"Where's Lady Hel?"
The castle was quiet for a few seconds until the puppet, Ki Song let out an amused laugh.
"I thought you'd like a more private meeting with her, so I didn't think to call her over"
He scoffed, "concerning me… nothing I say or do is ever private in this place, except I choose to keep it private"
"It seems so… alright, I've called her over" Ki Song replied as she moved another puppet to pass on the message.
"It seems like you're really interested in that phrase, after all, that's the reason you're here today" she added.
"Honestly that's true… I was going to join the Song domain, but I was planning on negotiating with Seishan, after all it was her that offered me the position in the first place, but Lady Hel just happened to pick my interest a little more than I expected" he replied with a calm voice.
"I understand…"
..
.
"I'm here Mother" Hel bowed slightly.
"Yes… Merlin over here said he wanted to see you" the puppet gestured to him with a smile.
"Oh… Hey, you look even better up close" Hel smiled brightly.
His eyes twitched as he took a deep breath.
"Yes… I wanted to know about that phrase, the one you told Eubin to tell me"
"Ah… that one, I heard it from a vision" Hel said calmly.
He scoffed, "no shit, I already know it's from a vision, what I want to know is the details of the vision"
"How did you know it was from a vision? I don't think we ever mentioned it" the puppet asked.
"If it were any other phrase for any other person, then it might just be emotional advice, but with that phrase and me… it's definitely a vision" He said calmly.
"That's interesting…" the puppet nodded and turned to Hel, gesturing to her to continue.
Hel nodded and told him the details of the vision, and he was able to confirm it, he originally thought her vision was a recent one, and he was surprised because normally, seers were blind to his actions and fate.
The only two times a vision about him had been seen, it was done by his Supreme self interfering with the past, so when he heard that it was on the same day he ascended, he was relieved and also angry.
His relief came from the fact that he was still a blind spot to seers, and he was angry because he was being manipulated. It was one thing if the one doing it was Celestial Worthy, but the fact that it was done by none other than himself left him put off.
If it was that necessary to go to Song, then his Supreme self could've just told him straight up, or better yet, left a note for him, but he didn't, he had to go all mysterious.
Deep down, he hated the fact that he would grow to become one of the things he despises, but he also knew that because of his flaw, he would become more and more like Celestial Worthy the stronger he got, and that left him with a bad taste in his mouth.
After he finished listening, he sighed and shook his head to calm his raging thoughts.
"I understand… although it's surprising, it was kind of expected"
The puppet chuckled and said in a curious voice.
"It might not be surprising for you, but it's surprising for us, you see… usually, when Hel gets vision, it comes as flashes of images or compiled short moments, this is the first time she's receiving instructions from a voice… So tell me Merlin, what makes you so different?"
He sighed and shook his head.
"I don't know either… but since the vision helped you, then there's no problem right?"
Ki Song stared at him for a few seconds then nodded.
"Indeed… but get this, I will one day uncover your secrets"
He smiled and nodded.
"If you do, then that's your benefit, just please don't turn my everyday life into an stage to spy and uncover information"
He was about to continue, but immediately, his vision blurred as flashes of images registered themselves in his mind.
A white crawling creature with blue scales and six legs, it had ice covering some parts of its body, and it moved at an incredible speed, moving through the snowy surface.
His vision returned as his head turned in a certain direction, his brows were furrowed in confusion.
'A Corrupted Beast? Why am I having a vision about that?'
Inside the castle, everyone's eyes were turned to him confused, then they turned their heads to the direction he was staring at, everyone except Hel who looked like she was in a trance.
The next moment, Hel recovered as she said to Eubin.
"A Corrupted Beast… not far off from here"
As her words landed, Ki Song asked.
"In which direction?"
Hel immediately pointed towards the direction he had been staring at earlier, the puppet didn't seem too surprised as she smiled at him.
Merlin's furrowed brows straightened, 'I turns out I was simply tapping into her vision… sigh, all this pointless mysterious feeling I'm giving off is making my stomach turn'
Contrary to his expectations, Ki Song didn't ask about his earlier movements, instead she turned to him and asked.
"Do you want to take care of it?"
He sighed and nodded.
"Since I'm here anyway, I guess I can do it… so? Which of your abilities am I borrowing?"
Eubin and Hel looked at each other then turned to the puppet, the puppet simply smiled and asked.
"Can't you handle it with your current abilities?"
His eyes twitched slightly.
'What's with the useless probing… fine, you want to see something cool, I'll show you something cool'
He took a deep breath and answered.
"Alright… I handle it"
"That's good" the puppet nodded.
..
.
Merlin stood facing an empty white space, by his side were Eubin, Hel and a random puppet that Ki Song was currently using, opposite him in the distance was something moving quickly, while leaving a trail in it's pass.
'Best guess… Its strong qualities are its speed and its scales for defense, well not that that matters to me'.
..
Eubin watched with interest as the Corrupted Beast rushed forward, its speed was its greatest advantage, at that speed, it would be difficult for her to use her abilities on it as it would probably escape her range before its effect takes place.
She turned to look at Merlin, who was still staring at the incoming nightmare creature, she was beginning to think it was a bad idea, he was strong, but that was still a Corrupted Beast, and knowing him, he probably won't use his trump card for something like this.
She was still engrossed in her thoughts, when she saw him take a step forward, then the next moment, he disappeared from beside them, her eyes widened a fraction as she immediately turned to face the incoming nightmare creature, there she saw him, hovering above the Corrupted Beast.
He stretched out his hand and a pale white beam shot out of his arm, and hit the snow a few meters in front of the running nightmare creature, the white beam condensed and formed a small wall of ice blocking its path, forcing the Corrupted Beast to skid to a stop.
She was still surprised, however immediately the Beast stopped, Merlin disappeared from the sky and appeared beside it, and he placed his hand on the Corrupted Beast, and the next moment, the both of them disappeared from the snow.
'Huh? Where did they go?'
She was snapped out of her thoughts as a voice sounded beside her, it was Merlin's voice.
"And that's that…" Merlin sounded from beside, but the Corrupted Beast was nowhere to be found.
"Huh? Where is the nightmare creature?" Hel, her sister, asked confused.
She was also confused, because he had taken the Corrupted Beast and teleported, but a second later, he was back all alone.
"The Corrupted Beast?" Merlin asked with a calm voice, "it's dead ofcourse…"
'Huh? Dead? How? Did he dump it into a volcano?'
..
Merlin smiled as he saw the three of them looking at him in conclusion, he could almost guess their thoughts, he chuckled and said.
"In case you're thinking, no, I didn't drop it in a Volcano, no, I didn't send it to somewhere more dangerous and no I didn't send it to Valor…"
"So what did you do with it?" Eubin asked.
"I'll be right back…" he replied then entered the spirit world.
He moved upwards into the fog then collected the soul shard that was floating around aimlessly, and he also collected the head of the dead Corrupted Beast, he looked around and noticed something, the dead nightmare creature had left some sort of illusory figure floating around.
'Is that it's spirit… I guess at least my spirit world isn't empty anymore'
He smiled inwardly as he thought of filling his spirit world with nightmare creatures.
He shook out of his thoughts then immediately left the spirit world.
"Here…" he threw the head of the nightmare creature on the ground.
"Wow… you actually killed it" Hel exclaimed lightly.
"It died… I didn't kill it, that's two different situations" he explained. He couldn't have them thinking anything or anyone he disappeared with was automatically dead.
"So how did it die?" The puppet asked.
He shrugged and didn't answer, he put the transcendent shard into the dimension ring, then turned back to face the empty space and asked.
"With this much space, can't you at least open an ice hockey field?"
"What's that?" Hel asked.
He sighed and shook his head.
"Forget I said anything…"
'A bunch of power obsessed people… can't even consider the common folk… all this ice and no giant snowman or a single snow angel…'
"We're done here, we should head back…" the puppet spoke and started walking back.
..
.
A few minutes later, they all returned to the castle, and Ki Song had switched out her puppets again, he sighed tiredly, the question and answers were becoming tiring, even for him.
'How I wish there was a skip button somewhere… I could just hit it and move on to the end of all this'
"Can we round up with the questions, I'm getting tired"
"Since you say so, I will just ask a few questions then Eubin can show you to the gateway where you'll anchor yourself" the puppet nodded.
"Alright… ask away"
Ki Song started, "the three Saints you're staying with"
"They're siblings I met a while ago, although it seemed as if I bought the house, I was just staying with them, so in other words, we're friends… but not that close" He explained with a smile.
"That little girl looked twelve, but she's somehow stronger than me" Eubin stated blankly.
"Hey… they're a lot of different aspects and flaws out there, I remember meeting a Supreme in a child's body not too long ago" He replied calmly.
Eubin was speechless, but however she still nodded, it was true after all, they're a lot of aspects and flaws, just because she looks like a child doesn't mean she is.
'She's definitely a child tho…' Merlin chuckled inwardly.
Ki Song spoke up.
"What will it take for them to join the Song domain?"
He shook his head, "They're already with the government…"
"I see… Now my final question, are you willing to swear loyalty to the Song domain?" As she spoke, a faint pressure released from her, carrying the weight of her words.
Merlin's smile brightened as he replied.
"Where do I put my signature?"
The puppet smiled and opened her hand, revealing a floating drop of blood.
"All you have to do is drink this…"
He shrugged then walked forward and used two fingers to touch the blood, he used his ability to freeze the liquid drop into something solid as he picked it up like a pill.
He opened his mouth and placed it inside and swallowed, he was expecting a feeling of power or even a notification from the spell, but he received nothing.
"Is that all?"
"That's all… welcome to the Song domain" the puppet nodded.
He bowed slightly, then the next moment he felt something stirring up inside him.
In front of everyone, the blood he had already swallowed, flowed out his body partially covered in gray mist, even him was dumbfounded.
Rejection.
His body rejected the blood and was forced out.
'Seriously, Celestial Worthy are you that petty?'
It seems 'He' wasn't willing to see his vessel tainted in the slightest way.
Merlin sighed helplessly, looked at the puppet and pointed to the blood partially covered in gray fog.
"Would you believe me if I said I have no idea what's happening?"
The puppet calmly replied.
"From the look on your face, you're just as surprised as I am, maybe even more surprised…"
A second after she finished, the fog around the drop of blood expanded and covered the drop before dissipating into the air, completely disappearing with the blood.
They all stared at it confused for a second again, then he asked.
"Can you still feel your connection to that blood?"
The puppet stayed quiet for a few seconds before replying.
"No… what happened to it?"
"Best guess… it's taken by whatever ever that was" he shrugged.
"And what was that?" Ki Song asked.
He shrugged and answered.
"The same thing that killed the Corrupted Beast earlier… it's something called a contract creature… it helps me out and I give it something in return, it's my echo"
That was the only explanation he could give, because for whatever reason, CW had decided to screw him over again.
He sighed and explained.
"If it helps me out, it collects something of its choice from me, sometimes my soul fragments, or a memory or anything, if I don't have it, it'll wait till I do, it's a partially sentient echo… after it killed the Corrupted Beast, it didn't collect anything… well until now"
"Is that your trump card?" The puppet asked.
"It's a part of it… yeah" he nodded.
After all CW could be used as a trump card… it wasn't like 'He' would be bothered about taking the blame.
"I understand…" the puppet nodded then turned to Eubin.
"Take him to the gateway where he'll anchor himself"
"Yes Mother…" Eubin nodded and walked out of the castle with Merlin.
After they left, Ki Song turned to Hel and said in a calm voice.
"He's lying… a few of the questions he answered were lies, although he lied, the truth was probably mixed in as well"
Hel nodded and asked.
"Since that's the case, should we still trust him to be loyal to the domain?"
"When he swore loyalty to the Song domain, he didn't lie… however you shouldn't still let your guard down, if he can survive a Cursed Terror, then he's got a few secrets up his sleeves" the puppet said slowly.
"Hel… don't go out of your way to investigate him, just stay around him like normal, Seishan will get more information from him when she returns"
"Yes Mother…" Hel nodded and left the castle as it returned to its eerie silence.