After making several teleports, Kai finally got out of the capital walls. He found a concealed place and began to cast a teleportation spell towards the Empire but just as he was about to teleport, he canceled it and expanded his [Soul Call].

The Soul Thief, he sensed the actual person's soul although it was only for an instant. Kai melded into the shadows and followed the trail. He wasn't in the capital of Alteria, he was in a nearby village.

Lucky. Kai thought to himself as he passed from shadow to shadow. It was true that Shadow Assimilation allowed one to travel in the shadows but it was impossible for them to stay only in the shadows in a fight. That's why those who mastered it to a certain point would be able to create their own shadows temporarily to travel.

Kai could use his own shadow to travel for about ten seconds but his speed traveling through a shadow and with his own shadow were vastly different. While traveling through shadows that already exist, Kai could go faster than even the arrows that he had shot atop the tower but if he uses his own shadow, Kai would only be able to travel at twice the speed of sound at the most because he had to create and maintain the shadow then fuse his own body with it.

It was far more efficient to simply run but he can't just create sonic booms inside a town or near one, they might think they were under attack.

A shadow is a dark spot on a surface made when something covers the path between the light and said surface. So, how would a shadow be produced when there is nothing to cover the path between the light and the surface? Manipulating natural phenomenon was easier said than done. Kai could last for about half a minute with his artificial shadow while Yoko would only be able to last about ten seconds.

It sounded quite fast but in reality, nobody in the Kuroshi Clan could've replicated their feats. Each passing second would make the difficulty increase.

Less than a minute, Kai already arrived at the village he sensed the presence from.

It looked like the Soul Thief was just passing by using a teleportation formation- Kai wasn't surprised, he also had one in the other life and to the very end, nobody found traces of it because they always destroyed themselves after one use though not immediately. Kai arrived in less than a minute and found the teleportation formation inside an abandoned house.

"...The Empire."

Kai focused his mana and quickly traced the source. The magic circle gathered mana from the surroundings and used it to transmit the body of matter to another area in the shortest amount of time possible.

Teleportation is transferring without traveling the path, so this couldn't be called true teleportation. If teleportation was like traveling through a tunnel and cutting the path in between to arrive at the other end instantly, this type of teleportation was simply traveling through a tunnel with insane speed to arrive at the other end. This was why Kai could trace the mana in the air. But even if it was insanely fast, it still wasn't near the speed of light, maybe 10% at most. Kai was faster if he turned his body into lightning.

To Kai, the magic circle had a blue light-like trail emitting from it and it could be seen through the air.

Kai quickly teleported to the Empire as if afraid that the trail of mana would disappear- it would last about a week before completely fading though.

"..."

Honestly, Kai should've known better than to teleport to his room. He left his door locked but there were several people who could unlock it with their keys, this included the empress, Heliana.

Instinctively, Kai used invisibility on himself and created a barrier to avoid sound from leaking out but it seemed he had done unnecessary things because the empress, who was on his bed was sound asleep.

She had taken off her veil and wore some casual clothes- a long skirt and a long sleeve and hanging around her neck was a necklace that could hide her features. It seemed that she wanted Kai to accompany her somewhere.

It's not like she was doing anything wrong... she just fell asleep in the bed of a man she had no relationship with. She should be pretty tired with all the events that happened recently so she may have just wanted to take a stroll but needed a guard to accompany her. Seeing as how she didn't take any of the knights, this was an attempt to escape from her responsibilities for awhile but as she waited for Kai- who was having fun with Amelia, she fell asleep.

Kai deduced the situation just from that. He sighed and went out of the room, closed the door behind him and opened it as he entered the room again. The sound of the door opening woke up the empress from her slumber as she looked at Kai with half-asleep eyes.

"Huh? Why is Sir Kai in my room...?"

Instead of staring at Kai, she quickly looked around the room and realized the truth.

"W-We apologize for showing you our unsightly appearance and for sleeping in your room, We were waiting for you and unintentionally fell asleep..."

"I don't mind, a beautiful woman such as yourself seeking comfort in my- a man's bed will never invoke displeasure."

Teasing the empress who tried to act mature, Kai was quite sadistic sometimes.

"Ugh..."

The empress who loved to act straight was immediately flustered. She didn't turn red nor did she flail around but she was undoubtedly embarrassed.

"So, what might Your Majesty want from me?"

"We wanted to inspect the attacked village's conditions in disguise and hope you'd bring us along."

Kai placed a hand on his chin for a bit.

"Alright, should we go now?"

"Y-yes."

The empress, realizing she was still sitting on the bed stuttered as she stood up.

"Hold my hand."

"...Yes."

Lowering her gaze, she stretched out her hand albeit hesitantly, Kai held it and immediately began teleportation. Of course, he didn't forget to conceal his features as well.

Cyne, The Empire

"This is... Cyne, aren't there nearer villages?"

"There are but most of the villages didn't suffer any damage. Cyne was the one with the most demons and suffered a few casualties."

The empress looked to where Kai pointed and saw villagers gathered around caskets. Adventurers and soldiers took off their helmets and placed them on their chests. Most of the villagers that were crying were mothers and their children, it looked like their husbands and parents were killed. That was only natural, Kai acquired the news late and it was unavoidable for them to not have casualties.

In truth, Kai only went here to follow the trail of the Soul Thief.

What is with this place? It didn't hold much significance before...

Kai furrowed his brows.

First, the demons were sighted here before other places, then it also had the biggest attack despite the fact that there were other villages near the border and had less guards, lastly, the Soul Thief teleported here and showed no traces in the other villages.

Even with Kai's knowledge and senses, he can't sense anything out of the norm in the village. The only possibility is that someone above S-class- no, SS-class left something here. Kai is insanely sensitive to mana and can even sense SS-class mana but he can't feel anything from this place.

A teleportation formation couldn't be placed just anywhere, the place had to be rich in mana. The villages surrounding the capital of Alteria were rich in mana because of the amount of magic being used in the city but in a remote place like Cyne, there were zero sources of magic so what could produce enough magic to be able to teleport?

The magic circle would first suck in an enormous amount of mana and then use it to transfer, scattering the mana in the air. This was how Kai could trace the mana even though it was so far away.

"Your Majesty-"

"Call me Lia while we're out."

"...Lia, I'm going to look around for a bit."

Heliana glanced at Kai and the villagers before nodding.

Kai sighed once before leaving.

Sometimes I wonder if the people here have memories of the other timeline. Lia was the name I gave her as a nickname when she asked for one.

Shaking such thoughts out of his head, Kai immediately casted invisibility and went through every nook and cranny of the village.

Unfortunately, whatever was producing that huge amount of mana enough for teleportation couldn't be found no matter how Kai searched. Kai could only think of a couple more options, it was hidden by some spell or it was deep underground, Kai was leaning more towards the latter. Mana could easily pierce through the floor because it was almost immaterial.

Guess I'll leave it for some other time.

Losing both the trail of the Soul Thief and the source of mana, Kai went back to the place he left Heliana at.

"...The hell?"

Using [Soul Call], he found out that Heliana was surrounded by the villagers. Kai quickened his pace and was met with the sight of Heliana mourning with the villagers.

How did she manage to blend in?

True, her features were disguised but the villagers still won't be able to recognize her.

Kai quietly blended in with the surroundings and manipulated the villager's awareness. Nobody would notice Kai even if he talked.

"Lia."

Kai called out but Heliana didn't respond. She kept her hands clasped together as she prayed.

"O Goddess of the Afterlife, please guide these poor lost souls I've failed to protect."

There was no Goddess of the Afterlife. Kai let her continue, none of the Gods or Goddesses domain over souls, those were the territories of the Supreme Beings. Sure, there were some that guide the souls but those were subordinate Gods of a Supreme Being.

She should be praying to the Grim Reaper instead.

"Kai, I'm sorry I took up your time, I'm ready to go to the next village."

Lia quickly departed from the villagers and hid with Kai at a different area. Kai used his sense once more in the village before teleporting away.