Chapter Index

    These palms overlapped, tearing through the air with a blinding white as they fell toward Gretel and the Giant’s head.

    Despite its brain being seized, the Giant’s eyes widened, driven by its instincts as a living being. Gretel too, turned pale, trying to pull her hands out of the Giant’s head and escape.

    But it wasn’t easy.

    The tremendous palms were too massive to avoid. They descended with pressure so intense it restrained their movements.

    Restricted by the pressure, Gretel looked up once more, seeing only the palms.

    Palms that could crush anything in this world.

    “Kyaaaah!”

    Hoohoohoohoo—Boom!

    As the Giant’s palm fell, it swallowed Gretel’s scream.

    Upon impact, a shockwave ripped through the air, covering the entire sky over Ravely. One side of the Giant’s head shattered, and its neck twisted and broke. But even that didn’t stop the palm— it smashed into the ground.

    In District 11, where large-scale magic had already erased any trace of its original state, another massive explosive force occurred. The palm’s point of impact became the epicenter, forming a giant wave that warped the earth.

    The impact was so powerful that the dust kicked up enveloped all of Ravely.

    It was as if a divine disaster had struck… At least to most people, it appeared that way.

    Merlin, who was just slightly better than an ordinary person, surveyed the scene before him with numb eyes. He used magic to sweep away the dust and descended to the ground.

    Nothing artificial remained in District 11, which had been obliterated by Gretel’s magic, Merlin’s counterattack, and the Giant’s palm.

    All that was left was the debris that had once been buildings, the twisted earth, and the shattered head and severed arm of the Giant Hecatoncheires.

    A creature so powerful it was revered as a god.

    “Hmm…”

    Merlin looked around the ruined landscape of Ravely and cast triple security spells on the Giant’s head and arm before speaking.

    “As expected… Impressive, very impressive.”

    Merlin addressed Gretel, who stood among the mountain-sized Giant’s body and the dust that rose into the sky like smoke.

    She had barely escaped the Giant’s crushing palm by using spatial magic at the last moment,

    But not completely; one of her limbs was utterly crushed, and the mana flowing through her body was seriously twisted.

    It wasn’t surprising.

    If one received a certain level of impact while using portal magic, the portal would collapse, and the resulting backlash would disrupt the body’s mana.

    Even so, Gretel could consider herself lucky.

    Normally, one’s body would be utterly destroyed, or they might get caught in the mana explosion of the portal and disappear without a trace.

    The fact that she survived indicated the high level of her spatial magic.

    A level difficult to reach by merely consuming people to amass power. Merlin acknowledged this and praised her efforts.

    “You have a talent for ridicule, befitting someone from the Tower of Magic.”

    Gretel bit her lip in frustration as she listened to Merlin’s praise. It wasn’t hard to understand why.

    Her seemingly sure victory, intended to stave off an inevitable and absolute end, had been overturned so easily…

    ‘Tick-tock. The clock moves at the moment a giant hole appears in the world. A black sun rises from the earth, a beast stirs in the western sea, we take the key from the false gatekeeper, and the wandering child becomes a boy.’

    Merlin silently recited verses from the Doomsday Prophecy.

    He had hoped and believed that it wouldn’t happen during his era, but it seemed that was not the case.

    It was a profoundly saddening reality.

    Merlin spoke again.

    “I’m not mocking you. I’m genuinely impressed.”

    “…What kind of spatial magic was that?”

    Gretel, having calmed her anger, asked the question. It seemed she wanted to buy time to recover her crushed limbs, but she was also genuinely curious.

    It made sense. Of the known spatial magic, there were only two types: ‘Portal Magic’ for transportation and ‘Summoning Magic’ for calling otherworldly beings, but Merlin had used an entirely different kind.

    Any wizard would be naturally interested.

    Merlin answered her question without hesitation.

    “It’s magic passed down from a previous Archive.”

    Merlin responded with courtesy, but Gretel just sneered.

    “Hah… Do you take me for a fool? You’re calling that mere magic?”

    Mere magic.

    It was something a wizard, for whom magic was akin to a religion, would never say, but Merlin agreed with her.

    The type of spatial magic Merlin had used against Gretel was called magic but wasn’t truly magic.

    Because even magic falls under the world’s rules that the gods have set.

    But twisting space and exerting absolute control over everything within it was closer to a power than magic.

    Even the Giant’s arm, reduced to nothing more than pudding. It was a terrifying power, even for a sorcerer like Merlin.

    Merlin nodded, partially agreeing with Gretel’s words.

    “I can understand your skepticism. But I’m not lying. It’s knowledge passed down from a previous Archive…from the first Archive.”

    “The first Archive?”

    Gretel reacted. The first Archive, the original point of the Archive, was distinct.

    The starting point and foundation of the Archive. A mysterious entity closest to the world’s truth.

    It might have sounded ridiculous, but neither the current Archive, Merlin, nor previous Archives, knew its name or face.

    Only the vast knowledge it left behind, with its boundless magic and the world’s truths, indicated it had existed.

    “How amusing. An Archive that even the Archives don’t know…But, is it really alright to tell me such things?”

    Gretel had a point.

    As the younger sister of the Flesh Cook, a prominent figure in the Black Hand, Gretel was a formidable witch and wizard, even though Merlin had currently subdued her. She had even consumed a small amount of Hell’s energy.

    Revealing such secrets of the Archive to someone like her was clearly inappropriate.

    Yet Merlin answered.

    “Because I pity you.”

    Gretel’s expression, which had been calm as she continued her recovery, visibly twisted.

    The very idea of being pitied struck a nerve.

    It was understandable. Wizards and witches, especially those who achieved greatness, often harbored significant deficiencies.

    Witches, in particular, might have had even greater deficiencies than other wizards.

    “Don’t misunderstand. I am not only pitying you.”

    “…”

    “I pity all human beings, including myself. We are all victims and perpetrators of a great and cruel destiny… That is what saddens me most.”

    Merlin lamented the idea that all humans are both victims and perpetrators.

    Due to the thick magical barrier unique to the Archive, Gretel couldn’t read his emotions, but after living for hundreds of years, Gretel could tell he was sincere.

    He genuinely pitied her, a person who hadn’t even lived a century… A person born a wizard who had never suffered any real hardship…

    It was an insult. A terrible insult!

    “…Don’t insult me, you brat.”

    Gretel, overwhelmed by emotion, shed her formal composure and stood up shakily. Although she had suffered greatly, she hadn’t lost completely.

    The power she gained from the rift in Hell was still hers to use.

    “I did not insult you.”

    “No, your very attitude is insulting me. I am a witch who has lived for centuries, devoured the wizard kings of the desert lands, and consumed many famous wizards over the centuries! I have even obtained the power of Hell!!… Don’t lump me in with ordinary humans!”

    Gretel shouted earnestly. As the end approached, she wanted to keep her promise to her brother.

    But Merlin, whose face was worn by the passage of time, only looked at her with pity. It was a look born of knowing more than others.

    The curse of knowledge.

    “I’m sorry, Gretel… But just because a mere creature finds and drapes immense power on itself, doesn’t mean it becomes great. That’s a vain and dangerous act, like a cheap artifact stealing ancient authority.”

    “Then… I’ll show you the power of this mere creature!!”

    Gretel cried out as she unleashed the pure power of Hell that she had absorbed into her body.

    Hell’s energy, obtained by offering all of Ravely as a sacrifice.

    Gretel chanted in a voice that no longer belonged to a human.

    [Hell Summon]

    Unstable Hell’s energy erupted from Gretel’s recovering body.

    Black energy spewed out from various parts of her body, distorting space and ultimately causing it to crack.

    Even those unversed in magic could feel it instinctively. This was deeply ominous, deeply foreboding.

    Merlin, of course, sensed it too. He already had experience fighting against it once before.

    Foosh!

    As Gretel chanted, Merlin also conjured a magic circle in the air. A mixture of colors formed incomprehensible magical ropes that tied up the Hell’s Gate Gretel was trying to summon.

    I didn’t expect I’d have to use it here… But it wasn’t a bad move.

    “What, how are you doing this?!”

    Gretel was shocked. Instead of answering her, Merlin pulled the magical ropes, breaking her spell. Afterward, he quietly pulled out a book and tore out a page.

    He then tossed the page toward the now defenseless Gretel. She was far too dangerous to be left alive.

    As the paper flew through the air towards Gretel’s neck, the space between them distorted, and time seemed to slow.

    Time didn’t really slow down; it just felt that way.

    A massive portal shattered open through the distorted space, and with a monstrous roar, a giant reptilian arm, covered in iron-like scales, shot out.

    Clang!

    The collision between Merlin’s paper and the reptilian arm produced a deafening sound, followed by a terrifying roar.

    A roar powerful enough to shake and crumble walls.

    Only one beast could produce such a sound.

    “A dragon.”

    Merlin quietly stated as he observed the dragon that had emerged from the massive portal.

    The dragon, which seemed twice the size of the Giant, was covered in all kinds of black magic.

    While noteworthy, what stood out even more was the dragon’s condition.

    Dragons, beings of immense magic and vitality with unmatched physical strength, but this one’s condition was clearly poor.

    There were deep stab wounds in various parts of its body, each wound embedded with different curse-weakening black magic.

    Severe inflammations had broken out on its skin, peeling its scales. Malignant tumors bubbled up, and there were even fungi draining its magic and eating away at its insides.

    It was a bizarre case.

    Dragons aren’t just physically strong. They possess powerful magical resistance and immunity, but to see curse-weakening black magic in a dragon…

    It required not just skill but the appropriate materials to make it happen.

    In that moment, Merlin realized who this dragon was and who had done this to it.

    “The Flesh Cook?”

    Called by Merlin, the wounded dragon roared at him, its chest and neck scales glowing red as it unleashed a dense wave of flame.

    Fwoosh!!!

    With a sound that seemed to consume the air, a sea of flames rushed towards Merlin.

    To counter the dragon’s breath—a power incomparable to ordinary fire magic—Merlin encased himself in Dragon Skin, offering absolute resistance to flame.

    The mixture of orange and red flame from the dragon’s breath approached like a tidal wave, trying to engulf Merlin, but his eyes did not waver as he focused beyond the fire, watching the Flesh Cook charge through.

    Pretending to launch a powerful flame attack, the Flesh Cook actually concealed its body within the fire as it approached.

    It was a fairly effective tactic.

    The dragon’s true strength wasn’t in its fire, but in its physical form.

    Smash!

    The Flesh Cook, with its long and agile neck, burst through the wave of flames, opening its massive jaws filled with dozens of teeth to target Merlin.

    Its intent was clear—dominate the space with fire, leaving no room to escape, and deliver a killing blow. But Merlin, reading its intentions, didn’t evade. Instead, he tore another page and threw it toward the Flesh Cook’s jaws.

    With surprising agility for its size, the Flesh Cook tried to clamp its jaws shut to nullify the attack, but this was a poor decision.

    The magic and spells contained in the page exploded, releasing a burst of white and blue cold energy.

    A coldness as deadly as poison.

    Expectantly, the attack worked. Dragons that breathe fire are vulnerable to the cold.

    The cold energy that erupted inside its mouth didn’t just extinguish the fiery core within the Flesh Cook; it spread to its heart and inflicted critical damage.

    The Flesh Cook staggered as if its heart had been pierced by an icicle, but as if being pursued, it quickly clamped its jaws shut and swung its massive wings like blades, aiming for Merlin.

    Fwoom!

    The colossal wings, wide enough to block out the sky, sliced through the forward-spreading flames, but Merlin dodged with ease.

    But that wasn’t the end.

    The Flesh Cook immediately rotated its agile body like a wolf, snapping its long tail like a whip.

    With scales harder than steel, muscles, and bones, the dragon’s tail moved faster than sound, creating a sonic boom as it struck Merlin.

    With a shockwave powerful enough to split the air, Merlin was thrown far away.

    Although he cast a shield just before impact, preventing injury, the Flesh Cook was satisfied with that.

    After all, the Flesh Cook hadn’t come here to fight Merlin.

    Huff…huff…

    The Flesh Cook inhaled deeply, the scales around its chest and neck glowing again with a dark crimson light.

    Boom!

    As the Flesh Cook opened its massive jaws once more, a sea of flames burst forth once again. Flames laced with black magic, dark and hellish.

    The flames were imbued with various curse-weakening black magic, malice, and obsession, making them not only burn but cling to the earth, spreading dozens of diseases in real-time.

    It was like a flame of poison.

    Even the Archive was temporarily restrained by the dragon’s breath, and the Flesh Cook took that opportunity to turn its injured body to face its sister—its only remaining family.

    “Brother…?”

    Gretel muttered as she saw her brother, now fully transformed into a dragon.

    Sure, she had devoured the dragon and absorbed its power as much as she could, but she had not been able to transform completely into a dragon. What had happened?

    [Yes… it’s me… Are you alright?]

    The Flesh Cook responded to his sister’s question with a telepathic message, using magic instead of his voice. As she heard the transmission, Gretel realized that her brother had fully awakened as a dragon.

    If that was true, then they might still have a chance. Against this Archive, they could still fight.

    ‘…What?’

    But something felt off. Why, even after fully awakening as a dragon, was her brother’s body in such shambles? Why did he look so anxious and terrified?

    Then her brother spoke.

    [We have to run… Hurry! He’s more than we ever imagined!! I’ll open a portal! You must escape! At least you!!]

    “What do you mean…?”

    Her brother hurriedly spoke, but Gretel couldn’t comprehend it. Then, she felt a strange sensation from the sky above.

    A chilling sensation. One she had felt before when facing Merlin.

    Gretel and the Flesh Cook instinctively looked up and saw the massive celestial body rotating in the sky over Ravely like a whirlpool.

    Just as Gretel and the Flesh Cook realized what it was, a black flash streaked from the center of the eye of the vortex in the heavens, drenching the world in black light.

    At that moment, when everyone’s vision went dark, a bolt of lightning struck down over Gretel’s head. Mercilessly.

    Boom!

    With a soundless explosion, intense heat and force struck the ground, and for a moment, Gretel lost consciousness.

    When she opened her eyes again, she saw herself lying on the ground, being pinned down by one foot.

    Dave stood there, a staff in one hand and a checkered dagger in the other.

    A staff that pierced her heart.

    “…!!??!”

    It was a situation as shocking as a bolt from the blue.

    Gretel looked at Dave in shock.

    He wore a mask-like expression, almost artificial, as he stared at his brother, Hansel.

    Not at Gretel, who had stabbed him with the Quarterstaff, but at his brother.

    In that moment, Gretel understood something and felt a chilling sense of malice and fear.

    Chapter Summary

    This chapter describes a fierce battle between Gretel, who narrowly escapes death by using spatial magic, and Merlin, who lethally counters her powerful magic. Meanwhile, the wounded dragon, revealed to be Gretel's brother, tries to save his sister, but the overwhelming power of Merlin and an apocalyptic force renders their efforts futile. Dave then appears, delivering a final, deadly blow to Gretel. Gretel is shocked by an unexpected situation and looks at Dave. He is staring at his brother, Hansel, with a mask-like expression, rather than looking at Gretel who has stabbed him. At that moment, Gretel realizes something dark and terrifying.

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