I Came to Save You

"Right this way. There’s fire over there, watch your step…"

With the Jackal Head enthusiastically leading the way, Adam arrived at the bottom of the Lake of Fire beneath the platform.

The Lake of Fire was an endlessly blazing expanse of sulfurous flames, yet the bottom of the lake was free of rampaging fire. Only the thick smell of sulfur filled the air, while empty metal racks stood waiting for new souls to be bound upon them…

"Like you said, Ammit can’t devour souls without Anubis’s command. Why is the Lake of Fire Prison so empty?"

"Over the past few thousand years, only a handful of living people have come here. Not a single dead person’s soul has."

The Jackal Head did not seem to think anything was wrong.

"Only the living come here?"

"Yeah. Looks like after the gods left, the order of the underworld fell into chaos too…"

The Jackal Head hurriedly added:

"That’s why it needs me even more, to maintain what little order remains here."

Ignoring the Jackal Head’s words, Adam became even more certain of his suspicions. Still, the most important thing now was finding Uther and the others.

"Didn’t you say Ammit was here? Where are they?"

Ammit had a crocodile’s head, a lion’s upper body, and a hippopotamus’s lower body. It was a composite of the creatures Egyptians feared, representing the judgment of hell.

Yet during their research into Egypt, they had never found any trace of such a magical creature. Thus, the academic world believed it had either gone extinct long ago or was simply a fictional beast invented by Egyptian wizards.

It was not just Muggles who did such things. Wizards did too. For instance, The Quibbler was widely believed to frequently invent nonexistent creatures.

"Uh… logically, they should be patrolling all around the Lake of Fire Prison. Maybe it’s because there aren’t any souls imprisoned here? We should see them if we keep going."

The Jackal Head also sensed that something was wrong, but it still pressed onward.

A burst of shouting came from ahead. They had finally found something different, but Adam halted the moment he drew close.

Ahead stood a metal rack binding a soul. Flames surged from beneath the rack, roasting the soul above until it wailed without end.

"Souls in the Lake of Fire Prison are burned by fire?"

The Jackal Head stumbled, then was seized by the ears and dragged before Adam, its eyes full of innocence.

"Of course they are… Otherwise… were we supposed to tie them up here so they could enjoy themselves?"

This was hell!

"…"

Adam had not expected this fake underworld to be so faithfully recreated in this regard.

At that moment, the soul seemed to notice Adam and the Jackal Head. Its eyes lit up at once, and it opened its mouth to unleash a string of Ancient Egyptian.

"Sorry, I’m not from around here. I don’t understand."

After tossing out those words, Adam grabbed the Jackal Head by the ears and began sprinting forward.

"Hey, hey, hey, my ears—"

The metal racks were not arranged in neat rows, but scattered throughout the Lake of Fire Prison. After finding two souls and realizing neither was right, Adam understood that the souls here were not arranged by the order in which they had arrived. He stopped, pulled out a Clow Card, and said:

"Release the seal!"

The air filling the surroundings took on a tangible form. A gentle smile formed first, followed by golden hair and a graceful body…

"Adam…"

"Wind, there’s no time for greetings. Help me find Uther. You’ve seen him before!"

"Okay."

Sensing the anxiety in her contractor’s heart, one of the four elements that shaped the world ran wild. Magic surged, and blue-green currents of wind swept toward the farthest reaches of sight in the blink of an eye.

"Found him. Come with me."

Finally released, the Jackal Head had tears in its eyes as it pulled its left and right ears in front of its face, wanting to see whether they had been stretched to different lengths. Adam casually grabbed both ears together and pulled them forward—

"Ahhh, my ears!"

"Shut up!"

"Awooo gurgle—"

The Jackal Head’s mouth was sealed by the Wind Card’s airflow in the next instant, forcing its howl back down its throat.

With the Wind Card guiding him, Adam found Uther soon enough. What relieved him was that Uther seemed to be in decent condition. Although he was bound to a metal rack, he was not wailing like the others.

His chest had been cut open just like his physical body’s, and inside was a golden scarab. Other than that, familiar protective magic enveloped him.

Adam had cast protective magic on Uther’s body before. He had not expected it to protect even his soul so far away.

Adam hurriedly cast protective magic on Merian as well, then ran to Uther and reached toward his roommate’s opened chest.

"Uther… I came to save you."

"Adam… sob—"

Uther watched Adam walk up to him. He should have smiled now that he was saved, but he could not stop himself from crying.

Fear, joy, gratitude, grievance… all the emotions he had suppressed came rushing forth at once, beyond his ability to contain. The only thing Uther could still control was keeping himself from crying too loudly.

Adam patted Uther’s shoulder to signal that he should not panic, then circled behind him and summoned a sword forged from Goblin-made Mithril.

"This chain can’t be undone…"

Crack—

Seeing the sword slice through both the metal rack and chains as effortlessly as cutting tofu, the Jackal Head silently shut its mouth and tried to make itself less noticeable.

After lowering Merian as well, Adam held the increasingly loud-sobbing Uther, offering him a shoulder and an embrace.

He had discovered another ability of The Love: he could directly touch souls.

Merian sat weakly on the ground, looking at Adam—the boy he had met only once before—with an incomparably complicated gaze.

Though the shield that had suddenly appeared to block the flames was already powerful proof, he truly had not expected Adam to actually come all this way to save his son… Tuya had said that Hufflepuff, where her son studied, valued friendship. Still, seeing the strength of that friendship with his own eyes left him somewhat incredulous.

"Sniff… cough… cough, cough!"

Only after Uther finished venting his emotions did he gradually realize the situation. Finding himself lying in Adam’s arms, he could not help feeling embarrassed—fortunately, souls had neither tears nor snot. Otherwise, Uther felt that fainting on the spot might have been a good choice.

What relieved Uther was that Adam seemed completely unfazed. Once his crying stopped, Adam merely let him go and looked at Merian.

"Sir, let’s go. I already have a way to undo the restraint on Uther’s heart."

"No. Unlike Uther, I was already dead when my soul left my body. I can feel it. I’ll soon be going to the real underworld."

Merian shook his head and smiled at his son, whose face had once again filled with sorrow. Then he looked at Adam.

"Take Uther back with you. If you can save Uther, I have nothing else to ask for… I’m truly glad that Uther has a friend like you. Your friendship even makes me a little envious. With you there, I can leave in peace."

"What?"

The Jackal Head froze, but Adam was not surprised in the slightest.

"So this really isn’t the underworld."

"Although this isn’t the underworld, it probably possesses some characteristics of the true underworld. Besides, that scale above may truly be an artifact of the god Anubis."

Merian had intended to say more, but he found himself becoming increasingly translucent. He immediately looked at Uther.

"It seems my time is running out. Remember to take that scale with you. And help me say goodbye to your mother. Tell her I love her…"

After speaking his final words, Merian turned into silver-gray matter that curled away into the void. Uther immediately broke down and began crying again.

"He… what did he mean by that?"

The Jackal Head felt its world collapsing.

"This isn’t the underworld? How is that possible? This clearly—"

"What you should be worried about isn’t whether this is the underworld…"

With an arm around Uther’s shoulders, Adam looked at the Jackal Head.

"It’s that there’s no Ammit here, like you said."

Jackal Head: "…"

Oh no. Whether this was the underworld or not, it seemed it would find out soon enough.