After he confirmed the death of the stone saint, he turned around and saw as Sunny finally plunged his sword into the visor of the other stone saint and it fell to the ground.
He walked to Sunny who was sitting on the ground possibly looking at his runes.
He tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, got anything?"
Sunny looked up at him and answered.
"I got a memory, a sword of the awakened rank"
He nodded and replied.
"I see.. then give it to me I'll give you something better"
Sunny thought for a moment then took his hand, the spell spoke.
[You have received a memory, Stone Sword.]
After confirming the transfer he sent the echo to Sunny, immediately Sunny's eyes lit up in disbelief.
"Merlin this is_"
He cut Sunny's words off as he answered.
"Your's... it always has been, now you owe me one"
Sunny stared at the runes some more then asked.
"So in that future I got the echo right"
"Yeah" he answered.
"Then why give it to me now, you could've kept it"
"I could've kept it, but I can't turn it into a shadow, only you can"
Sunny tilted his head in confusion.
"Shadow?"
Merlin sighed and answered.
"Just go to your soul sea and find out for yourself"
He watched as Sunny closed his eyes, then he focused on his own runes, immediately the memory came up.
Memories: [Cloak of Mysteries], [Formless], [Siren's Bracelet], [Fur Coat], [Poison bottle], [Stone Sword]
Name: Stone Sword
Rank: Awakened
Tier: II
Type: Weapon
Description: [The children of Nether watched over their forgotten temple, they fear not hunger not death. Their will remained strong even in the end, and their weapon respond alike.]
Enchantment: [Strong Will], [Unbroken]
Enchantment Description:
[Strong Will: The holder will not succumb to fear.]
[Unbroken: The sword will remain strong as long as the holder still has fighting spirit.]
He summoned the sword, it was a gray longsword, identical to the ones the stone saints used, he gave it a few swings then dismissed it, by then Sunny had already finished his exploration.
"So you've seen it?"
Sunny nodded dejectedly.
"Yeah, two hundred fragments, three months of hunting gone just like that"
He patted Sunny's shoulder and answered with a smile.
"Don't worry Sunny, I'll help you disable a few monsters later so you can kill, but first let's head back it's already late"
They gathered all the soul shards that totalled at sixty five, they split the shards, took some meat and then he and Sunny started walking back, after a while Sunny said.
"Why don't we just stay inside the dark castle till morning, I know a safe way to enter"
He nodded and followed ahead, after a while they arrived at the dark castle and climbed from the side entering through the roof.
"Nice place you got here" Merlin said as he walked into the room.
"Yeah it's nice, and it's got one hell of a guard" Sunny answered as he poured his own share of shards into a bag full of other shards.
'Heh... even Sunny's richer than me'
"Anyways I'm tired right now so I'll just go ahead and get some rest" Merlin said as he walked to the bed and laid down to sleep.
...
"Wake up Sunless, your nightmare is over!"
"Wake up Sunless, your nightmare..."
"Wake up Sunless, your..."
Merlin was woken up by the annoying noise, as he sat up, his eyes fell on an unassuming rock that was on the table, the rock kept repeating the words.
He immediately stepped down from the bed and walked towards the table, in his hand he had summoned the stone sword, as he was about to divide the noisy rock Sunny's voice sounded behind him.
"Uhm Merlin what are you doing?"
He turned around and looked at Sunny who just woke up, he dismissed the sword and pointed at the rock.
"Dismiss it or I'll divide it in two"
Sunny chuckled and dismissed the Ordinary rock.
"Why are you angry at the rock anyway?"
Merlin shrugged answering.
"It's noisy"
After the morning charade he and Sunny freshened up and started walking back to the outer settlement, a few minutes later they arrived just in time, as the sharing of rations had just started.
They got their food, ate and headed to the meeting tent, as they arrived there was now one new face... Caster.
As Caster's eyes met his, the legacy's eyes narrowed a little then relaxed.
'Someone's still pained by the loss'
"Hello Caster, long time no see" He looked at the legacy with a smug smile.
Caster forced a smile and replied.
"Hello Merlin"
Sunny also exchanged greetings, as He looked at Nephis she kept a neutral face but that was enough to tell him that the meeting about the shard memories would be delayed. Merlin nodded, talked with them for a while then made his way to the bright castle, after getting inside, he walked around and bought a few things, when he was done storing them in his soul sea he turned his head to the castle, a smile played at his lips.
...
Inside the castle, Seishan had just returned from her morning walk of supervising the handmaidens, her personal force she created in respect to her mother.
She walked down the empty hall and stopped in front of her room, then she opened the door and went in, she walked towards the bed but then stopped halfway as she saw something that wasn't there when she left, a letter next to a small cup of wine.
She checked around her room, the window and the door, none of them were tampered with almost like a ghost delivered the letter, she walked to the letter and carefully picked it up, before she opened it her eyes turned to the wine in the cup.
'It might be poisoned, was it the handmaidens, no I don't think they'll do something like this when I'm the one providing them protection, the guards maybe but why would they do something like this, Gunlang's order maybe, the answer is probably written in the letter'
As she turned her eyes away from the wine, her flaw immediately acted up, drawing her attention back to the cup, she looked closer and figured it wasn't wine at all but blood.
She tried to resist but her flaw kept flaring up, in seconds her throat had already run dry and started to itch, the scent of the blood was drilling into her nose like a sweet red wine, she couldn't control herself again and immediately picked up the cup and drank it.
What she tasted was something on another level, it tasted different from other bloods and it also empowered beast god lineage she had, just that cup of blood served like dopamine to her body.
After the euphoric feeling got to a manageable extent she picked up the paper and read it.
{Two days from now, seven in evening behind the east wall, I'll be waiting, don't be late... ~ Wandering Magician.}
She stared at the paper then smiled.
"He entered my room without touching anything, he knows my flaw and his blood tastes wonderful, and here I thought magic tricks were all you do... Wandering Magician huh, now I'm interested"
She turned arounnd, burned the paper and walked out the room, she asked the handmaidens on watch if anyone entered her room and they said none, with a smile Seishan continued her daily routine.
...
Merlin was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling, earlier he had used his apprentice and illusion abilities to leave a letter for Seishan, he also left a cup of his blood knowing she wouldn't resist, though he didn't know the effect it would have on her.
"Hopefully it won't kill her, after all..."
[You are a soul not from this world, Your body has been tempered and created to house Gods. You have been blessed with their essence and you are now recognized as a being of their potential. You are a blessed of ???. ]
"Blessed with their essence huh, atleast if she dies I know that the shard won't disappear"
After idling around till evening, he made his way to the outer settlement where he trained with Sunny and Nephis.
They continued the routine for two more days, during this period they went back and brought the nightmare creatures that he had left, Sunny had also gone to buy the underworld mantle and Neph's reputation also soared higher as she accepted the sleepers who had left the bright castle.
As evening finally arrived, He made his way towards the east wall, he was going to meet Seishan.
As he arrived, the place was still empty, so he simply hid himself with an illusion, making it as though it was empty, a few minutes later Seishan arrived, she wore a plain long blue dress without sleeves and a long sleet.
Seeing as she was looking around, he spoke up through the illusion.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Seishan Song"
Immediately he controlled the illusion as black crows flew together to form his body, magician attire, top hat and mask.
Seishan looked at him accessing his threat level before replying.
"It seems you know a lot about me"
He smiled behind the mask and answered.
"Ofcourse I do, Seishan Song of the song domain, arrived at the forgotten shore eight years ago, and adopted daughter of Sovereign Ki Song the inheritor of Beast God's legacy... Do I need to continue"
Seishan's eyes narrowed as she took a step back, her nails already turning claw like.
"Who are you and who sent you?"
He tilted his head.
"Can't I be sent by your mother?"
"If my mother sent you then you would have to be from a vassal clan and if you were from a vassal clan you won't have this attitude towards a direct heir"
He shrugged.
"You're right, but don't be mistaken no one sent me, I don't have any clan behind me either"
"Then how do you know what you just said?" Seishan stepped forward.
"I read a book I guess..." Merlin smiled then continued "...Anyways off to the matter at hand, I need a memory that you have"
Seishan retracted her nails but still stood on guard.
"And what memory is that?"
"Sunlight Shard"
Seishan paused for a second and asked.
"And how do you know I have it?"
"Name your price"
Seishan thought for a while, as the leader of the handmaidens she had many other memories at her disposal but she would definitely pay special attention to the memory he mentioned.
"What if I refuse to give you?"
Merlin paused then shrugged.
"That's a special memory you know, even if the owner dies it won't disappear with them and whoever touches it gets it"
Seishan unleashed her claws again and asked.
"Are you confident enough to kill me?"
"Nope, but I'm sure you'll name a price soon"
Seishan thought for a while then replied.
"Ten awakened soul shards, take off your mask and... your blood"
Merlin smiled behind the mask.
"The mask stays on, the others I accept"
He took out ten awakened soul shards and streched out his hand, she took it and transferred the memory.
'One night with a woman and I'm down by ten shards...'
"Well it's a pleasure doing business with you, as for the blood I'll have it delivered to your quarters" he took a bow and snapped his fingers flame jumping away.
Merlin dropped by the bright castle to fulfill his end of the deal then went back to get a good rest.
...
In a different place Sunny stood opposite Nephis, his face was grim from his deductions.
"I think it's time to talk about the vision..." Sunny started first "the archer shooting at the sky that's Kai, the huntress drowned by beasts that's Effie, the golden corpse on the throne that's Gunlang, the lone star that's you... What's more?"
Nephis listened then continued for him.
"The seven heads should be the giant headless statues, the seven seals should be related to the shards, the castle in blood is inevitable if Gunlang dies and finally the shadow and angel on the crimson spire should be us"
Sunny nodded then asked.
"So where does that leave us and... Merlin?"
"As for us, we'll figure it out, and Merlin... I don't know, but I'm sure he has a plan" Nephis replied.
Sunny scratched his head and looked up.
"Haa... I don't even want to think about it now, I'll talk to Merlin about it, maybe he'll have a solution that doesn't involve too much dying"
Nephis looked at him then asked.
"Sunny, how much does Merlin know?"
"A lot, but he hasn't told me yet, I don't know how he knows either" He replied.
"I understand... Good night Sunny"
"Yeah... Good night"
Sunny stood alone in the darkness, his eyes stared to the starless sky.
'He knows my true name but still doesn't say it...'
'Atleast I can trust him'
He shook himself out of his thoughts and walked back to his room and layed down to rest as he was about to drift off a stray thought entered his head.
'Merlin... who are you really?'