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His speed exceeded what the eye could follow. Even Merlin could not react in time. Spells exploded in Ian's wake, unable to catch up, while the protective measures in front of Merlin were almost as flimsy as paper, shattered in an instant as Ian dove straight at him.
The magical shield didn't even ripple, it just broke apart. Ian flew directly above Merlin and struck him sharply on the head with his beak.
"Ah!!!" Merlin cried out in pain while Ian remained unfazed.
He continued pecking at Merlin with his beak, seemingly instinctively, with perfect skill. In the blink of an eye, he had turned Merlin's head into a mass of bumps.
"Ouch!"
Merlin cried out in pain, nearly dropping his wand.
"Damn it! And you still claim you weren't possessed!"
He scrambled, clutching his head, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't escape Ian's relentless attacks, though Ian was deliberately holding back, after all, Merlin still owed him a debt.
Otherwise…
Ian felt he could easily devour Merlin's brain. And if he did, he knew he would gain all of Merlin's knowledge as well.
"This shadow raven is seriously sinister."
Realizing this, Ian couldn't help but marvel. Yet even so, he didn't stop chasing Merlin, pecking away as the two of them dashed wildly through the ruined hall.
Of course, to be precise, it was Merlin running in chaos. No matter how he fled, he couldn't avoid Ian's attacks. His reaction speed was insufficient to prevent bumps from forming on his head.
From a distance, it seemed like Ian was right above Merlin's head, almost about to strike his handsome face. Even a wizard as resilient as Merlin couldn't hold it together.
"Fine! Fine! You're not possessed! Stop it already!" Merlin finally yelled, clearly in surrender, his voice tinged with helplessness and pain.
No one knew exactly what he was thinking inside, but at least verbally, he no longer dared mention possession. After all, if his forehead had already been struck, how far could his cheeks be?
"Wouldn't all this have been avoided if you'd faced the truth earlier…" Hearing Merlin's shouts, Ian finally stopped, flying in front of him and slowly transforming back into human form.
"Hmm, Medivh turning into a raven… actually fits pretty well." Ian looked down at his newly reappeared hands, feeling his familiar human body once again.
They say Animagus transformations are taxing.
But Iam only felt lingering excitement rather than fatigue.
"Phew~"
Merlin exhaled deeply, holding his head like a great Buddha, his expression bitter.
"I shouldn't have come here in the first place. If I hadn't, then I wouldn't have…"
He muttered to himself, frustration etched across his face, almost borderline unhinged.
"You're the one causing trouble. How could I possibly be possessed…" Ian rolled his eyes. Merlin remained silent, neither admitting nor refuting, his slightly flickering eyes still betraying a hint of distrust.
"Hm?"
Ian spoke softly, just a little.
Merlin froze as if struck by lightning.
"Of course, you're right. I was the fool here." Merlin backed down instantly. Regardless of what he thought internally, his actions revealed he had been deeply shaken by what had just happened.
Just as Ian considered proving his point further, a massive hand suddenly appeared through the large hole above the palace. The enormous palm clearly belonged to the war god Ares.
"You two are really noisy!" The war god grabbed both Merlin and Ian, flinging them far away. "You're disturbing me, and you certainly can't wake those who are sleeping…"
Before Ian and Merlin could catch the rest of Ares's words, they were already hurled a great distance, truly far, as if forcibly "expelled" from Helheim itself.
The world spun wildly.
Ian shook his head and once again saw the colorful Merlin, but Merlin was sprawled in front of the bronze door, his rear in the air, waking up so slowly that it would have taken three strong men rotating in shifts to match his pace.
"Looks like Merlin's soul really only entered Helheim. Perhaps when we passed through the bronze door, his soul had already completely separated from his body…"
Ian looked up at the bronze door thoughtfully, watching Merlin struggle to get up from the ground, even showing signs of nausea. Ian himself didn't feel any discomfort.
Perhaps this was the difference between a soul crossing over and a body crossing over.
"I'm getting out of here!" Merlin, having pulled himself up, almost didn't look back as he dashed out of the ruins, as if the place had given him too many unpleasant experiences.
Ian followed closely behind.
However, Just as they were about to completely leave the underground ruins and step out of the subterranean palace,
"Do not forget your promise to the gods, Medivh."
A commanding voice suddenly rang in the young wizard's ears, as if the war god Arayes was reminding him across a span of time and space.
"What promise?"
"Is this guy scamming me?"
Ian couldn't help but ask.
But there was no response.
Perhaps as he stepped out of the subterranean palace, Aress could no longer project his voice to him. After all, it wasn't the war god at full power, only the shell of Aress' body.
There was still some measure of divine power, but it was a vague matter.
"All right, Archmage, we've been to the tomb. Now it's time to talk about the bet from earlier." Ian, upon leaving the tomb, immediately wanted to claim what he had won from Merlin.
He was fully aware of the situation.
After what had just happened, Merlin might very well try to avoid him.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten." Merlin sighed and, from his chest, pulled out a stone and an exquisite box, tossing both directly to Ian.
He still seemed unable to catch his breath, leaning against a tree and repeatedly dry-heaving, admittedly a bit polluting the environment, though one could say he was fertilizing the forest.
Though the forest likely didn't lack fertilizer, the surrounding vegetation was lush and verdant, birds sang joyfully in the branches, a stark contrast to the mysterious and dangerous Helheim they had just experienced.
"Archmage, you really do keep your word." Ian, having obtained what he wanted, let out a sigh of relief and couldn't help but glance back at the mountain wall that had returned to normal.
If nothing went wrong, this definitely wouldn't be his last visit to this place.
After all, the evil magic that would erupt hadn't yet been laid out, which inevitably meant that there would come a day when he would return, though Ian couldn't imagine what circumstances would require him to set up such magic here.
"What kind of image do you have of me? Don't tell me your future opinion of me is that bad?" Merlin finally couldn't hold back and asked Ian directly.
"Well, how should I put it… I love reading. People in our House all love reading, so I've seen in our House common room books like Merlin's Secret Lovers: Magic and the Legend of Betrayal, Merlin and the Forest Witch: A Cursed Love, The Forgotten Wife and Children: Merlin's Dark Secrets, Merlin's Seven Loves: From Mortal to Legend, and Merlin and His Beastly Men…" Ian kept rattling off a string of unofficial historical stories.
With each book title he mentioned,
Merlin's eyelids twitched ever more violently. And just as Merlin was rendered speechless and helpless, Ian opened the box to inspect the ancient Time-Turner.
"Oh! Heavens! Are you both wizards?" A voice suddenly appeared.
Before them, at some unknown moment, a handsome young man had appeared in the forest. He looked at Merlin and Ian, both dressed as wizards, and exclaimed in shock.
"Hm?"
Ian didn't focus on the young man but on the bird perched on the young man's shoulder, a fiery red bird, watching him and Merlin with a wary gaze.
"Holy, Phoenix!" He shouted in astonishment.
(End of chapter)