Chapter 180: Ch 179: Outside the Barrier

’Darn it! I am stuck here again. I need to find a way to escape this prison, and fast.’

The medical room was starting to feel claustrophobic after spending a whole day here. Kael wanted to take a walk outside, but Emma was sitting beside his bed like a guard. Her straight back and attentive nature made her the worst person to slip past.

Kael shuffled in bed to get comfortable, and Emma looked down at him with her sharp eyes.

"Do you need something?"

She asked, making Kael feel even more uncomfortable.

"I am fine. I will go to sleep now."

He closed his eyes to pull himself away from his older sister’s gaze. The concern in her eyes made Kael feel annoyed.

’I am a fully grown adult. There is no need for Emma to still treat me like a child who is too young and sick to do anything. Ugh, when is she going to leave me alone?’

Kael was well aware that he was acting like a child right now. But he could not help himself. His family just brought out this side of him without even intending to.

Sometime between pretending to sleep and his body deciding that it needed more rest, Kael actually fell asleep and woke up around nighttime.

For the first time, there was no one around him, and he decided it was the perfect time to try escaping.

His experience told him that it would be futile to head out through the hallway, so he decided to try the only other option available to him—the window.

Kael was on the first floor, so it was not a high enough fall to kill him. But he knew himself well. This fall was not safe for him either.

So he gathered what little magic still circulated inside him beneath his family’s anti-magic restraints and jumped down.

He landed on his feet and immediately started walking toward the barrier. Once he was outside, he would be able to contact everyone who needed to know he was alright.

Kael made it to the training grounds, and loud voices were coming from there. He immediately recognized his father’s and older brother’s voices. The third one, however...was not really familiar to him. But he could make an educated guess.

It could only be his youngest brother.

Kael had a relatively large family, and he was the sickly middle child. But he had no grievances about being the middle child. Mostly because his family coddled him too much.

In fact, being forgotten or loved less would have been better than whatever treatment he had received as a child.

"Let’s not focus on this for now. I need to hurry up and get out."

Kael focused on sensing the barrier, and he finally made it outside. His senses were immediately bombarded with different signals.

{Grand Master Kael, can you hear me? Please answer me. - Iris}

{Teacher, I cannot reach you. Please respond to my letter. - Seraphina}

{Kael, are you alright? Send me a signal if you are in trouble. - Leon}

{Oh! Why are you worrying someone as grand as me? Don’t you have any decency? - Lyra}

Kael grabbed his head as he tried to shake these thoughts away. He was already developing a headache because of all these messages.

"Ugh, this is a little too much. But I should reply to them-"

He tried to gather his magic, but an intense pain struck him. He could feel his magic, but it refused to gather in his hand.

Instead, something else was crawling up his spine, threatening to drag him into its cold embrace.

"Is that...the realm of the dead?"

Kael questioned as the familiar sensation tried to suppress his magic.

He would have usually blasted that force away and kept himself safe, but his body felt sluggish right now. Everything hurt, and it was not normal for him to feel like this.

It was almost as if his very soul was being clutched by icy fingers that threatened to yank it out of his body.

"Stay...away...from...me..."

Kael gritted his teeth as he tried to resist the realm of the dead. He could not afford to be trapped there.

[A disturbance has been detected. The Contractor’s magic has connected to the Realm of the Dead. Please ensure that you do not become trapped there.]

[Current condition of the Contractor: Status ailment - Body Fracture. The Contractor will not be able to use magic properly until fully recovered.]

[Time remaining until recovery: 1 year 8 months.]

World Magic was interfering, which meant that Kael’s situation was serious. But at least not all hope had been lost. If he could endure for 1 year and 8 months in a safe place, then he would be able to recover from this condition.

And the fact that World Magic was informing him of this meant that it trusted Kael to overcome it.

"I won’t...fall here. You cannot take...me..."

Kael tried to grab onto something as he felt the magic trying to drag him away. He was not going to give in.

"I refuse...to give in..."

Kael was stubborn. If this magic wanted to take him, then it would have to do so by force.

Luckily for him, someone heard his struggle. One second he was fighting against the magic, and the next he felt someone grab him. The chains holding him suddenly snapped.

When he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, he found that he was no longer outside the barrier. Someone had dragged him back inside.

"I thought you were supposed to be the ’responsible one.’ But then again, you did run away from home once, so I cannot exactly call you responsible either. I guess I will have to re-evaluate how I see you from now on."

A soft and pleasant voice spoke into Kael’s ears as he was finally set back on his feet. He looked back at his elder brother, and that bastard simply waved at him.

"So, how does it feel to be back home, younger brother? I do hope you are not trying to run away again."