It pressed down on him like a massive, immovable boulder.
"Uh..." Ian could barely draw a breath. It was as if every molecule of oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Unable to endure the tension any longer, he slowly turned his head toward Morgan.
But, Ian felt every bone in his neck creak under the strain.
The good news: Morgan's expression had technically returned to calm.
The bad news? Morgan was terrifyingly and unnervingly calm.
She smoothed the sleeve of her gown, which had been neatly sliced by the outgoing burst of sword energy, wordlessly.
"Professor…" Ian's voice was a whisper. He forced out a dry, cracked laugh, desperately trying to break the stillness in the air. "I--- I think this is all just a big coincidence, a massive misunderstanding..."
Morgan said nothing.
In response to the boy's weak, nervous explanation, she simply raised her hand. A dangerous violet energy began to swirl around her fingers. Ian swallowed hard; his heartbeat hammered against his ribs like a war drum.
A chill shot straight up his spine, so cold that it settled in his skull. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his entire body froze as if doused in liquid nitrogen. His instincts screamed the truth: this was a life-threatening crisis.
'Trust your legendary-level survival instincts!'
This thought flashed through Ian's mind as his body acted before his brain could form a second thought.
"BANG!"
The door burst inward as Ian slammed through it without stopping to open it properly.
He didn't hesitate, he turned and bolted, his escape based entirely on instinct. Outside, the dragon that had been dozing on the ramparts raised its massive head and blinked its amber, slit-pupiled eyes in confusion.
"What happened to you?"
Two plumes of sulfur-scented smoke puffed from its nostrils.
But the dragon received no answer.
Ian didn't have time to explain. With a leap, he vaulted clean over the dragon's tail, flung his flying cloak over his shoulders, and launched himself from the castle's outer platform.
It turned out that his decision was absolutely, flawlessly correct.
The instant he pushed off into the air, a sharp, deafening crack rang out behind him, and it was not the sound of shattering glass, but of space itself fracturing under impossible pressure.
A torrent of terrifying energy exploded from within the castle. The massive dragon didn't even have time to roar before it was blasted off its feet. Its colossal body tumbled violently and crashed into a nearby cliff, shattering half the mountain face.
Ian risked a quick glance back and all the color drained from his face.
A colossal surge of raw, untamed energy swept outward like an unstoppable natural disaster. Everything in its path, mountains crumbling, boulders pulverized, trees ripped from their roots, was instantly swallowed by the invisible storm.
Was this still the power of Cognition?
"This isn't my fault!"
Ian shrieked as he fled for his life, but his voice was immediately drowned out by the thunderous, earth-shaking roar behind him. Perhaps his words couldn't reach Morgan at all, or maybe the enraged Morgan no longer cared to hear excuses.
She only wanted to discipline her apprentice, and former mentor, properly.
"It's all Pandero's fault! No, Arthur's! Damn you, King Arthur!" Ian pushed his flight speed to the absolute limit, but the energy wave was quicker. It was upon him in mere seconds.
There was nothing he could do.
His flying cloak was an old relic, one of his earlier inventions that he hadn't upgraded. It was woefully slow, nowhere near fast enough to outrun the devastating current sweeping up behind him.
Ian briefly considered transforming into a raven.
But he stopped himself. He knew that, with Morgan this furious, flying away in that animal form right now would be pouring pure dragon oil onto the flames. Who knew how long that fire would burn?
Of course, this kind of direct, violent outburst was, in a strange way, still acceptable. If Morgan had chosen to silently harbor a grudge instead, well, his senior sister had already demonstrated what happened to those who earned a permanent, unforgiving place in Morgan's heart with her entire, terrible life.
Her slow-burning wrath was infinitely worse than facing her fury head-on.
After taking a moment to consider the situation, Ian decided that Morgan's straightforward explosion wasn't the worst possible outcome, at least it was out in the open and not hidden behind a fake smile.
At least she was venting. Not plotting.
With that thought settling his nerves, Ian decided he should just go along with it. He would let Morgan vent until the storm passed, and then perhaps everything would be fine.
"Ah, what a mess..." Ian hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and abruptly stopped flying.
He let the raging, magical torrent behind him swallow him whole.
Inside the storm, he felt like a helpless leaf tossed by an infinite, violent force. The world spun wildly. One moment he was hurled toward the sky; the next, he was slammed against the earth, repeatedly crashing into rocks and tree trunks. Thankfully, the pain wasn't too sharp.
Perhaps Morgan controlled her strength after all, he dimly mused.
Ian felt like he was being tumbled inside a massive blender. Dizziness and nausea were the worst of his suffering. After what felt like an eternity, the relentless fury of the magical current finally began to subside.
"Cough, cough…"
Ian dragged himself out of a heap of shattered stones, his hair matted with dust and broken leaves. He was filthy from head to toe, like someone who had just rolled through a debris field.
He shook his head, scattering dirt everywhere. He was just about to catch his breath when a familiar voice called out to him.
It turned out the magical torrent had flung him somewhere very familiar.
"Ian? What happened to you? Did you solve the crisis?"
After all that spinning and tumbling, he had been swept all the way to the nearby town, where Ariana stood not far away, carefully stepping around flying debris and fallen branches.
To be fair, the magical flood hadn't obliterated anything in the town. It had simply carried rocks and tree fragments down the mountain, along with Ian.
The ground was a mess of debris but otherwise intact.
Apparently, the dark witch had been uncharacteristically gentle toward Ariana's "world."
"I remember you were in a black forest before, weren't you?" Ariana asked curiously, glancing around the town. But there was no trace of the Forbidden Forest's eerie vegetation anywhere.
"What happened?"
Her eyes were full of confusion. She was utterly baffled by Ian's spectacular, dirt-covered entrance.
"Wait, Ariana, hold on a second." Ian didn't answer her right away. Instead, he aggressively brushed the dirt and debris from his robes and began frantically scanning the area.
"Where's Pandero? Where's Arthur?"
He shouted their names. Before Ariana could respond, he tore through the town like a man possessed. He flipped over crates, kicked aside barrels, and turned the place upside down. He seemed intent on dismantling every building until he found his target.
His fury was palpable.
"Arthur! Arthur Pendragon! Get out here and face me!" Ian bellowed, pulling out his wand. In a flash of magic, every building in the town disassembled itself into floating puzzle pieces and rose into the air.
King Arthur, also known as Pandero, had been hiding in a haystack, but now he had nowhere left to run. Seeing the young wizard closing in with a dark, righteous look on his face, Pandero immediately raised both hands in surrender.
"Wait, listen to me! I didn't mean to--!" he cried out.
But before he could flee, Ian charged at him, teeth bared and hands outstretched. He looked ready to tear Pandero apart for humiliating and hurting him.
(End of chapter.)
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