At the Kingdom Library
He was speaking with her—Aiyana.
Then something shifted.
His gaze turned sharply toward the window.
Something was coming.
He didn't see it—
Not with his eyes—
But deep in his mind, a flash surged through like a crack in time.
A sword.
Ancient.
Heavy.
Familiar in a way that disturbed him.
He stiffened.
The world around him fell quiet.
Only he sensed it.
Aiyana kept speaking, unaware of the sudden shift in his demeanor.
He turned back to her slowly, voice measured, calm forced into every word.
Then, politely, he excused himself.
He walked to the nearby shelves.
His fingers brushed across the dusty spines—until he found the one he needed.
A book of chants.
He slipped it from the shelf.
From behind him, her voice came again.
"…What about the Pathways?"
He stopped mid-step.
And he answered.
Just enough.
Not too much.
Then, as he turned to leave, she offered her name.
He paused.
Half-lit.
Half-shadow.
"It's best that you don't know, Miss Aiyan."
And just like that — he vanished into the rows of ancient shelves.
The Bell Tower, Kingdom of Caelumbre
He appeared atop the High Bell Tower in a blink—
his cloak settling around him, wind howling through the great chimes above.
The rain had stopped.
But the sky remained dark.
From the highest point in the kingdom, he looked eastward.
Toward the sea.
Toward something ancient… stirring.
The wind tugged at his cloak, and still he stood—statue-still—
staring across the vast horizon.
"I sense it,"he muttered under his breath.
"A force… awakening."
He focused.
His eyes—glowing, luminous blue—sharpened unnaturally.
His vision stretched—beyond the clouds, beyond the coast—
until he saw it.
A ruin.
Rising from the ocean depths, cloaked in shadows.
Ancient.
Whispering of something forgotten.
A ruin not meant to surface.
The sea trembled around it.
Storms gathered above.
And near it—seven ships.
Attacked.
Torn apart by sea monsters, monstrous creatures that defied reason.
Two ships remained.
Barely.
Cannons and muskets fired.
Screams echoed across the waves.
And then—
He closed his eyes.
He pulled the chant book from his cloak, tucked safely into one of his belts.
His lips moved—words lost to time, whispered in an old tongue.
A chant.
Ancient-sounding.
Deep.
Cosmic.
Then—he vanished.
Above the Sea, Eastern Ocean
He appeared mid-air.
Floating.
Not just teleportation—something more.
An ancient magic was woven into his form.
He hovered above the storm, above the roiling waves and shattered ships.
Below him, chaos ruled the sea.
Five ships had been attacked—ravaged by creatures of the deep.
Twisted things with scales like armor and eyes that burned red in the dark.
Three ships had already sunk—swallowed by the sea in screams and flame.
The last two were struggling—desperately trying to fight the waves, to hold off the monsters and flee.
Gunfire cracked through the rain.
Muskets—Victorian in style—flashed against the dark.
Explosions lit up the sky as cannons fired wildly into the water.
The monsters were relentless.
One—larger than any ship—rose from the depths with a howl that split the sea.
Sailors screamed.
Men and women fought with everything they had, but it wasn't enough.
And then—he moved his hand-
His lips began to move.
A deep, strange incantation spilled from his mouth—like Unknwon, but older, forgotten.
The air trembled.
Magic surged.
And in the next moment—
light.
A blinding force erupted from him—silent, pure, absolute.
When it cleared—
The monsters were gone.
Annihilated.
Silence swept across the ocean.
The waves calmed.
The wind slowed.
Only the sound of the surviving ships creaking in the water remained.
The people aboard looked up—shaking, stunned.
There he was.
Cloaked in darkness. Eyes glowing luminous blue.
Standing in the air like a god from legend.
His hat shadowed his face, unreadable.
His cloak billowed violently, caught in the wind.
They stared at him—not with gratitude… but with awe and fear.
And he said nothing.
He simply watched.
A storm had passed—but something greater was coming.
The sea churned restlessly beneath him.
Clouds twisted in the sky like writhing serpents, and thunder growled in the heavens.
The Mysterious Witch Hat Man stood suspended above the ocean, cloak whipping behind him, luminous blue eyes locked toward the East.
He had sensed it.
The Ruin.
Its appearance had not just disturbed the ocean.
It had scarred it—a heavy ripple echoing across the abyss, not in water, but in reality itself.
An aura—ancient, malignant, suffocating—oozed from its blackened walls.
He widened his eyes.
A flicker of unease passed through his expression.
He stepped forward—preparing to move toward the Ruin—when the sea erupted beneath him.
(A SCREAM—DEEP AND ABYSMAL—TERROR ITSELF)
Something rose.
A colossal sea creature, the size of a city, burst from the waves like a living mountain.
Its body was tangled in barnacles, scales black as obsidian, with jagged spines protruding like rusted blades.
Its countless eyes blinked in unnatural directions, and its mouth—
wide enough to consume a fortress—
split open in a wet, grotesque roar.
The rain poured harder.
The waves screamed upward.
The sky darkened into night.
The beast lunged straight at him.
And the Mysterious Witch Hat Man… did not move.
He stood still—his cloak rippling violently in the storm, the thunder lighting up the sky behind him.
Only his eyes moved. Cold. Focused. Unblinking.
The monster lunged.
And then—
A small sigh escaped his lips.
The air distorted.
Suddenly, the monster jerked backward, as if struck by something unseen—an invisible blow of immeasurable force.
BOOM.
It screamed—a sound like metal tearing through flesh—thrashing wildly, sending tsunamis across the sea.
The Mysterious Witch Hat Man's voice broke through the chaos:
"You're far too big to be alive.
…So it's time for you todisappear."
He raised his hand slowly—and the sky seemed to bend.
A Black Hole tore open before the beast—spinning, screaming, sucking the very fabric of the storm into its core.
Wind.
Water.
Lightning.
And the creature itself—dragged toward it like a dying god.
The monster thrashed against it, roaring, its massive body too wide to be devoured cleanly.
Even the ocean began to bend toward the void.
The Mysterious Witch Hat Man narrowed his eyes—realizing the danger.
The black hole would swallow everything—the sea, the ships, the sky itself.
With a flick of his fingers, the black hole collapsed in a silent implosion.
The sea heaved in response.
The creature, half-wounded and enraged, crashed back down into the water, sending a massive shockwave outward.
The very wind recoiled.
The waves roared.
The sky screamed with thunder.
Even he was pushed back slightly in the air—but he did not fall.
He only smiled.
A grin—not of joy, but of anticipation.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Lucky thing.
You'll be the first to taste my fist."
The monster emerged again—angrier than before.
Its mouth opened wide—like a chasm trying to swallow the sky itself.
The Mysterious Witch Hat Man grinned, dark luminous blue eyes glowing as he charged toward the beast. His fist clenched, humming with power, rippling the air around it.
Then—
BOOM.
His punch detonated like an atomic blast.
The sky cracked.
The sea split.
Even the wind recoiled.
The creature screamed—long and guttural—as his knuckles dug into its obsidian skin.
Without pause, he grabbed the hardened flesh and unleashed a storm of blows.
THOOM.
THOOM.
THOOM.
Each strike sent shockwaves bursting through the ocean, splitting waves in half, thundering into the air like cannon fire from a god.
More sea monsters rose from the deep—grotesque, unnatural.
They hurled bolts of corrupted magic at him, spells glowing sickly green.
He barely glanced at them.
With a flick of his hand—
Miniature black holes tore through the air, devouring each one mid-scream.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Gone.
Disintegrated into the void.
His focus remained on the giant beast.
And his smile only grew.
He punched it again.
And again.
And again.
The air itself shuddered with each blow, like the planet couldn't contain the clash.
And then—
The Ruin pulsed.
A great wind exploded outward—unnatural, almost sentient—and slammed into The Mysterious Witch Hat Man.
He was blasted backward through the sky.
Before he could recover, the creature lunged, jaws snapping—
He caught himself mid-air, eyes burning brighter now, rain streaking across his face as he laughed:
"COME THEN, YOU GIANT SEA WORM OF TERROR!!"
And then—
He raised his middle finger.
Right at the beast.
A challenge.
A curse.
A dare.
The creature howled and lunged—
And both of them crashed into the sea, vanishing into the deep like meteors falling from grace.
BOOM.
The waves surged—rising into monstrous heights.
Thunder cracked.
Lightning clawed the heavens.
The Ruin pulsed again—sending shockwaves through the storm.
Beneath the surface, the fight continued—
Fists.
Teeth.
Magic.
The water boiled from their struggle.
And more monsters gathered—drawn to the chaos.
The ocean became a battlefield.
And the Witch Hat Man?
Still smiling.
Still fighting.
Dragging the colossal beast deeper into the dark.
The storm raged on.
The Ruin waited.
Chapter 12 has Ended