Chapter 80: No Way Behind

’Huh?’

"I’m an Ophiuchus Astrant, not an Aquarius one. If you want the water moved, pour it yourself," Marek reasoned, suspicious of what this guy was up to now.

Even more so when Rhovan just smiled at him without saying anything.

Marek squinted. "You always knew I wouldn’t do it from the very start."

"I hope you wouldn’t," Rhovan admitted. "You reached Degree II because you gained better control over something already within the scope of your Authority..."

’He’s yapping again,’ Eren thought, deciding to ignore the exchange between the two. ’He should just be like Kellan, who had already fallen asleep earlier...’

"... I wanted to know whether advancing would make you confused with greater control over a greater range of things you could lawfully define."

Marek looked at the bottles again. ’Annoyingly, that made sense.’

His advancement allowed him to preserve a <anno data-annotation-id="5f252e36-3aa7-d4fa-45be-c17c398d6b8d" data-title="Case Boundary">Case Boundary¹</anno> through release. It did not mean he could suddenly treat everything around him as a Condition simply because he wanted something transferred somewhere else.

There was no injury here, no poison, and nothing harmful that required him to contain it. It was just water in one bottle.

"You could’ve just asked me whether I understood that," Marek still complained. "Instead, you tested me out of nowhere."

Rhovan then shook his head lightly. "People often claim to understand things they immediately fail to practice."

Marek just stared at him for several seconds. Then, he picked up the water-filled bottle, unscrewed the cap, and drank from it. He drank a lot as though he had not drunk water in a while.

Rhovan’s eyes widened, covering his mouth with one hand. "That was part of the test."

Nadia laughed from across the clinic, but the moment passed when Silas turned from the entrance. He raised one hand toward them before glancing outside again. Marek followed his gaze. He caught sight of two uniformed officers approaching the clinic.

"It seems..."

"Government patrol," Rafe answered, folding the map.

Considering the notice Eren handed to him earlier, Marek did not need to be told twice. He stood up and helped Eren arrange the papers scattered across the floor, moving faster than before but careful enough not to let the sheets scrape loudly against the tiles.

Near the entrance, Silas remained completely still. He watched the approaching figures through the narrow opening between the door and its frame. ’Damn.’

"They’re coming closer," he said quietly.

That was his last signal.

Marek shoved the last bundle of notices into Eren’s hands and moved away from the front part of the clinic. Rhovan woke Kellan up.

"Fu—"

Kellan was about to cuss loudly, but Rhovan quickly covered his mouth. "Don’t say anything more. Just follow us."

Then, they proceeded. Even while doing all of this, Rhovan did not give any comment. He could probably one-shot every government patrol out there, but he was certain that that wasn’t what the Ophiarch would do, so he refrained himself from using brute force.

For several seconds, the only sounds left inside were the faint hum of electricity and the soft movement of shoes against the dusty floor.

Marek and others headed for the back door. Marek reached it first and pushed it open—lightly. Cold air rushed through the gap, like they were at the beach. Upon feeling this, he frowned.

He did not expect to see something like this at the back of the clinic. Instead, when he pulled the door wider and was about to step outside, his foot stopped before taking the next step. Less than a pace beyond the doorway, the earth had dropped away into a cliff, cutting through what should have been the rear lane and the buildings beyond it.

"Fuck," Kellan cursed, wiping his eyes to keep the sleepiness away. "How are we supposed to escape from here?"

Jutting from the exposed wall of soil below were broken pipes, chunks of pavement, and steel rebars. Meanwhile, sections of foundations hung over the drop as though the rest of the street had simply been torn away.

Marek stared down at the cliff. ’You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Then, Rafe reminded them in a hushed tone, "They’re already at the entrance. So far, I couldn’t confirm if they have a Sagittarius Astrant with them, like me. If these patrols—"

"Assume they do," Rhovan cut him off. "The most useful patrol combination would be a Taurus for combat, a Scorpius for investigation, and a Sagittarius for navigation. I guess I don’t have any choice but to do this. The Ophiarch is still weak now. Ahh! This means I can’t help him anymore when he grows stronger! I think this is better now!"

Marek’s tensed nerves eased the moment he heard Rhovan. "Whatever you’re trying to do, do it now."

Soon, they heard footsteps just before another door leading to the back door. Everyone tensed.

Rhovan just nodded his head as he raised his hand. From his hand stretched a golden light that enveloped them like a shield. "This is something I developed when I wanted to go invisible. No one can see or hear us with this."

"Why do you want to go invisible?" Dario asked, raising his brow.

’For peeping?’ Kellan thought. He then blushed, questioning himself how dare he think of something inappropriate. ’But it wouldn’t be a bad power to have...’

"Of course, to stray away from the attention humans are giving me. It’s honestly exhausting sometimes to be this great and powerful—"

Dario’s eyes widened, and he immediately covered his mouth when the door to the room they were in... opened. ’Can you just shut up?’

Marek looked at Dario strangely.

Rhovan just glared at Dario. Gold light slipped from his fingertips in thin strands, winding around Dario’s arms, shoulders, and jaw before tightening all at once. Dario’s hand covering his mouth was gradually peeled away against his will. Then, the gold light cloaked him entirely, sealing him inside a luminous cocoon.

Marek then looked at Rhovan. "Do you really need to do that?"

"Yes, oh Dear Ophiarch. Only someone like you can do that to me!"

Marek visibly shivered. "Never mind."

<annotations style="display: none;">the rules that separate the defined problem from everything outside it.</annotations>