A Nascent Kaleidoscope. Chapter 583:

I sat on my butt, looking at the twisted world around , silently.

Eventually, I fell on my back and looked up at the strangely beautiful sky. It was sort of cracked and warped in a way that reminded of those kaleidoscope toys, but without the myriad of colors.

Rather ironic, considering everything.

[Are you seriously waiting here like she asked?] Ddraig's voice sounded in my head.

"I'm just...taking a mont." I let out a sigh. "Less than an hour, Ddraig. I did absolutely nothing; if anything, I did a good deed by overpaying for the stuff I just bought. And still, less than an hour, and sothing happens."

[I heard so rumors that Gremorys had so bullshit luck.]

"You think it's because of my bloodline?" I questioned him.

[Well, no. But I thought it would make you feel better if you could bla it on that. Honestly, I think you're just a magnet for trouble.

"...thanks, Ddraig."

[Seriously, you get into more trouble than I did in my life. I actually caused trouble intentionally; I can't rember the last ti that you tried to cause trouble rather than it just happening because of your presence.

I let out a sigh again.

"I'm going to complain to her manager." I sat up.

[What if the monk girl is the manager?]

"Then I'll write a bad review." I stood up, brushing myself off.

[Alright, Karen.]

Though this place was kind of interesting.

I imdiately took out Mirage and stabbed it into the ground so I could begin so calculations about this strange place I found myself forcibly put in.

Obviously, I could pretty much leave whenever I wanted, but for what reason was I here if not to explore new and interesting things?

While that was going on, I took out my wand and put a pile of books on the ground next to . Figured I could multitask while that was going on, and one of my goals was to get a better mastery of this wand-based magic system that was developed where Kunou is staying.

I had skimd these books here and there, basically with cursory glances mostly. I kept telling myself that I would sit down and study them properly later.

The thing is, these books aren't what I would call... reliable, in every context. So of them were ant for younger readers; so of them were... let's say generous with their explanations on how certain things work.

For instance, the snake summoning spell!

Just one of the hundreds of spells I've glanced over that made question the purpose of it being added to the systematic learning conventions they developed.

What possible use would soone have to summon a snake compared to one of the thousands of other spells they could potentially learn?

One of the baffling things, I suppose. Not to say I'm ever against additional and non-dangerous knowledge being freely available.

Simply, it's one of those head scratchers that I wish I could peek into the minds of the authors.

But I digress; I was going off on a ntal tangent.

The most hilarious thing was that the book stated quite authoritatively that the snakes were 'created from thin air.'.

Yes, clearly every witch and wizard was creating life from nothing with a casual wave of their wand a handful of words to accompany it.

It just made roll my eyes.

No, it was a summoning spell. It summoned the nearest creature matching the spell's structure to your location. Which was ingenious enough that I don't know why they had to bullshit it with that other nonsense.

Though, it was a bit of a misnor.

Reading up on it, looking over its spell structure, it could also summon other things closely related to snakes, mostly other reptiles. However, there seed to be a limit to the mass. I'm pretty sure I could summon a baby Alligator with the sa spell if I tried.

Why was any of this important? Well, this place I was 'trapped' in, I couldn't sense any life so rather than just waste ti trying to examine it closely, I was just going to overpower this spell and see what happens.

I flared my substantial magical energy. "Serpensortia!"

I felt the spell actualize, I was experienced enough to catch it just based on feeling, however, it sort of fizzled after a mont or two.

I clicked my tongue and twirled my wand in my hand absentmindedly.

Honestly though, I wasn't surprised. Just one of those things that I tested just for the sake of it. This basically implied that there was no 'life' within dozens of miles of myself.

Sure, I guess there could be sothing else, but with such a vast area, if no reptiles existed, then no proper ecosystem existed, which heavily implied no life.

I was just too lazy to actually go inspect it myself. Otherwise, such a spell would be completely overlooked by in every other situation. Truthfully, the vast majority of spells I've been looking at from Kunou's world are... well, they could be called cantrips.

It was unlikely I would ever use any of these spells in an actual fight. Maybe I could get inspiration sowhere; maybe there was a spell I could bring up to my standard. However, that wasn't the point in learning these spells.

I was a researcher; I would always be expanding my breadth of knowledge. Summoning a snake? Yeah, that was ignorable and almost mundane compared to my life, but who knows when sothing so pedantic could be useful a hundred years from now.

One of the reasons that Gramps is so feared is because of his knowledge across nearly all fields. He may not be an expert in every single craft in existence, but it was almost impossible to find sothing that he didn't have so knowledge about. You can take almost anything to him and he would have insight on it and his own personal experience to share.

That is the state that I admire and seek to emulate from him.

And well, I didn't really have much else to do right now as I was waiting for my calculations to finish.

I had so first guesses at what this place actually was, but before that, I flipped through the books quickly again until I found the spell I wanted.

Humming to myself, I looked it over and then found the corresponding detailed text in another book. It only took a few monts to get a proper understanding of it. I always admired simplicity when it ca to spellcasting.

Getting the job done in the most simplistic manner was a mark of talent in my eyes.

I looked around to find a suitable target and noticed a trash can not far away.

"Bombarda!" He flicked my wand at it.

The trash can imdiately exploded as the light from my wand connected with it.

It was rather loud and boisterous, perhaps even more so than the equivalent of blowing it up with the sa correlated amount of explosive.

The spell was actually intriguing, though. As the na implies, it causes things to explode, rather violently.

But that didn't quite do it justice because nothing else around the trash can exploded with it.

Based on what I read and my own observations, the spell seems to specifically cause the internal structure of the object it connects with to explode rather than causing an external explosion around the object. Despite it literally being a spell to blow the shit out of sothing, it was very constrained and delicate with its effects.

I also took note that so of the pieces of the trash can were suspended in air, like they were frozen in ti after the explosion occurred.

I walked over and flicked one; it sort of glided through the air a bit more, like it was pulled by a string, before it ca to a stop, still floating in the air.

This place was certainly strange.

One last experint, there was a secondary activation associated with the Bombarda spell. On the surface, there was an additional spellword and a slight deviation in the wand movents. However, underneath that, the spell sequence changed drastically, yet still retained the sa overall identity.

This ti, I wanted to see both the effects of pumping it up and what would happen to the surroundings, so I set my sights on what looked like a ten-story building just a bit down the street.

"Bombarda Maxima!" The light erupted from my wand and collided with the building, and a thunderous explosion rang out, sending shockwaves throughout the false city.

Like glass, the building shattered into millions of pieces, a stark difference compared to the real world.

I also noticed that nearby structures or objects were also damaged. It was rather easy to see because no 'dust' or 'debris' was kicked up as it doesn't exactly exist in this place.

Interesting, the Maxima combination removes the limiters of the spell and just pushes it past its original constraints into a full-on explosion.

Well, I was satisfied.

Seeing that destruction didn't an anything here, I just started throwing around spells haphazardly, blowing stuff up.

I admit, it put a bit of a smile on my face, watching everything shatter and collapse under the hundreds of spells I released.

And it was a wonderful stress relief, especially after the ti I spent in the Fae realms. I haven't felt this relaxed in a while.

[Seems like a good place for so training.] Ddraig comnted.

"I had the sa thought. I'll see if I can't mimic this sohow. I'm sure Scáthach and the others would love the ability to cut loose for whatever reason without the concern of collateral damage." I nodded along.

Because I was sure this wasn't a 'real' place.

Well, that was fun. It's rare that I find a ti to play around so childishly without sothing happening around .

Part of the reason I ca here was to relax sowhat—a working vacation. What was the point in that if I couldn't have a bit of harmless fun every now and then?

Casually, I walked back to Mirage in the ground to see what the calculations were that it finished. Of course, it's not like the numbers just gave an absolute answer as to what this place was, but it was enough that I could solidify my hypothesis.

I went over and double-checked them a few tis and pursed my lips.

"It seems like a higher dinsion was quite literally pulled down around us." I summarized.

[Like a godly realm?] Ddraig asked. I'm not surprised that's his first thought, considering what he's used to back ho.

"Kinda, sorta." I tilted my head back and forth. "There are hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller dinsions connected to the Dinsional Gap back ho. Of course the more famous ones are known, as that's where the gods had carved out their own domains. Olympus, The Nine Realms, Heaven, Takamagahara, etc etc. But not all of them are godly in nature; so just exist by happenstance or by other creation. Take that Soul Cairn we visited a while ago."

[So what, just a weird reflection of reality?]

I shrugged. "I'm not omnipotent; I'm only guessing at a few things at the mont. But yeah, it seems to be the case. This dinsion we're in doesn't really do anything by itself."

I made it sound mundane, but it's actually really neat!

Not many forces play with dinsions like this, it's a rare thing to co across. If nothing else, this little discovery made the trip worth it just for the intellectual value. I think Gramps would absolutely love the data I'm collecting on it as well. Don't know where it will be useful, but I know it certainly will be later at so point.

[Can you copy it back ho?]

"Probably not; it's a dinsion native to this world and connected to it. It's like asking if soone here can step over to Asgard back ho."

Regardless, it was ti to leave; I got all the information I needed here.

So quick calculations and I opened up a new portal, about to step through, but I ca to an abrupt stop.

[…pretty sure that's not where we ca from.] Ddraig said first as I looked through the portal.

The stench of death and decay imdiately invaded my senses. Almost right away, I was reminded of how it felt to go to Yomi for the first ti.

Not to ntion it was very dark and eerie on the other side; no stars or moon or sun could be seen. Yet, there seed to be so strange aurora that hung overhead, illuminating the place, if barely.

I pursed my lips because I was certain I copied the sa coordinates used previously.

"Ah…." I blinked. "Seems things were reversed sowhat. Like how my calculations would have been turned upside down when trying to go to the Fae Realms. Similar concepts, really."

I just feel silly for not realizing imdiately.

An easy fix; I literally could do so with a snap of my fingers, but now I was curious.

Where did I accidentally connect to?

I wasn't really in any hurry for anything. It's not like any sources of that tal are going to up and vanish if I take a small detour of an hour or so.

Fuck it, I'm partially here to explore and I'm in a good mood, so I stepped through.

(Line Break)

The place was exactly how it looked from the proverbial outside.

It also felt strangely... familiar, like I should recognize it despite never being here before. I knew for a fact it wasn't Yomi, nor was it the Land of Shadows and it certainly wasn't Hades. I can't think of any other place that would elicit a familiar feeling from that also had such a strong sense of Death.

It was well and truly a death realm like the ones I've been to before.

Hmm, there wasn't anything here again.

Well, there was at least more of 'nothing.'.

I kicked a rock, and it… behaved like a rock when it rolled and cracked and broke into pieces.

Weirdly, this Death Realm seed more in tune with normal universe physics than whatever that previous place was.

With a shrug, I took out my Kaleidophone and just took a few pictures. Realistically, I had nothing else to really peer into the mysteries of this Death Realm with.

Calculating its location in relation to Earth is...irrelevant? I'm clearly adjacent by how I managed to co here and I could easily co back now after knowing the initial calculations.

Though, I paused because I did notice sothing.

There were a bunch of stacked rocks not far away. Stacked in a way that is clearly by design, not sothing possible through random chance or whatever.

Oddly enough, there was another. And there seed to be more going off into the distance.

I followed them, like a trail left behind by soone. They weren't... of anything in particular; it looked like soone was just seeing if they could stack stones as awkwardly as possible without them falling.

Soone must have been really bored….

I followed along several dozen, maybe walking a couple miles before I finally found sothing, noise, and I picked up my pace.

Soone cursed in a language I didn't recognize, and there was the sound of rocks hitting rocks and seemingly falling over.

There was a woman, with ssy black hair, in so sort of green—albeit torn—bodysuit that looked to be so kind of leather.

My presence did not go unnoticed because with a rock in her hand, she froze, turning to and her eyes widened.

There was a mont where it seed like the world around us froze.

"...house cleaning?" I blurted out.

"Odin!" She bellowed and threw her hands forward. Out of the air, swords seed to appear in the dozens and fly towards .

Flying words, a woman after my own heart!

Actually, that's very literal.

Because they were most certainly aid at trying to kill .

Jesus Christ, I felt it now; she's a goddess.

I dodged out of the way from her abrupt attack but more and more swords were seemingly throwing magically through the air.

And they weren't sothing to swat away either; each one of them had the oomph behind them to bury themselves dozens of feet into the ground if they missed.

Also, I don't know what's going on, but fuck Odin. Why did it seem like in every reality, he shit the bed in so way? I'm starting to regret becoming blood brothers with him at this point.

"Stop throwing swords at !" I shouted as more ca at .

"No!" She scread hysterically.

"What did I do to you!?"

"Exist!" She scread back.

Seriously, why is everyone so hostile towards !? What the fuck did I even do? Did I sohow ti travel and piss off everyone in this world without knowing it? Or did so Odin here really piss her off and I'm just getting blasted by extension?

I was curious what she was doing too; was that Gradation Air? A form of it backed by Divine Power?

Well, I had my own pride. With a scoff from as one of her blades attempted to stab in the eye, my own swords flashed out.

The sword about to stab shattered as Dawnbreaker swung through it. To my right, Whisper deflected another sword. Ascalon slamd down from above, piercing through another. Mirage swept a few to the left. And from below, my Sword of Destruction turned a few more into shards on impact.

Of course, she didn't stop. And the sheer number of swords she created was respectable.

The sounds of weapons colliding filled the world, a proverbial whirlwind of broken swords danced around , sparks frayed off right before my eyes, yet my swords continued to protect , not letting any of her own blades through.

I began to take steps forward, hands clasped behind my back like I was taking a stroll.

Each step I took, shards of broken blades were left in my wake. Eventually, I was standing but a few feet from her, her eyes filled with a maniacal fury, but her attacks finally ceased.

I, of course, shot her a smug look.

Silently, she stared at , looks of confusion mixed with surprise. It was hard to decipher her thoughts through the expressions she was quickly shifting through.

She opened her mouth but stopped again.

However, I was a bit distracted by sothing else.

My nose twitched and scrunched.

"...When was the last ti you took a bath?"

Whatever she was thinking, it all disappeared because her face twisted into a scowl and a newfound fury reappeared in her eyes. She seed to erupt with a bit of power and the sky turned a strange hue; the aurora above reflected off the glistening edge of tens of thousands of swords hovering in the sky.

Huh.

"We can talk this out." I said evenly.

She looked at , tilting her head, and pushed through the sky; a dozen or so massive skyscraper-sized blades erged, pointing down at .

"Die." She responded with a hiss.

Well then.

Seems like the perfect ti to skedaddle.

I raised my hand, pointing behind her. "Odin, is that you!?"

She jerked her head around without a second thought. I was genuinely surprised she even fell for that. Like, this has worked a surprising amount of tis against people who it really shouldn't have.

But I didn't waste ti; my brain went into overdrive and I quickly went through everything I had in my ring.

No.

No.

No.

No.

Ah, that'll work.

The split second that took her to turn her head back towards , white frosting already splattered across her face.

[Did you just throw a piece of cake at her?] Ddrig asked incredulously.

Yes.

[Why?]

I didn't have a brick on hand….

[I don't know why I'm surprised anymore]

Very slowly, the unknown goddess wiped it away from her face and stared silently at with a very clear and distinct anger.

Ti to leave.

(Line Break)

Screams followed as I quickly jumped through a portal.

Screams of anger, that is.

Along with plenty of sharp edges trying to stab in so very unpleasant areas.

What's wrong with everyone here though?

That's two tis now; I did absolutely nothing wrong, and I get targeted like that!

Hmph.

"Just wait until I co back." I promised.

[Why would you want to go back?] Ddraig asked.

"My pride was challenged. I can't lose out on flying swords, Ddraig." I just needed to finish my Mystic Code, then we'll see who can throw more swords at whom!

[Why didn't you just…actually fight her?] He finally asked.

"I was technically an intruder. I an, that's her ho… or sothing, right? Despite her attacking , I was the one who ca to her." I said with a shrug. "If I suddenly popped into Hades, wouldn't the God of the Underworld have full excuse to treat as he wills if we were strangers?" Of course, I object as the one on the receiving end of pointy objects. However, I wasn't oblivious to my own 'fault' in this situation.

It's not like Soul Society where I had a reason to act so flippantly in soone else's ho.

Where was I now?

I looked around, noticing I was back in London and nodded to myself. I knew it didn't take much to correct my previous calculations.

Actually, I wasn't too far from where I was before.

Oh, and look at that; I noticed so spells being cast in the area. It seems like all the humans around just stopped what they were doing, with glazed eyes, and started leaving the imdiate vicinity.

Followed by that, so people dressed in similar monk attire to that first woman were running around for so reason.

Hmm.

I wonder if I can follow them back to their ho?

I think I'm owed so compensation for the emotional distress I was put under.

Let's go see what goodies they have.

I was surprised with how much of those monks there were. I saw half a dozen faces imdiately, but there must be more around here that I didn't find.

Well, I did my best to hide myself. Illusions were never my forte but I was a decent hand atleast and I began skulking around.

They were running towards the place I was at originally; I wonder if I accidentally did sothing to raise alarms?

With a quick burst of Shunpo, I scaled the nearby rooftops, watching down from above. I dared not fly up into the sky even with my illusion. The fact that I was sohow 'detected' when literally just arriving in this world left confused and a tad hesitant in my actions.

I was able to pick things out more clearly; it seems like the robes they wore were slightly different. In fact, I could pick out a few differences between the younger-looking ones and the older-looking ones.

A plan ford in my head as I watched them.

They were most certainly using magic, but it was... odd.

I found myself growing even more curious as I eyed a younger man running down the street, seemingly moving towards a nondescript house not far away.

I took out a diamond from my ring and held it up to my eye, closing the other to get a better look. Through it, I could see quite a few magical defenses around the house.

Well, they were much closer than I thought. Maybe the proximity is what led to everything?

Who knows.

I saw the young man leave the house again, running back towards the previous group. I cast a quick illusion to make him turn down another street, and he took a few more turns according to my gentle guidance until I led him to a dead end.

As soon as he realized it was a dead end, it looked like he realized sothing was wrong. Around his hands, sparks flew, and spell circles engraved themselves in the air as if he were ready to make a move.

Hmm.

Still was giving a strange vibe. Haven't seen magic circles like that before; they seed more… aggressive in existence, if that made sense.

Regardless.

He looked up at and I obscured myself with shadows.

"Who are you!?" He blurted out, noticing on the roof.

"I'm Batman." I said with a gruff voice before using Shunpo to appear behind him and poking him on the back of the head. His eyes rolled back and he nearly fell on his face. I caught him; no reason to make it painful if there was no reason to.

He was innocent and all that; I was just... acquiring so accommodations.

Gently, I laid him on the ground and tilted my head back and forth as I looked at his robes.

It really was Soul Society all over again, wasn't it?

I tugged at his clothing and sighed in relief seeing that he apparently had so clothing on underneath.

I guess I could also leave so gold for him.

(Line Break)

I tugged on my newfound robes.

Completely purchased through legitimate ans.

Yup.

I think I pull them off quite well.

I dare say I even look rather dashing.

Of course, I dismissed my illusions. Getting a look at the protections around the house, they were almost all protected against aggressive entry from what I could glean.

I'm pretty sure I saw so very old ancient protections against obscuring one's image. Were those Celtic in origin?

The obvious against literal forced entry as well, but those didn't need ntioning.

Overall, they were rather impressive, but there was one loophole I noticed. Perhaps not a loophole, but a simple side effect of location.

I walked up and knocked on the door.

Soone even ca and answered. An older gentleman, wearing the sa type of clothing, if slightly different, probably denoting his higher status.

"Who are you?" He looked at strangely.

I think I detected a hint of an Arican accent? Kind of funny to see an Arican monk wizard or whatever he was.

Well, ti to bullshit.

"I'm here to report from headquarters." I said with full sincerity and seriousness.

"...headquarters?" He repeated, furrowing his brow. He stared at for a long mont before opening the door wider, giving another scrutinizing gaze.

"….sorry, it's my first assignnt, and I wanted to sound professional." I scratched my head, giving the impression of a bit of nervousness.

The man sighed. "Alright, just... don't be too stiff. We're not soldiers. But I wasn't expecting any new initiates to be sent to the sanctum."

"My...teacher – " I settled on. "Got caught up in the big thing happening on the other side of the world." I rember what that woman ntioned, sothing about sothing. I was keeping it just as vague as her. "I was supposed to be introduced a couple of days from now, but he just dropped off here and told to make my way while he helps over there."

His eyes flashed; his skepticism seed to lessen to a degree. Perhaps my knowledge of 'the thing' happening was enough that he was willing to believe for now.

I gave an innocent smile; my years of theatre were paying off.

"Your na?" He finally spoke again.

"Takao Shimoda, sir. I'm from Japan." I introduced myself with a hint of faux enthusiasm.

Again, his expression softened slightly. "And what is your specialty?" He looked up and down. "If you're going to be joining the Sanctum under my watch, I need to know what branch you specialized in while training on the mountain."

"I specialize in Onmyōdō and Norse runes." I cheerfully answered.

Why did he not ask for my 'teacher's' na? I was anticipating that and had so bullshit to blurt out, but surprisingly he just glossed over it. Perhaps there are just too many people for him to rember everyone so he didn't bother?

After a few more monts, he stood a bit to the side and pushed the door all the way open. "Well, co inside then. The others that defend the Sanctum are out dealing with a small thing a few blocks away. You can et them when they co back."

I smiled and politely thanked him, stepping into the house.

It reminded of Hogwarts in all honesty, the way the magic power gathered around this place. I wouldn't be surprised if the building sat on a convergence of leylines.

The door shut behind and I stilled.

I looked down and there was a magic circle under . I looked up, and above on the ceiling there was also a magic circle.

On the walls all around as well.

"Do you take for a fool?" The man crossed his arms with the shake of his head. "By the will of Osiris, reveal your true form and be chained, Demon!"

He spun his hands and a magic circle erged, connected to the others and they all actualized with a combined spell that washed over harmlessly.

Nothing happened.

It seed to be a combination of a binding spell and a spell of revelation.

...Magic Resistance.

He stared at silently; I stared back at him.

Roll with it.

"Is this so kind of hazing for a new initiate?" I asked.

He blinked, looking at his hands, then back at . "That… should have revealed the true form of any demon hiding. And the Sanctum's defenses would have aided it, so there's no way it would have failed."

"I... believe there is a misunderstanding there."

"...Are you really a new initiate?" He hesitantly asked.

"Yes." I said with a face full of seriousness.

Well, he looked rather embarrassed now. The magics around started to disappear, not that they actually had any effect on to begin with.

"I... apologize. We had an incident not far from here about a demon sohow appearing without warning. It was trapped in the Mirror Dinsion and then sohow escaped. Things beca a little chaotic because we had warnings of an incursion of another dinsion overlapping with the Mirror Dinsion that was deployed as well." He started rattling off.

And I learned a bit more information then.

He looked at again. "And the nonsense you said about your specializations…"

I reached into my sleeves, to hide retrieving from my storage, and withdrew several Talismans to hold up for him to see. "Onmyōdō." I reiterated again. I then held a finger up and drew a rune in the air. "And Runes."

He gaped a little as if realizing he fucked up.

I wouldn't be surprised if he never heard of the forr and dismissed the latter as sothing nonsensical. Runecraft is treated as… lesser in the Mages Association as well.

"Would it also set you at ease if I showed my Japanese ID? Well, it's called a number card over there, but it basically serves the sa purpose." I didn't give him the chance to refuse to further keep him off balance. Doing the sa trick with the talismans, I pretended to find my wallet under my robes and take it out, showing him my info, conveniently covering up the date as that would be a little awkward to explain.

I'm pretty sure he didn't get a good look at it, and it was in Japanese too, but he was completely caught off guard now and feeling embarrassed, so I felt confident despite him staying silent.

Well, just make it too awkward for him to keep questioning !

He cleared his throat, regaining a semblance of proper deanor. "I'm Master Alexander; I'm the current watcher for the London Sanctum. If you need anything, please feel free to find . We have several guest rooms available on the fourth floor as well. If a door isn't locked, you're welco to find one that you like. Have you gotten a relic yet?" He asked.

"Uh... no?" I hesitantly answered.

But he just nodded as if it were normal. "Don't worry; most of us didn't get a Relic to recognize us until we had a few more years under our belts. Feel free to walk around our Relic Hall, if any react, you're allowed to take them. You just need to register it with or the vice-watcher when you do."

I perford a polite bow. "Thank you, Master Alexander." And I think he smiled just because I wasn't making a big deal about what just happened.

"The others should be back by the end of the day and we can get all the proper procedures with your admittance sorted." He said with a bit of reassurance, not with a single hint of an accusatory tone sent my way.

I forced a smile. "That would be great; thank you again."

He nodded and seed to go about his own business, or rather escape this conversation.

So I had a few hours before anyone gets suspicious.

He said sothing about a relic hall?

I just followed up the path of the stairs, noticing that the insides were much larger than they seed on the outside. Spatial expansion was by no ans new to , but it spoke volus about the skill of the ones here.

Many back ho and in the Clock Tower couldn't perform such feats, so it was genuinely sothing to admire.

It didn't take long for to actually find this supposed 'relic hall.'.

Mystic Codes is what we call them back ho. And dear lord, there were a lot of them. Everything in the room I just entered appeared to be a Mystic Code at first glance.

Hell, there was a chair to my left that was a supposed 'relic' by their terms.

Let's see, a sword without an edge that can cut a magnitude of things. A pair of shackles that can bind non-material things—that's neat.

A staff made of a wood I didn't recognize.

Oh, I noticed a rather dangerous sword not far away in a box with a bunch of seals on it. Funny, I could see it trying to reach out to , but my magic resistance was blocking it.

I rolled my eyes and slapped another talisman on it; this thing was clearly up to no good. An extra seal would stop it from attempting to tempt anyone.

A mirror that didn't show a reflection, that was interesting. It seed more like a sealed portal.

Ah!

I found a top hat.

I, of course, grabbed it and put it on my head.

It made miss my own top hat that I gave to Olga. I adjusted it slightly; it was a bit bigger and heavier than my own hat, but it felt good on my head.

Well, let's see what else I can find.

Before I could keep looking, though, a clanking sound grabbed my attention. I jerked my head to the side to see soone sitting in that weird magical chair at the entrance to the room.

The sa woman who dropped that 'mirror dinsion' on as it had been nad.

The bald woman sat there, legs crossed, stirring a cup of tea in her hands.

She looked up at , taking a sip. "Oh, don't mind . Please, continue to peruse at your leisure."

Well, fuck.

(Line Break)

A/N

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