Haddock was still floating in the endless distorted space.
How stupendous yet appalling was Merlin's spell; A flat wall with various room accessories could be spanned sparsely, becoming a tunnel with no destination. A few minutes had flown, yet the Grand Magus was still there, and no one dared to voluntarily enter the hole to help their leader. The wizards were exhausted. The sorcerers were too. Their leader, Merlin, of course, was an exception. He still appeared as prime as he beat up the western land mages, while Bartholomew Strongbark was there, replacing Haddock once again to lead the melee.
"No time to laze, idiot! This is nothing compared to real war!" said Bartholomew. He created a tornado that carried piles of paper. The papers swirled and stuck to the sorcerers before Barthie's wand breathed fire into the wind! The presence of their debris only made the flame spread even more.
***
Haddock finally woke up and found himself thrown into a bottomless abyss that was actually the wall of his office. He was thunderstruck for a moment but managed to contain his emotions. He saw that he was very far from the lobby as if he was sinking into the deepest trough, away from the surface.
"I shouldn't have used these spells, but I guess you left me no other choice." Haddock took out a small chest containing a collection of Arcane powers, stored in several small capsules. Apparently, he still had time to take some power from Orb and store them as a supply for himself. The Grand Magus was cunning indeed.
He pulled out his wand.
"๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ!"
Suddenly, in the middle of the fight, the monks and scholars sensed tempestuous mana in their surroundings. A collection of wasted life force gathered and clumped together, forming a cloud and streaking into Merlin's ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ. It turned out that Haddock was trying to suck the mana he took out during the fight to put it back into his body. Merlin also saw the clouds moving toward the artificial wormhole. He knew that the Grand Magus, nicknamed "Europa's Wonder Boy", had yet to surrender.
Mana was a magician's life force. When emitted through magic spells, it did not just disappear; instead, it merged into the force of nature along with the universe. This ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ spell did not require a handful of mana, but a foreign energy hitting a person's body and being forced into it would cause the summoner to convulse. The pain was so harrowing it could even kill the spell user if overwhelmed. This was why this magic was only used in critical times, making it one of the forbidden spells.
But Haddock was a Grand Magus. He was also a war veteran who will face another war. Pain is his daily bread. When the energy pool came, he greeted it wide. The mana exposure pierced the mage's skin, giving a scalding thrill all over his body. If Haddock could not stand that, he certainly would not have been recognised as the world's wizard chief.
Haddock managed to get his mana back. He immediately called Jubilant Jay out of his coat and started riding it out of the hellhole. Haddock took one of the three small capsules containing the Arcane, stuffing it into another flagship device.
A long-barreled revolver.
Haddock and broom Jay cruised to the surface of the mortal realm. The wizards cheered for his arrival. Merlin looked at him from below with a blank stare. Haddock did the same to the human being who claimed to be Merlin, with a sharp glare.
The Grand Magus dismounted and pointed his shiny revolver straightaway!
"Are you really going to shoot me with a gun, Grand Magus?" mocked Merlin with his straight face. Some of his followers underestimated the Grand Magus' actions as well. However, as for the wizards, it was the contrary. An abrupt silence struck the atmosphere. The virtuous wizards lowered their wands. Bartholomew shook his head. He was the first to step back from the fight, followed by his other colleagues.
"Don't tell me you intend to take 'that' out in a closed room, you foolish Grand Magus!" Barthie mumbled as he encouraged the others to flee from the location that soon would be a "crime scene."
If a wizard decided to throw away his wand for a revolver, there were two possibilities (or certainty): one, the target was a world-class threat; two, the target's destiny was to die swallowed by Hades.
Haddock only replied to Merlin with a single sentence:
"๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!"
The former Grand Magus should have retracted his words as a potent wind blew behind the actual Grand Magus, and his revolver casing glowed violently. But what could he do? He could only stare with his eyes bulging.
A beam of white gleam boomed towards Merlin and some of his followers! It was so loud that all they could hear was a hum, some of them became deaf. Haddock's fire beam instantly cancelled Merlin's magic and blew up the side of the building, leaving a hole to the outside world! Not only was the wall in front of him, but the wall behind Haddock was ruined as well by the energy outburst during the shooting! Everything was white shadows for some time.
Haddock knelt weakly after that. He, too, could not stand the magic that destroys the function of his senses. Alas, his shot only resulted in his salary being cut for a long period due to the sky palace almost turning to dust thanks to him. Merlin and his followers succeeded to dodge, and now they were standing upside down on the ceiling.
"Not bad," Merlin said to Haddock. "I've never seen such a spell in Wizardry. It was my fault for underestimating you."
Haddock smacked his lips, retorting, "And you managed to get yourself and the others away from my magnum opus. You're not just anyone, though I still don't acknowledge you as Merlin."
"Magnum opus? Son, you are too young and arrogant to call that magic a magnum opus. It's a disease of westerners. Do not let your Gods' Centre syndrome flare up again."
"I still have ammunition to kill you one more time, old man!"
A portal in the form of a dimensional crack appeared before Haddock. Ko Zarni, Tenshin, and Garnika looked around the ravaged surroundings.
"Seeing your condition, I don't think you can persuade the Child of Miracle yet," Merlin said to the trio standing below.
Tenshin looked at the source of the voice, "Master Merlin," he said, "Apology. A thousand apologies, Master! I did not concentrate well against her. I-Iโฆ I still need practiceโฆ I am ready to be punished once we return!"
Merlin was silent for a moment with his cold gaze. "We're retreating for now. You three, create a portal for yourselves!"
Merlin and the others escaped using the portal to return to their hiding place. Alicia and her guardian wizards managed to break through the door only to confirm the fact that the bespectacled girl had missed another spectacular display of magic from the Grand Magusโremaining only rubbles. Not only them, a group of mages outside, along with mounted griffins, greeted their allies through Haddock's shot hole.
Alicia walked over to see the magic palace that was once spacious and beautiful, was now formless. All because of her. Guilt was growing in the girl's heart.
"Alicia..." Haddock called her softly. Alicia looked at the Grand Magus, who was being supported by another mage. "Whatever you think, do not think that this is your fault."
"G-Grand Magusโฆ."
Before he could say another word, a voice from outside called out to him.
"Alicia!"
"P-Papa? Papa!"
The girl rushed to hug her father. She did not forget to hug Leith who came later. Alicia's eyes filled with tears again, but she held back a sob.
"Sis, are you alright?" asked Leith. Alicia nodded slowly.
Donar patted his daughter's shoulder to keep her calm. "Thank goodness you're okay." He then made another observation. The proud castle of the Magisterium was destroyed as if it had been robbed. "I was really worried about you. I thought you and the others were being hunted down by a group of masked mages."
"Masked mage? How can Papa know? D-don't tell me..." Alicia looked at the two members of her family. She looked at Leith, she carefully found the bandages and blood spots hidden under his clothes.
"LEITH, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BODY!"
Leith pulled his shirt from his sister's grip, "I'm fine, sis. You're safe, that's what matters."
"๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฆ joke around! Those masked mages are our own kin, how could I be fine when they have no problem killing us all?"
Alicia gripped the fabric of her father's clothes tighter. "This is unfair, I never asked for this in the first place."
Donar just sighed. "So there's no safe place for my daughter? Even for a magic fortress like Skycastle? Did the Crimsonmane wizards do this?"
"No, no." Haddock approached the Crimsonmane family by another wizard's help. "This is the work of the eastern sorcerer group and its leader called 'Merlin'."
"Merlin? Why is he called that?"
"Take a guess. He claimed to be the same person as the Grand Magus during the Pendragon dynasty. I guess they're different from those masked wizards you're talking about, but you have a point. We can't just keep protecting her all the time. Alicia won't be safe. Not with her Arcane might revolve around. Not with fate waiting for her."
Alicia immediately turned away from the Grand Magus' face. "That 'Merlin'โฆ he said the same thing. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ Sorcerers too. That I have a big 'destiny'. You know about it, right? You once wanted to tell me. P-please, tell me what they meant!"
Haddock could not help but stare at the girl's sad face with concern. []