"Keep talking like that and maybe we won't need to struggle with this anymore, because it's already over.
"Oh, I can't believe I didn't think of such a good solution just now. I should have spoken up from the start, insisting on going with you to save them. You would have pushed back, refused to agree, and wanted to go alone. After repeating that exchange a few times, the matter would have resolved itself."
Xio looked deeply at her friend for a long moment, then, no longer hesitating, she gripped the "Blade of Cold" and took her place beside Fors.
Fors immediately flipped open "Lemano's Travel Notes," layering a few Beyonder enhancements on both herself and her friend, then stowed the grimoire, grabbed Xio's arm with one hand, and pressed the other against the wall once more.
Xio was bracing herself to pass through the wall, but she realized Fors wasn't activating her ability right away.
The bestselling author took a sharp breath and said quickly: