The day entered the glittering night. Moon came to offer the sun to come down and rest. Its bright, rather large, yellow surface cast silhouettes of the building blocks on the mountain. The eventide wind blew gently, swishing hundreds of colourful paper flags arranged on strings along the complex. The fragrant smoke carried by the dancing wind added to the mystical aura of the monastery compound, which glowed with its own light from the lanterns that watched the pathways, a resemblance of a small town on a mountain peak.

The central and main monastery at the summit was protected by other convents, and several people dressed simply had gathered there. Most were monks, except for a man and woman in a pair with slightly decorated armour—the war mages. Everyone was waiting for one bespectacled young monk who sat cross-legged in their midst, gazing at blank space. His hands were stretched out with their palms bent in front, fiddling with the swirling circles and components of the tangerine magic. Every time his fingers touched a floating glyph, it glowed and moved at the will of its master. An adept one indeed, to move magic inscriptions without laying a gaze. His eyes were wide open yet his irises sunk beneath the lids.

Sometimes his hands shook. Occasionally, epilepsy took him. But then, he startled himself, startling the others.

“How is it, Tenshin? Did Master Hanze’s marker spell work? Did you find the child?” the male war mage dressed in sleeveless light brown cloth addressed him.

“Marker....” The lad named Tenshin still had his consciousness hampered. His state was akin to a person whose spirit had returned to his physical body after a long journey across continents. “Oh, M-M-M-Master Hanze’s marker spell? T-the spell worked! I-I… I found her! T-that g-g-girl...”

“Why do you stutter like that, Little Brother?”

A friend of Tenshin saw his face as red as a steamed crab. His face blushed even more when the question emerged.

“T-that girl…”

Slowly, the atmosphere went quiet. Tenshin did not provide an after statement.

“Hey, hello! Anyone home?”

Tenshin was still half-conscious, but the way he spoke was rather lively. In his daydream, he again replied, “Oh Ko, you will not believe what I just saw. Her fiery red hair… A pair of gentle pomegranate eyes… An adorable worried mien… An innocent girl. Thunder dragons, she’s remarkably charming, as comely as an elf!”

“You didn’t send your astral consciousness all the way just to have a crush on that child of prophecy, did you, Little Brother?”

“Looks like someone’s in love, here!” teased a female war mage who stood next to the brown-clothed mage earlier called “Ko”. The pensive Tenshin goggled. A realisation of expressing his fondness for the girl in front of the monks was a cataclysmic jolt of celestial lightning to his consciousness. He wanted to scream before his hand quickly covered his mouth. There was nowhere to put either of his abashment or honour now.

“No, no, no! I-I did not mean… I… eh… she… no… Ah...!”

“Hey everybody, Tenshin is finally in love!” Ko exclaimed to the others.

“Tell me again how she looks!” The female war mage teased again.

“Stop! Stop!”

“You were asked to find the girl, and you stalked her instead? Oh, naughty boy!”

The blushful Tenshin howled, growling and clamping his ears to stop the steam from escaping. It was a rare sight for a monastery, and it was evident that their spiritual approach was rather distinct.

But regardless, such noises lured someone out of the convent with the sliding door. No, not an angry neighbour. When the monks' gaze swivelled abruptly towards the source of the door chime, their eyes rendered the presence of a towering figure bedecked in the multi-layered garment. Patterned strips of cloth adorned his form like fluttering tendrils. Flat his face was, but his eyes stayed firm, not hindered by his thick eyelashes.

"The Believed-To-Be” Merlin, Abbot of the small monastery.

"Master! The child has been found!" announced Ko.

To which his female companion added, "And Tenshin fell in love at first sight, Master!"

“Both of you—”

Merlin was reflective for a moment, and muttered, “Hmm, so as Hanze said, the Child of Miracles is a girl…”

“M-M-Master Merlin, I-I did not mean to s-stalk her because—”

“Oh, so you admitted it! You’ve been stalling all this time so you can keep staring at her? No wonder something’s strange because it’s impossible for astral travel like that to take half an hour, much less for an expert like you!”

“G-Ganika, shut it!” Tenshin then bowed respectfully to his master. "I found her, Master," he confirmed. "But... I don't think she's in a good state to be brought along now. I've heard rumors from the Magisterium wizards. She managed to defeat and even cleanse a necromancer from the Devil's Continent—"

"Isn't that a good thing?" interjected Ganika, the female war mage.

Tenshin shook his head. His voice was no longer strained or faltering, but brimming with compassion. "She's distressed. Her own family wants to kill her for the Arcane source. Even her dearest relatives have become fugitives. It's heartbreaking."

“Naturally. That's why we have to bring her now," Merlin responded. He then brought his face closer to his young disciple. His voice became softer. However, his tone sounded hideous. “She shall be brought here to prepare for what will become her destiny in the future. This applies to you too, Tenshin. Fulfilling the Danhar's dream is the most essential than the temporary desire for flesh. I kindly beg you and the rest here not to let your mundane desires cloud your own priorities. Understood?”

Tenshin swallowed hard. “Y-your guidance is understood, Master Merlin.”

Ganika and Ko, the two war mages, showed no concern and continued to pester Tenshin. Despite also being Merlin's pupils, they were not bound to the master's supervision and often acted on their own whims. Meanwhile, Tenshin could only emit a clumsy noise whenever he felt nervous or embarrassed. He wondered if the monastic way of life was ever unsuitable for him. Alas, he did not have the privilege to choose.

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Merlin walked in between them and helped Tenshin to stand up. "You've done well, Tenshin. Let's now retrieve the promised child."

A glint of approval and a pat on the back provided some solace to Tenshin, but not enough to quell his shame. He always felt inferior to almost everything.

“Master! A-as your order!”

Tenshin thrust his hands forward, forming a triangle with his palms, and the space in front of him began to "crack"...

***

Skycastle, the symbol of the Western magic splendour full of brilliance, was now destroyed by the battle of magic between the East and West factions—the Western faction with the mystic art of Wizardry, while the Eastern with their Eastern-rite Sorcery. The wizards swung their wands like swords, and the sorcerers trounced the bodies of the Western mages with their magic circles like double shields.

Amid a messy fight, Haddock and Bartholomew displayed their skill in wielding wands, firing flares, and controlling the enemy as if they were marionettes. Several elite wizards gathered before the Trinketshore triumvirate to block the approaching sorcerers with the intention of kidnapping the wielder of Divine Grace. Even if it was only a handful of them, their strength was not to be underestimated. The sorcerers' determination; their potent magic and physical attack were a testament to their harsh monastic discipline in exile. Death was hardly their fear. The unfulfilled dream was.

In a stroke of fortune, Haddock unleashed his levitation spell that yanked those obstinate sorcerers—mere trifles in number— and flung them towards other sorcerers and wizards who were busy whaling. What did they expect? They are in the middle of a scuffle. It was natural for friends to ram friends by accident.

“Some of you!” pointed Haddock at the few wizards. “Escort Alicia and her friends. Find a way out through the back. Hurry!”

“But how do we get out?” Gilmore replied frantically. He stretched his hand towards a distorted side, where there should have been a door.

“Let me handle it!” Alicia took out Orb from her small backpack. It brought her memory back to the past—when her mother told her bedtime tales of all kinds of magic. From what she knew, Reality Bending magic was rooted in the use of Protos particles, the power of Khaos, with the practice of Western-rite Sorcery. The result of the forbidden experiment was a spell that could turn an object into whatever the caster wanted, even from nothing. This Eastern rite’s version was rather unfamiliar to her. The magic was different, too. It did not change the substance of an object but tampered with the object’s profile–translation, reflection, rotation, and dilation. It manipulated the geometric transformations of existing materials, dispensing them in such a way as to produce abstract forms, disrupting the human senses.

However, if what she learned was true, they both had something in common: they needed the power of Khaos to be activated.

Merlin peeked at them in the middle of a skirmish. He ambled. One by one ran to attack him. He calmly dodged and parried until he counterattacked with his fists. Yes, outside of the Reality Bending spell earlier, the abbot did not appear to openly cast his magic. He literally pummelled the faces of the wizards with his own fists. They were even more surprised when Merlin easily parried the magic shots with his hands as well. In their imagination, he was more than just a mere man!

But to Merlin, he was being generous. He did not want to show any more magic when Reality Bending was enough to make his foes scramble. If this was the same Merlin as Merlin thousands of years ago, each and every spell of his, the result of centuries of learning, would overstep the rationality of today’s strongest magus!

It was the turn of another pair of wizards to come his way. Seeing their colleagues battered by him, they did not want to be too aggressive. They came up with an idea. The two wizards, male and female, combined their powers. From the tips of their sticks came out electric currents that merged with each other, gathered, and grew bigger with time to form a giant electric ball. There was a tingling sensation in its surroundings. Merlin felt it as well, holding back his steps. In awe, he remained frozen as the two shrieked.

“Fulmine Pila!”

A giant electrical sphere hurtled towards him, demolishing anything in its path. Merlin was quite interested. Interested to see the current development of Wizardry magic. Impressed? Still a long way from that.

When the electric sphere struck the abbot, his body instantly “broke” into glass shards. Another magic trick from the sorcerer master. There was no way that bastard died with haste!

Sure enough, the empty space between Alicia and the magicians tore apart. and a hand reached out to grab her neck. Merlin's hand.

“Cease your attempt to flee! You will come with us. One way or another!” Merlin urged as his upper body materialised out of thin air.

“Let me go!” Alicia turned around and blocked it with Orb. But Merlin easily leaned back and grabbed Alicia's arm, although his expression of determination twisted into fear in the flicker of Orb's passing. Truly the common reaction of any Khaos-powered practitioner, not the actual virtuous Merlin, Alicia thought. Nadine did not stand by and intervened, grabbing Merlin's left hand. Gilmore was about to jab Merlin's jaw when the sorcerer shattered into glass shards once again!

The three of them searched around, and Gilmore could hear glass falling behind him. Yet how The Divine had cursed Gilmore. The abbot's hand was already wrapped around Gilmore's neck, and with all his might, he flung him backwards! Gilmore collided with a wall—or whatever was behind him—and suffered a concussion.

“Gilmore!” both shouted. Nadine raged, but she knew she could not lose sight of Alicia. Merlin readied for another pursuit, only to be struck by another projectile hurled by Bartholomew. He deflected it just in time, but a barrage of relentless aftershocks from other wizards followed suit. Alicia sealed the fate with a burst of Arcane plasma, smiting both Merlin’s body and his divided concentration. He was forcefully propelled back into the heart of the skirmish.

Now that the great threat was temporarily eliminated, the next goal was to undo the Reality Bending that trapped them all. Alicia started the synchronisation and neutralised the sides affected by Merlin’s magic. Her assumption was correct. Merlin’s version of Reality Bending was indeed the work of black magic. The amount of power released was substantial, thus requiring a significant amount of energy to cancel it. The purification process was slow. Each painful reach was equal to blades thrust through her skin, but that was not a new feeling anymore. After some time, Alicia was able to restore one side of the wall to its original state—the wall right before her. A pair of doors were present, a golden opportunity to escape!

The wizard guards took the barely conscious Gilmore away. Together, they entered the room behind the doors and sealed them shut. Bartholomew cast the Anima-dator spell, summoning a bookcase monster from upstairs and acting as the door's steadfast sentinel.

Merlin’s three bodyguards guarded his master until he regained consciousness. It did not take long for him to come to his senses, as he woke up shortly after Alicia and the others left.

“Ko Zarni, Ganika, Tenshin!” he said. “Go after them. Get the girl. Crush all her bones if necessary. But don’t let her die!”

"What about you, Master?" Tenshin asked.

"I can't risk myself being purified by her. Not until the dream is fulfilled. I’ll hold the rest instead."

“On your command, Master!” The three saluted while striking an approaching wizard.

Suddenly, Haddock appeared above them. “Found you! Fractionem Tonitrua Custos!”

As he jumped, Haddock shot a powerful bolt of lightning at the four of them. The brisker Merlin formed a giant magic shield, protecting his three “guards”. A powerful surge of power boomed throughout the room. The young mages were dragged away, though they were unharmed.

“What is keeping you here? Go, now!”

Ko Zarni, Garnika, and Tenshin immediately slipped through the melee. No matter how ardently Haddock pursued the trio, Merlin elongated the distance between them by lengthening the tiles as a form of confrontation. Only Merlin, and Merlin alone, could become Haddock's attention.

“There’s still a lot of wizards ahead of us, not to mention that Wood Monster!” exclaimed Ko Zarni, the one wearing sleeveless brown cloth.

“Upstairs!” said Tenshin, “Upstairs is quite deserted. I can open a portal there.”

“You can still track down the girl with Uncle Hanze’s spell, right?”

“Of course, he still can. Why would Tenshin throw away the only access to the girl he has a crush on?” the third guard, Ganika, rebuked them.

Flustered by her words, Tenshin suddenly slipped and fell.

“G-G-Ganika! N-not the time!” []