Merlin picking up his soul shard witnessed as Sunny ended the life of the Carapace Demon, he walked towards Sunny who summoned the moonlight shard, the tachi formed in his hand.
"That's great Sunny, looks like you got a better sword"
"Yeah..." Sunny replied with a light smile.
"Now then, let's take this rare moment of peace to relax so we can get the hell out of here" Merlin said while Sunny turned to him with a confused look.
"We should leave?, But why?" Sunny tilted his head.
"Not my problem, we're leaving..." Merlin simply answered but something stirred inside him.
Nephis had already gone to get Cassie during their bickering and the two girls had just returned.
"What are you guys talking about" Cassie asked seemingly hearing them talk as they approached.
"It's Merlin, he said we should leave, is it really necessary?" Sunny answered her
"But we have to leave... The castle... But maybe it can wait a little so we can rest for a while" Cassie said as her expression changed a little.
"And... How long is a while" Merlin spoke up looking at them.
"A few days, maybe weeks, you guys have worked hard so let's make use of this rare moment" Cassie replied him with a smile.
"And what about you Neph, what do you think" Sunny said to Nephis
"I... I think we should rest to restore our energy then leave..." Nephis calmly replied.
"Great, just great, I'm stuck with a the thrall team, I fucking hate anything that has to do with the Heart God..." Merlin muttered to himself.
'Atleast I'm not affected, and on the bright side I know a clear way out of here...'
"Hey Merlin, try some fruit, maybe you'll feel better..." Cassie said handing him some of the fruits in her hand, she had already taken a bite and given Sunny and Nephis the other fruits.
Merlin collected it and too a bite knowing what it was, immediately the spell whispered to him.
[Your soul grows stronger...]
'Maybe I do have a reason to stay a little longer'
...
Days blew by, Merlin had never been affected by the tree, but he had been affected by something else, laziness. He spent most of his time sleeping and eating, He also stored fruits in his pocket regularly, occasionally the team would realize something then forget it immediately, the routine moved on for a while until Merlin was finally prepared to leave, though that's after almost emptying the fruits on the tree leaving only those on the top part of the tree.
"Hey Sunny, I feel like I want to leave, maybe you can help me get some fruit, I promise it'll be worth it"
Merlin watched as Sunny got up and left, he chuckled inwardly.
'The original Sunny would've said something back no matter the situation, this tree still has a lot to learn'
'Now then, onto phase two'
Merlin left his position and walked towards the edge of the hill facing west, sitting on the ground was Nephis, she had a strangely distant and confused look on her face.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Merlin said as he sat next to her.
"Strange, I feel something's off but I can't think too much about it" Nephis replied then turned to him.
"Do you know anything about it?" Nephis directly asked.
"It's called Soul devouring tree, an Awakened Terror that has zero offensive abilities but strong mental manipulating ones" Merlin replied his gaze still on the distance
"Can you do something about it..." Nephis asked him turning back to the scenery, though her brows furrowed a little.
"Sure that's why I'm here, say Nephis can you build a boat..."
After his brief talk with Nephis, Sunny came running down from the tree, the small marks on his face made Merlin realize that his plan had succeeded.
"Merlin, it's bad, we've been enthralled by the tree, we need to leave now" Sunny said with slight panic.
"It's alright Sunny, I know... I'm not affected why do you think I sent you up there?" Merlin smiled at him.
"You... Knew, ofcourse you knew you're resistant to mental attacks, we need to find a way out of here" Sunny said turning to where Cassie sat.
"I've already taken care of that, though I doubt you'll like the plan..."
..
.
"Are you crazy!, What do you mean we'll sail across the dark sea, that's suicide, how does each of your plan keep getting worse with time" Sunny said his eyes widening at Merlin's plan.
"Well that's the only way across, hopefully you'll maintain enough lucidity till Nephis is done with the boat" Merlin said touching his shoulder
"Yeah... I'll go tell Cass..."
"...Hey.. when you sent me up the tree, did you know?" Sunny turned after walking a few steps
"Yes, yes I knew"
"How... Is that all you know, do you see the future too like Cassie?" Sunny asked as his expression shifted to disbelief.
"I'll tell you how I knew later, as for if it's all I know, then no, and yes I can see parts of the future, but not like her, mine's a little small when compared with her" Merlin replied as he walked away.
"I see... I'll hold on to you telling me later" Sunny sighed then turned away.
"Yeah yeah..." Merlin waved his hand without turning around.
...
A few more days past, Sunny's mental state had been held by pure will, Cassie had folded like paper to the tree, Nephis was almost done with the boat as she received help from them, and finally Merlin, he was currently in his soul sea.
Inside, he was currently the embodiment of the 'True Creator' (LOTM pun intended), but after many deaths, his survival chance was now high.
Merlin hanging upside down hurriedly made do with the item in his hand, the locks were not relatively hard to open, but the time and pressure was absolute. Merlin opened the first cuff on his hand, and moved to his other hand, opening the first was the most difficult, and now with a free hand he quickly released the leash on his second hand.
'Now onto the hard part'
He took a deep breath, tucked in his stomach and with a swing he pushed himself up, bringing his head to a position almost level with his feet, such feat wouldn't be difficult for the current him outside but in here he was stripped to the bone of every ability he possessed outside. Merlin took a little time on the cuffs, the cross was already nearing the pooling liquid below, he tried his utmost to focus on the situation at hand, a few times he would fall back down then brace himself up with sheer will and a little fear of drowning too, finally after a while of trying, the cuffs finally came undone.
"Aaaaaahh---"
Merlin fell into the dark liquid below, immediately he was ejected from his soul sea.
"Fuck.. again, after all my efforts. Haaa... I'm never stepping into that__"
Merlin's words were cut short as the spell brought out runes right in front of his eyes...
"Damn... I take back my words..."
[Aspect Legacy Unlocked...]
[Legacy Relic: Unclaimed
Legacy Relic: Locked
Legacy Relic: Locked
Legacy Relic: Locked
Legacy Relic: Locked
Legacy Relic: Locked
Legacy Relic: Locked...]
[Claim Legacy Relic?]
"Yes ofcourse"
'Come on give me Return by Death'
[Aspect Legacy Claimed: Apprentice]
[Legacy description: Apprentices pursue the footprints of freedom and are rarely trapped and very difficult to stop. They are often able to escape from situations and pass through obstacles every time. ]
'The hell... All those suffering for this, sure there's a lot of potential here but, really, come on spell I deserve better than this'
Merlin gazed at the runes completely stunned, he always had a very suspicion that it would be so, but hey it wasn't bad to have hope right...
Honestly he was dissatisfied, the pain surpassed the gain.
While he was busy brooding Sunny was just returning from his talk with Nephis.
"She's done, Neph's finished with the boat, but she seems unwilling to go, same with Cassie, what should we do?" Sunny said as he walked to him.
"I never said anything about bringing them... willingly" Merlin said with a dangerous smile curving up his lips.
"You... You don't mean..."
"Yes Sunny, we'll be taking them by force... Is what I'd like to say but sadly, I'm not in the mood to throw hands with Nephis, not yet tho" Merlin added interrupting Sunny's words.
"Sigh.. so how will you convince them, they've been pretty much undone by the tree" Sunny spoke looking at him for an answer.
"Well the magic word is..."
...
Merlin and Sunny walked towards Nephis, Merlin had an unconscious Cassie on his shoulders, to anyone right now the definitely look like they're about to take advantage of the little girl, it wasn't their fault, Sunny had tried to convince her, she was rather unwilling, even wanting to summon her stick, so Merlin took necessary action.
Upon seeing them, as expected Nephis summoned her sword, no questions asked, just a sword wielding girl facing against two abusers, what a picture perfect moment.
From the silence Sunny spoke up.
"I told you this was a bad idea, we totally look like two shady guys now, Hey Neph, it's absolutely not what you're thinking right now"
"Nope, it's exactly what you're thinking, we're taking her and that's a fact" Merlin added fuel to the flames while Sunny shot him a look.
"Put her down, then we can talk" Nephis said as she moved into a stance that was definitely not for talking.
"And.. what if we refuse?" Merlin kept spouting bullshit.
"Then.." As Nephis was about to attack, Sunny said loudly.
"Aster, Song, Vale" The words made Nephis seize her actions while Merlin clicked his tongue.
'Boring'
"What do you want?" Nephis said as her eyes still focused on Cassie.
Sunny proceeded to explain the situation to her and they prepared to set off as dusk was already nearing.
...
As the night came and the dark sea rose, They boarded the boat with the unconscious Cassie, she had been out for a few hours, or maybe at some point she was sleeping, no one knew all they could confirm was she was alive, after sailing a considerable distance away from the tree, Cassie stirred painfully while Nephis clutched her head in a groan.
A few seconds later, and Cassie jumped awake, as she rose, she stared at Sunny who was rowing, Nephis who looked like she had gained clarity and Merlin who had his eyes on the sea, though she saw nothing but darkness, immediately floods if memories came to her, it took a few seconds to contemplate and adjust to the newly found knowledge.
"We're.. free?" Her voice was steady.
"Yeah, that tree was viscous, I seriously hate mental attacks.." Sunny said gazing back to the tree in the distance.
"Are we on the dark sea?" Cassie asked shivering as her voice dropped low towards the end.
"Yeah, but don't worry Merlin assured us it was safe" Sunny replied her with a smile.
'I divined if we would cross the sea safely, I got a positive answer but with the rate it was turning clockwise, I would bet on a snail finishing a fifty meter dash race before it would turn a total of twenty, hell I'm not even sure it turned, might've been the wind too'
Merlin had used a makeshift pendant to divine the journey, and well.. the god's help them.
"But Merlin, you weren't affected at all, so why did you waste much time there?" Cassie spoke turned her head to Merlin's position.
"I was enjoying a rare moment of rest, it was peaceful to say the least" Merlin casually replied.
Sunny then turned to him and asked.
"By the way, what's Aster, Song, Vale?"
His question attracted Neph's eyes as she looked between Merlin and Sunny.
"About that, I'll tell you when we're out of this place, it's best not to make too much noise here"
Sunny nodded to his answer and kept quiet.
...
Unlike the canon, their journey was safe thank the gods, there was the occasional waves in the sea, but no squidward, he must have been hurt by the Carapace Demon and went to heal, tho Merlin doubted that answer, the last time he saw that thing, it was spawning tentacles like he had a factory that specially produced them.
After a relative few hours of sailing, they finally made it to the other side, the other side being a highland they saw in the distance.
"Haa.. land sweet land, with Sunny's luck I was surprised we didn't get eaten along the sea" Merlin streched as he smiled to the distance.
"Hey what does my luck have to do with that?" Sunny shot him a look.
"Nothing, just talking to myself, so are we going to rest here or keep on moving till we get to the city" Merlin changed glances from Sunny to Nephis.
"We move, it's too dangerous to stay one place" Nephis said as she started moving forward with Cassie tied to her.
"Well you heard the captain" Merlin turned to Sunny and shrugged.
Sunny scoffed and followed behind them.
...
After walking and resting and occasionally killing a few monsters for three straight days, The group finally found a human on the third night.
Merlin who was just behind Sunny was watching as they got closer to the bonfire, the flames of the fire was not small, but it was not large either, as they approached, Merlin saw the figure from afar, it was Effie, who gave off a big sister vibe just from her posture, but just that.. with what she was eating currently and the pace, if you invited her to KFC not only would you go bankrupt, the store would likely close down due to scarcity of products.
'Damn man who ever got their arm in between her teeth would probably not be bringing out a complete one, and that's judging if an arm would even be left.'
As they walked closer, Merlin's danger sense was tripped, immediately he moved to the front as Effie picked up a spear looking bone and threw it at them with speed.
Merlin caught the spear midair and opened his mouth to speak as he saw her about to pick up another one.
"Woah woah.. hold up we're humans" Merlin said as they stepped into the light.
The meat devourer looked up and said.
"Humans, you don't see much of those types days"
"What!?" Sunny couldn't help but ask, his voice carrying unhidden shock.
"Hahaha.. I'm joking, nice to meet you, I'm Effie, you don't look familiar in the outer settlement, are you from the bright castle?" Effie laughed and addressed them.
"No we're sleepers, we came from the labyrinth" Sunny answered her.
"Huh, the labyrinth how did two princesses, a prince and you cross that hell?" Effie asked her gaze sharpening.
"Hey what do you mean 'and you', and as for how we crossed it, ofcourse we used a boat over the dark sea." Sunny said picking offense at her words.
"A boat.. I see, well anyways, welcome to the forgotten shore, a place where your nightmares are a regular tuesday..."
She paused to take a few bites then continued, by then the group had moved near the fire.
"... Well then let me tell you about our routine"