"I am apprenticed to Salazar Slytherin." Ian knew well not to cause trouble for his teachers while out in the world, so he mentioned a name he had no particular fondness for in his heart.
It was also the truth.
After all, he studied at Hogwarts.
And Salazar Slytherin was one of Hogwarts' founders.
"A thousand years later?"
Merlin probably also had a way of discerning the truth in others' words. He nodded, not realizing that the child before him was a genius who spoke only the truth, though it may not always be truly truthful.
"Yes."
Ian nodded.
"Alright, I will remember this."
Merlin chanted the name Salazar Slytherin several times seriously, as if to etch it into his mind. He didn't want to be too harsh with a wizard of Ian's youthful age.
After all, he's still a child.
Scolding for a few hundred times was quite satisfying enough.
Merlin just wanted to know what kind of person could teach such a talented little wizard to be so underworld-like, lacking the foundation and pride that a genius spanning ancient and modern times should possess.
"Your tricks are indeed impressive, fine, I admit, you won." Merlin probably feared Ian pestering him for a second round, wanting to avoid witnessing other underworld methods Ian might possess.
As for winning or losing,
he was not someone obsessed with being undefeated, nor would defeat cause him to lose his defenses. Winning and losing were never what Merlin valued; he just never thought he would one day be bested in this manner.
"Hear me out, I have no bias against the Dark Arts, but you should really learn less of such shady moves." Merlin even felt a pity for Ian, wishing to guide him from a place of heartfelt concern.
To become a young legend a thousand years later, in what would surely be an increasingly anti-magic era, going against the tides of time, is surely someone who could qualify to be his comrade.
He wanted to guide this genius toward the right path.
"I actually know some normal magic too." Seeing that Merlin didn't seem too hostile, Ian lifted his magic wand and performed the basic spell "Incendio."
A winding fire dragon illuminated the entire desert sky.
Merlin looked up.
Gazing at Ian's "ordinary" flames, he remained silent, not astonished by the magic's power, but rather because he still sensed that hellish fiery aura in it.
"Do you call burning others' souls, using souls as nourishment, normal magic?" After a long while, Merlin asked in an odd tone.
"All my flame magic carries this trait, I can't help it." Ian explained earnestly but found no understanding, only another bout of Merlin's silence.
A moment later.
"Do you have the bloodline of a Netherworld Soul-Sucking Demon?"
Merlin perhaps could only think of this reason.
"You mean Dementor?"
Ian paused for a moment.
Looking at the image Merlin sketched, he confirmed they were indeed talking about the same creature.
"No, I am a pure human wizard."
Ian answered honestly.
"But I do have a Dementor, it's super obedient, and even scrubs my back when I bathe. Did you know their mouths can actually blow bubbles?"
He casually added this tidbit about his daily life at Hogwarts.
"???????"
Merlin was once again bewildered.
"Many wizards who dislike me say I'm crazy, but now it seems... I'm still too normal."
In the oasis,
the long sigh of the Legendary Wizard King echoed repeatedly.
...
While Ian and Merlin interacted.
On the other side.
The area they left from the battlefield.
"Why isn't teacher back yet?"
Little Morgan stood in the center of what had become a scorched forest, the ground beneath her feet cracked like it had been baked under a scorching sun for months, with the air filled with the stench of char.
Originally lush and green, the forest was now barren, the lake long dried up, leaving the lakebed split with deep crevices as if the earth silently lamented. Just a minor impact from the fight, yet this area displayed an ecological devastation of unknown recovery time.
Such is the power of a legendary wizard, akin to a human-shaped nuclear bomb without doubt.
"I'm kind of worried."
Little Morgan looked down at the shadow creature in her hand, the pitch-black shadow trembling slightly in her palm as if relieved by the sight before it.
"What are you worried about? Those are two legends... very hard to completely kill. If they stayed here fighting, not even ashes of us would remain."
The shadow creature's tone retained some hint of trauma.
"What's your teacher's origin?"
It attempted to inquire about Ian from Little Morgan.
However,
facing the shadow creature's probe, Morgan did not respond.
"Take me to find them." Morgan's voice carried an indisputable determination, her gaze fixed intently on the shadow creature as if compelling it to make a choice.
The shadow creature's body trembled slightly, its voice laced with fear: "Are you crazy? That level of battle, a slight misstep could mean death! You're a beginner, going there is just courting death. This is not spectating, it's suicide! Against beings like that, mortals are only destined for misfortune!"
"They are no longer human!"
The shadow creature's voice was thick with dread.
"And you're not human either," Morgan's retort was a sharp kill, leaving the shadow creature at a loss for how to respond as she lifted the magic wand given by Ian for another round of threats.