Eternal Bet 1

To be fair.

Ever since Ian had been put through the wringer by that Female Titan, he had not enjoyed such a quiet night in a very long time.

A long-lost, pure sense of "peace" enveloped Ian. Since stepping into Cthulhu's dreamscape and enduring a succession of battles and devourings beyond all reason, this was the first time he had truly rested without any burden. His body relaxed, his mind eased, as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He needed neither sleeping potions nor spells. This ordinary, safe, comfortable environment alone was enough to send him into the deepest sleep.

"Zzz..."

His eyelids gradually grew heavy, and the soft glow of the wall lamp blurred and spread across his vision.

And so, Hogwarts' legend, the Terminator of the Old Ones, sank into peaceful sleep in an ordinary Muggle hotel in London on the eve of Halloween, 1979.

Time passed bit by bit.

Morning light slipped through the gaps in the heavy velvet curtains, stingily casting a few pale golden patches onto the carpet.

London mornings carried their distinctive damp chill. Even within the hotel room's good soundproofing, he could faintly hear the streets outside gradually awakening.

The distant rumble of vehicles, an occasional birdcall, and the rustle of street sweeping. Ian Prince awoke with an unusually serene sense of fullness. There were no nightmares, no dizziness caused by temporal turbulence, nor the initial palpitations brought about by adapting to his growing power. There was only the vigorous vitality of body and mind renewed by deep sleep, along with a weighty sense of stability and control belonging to the legendary realm.

He did not even need the morning meditation or magical-power regulation that ordinary wizards required. The power within him, fused from two authorities, flowed and balanced