I found Irene Belserion sitting on a pile of busted-up marble that used to be a palace in the kingdom of Dragnof. The sky was a bruised grey, and she looked like she'd been through a meat grinder. Her scarlet hair was a tangled mess, and her eyes were just… empty.
"You look like crap," I said, leaning on my staff.
She looked up, her voice a hollow whisper. "Go away, Merlin. My husband already told the world I'm a monster. I'm just waiting for the scales to finish the job."
I sat down on a rock. "I've seen monsters, Irene. You're just a lady having a bad week."
I used my Eyes of Gilgamesh to peek at the green dragon magic rotting her soul, but I also saw that tiny, bright spark in her belly—Erza. I didn't say a word. Instead, I distracted her with talk of Enchantment Magic.
"So, Enchantment Magic," I said, trying to distract her. "You're the one who invented it, right? And that dragon slayer magic, attaching dragon power to humans? Both clever pieces of magic, but you're thinking about it all wrong."
She blinked, wiping a smudge of soot from her face. "Wrong? It's the magic of attaching power to things. What's there to get wrong?"
"Everything," I said, leaning in. "Most people think Enchantment is just like… taping a flashlight to a stick. You're just putting 'light' on 'wood.' But true Enchantment? It's about stories. It's about rewriting what an object is."
I watched her face go from depressed to curious.
"Look," I continued, "I once spent a long time working on a project. I called the sword Excalibur. I didn't just make it sharp; I enchanted the literal concept of a Dragon's Breath into the steel. It doesn't just cut; when you swing it, the sword 'breathes.' It fires a concentrated beam of heat and destruction that mimics a Great Dragon. It's not just a weapon; it's a dragon's soul trapped in a hilt."
Irene's eyes widened. "You put a dragon's essence into a blade? Without a Lacrima?"
"Yup. And the sheath, Avalon? That was the masterpiece. I enchanted it using the collective wish of all humanity. Every person who ever dreamed of a 'Utopia,' a place where pain doesn't exist and the world is perfect—I baked that entire dream into the sheath. When you use it, you aren't just shielded. You're moved to a 'Higher Realm' where the world's problems can't even touch you. It's the ultimate 'No' to a cruel reality."
Irene sat there, totally stunned. I could see her brain working, her own enchantment magic flickering in her palms. "To use the dreams of humanity as a base to form a realm of its own ... and a sword that breathes like a dragon ... Merlin, that is the most complex work I've ever heard of. It's... beautiful."
"In a few centuries, it'll be a legend," I shrugged. "But for now, it's just proof that magic is whatever you want it to be. You're a breath of fresh air, Irene. After all that husband betrayal drama, it's nice to talk to a pro who gets it."
A few months later, I was bored. I decided to take a nap on a cloud a few thousand feet above the ocean. It was peaceful until the air turned into lead.
ROOOOAR!
The clouds literally shattered. I woke up falling, only to see a massive, obsidian-scaled dragon circling back for another pass. Acnologia. He wasn't in human form; he was a mountain of black scales and blue markings, and he looked pissed.
"You," his voice echoed in my head, raw and hateful. "You reek of them. That stench... a dragon's soul is etched into your very spirit. I will tear it out!"
He didn't know who Odin was, and he didn't care. To him, I was just another Dragon Slayer to be erased.
He dived. I didn't even have time to grab my hat. I slammed my staff down, catching myself in the air using magic to float in the sky.
Well, Solomon! Looks like someone is cranky, c'mon give me sea and storm!.
[Affirmative. Accessing Water and Storm Runes.]
I pointed my staff at the ocean miles below. "Rise!"
The sea didn't just ripple; it exploded. Thousands of tons of salt water shot upward like massive, twisting serpents. I used Water Magic to command the ocean, creating giant watery hands that grabbed Acnologia by the throat and tail mid-flight.
He roared, his blue energy vaporizing the water in seconds, but the steam created a massive fog bank. I used Illusion Magic to make a thousand ghostly ships appear in the mist, all of them firing "cannons" of light at him.
"Is that all, lizard-breath?" I taunted, dancing through the air.
Acnologia swiped a claw, and the air pressure alone sent me spinning. He opened his maw, and a blue beam of pure destruction tore through the sky. I barely blinked away using Space Magic.
"My turn to bring the thunder!" I raised my staff, and the clear sky turned pitch black in a heartbeat. I used Lightning Magic to command the storm. "Solomon, sync the strikes!"
[Target locked. Initiating Divine Thunder.]
The sky opened up. Not just one bolt, but hundreds of jagged, white-hot spears of lightning slammed into Acnologia's back. He screamed, a sound that probably caused tsunamis on the coast, but he was a tank. He flew straight through the lightning, his scales glowing blue as he started eating the magical energy of the storm.
"Right, the 'eating magic' thing. Super annoying," I muttered.
He was right on top of me now. I could see the heat coming off his scales. I swapped tactics. I used the storm not to hit him, but to reinforce my own moves. I enchanted the falling rain to be as heavy as lead, making every drop that hit him feel like a hammer blow.
"Rune of Origin: Absolute Zero!"
I slammed a freezing rune into the water serpents I'd summoned. They turned into massive ice spikes that impaled his wings. He tumbled toward the sea, crashing into the waves with a splash that looked like a bomb going off.
I floated down, pointing my index finger. The sea was churning, and for a second, I thought it was over. Then, the ocean erupted. Acnologia burst out of the water, flying straight at me like a black bullet.
"I am the end of all things!" he roared.
"And I'm the guy who's trying to sleep!" I yelled back.
I gathered every bit of Light Magic I had into my fingertip using cosmic runes. I didn't use a beam this time. I used an enchantment to make the concept of light "to pierce." I created a spear of pure, white energy—The Spear of the First Morn.
I threw it. It didn't explode. It pierced through his shoulder, pinning him to the surface of the water with the weight of a star. He thrashed, his blood turning the sea blue, before he let out one last, world-shaking roar and dove deep into the dark water to escape.
I stood there, hovering over the crashing waves, huffing and puffing. My robes were soaked, my hair was a mess, and my staff was hot to the touch.
"Well... that was exhausting!" Dman, it still takes a lot out of me to use the cosmic runes.
"Solomon... tell me he's gone."
[He is retreating to the deep trenches. His pride is wounded more than his body, but he will not return today.]
"Good," I said, wiping salt from my eyes. "I'm going home. I bet Jason has the fire going."