[16] Phantom Fruit.

[16] Phantom Fruit.

Right at that moment, the tattoo on her right palm began to heat up. Kayra flinched as she looked down.

"My palm is getting hotter...." She whispered. Although she was repulsive of the heinous tattoo, she checked it despite being afraid. Safety first!

{Master, someone's tracking you.}

'That man must have found out that I am missing!' Kayra guessed, and then she felt something. As if a connection had been established between and another person. Someone was approaching her from afar. Even though she could not see through the high walls of the Auction Palace, she felt it in her guts.

"Phiphi, we need to get rid of it as soon as possible!" Because of her strong emotions to get rid of the tattoo, before the system and Cardinal could do something, the tattoo began to fade. In no time, it completely vanished.

'It disappeared like that?' Kayra widened her eyes and raised her palm to check. Looking at the flawless skin, she nodded with a smile.

But, the disappearance of the tattoo activated the mini scanners which were on the nearby walls. When the scanners didn't find the tattoo mark on her, some mechanism got activated.

{Master, be prepared…}

'What?' she called out and in the next second, she realized the meaning of Cardinal's words.

Creak~ Creak~

A part of the wall opened, and a handcuff flew towards her. Before Kayra could do something, her wrists were handcuffed. She widened her eyes and ran in another direction.

Two robotic hands flew out of that space and grabbed her shoulders in an iron grip.

"Ah, help!" Kayra shouted subconsciously while the giant mechanical hands began to drag her there.

{Don't struggle. It's futile.}

Cardinal's robotic voice rang out and thus, Kayra forgot the thought of stimulating her life essence to break free. Moreover, the metal was too hard, and she wasn't even confident to break it in the first place!

The system began to shake its body out of the blue. After a while, it vanished from Kayra's mind space. Cardinal's consciousness froze when he didn't find Phiphi. He spread out his scanner to find it yet got slapped by it!

[Be obedient! Don't peek!]

{... Yes, boss!}

Thus, Cardinal was left alone in the vast mind space of Kayra. He decided to look outside and enjoy whatever disaster his master would bring~

Outside.

Kayra was dragged inside the opened wall and the wall went back to its former form. Then, her body experienced a full-blown five minutes slide in a huge pipe.

"Ahhhh!..." Kayra felt she was going down and down and down. "Don't tell me it is bringing me to the center of the planet?!"

Her worry did not come true. Soon, she was dragged to an underground prison and got locked in it. The handcuffs also unlocked automatically and flew away.

"Oof~ My wrists hurt!" She rubbed her wrists. The tender skin color had turned into a glary red because of the suppression of those handcuffs.

Kayra sat down on the floor and stared at the mini windows which were on a wall that was part of her prison. To her shock, rather than greenery, all she saw were Onyx trees and white sand.

"My head hurts!" She again felt the familiar uncomfortable feeling, but for some reason, she seemed to not be able to take her eyes away.

Her heart tightened, and she had difficulty breathing. The butterfly-earning heated up, and it forced her sense to move from the mini windows.

Kayra jolted up and closed her eyes tightly. She rubbed her chest gently and after a while, the pain left. She stood up and stared at the ground to avoid the windows.

Kayra went beside the prison bars and was delighted to see no locks at the door. Her hands inched towards the tower bolts when the sound from the earring came to her ear rather than his voice ringing in her brain!

{Be careful, master. The bars may have electronic shock functions.}

"..." Kayra retreated and glanced at the prison bars warily. Then, a peach materialized in front of her. With a dreamy expression, Kayra caught it. "Food!"

{ … }

Cardinal was speechless when he saw his master hugging the peach lovingly as if the thing was her child.

"Thanks! I regretted not eating this back then!" After showing her cute dimples, she raised the glossy peach and opened her mouth wide, ready to take a mouthful of bite!

{Master, it's phantom fruit. You'll fall into an illusion if you eat it.}

The approaching face stopped and blinked at the red peach. She sighed and asked, "Cardinal, just why?... Tsk! Forget it!"

Kayra guessed as to why did it. She went ahead and threw it towards the prison bars.

Sizzle~ Sizzle~

As if oil had met burning fire, the whole peach lit up brightly and caught fire. In five seconds, nothing was left. Kayra gulped down hard and stared at the bars, which were alternating between red and blue lights.

'This…' Kayra cupped her face and squatted down. She imagined herself in that peach's place and shuddered. 'How can I leave?!'

However, in the next second, Kayra nearly fell back. While being in her squatting position, she glanced around and saw an unfamiliar place.

"I am outside?!... Oh my God! Is it the legendary teleportation?!" Kayra stood up and murmured excitedly.

[... Host, don't be so surprised every time I do something. Beware of your image!]

The excitement of hers died down instantly. She glanced around and saw nine directions in front of her. 'Which one should I choose?...'

After thinking for a while, she began to walk into the third one. Soon, she stepped into an unfamiliar corridor, yet it wasn't the same design as the palace.

"I must be underground now," Kayra whispered and then moved in the right direction. After walking for a while, she heard footsteps coming from the front, so she turned around and entered the nearby room.

A female guard came and stopped in front of the room. Then, another man appeared and stood beside her. Together, they glanced over the surroundings and examined everything warily.