'…. do…. you… achieve…'
.
'…up… remember… any…'
.
"Aah… huu…huu…"
Merlin jolted up from the bed covered in sweat.
"Another nightmare huh… how is it even possible to dream in the dream realm… It's been like this since I became a trickmaster" He unhurriedly got off from the bed putting his hand on his head as he summoned his memory.
"The worst part is that I don't remember anything from it, is this some kind of vision or something?"
Merlin shook his head and made his way to the shower to freshened up, after taking a shower he walked to the mirror and looked at his face, his hair had grown lower than his shoulder and his face looked slightly more matured, he stared at himself for a while then tied his hair in a bun and summoned a memory as he made his way out of the room.
He walked straight to the cafeteria occasionally greeting some guards and handmaidens along the way. As he got there he met Kai who also came to get his food so he walked up to him.
'Is it me or are there a little too many people staring at him'
"Yo Kai" Merlin waved as he approached the beautiful singer.
"Oh, good morning Merlin, how was your night?" Kai said with a light smile.
'Look at that smile, no wonder they're staring he probably greeted one or two people the same way'
Merlin squinted his eyes at the sudden romance protagonist sunlight that was present on Kai, as for where the light came from? We do not ask about the romance protagonist's effect.
"Uhm Merlin… are you okay?" Kai spoke up, slightly embarrassed feeling Merlin's stare on his face.
"Yeah I'm fine" Merlin said as he peeled his eyes off Kai, he thought for a second and asked "Hey Kai, you got any sisters?"
Kai tilted his head genuinely confused, well no one usually asks about his background so the question made him confused. (He doesn't know what the mc is after… hehe but you and both do, don't we?).
"Uhm no, I'm an only child, why do you ask Merlin?" Kai answered honestly.
'Tsk… now I understand why the witch potion actually exist, somethings are just necessary'
Merlin's thoughts ran in a certain direction, imagining what a Kyle (Female Kai) would look like, meanwhile on the surface.
"Oh don't mind me, I'm just interested in your family tree, no one really talks about it these days"
'Maybe I can get your mom to adopt me, why settle for the little one when there's the original right?' Merlin smiled inwardly.
"Oh I understand" Kai smiled and continued eating after Merlin didn't raise another topic.
After they finished eating Kai and Merlin left the cafeteria together, as they were walking down the hall Merlin spoke up.
"Hey Kai, I want to tell you something"
"Hmm, okay I'm listening" Kai answered as he turned to Merlin.
Merlin didn't face him and continued walking as he said.
"You know Caster right?"
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Well he was planning to kill Nephis, I don't know if they told you about it but I confirmed it yesterday…" Merlin paused then continued "so that's when I killed him"
Kai listened to him, and as Merlin finished the beautiful singer's pace slowed as his face darkened, Merlin could see the sadness and confliction in his eyes.
He shook his head internally 'Oh Kai… you really are kind'
"Was there really no other way?" Kai asked with a solemn voice.
'Another way huh…' Merlin thought.
'I could've tried to convince him, but I doubt he'll choose me over his clan…
Maybe I should've kept tabs on him, but if he leaves here and gets a stronger attribute it'll be difficult to kill him then and who knows if by that time I'll have enough humanity to care about him…
Or I could've restrained him and left him on the forgotten shore, if he survives he'll come back and ruin Neph's image about how we left him to die then the future longing domain would be affected…
And if he dies it'll be no different than killing him now so nothing changes, but I can't guarantee that he'll die and the other situation won't happen so in essence my way wasn't wrong'
After a while of thinking Merlin replied Kai.
"I'm sorry, but that method was the safest for all of us" He didn't care about Kai's flaw as his words were the truth, Caster was strong enough to best most of them in a fight, the only reason Caster lost their first spar was because of the illusion and preparation and in the canon it was his anger and rashness that made Sunny get his memory, even killing him this time, Merlin first had to make sure he was immobilized and he only succeeded because Caster didn't expect him to use a paper as a weapon, So in terms of one on one fights with aspects, Caster would mid-diff the cohort.
Kai nodded to his words then continued walking, Merlin followed him quietly then they separated when Merlin headed to the training room.
…
In the training room Merlin stood in front of the round archery targets, in his hand was a bow and arrow, he fired a shot at the target.
He hit an eight, unsatisfied with the performance he knocked another arrow and shot at the target, this time it was a six.
"Well that's embarrassing…"
He fired another shot, an eight, then another and another, about seventeen arrows later he finally hit a ten.
"I knew it I'm talented… hehehe" (keep deceiving yourself)
"Merlin? You're practicing arrows?" A voice sounded from behind him, as he turned he saw Sunny who just walked into the training room.
"Yo Sunny, what's up? Are you here to train?" Merlin asked as he removed the arrows from the targets and returned them with the bow.
Sunny walked towards the sword stand and picked up a sword resembling his moonlight shard as he replied.
"Yeah, I just wanted to swing a little before we head to the dark castle"
"Alright, since I'm already here let's spar a little before we head out" Merlin replied as he picked a wooden katana.
They both stood opposite each other, Sunny took the Immortal Flame stance and Merlin took the Stone Saint stance, then the next second they moved, the swords clashed with each other.
Merlin slashed upwards and Sunny ducked under and stabbed towards his chest forcing Merlin to create space between them.
As they separated, Merlin rushed again with an upward slash that Sunny countered with a downward slash, they clashed again, Sunny stabbed and Merlin deflected.
Then the fight entered a flow state as they clashed swords, every attack met a counter, every stab met a deflection, there was no dodging anymore, they parried and slashed and repeated like a dance.
Around the training room, other sleepers like the guards and handmaidens who came to train were standing watching, entranced by the masterpiece that Merlin and Sunny were doing.
"I've seen sword fights before, but this, this is on another level" a guard said, unable to hide the awe in his voice.
"This isn't even a fight anymore… it's pure art" a handmaiden said from the side.
"This really is beautiful, their steps, their movements, their attacks are filled with trust… complete trust that the other party will counter it" Seishan who was standing with the handmaidens gave her perspective.
A few seconds later the two wooden swords shattered under their pressure, Merlin and Sunny took two steps back and each summoned their memories, real swords clashed as they continued their spar each immersed in the flow.
At that moment, Nephis and the rest of the cohort (minus the dead guy) walked into the hall.
"Hold up, is that doofus and pretty boy?" Effie said as she watched the spectacle.
"It's beautiful… almost like a dance" Kai added his opinion.
"..." Nephis just stared at them as they moved, she tracked each swing, each stab, each step, her eyes filled with the pride of a good teacher.
'They trust each other so much that any mishap will lead to a deadly injury. Merlin's movements are different from what I thought but it seems like Sunny matches it perfectly… they're strong' Nephis smiled as she watched them.
"Woah princess, is that a smile I see?" Effie teased as she smiled at Nephis.
"You must have seen wrong" Nephis said as she reverted back to default, but there was a tinge of pink on her ears.
"Ooh~ come on princess, tell me who you were staring at?" Effie smiled mischievously as she nudged Nephis.
"Them" Nephis replied flatly.
"Which of them princess?, Be more specific~" Effie nudged her some more.
"..." Nephis stayed quiet.
"Come on, tell me, promise I won't tell them~" Effie smiled.
"..." Nephis decided to stay quiet and simply enjoy the view.
"No fair princess, just ruining my fun" Effie said as she finally left her alone, turning to face the fight that was coming to an end.
Meanwhile, in the fight that had gone on for about an hour, Merlin decided to end it, immediately he used the flash ability to create a blind light to blind Sunny, then he placed the sword on Sunny's shoulder.
"Well that's that Sunny" Merlin said as he unsummoned his sword.
"Alright… but if you want to end it next time just say so instead of trying to blind me" Sunny said as he blinked, adjusting his eyes.
"Sure, next time Sunny" Merlin replied, neither of them knew that their fight would be a prelude to something more.
They stretched a little and walked towards the cohort, ignoring the dumbfounded crowd around.
"Hey guys, are you here to train?" Merlin asked.
"We were, until you and doofus over her set the expectation bar so high that anything we do now would be considered unworthy" Effie scoffed as she looked at them.
"Not my fault, we kinda just went with the feeling" Sunny shrugged.
"Your fight was great, it was beautiful to watch" Kai said as he smiled at them.
"It was a good spar" Nephis nodded at them meanwhile Cassie just smiled from beside.
The cohort talked some more before dispersing, Merlin freshened up again and checked his paper figurines and throwing cards before setting off to meet Sunny.
…
Outside the bright castle, Merlin met Sunny and they headed towards the dark city, after they walked for a while, Merlin asked Sunny.
"Hey, how's the progress on your soul core?"
Sunny stayed quiet, probably staring at his runes, after a few seconds he spoke up.
"Only about a hundred and fifty something more fragments till I get a second core"
"That's great, what of your aspect legacy?" Merlin asked, causing Sunny to almost stumble.
'I've never told anyone about it, how… oh wait, It's Merlin talking here, I shouldn't feel surprised anymore' Sunny sighed and answered.
"I've unlocked it but I haven't claimed any relic"
"Okay" Merlin nodded "and the key from the lord of undead?"
"It's here" Sunny replied as he reached into his armour and brought out the fancy golden key.
"Then I guess we're all set, time to go kill the black knight"
Or so they thought…
…
As they stood in front of the castle, Merlin summoned the stone sword, the Formless (gauntlet style) and cuthul's glove, meanwhile Sunny summoned the moonlight shard, then they made their way into the dark castle, as they approached the open door, from inside they could already see the black knight standing waiting inside.
'The guy is looking like Igris, seems like we're about to get our ass handed to us' Merlin smiled as he thought then he suddenly stopped causing Sunny to stop too.
"Merlin, what's wrong?" Sunny asked as he went on guard.
"Wait a minute Sunny, I forgot to check something"
He pulled out his pendant, held it and recited inwardly.
'Fighting the black knight is dangerous…'
After repeating a few times the pendant started spinning clockwise wildly.
'In other words… dangerous as fuck, but who am I to back down from a fight' (mc's about to get cooked)
"It's alright… let's go" Merlin said to Sunny.
"What was that earlier?" Sunny asked, confused.
"It's nothing, just a thing with my aspect, it's alright now" Merlin replied.
"Okay"
They confidently stepped into the castle, and the moment they did, the black knight raised his sword and rushed at them, Sunny lunged forward and met his attack head on, meanwhile merlin circled around dropping pieces of paper on the ground for his flame jumps.
After a while of Sunny being on the defense with the knight, Merlin who had finished attacking from behind, but the knight turned into darkness and disappeared, immediately Merlin used the flash ability immediately, the knight reformed at the corner.
Merlin flame jumped onto its side and slashed, and the knight blocked, Sunny rushed forward and stabbed at it, but the knight disappeared again.
The trio played hide and seek for a while until the black knight decided to start getting serious, as the knight disappeared, before Merlin had the chance to use flash, it had already appeared beside Sunny with a hard swing, Sunny blocked it but was sent flying into the wall, the knight moved through the darkness again, appearing in Merlin's front, but Merlin who had expected it through his danger sense flame jumped away to Sunny's side.
Merlin helped Sunny get up as they fought again, this time they were both on the defensive, the knight always moved through the darkness and there was no constant light to dispel it, the flash ability is more like a high end camera flash.
After a few minutes of blocking and avoiding, the paper Merlin placed on the ground was used up and he decided.
'Maybe I should've listened to the divination… yeah fuck this it's time to leave'
"Hey Sunny, we're leaving…" Merlin said as he blocked a slash.
"Alright" Sunny replied as he made his way out while Merlin spammed flash while blocking multiple attacks.
As Sunny left the area, the black knight immediately broke through Merlin's defense and slashed him, but Merlin turned into a paper figurine that burnt to ash, outside Merlin appeared with flames beside Sunny who was panting and riddled with minor injuries.
"Haaa… that was intense" Merlin said as he sprawled on the ground.
"Intense?… that was horrible, we're lucky we even survived that" Sunny sat on the ground then turned to Merlin and asked.
"So what now?"
Merlin smiled and replied.
"Don't worry Sunny, I have a plan…"