The mission assigned to Noa’s team was successfully completed.

As the MVP of this operation, Noa naturally received unanimous recognition from both her classmates and her teachers.

By the time they returned to the academy, it was already evening.

Because this was their daughter’s first real mission, Leon and Rosvisser—along with Moon and the others—had remained at the academy the entire time. Seeing Noa return safely, the Melkvey family finally felt at ease.

When Noa went to the principal’s office to submit her mission report, she deliberately asked Leon and Rosvisser to come along.

At first, the couple assumed that their daughter simply wanted them to witness the joy of completing her first mission.

But the moment Noa revealed that she had been possessed by the Magic Eye, both of their hearts tightened at once.

“How are you feeling now, Noa?” Rosvisser asked anxiously. “Do you feel weak? Is there any discomfort anywhere?”

Noa shook her head. “It possessed me for a very short time. It didn’t have much of an impact on my body or consciousness, so it shouldn’t be as serious as what happened to Grandpa Poseidon.”

Hearing this, the couple finally let out a breath of relief.

“But the Magic Eye actually appeared near the border between human and dragon territory.”

Behind the desk, Claudia frowned slightly, fingers interlaced, and spoke in a low, contemplative tone.

“What was it doing there?”

Rosvisser blinked, as if realizing something, then turned to Leon with a smile.

“So you really did guess it right.”

Claudia raised an eyebrow, glancing at Rosvisser and then at Leon.

“What do you mean?”

Leon smiled and explained, “After crossing the border, it didn’t immediately head farther toward the human frontier. Its goal was to find the most suitable body for possession. And that body is currently in the imperial capital.”

…

…

Several days later, deep into the night.

Relying on its eyeball-sized body, the Magic Eye slipped into the Human Empire with ease. With strong winds sweeping through the night, the city streets were nearly devoid of people.

Its tentacles wriggled as it rapidly advanced toward the imperial palace in the heart of the empire.

It could sense it. There was a body hidden there.

A body that belonged to its world.

And without a doubt, a body that had not yet returned to its source was the most suitable vessel for possession.

Only such a body could allow the Magic Eye to unleash its true power.

“Leon Casmod. Once I succeed in possessing it, your entire family will pay the price!”

Carrying this resentment, the Magic Eye pushed onward until it reached the outer perimeter of the imperial palace.

Though it was called the imperial palace, there had long since been no imperial family within. Everything here was operated by the Lionheart Order.

Standing beneath the towering palace walls, the Magic Eye stared at the airtight barrier before it and felt a trace of frustration.

“Damn it. This isn’t a consciousness space. I can’t extend my tentacles far enough to cross ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the wall…”

As it pondered, the Magic Eye glanced around.

“If I slow down now, I really need to find a better way…”

In the corner of the wall to the right, there was an opening carved between the battlements.

The Magic Eye was instantly overjoyed and wriggled forcefully toward the gap.

However, just as it was about to squeeze through, a faint sound of footsteps came from the other side of the wall.

It quickly hid itself in a dead angle, afraid of being spotted.

After waiting quietly for a moment, the Magic Eye sensed that something seemed to be crawling out through that opening.

It looked over—and saw what appeared to be a ferocious, furry, swaying, awkward creature, carrying bones.

“What is that thing?”

The Magic Eye muttered, then turned its gaze back to the hole in the wall.

“Could it be… that this hole was dug by it? Heh—what an intelligent creature.”

“Once I recover my physical form and settle my old grudges, I’ll throw you into the void too. When that time comes, you can eat as many bones as you want.”

With that, the Magic Eye followed closely behind and slipped through the opening, successfully infiltrating the interior of the imperial palace.

Gazing at the vast palace grounds, the Magic Eye paused briefly, then expanded its cognitive perception to search for its body.

Soon, it locked onto a location and wriggled its tentacles toward it.

“I can feel it… closer and closer! So close now!”

It burrowed underground, passed through corridors and layers of stairways, and finally arrived at the door of a sealed room.

Standing outside, the Magic Eye looked inside through the glass.

Within, a transparent crystal stood silently.

And inside that crystal… was a body condensed from a heart-image.

The very body the Magic Eye had coveted for so long.

“Finally… I’ve finally found you—Shadow.”

The entire eyeball pressed tightly against the glass.

“Tens of thousands of years ago, you betrayed the Void. Who would have thought that after ruling this world for so long, you would still end in failure? Hmph. A useless failure. No matter where you go, you’ll always be a failure. But you weren’t completely useless. At least your corpse still has some value to me.”

As it spoke, the Magic Eye moved to the door and extended a tentacle to push it.

It had assumed that such a hidden place wouldn’t be easy to open, so this was merely a casual attempt.

Yet to its surprise, with a creak, the door slowly swung inward.

The Magic Eye froze.

“That easy…? Then what was all my suffering before supposed to mean?”

Was it just proof that I’m good at enduring hardship?

If it had known seizing Shadow’s body would be this easy, the Magic Eye wouldn’t have spent so long lying low and absorbing energy to strengthen itself.

It could have come straight to the imperial palace!

But that didn’t matter anymore. Success was right in front of it.

Once it obtained Shadow’s body, even if it wasn’t as powerful as reconstructing its original soul, after some cultivation it would still be able to secure a foothold in both worlds.

Its tentacles wriggled as it quickly approached the crystal sealing Shadow.

It lightly touched the crystal and injected a small amount of power.

The next second, a loud boom echoed as the crystal shattered into pieces.

Shadow’s corpse fell to the ground.

The Magic Eye rushed eagerly to the body, staring at the withered, pale face.

“Now… serve me.”

With that, the Magic Eye drilled into Shadow’s body.

After a few seconds of silence, a dark violet aura gradually seeped out from within.

Soon after, the wound in his chest began to recover bit by bit—along with his energy, bones, and even his flesh.

When the body was fully restored, the Magic Eye raised the arm it now controlled, sensing the fluctuations of power within.

“A trace of lingering chaotic energy… What did you do before you died? Whatever. It’s just extra material. It’ll all be refined by me eventually. Once this body is fully processed, I’ll deal with it slowly. For now, I should leave this place.”

The Magic Eye did not let momentary joy cloud its judgment. Once the objective was secured, it immediately prepared to withdraw.

Looting was all about speed, precision, and decisiveness.

Thus, carrying its prized acquisition—no, its specialty, Shadow—the Magic Eye quickly made its way back to the surface.

“Hah. Bodies really do feel best when they come from your own world.”

It shook its head and hopped in place a couple of times.

Shadow’s body was indeed very different from Poseidon’s or the previous aberrant forms.

Just as the Magic Eye was about to leave the imperial palace, a streak of red fireworks suddenly rose in the distance.

The firework shot straight into the sky, leaving behind a thin, vertical line before blossoming into brilliant light across the night.

The glow reflected off the Magic Eye’s body. It instinctively stepped back half a pace.

“What the hell is that…?”

As the words fell, hurried footsteps sounded nearby without warning.

At the same time, someone shouted into the darkness:

“Surround it! Don’t let it escape!”

The Magic Eye froze.

“…It’s a trap!”

Unfortunately, by the time it realized this, it was already too late.

When it came back to its senses, it found itself completely encircled by the mages of the Lionheart Order.

It looked around in panic. Every single person was holding magic at the ready. If it made even the slightest move, they would attack simultaneously.

In the end, its gaze locked onto the girl with the single ponytail at the front.

Clenching its fists, the Magic Eye roared angrily:

“You—you set me up!”

Rebecca kept both hands in the pockets of her coat and shrugged casually.

“Who set you up? You broke into our home to steal something. We just closed the door and caught the thief.”

“You?!”

“Woof, woof~”

Before the Magic Eye could say anything else, a furry four-legged animal darted over and rubbed against Rebecca’s pant leg.

“Oh? Lucky, how did you sneak in here in the middle of the night?”

Rebecca bent down, scooped the little creature into her arms, then glanced at the stunned Magic Eye.

“Don’t tell me you crawled in through that dog hole in the corner of the wall?”

“Woof~”

The corner of the Magic Eye’s eye twitched.

“A dog… dog hole? What is—wait. A creature this intelligent is just your pet?!”

Rebecca waved her hand. “No, no, no. She’s my daughter. Right, Lucky? Mommy loves you~”

The Magic Eye would never understand why a human woman would call herself a mother in front of a pet.

This world… was there anyone normal left in this world?!

“So that means… the hole I just crawled through… was just for pets like that?”

The Magic Eye felt a little broken.

Rebecca put on a look of exaggerated surprise. “Huh~ you came in through that hole too? Wow~ want to do it again for us?”

“Get lost!”

The Magic Eye had no intention of wasting words any longer. Since its retreat was blocked, it would have to sacrifice the body to save itself.

It immediately tried to abandon Shadow’s body and use its small size to escape unnoticed...

Abandoning baggage was one of its specialties.

But just as it attempted to pull free, it realized it couldn’t move at all.

“What… what’s going on?”

It tried several times, but every attempt ended in failure.

“Since you already know we set you up, didn’t it ever occur to you that we might have tampered with Shadow’s corpse as well?”

A voice came from behind the crowd.

Shadow turned to look.

The encirclement parted smoothly to both sides, revealing three familiar figures walking forward at an unhurried pace.

The Magic Eye’s eyes widened in fury.

“Le—on! It’s you again! Why won’t you leave me alone?!”

Consumed by rage, the Magic Eye immediately charged at Leon, controlling Shadow’s body.

But the instant it moved, the blue-haired beauty beside Leon casually raised a hand, and a body of light forced it to stop in place.

In the next moment, light flared at Shadow’s head, chest, abdomen, and all four limbs.

These lights shone simultaneously, forming an invisible set of shackles that bound Shadow’s body firmly in place.

“The Red Star Sealing Art doesn’t just restrict physical movement,” Claudia said calmly.

“It also seals you inside that body.”

She smiled faintly.

“Now let’s see where you think you can run.”