The gift Pandora had "stolen" from Santa Claus was truly mysterious. It looked like nothing more than a paper box, yet for some reason, it possessed a quality akin to being impervious to all spells.
No wonder Pandora had worn that smug expression back then, as if Ian would never open the gift box unless he begged him. The young wizard truly had no idea how to open it.
"What the hell is inside this?" The less obtainable something was, the more obsessed people became with it. Ian felt as though ten thousand Professor McGonagalls in Animagus form were clawing endlessly at his heart.
However.
Neither his hands nor magic seemed to work against Santa Claus's gift box. Ian had even tried using a massive chainsaw capable of making everyone equal on the road. Yet it remained as sturdy as ever, utterly unmoved. Even the ribbons on the box remained pristine and glossy. Its silent mockery was the only answer it gave him.
Ian no longer even wanted whatever was inside. He just wanted to know what the damn thing contained.
"Do I really have to beg Pandora?" Ian, drenched in sweat, tossed aside the bucket of sulfuric acid. Even a whole bucket of concentrated sulfuric acid had failed to corrode Santa Claus's gift box.
The sulfuric acid was smoking.
That was from its chemical reaction with the floor.
Santa Claus's gift box, meanwhile, looked as though someone had merely splashed it with clean water. The surrounding floor had become pitted, foul-smelling, and uneven, while it stood there quietly, beautiful all by itself.
The gift box seemed to prove that anything not belonging to the mortal world would not be affected by the rules of the mortal world. If he had enough of them, they would probably work wonderfully as