Kassel College, "Well of Oblivion."
The deepest level of the ice cellar. Legend said the Three Fates wove, stretched, and cut the threads of life here. This was a place that obliterated all things. At this moment, it was as silent as an ancient karst cave, filled only with the ever-present sound of water dripping, drop by drop, onto bronze, producing cold, clear echoes.
A dark figure appeared amid the emptiness and silence.
"Jeez, isn't this a little too dark? Does the school never turn on the lights?"
The newcomer muttered and snapped his fingers.
The damp ceiling seemed to be covered by an invisible film of water. As ripples of light flowed across it, bright rays shone down from the watery membrane, illuminating the entire space. Using the moisture in the air as a medium, Amon opened a "gate."
The other side of the gate connected to the surface waters at the center of the college lake. Light streamed in from there, passed through the water membrane, and fell into this sunless abyss.
The floor of this space was made of bronze.
Deep grooves, entwined like snakes, had been etched into the ground. Greenish water flowed through them. The patterns formed by those grooves resembled a luxuriant vine tree, branching and branching again, endlessly diverging and converging before finally flowing into the silent lake ahead.
From above, the dark figure stood at the roots of the vine tree. Countless symbols flickered amid its tangled branches, forming a perfect circular totem that surrounded a small patch of black water.
Here, one could look up and see no sky. Within this metal-floored space, time seemed frozen, everything cut off from the outside world.
This was the most heavily guarded place in all of Kassel College.
There were no guards, yet the