Fortunately, Dragan seemed to have sensed the impending danger. He must have heard the clacking of the lolita's shoes or received a warning from Ivan. Just in the nick of time, he turned around and narrowly dodged the first swing of the claw made of hardened blood.

The claw hit the ground with impact and left a nasty hollow where it connected. Dragan’s dodge had put him closer to my current position and I felt encouraged to keep walking towards him. 

If only he could hear me, I could at least try to assist him with vital information!

Since I had to cut my call with Ivan short, I had no clue of his current location. If he was still in a dungeon, his arrival would surely take longer than we had initially planned due to the distance. Dragan had to evade the combined attacks for at least five minutes, if not longer.

As the white-haired lolita retracted their hand from the hollow they had created, Dragan reacted quickly. He threw his school bag to the side and glanced up at the person on the roof. I hoped that Ivan had informed him about the invisible wires and threads spread across the street. 

I recalled my own knowledge that I had shared with Ivan the other evening:

The nameless ‘puppetmaster’, the creator of the homunculus, wielded incredibly sharp threads to ensnare and harm her enemies. In turn, her homunculus Lu, fought using their blood manipulation abilities. It was a dangerous and deadly combination, which was the main reason why I had been so nervous from the beginning.

My heart pounded in my chest as I watched the dangerous situation unfold before me. If someone were to run into the invisible threads blindly, the outcome would be gruesome. I desperately looked around, hoping to spot any sign of the deadly traps. I knew I couldn't do much in my current state, but an idea formed in my mind—a dangerous one.

“What do you want from me?” Dragan called out to his attackers. He was trying to buy some time. If they entertained him, they might momentarily halt their attacks, bringing Ivan's arrival closer. 

Lu with their hair swaying in the breeze, remained calm and showed no response to Dragan. Their master on the rooftop was equally silent, which didn’t bode well. It was clear they didn’t intend to reveal anything at this point. 

Ignoring Dragan's evident frustration, Lu lunged towards him once more with the raised claw. However, Dragan showed his resourcefulness and reacted quickly. He looked around for a split second, and before Lu could stop their attack, he jumped against a nearby house's wall and grabbed onto a drainpipe. In one fluid motion, he pulled himself onto the low roof of the house and headed towards the other person who was now retreating.

I got a bad feeling as I saw Lu's creator backing away—it felt like a trap. 

Panic surged through me, and I tapped my tattoo twice, hoping to reach Ivan and warn him to call Dragan back. But there was no response. Did the communication spell fail because he was currently in the middle of his warp spell? I had no time to dwell on it – I kept moving for now.

I followed Dragan, passing by the still and composed Lu, and desperately called his name, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. 

Then it happened. 

Dragan tripped over an invisible thread, triggering a deadly trap. With the speed at which he had been moving, his leg would have been severed if it hadn't been for the protective barrier Ivan had placed on him. Instead, he stumbled, and his fall led him into another web of threads. Once again, Ivan's barrier saved him from gruesome wounds, but it was clear that his luck was running out. To minimize harm, he twisted his body during the fall to avoid being caught in more threads. His quick thinking worked to his advantage, as I didn’t see him hit any other threads.

With a dull thud, Dragan finally managed to land right in front of my feet, gasping for breath. 

The barrier crackled with the sound of breaking glass, indicating that its protective power had been depleted. Despite the shock of the rapid succession of dangerous events, I saw no serious wounds on his body, which brought a momentary sigh of relief. 

Both Dragan’s quick thinking and Ivan's barrier had shielded him from three potentially lethal situations, but now that protection was gone, and there was still no sign of Ivan.

Fear and desperation surged within me as I assessed the situation. Dragan was vulnerable, and I had no tangible way to help him in my current form, or so I thought at first. 

More than once, I was able to have some influence on this world even though I was incorporeal. If my assumption was correct, I might be able to do something.

Lu had drawn closer, and I knew I couldn't let them harm Dragan any further. He was still recovering from the fall and was unsteady on his feet.

Thankfully, Lu’s creator had retreated far into the back, focusing on setting and controlling the threads rather than engaging in the attack, which gave us a bit more time.

It’s now or never!

With trembling legs, I positioned myself in front of Dragan. If Lu could see me right now, Dragan would’ve been perfectly hidden from their sight. This wasn’t the case obviously, but I geared towards something else.

Dragan raised his head towards the white-haired homunculus, and he tried to stand up, but his legs were still shaking from the fall. I heard him curse behind me, his frustration evident.

“I’ll make sure nothing will happen to you. Just try to hold on until Ivan arrives, okay?” 

I spoke with a clear voice, even if I knew he couldn’t hear me at all. But I felt the burning need to express myself, to offer him some form of reassurance – and to pump myself up for what I was about to do.

Lu readied their claw and did another rush attack, speeding towards us, and Dragan shifted some more behind me. He didn’t lose his fighting spirit either and that comforted me. Even if I fell here, he’d try to fight until Ivan was here. That was all that mattered. 

I stretched out my arms in both directions and tried to stay as calm as possible, even though my heart hammered in my chest. 

The homunculus stopped right in front of me and swung their claw in an attempt to hit Dragan on the floor. My eyes instinctively closed, but I forced them open again. I had to see whether this worked or not.

It was as if time came to a crawl. I saw the claw move right in front of my head. Just as the claw was about to hit me on the head with full force, it recoiled, and Lu fell backward.

…! 

It worked! 

The barrier Ivan had put on me worked even if I wasn't visible to the homunculus!

I felt a mixture of relief and disbelief wash over me. Ivan's protection was still in effect, and it helped me save Dragan from a potentially fatal blow. 

This revelation filled me with determination to keep stalling for time until Ivan arrived. Dragan's safety depended on it and finally there was something I could do!

“What was that?” 

For the first time, I heard Lu’s calm boyish voice, as they questioned what had happened. They sat on the floor in disbelief, squinting in our direction. 

I took this chance to catch a quick glance at Dragan to see how he was doing and he seemed equally confused about the situation. 

“There was something in my way,” Lu mumbled softly, their brown eyes fixated on the spot where I was currently standing. The intensity of their gaze sent shivers down my spine. 

Undeterred, they brushed their left pigtail that had spilled over their shoulder away from it and stood up to prepare for another attack.

I took a deep breath and steadied myself, ready to reposition myself in front of Dragan from any angle if Lu changed their attack pattern. Sweat was running down my neck, and I ignored the pain in my knee and arm.

Without wasting any more time, Lu ran up to us again and tried an attack from above, attempting to smash the claw downward once more. I focused on being as tall and steadfast as possible when the attack hit my barrier.

Sometime during the attack, I heard the clang of glass, but the barrier still seemed to work, and Lu recoiled once more. They were thrown against the wall, which knocked the air out of their lungs.

I didn't dare to waste any time celebrating this small victory. It was clear that Lu was relentless and would continue to attack. Dragan stirred behind me and for a moment, I wished that he was able to see how hard I was trying to protect him. My heart was pounding in my chest from all the adrenaline. 

Lu’s frantic voice ripped me of my wishful thinking.

“Master will punish me, if I fail! I can’t fail here!” 

Their calm countenance from before was lost now and instead replaced by a wide eyed stare of sheer terror and desperation. My stomach churned seeing them like this. 

From reading the novel I knew that they only did this because their creator was forcing them. Their character was one of the few ones on the villain's side that I felt sympathetic to, which is why we had to wrap this up before anything happened – to give Lu a chance for a different life, as well.

They readied their claw once more and I went into my stance, ready to block it once more. There was a sound earlier, but I still felt the barrier around me, which meant it was still active. It could take at least one more hit, if my guess was right.

The homunculus did their next rush attack with their claw positioned behind them, probably to gain more momentum for the attack itself. I gulped nervously and took a deep breath, right before the homunculus reached me. Right in front of me, Lu took a big swing aimed at my stomach area, the claw connected with the barrier and then I felt it.

A noise of shattered glass entered my ears and my heart dropped during the split second that I realized that the barrier had broken. The claw connected with my stomach piercing through the first layer of my skin and sent me flying through the air. Immediately after that, Lu still got hit by the recoil from the barrier and flew backwards once more.

I screamed out in pain from the wound in my stomach, the moment the claw connected with my body. I felt disoriented from being sent flying, until I landed on the ground again with a disgusting crack of my bones. My whole body hurt like hell and I had no idea how I was alive. Even worse, I layed on my wounded stomach and felt my pajamas and the ground beneath me soaking with my blood. Judging by the pain in my head and the fuzziness, I was sure I had a wound there as well. 

Slowly the pain consumed my mind and I screamed out once more. The blood was slowly spreading all over the ground and I was sure both Lu and Dragan knew that I was laying here, if my blood was anything to go by.

“Who are you? Why did you protect me?” Dragan’s voice rang out and I craned my head to see where he was. 

…?!