At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall.
The students found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Under Percy's direction, the boys and girls went to their dormitories.
In one of the towers, and at the top of a spiral staircase, they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up.
They came to stand at the center of the large room.
And now they looked at each other.
Arlen Black; with an air of nonchalance dancing about him.
Harry Potter; too tired to even think something after eating all that food.
Ron Weasley; looking around with an open mouth and shiny eyes as if this was the biggest room he had seen in his entire life.
Neville Longbottom; the boy who could do just about anything to go to the Slytherin House, but lacked the courage to speak up about it. He wasn't alone in this, though.
Draco Malfoy; the heir to the Malfoy Family, one of the Sacred-Twenty Eight; twisting his lips at the irony.
He remembered Darcie's stare when she had walked into the Great Hall.
He knew why his sister had said Slytherin, too. It wasn't because she cared about which House she went to, but because she didn't want their father to take out all the anger on him.
Perhaps he was the only one who understood his sister among these low lives. Tch!
Draco looked at the trio and hated nothing more than standing in this room, surrounded by red and gold. "You three better stay out of my way," he spat, marching toward the bed.
"Hey!" Black shouted from behind. "Bathroom's that way."
"Pff!" Ron couldn't control it. "Hahaha!"
Even Harry let out a chuckle despite being already half-asleep.
Neville wanted to smile, but when he looked at Draco, and his fuming eyes, he just turned around and went to his bed, instead.
Too tired to talk more, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
Black lay there on his bed, looking at the bed's roof. The rest of the boys had already gone to sleep. The Echo shut off all processes for today and his eyelids became heavy.
It happened then.
Cra-ck-kk!
Space cracked right over Black's head.
Before the Ad Infinitum could retaliate, a hand reached out from the crack, grabbed Black's collars, and pulled him in.
…
Black stared at the 13-year-old young boy with shaggy hair, trying to process his identity.
They were standing in a bluish space, with star trails flickering past. It all made the AI recall the data related to the Hyperspace more than anything. However, it wasn't sure if they were roaming inside a true Hyperspace or not.
"I am Julius Novachrono," the boy said, bursting the bubble of mystery right away.
The AI put the images together, but couldn't find the resemblance. Then it regressed the old Julius' age, extrapolating how he must have looked like in his earlier years. When the appearances matched, it finally put a stop to the self-destruction countdown.
Julius Novachrono, one of the mightiest existence under the Graveyard, and a member of the Storm Organization, had gained a hard face and harder gaze.
Before, six-pointed stars were scattered all over his body.
Now, the AI couldn't pick up the presence of even one as it scanned the boy standing in front of it.
The Wizard King noticed the oddity. "Let the boy out."
The Ad Infinitum couldn't take the chances, already calculating the worst news.
[Please state the purpose of your arrival] It beeped through the Black-Echo. [I will let the main body know of it all when his condition reaches optimal]
Julius frowned. It didn't even ask about what happened with his father. Is this the AI Alan talked about?
"I have…" he wanted to say bad news but paused. He realized bad or good, it wouldn't matter to the person standing in front of him right now. "Did you regain your sealed memories? What about the Blessing?"
[All been taken care of, Julius] The AI responded. [You can say everything you want to convey without needing my feedback]
Feedback… Julius' lips twitched. It's not even trying to imitate humane behavior.
"We lost."
The Ad Infinitum stared at the shortened Wizard King, its calculations going haywire theorizing the possible repercussions.
"Well, not exactly lost…" Julius scratched his head.
[…?] The Ad Infinitum took out a word from Kai's dictionary and beeped. [Motherfucker]
Julius gaped at the AI. "Cough," he cleared his throat. "Well, here's what happened…"
The Wizard King then summarized the happenings, focusing on the latter half of the details.
…
After overloading the Book with their tales, and forcing the Half-Deep One to come out, the Storm Pirates tangled with the Soul King in a battle of supremacy for over 1000 years.
Despite taking the help of Ben Tennyson, and getting assistance from his Alien X transformation, the Storm Pirates barely resisted the Soul King's world-shaking powers.
It turned out, after feeding on Kai's hidden tale for over 1300 years, and especially after Ad Infinitum's creation, the Half-Deep One had begun gaining his original powers by using the same Synchronization principle as Kai and Black had.
The moment Kai had brought Black to life, the dormant Soul King, who was already about to get released, formed a connection with his Sealed-Self in his self-created Bubble.
This was only possible because Kai wasn't in the Primordial Tower and the Soul King was an Outer One, letting him have an upper hand when it came to bending the laws surrounding Random World timelines.
So, when Alan saw no chance of defeating the Soul King for good, he decided to finish the task from within.
…
[Within?] The Ad Infinitum beeped, failing to process the meaning despite its 50% Advance Proficiency.
Julius sighed. "Yhwach and the Princess together shifted the Reality," he told the AI. "Five of us had our tales already been devoured by the Book. Using their powers, they changed the definition of imaginary to real, effectively transferring the real bodies into the Book and confronting the Soul King's true source of power."
The AI took a moment to process all the complex information. With no reference, it had to fill up the gap in understanding with variables arising through Lucky Intuitions.
[Is the Sailor Moon as powerful as Yhwach when it comes to Reality Manipulation?] the AI asked, finding the crucial detail.
No question about Alan still… Julius noted. "It's not like one is more powerful than another," he told the AI.
"The Princess possesses the Greater Holy Grail and is also the only one who has been to the Root."
**************
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