“Double casting, you say……?”
Merlin stared at Yuri as if he couldn’t believe his ears. His expression was one of utter shock, as though everything he knew about common sense had just collapsed.
But Kyle didn’t care whether Merlin was shocked or not. He shook the birdcage in his hand with a rattle.
“What’s this? Care to explain?”
“…Believe it or not, it’s not my problem, but I don’t know anything.”
“It came out of your subspace, and you’re saying you don’t know?”
Kyle snorted at Merlin’s ridiculous excuses. Realizing no more words were needed, he gripped the sword handle.
Seeing Kyle grasp his sword, Merlin also raised his staff and began channeling magic power. The tension between them reached its peak, where a single touch could ignite a fight.
It was Arthur who broke the tension. Arthur pulled on Kyle’s sword hilt, stopping him.
“Kyle, wait! Something’s off!”
“…Arthur? If you just hold onto that—”
“—‘Teleport.’”
Taking advantage of the brief moment when Arthur stopped Kyle’s sword, Merlin teleported away from the spot. It was the same instant movement they’d seen countless times before.
Watching Merlin vanish into thin air, Kyle scoffed, then shoved Arthur aside and looked down at her.
“Hah—!”
“Explain. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll hold you responsible.”
“Thank you, Kyle… That man doesn’t lie. He made a promise with me, putting his heart on the line.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You don’t know what it means for a sorcerer to stake their heart?”
Kyle glanced at Yuri, tilting his head as if asking for clarification. Yuri quietly opened her mouth to explain.
“In the old days, people believed that a sorcerer’s magic power originated from their heart, much like how aura was thought to come from blood.”
“So, does a promise made with one’s heart actually have an effect?”
“Well, for ordinary sorcerers, probably not… But for those who’ve reached a certain level, their ‘words’ carry ‘power.’ If he spoke that promise aloud, it likely has some sort of magical efficacy.”
“Hmm, in that case…”
Merlin had sworn on his heart that he knew nothing about Rizelotte. And he did so right in front of Arthur and Kyle.
If that had been a lie, the magic within his words would have naturally reacted, and Merlin would’ve shown some sign of it. But he didn’t.
So, it was probably true that he knew nothing about the birdcage or Rizelotte. However, that created one glaring contradiction—
“Then why did he run away?”
“Well, maybe to avoid a fight…?”
“To avoid a fight?”
“…Kyle looked ready to draw his sword at any moment. If that man fought seriously, well, I don’t know about you, Kyle, but the rest of us might—”
If two Masters were to clash, non-Masters nearby would be risking their lives.
If Merlin wanted to avoid such a situation, running away here made perfect sense. Hadn’t he just shown how much he cared for Arthur? He wouldn’t want to see Arthur get hurt in a fight.
“Alright, so he ran away, huh.”
Suddenly losing interest, Kyle looked down at the birdcage in his hand. Inside it, there were traces of Rizelotte.
How to open a birdcage that won’t open? Simple: smash it.
Kyle’s Aura Blade flared to life, and before Yuri could stop him, his sword sliced the birdcage in half.
“Kyle-!”
“Geez—what’s going on?”
“If you just recklessly cut that thing open—!”
—Damn brat!!!!!
Before Yuri’s scream even died down, a surge of pitch-black dark magic erupted from the birdcage, enveloping the world.
Kyle quickly grabbed Arthur and Yuri, pulling them away from the birdcage. The magic spilling out definitely belonged to Rizelotte, but something about the atmosphere felt… off.
The next moment, a woman popped out of the birdcage. She grew from finger-sized to her original height, looking like a cheap CG effect.
“You bastard, locking me up? You won’t get away with this—.”
As Rizelotte sang her anger and surveyed her surroundings, she froze upon realizing two things: Merlin wasn’t around, and a familiar face stood before her.
Kyle Meyer. Her savior. Seeing his face, Rizelotte calmed her anger and regained her composure.
“…Oh, it’s you? And another woman again? Two of them, no less.”
“Long time no see, High Witch.”
“How did you end up here…?”
As Rizelotte stared at Kyle in confusion, Yuri, overhearing her words, grimaced and pinched Kyle’s side.
Startled by the sudden pain, Kyle turned to look at Yuri’s angry face and shrugged as if to ask, “What?”
Yuri spoke.
“Another woman? Who was it last time?”
“…Ah.”
Before Kyle could bask in the joy of meeting Rizelotte again, he needed to clear up this misunderstanding.
* * *
Thanks to Arthur’s help, Merlin successfully escaped and felt an overwhelming surge of dark magic emanating from the spot he had fled.
Though slightly weaker than himself, it wasn’t something he could afford to underestimate—sharp fangs that might even reach him.
As Merlin observed the magic, he realized that the source of this power was none other than Rizelotte, whom Kyle had been searching for so desperately.
‘Something like that was inside my subspace?’
He couldn’t understand it. No matter how hard Merlin tried to recall, nothing came to mind.
Since nothing made sense, something finally clicked. Merlin sighed deeply and connected with his inner world.
There, another version of himself lay coiled up—the demonic aspect he had been born with as a half-human, half-demon.
‘What did you do this time?’
—Nothing.
‘You idiot. This is why everyone thinks I’m crazy.’
—I am you, and you are me. If I’m evaluated as crazy, that means you’re crazy too.
‘Even if I poop my pants, will you still say stuff like that?’
—…No, that’s pushing it.
Watching his other personality stutter, Merlin let out another deep sigh. Night was approaching—the time when dark energy grew stronger.
When the demonic energy reached its peak, Merlin would inevitably have to hand over control to his other self.
When that happened, he had no idea what he might do. So, as a final warning to his body, Merlin left these words:
‘Don’t touch the kids. If you so much as lay a finger on them…’
—Oh, come on. You’re talking as if we’re different people.
His other personality, Feyna, smirked as he stretched the corners of his mouth.
—I’m not so different from you. Just a bit more impulsive, a bit more instinctual.
Soon, the time of dogs and wolves would arrive.
The time when humans turn into demons.
Feeling his consciousness slowly slip away, Merlin closed his eyes.
His other self opened them. Close by, something belonging to him awaited.
* * *
“So, the person with you back then was Sera.”
“I never heard about meeting someone like that back then.”
“That’s because no one asked…”
Kyle avoided Yuri’s piercing gaze as best he could. She seemed displeased by the mere fact that Kyle had gone off with Sera and met another woman while leaving her behind.
It felt pretty unfair to get scolded now for something that happened ages ago, but Kyle couldn’t meet Yuri’s eyes as memories of meeting Rizelotte resurfaced.
After all, it could easily be interpreted as him rejecting Yuri’s date invitation to go meet Rizelotte with Sera instead.
Right now, Kyle was being accused of being a playboy who abandoned his fiancée to chase after new women.
“—So, where did that guy who caught me go?”
“Well, he teleported away.”
“Hmph… Damn bastard. When I see him, I’ll kill him.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, I was humiliated. Something too shameful to put into words.”
Hearing Rizelotte’s words, Arthur realized there was a side of Merlin he hadn’t known about. Shocked, he stared blankly into space.
After clicking his tongue a few times in pity toward Arthur, Kyle grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake.
“Arthur, snap out of it. Arthur!”
“Huh, huh? Yeah, what’s up…?”
“It’s getting dark. We can’t stay here forever. Do you have somewhere to go?”
“Oh, if that’s the case, my grandpa’s house is nearby—”
“If you’re moving, should I teleport us there?”
And then, a very familiar voice flew toward them. Turning their heads, the group saw Merlin grinning ear to ear in the distance, leaving them dumbfounded.
They hadn’t expected him to show up so brazenly.
Rizelotte, momentarily stunned, quickly snapped out of it and began emitting magic power from her entire body.
“You, you bastard—!”
“Oh, Miss. Escaped, I see.”
“Die—!”
The black magic Rizelotte unleashed transformed into curses, hundreds of them flying straight toward Merlin in an instant.
Each curse was potent enough to effortlessly kill dozens of humans. If Merlin weren’t immortal, it seemed impossible for him to avoid death. Yet, he evaded them in a way no one had ever seen before.
“Fantasy Manifestation.”
Merlin’s body blurred slightly before completely losing its fixed coordinates in the material plane.
He was now untraceable. What they saw was merely a shadow reflecting his form, not his actual presence.
An opponent bound to the ground couldn’t attack Merlin. Whether physical or magical, one couldn’t harm someone who had essentially left this world.
Hidden within an illusion, Merlin chuckled and began eyeing Yuri.
“—Hmm, silver hair. You seem like quite the good vessel… How about bearing my child?”
“…What kind of insane bastard is this?”
“Kid, don’t get so worked up. Either way, you can’t attack me—huh!?”
Something smacked Merlin on the head, sending him sprawling forward. Grimacing from the throbbing pain in the back of his head, Merlin turned around in disbelief, only to find nothing there.
“What? Can’t attack me, huh?”
Kyle burst into laughter as he watched Merlin fall.
An opponent unreachable by either physical or magical means.
But there was one attack even such an opponent couldn’t dodge.
The Heart Sword.
“This, this Mu-sun….”
“Can hit you?”
Merlin cracked his knuckles and looked up at Kyle approaching him.
In that moment, the fearless Merlin felt fear for the first time in his life.
