REALISTIC ISEKAI: I didn't read this in my novels!

The hall fell into silence. Vilra was peeking through the door, her face filled with apprehension as she nervously rubbed her storage ring.

Miriam's mind was in shambles as Rose dropped the bombshell.

'Matthew fought with Clark? And Clark won? He got arrested...so he's a fugitive? That means he needs my help now more than ever!'

"I'll be taking my leave now." Her voice betraying her rapidly beating heart. "I would prefer if my presence here was never spoken of to anyone."

"W—wait!"

Miriam didn't respond and left the hall with quick steps.

Rose heaved a sigh, her face buried on her desk as she watched the back of the strange person practically fly out the door.

'I would've known who that person was if we had talked a little longer.... I couldn't even make out if the voice was that of a male or female. The control over mana to distort voice is impressive.'

Ruffling her hair and looking out the window to make sure the strange person was gone, Rose walked back to her office and kicked Vilra out of it.

"I don't pay you to hide under my desk. Stay sharp and welcome anybody who comes here."

"B—but, what if he comes back again?" She protested, her hand massaging her butt.

"How do you even know that person is a male?" She muttered as she sat on her table, "It could be a she."

Vilra pulled a seat from the hall immediately and placed it in Rose's office. "I'm telling you it's a he. There's no way a woman would care for someone as cold and bloodthirsty as that."

Rose fidgeted. "He wasn't always that way, y'know?"

Vilra scoffed and smacked her hand on the table. "What makes you think he wasn't always like that, huh? If anything, he could've been wearing a mask all that time, and it just so happened to slip off when he fell into Soul Dissonance."

Rose spun a pen, her expression weak. "Severe emotional stress is the major cause of soul dissonance after all...."

Vilra clicked her fingers with a triumphant expression. "Exactly! We both know he wasn't practicing demonic magic, nor did he break through in an improper manner. So that's the only option."

Rose couldn't find any words to counter her employee, but some part of her still wrestled with the facts placed before her.

"That's enough gossip for today. Get back to work," Rose ordered as she tossed a ring towards her. "That's for the Feyn, no bonuses."

Before Vilra could whine, the door had already been slammed in her face.

'Were you really pretending all that time? But if you were, why did I see a hidden sadness that was never there before?'

Rose shook her head and focused on the piles of documents on her desk, but the whispers of reason never left her mind.

Miriam dashed through the city with even more urgency than when she came. Luckily, it was still deep in the night, and most of the night walkers and spies had all retired.

'Clark...what have you been doing in these few months away? Why haven't you come to see me? Are you—!'

Miriam immediately halted in her tracks, her eyes wide as she nearly collided with a brown-haired boy.

"W—what are you doing out here by this time of the night, young man?" She spoke hurriedly, hoping to hide her shock.

The boy had a cheerful smile on his face as he replied, "Oh, me? I should be asking you that."

Miriam's eyes narrowed dangerously as he studied the lax expression of the boy. 'Is he just lost? But he doesn't look like someone who is.'

"Judging by your lack of response, I'll take it you're up to something shady." He took a fighting stance as he spoke, "In that case, I'll have to take the burden of taking you down."

'What in the world—?!' Miriam's expression was a mix of surprise, confusion, and seriousness. Before she could even register what was happening, a foot flashed from the corner of her eye.

Her forearm instinctively shielded the direction the foot was heading to. Her body skidded sideways, the dust from the broken concrete blurring the air lightly.

Miriam clenched her teeth; her delicate fingers brushed her storage ring, an amethyst sword came out of it and blocked the incoming mace.

"Calm down! You could get arrested for fighting on civilian premises," Miriam spoke, her sword rapidly parrying the mace swung by the boy.

'What is his problem? Does he know who I— oh right, the cloak has a shielding effect and I altered my voice with mana, but still...'

"Your fighting style is similar to that of the nobles in the academy, so I'm led to believe you studied— or are still studying there."

Despite his introspective words, his mace never lost momentum, but neither did Miriam.

Her sword glowed brighter as they clashed, the sparks filled the air, gusts of wind flew around, but the surrounding environment was unaffected.

"And to answer your question, I placed a space distortion spell in this area in preparation for your arrival. Pretty smart of me, no?"

'He was waiting for me? Does that mean he knows who I am? But if he does, then why is he still attacking?'

'I don't have time to think about all this. Clark needs me.'

The gravity in the air increased ten fold at the same time Miriam's blade struck his.

The boy's knees bent slightly as the weight pressed down on him, cracks spreading through the stone tiles under his boots.

"Hoh… gravity magic," he muttered, the cheerful lilt in his tone unfazed. His mace, however, trembled as it fought against the downward pull. "That's an expensive skill to learn."

Miriam pushed forward, her amethyst blade glowing as she bore down on him. "I don't have the time to play with you. So let me go."

The boy grinned wider, veins bulging on his arms as his mace spun like a wheel. "Not happening." With a sudden roar, he slammed his mace into the ground. A wave of force pulsed outward, breaking apart Miriam's controlled field for a split second. The ground shuddered, the distortion of space bending strangely with the shock.

'He's layering physical force with mana flow?!' Miriam narrowed her eyes. Without hesitation, she swung her blade in a vertical arc, the gravity field condensing to a singular crushing line.

The boy crossed his mace just in time—yet the impact blasted him backward, skidding across the fractured stone. His boots left trails of dust before he spun and launched himself forward like a cannonball, a grin still plastered on his face.

"Too slow!" he shouted, his mace descending in a brutal overhead strike.

Miriam's body blurred—gravity tugging at her own frame, she shifted sideways unnaturally fast, her blade slicing toward his exposed ribs.

The boy twisted mid-swing, letting the mace's centrifugal force spin him, her sword grazing his side but not piercing deep. The recoil from his spin whipped the mace across again, the sparks flying as it met Miriam's blade in another thunderous clash.

She staggered back half a step, her cloak fluttering wildly. 'His reaction speed… he's adapting too quickly. At this rate, I'll waste the night on him instead of finding Clark.'

The boy twirled his mace onto his shoulder, his smile never fading. "You're strong. Stronger than most nobles I've fought. But I percieve you as a threat so you can't leave here alive."

Miriam's grip tightened. She lifted her blade and the air warped as if the world itself bent around her.

"I'm not a threat. Neither was I doing anything shady. That much I can tell you."

"Hehehe, finally getting serious, are we? I should too, shouldn't I?"

As the words left his mouth, a dense black aura surrounded the entirety of his being and everything within the range of the spacial formation.

"You're a Nyxharrow?!" Miriam nearly revealed her true voice due to the sheer shock she felt.

The black aura coiled around Densdor's body like living tar, writhing with hunger, gnawing at the edges of space itself. His eyes lost their human warmth, replaced with the gleam of something primal.

He charged. The mace came down with a force that cracked the distortion field itself. Miriam barely twisted away, her sword slashing upward, carving a crescent of light across his chest—only for the wound to seal with a hiss of dark mist.

"Surprised, no? The pain is always worth it to see you nobles squirm" Densdor growled, the wild grin splitting his face. "And I have some questions for you. So don't die too soon!"

Her sword blurred, weaving lines of steel and gravity together, but he matched her step for step, blow for blow. Sparks and darkness filled the air, a storm locked in human form.

A shallow cut blossomed across her forearm. Another along her cheek. He was forcing her back, cornering her, the reckless rhythm of his strikes unpredictable yet suffocating.

As he attacked, his manic face turned surprise for a split second. "You're a woman?"

Despite him speaking in such a confused tone, the intensity of his attacks never receded.

"I heard it was a woman that slapped my bestest friend, so you're going to take her place!"

The rapid attacks intensified, glass shattering sounds echoed in the domain as the mace and sword collided, the mace having the advantage.

'The sun is rising. I don't have time to watse or I'll be found out. That means I can't find out where Clark is today! Aghhh why is this anomaly stopping me for no reason?'

Miriam's eyes glowed a deep purple, his movements faltered a little. "The sun is about to rise. You've thwarted my plans for no reason. And you'll regret standing in my way."