Merlin's teeth clenched. Why couldn't he touch her!? If this continued, then—
Bang! Noah stepped forward.
The domain screamed as a flash of spiritual energy erupted from his body. Ice shattered, wind tore, and the water dispersed in a flash as her foot hit the solid ground directly in front of him.
Merlin's eyes widened!
His breath hitched, and his mind couldn't keep up!
How did she get so close! For the first time since the duel began—
He realized he was losing!
In a moment of panic, Merlin pulled a spell from one of the two unused spell matrices behind him. In a flash of blinding light, a series of water mirrors appeared around him, all displaying the exact same figure, the exact same face, the exact same small child—
This was… Tulip!
Noah, caught off guard, froze on the spot—
Bang! As her mind glitched, an extremely dense bolt of mana struck her directly in the chest, sending her flying backwards! Swoosh! She tore through the air, her body twisting uncontrollably as the ground rushed past her!
On Petra's side—
Rose frowned. "What's she doing?"
Petra tilted her head. "Whoever was in the mirror… It should be related to some bullshit backstory. Mm, why do I seem to be sensing a love triangle?"
Lira blinked. "How can love be a triangle?"
Petra looked at her and snorted.
"Why isn't the battle over yet? Noah should be able to end it in a punch, right?" Rose asked again.
Petra mumbled, "Merlin probably hurt her pride. The worst thing you can do to a person is tell them that they need to be protected! I would go crazy too if somebody said that to me, er… no, I would just burn down their house and then kidnap their families, but Noah is a good child! Bahahaha!"
Silence…
Noah's body, shooting through the air, slowed down.
Time felt as if it had frozen, and for a single heartbeat—
Memories came crashing down! Memories long forgotten!
-
Tock-tock-tock—! Dang! The scene unfolded…
- Fire!
- Screaming!
- A burning village!
It was chaos incarnate!
Adults were cut down like grass, and turned into bloody meat…
Children scattered and screamed, crying, and fled through the streets…
Hands grabbed, invaders attacked, and the world collapsed…
-
Then—
Someone appeared!
There were white robes with a flowing green cloud pattern. The sound dulled, and the world stilled….
Then came the sharp sound of a flute, and then—
Tulip was—
Dragged away, her eyes wide, her mouth open, reaching, screaming, crying, then she was gone—
-
Two young voices echoed in the darkness…
Merlin—
While shaking on the ground: "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I swear! I swear—! I won't stop, I won't stop until I drag you bastards down from the damn sky!"
Noah—
While trembling in place: "Is this the true face of the world? Is this the will of heaven? Is it just like 'she' said, unavoidable? Why… Why—! Why did this happen! What did we do to deserve this! Why must it be like this! How is this fair!"
The world went silent…
-
Noah landed on the ground, dragged through the earth. Her eyes flashed as her hand hit the ground, and her head snapped up. In her gaze, something seemed to have changed.
- Tulip! How could she forget? No, why did she forget! Something was wrong…
The air compressed as her posture lowered. She placed one hand on the ground in front of her as her back arched like a cat. Her breathing steadied and her body bent.
- Now was not the time to think about it! Now, she needed to end this duel!
Then—
Before Merlin could even react, BOOM!!
—She vanished!
- Time seemed to slow down…
Arthur's eyes widened.
Petra's eyes sparkled.
In an instant, Noah reappeared in front of Merlin!
She was close, too close! This time, they were practically touching!
Noah's eyes enlarged, her focus condensing to a single point. Her mind turned, thinking back to her combat lessons…
Rose: "In combat, you need to use your head. Brute force isn't always the way to go!"
The true meaning of these enlightening words finally clicked! She thought Rose was joking, but…
Noah—
Her movements became impossibly precise, with each shift layered atop the next, calculated beyond normal cognition, instantly forming a single, unimaginably powerful attack! Bones, muscles, lungs, brain and balance—she dismantled it all into a single flowing sequence.
Merlin felt his skin crawl.
His perception could keep up, but his body could not!
Noah moved, his head coming down like a literal guillotine.
Headbutt! Ba-booooom!!
- Time resumed!
The Impact came!
The crack followed!
BOOOOOM!! Merlin was launched backwards! Swoosh—!
His body folded, then slammed into the ground, skidding to a stop. The earth shattered beneath him as he rolled, comically spun, then collapsed in a heap just a short distance away!
Silence…
Merlin lay on the ground, his bones badly broken. He stared up in shock as Noah stood over him, her eyes cold and unwavering.
The 'duel' was over.
Noah exhaled, and—
Turned, then walked away…
Merlin was left in a daze, watching his—her back leave…
* * *
The battle was over…
The chaotic 'arena' slowly settled down, with the broken ice melting into shallow pools, while the lingering spiritual energy dissipated back into the world. What remained was a heavy and uncomfortable silence, left only with the faintest spray of rain and wind.
Noah returned to Petra and the girls without a word. She didn't look injured, but the tension had drained from her body all at once, leaving her a bit unsteady. After she pulled back on her outer robe, she found a tree to lean against and closed her eyes.
Arthur stepped forward and picked up Merlin at the same time. Pen followed closely behind, his expression conflicted. His eyes flickered between Noah and the ruined battlefield, then back to Merlin. There was clearly something on his mind. Perhaps, he too was shocked at the intensity of that exchange. One had to know that the battle only happened over the span of a minute. Merlin was a walking artillery, but Noah had won with such simplicity that it was shocking.
No one spoke.
Petra didn't linger either...
With a casual stretch, she turned and began walking away, the rest of the female servants naturally following from behind. The sound of boots slowly faded as they left the resting resort.
Arthur remained where he was.
He watched them go.
For the first time in a very long time, his thoughts were disordered. The outcome still hadn't settled in his mind. He had known Merlin was strong, yes, so he naturally knew Noah had to be too, but he believed that it would be a complete victory for Merlin—
And yet, Noah had ruthlessly crushed him!
He didn't understand, was Petra that much better as a teacher? One had to know that he put an unimaginable amount of resources into Merlin, so how did Noah surpass him by such a large margin? Just what had happened over the last year.
What kind of horrifying training did Noah, this young boy, have to go through to reach that level?
He sighed.
In the end, it wasn't even close! It was a decisive victory, especially when you took into account that final attack, which seemed to be the only 'serious' attack Noah used throughout the whole battle. Arthur had no idea the mental calculations Noah was capable of performing when it came to her own body. If he or Merlin did, they would likely both be terrified.
Arthur's gaze drifted toward the back of their group, towards the Azurefell twins, Lilly and Luna…
His eyes lingered for a moment too long.
He could feel it, 'his eye', the one Petra 'plucked' out during the end of the Grand Gathering. Judging from the aura, which seemed to be coming from Lilly, Petra somehow altered it, and implanted it into her eye socket.
His brows furrowed.
Was that even possible? His eyes were not normal eyes, they were basically 'Divine Artifacts', or at least, an artifact that contained a small piece of the 'Sky Gods Divinity'. Even if they could be implanted, it shouldn't have been possible for someone at her level, no, wait… now that he thought about it, she shouldn't have even been able to preserve it, the Sky Gods' Divinity should have just dispersed after a few minutes. That alone should have been impossible, so… how did she do it?
Something was clearly wrong…
His thoughts darkened as he tried to think about how Petra had managed to do it so casually, how she had reshaped something so absolute as a divine gift from the gods.
He took a closer look at Lilly.
Lilly walked normally, completely unaware of the weight her new eye held. She didn't seem to feel it at all! Like it was the most natural thing in the world…
He shook his head.
There was no point in thinking about it.
His attention shifted to Luna—
And his unease deepened…
Thinking back, there had been a brief period, long ago, before he was 'discovered to be a hero' and before Luna had met Petra, when Arthur could still see 'her' future.
('Her' as in 'The Witch of Silence')
It had been faint, unclear, and a blurry mess, but it was undoubtedly there at the time! The reason he could do that was because of the 'karmic link' between Luna and the Fourth Calamity, then the calamities and the Heroes. This gave him enough 'pull' to see certain things that would normally be blocked…
So he naturally knew the fate 'she should have had', but now—
Nothing!
He couldn't see anything, no, that wasn't exactly right…
Arthur activated his foresight, causing his eyes to flicker with a golden light. He scanned the twins again, hoping to find something new, and tried to bypass 'Petra's influence'. Unfortunately, the 'future' was still blank, leaving him only with the 'present'.
What he saw made his breath pause…
Lilly appeared as an 'empty void'.
Not obscured, not hidden, no-no-no, she was simply 'absent'. She appeared as a silhouette where a person should exist, but didn't, a little like Petra, only less destructive.
Luna, on the other hand—
Appeared as a black shadow. She wasn't empty, but unfathomably full—deep like an abyss. She was an unfathomable shadow that twisted into chaos, forming something that refused to resolve into meaning. It felt like staring into still water, or a bottomless pond.
Arthur shivered, quickly cutting off his ability!
These two were definitely not normal! Whatever Petra had done, whatever path she had dragged them down, it was far beyond anything he could touch!
Pen stood beside him, silently watching. He stared at the retreating group of girls.
Neither he nor Arthur moved—
But just before they disappeared completely, Mell, in the back, turned her head one last time. Her gaze fell upon the unconscious Merlin.
She looked at him with a deep gaze…
* * *
The girls left the resort. Their figures disappeared down the road, swallowed by the distance, and disappeared into the faint haze left behind by the long night's rain...
On their way back—
Just before they reached the Sea Spearing Centipede, which had been sleeping behind a mountain…
Their path was blocked one last time! They hadn't gone far when suddenly—
Ahead, near a bend in the road, just before the place where the 'carriage' was parked, someone was waiting. Looking at them, it was a familiar crest! It was the Gallon Family!
Mm, again…
One lone representative stood there stiffly, his expression strained, clearly having hyped himself up for this confrontation! Upon closer inspection, it was the same guy Petra had met the previous two days, only without his two little lackeys.
He opened his mouth, ready to speak, when—
Petra stopped walking.
She looked up, then paused. Without speaking, Petra stepped forward, lifted one foot, and—
BOOM! The man gave a wry smile, not even having the time to react.
—PETRA KICKED HIM TO THE SIDE (Gallon Ga-ga-ga-gun!) Boom—! And—————GONE!
The man flew sideways in a beautiful arc, vanishing into the horizon.
Petra dusted off her boot. "Alright," she said casually, turning back to the party. "Now we're really going back!" No one said anything….
The journey home had officially begun.
-
One day later, they return to the Capital City of Llynun…
* * *