[You have slain an awakened devil, Wailing Banshee.]
[Your soul grows stronger...]
"Huu... That's the last one"
Merlin stood on a hill staring at the setting sun in the distance, he couldn't help recall his journey so far.
...
Two weeks ago
"We'll be heading to the dark city today, we'll need to move fast so we can start heading to the next location" Nephis stared at them and continued "Merlin will go ahead of us to the hollow mountains...".
She paused then turned to address him.
"Merlin when you're done don't wait for us and come back to help keep an eye on the outer settlement"
"Aye aye captain" Merlin did a joking salute.
"That's all, let's head out"
Nephis and the group waved him goodbye and begun to walk towards the dark city, Merlin watched as their backs disappeared into the distance then turned around to face the opposite direction.
He summoned his echo and mounted it, immediately the spire messenger took to the sky, he kept a safe altitude as his echo accelerated through the sky, because of the wind he donned his familiar mask to shield his face.
Merlin travelled alone through the sky, whenever he encountered danger on the sky he would descend and move on the ground but apart from that he moved with his echo.
He would always keep an eye out for hills and highlands, whenever the sun began to set, he would land on a hill and kill the housing nightmare creatures before spending the night there.
A week ago he decided to challenge the next part of aspect legacy, he went into his soul sea and walked back to the near illusory stairs, as he placed his legs on the second step his vision immediately changed.
He stood in front of an empty hallway with lots of door on each sides numbering up to twenty, and infront of him stood a human like figure but the figure was all black like a shadow.
Merlin inspected himself and he could feel that unlike last time he came with an ability, precisely his apprentice ability, he stared at the figure in front of him and immediately the objective of the test embedded itself in his mind
'So I have to catch the figure through this hallway with twenty doors, with the apprentice ability how hard could it be'
He immediately got into a stance and chased the shadow like figure, the shade ran straight down the hall, as Merlin closed the distance and was about to touch the shade, a blinding white light occupied his vision and his ears picked up the sound of a door closing.
By the time his vision cleared he was now standing alone in the long hall.
"Haa... Best guess, that was the 'flash' ability of a Trickmaster... Now I guess I just have to find it..."
Merlin walked to a random door and twisted the handle but the door didn't budge as it was locked, he used the apprentice ability to unlock the door, as it swung open, he found the room empty.
"Not this one I guess, then I'll just try the next"
He walked to another door and opened.
Empty_
Another_
Same result_
..
.
By the fifth door, as he opened to meet the same empty room, the scene suddenly contracted then shattered, immediately he was thrown out his soul sea.
Merlin repeated the process multiple times to no result.
"I guess that means I have to either adapt to the flash and see which door he enters or I'll have to guess the right one.. and I only have five chances before being kicked out... What a drag"
As he had some insight as to the trial, he repeated it for the next days till he finally managed to catch the fleeting view of the figure as it made it's way through the door.
Merlin who completed the trail immediately moved on to the next, the other trail was just a show on how to use the 'black screen', 'gas transfer' and 'loud noise' ability, after repeating the same set of shows a dozen of times, merlin was now able to understand the ability and it's uses, as the performance finished the surroundings changed again, this time he was in what seemed like a training hall except it was filled with fog and two shades with 'freezing' and 'shock' abilities were pit against him in combat.
The situation was the worst for Merlin as the fog obstructed his vision and it didn't seem to affect the shades, the shades also possessed all of Merlin's hand to hand combat experience coupled with the random freezing and electric attacks.
He suffered a lot of setbacks against them and he hadn't been able to beat them till currently.
And so Merlin continued his journey towards the hollow mountains.
...
Present
Merlin watched the night settle as he sat on the ground, he was currently eating the meats he had already prepared, in his soul sea he had over fifty shards from his hunts with Sunny in the dark city added with those he killed on the way, he already had three hundred fragments in his demon core but he still refused to absorb the fragments.
'I rather like the feeling of being rich... hehehe'
He ate his dinner peacefully and when he was done he dove down into his soul sea, about two hours later he was forced out again.
'Damn at this rate I might just unlock thunder breathing from the constant shock therapy... Once I get this legacy Relic the first thing I'll do will definitely be a chidori... Maybe I'll use Caster as a test subject.. heh'
He streched his stiff body and layed on the rough ground, he summoned his echo to keep watch then finally drifted off to sleep.
By the time Merlin woke up, the sun had already claimed it's position in the sky, he stood up and looked into the distance.
From his position he could already see the jagged mountain in the distance.
"Two.. almost three days before I'll get there"
He ate breakfast and did a simple divination, after confirming his safety he mounted his echo and took off.
He continued the journey for two days till he arrived at the hollow mountains.
"Here we go... I wonder if the 'Nothing' will be dangerous to me, it should be something like a mental attack right"
"I'll do a divination to confirm"
He pulled out his pendant and recited in his head.
'The mist is dangerous'
After repeating it several times the pendant didn't move.
"Huh... It didn't work, wait... the mist is practically 'nothing' so that means I'm divining nothing... fucking shadow slave world this is my safety we're talking about here you know"
He pinched his temple and sighed.
"Well I guess I'll rely on danger sense and paper figurines, I wonder if I can substitute when nothing attacks me... Well only one way to find out"
And with that Merlin jumped into the well leading to the bottom of the mountain, he fell freely for half a minute and as he neared the ground he snapped his fingers and flame jumped appearing directly on the ground.
He looked around and saw dead nightmare creatures scattered around the ground.
"If you were gonna leave it here you could have left the shards too.. tsk"
He looked around the tunnels that led deeper into the mountains, seeing the structure of the tunnels he sighed.
"It's too narrow to fly through... running it is then"
Merlin then sprinted through the tunnels, after a few hours of constant run and rest he finally arrived at an open space, between the two distant lands was a flowing river and by the side was a pillar and a boat tied to it.
"Now then do I be brave and keep my eyes open all through or be a coward and close them"
He immediately willed his mask to block his sight leaving him blind.
"I'll be brave when it's something divination works on.. for now, I'll stick to the coward pathway movements"
He summoned his echo in the open space and it flew over to the other side of the river, as he arrived he could feel his danger sense warning him not to open his eyes, so he dismissed his echo and reached into his soul sea and pulled out a stick, with that he used dowsing seeking rod to move through the narrow tunnel.
His movements were slow and steady, he walked through the maze tunnel for another hour before he could finally hear the sound of running water, he used his echo to cross over the river and with that he dismissed his mask.
The first thing he saw was the corpse of the bright lord sitting facing the distance like those venerables who had achieved enlightenment.
He sighed and reached to touch the skeleton, immediately as he did the corpse collapsed into dust and the spell sounded to him.
[You have received a memory, Dawn Shard.]
Merlin sighed and looked at the ground the bright lord remains were, he closed his hands and gave a bow as he said in a solemn voice.
"Rest now... Your nightmare is over"
As he got up, he turned his head and looked deeper into the tunnel.
"Well I still got another spire messenger to kill... Wish me luck old man"
He turned and immediately sprinted into the tunnel, half an hour later he arrived at the location of the statue, the nest of the spire messenger, he summoned his echo and it dove into a fierce battle with the other one.
Merlin on the other hand used multiple flame jumps till he touched the statue, after he did that he summoned his katana and faced the spire messenger, with a thought he dismissed his echo leaving only him and his opponent.
"I've always wanted to go all out, now you've finally given me a chance..."
Looking at the slightly injured spire messenger he added.
"And please don't call me unfair, you're a whole class above me after all"
The spire messenger that had heard enough of his rambling immediately lunged at him, Merlin parried it's claws with his sword and flame jumped to give himself distance, as he appeared he used his fingers to fire two air bullets at it's wing joint, the bullets hit but didn't cause any considerable damage.
Making use of the distance, he summoned the dawn shard, immediately the katana became more sharper and powerful, the dawn shard had no effect on the cloak but that didn't matter to him.
With the dawn shard on his head, he immediately turned the katana into a spear as he summoned the stone sword, the monster had already lunged at him, and as his hands were filled he couldn't snap to flame jump, immediately he blocked the attack and was sent flying backwards, as he hit the ground the spire messenger was already on him, as it's beak pierced through his chest his figure turned into paper and burnt to ashes.
Merlin appeared behind it and threw the spear at it, the spear accurately pierced through it's wing and even injured it's ribs, the monster wailed in pain, he then unsummoned the spear and flame jumped to it's other side stabbing it's other wing with the stone sword leaving it flightless.
He created a safe distance from the enraged monster and brought out his set of cards, with each flame jump he threw a card.
One at it's eye_
Another it's forehead_
Then it's throat_
And countless other vital spots.
After he finished a set of cards, he used the stone sword coupled with illusions to slash at it's legs and joints completely immobilizing the nightmare creature, the spire messenger sprawled on the ground was already weak from the injuries and blood loss.
Merlin walked to it standing in the view of it's remaining eye, he summoned the Formless and turned it into a desert eagle and pointed at it.
Bang...
Bang...
The sound of the air bullets echoed in the empty nest, then the spell spoke to him.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Cursed Herald. ]
[You have received a Memory, Dusk Shard.]
"Haa... Finally, well that's that, I'll rest a bit then start heading back"
He fished out the soul shards, and sent the monster into his soul sea, immediately he layed on the ground and fell asleep.
After about an hour of sleep, Merlin turned back to return the way he came, after crossing the rivers and climbing up the well he finally arrived outside the mountains, but as he arrived it was already dark.
"Man I miss the sun... I'm not feeling sleepy anymore so I guess it's off to my soul sea"
In his mind he added.
'To get beaten up again apparently'
...
Inside the familiar fog filled hall, he could see the two obscured shades closing in on him, he immediately got into his fighting stance.
The figures moved like they owned the mist, which technically they did, he threw a punch at the nearest shade, it blocked and countered with a kick to his torso.
Merlin raised his shin to block, his other hand already reaching to grab the figure, the shade accurately held his wrist and immediately he felt a chill pierce through his skin, he retracted his hand and ducked to avoid a kick from the other shade that had circled around him.
As he looked at his hand, he could see a small layer of ice on his skin, he adjusted to the cold feeling as he blocked an incoming punch, the attack hit his guard and jolts of electricity coursed through his body leaving him numb.
'Troublesome'
He flexed his wrist, his speed reduced with the numb feeling, but the shades were still relentless, Merlin immediately changed to another tactic, he changed from block and counter to attack and avoid.
The change gave him a slight advantage for a good two and a half hours until he finally managed to knock down one shade, after he did that he moved on to the next but was ultimately defeated because of fatigue.
"Sigh.. another loss, atleast I made some progress this time"
Merlin layed down on the stone ground infront of the mountain, he stared up still looking at the night sky, and after a while his eyes became groggy, he summoned his echo to keep watch then fell asleep.
As he woke up he towards the rising sun and began to think of his plan to leave the forgotten shore.
He was lost in his thoughts for about an hour, only when the sun rose did he finally eat and prepare to leave, before he mounted his echo he summoned his runes.
Name: Merlin Hermes
True Name: Attendant Of Mysteries
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Demon
Soul Fragments: [371/3000]
Memories: [Cloak of Mysteries], [Formless], [Siren's Bracelet], [Fur Coat], [Poison bottle], [Stone Sword], [Sunlight Shard],[Dawn Shard],[Dusk Shard]
Echoes: [Spire Messenger]
Attributes: [Fated],[Mysteries],[Mark of Divinity]
Aspect: [Child Of God]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Innate Ability: [Connection]
Aspect Ability: [Magician]
Flaw: [Apathy]
Flaw Description: [The stronger you get the more of your humanity you shed until you become a being of only divinity.]
He stared at the runes for a while then climbed his echo and flew towards the outer settlement.