Before Pinorolo could say another word, he was enveloped in a cocoon of mana, which was growing thicker and brighter by the second.

“What is the meaning of this? Unhand me!” Pinorolo began screaming, trying to get the attention of the nearby soldiers. But despite being surrounded by people, nobody seemed to be able to hear him.

“They can’t see nor hear you.” James chuckled. “This thing is nigh impenetrable.”

“What are you going to do with me?” Pinorolo’s face suddenly turned white. “My God, are you an agent? Your aura has a strong tinge of Darkness, but I assumed you were just one of those eccentric practitioners that enhance their spells with Darkness. But you’re one of them, aren’t you?!”

“Relax, mate. I’m on your side.” James laughed. He felt bad about scaring him, but Pinorolo’s reaction was a bit funny. “Actually, you should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you? Thanking you for what?! Even if you aren’t an agent, how could I possibly thank you for sequestering me like this?”

“Why, you’re now the safest person in this whole damn kingdom. I think that’s a reason to be thankful.”

“Well, you certainly have a very high opinion of yourself.” Pinorolo protested. “And how exactly am I safer than the thousands of nobles hidden behind countless wards?”

“No wards compare to my barriers. You’re safer than all of them put together.”

“Those wards were cast by the strongest mages in our kingdom! They worked tirelessly for weeks, taking shifts in order to maximize the amount of mana they could pour into the wards! Nevermind the expertise and talent that went into maximizing the efficiency of the used mana!”

“Yeah, and I bet they’re still weaker than the barrier you’re now behind.” James said nonchalantly.

“And what makes you so sure? Have you ever even fought an agent? They’re extremely powerful beings! In one swift attack they could shatter this barrier and kill you and me at the same time! And we’re going to be facing countless agents, all attacking us at the same time. Please, just let me go. For both of our sakes. You’ll be able to protect yourself better if you don’t have to worry about keeping me safe.”

“First of all, I’ve fought countless agents. And they’re not as scary as you make them sound. Well, I guess they are, I’m just a lot scarier than them.” James said in a dispassionate voice.

He stared at Pinorolo, and suddenly, the noble seemed to understand that he had vastly underestimated this individual. The thick barrier that somehow made it impossible for his screams to be heard by soldiers mere feet away from him already made him quite curious about who this person was. But there were many people that possessed all kinds of powerful and odd spells.

But those eyes ... those weren’t just the eyes of a powerful mage. Those were the eyes of someone who truly wasn’t afraid of death, or of anything else. The eyes of someone who stared death in the face countless times. The eyes of someone who brought death and destruction upon thousands of souls.

“Wh-who are you?!” Pinorolo asked with a gasp.

“Someone that’s on your side.” James replied gently. “Also, someone who hates gasping.” He revealed a smile, which in that moment was scarier to Pinorolo than the twisted, distorted smiles of all the agents that had ever existed.

“Ok, ok.” Pinorolo quickly blurted out. “I can see that you’re strong. But even you can’t defeat their whole army by yourself. What exactly is your plan here?”

“I’ll kill as many of them as I can. If I can turn the tide, fine. But if I can’t, then I’ll fight until your nobles finally see that they can’t win, which is when we swoop in and teleport them all to safety.”

“Safety? What kind of safety could there be in this world? Once they’re done with our kingdom, the rest of the world is next. And there are countless other armies attacking the rest of the world too. Nowhere is safe.”

“That’s true. This world isn’t safe. But a pocket dimension isn’t in our world, is it?” James smiled. “The entirety of Hedonia has now been fully moved into a pocket dimension.”

“What?! That’s preposterous. The amount of energy, resources, artifacts and the sheer technique to do such a thing is simply incalculable! It’s impossible!”

“Well, apparently it is possible, cause it’s done. It happened. And you’re invited to join us there.”

But Pinorolo wasn’t convinced. “Ok, so let’s say you did accomplish that. So what? The pocket dimension is still rooted in this world. Once the Darkness takes over the world, they’ll just break into your pocket dimension as well. You’re just delaying the inevitable.”

“No, we’re delaying the evitable. We’ll delay until we’re strong enough to avoid the calamity, and kick the Darkness out of this world once and for all.”

“Fine. Let’s say your plan will work. That still doesn’t change anything regarding our current situation. I can’t abandon my home, none of us can!”

“In that case, we’ll just have to wait, unfortunately. We’ll have to wait until it’s too late, and the morale of the nobles is so low that they’ll even accept my offer.”

Pinorolo, who was protesting vehemently just seconds ago, stopped moving all of a sudden. He tried to hide his face, but James’s mana could sense the tears streaming down his face.

James didn’t say anything anymore. He understood how much he was asking of the man. He’d protest just as vehemently if it was his home that was being attacked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to make sure that we don’t get to that point. I just can’t promise anything. I’m strong, but I’m no miracle worker.”

Pinorolo didn’t say anything, he just nodded. A few minutes later, he finally mustered the willpower to utter something. “Fine, I’ll stick with you. If that means giving my brothers a chance to live.”