As she saw Merlin slung over Nyaruko's shoulder, a faint smile appeared on her face.
When Aslan passed through the Boundary Gate and arrived at Ouroboros' headquarters, the blonde girl patted his shoulder and said in an appreciative tone, "Ouroboros needs talent like you."
Then she looked at the unconscious Merlin with a smile. It seemed her relationship with Merlin wasn't exactly friendly.
However, Aslan still recognized her identity: Aishelia.
Athena's knight, the leader of Perseus, who had helped Aslan win Leticia's auction.
He just didn't know why she was with Ouroboros.
(I'll ask Leticia later. For something this big, she should know, right?)
As for why Aslan came here, that was another story.
In fact, ever since he switched identities and pretended to come from outside Little Garden, he had been targeted—not quite as a human, but more accurately as a Demon Lord.
He was targeted by the Demon Lord Alliance Ouroboros.
After all, a Four-Digit Demon Lord plus a Four-Digit Pure-blooded Dragon was no small force.
That was quite appealing to Ouroboros.
Aslan wasn't surprised to be targeted, as Ouroboros had at least a few Two-Digit entities behind it.
As the Demon Lord Alliance, it was easy for them to spot new Demon Lords.
Since he was already targeted by Ouroboros, Aslan decided to seize the opportunity, join Ouroboros, and use their power to help him grow.
However, joining Ouroboros wasn't that simple.
While Ouroboros was fond of new Demon Lords like Aslan, who lacked a background, and would even actively train them…
Like Maxwell, if trained well, he could become a highly useful "tool."
But as a Demon Lord newly arrived in Little Garden with no conflicts of interest, what if he betrayed them right after joining?
Naturally, he needed some kind of oath or pledge of sufficient value.
So after a moment's thought, Aslan didn't hesitate to choose Merlin as his pledge.
In truth, he wanted to assess Avalon's situation first, as he was a newly appointed leader. If Avalon was uncooperative or deliberately made things difficult, that would be a problem.
At the same time, he wanted to verify if every Merlin in every world was equally annoying.
The result was, of course, as expected.
Aslan even felt this Merlin was more irritating than the Merlin from Type-Moon.
Initially, he had some reservations, but now Aslan felt his actions weren't harsh enough.
"Oh, oh, oh, isn't this the Floor Master, Her Excellency Merlin? Why are you so weak now?"
Aishelia pinched Merlin's delicate face with a smile, her tone mocking.
Seeing Merlin in such a sorry state, her mood felt as refreshing as eating a mint candy.
After all, part of the reason she lost the last Floor Master competition was because this annoying woman had sabotaged her.
Otherwise, how could she have lost to that Wyvern?
Back then, she had paid a steep price to rent a Holy Sword with a special attack against dragons from Avalon. Everything was going well, but because of this woman's interference, it all fell apart, leading to her defeat by the Wyvern.
Merlin rubbed her head with a pained expression.
She glared viciously at Aslan and Nyaruko.
"Aren't you a man? How could you be so cruel to me!"
"Didn't you attack us first?"
Aslan shrugged and said casually. If she hadn't caused trouble, he would've followed the normal process, establishing Umbrella Corporation properly without much issue.
But because of his Demon Lord identity, even if he set up a community, he couldn't buy land, establish a community, or start a business.
The business direction he set for Umbrella Corporation was a commercial production community, producing medicines to strengthen the body and purify blood, as well as managing hospitals.
There was absolutely no intention of spreading viruses or conducting secret human experiments.
Umbrella Corporation needed a highly positive image, but who would've thought the first step would be obstructed?
The Demon Lord identity—only those who experienced it would understand.
It was already good enough that he wasn't hunted, let alone doing business normally.
Though he could seize land and forcibly use Host Master Authority, that would ruin Umbrella Corporation's image.
That wouldn't help propagate back to human history, increase Umbrella Corporation's influence, or raise the likelihood of Resident Evil emerging in general human history to gain merit.
Thus, he had to maintain Umbrella Corporation's positive image.
At least, on the surface, it had to be positive.
As for behind the scenes, human history didn't care.
So Aslan decided to go along with Ouroboros' plan. After all, leaning on a big tree was comfortable.
"However, it seems you forgot that Avalon is under the Halloween Queen."
Merlin showed a sly smile. Ouroboros, the hidden force beneath the surface, unknown to the gods, had finally been caught by her.
She had finally found a new Demon Lord who might attract the Demon Lord Alliance Ouroboros—how could she let him go?
As the manager of the World Boundary and owner of all Boundary Gates in Little Garden, the Halloween Queen's Avalon knights had considerable research into Boundary powers.
Especially her, inheriting Merlin's Spirit Status, who specialized in dream Boundaries.
"The ideal dreamland hidden within dreams!"
As Merlin activated her Host Master Authority, she forcibly pulled Aslan, Nyaruko, and Aishelia into a dream filled with flowers.
This was one of her privileges as a Floor Master: she could use Host Master Authority like a Demon Lord, forcibly pulling others into her Gift Game.
And she didn't have to worry about becoming a Demon Lord or the consequences of failure.
*👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻*
Aslan couldn't help but clap. He could only say it was impressive, truly impressive.
As expected, no one bearing the name Merlin was simple.
Merlin had likely realized Ouroboros was targeting her and planned to use her as bait.
"However, Miss Merlin, haven't you overlooked one thing—the absolute difference in power between you and me?"
Aslan said with a smile. Even if he was forcibly pulled into a dream, into someone else's Host Master Authority, he wouldn't gain any advantage.
In fact, he'd reveal much about himself, and this annoying fairy might even discover his identity.
Dreams were indeed powerful, capable of leveling power differences and allowing Merlin to dominate.
But Merlin forgot one thing: Nyaruko was Nyarlathotep from the Cthulhu Pantheon.
She was a being outside the tree of life, a Pure-blooded Dragon.
The Cthulhu gods might not excel in much else, but they were unmatched in mental pollution.
Nyaruko was no exception, especially with the chaotic Authority granted to her, which had miraculous effects in dreams.
"Nyaruko, I'm counting on you."
Nyaruko performed an exaggerated transformation pose and shouted loudly, "Chaos that Crawls, at Your Service!"
Then she brandished her Holy Sword of Physics and struck forward with force.
*CLANG!*
With a loud clang, Magical Girl Merlin couldn't get up again.
Nyaruko's Authority was chaos, so the dream powers and Gifts used against her would become disordered.
Naturally, Merlin's dream struggled to pull Nyaruko in, or only partially pulled her.
In Nyaruko's eyes, Merlin was still standing before her, so she could finish her with a single light strike.
"Nyarlathotep? An Outer God from the Cthulhu Mythology?"
Aishelia stared at Nyaruko in shock. She had heard of the Cthulhu Mythology.
A group of dragons blocked outside Little Garden because their thoughts were too chaotic and incomprehensible.
Yes, a group of dragons, not gods.
Because in the Cthulhu Mythology, they were beings outside the tree of life. Though they had faith in human history and were part of a modern mythology system, their worldview wasn't tied to humanity, so they were defined as a dragon group.
However, they were too grotesque, walking sources of mental pollution and psychological disease. They were blocked outside Little Garden by the Heavenly Army year-round.
No place would welcome someone carrying infectious and mental diseases.
But now, she unexpectedly saw a normal one, and it was even enslaved.
Even Aishelia, who considered herself well-informed, was a bit shocked.
Strangely, she even found this Nyarlathotep kind of cute.
"Hmm."
Aslan nodded.
"But now, shouldn't we discuss what to do with this one?"
Aslan cautiously nudged Merlin with his foot, observing her reaction.
He could only say that young bodies were resilient—she fell asleep instantly upon collapsing.
"How about we sell her? She's quite pretty." Aishelia said, rubbing her chin after a moment's thought, offering her suggestion.
"But we don't have rights over her."
For a Demon Lord to enslave someone or seize their Gift, they had to use a Demon Lord Game.
Though Aslan defeated Merlin, since he didn't use a Demon Lord Game, it couldn't strictly be considered a seizure.
It could only be seen as sparring. Merlin was still free.
"How about we use a game to gain rights over her, then sell her?"
Aslan smiled slyly, not caring that Merlin, lying on the ground, had already woken up.
"Great idea. No wonder Ouroboros needs talent like you."
After hearing Aslan's plan, Aishelia couldn't help but give a thumbs-up.
"I happen to have connections. I guarantee a beauty like her will fetch a high price. We'll split it evenly, how about that?"