For days, Noah walked across all of Britannia, exploring its vast landscapes and admiring the natural beauty of that world. Ancient forests, imposing mountains, crystal-clear rivers, and endless fields passed before his eyes as he wandered without a fixed destination, letting the path itself decide the course of his journey.
Throughout the trip, he constantly talked with the Lady of the Lake. In practice, it seemed like he was always accompanied by her, as if every journey were one long encounter between the two of them, a silent and comforting presence that filled even the emptiest moments of the road.
Naturally, not the whole trip was peaceful.
Demons kept appearing along the way, drawn by the enormous amount of magic Noah gave off, like insects drawn to a flame. Some tried to devour him, others simply wanted to kill him out of pure instinct, driven by an almost primal hatred.
However, none of them posed any real threat. A single wave of his magic-wrapped hand was enough to destroy their bodies instantly, making them vanish the moment they arrived.
After eliminating another group, Noah simply sighed, shaking his shoulders lightly as if shedding an unnecessary weight.
There were already so many demon corpses scattered along the path that he was starting to believe demons were as persistent as flies, always coming back no matter how many times they were driven off.
"Unworthy of the Creator's love. That's what demons are." The Lady of the Lake remarked after watching Noah eliminate another one. Her voice carried a rare, almost palpable tone of contempt. "Beings consumed by envy for not possessing the Chaos's love."
"Hm..." Noah replied while shaking his hand to get rid of the demon blood that had splattered on it, the gesture almost automatic after so many repetitions. "From what I remember, the gods of the Demon Clan and the Goddess Clan were consumed by envy because humans were the Chaos's perfect creation."
He kept walking while organizing his own thoughts, letting the words form slowly in his mind before speaking them.
"They were good and evil, brave and cowardly, they carried light and darkness at the same time... They were perfectly chaotic." Noah concluded, with the certainty of someone who had already reflected on this before. "In the end, all the discrimination against humans is nothing but envy."
"That's right, my dear." The Lady of the Lake answered promptly, almost as if she'd just been waiting for the cue to agree. "My siblings, if I can still call them that, are envious beings. Unworthy of being recognized as true beings of Chaos."
Her voice grew colder the more she talked about them, making clear the contempt she felt, an old contempt, cultivated for far longer than Noah could imagine.
"Alright, let's stop talking about them." Noah said with a small smile, trying to ease the weight the conversation had brought. "You're getting too worked up."
The Lady of the Lake stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking over his words, as if weighing each one carefully.
"...Fine." She answered in a much calmer tone, the earlier coldness already gone. "If it's my husband's request, I'll stop."
Noah simply shook his head, already used to that kind of response, and went back to walking the roads of Britannia, while the Lady of the Lake's quiet company stayed with him throughout the journey, as it always did.
Some time later, while walking down an old road that cut through a dense forest, Noah noticed something unusual. His magical senses picked up several magic signatures scattered among the trees, a tangle of presences that stood out against the natural silence of the place. One of them was moving ahead quickly, while three others chased it relentlessly. On top of that, those three presences were steadily losing magic, as if they were casting spells nonstop, in a desperate pursuit.
'This is...' Noah thought, narrowing his eyes slightly, trying to make sense of what was unfolding ahead.
Without wasting a second, he propelled himself forward. With a single leap, he vanished from the road and began crossing the forest at high speed, jumping between enormous branches and dodging giant trunks that appeared in his path, as if the forest itself bent out of his way.
"My dear, what's wrong?" The Lady of the Lake asked, curious, her voice sounding almost surprised by the sudden change of pace. "Do you know these magic signatures?"
"Not at all." Noah answered while advancing through the woods without slowing down, eyes fixed ahead. "But I feel like if I ignore this... I might regret it later."
His body cut through the forest like a bolt of lightning, leaving only a faint trail of wind behind, almost imperceptible amid the rustling leaves.
"Do you believe in fate, my Lady?"
"..."
This time, no answer came.
The Lady of the Lake stayed silent, letting Noah follow his own instincts, as if she understood this wasn't a moment for words.
A few seconds later, he finally reached the source of the magic signatures.
His eyes found exactly what he had sensed.
Three mages were chasing a child.
The men kept firing spells one after another while the child ran desperately through the forest, trying to escape, steps growing more and more unsteady from exhaustion.
"Humans really are chaotic." Noah murmured quietly, almost like a stray thought.
Without any hesitation, he came down from the sky.
The instant the spells were about to hit the child, Noah gathered magic in the palm of his hand and, with a simple motion, deflected all the attacks away. The spells completely changed course before exploding against the trees of the forest, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction.
Right after, Noah landed calmly between the child and the three mages, completely blocking their path while his immense magical presence enveloped the whole area.
The three men stopped in their tracks immediately.
The magical pressure radiating from that young man was so intense that, for a brief moment, even the air seemed to grow heavy. The forest sank into an unsettling silence, while the leaves of the trees swayed slowly under the influence of that enormous amount of magic, as if nature itself were reacting to his presence.
Behind Noah, the child, completely out of breath, dropped to her knees, bracing her hands on the ground as she tried to catch her breath. Her body trembled from both exhaustion and the fear built up during the chase, eyes still wide with terror.
The three mages exchanged quick glances before turning their attention back to Noah. It was clear none of them could quite gauge the stranger's level of power, but they all sensed they were facing someone out of the ordinary. Even so, the man who seemed to lead the group stepped forward, kept his staff raised, and spoke in a firm tone, trying to hide the hesitation in his own voice.
"Who are you? Step aside. This child is none of your business."
Noah didn't answer right away; his gaze simply moved slowly and indifferently over the three men, taking in their magical reserves, their postures, and the tension etched on their faces. The silence stretched on for a few seconds, making the atmosphere even more uncomfortable for the mages, until Noah let out a small sigh.
"Curious..."
"Huh?" The leader frowned.
"You're chasing a child..." Noah remarked calmly, his expression unchanged. "And you still need three mages to do it."
His tone was calm, almost disinterested, as if he were just making an offhand observation. Even so, that very calmness made the three men's faces tighten with irritation, their patience already running thin.
"Stay out of this!" one of the mages shouted, pointing his staff at Noah. "She belongs to our kingdom!"
Behind him, the child's eyes went wide and she immediately shot back, even with her breathing still ragged.
"I... I don't belong to anyone!"
"Silence!" another mage bellowed as a new spell began condensing around his staff, small luminous particles appearing in the air. "You belong to Belialuin."
Hearing that name, Noah glanced briefly at the child behind him.
'Belialuin...' Noah's eyes widened the moment he looked more closely at the child behind him. For a brief instant, his usually calm expression faltered, replaced by genuine, almost uncontrollable surprise.
"This can only be fate..."
FOOSH!
An absurd amount of magic burst from Noah's body, spreading through the forest like a sudden storm. The ground trembled slightly beneath his feet, the trees around him bent under the released pressure, and the air seemed to turn solid in that moment. His eyes took on a dark color, contrasting with white pupils that glowed almost supernaturally, like two cold lights amid the darkness.
Then, Noah raised his gaze to the three mages.
His face was completely calm.
"Leave." Noah's voice echoed calmly through the forest. "I don't like killing humans."
As he spoke, his dense, oppressive magical aura expanded even further, literally crushing the three men's bodies. Their knees buckled against their own will, the staffs trembled in their hands, and the ground beneath them began to crack under the overwhelming pressure, small fissures spreading like a web under their feet.
"But I don't refuse to kill, either."
Under The God's influence, Noah had no difficulty spilling blood when he judged it necessary. His power always worked to protect him and eliminate threats, keeping his mind strangely calm even in the face of possibly killing other humans.
The mages felt it instantly.
The energy flowing from Noah resembled an endless current of water, advancing on all sides, smothering any resistance and snuffing out whatever courage remained. The more they tried to gauge that magical reserve, the more their sense of despair grew, as if they were staring at a boundless ocean, too vast to comprehend.
'What an incredible amount of magic...!!!' The thought crossed all three of their minds at once.
Sweat ran down their faces, their bodies shook uncontrollably, and for the first time since the chase began, they grasped a simple truth. If they took one more step, they would die.
Silence completely took over the forest.
Not even birdsong remained. The small animals that lived in the area had already fled long before, unable to bear the pressure weighing down on the surroundings. The air felt heavy as lead, the trees stood motionless, and even the wind had vanished, as if nature itself were holding its breath before Noah's presence.
The three mages struggled to breathe. Every inhale demanded an absurd effort, while their instincts screamed at them to flee. The leader gripped his staff with trembling hands and looked once more into those dark eyes with white pupils. In that instant, all his courage vanished completely.
'S-Such an amount of magic...' He finally understood. This was no ordinary human. It was a monster wearing human form.
"F-Fall back..." he murmured, barely audible.
"What?" one of the other mages asked, incredulous.
"FALL BACK!"
None of them argued the order. In truth, there was no reason to. Their bodies had already given up the fight long before their minds accepted that reality. Keeping their eyes fixed on Noah, they began taking slow steps backward, afraid that any sudden movement might be read as hostility.
Meanwhile, Noah remained completely still. His expression stayed unchanged, and his gigantic magical reserve kept overflowing like an infinite ocean, crushing everything around it simply by existing. The feeling was suffocating, as if they stood before a living calamity.
Only once the three had backed away several meters did Noah speak again.
"Get out of my sight." His voice remained serene, without a trace of irritation or aggression.
The three men didn't even answer. They turned at the same time and bolted through the forest as fast as they could manage, completely abandoning any intention of continuing the chase. Within seconds, their magic signatures were already fading rapidly until they vanished entirely from Noah's perception.
FOOSH...
The magical pressure crushing the forest began to fade slowly. The wind picked up again between the trees, the treetops swayed once more, and the surroundings gradually regained their usual calm.
The cracks that had appeared in the ground stopped spreading, while the enormous amount of magic silently returned to Noah's body. His eyes regained their usual silver color, as if none of it had happened.
Only then did Noah turn around.
His gaze found the child again, still kneeling on the ground, completely stunned by what she had just witnessed. For a few seconds, Noah simply watched her in silence. It was as if he were confirming something he had felt the very first moment he saw her.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"So it was you..."
The child blinked a few times, utterly confused.
"Y-You... know me?"
Noah shook his head before answering calmly.
"No." His smile stayed calm as his eyes remained fixed on her. "But I have the strange feeling that our lives just changed forever."
Noah knew who that child was... This little girl was, in fact, Merlin, the future Sin of Gluttony of the Seven Deadly Sins.