Coldness.
Rationality.
Determination.
In the dream, Lai sat upright, one hand pressed against the table.
His knuckles had gone white from the force with which he gripped the quill, and the three qualities were displayed vividly in every aspect of his demeanor.
Dawn lowered his head expressionlessly.
Two pairs of scarlet eyes stared at each other across different dimensions, reflecting the similarly cold faces of the two men.
After learning the reason behind his own "birth," Dawn was strangely calm.
He did not fly into a rage. He did not question himself. Even the faint anxiety that had plagued him over the past few days suddenly vanished.
There was nothing worth caring about.
Dawn inexplicably felt that way.
What Lai and Merlin had discussed had certainly shocked him to a certain degree.
But ever since he had realized that there were problems with his memories, and especially since he had begun dreaming for the first time, he had already prepared himself mentally for the worst possible outcome.
Besides...
Fake or real. That was all it was.
He had adapted to this degree of division long ago, and he completely agreed with what Lai had just said.
Memory, emotions, and thought were the fundamental things that determined a person's sense of self.
Therefore...
He was himself.
Dawn Richter.
As for Lai Ryan, since he had already disappeared, then he should turn into dust completely. He should not keep jumping back into Dawn's life and making trouble.
Dawn curled the corners of his mouth into a cold smile.
Indeed, he had once felt melancholy about his past. But that had been because the uncertainty caused by the fog surrounding his origins had made him uneasy.
Now, however, the dust had settled.
The enemy had revealed himself.
The reason behind everything was completely clear.
Then!
The only thing Dawn needed to do now was to take everything, whether Lai or Merlin...
And crush it all into ashes by the most brutal means possible, including the beautiful dream they had constructed for themselves.
"Let's see who will be the one laughing in the end."
He whispered, flames of destruction burning fiercely within his pupils.
"Ambrosius, one last question."
While Dawn's desire for destruction was rising, the dream before him continued.
Lai tossed the quill back onto the table and stared at the three commands written on the papyrus.
"In your opinion, once your plan succeeds, in what way will I return?"
His fingers tapped against the tabletop.
"Regardless of how it happens, destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes will take time.
During that process, will the additional years I experience, and the changes in my relationships with other people, cause unknown effects on me?"
"I cannot give you a definite answer to that."
Merlin frankly admitted his uncertainty.
He sighed softly.
"Let fate correct itself. Lai, we should first resolve the most fundamental problem of your existence. As for what happens afterward, we can make adjustments then."
The Grand Sorcerer paused slightly.
"Besides, there is one more thing I need to tell you. Accomplishing our objective may not take very long.
Following destiny is about the process, not the result.
It is not necessary for every one of Voldemort's Horcruxes to be destroyed before I can resolve the problem of disconnection.
As long as we reach a certain point, I will be able to begin reintegrating myself into the world and return together with you."
Merlin revealed a piece of good news.
Dawn narrowed his eyes.
He thought of the sudden sense of dread he had experienced when destroying Slytherin's Locket.
If that was the case, then destroying the three Horcruxes consisting of the diadem, the cup, and the locket had already satisfied the basic requirements for Merlin's return.
But Lai merely nodded casually.
"Mm. That's good."
Clearly, he was more concerned about his own return.
After remaining silent for a moment, he continued asking, "Ambrosius, do you think that the me who returns will be exactly the same as the me who exists now?"
The room fell silent.
"That is difficult to say."
After a long while, Merlin finally sighed.
"But Lai, as you said earlier, thought, memory, and the self. As long as those things remain the same, there is no difference between you and your current self."
Lai pressed his lips together, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Dawn, meanwhile, listened without much reaction.
But suddenly, he thought of his own method of copying wizards.
If, in the future, Lai and Merlin's plan succeeded and the self known as Dawn Richter was about to disappear...
Would Dawn be willing to take another wizard, modify that person through special patterns until they became exactly like his current self, and acknowledge that person as a continuation of himself?
Dawn was momentarily dazed.
His first reaction was still an absolute no.
Even when treating other patients, he frequently used replacement therapy and explained his actions by saying that the result was "exactly the same."
But if it were himself...
He absolutely could not accept it.
The mere thought caused Dawn's brows to tighten, and he instinctively rejected the idea.
Still...
If he were truly backed into a corner one day, with no other solution available, even Dawn himself could not say whether he would remain so firm.
"So I absolutely cannot allow myself to reach that point."
Dawn took a deep breath and made his resolve firm.
Behind the desk, Lai's expression also gradually became more solemn as concern surfaced.
He was likewise someone who placed tremendous importance on his own identity.
After thinking for a moment, Lai picked up the quill again.
He hesitated for a moment before slowly writing another command onto the papyrus.
"If Lai Ryan can return, he will not be influenced by any self other than Lai Ryan, including in thought, memory, personality, or relationships with the outside world."
The quill scratched softly against the papyrus.
Merlin silently watched what he was doing. He did not stop him, nor did he say anything discouraging.
Only after Lai finished writing did he ask, "Is there anything else you want to add?"
"No."
Lai stopped writing and took a deep breath.
"Ambrosius, what should we do with this sheet of papyrus?"
"Burn it."
Merlin's answer was extremely concise.
But Dawn's expression immediately darkened.
He had originally been thinking about whether he could find this papyrus later and add something beneficial to himself.
Now it seemed there would be no such opportunity.
Whoosh.
A flame rose from Lai's hand.
The already old and dry papyrus immediately turned yellow and curled when touched by the fire, transforming into tiny fragments of ash.
Lai stared blankly at it as though lost in thought.
After a moment, he blew away the remaining ashes on the table and stood up.
"Let's go, Ambrosiu... My leave is almost over."
"It's time to return to Hogwarts and live out the rest of my life."
Click!
Suddenly!
The scene before Dawn's eyes froze.
The colors faded, shattered, and dispersed, once again becoming chaotic darkness alternating with the blackboard in the real world.
The dream was over.
Dawn rubbed his head.
His mind was still somewhat groggy, but his mood was far better than it had been before he went to sleep.
This time, he had not returned with countless unanswered questions as he had in the past.
Almost the entire iceberg beneath the surface of the sea had finally emerged.
All that remained was to find a way to solve the problem.
Dawn had never been the kind of person who would easily admit defeat.
Even if, from a practical standpoint, Merlin and Lai's plan was extremely difficult to deal with.
Everything had happened and taken shape in the past.
Without even realizing it, Dawn had already destroyed half of the Horcruxes and helped them complete the preparations for the first stage.
To put it more dramatically, they did not even need to do anything else.
They only needed to wait for fate to automatically correct itself, change Dawn, and reshape Lai into existence.
Therefore...
The first thing Dawn needed to fight was the so-called fate itself.
"Heh."
He gave a cold laugh, completely fearless.
That extreme sense of self and arrogance might have followed Lai's wishes, but they had also produced a soul that could only be described as terrifyingly resilient.
Dawn closed his eyes, doing his best to ignore the discomfort caused by repeatedly falling asleep and waking up as he considered his countermeasures.
The simplest and most brutal method would be to use the collective consciousness to resist the process.
In a world like this, collective consciousness was practically a universal answer.
But the problem was...
How could he gather enough collective consciousness to actually divert the course of fate?
His current reputation within the world was nowhere near sufficient.
It would be like trying to put out a raging fire with a cup of water.
A series of unorthodox schemes flashed through Dawn's mind.
Unfortunately, every one of them required an absurdly long amount of time to execute.
For now, they could only remain backup plans.
Then Dawn thought of a second method.
He took the Gaunt family's ring from his collection and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the soul pattern of Voldemort inside it.
The speed and progress of Merlin and Lai's return should be related to the number of Horcruxes destroyed.
The more that were destroyed, the faster their return would become.
Then...
If Dawn created more Horcruxes for Voldemort, could he delay the return of the two of them?
Or perhaps make their return into an unreachable illusion?
Dawn carefully considered the idea.
With the intention of experimenting, he picked up a small stone from the ground.
As his magic surged, he altered part of the special pattern, transforming it into Voldemort's soul and tightly connecting it with the stone itself.
An ear-piercing shriek of a soul rang out from within.
Dawn could vaguely hear someone screaming and cursing furiously inside his mind, almost identical to the soul of Voldemort within the ring.
Had he succeeded in creating a Horcrux?
Dawn frowned and examined it carefully.
But after studying it for a while, a ball of Fiendfyre suddenly ignited in his palm and completely reduced the small stone to ash.
It was nowhere near enough.
Simply altering the stone itself was far from sufficient.
Dawn exhaled.
He could clearly sense the difference between the two.
What he had created was merely a stone containing a fragment of Voldemort's soul, not an actual Horcrux.
Perhaps...
The key to a Horcrux, besides the soul itself, lay even more in certain special patterns surrounding the vessel.
Dawn considered the possibility.
He lowered his head and glanced at the Invisibility Cloak tied around his body.
He pulled the collar upward, burying both his head and the Gaunt family ring beneath the Cloak.
At once!
Amid the dense mist of magic, countless strange and varied special patterns suddenly appeared before his eyes.
They floated chaotically through the air, like schools of fish gathering beneath the sea, constantly swimming within the area covered by the Invisibility Cloak.
Dawn's brows furrowed.
There were simply too many patterns.
With this many special patterns, separating the ones related to the ring or to Horcruxes would require an enormous amount of work.
It was absolutely not something that could be completed in a short period.
Yet time was precisely what Dawn lacked.
Dawn pulled the ring out and, despite himself, came up with an absurd idea.
Should he resurrect Voldemort and let Voldemort make the Horcruxes himself?
But immediately...
Dawn shook his head.
He must have gone mad.
It was easy to imagine that even if Dawn helped Voldemort return to life, that damned creature would only hate him even more.
Then he would not only have to deal with the elusive Merlin, but also remain constantly wary of Tom turning around and biting him.
Just imagining that situation gave Dawn a headache.
He exhaled heavily and decisively stuffed the ring back into his wallet, completely abandoning the idea.
There was nothing worth regretting.
Creating more Horcruxes for Voldemort might delay Merlin and Lai's return.
But that was only one possibility.
It was equally possible that no matter how many Horcruxes he created, the prophecy that the Chosen One and Voldemort were destined to confront each other would simply prolong the process of their conflict.
And for Merlin, who could already interfere with reality, that might actually make it easier for him to follow destiny.
"So the real point of attack still has to be the past."
Dawn narrowed his eyes and murmured to himself.
After thinking it over, his gaze settled on a direct and effective solution.
There was no need to keep talking about how changing the past would trigger World Correction.
He was already being targeted by fate.
The natural magic that had gathered around him with the intention of changing him was still hanging around him now.
So how much worse could things possibly become?
If that was the case, why not simply return to the past and stop Lai from writing those commands on the papyrus?
Solve the entire problem at its source.
Moreover, with the Invisibility Cloak, he had plenty of room to experiment and resist the World Correction that might be triggered by traveling through time.
At that thought, Dawn subconsciously took out his wallet again.
After rummaging through it, he pulled out a Time-Turner and held it in his hand.
The golden hourglass reflected in his scarlet pupils.
Coincidentally, the effect of the potion he had drunk disappeared at that moment.
He no longer alternated between sleep and wakefulness, allowing his thoughts to concentrate more clearly on the matter at hand.
Dawn looked at the sand accumulated inside the golden hourglass and gently rubbed his fingers over it.
He did not make the decision recklessly.
His experience last year, when he had used the Time-Turner and ended up sabotaging himself, was still vivid in his memory.
Merlin had also said that his current predicament had been caused by his own excessive contempt for the power of time.
Therefore...
Before he truly began acting, he had to make every possible preparation.
If possible, it would be better to wait until he obtained the Sorting Hat's method for shielding natural magic and increased his resistance to World Correction before considering the next step.
Dawn's thoughts churned.
After a long while, he returned to his senses and exhaled slowly.
His fingers turned the Time-Turner over as he prepared to put it away.
But suddenly!
Without the slightest warning!
A bone-chilling sensation surged up his spine.
Dawn's hair stood on end.
In an instant, he remembered what had happened in Egypt.
He abruptly raised his head.
A red beam of magic was already right in front of him.
Crack!
A shattering sound rang out.
There was no time to react.
The Time-Turner in Dawn's hand was struck directly by the red light.
Under the effect of the spell, it shattered into pieces.
Metal fragments flew wildly through the air, slicing across the corner of Dawn's left eye.
Blood seeped out in thin streams.
The impact knocked Dawn two steps backward.
He glanced at his palm, the flesh torn open and bone faintly visible.
Standing amid the strange grains of sand swirling around him, Dawn slowly ground out the name through clenched teeth.
"Merlin Ambrosius!"
At the entrance of the house, the Grand Sorcerer stood silently.
He had a long white beard.
Dawn had no idea when Merlin had arrived or how he had gotten there.
But he was standing there now.
Dawn's gaze turned dark.
The protection of the Fidelius Charm had been useless?
Was it because his fate was now connected to Merlin's?
The thought flashed through his mind like a meteor before disappearing.
He did not waste time thinking about it.
His hand flipped over and seized the wand hidden inside his sleeve.
He pointed it at Merlin.
The incantation of the Killing Curse left his lips.
°Avada Kedavra°
His voice was terrifying.
Hiss!
Bang!
Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
The green curse flashed through the air, tearing across the space between them, but struck the wall solidly, leaving behind a deep crater surrounded by spiderweb-like cracks.
As for Merlin...
He had disappeared.
In the blink of an eye.
He vanished as quickly as a bubble being popped, so quickly that even Dawn could not completely see how he had done it.
Crack.
Dawn's teeth clenched on one side.
The scarlet in his eyes grew even more vivid, like blood about to drip from them.
He swept his gaze across the empty room.
Merlin was like an irritating fly.
A thought suddenly surged through Dawn's mind.
Destroy every Horcrux.
Drag Merlin out.
Fight him to the death.
But reason told him...
He could not do that.
Admittedly, if he destroyed all the Horcruxes, Merlin would most likely reappear and lose the characteristic of being disconnected from the world.
Then Dawn could fight him head-on.
But even if Dawn really managed to kill the Grand Sorcerer, what benefit would that bring to his current predicament?
Because the destruction of the Horcruxes would also accelerate Lai's return.
That would trigger an even stronger World Correction, one that might even exceed the protective range of the Invisibility Cloak.
Dawn could not gamble on that.
After remaining silent for a moment, he narrowed his eyes.
He glanced around the room, which still appeared completely empty.
Then, slowly, he took another Time-Turner from his wallet and made a motion as though preparing to turn it.
"Hiss!"
Dawn's ears twitched.
He abruptly turned his head.
Just as expected!
A spell suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shot toward him.
°Protego°
A barrier unfolded in front of him.
The Shield Charm collided violently with the red light.
Screech!
It sounded as though two pieces of metal were grinding against each other.
Particles of light sprayed from the point where the two spells met, accompanied by an ear-piercing sound.
"FUCK!"
Dawn cursed under his breath.
Once again, he felt the sheer "weight" behind Merlin's spell.
He retreated two or three steps before finally neutralizing the enormous impact.
Finding a moment to spare, Dawn widened his gaze and tried to see what Merlin's special pattern looked like.
But when he looked around, he froze.
The room was completely empty. There was not even half a shadow of a person to be seen.
For a moment, Dawn was so angry that he actually laughed.
This legendary Grand Sorcerer truly lived up to his Slytherin origins. When it came to being ruthless, he was completely without restraint.
He had clearly decided to play guerrilla warfare here. He did not care about dignity in the slightest.
Dawn looked at the Time-Turner he had managed to protect.
He gripped one end, tightened his fingers, and once again made a motion to turn it.
Hiss!
Another spell came flying.
This time, Dawn saw it clearly.
Several meters to his left, a human figure suddenly appeared out of thin air like a ghost.
Dawn narrowed his eyes.
But before he could focus properly on the figure, the Grand Sorcerer, having just cast his spell, disappeared again like a phantom.
"What a disgusting ability."
Dawn could not help cursing inwardly.
Merlin had not displayed any particularly overwhelming accumulation of magical power.
He had simply pushed his characteristic of being disconnected from the world to its absolute limit.
Perhaps this was simply the way all things in the world worked.
Everything had two sides.
Something that had originally been a disadvantage caused by World Correction had now become an incredibly irritating advantage for Merlin.
And the Grand Sorcerer's objective was perfectly clear.
He wanted to stop Dawn from using the Time-Turner.
___________
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