The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 173: Home Sweet Home

Lucian and his mother didn’t return to Earth immediately.

It took Seraphina a little while to change, as she was still wearing the nightgown she had spent the entire day in.

It seemed she already had several outfits, brought by the maids especially for her own fittings.

After waiting for several more minutes—

"Where do you want to go?"

Selthia asked, turning toward Lucian with the same mildly annoyed expression she had been wearing ever since being pulled out of Kanna’s shadows.

Lucian didn’t give her even a moment of consideration.

"Do you know my home address?" he asked, though he wasn’t really expecting a positive answer.

But to his surprise—

Selthia nodded, and that small gesture immediately caught him off guard.

This meant they all already knew where he lived.

Thinking about it, however, was it really that surprising if he considered that Lia was a part of the Scarlett household, and Valentina would’ve probably kept her eyes on her niece?

’Then why didn’t she help us in the previous timeline?’ His brows furrowed into a dark expression, but—

"But do you really want to go there?"

His thoughts were interrupted by Selthia’s next question.

"Is that a problem?"

He looked at the grey-haired maid, and a small trace of confusion appeared across his face.

Instead of answering immediately, Selthia’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she quickly shook her head.

"Nope. No problem at all."

Her words caused him to frown, especially after noticing the mischievous smile spreading across her lips.

Something didn’t feel quite right about that expression.

But before he could even question her further—

Selthia casually waved her hand.

In the very next moment—

The surrounding air rippled.

The empty space before them twisted and distorted.

A wide, tear-like rift split open through the air itself, as though someone had carved a circular portal directly into space.

Lucian, Seraphina, and Lia’s eyes widened simultaneously.

"...Whoa." Lia couldn’t stop herself from muttering in amazement.

Seeing their reactions, Selthia proudly puffed out her chest, looking extremely pleased with herself.

While both women were fascinated by the portal itself, Lucian’s attention quietly shifted toward the woman who had created it.

’She’s... surprisingly talented.’

Even without fully understanding what she had done, he could instinctively tell that manipulating space itself must’ve required an incredible amount of concentration.

And yet the maid had opened such a stable portal effortlessly... without even breaking a sweat, all within only a few seconds.

After silently appreciating the portal for a brief moment, Lucian finally stepped forward.

Seraphina fell into step beside him.

Lia hesitantly, and rather reluctantly, loosened her fingers from around his arm, making Lucian smile faintly before gently patting her head.

"Don’t miss me too much," he chuckled softly after noticing the small pout on her face.

Vivienne and Seraphina watched the siblings’ interaction with identically deadpan expressions.

Lucian then briefly lowered his gaze toward his own shadow before lifting it toward Valentina.

"See you soon, Master."

"Just don’t get yourself killed," she replied, making him smile gently.

His gaze then shifted toward the junior redhead, who was standing with both arms crossed over her chest, lazily yawning as though she were only there to personally witness him get the fuck out of the castle.

"Will miss you too, hothead."

Lucian gave her a mock salute, and in response—

"Fuck off."

Vivienne answered immediately while flipping him the middle finger, only to earn a delighted chuckle from Lucian in return.

Without another word, both he and Seraphina stepped through the portal.

The moment they crossed it—

Their vision shifted. Their surroundings distorted violently before—

They had finally returned... back to Earth.

"Finally...

Some peace."

Vivienne’s voice echoed through the training ground as she slowly stretched her arms above her head, a satisfied smile appearing across her lips while the portal before them gradually began to fade.

But...

No one responded.

Lia’s expression had already turned gloomy, and a part of her was now slightly regretting her decision—though she still wanted to break through her bottleneck right now, since it was more important.

A wide grin spread across Selthia’s face before it immediately shifted into a professional expression, silently wondering what kind of expressions the two of them would be making right now.

As for Valentina...

She blankly stared at the fading portal, and after a brief moment of thought—

"Viv... I’ll be out for a while."

Her sudden words caused Vivienne to turn around.

But the moment she did—

Her mother had already disappeared.

No mist.

No bat transformation.

No movement she could perceive whatsoever.

It was as though she had simply vanished from the castle in less than a fraction of a second.

***

Meanwhile...

Back on Earth...

The distorted space surrounding them gradually settled, and the view before them became completely clear.

And the very moment both of them looked ahead at the scene before them...

Lucian’s and Seraphina’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Where... the fuck did that maid send us?" Lucian couldn’t help but mutter.

He slowly swept his gaze across the surroundings.

Ruined houses stretched in every direction.

Concrete slabs had collapsed over one another, with crushed cars, shattered walls, and even the roads beneath them now almost unrecognisable beneath craters and rubble.

Not a single structure remained intact.

Everything looked beyond recognition.

The countless cracks spreading through the roads resembled giant veins branching across the broken ground, as though a massive earthquake had torn through the entire area.

Slowly, a frown formed between Lucian’s brows.

Selthia had clearly told them she would send them back to their house.

Yet... as far as he could see—

Nothing looked even remotely familiar.

At least... that was what he thought.

Since he was trying to see far beyond what a normal person could, he failed to notice something that had been right in front of him the entire time.

After briefly looking around, Seraphina’s stunned gaze wandered before finally stopping on a pile of collapsed concrete a short distance away.

Her lips slowly parted.

"Lucian... isn’t that our house?"

Lucian immediately followed her gaze.

The instant his eyes landed on it—

They widened in stupefied shock.

It... really was.

Or rather... it once had been.

His precious house had completely caved in on itself, reduced to nothing more than shattered walls, broken pillars, and countless slabs of concrete.

If not for the damaged car parked to one side—or rather, crushed beneath a fallen concrete pillar—he wouldn’t have recognised the place at all.

His vision instinctively zoomed in, making the license plate perfectly clear, and the moment he read it—

"Wha... what happened here...?" His voice came out lower than before.

Without another word, his figure blurred from her side before instantly appearing before what remained of his house.

Seraphina, witnessing the sudden burst of speed, was momentarily shocked, but soon let out a small sigh before quietly walking after him.

Carefully and skillfully stepping across the broken road and weaving through the craters, she eventually reached him a few minutes later.

But even after she arrived beside him, Lucian hadn’t moved at all.

He simply stood before what had once been the entrance to their house, completely motionless.

"Lucian...?"

She softly called his name before stepping closer and glancing at his face, only to see his crimson eyes blankly fixed on the collapsed doorway without even blinking.

"My precious house..."

His voice came out hollow.

"My precious car..."

Seraphina looked at the ruins herself, and a flicker of understanding passed through her eyes.

She immediately understood why he was behaving like that.

She knew exactly how her son and Lia had struggled inside a small apartment for years, and after enduring all those hardships, how he had finally bought this house, along with everything else he had worked so hard to afford.

It wasn’t merely the heartbreak of seeing his house destroyed, but also the despair of watching everything he had worked for—every possession he had bought, every memory he had created—reduced to nothing but ruins.

Seeing him continue to stare silently without moving even after nearly a minute, Seraphina gently tapped his shoulder.

The small touch finally broke him out of his thoughts—if he had been thinking at all and not simply struggling to comprehend the sight before him.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

Lucian turned toward her and nodded, giving her a faint, reassuring smile. Then, after giving the broken house one last glance...

He slowly shifted his attention downward, toward his own shadow.

"Kanna... come out for a moment."

At his words, the shadow beneath his feet immediately flickered.

The darkness thickened before flowing a short distance away from him, rippling outward like liquid ink...

A moment later, Kanna’s figure silently emerged from the darkness.

Her emotionless eyes briefly shifted toward the ruined house, carrying not the slightest flicker of surprise.

Almost as though she had already expected something like this.

Then she calmly turned back to Lucian, who was staring at her with unusual seriousness.

Even without him saying a single word, she understood exactly what he wanted to ask.