"This should be the place."
Shane's voice sounded somewhat muffled in the wind.
The sky directly above the giant pit was a flawless blue, so calm it felt almost eerie.
"How do we get across?"
Mira looked around at the empty air around them, her voice carrying a rare trace of nervousness.
Shane did not answer right away. He raised his head, narrowing his eyes as he stared at that cloudless, deathly silence.
He didn't know exactly what lineage "Albion" belonged to in myth.
But at this moment, an instinctive certainty deep within his soul told him one thing very clearly—
the black dragon wings on his back possessed the power to tear open barriers and cross the edge of worlds.
"Hold on tight."
With a low shout, Shane slammed his wings downward.
Facing the residual magic vortex that ordinary people could never detect, he shot straight toward the highest point overhead.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As they climbed higher and higher, the air around them thinned, and the light began to twist in strange, dazzling distortions.
When their speed reached a certain critical point—
Pop.
It was like an extremely tough bubble under the surface of water being forcibly pierced from the outside.
Shane felt as if he had driven a sharp awl straight into a resilient membrane.
Along with that strange, crisp sound, the space before his eyes suddenly collapsed.
All light and shadow stretched and warped in an instant, turning into a torrent of colors rushing wildly backward.
A violent sense of weightlessness and dizziness struck. Mira instinctively buried her face tightly against Shane's chest and squeezed her eyes shut.
No one knew how much time passed.
Perhaps it was only an instant.
Perhaps it was several long minutes.
When that suffocating pressure finally vanished, the sound of the wind changed.
Shane slowly beat his wings and hovered in midair.
"Open your eyes. We're here."
Hearing the steady voice above her, Mira's lashes trembled slightly, and she cautiously opened her eyes.
The instant she saw the scene before her, her pupils contracted sharply, and an uncontrollable brilliance lit up in her eyes.
"This place… is Edolas?"
It wasn't just her. Even Shane, who was normally composed, couldn't help being moved by what he saw.
What appeared before their eyes was a world straight out of fantasy.
There was no vast, rolling continent beneath them.
Instead, there were countless islands of different sizes and landscapes.
As if supported by some unseen force, they defied the laws of gravity and floated quietly in staggered layers above an immense, far-reaching sea of clouds.
However, the visual shock only lasted for a brief moment before reality's problem appeared in front of them.
"So…" Mira gradually came back to herself from that magnificent view of floating islands.
Looking at the endless sea of clouds around them with no landmarks whatsoever, she turned to him in confusion. "Where would Lisanna be?"
"…"
Shane fell into an awkward silence.
The consequences of secretly ditching Mystogan, their "local guide," had arrived even faster than he'd expected.
They had only just arrived, and facing this other world where they couldn't even tell east from west, the two of them were completely blind. They had no idea where to start.
"Don't tell me you came charging in here with me on impulse and no plan at all?"
Seeing Shane say nothing, Mira narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Don't panic. I can use the Eye of Karma to observe the causal lines on your body. Using the blood connection between you sisters, maybe I can directly locate her."
Shane took a deep breath, a sudden idea flashing through his mind.
Hearing that, Mirajane froze at first, then seemed to realize something. A rather smug smile bloomed on her face.
"Oh? Who was it earlier in the sky calling me a burden?"
She raised her chin slightly and asked knowingly,
"If this young lady hadn't shamelessly clung on and followed you here, how exactly was my almighty master planning to find Lisanna in this sea of clouds?"
"Tch."
Shane awkwardly turned his face away, very unwilling to admit that he hadn't thought this through.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Mira knew when to stop pressing. She reached out with both hands and forcefully turned Shane's head back into place.
Looking at the girl's cheeks, slightly flushed from excitement, Shane sighed inwardly.
Wasn't she afraid at all that following the causal line would lead them to nothing but a cold Lacrima crystal?
The thought had barely surfaced before Shane shook his head hard and warned himself not to dwell on pessimistic possibilities right now.
He gathered his focus and half-closed his eyes.
When his eyelids lifted again, a blazing flame was already flickering deep within his dark pupils.
In the vision of the Eye of Karma, all the physical colors of the world were instantly stripped away, turning everything gray and white.
Shane tilted his head and looked at the girl in his arms.
From Mira's body extended countless illusory threads, densely interwoven like a spiderweb.
They were all the causal connections she had formed in this world.
And among those countless complicated threads, three were especially thick and deep in color.
One extended straight downward, piercing through the void like an anchor. That was probably connected to Elfman back in Earth-land.
Another…
For some reason, it was firmly connected to Shane's own heart.
That surprised him a little and felt somewhat strange, but he did not think too deeply about it.
As for the final thread, it glowed faintly yet stubbornly, pointing far toward the south of this high sky.
Only, the end of this causal line seemed tangled with many messy branches and fine offshoots, making it a little blurred.
"I see it."
Shane raised his hand and pointed toward a faint floating landmass in the south.
"That direction should be where Lisanna is now."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
The moment she learned her sister's location, Mira's delight completely overwhelmed her reason.
"Full-Body Take Over—"
The girl released the arms wrapped around Shane's neck, instinctively trying to call upon the demon soul within her body.
However, the Take Over magic that should have obeyed her as easily as moving her own limbs, surging out with just a thought, now vanished like mud sinking into the sea.
Her body was empty.
Not even the slightest ripple of magic stirred.
"Huh?"
Mira froze, her expression locking up instantly.
Without the support of magic, and no longer held up by Shane, gravity seized her in an instant.
Her body dropped uncontrollably toward the bottomless sea of clouds below.
"You idiot!"
Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Shane dove after her and steadily scooped the dazed girl back into his arms.
"Didn't I emphasize this already? There's no free magic in this world's air. Right now, you're an ordinary person. You can't use magic!"
They had been here for less than ten minutes, and she'd already nearly splattered herself into paste. Shane was deeply worried about the journey ahead.
"Sorry…"
Knowing she was in the wrong, Mira shrank her neck like a kitten that had done something bad and mumbled guiltily.
Still shaken, her gaze landed on the black dragon wings still spread steadily behind Shane.
"But why can you still use magic? Oh right, your heart… it can make magic on its own, can't it?"
To hear it more clearly, the girl leaned forward slightly and pressed her ear to Shane's chest.
From there came a steady, powerful heartbeat, like the pounding of war drums.
With her movement, her soft silver-white hair brushed lightly over Shane's neck and chin, bringing with it a ticklish, tingling sensation.
"Let's land first."
Shane had no mental space to enjoy the ambiguous moment. Holding her, he flew downward.
"What's wrong?"
Mira looked like a curious child.
Shane did not answer. He found a relatively hidden rocky area nearby and descended.
The instant his feet touched the ground, he quickly pulled a wide black hooded cloak from his storage space and wrapped it tightly around himself, completely hiding his original face.
"In Edolas, 'I' am apparently a famous person. Walking around with this face would probably cause a ton of trouble, so it's safer to hide it."
As Shane fastened the hidden clasp at the collar, he explained casually.
Once his disguise was handled, he picked up the magicless Mira again and, following the causal line, beat his wings and flew south.
Facing the roaring wind, Shane looked down at the monotonous rocky terrain below, but his heart was far from calm.
There really wasn't even the slightest trace of magic in the air of this world.
He had assumed that no matter how barren it was, there would at least be a little residue.
Had that evil dragon eaten it that cleanly?
This was terrible news.
The only reason he could still move freely was because the [Dragon Reactor Core] inside him kept roaring, continuously producing magic.
If the furnace overloaded and stopped, or if he switched to another class without self-cycling magic, he would end up just like Mira—a powerless ornament at someone else's mercy.
I need to be careful, Shane reminded himself.
…
…
No one knew how long they flew.
Just as the dull rocks and sea of clouds were starting to wear on the eyes, a different color finally appeared on the horizon ahead.
The outline of a vast city with an exotic, unfamiliar architectural style slowly emerged from the faint mist.
"Lisanna's causal line has a few broken branches extending into that city."
Shane hovered at the edge of the forest outside the city and turned to ask Mira's opinion.
"I want to go in first and see what those branches are connected to."
Mira looked toward the bustling city gate in the distance. After thinking briefly, she nodded seriously.
"Let's check it out. We don't know anything about this place. Gathering more information and learning how this world works will help with what comes next too."