An hour had passed, and the clearing was scorched.
The grass had been reduced to ash and animals had long since fled into the depths of the Midland Forest.
Merlin stood in the center, panting with trembling hands.
Sweat clung to her forehead, streaking her cheeks as she fought to steady her breathing.
Before her floated an unstable magic circle; black and purple flames flickering at its edges, threatening to collapse at any second.
Her jaw clenched as she forced her will into it.
"I-I must do this! I can do this!"
The magic circle was uneven before cracking apart, bursting into a shockwave of raw annihilation that sent her sprawling back across the ground.
She hit the dirt hard, coughing as dust rose around her.
Grimhild stood exactly where she had been an hour ago, simply watching.
"...Pathetic." Her voice was calm, but its weight pressed harder on Merlin than the blast had.
Merlin forced herself to her knees, wiping the blood from her lip.
"Don't... call it pathetic! I've been at this for hours! It's not like you got it right on the first try, Master!"
"I did." Grimhild's eyes burned crimson as they fixed upon her pupil. "Because I understood what you do not. Destruction is not flame, Merlin. Not even power. It is absence. You cling to flame because it's a concept you can understand. Flame is heat, energy, matter, but Destruction is none of these."
Merlin lowered her brows, still a bit confused.
"Unlike common magic, where you project your ideas into reality to create supernatural phenomena, you don't do the same for Destruction Magic. You must visualize nothingness, and use that nothingness, because Destruction is the endpoint for all things."
"I-I don't understand... it's too confusing." She said in frustration.
"Naturally." Grimhild said, lowering her head. "You still think like a human. Destruction demands you think like the void itself."
Merlin's teeth grit as her shoulders trembled.
"So what do you want me to do, Master? Stop being human?"
Grimhild said nothing at first, only staring at her, then she turned her head slightly, narrowing her eyes.
"...Perhaps."
Merlin widened her eyes.
"To use Destruction Magic, you must enter a trance of nothingness. All emotions, thoughts, memories, feelings, and ideas must be destroyed. That's the only way you can use Destruction Magic."
"I-I see..." Merlin straightened her posture and gazed at the ground. "I-Is that why you're always so cold and aloof most of the time?"
"Partially." Grimhild said flatly.
"S-Seriously?"
"What I am doesn't matter right now, Merlin, focus on your task."
Merlin hesitantly nodded her head.
"R-Right!"
"Destruction only manifests in a body of nothingness. The reason you need to get rid of your emotions, feelings, and everything else, is to prevent Destruction from accidentally erasing those things if it were to course through you."
Merlin gulped.
"S-So, if I still had my emotions and memories, and I used Destruction Magic, it would all be erased?"
"Precisely."
"I see, that makes a lot more sense."
Grimhild closed her eyes, nodding.
"But it's impossible to use Destruction Magic if you don't enter the Voidstate. I made sure of that; I created Destruction Magic's system after all."
Merlin smiled, nodding her head.
"Of course, thank you for the guidance, Master!"
Merlin steadied her breath as her chest still heaved from exhaustion, though her eyes burned with determination.
"Alright... the Voidstate. No feelings. No thoughts. No memories."
She shut her eyes tightly, whispering to herself.
"I can do this..."
The forest around her fell silent. The usual sound of life—the rustle of leaves, the chirp of distant birds—faded into nothing in her mind.
She pushed down the trembling of her body, and the echo of her own heartbeat.
She tried to silence herself.
But the harder she forced her thoughts away, the louder they screamed.
Images of her parents—smiling, then screaming—flashed behind her eyelids.
The smell of burning wood, the sound of Hexbeast chasing after her.
Merlin clenched her teeth.
"N-No... I can't think of that. I must erase it."
Her mind fought her. For every memory she tried to silence, three more surged up. Her mother's hand, her father's voice, the warmth of their hearth.
Then, years later—Grimhild's pale hand reaching down to her in the mud.
The cabin and the fire.
The first meal she had eaten in weeks.
Her throat tightened.
"If... If I erase my feelings... all of this..."
She formed another magic circle, trying to steel her resolve... but then it shattered
Merlin fell to her knees, gasping.
Tears welled in her eyes.
"I... I can't, Master. If I erase my memories, then what am I even fighting for!?"
"Do you believe the Void cares for your reasons?" Her voice was cold, though it held weight. "Destruction does not ask why. It is not justice, nor vengeance. It is an end, without meaning."
Merlin gripped her chest, shaking.
"...But if I abandon my feelings, won't I lose a part of myself?"
For a moment, silence hung between them.
Then Grimhild slightly lowered her head, feeling her white hair falling across her crimson eyes.
"...Yes."
The word sank deep, heavier than any blade.
"But that is the price, if you wish to enter my domain."
Merlin's eyes widened.
Grimhild turned away, planting her staff against the scorched earth.
"I told you before—you may surpass me. But not as you are now. A mage who clings and relies on their humanity, will never wield the Destruction Magic that I have. To reach the level of the Atamon, you must be willing to discard part of yourself, even if it leaves nothing behind."
Merlin stared at the ground, trembling.
Her lips parted as if to argue, but no words came.
"...Rest, Merlin. We will continue tomorrow. Until then, reflect upon this. Ask yourself what you are willing to give up... and what you are willing to become, if magic means so much to you."
[THE NEXT DAY]
The morning sun broke through the canopy of the Midland Forest.
Despite her training yesterday, life here was stubborn, even against annihilation.
Merlin sat alone on a fallen log, wielding a staff that leaned against her shoulder.
She hugged her knees with her long blue hair draping messily down her back.
Her eyes were hollow, fixed on the dirt.
Grimhild had not spoken to her since last night, save for a single order, and that was to reflect.
Needless to say, she did exactly that.
Every word gnawed at her heart.
Lose her memories. Lose her emotions. Become nothing.
If she erased them—would she still be Merlin? Or just a hollow puppet wielding the end of all things?
She thought of her parents. Her village. Her childish voice begging Grimhild to take her in.
The fire crackling in the old cabin, the smell of herbs drying in the rafters.
If she lost those memories, what would remain?
Merlin dug her nails into her palms until they hurt.
"...What am I even fighting for, if I throw away the very things that made me want to fight in the first place?"
A voice, honeyed and seductive, slipped into the silence like a knife sliding into flesh.
"Oh, so the little prodigy hesitates at the doorstep of greatness?"
Merlin froze, snapping her head up.
There, stepping out from between the trees, was an unfamiliar figure dressed in a kimono, barefoot with black painted toenails, and carrying a smoking pipe in her hand.
Agnes Gravenworth.
Her lips curved in a mocking smile.
"Wh-Who are you? What are you doing here? Grimhild said no one can enter the Midland Forest!" Merlin shot to her feet, her staff instantly in her grip, though her hands trembled.
Agnes laughed lightly, covering her mouth with her slender hand as if Merlin's reaction were nothing more than a child's tantrum.
"Oh, don't be so defensive. I've only come to... talk."
She stepped forward in the grass.
"You've been training under her all these years, haven't you? The infamous Witch of Destruction. Tell me..." Her gaze sharpened, cutting into Merlin like a blade. "...Has she told you what you must sacrifice to truly inherit her magic?"
Merlin flinched, gripping her staff tighter.
"...She told me enough. And I'll make my choice soon!"
Agnes tilted her head, feigning innocence, though her smile never left.
"Is that so? And what will you choose, little bird? To hollow yourself out until you're just another empty shadow, like dear Grimhild? To cast aside your heart, your memories, your very self... for a power that will one day consume you?"
She leaned closer.
"Or... will you take another path? Mine."
Merlin's body stiffened.
"You have brilliance, Merlin. Potential beyond even her in terms of Magic casting. But Grimhild would want you to use that magic for the sake of the world..." Agnes chuckled. "I, however, can grant you freedom. To make your own choice and not follow Grimhild's ideology, and morals."
Merlin widened her eyes.
"All you have to do is take my hand, and then... you can have whatever you ever wanted."
Agnes extended her hand, grinning at Merlin's conflicted thoughts.
"You'd gain my blessing, and easily learn Destruction Magic, and also get revenge on those who destroyed your village. All you need to do is follow me, and you'd become the Greatest Mage this world will ever see!"