Merlin made his way through the outer settlement, the sun was already beginning to set as dusk washed in.
He moved around the settlement watching the sleepers carry on with their lives, after a while of walking around he made his way to the tent.
As he got there he walked in and saw some familiar faces and one unfamiliar one, sitting around the table were Sunny, Neph, Cassie, Effie said finally a very good looking young man... Kai.
Merlin stared at Kai, his thoughts running wild.
'Damn them fanarts are definitely underating this guy's face... Man just go shoot a movie or something, this face is not for the battlefield'
Seeing as he was staring, Sunny gestured towards kai and introduced him.
"Merlin.. this is Kai, well you could say I found him near the dark castle..." Then he gestured to Merlin and continued "Kai this is Merlin.. he's a member of our team, the one I told you is always out hunting"
Merlin stared at Kai and waved slightly while Kai offered him a light smile.
'Hiss... Look at that face, demoness.. male demoness'
"Nice to meet you kai.. how did you end up in the dark castle anyway?"
"Uhm yeah... I was following them on a hunt, I just didn't expect that they would trap me there and leave" Kai replied.
Sunny shook his head and added.
"They locked him in a well, thankfully it was only after a day that I found him, if not who knows how long he would've been stuck there"
Merlin listened as he made his way to sit down, after Sunny finished he asked them.
"So are we having the discussion now or are we having it later, I mean we're all here"
"No not now" Nephis shook her head "we'll talk about it tomorrow morning then we'll decide"
"Okay then" He shrugged and turned to Sunny "So I heard you were looking for me, what's up?"
"I need your help with hunting" Sunny answered.
Merlin thought and answered.
"If it's the knight in the castle forget it, the highest rank creature I've encountered is a fallen demon and I've been on the run anytime it nears me, that knights is a devil so..."
Sunny shook his head and replied.
"No.. it's not that guy, it's the stone saints"
"Ooh.. okay, how many?"
"Five..."
Merlin went quiet for a while as his thoughts went wild.
'Five... Five really, just saint alone is a top class fighter and you want to hunt five...'
'I'd have better chance fighting a corrupted titan than five of 'Saint' level mobs...'
'But what can I do.. I already told him I'd help in the letter... risk my aura for my life...'
He shook himself out of his thoughts and answered.
"Sure we'll head out tonight, don't worry I have a plan"
'More like I'll make up one bullshit excuse why the plan won't work when I get there... Hehehe'
"Alright when you're ready we'll get going"
He turned to Kai who was sitting quietly.
"So.. Kai, I heard you used to sing, how was it like?"
Kai nodded lightly replying.
"Yeah.. back in the waking world that was what I did"
"You were really popular, though I haven't heard your songs yet but I'll definitely listen to them once we get back"
"Okay I'll look forward to it" Kai smiled at him.
'Man just shoot a commercial already, that smile really is dangerous'
At that moment he swore never to let Kai near his female friends.
Sunny spoke up from the side.
"Hey how come I'm the only one who doesn't know that he's a singer"
He chuckled and replied him.
"That's what you get for living under a rock Sunny"
Effie who had been quiet then spoke up.
"Hey pretty boy, hope you didn't come back empty handed?"
He shot Effie a deadpan look that implied 'really... that's the first thing you say?'
"Sadly I left everything at the drop point, if my echo showed up near the outer settlement there's gonna be one hell of a situation"
"...Tsk what good are you"
His eyes twitched slightly but he chose to ignore her last comment. The discussion moved on to the situation of the bright castle and his constant harassment, they didn't reveal too much because of Kai who was around but the chat was still lively.
After a few rounds of talking the sky had already darkened, they ended the gathering and left the tent, Merlin and Sunny made their way towards the dark castle.
As they were walking, Sunny spoke up first.
"Hey Merlin, what kind of nightmare creatures are the stone saints.." he paused for a while then continued "... apart from the black knight in the temple that's a Fallen devil, they're the only other human like nightmare creatures I've seen"
He turned to look at Sunny then he thought of Saint from the canon then replied with a smile.
"Sunny the five stone saints we're about to hunt, if you put the five of them in the bright castle, within a week everyone inside would be dead"
His words made Sunny stop in his tracks.
"What!, Why the hell didn't you tell me they were that powerful, and you want to hunt them, are you crazy!?"
He smiled at the familiar reaction then answered him.
"Don't worry I have a plan, I won't be walking down this road if I didn't have one..." Without waiting for Sunny to talk he continued.
"By the way, how many fragments do you have currently?"
"A little above three hundred.." Sunny answered him.
"Nah that's bad, you really need to hunt more so you can get your second core"
Sunny sneered "you know not everyone had aspects fancy like yours, some of us still need to run away with legs when stuff go wrong, plus..." Sunny stopped abruptly.
"...Wait what do you mean second core?"
Merlin nodded replying.
"For people with divine aspects, we don't just stop at once core, after that is filled you get another, then another until you reach a total of seven making you a titan"
Sunny's jaw hung open.
"Hold up, isn't that a bit too powerful, that's like seven times more powerful than others"
"Yep suitable of being called monsters indeed" He smiled at Sunny.
Sunny shook himself out of his thoughts and asked.
"But forget that.. how are we going to fight five stone saints with just two of us"
"Who said anything about fighting them"
"???"
...
In a collapsed and ruined building, at the front stood five stone like knights each with a shield and long sword, they stood completely still only moving when nightmare creatures neared the collapsed building, each of their movements were coordinated and smooth as they moved like seasoned warriors.
On the side, a safe distance away from the building, a shadow was lurking behind a tree except there was no one to cast it.
"They're completely still, since I sent my shadow to watch they haven't moved, if you didn't warn me before I would've really mistaken them for normal statues" Sunny spoke to Merlin was beside him.
Merlin nodded then brought out his pendant for a divination.
'This hunt is dangerous'
After repeating a few times in his mind, the pendant began to rotate clockwise slowly.
'Dangerous but still manageable'
He then closed his eyes and used dream divination.
'Source of danger'
He repeated a few times then a scene emerged in his eyes, he was battling a wounded stone saint, then it suddenly dropped it's shield, the next moment his head was seeing his body at an odd angle, then the dream scattered. Cold sweat fell from his face.
'Did.. did I just get beheaded, just like that, then what the hell was the divination showing me dangerous but acceptable, my head falling off is not acceptable'
'Okay let's calm down, divination says I can succeed, as long as I don't fight head on with a stone saint, and as long as my head stays attached... That's gonna be troublesome but I'll manage'
He turned to Sunny and smiled.
"I just finished divination and everything will go okay.. I think"
Sunny's voice lingered with confusion.
"You think.. the hell you mean you think, nope we are not doing this I'm going home"
He grabbed Sunny by the collar comforting him with a smile.
"Hey now don't you trust me, don't worry you'll be safe"
Sunny reluctantly nodded.
"So what's the plan?"
"Simple we'll draw other nightmare creatures to them, we'll let them fight and swoop in for the victory"
Sunny looked at him with wide eyes.
"You know back at the labyrinth I usually thought your plans were smart, but now..." Sunny shook his head then continued "...so how are we bringing them, don't tell me I'm the bait..."
He laughed at Sunny's words before replying.
"No.. no need, but a shadow flavored meal sounds nice, maybe I'll use your bait idea sometimes"
"Please forget I said anything" Sunny pinched his temple muttering "...Let's just get this done"
"Alright I'll start now" Merlin said as he streched and summoned his sword
Sunny summoned his too and then asked.
"So how exactly are we..." Sunny's words halted to a stop as his echo formed beside them.
"You see Sunny, compared to the Crimson Spire, here fallen monsters are feared greatly, so let's first find a safe place to watch the show"
...
Near the collapsed building high on a tree, Merlin and Sunny stood watching the stone saints.
'They really do look like statues up close'
Merlin watched the saints, he looked at open spaces in their stone amour and possible weak points, after a while he gave his echo the command to start.
Immediately after, a long screech echoed throughout the area, then followed by the rumbling, nightmare creatures were moving towards them and on the air was his echo who was chasing after the nightmare creatures.
About half a minute later, the running nightmare creatures stumbled upon the stone saints, Merlin dismissed his echo then focused on the battlefield.
Soon after, the carnage began, the nightmare creatures who lost their aggressor now fought each other, while they fought some unlucky ones encountered the stone saints who were now on the move.
The stone saints moved with deadly efficiency, each strike they gave attacked a vital point, their coordination was top tier as they were spread out but still manged to keep a tight formation, in less than a minute, more than ten nightmare creatures had fallen to their blades.
"So we're supposed to fight that?" Sunny's voice sounded admist the noise.
The nightmare creatures who were fighting each other stopped and then focused their attacks on the stone saints.
"Looks like they're not that stupid, at least they know who needs to be taken care of first" Merlin said as he looked at them.
Under the seige of the nightmare creatures, the stone saints were finally at a disadvantage, within minutes the stone saints began to fall, they were losing ground but the nightmare creatures were declining even faster.
After an hour of battle, the few nightmare creatures that were remaining abandoned the fight and fled into the bushes, the stone saints had their numbers reduced to two, one of them was in a bad shape with only one hand that constantly bled red dust, one broken sword and lots of injuries on it's mangled body, the other was better off, although it was injured the body parts still remained complete, only a cracked sword in it's hand.
Merlin clicked his tongue and said.
"I guess if you want something done right you have to do it yourself"
"I'll take the broken sword one, atleast I can survive that much" Sunny said as he got down.
He looked at Sunny then nodded.
"Then I guess I'll be having all the fun then"
Snap...
He flame jumped to the battlefield field with his sword, his arrival triggered the two stone saints, as they prepared to attack Sunny stepped out of the shadows near the disabled saint.
The saints immediately went into a divide and conquer tactic, he and Sunny now had one opponent each.
He looked at his opponent, the saint didn't even give him the honour of hitting the shield twice, it just lunged at him, he immediately countered the attack.
'Damn that's heavy'
As he made his move, he hit the shield, the saint stabbed at him but with a snap he flame jumped behind it, his attack hit it square in the back leaving only a dent in the armour, the saint swung his sword back at full speed but Merlin blocked the attack, the force sent him skidding a few steps back.
'I really wish I got the hunter or warrior pathway, my strength is really mediocre even with three cores'
Merlin flame jumped away to avoid another downward slash, he reappeared near a bunch of corpses, as he looked down at them he had an idea, he used his sword to slash at the dead nightmare creatures, he slashed at it, blocked an attack, swung at the saint, flame jumped away and slash at another dead creature.
With each slash his sword became sharper and more powerful, he was using the blood work enchantment in the fight, the saint increased it's attack speed, it slashed and stabbed while using the shield to cover his eye view, he avoided the slash but the stab got him right in the stomach, he flame jumped away and checked the injury, as it wasn't too deep he transferred it to his left forearm leaving his palm for snapping.
The stone saint stopped it's relentless attacks and stood still looking at him, after a second it raised it's sword and hit it on the shield twice.
'Indeed I am worthy'
But immediately after the acknowledgement the saint dropped the shield, it left a small crater where it landed.
'The hell, that shit is heavy... Wait a minute this scene is oddly familiar.. oh sh_'
His thoughts were cut off as the saint disappeared, immediately his head separated from his body, the two parts immediately turned to paper figurines and burnt to ashes, He appeared on the side his left hand held his neck.
'Damn girl ease up'
He turned to the saint, it looked at the place he had been, it's sword and his new position and nodded subtly.
'I don't like that look, it's definitely plotting something'
Before he could think the saint moved again this time faster, the sword went right through his heart and he turned to paper again appearing a distance away.
'It's getting even faster, this guys aren't battle masters for nothing'
He immediately upped his agility, he focused all his strength into his legs and his right hand, as the saint moved he did the same, swords collided.
He stabbed__
It blocked__
It slashed__
He dodged__
Attacks met attacks.
..
.
After a series of exchanging blows almost on par, he flame jumped a few meters away, his body was covered in injuries, he was not a battle master but with his danger sense and clown agility he barely managed to keep up with the stone saint.
Iconically any time the cloak tore in an attack the memory would self repair itself leaving the injury beneath it, he also managed to land a few hits but most were blocked by the amour and the others were minimal injuries.
At their last clash the saint's sword had completely broken so now it held up a fighting stance.
'Just my kind of game'
He looked to the side, Sunny was in a better state than him, although a few scrapes an bruises were on him, he was fine nonetheless.
Merlin flame jumped to his side and quickly said.
"Hey Sunny I need your blood"
"What?" Sunny answered his eyes still on the opponent.
"Just trust me on this okay"
"Alright" Sunny took his sword and injured a finger as his blood dripped onto the sword.
"Thanks"
Merlin took the sword and flame jumped back to his previous position, he willed the sword and turned it into a glove that covered almost to his elbow only on his right hand.
The glove vibrated around his hand, it was empowered by Sunny's blood weave, with a snap he flame jumped, the saint immediately swung it's fist towards the back as he appeared, but it's attack phased through him, an illusion, Merlin immediately appeared at it's blind spot and punched a hole through it's amour as his hand came out the other end.
'Look at me giving the Ace/ Klein treatment'
The saint immediately stopped moving as the spell spoke to him.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Stone Saint.]
[Your soul grows stronger...]
[You have received an echo...]