As he was about to leave the spirit world, he had a flash of remembrance, he thought for a moment then turned to Silver.
"Uhm… I think they're some stuff I'll have to explain before we head out"
Seeing Silver nod, he proceeded to explain his current situation with the great clans, Sunny had given him a brief summary of the situation outside, so he laid down his problems and his possible solutions to them.
"So in other words, you need me to hide myself till it's the proper time for negotiation with another transcedent?" Silver curtly asked.
Merlin scratched his head as he let out a helpless sigh.
"I guess so… if not I'm going to be played like a pushover for those guys"
He thought for a moment about using the cloak to hide her in his soul sea, but he rejected that idea, he wasn't sure if she would be able to keep herself from joining the unfortunate fellows hanging from above the castle in his soul sea.
He still decided to give it a try, but he would go along personally, at least he could use his abilities to stop her from floating above.
As he summoned the cloak, he immediately felt a strong gaze from above, similar to that of a transcendent.
'Nope… I'm not doing this now' with that thought he immediately unsummoned the cloak, as he turned to face Silver, but she wasn't looking at him, instead she was focused on the direction on where the gaze came from.
He turned upwards to look too, but he only saw gray fog, he squinted his eyes slightly as he stared at the fog that gave him a sense of familiarity, then he recalled some details from the book.
'Is that maybe a path to the original Sefirah Castle, it might also lead to my soul sea judging that this is just a piece of the spirit world' he thought as he made a mental note to confirm the situation later, and if it ever came to it he would do a brief raid on Sefirah Castle 'after all if you can give me the uniqueness of the Fool's pathway, you could probably offer up a bit more'
He shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to Silver who had averted her gaze from the fog above.
"So? Any idea how we can keep you hidden?" Merlin asked calmly, deciding to ignore the situation that had just occurred.
"I have an idea, but it is one I'd rather not do…" Silver spoke in a slightly helpless voice.
"Really… what is it?"
..
.
A few seconds later, and Merlin was floating alone in the spirit world, Silver was nowhere in sight, but he wasn't comfortable in the slightest, his expression was one of shock and a little more shock.
"How… is this even a thing?" Merlin spoke into the empty space.
Silver's voice sounded from close by as she replied hurriedly unlike her usual calm persona.
"You needed a way, and I found one, now you better stop complaining before I cover you in hundreds of tiny needles"
Merlin sighed as he looked down, his body was not any different, but if anyone looked under his clothes, they would see that his skin was no longer skin, but covered in metal, looking like he was wearing a metal bodysuit under his clothes.
"How does that even feel?" He asked curiously, he himself felt odd, but it was just like wearing a jumpsuit, but that was normal, he wasn't the one doing the wrapping.
"..." Silver kept quiet for a while, then muttered in a low voice "unpleasant…"
Merlin sighed as a stray thought popped up in his mind, he thought about it, but after not being able to come to a logical answer, he decided to ask her.
"How exactly can you talk in that form?"
"Just get going already Merlin" Silver sounded impatient, so he sighed and decided to get this useless negotiation with the government done and dusted.
'I just hope Sunny, Kai or Cassie don't notice anything…'
Merlin immediately left the spirit world and returned to his room, as he arrived, the door was still open, but there were no alarms or anything, but he could hear people moving in the distance, he sighed and summoned his runes to first take a look at his condition.
Name: Merlin Hermes
True Name: Attendant Of Mysteries
Rank: Ascended
Class: Tyrant
Soul Core: [5/7]
Soul Fragments: [3582/5000]
Memories: [Cloak of Mysteries], [Formless], [Fur Coat], [Poison bottle], [Stone Sword], [Sunlight Shard], [Messenger's Wings], [Chittin Armour], [Spectre Suit], [Dimension ring], [Chained Sickle]...
Echoes: [Pristine Soul]
Attributes: [Fated],[Mysteries],[Mark of Divinity], [Daemon's Desire]
Aspect: [Child Of God]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Innate Ability: [Connection]
Aspect Ability: [Magician], [Faceless], [Marionettist]
Flaw: [Apathy]
Flaw Description: [The stronger you get the more of your humanity you shed until you become a being of only divinity.]
.
His eyes first locked on to the new attribute he received, from the looks of it, the attribute must have been what Hope gifted him in the dream, he immediately summoned the description.
Attribute Description:
Daemon's Desire: [Mortals are beings of Desire and Hope is the Daemon of Desire. Your desires have been amplified above the level of mortals.]
'Seems like this can keep my flaw at bay for a while, hopefully for the best' Merlin thought as he turned his eyes to his aspect.
Aspect Ability: [Marionettist]
Aspect Ability Description: [Your ability revolves around seizing Spirit Body Threads to turn both people and creatures into controllable puppets, allowing them to fight safely from behind the scenes (Locked — Ritual Required).]
Merlin's eyes twitched as he saw the last part, he knew of the ritual required, but where the hell was he supposed to find a mermaid.
'Does that mean I have to pay a visit to the House of Night? What a pain…' Merlin sighed helplessly as he started thinking of a way to find mermaids that wouldn't eat him upon his arrival.
He immediately felt a strange wave come over him, it was one that was unfamiliar, but still familiar at the same time.
'This… is Sunny's shadow sense, did my enhanced intuition warn me? That's… kind of cool'
As he thought that, he immediately heard hurried footsteps approach his room, the next moment, Sunny's figure came into view, Merlin stared at him as he confirmed his earlier theory, he waved casually and said.
"Yo Sunny…"
Sunny gave a sigh of relief as he turned to the side and said loudly.
"Guys! He's back!"
Sunny's voice echoed in the hallway, and immediately multiple footsteps echoed in the hallway as the cohort and a few others showed up in front of the door.
"Merlin… you're back" Cassie greeted happily.
"Hey there guys, I'm back" Merlin smiled as he walked towards the cohort waving.
"You sure as hell took your time pretty boy…" Effie grinned as she walked in to pat his back, well more of a slap.
"Yeah, got caught up in a war, anyways, what did I miss?" Merlin smiled as he walked out.
"A lot actually" Master Jet replied from the side, then continued "but before that…" she shifted to the side as Saint Cor came into view.
"Ascended Merlin, welcome back to the waking world, now, I would like you to come with me" Cor spoke with authority.
"And who are you?" Merlin tilted his head and asked.
For one, the attitude the other party was giving made Merlin sure he was a Saint, but he had no idea who, and the tone he was using made him remember those college seniors he used to beat up in his past life, the same seniors that made him good at fist to fist fight, Merlin might be polite, but he sure as hell wasn't a pushover, so when he heard the tone, he immediately activated his not get bullied mode.
"That's Saint Cor, Wake Of Ruin, he's a government Saint" Sunny explained calmly.
"I see" Merlin nodded and turned to face Cor and asked in a calm voice, unlike the enthusiastic one he used to greet the cohort "and I should come with you why?"
"We have to go over your experience in the dream realm, instead of a regular officer, I'll be the one in charge of your interview" Cor spoke again.
Merlin nodded then turned to the group.
"Alright I'll catch up when I'm done guys, we'll deal with that situation later" Merlin said as he followed Cor to another room, an office by the looks of it.
After he left, Sunny spoke up "It looks like Merlin brought a transcendent with him"
"What? What do you mean?" Effie asked, confused.
"I noticed it too, around his body was different" Kai spoke up too causing Effie to turn her curious eyes to him.
Nephis turned to Kai and asked.
"What did you see?"
"His body was made of metal, he hid it with an illusion but with my abilities I saw it, though it was not clear" Kai described what he saw.
"Well it seems he was telling the truth when he said he's getting a helper" Sunny sighed.
Master Jet looked between them as she asked.
"What the hell are you guys talking about?"
Effie grinned slightly as she replied.
"In short, Merlin won't be bullied by Saint Cor…"
Jet stared at them, then she turned her head to the room that Merlin had entered, and she simply sighed, muttering "what a day…"
…
"I have a lot of questions for you, but we'll start with the regular procedures before I proceed to anything else" Cor spoke calmly as he stared at Merlin opposite him.
Merlin shrugged as he replied.
"You can ask, but it's up to me to decide if I'll answer, or how detailed that explanation would be"
Cor's eyes sharpened as his voice became stern.
"Young man, it seems you don't know the situation you're in…"
Merlin simply shrugged again and didn't reply, personally he just wanted to get this done with and find a place to play with Ariel, she was way more fun than these power hungry people.
Cor sighed as he picked up a file and started the questioning.
"From the information we received from the other awakened, you were singlehandedly responsible for the overtaking of the bright castle and killing those who were in power… is this information correct?"
"Yes" Merlin nodded.
"Why?" Cor asked, making Merlin's eyes twitch slightly.
'Does the fact that those sleepers left the forgotten shore not answer that question… well since you want an answer, I'll give you one that leaves you wondering'
"They were troublesome…" Merlin answered calmly, not changing his expression.
"You killed fellow sleepers just because they were troublesome?" Cor was shocked by his answer, but he still remained calm.
"What were you expecting… that I did it for the greater good? No no no, that's Changing Star's job, the only reason I even started killing the leaders of the bright castle was because one of them killed a friend of mine, my original plan was to guide Nephis on who to deal with and who to persuade" Merlin spoke with a chilling smile.
Cor looked into his eyes for a while, then proceeded to ask the next question.
"According to the sleepers who stayed at the outer settlement, you spent most of your time hunting in the most dangerous parts of the forgotten shore, how many monsters did you kill during that period?"
Merlin thought back to his days on the outskirts of the crimson spire, he did a mental calculation and answered.
"Before the siege, my kill count was about three hundred… I think, and after the siege, that number increased by more than two thousand, that is if you count those I killed atop the crimson spire"
Cor's eyes sharpened as he then asked in a stern voice.
"That information is what I would like to ask… according to your teammates, and the reports from other sleepers, at the start of the siege, you directly orchestrated the death of over a thousand nightmare creatures, and you just confirmed that fact, what I want to know now is how?"
Merlin's smile widened as he answered.
"That's confidential… even you wouldn't reveal all your secrets if your superior asked, it's a trump card for dealing with troublesome variables"
Cor thought for a while, then nodded, he leaned back in his chair as he sighed.
"Since I've very much confirmed your experience on the forgotten shore, I'd like to hear about your journey after you left the forgotten shore and explored the dream realm"
Merlin nodded and started the recounting of his journey, from the edges of the forgotten shore to the city of Civilth, to the rocky plains, then the nightmare desert, and finally the location of his second nightmare.
He first began with the un explored parts of the forgotten shore, he gave a detailed description of the journey, then he described his journey into the forest of Civilth, but he completely deleted Silver's existence from the story, and judging by the slightly piercing feeling on his skin, she was not happy with his decision.
He continued till he arrived at the part of the city of Civilth, he didn't blur over any of the details, he directly told them about Thorax and his mimic abilities, after all he was sure the sovereigns would not risk their lives to fight an intelligent cursed terror, no it was sacred terror now, the last time they met, Merlin saw that the bastard had rid himself of corruption one way or another, probably by using Silver's method and by mimicking her flaw.
Anyways, he could tell that Cor had a lot of questions about Civilth, but he didn't stop his explanation and Cor decided to keep them on hold as he continued taking notes.
He continued his description and blamed the forced awakening on something that Thorax did, For nearly attacked him on the spot just for those words, but he held himself back, but the Saint now wore a cautious expression, after all why would a cursed terror help a human to awaken instead of devouring the human, anyways Merlin skipped the fact that he had breakfast with said cursed abomination, and just explained that he used his abilities to escape after he awakened, as for which abilities, he didn't say, and Cor didn't believe him in the slightest.
An awakened escaping a cursed terror, even a fool wouldn't believe that, Merlin didn't care about Cor's doubting expression as he continued his description through his time in the rocky plains, he thoroughly explained his experience in the rocky plains including the corrupted nightmare creature blocking its exit, as for how he escaped, he used his abilities, as for which of them, don't ask.
Merlin moved on to the nightmare desert, he described the endless wandering he did, as for Eurys and Azarax, they never existed, Merlin only wandered endlessly till he finally felt the call of a nightmare and he entered his second nightmare.
As Merlin finished his descriptions, he turned to Cor who wore an indescribable expression and said with a soft smile.
"I'm done, you can ask your questions now…"
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For the delay, there will be two chapters ✋