Inside the library warehouse, a place where old and worn books were stored. Dust was everywhere, and spider webs had formed in every corner of the room.
Merlin and the female librarian stood facing each other.
"Boy, I want to ask you where you learned protection magic at an age not even seventeen," asked the woman named Jane Calone.
"There's no written rule saying children under seventeen aren't allowed to study magic, is there…"
"…where did you learn it? Without a master, it's impossible for a snot-nosed brat like you to learn magic," Jane lifted her glasses slightly with her index finger.
Hearing this, Merlin began to feel that the woman in front of him was acting arrogant toward him.
But strangely, in every word Jane spoke, Merlin felt no hostility at all. Merlin's answer would influence Jane's next actions.
"…It's not my obligation to tell you either…" Merlin replied.
"…" Jane suddenly released an extremely powerful magical pressure. The pressure sent many books around them falling, some even flying into the air.
?! Merlin frowned. What was happening now completely contradicted the strength he had felt from Jane before.
The Heal Trait should not possess the power to exert such overwhelming pressure. This kind of pressure could only be produced by a mage-type Trait, just like the one he himself once had when he wandered inside the Tower of God.
Merlin did not retaliate against the pressure Jane created. Instead, he formed a small, highly concentrated mana barrier, preventing Jane's pressure from penetrating his body.
"…hah…" Jane let out a sigh when she saw that Merlin showed no resistance at all.
"…Forgive me. I thought you were one of them as well," Jane bowed her head slightly after sighing, apologizing for her sudden action.
"One of them?" Merlin finally realized that Jane had been searching for something from the very beginning.
"Yes."
"Can you tell me about it?" Merlin asked curiously.
"No. The less you know, the better," Jane said, turning her gaze away from Merlin.
Jane turned around, intending to leave the warehouse, feeling satisfied with the questions she had asked Merlin.
When Jane was about to open the warehouse door, it suddenly became locked.
"?" Jane looked confused as she saw the door in front of her locked all of a sudden.
"How can the door be locked?!" Jane then used her magic to forcibly open the lock. However, the result was futile. The door did not budge at all, as if it were protected by higher-level magic.
"!!!" Jane immediately turned her face toward Merlin, who was standing in the middle of the warehouse, staring at her.
"You're leaving just like that? We should be using the law of equivalent exchange, shouldn't we?" Merlin said while looking straight at Jane.
'Who is this boy?!' Jane began to sweat as she felt the entire warehouse filled with an unfamiliar kind of magic.
"…You asked, I answered. And now I ask, you answer," Merlin said.
"All right," Jane realized the situation and quickly walked closer to Merlin.
"Black Crown. Merlin, do you know them?" Merlin asked Jane bluntly.
"Merlin? There is no member of Black Crown named Merlin," Jane answered honestly.
"…" Merlin fell silent after hearing that.
"Then…" just as Merlin was about to ask another question, his right eye suddenly turned black. Part of his face was covered in black, with countless eyes writhing across that side of his face.
"!!!" Jane's body froze at the sight before her. A baseless fear gripped her as she stared at the being in front of her.
"Do you know the Almighty Arken?" A booming voice echoed, trying to shatter the protective magic Merlin had created.
"!!!" Merlin, startled by Arken's sudden awakening, desperately tried to suppress him.
"Idiot! Don't come out without my permission!!!" Merlin shouted as he forced Arken's power back down.
Sweat poured down. Jane was rooted to the spot, her lips pale, her legs trembling.
Almighty Arken.
After Merlin suppressed Arken's power, Jane collapsed to the floor, unable to stand, her eyes vacant.
"W-what was that?" Jane asked in a trembling voice about that terrifying existence.
"Aish… damn it," Merlin covered his face with his hand, seeing Jane's mental state shattered just from Arken's presence.
"…I'm sorry for making you see something like that," Merlin apologized to Jane.
"But about what just happened, can you keep your mouth shut?" Merlin asked Jane not to reveal what she had seen.
Jane nodded, her face still filled with fear.
"…I won't tell anyone," Jane replied in a trembling voice.
"Seems we should stop here for today…" Merlin muttered.
"…Are you free tomorrow?" Merlin asked Jane.
"…" Jane nodded immediately.
"I'll continue my questions tomorrow."
"…" Jane nodded twice.
"We'll meet in the afternoon in front of the library."
"…" Jane nodded three times.
Seeing this, Merlin smiled faintly at the corner of his lips at Jane's sudden change in behavior. Merlin then walked away, leaving the library warehouse behind.
The warehouse was left with only Jane, kneeling weakly on the floor.
"What kind of being was that…?" Jane asked herself as she recalled the deep fear she had felt.
…
A narrow alley, a small path flanked by two buildings. A road only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
"Hey, are you insane for showing yourself to someone we don't even know?!" Merlin scolded Arken, who had appeared so suddenly.
"…I also wanted to ask her something," Arken defended himself.
"If you want to ask someone something, do it through me!" Merlin still couldn't understand Arken's actions.
"This is also your fault. If you hadn't cast that insane spell, our existence wouldn't have been erased from this world!" Arken, a being with an existence far superior to humans, considered the spell Merlin had cast back then to be utterly mad, as it exploited the law of causality.
"…" Merlin fell silent for a moment after hearing Arken's words.
That insane spell had sacrificed the existence of both Merlin and Arken as fuel for causality.
"For humanity," Merlin said, feeling no regret over what he had done for the glory of mankind.
"All races think that way when they enter the Tower of God, but only a handful are able to ascend to higher floors," Arken said, speaking as both a resident and the boss of the tenth floor.
"Besides, the Tower of God wasn't created for such a trivial purpose," Arken muttered.
"?" Merlin, hearing this, grew curious.
"What purpose?"
"The tower is merely an entrance to the real stage, a place where far stronger monsters roam at the peak of the tower."
"So floor ten isn't the top of the tower?!" Merlin exclaimed in shock.
"No. There are still several floors left before reaching the summit," Arken replied.
"…" Merlin clenched his teeth upon hearing this.
"Well, as long as they remain inside the tower, they won't be able to touch the outside world," Merlin said calmly.
"Hahahaha…" Hearing Merlin's words, Arken suddenly laughed loudly inside Merlin's head.
"You think the inhabitants of the tower are like prisoners?!"
"???"
"The inhabitants of the tower are merely waiting for the right time before eventually swallowing this world, just like the other worlds that have already been consumed by the Tower of God."
"!!!" Merlin's face froze upon hearing this.
"The moment I descended was the moment I was one step away from leaving the tower and devouring everything," Arken said, recalling how he had tried to destroy the tenth floor to descend further.
"…but everything had to stop because of that disgusting spell of yours," Arken said, pointing at Merlin.
Hearing this truth, Merlin fell completely silent. It turned out there were enemies far stronger than Arken himself.
Merlin clenched his fists tightly.