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People have always had a fixed idea about witches—temperamental, eccentric, extreme, stubborn.
Now Tom realized… that wasn't a stereotype at all. It was basically a psychological profile of Morgan le Fay.
Even pinned flat to the ground, Morgan still refused to believe in the so-called "study space." She stubbornly insisted it was one of Merlin's tricks. And when Tom casually complained to Ravenclaw, "Is that old woman going through menopause or someth—"
He barely finished the sentence before Morgan exploded.
Her icy blue eyes blazed with fury as she struggled to get up. "Who are you calling an old woman?! Fight me if you've got the guts, you brat!"
Tom agreed.
The moment Morgan made that demand, Andros and the others exchanged strange looks.
A duel with Tom… inside the space?
Ravenclaw nearly laughed out loud. Even if you were a whole tier stronger than her—or two—what difference would it make under absolute rule suppression?
"And don't use this world to suppress me," Morgan snapped. "Fight me with your own power."
She might be stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. The crushing force from before was still fresh in her memory. She knew she'd been targeted by the power of this space—and the one behind it was that annoying boy.
Annoying… but seriously, way too good-looking.
Merlin's illusion actually matched her taste perfectly. Once she revived, she'd definitely make a puppet modeled after him.
"Sure," Tom said easily.
The others were a little surprised, but one look at the gentle smile on his face told them everything—he'd clearly found another way to mess with her.
"You're serious?" Morgan narrowed her eyes, then suddenly seemed to realize something. "Wait… you're lying to me, aren't you?"
"If I'm lying, I'll call Merlin a fraud bastard a hundred times."
"Deal!"
Morgan's attitude flipped instantly.
Tom was speechless. With that level of intelligence… not tricking her almost felt like losing a hundred galleons.
The duel began without warning.
Morgan didn't waste a word. With a flick of her hand, countless blood-red roses burst from the ground—beautiful, deadly, almost hypnotic. They writhed like living things, spreading rapidly toward Tom.
Wherever they passed, the ground was stained with a faint crimson hue.
Ravenclaw's smile vanished instantly, her expression turning grave.
A single blood-rose spell wasn't anything special—but she could clearly feel the subtle shift in spatial laws.
This wasn't just magic.
It was a domain you ruled.
Wherever the roses spread, everything fell under Morgan's control.
If Morgan wished it, even a lethal Killing Curse could be twisted into something as harmless as a Levitation Charm.
That alone was enough—if Ravenclaw fought her, she wouldn't even have a chance to win. She'd be killed instantly.
So what would Tom do?
Watching the boy still standing there without moving, Ravenclaw's curiosity peaked.
Finally, Tom acted.
Just like Morgan, he simply lifted a hand.
In an instant, the space roared to life. Violent energy surged and gathered before him, forming over a hundred small spheres.
Then, under Morgan's horrified gaze, the spheres suddenly merged—
into a massive energy orb several meters across.
It rolled forward with apocalyptic force, crushing everything in its path.
Morgan's rose domain might have controlled the rules—but before that overwhelming power, it was as fragile as paper.
It didn't even slow the attack for a moment.
The raging energy storm tore through it, shredding roses and vines into ash.
A domain could control laws—but when absolute power exceeded its limits, it would simply be blown apart.
This was brute force breaking all techniques.
The moment her domain collapsed, Morgan's first instinct wasn't to defend—
It was to run.
But the immense energy brought crushing gravity with it. Just like before, she was pinned in place, unable to move—though this time she didn't fall to her knees.
Boom—!
After the earth-shattering explosion, a massive crater appeared where she had stood.
As for Morgan…
She was gone.
While everyone was still stunned by the sheer destructive power of that attack, golden motes of light drifted down from the sky.
They slowly gathered, weaving her form back together.
Morgan stood there again, her breathtaking face filled with confusion.
Just now…
Had she died?
The pain of her soul being torn apart was already gone, but the memory of it was carved deep into her bones.
"You lost, Morgan," Tom said with a smile.
"…That was eye-opening," Andros muttered under his breath. "So that's how death and revival work inside this space."
Honestly, he was a little tempted himself. Experiencing death firsthand sounded like it could do wonders for one's state of mind.
"I lost… no, wait—that wasn't your power!"
Morgan suddenly snapped back to her senses, glaring at Tom in anger.
"Yep," Tom replied, looking completely innocent. "That wasn't my power. I just borrowed a little help from this space."
"You cheated!"
Tom's smile didn't change. "I didn't. I only said I wouldn't use the world's power to suppress you. I never said I couldn't use it to assist myself. That doesn't break the rules, does it?"
He had every reason to be pleased. That had just been a casual test run, and the result exceeded expectations.
At its core, his technique was about compressing vast amounts of astral magic. His own understanding wasn't deep enough yet, but inside the study space, who needed insight? With a single thought, he could draw on an almost limitless supply of energy.
This was something he'd eventually be capable of anyway.
Right now, he was just… borrowing it in advance.
Morgan fell silent.
If anything, she wanted to slap her past self. Why hadn't she worded her conditions more carefully?
Still… her certainty was starting to waver.
Maybe… this really wasn't Merlin's doing.
After some serious thinking, Morgan finally pieced things together. A look of realization dawned on her.
"Hogwarts… I've heard Merlin mention that before. I even tried to find it, but there was never any trace. And those strange spells of his… I see now. He learned them all from the future."
Tom seized the moment. "I asked the headmaster from Merlin's time at Hogwarts. Merlin once told him he was sent to this world by a curse. The one who cursed him… that was you, wasn't it?"
Morgan lifted her chin proudly and nodded. "Of course it was me. Who else in the world could wield such terrifying curse magic?"
Ariana couldn't help but chime in, "Terrifying? You literally sent your enemy into the future so he could learn a bunch of new magic. That's not a curse, that's a gift."
Being called out like that by a little girl made Morgan's face flush bright red. She stammered for a while before finally deflating.
"…Alright, fine. There was a tiny mistake. I meant to curse his lifespan, to make that damned dream-walker die of old age."
"But from what you're saying… it sounds like the curse affected time itself instead. His body couldn't keep up with the flow, so it actually became younger. And when the curse wore off, he stopped traveling through time and ended up in your era."
The more she talked, the more annoyed she became. It wasn't clear whether she was angry at Merlin's absurd luck or her own blunder. In a burst of frustration, she slammed her hand onto the stone table—
—and immediately winced in pain, baring her teeth.
The others looked like they wanted to laugh, but held it in.
After all… no matter how ridiculous she seemed, this was still the Witch Queen. If that curse had worked as intended, it would've been terrifying. Better to give her some dignity.
Tom, on the other hand, was starting to feel his composure crack.
What exactly had he summoned?
A clueless beauty?
Was she carried by luck or something?
Taking a deep breath, Tom decided to steer the conversation toward something more basic.
"Lady Morgan, you mentioned 'era' earlier. What does that really mean? And how far is your era from ours?"
"I don't know," Morgan said without hesitation, shaking her head.
Tom stared at her. "You don't know?"
"Don't look at me like that." She turned her head aside, a little embarrassed. By now, she understood that Tom was essentially the one who had "revived" her—and would be her student going forward.
Making a fool of herself repeatedly in front of her own student wasn't exactly great for her pride.
"An era isn't a precise measure of time," Morgan explained carefully. "It's more like a mark of civilization. Each era has its own system of timekeeping—years, months, days may look similar, but when an era collapses, who knows how long it takes before a new civilization rises and shapes the next one."
Now Tom understood, but another question came to mind.
"Then why do you know so much about eras? Today, we barely have any concept of prehistoric eras—just a few ancient ruins."
"Yeah, it's all the same," Morgan said with a quiet sigh.
"New civilizations are always built on the ruins of the old. Our era was no different. We inherited a great deal from those before us, which is why our era was even more brilliant than those that came before."
"But… everything comes at a cost."
"The brighter an era shines, the more horrifying its collapse."
"I didn't live to see that end," she added softly, "but it's not hard to imagine. It's only natural that little would be left behind."
"To be honest, we thought the next era would be entirely mundane—completely devoid of the magic. The fact that beings like you still exist…" She paused, then gave a faint, complicated smile. "That, in itself, is something of a miracle."
"..."
Tom's confusion deepened.
Muggles had been fine across the eras, hadn't they? So what the hell was going on? What was ending an era—and was it targeting only mages or what?
.
.
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