"So much for your 'plan' Merlin" Sunny said as he glared at Merlin.
"Ugh… this is the worst…" Merlin replied as he repeatedly hit his head on the table.
"You guys quiet down, you're distracting me over here" Nephis sounded from another side of the table, in front of the three of them was stacked papers that held different information about the bright castle.
…
A few hours earlier…
"Don't worry Sunny, I have a plan…"
"So, what's the plan?" Sunny asked as he stretched on the ground.
"Well I analyzed the fight and noticed we were always on defense because there was no constant light to keep the black knight from retreating…" Merlin tapped his chin then continued "so in order to avoid that, we'll need a constant supply of light".
Sunny nodded then asked.
"So… where are we going to get that?"
"It's very simple, we'll ask Nephis to help" Merlin shrugged.
"You think she'll help?" Sunny asked as he got up.
Merlin got up too and answered.
"Ofcourse she will"
..
.
"No"
"..." Merlin stared dumbfounded at Nephis' direct answer.
"Why tho?, It's just this once"
Nephis stared up at him from what she was doing.
"I'm busy" then she returned to face her work, mapping potential attack spots on the map Merlin had scribbled with before.
"Can't you just… you know, do it later" Sunny asked from beside.
"No…" she replied, then thought for a while before saying "I could finish faster if you guys helped.."
Merlin instantly did a 180 turn as he headed for the door, isolating any chances of him returning to state affairs, the one month had already scarred him enough.
"Too bad Sunny, we'll have to wait till she's done…"
..
.
"Why did I agree to this?" Merlin groaned as he received a stack of paper from Nephis.
"Because you guys need to be done with whatever it is you want to do as we'll begin the siege by next tomorrow" Nephis sternly replied.
…
Merlin and Sunny worked through the paperworks until their current situation.
"Hey Neph… how's the planning coming along?" Merlin asked causing Nephis to drop her work as she looked at him.
"Everything's coming along, most of the preparations are already done, and the net will be finished tomorrow…" She paused to take a breath then continued.
"I'll round up everyone to give the general view of the situation tomorrow then we'll head out the day after…"
As she finished the room went quiet, a battle that would cost hundreds their lives usually leaves the same effect.
Merlin closed his eyes as he thought.
'Eight months… it's both small and a lot at the same time…
Do I really have to stay back just to get a better plot, in the first place can I even survive alone on the forgotten shore and beyond…
Is all this because of a simple promise, one that'll become invalidated if I die…
Why must it be me to sacrifice myself for people I'm sure will survive worse…
Is this really what I want…'
Merlin forced himself out of his thoughts before he wavered, he opened his eyes and said to Nephis.
"I understand… then we'll discuss battle tactics tomorrow, as for today…" he turned to look at the stack of papers near him, struggling to not burn them to ash with his ability as he continued "... we'll just have to finish this first"
Nephis and Sunny nodded as they all resumed working, after an hour they were finally done (Merlin hid some in his pocket dimension).
They then went ahead to discuss the tactics for their fight with the black knight and after they were done they did the final preparations and headed to the dark city.
…
"Alright… round two" Merlin cracked his knuckles as stared at the castle, as he walked forward with them, he abruptly stopped midday. He brought out his pendant and recited as before.
'Fighting the black knight is dangerous…'
He repeated it some more and the pendant started spinning clockwise at a regular pace.
'Dangerous but manageable' he thought as he turned to Nephis 'Is this the quality of a second protagonist… damn'
"What's that?" Nephis asked, catching his stare.
"It's nothing, just a thing with his aspect…" Sunny shrugged casually as he turned to Merlin "are we good?"
Merlin smiled at Sunny's wordplay and replied.
"Yeah I'm good let's head out, I've got a surprise for this guy"
They walked calmly into the castle, all steps measured and weapons ready, on the other side stood the black knight, a fallen devil who would soon be on the falling side.
'The protagonist's aura really does feel good… wait a second… Someone's missing'
Merlin stopped abruptly again and turned around.
"Hey Sunny…"
"What's the problem now?" Sunny replied as he stared at Merlin confusingly.
"Where's Saint?" Merlin asked as he stared at him.
Sunny looked a little confused then his eyes brightened as if remembering something.
"Oh Saint, She's in my soul sea"
"Well, summon her then… why didn't you do that the first time" Merlin sighed.
"Well I went with your plan and you didn't say anything about saint joining us" Sunny shrugged as he summoned the stone saint.
Saint looked at Sunny, then at Nephis then at him, with her eyes staying on him a little longer which made Merlin shrink back a little.
'Still holding a grudge in your afterlife… come on it was just that one time'
Finally Saint turned towards the castle and locked eyes with the knight inside.
"Alright, let's get this done"
And they walked into the territory of the black knight, the black knight stood tall waiting for them, and as they entered the clash immediately began.
Clang…
Before anyone moved, Saint had already clashed swords with the black knight, sparks flying off their swords, from behind Sunny moved to support Saint while Nephis stood on standby and Merlin had already gone to set up his flame jump materials.
The knight parried Sunny's sword with a strength that made Sunny lose balance, then it raised its sword to cut him down, but as it fell it met with Saints shield, the slash carried enough force that the ground cracked under Saint but the shadow still held steady, before the knights could attack, his visor was hit with a force from the side sending him flying backwards.
Merlin had arrived, and in his hand was the sunlight shard.
He stood beside the master and his shadow as they watched the black knight steady itself, the cracked visor began to meld itself and a moment later it was fully intact.
Merlin summoned the stone sword and handed it to Saint, the latter looked at the sword, dismissed her own, then collected it and nodded to him before turning back to the black knight.
'Hopefully I've just bought an easier training session…'
The main reason he gave the shadow his sword was because it was a memory so it could be empowered by Nephis' dawn shard, and if he needed a sword he could always change the formless from a gauntlet back to his katana.
As they got into position, the black knight looked like it wanted to blend into the darkness so Merlin said.
"Neph now!" And immediately a white radiance enveloped the place shining brightly from Nephis' sword.
The black knight was only slightly stunned by the lack of darkness but quickly adjusted as it placed its sight on Nephis determined to end her.
"Alright phase two!" Merlin said and Sunny nodded, immediately they moved, Sunny from the right, Saint from the left and Merlin following right behind Sunny to find a way to smash the hammer into the black knight's sword.
Clang…
Clang…
Swords met sword and shield as they moved with determination, the knight determined to move forward towards Nephis and the others determined to keep it in place. As they clashed Merlin appeared from behind using a flame jump and accurately struck the shoulder of its sword hand, denting the armour of the black knight.
The enraged black knight slashed backwards at full strength and only cleaved a paper figurine in half as Merlin had already substituted away, the full swing left it open and Saint took the chance and bashed her shield into the chest of the black knight.
The devil staggered back because of the force and as it was about to steady, Sunny attacked with his sword, forcing the knight to block the attack, and from behind again, Merlin smashed sideways on the visor sending it flying into a pillar.
They watched as it stood up and rushed towards it, this was a race against time, because they couldn't predict how much more pain Nephis could endure from her aspect.
Merlin decided to take the risk and flame jumped directly to the front of the knight, immediately the black knight stabbed forward, but this time Merlin didn't substitute as the sword went right through his gut, he held the knights hand and sword in place despite being impaled, he could hear the others shout out his name but he wasn't listening.
Immediately he used Cuthul's Gloves and stole the knight's thoughts leaving it staring blankly, immediately he used his gauntlet to pry open the hand of the knight, separating the sword from it.
Merlin drew the sword from his gut and threw it towards Sunny as the knight immediately regained its thought process.
"Sunny, don't worry about me and destroy the sword!!" He shouted, coughing blood as the knight stared at its empty hand and the sword in the distance.
Immediately it lunged at the sword, but Merlin dove into its path, with damage transfer he moved the injury to his left forearm and used his weight to body the knight, the determined knight staggered but immediately balanced and punched Merlin right in the gut with it's strength causing him to fall on his knees and puke blood.
The now free knight rushed towards the sword that saint was about to smash with her shield, but then immediately stopped abruptly, from the side Merlin smiled, he had used Cuthul's Gloves on it again.
'Cough… Oh how op is the Mysteries' pathway'
In the distance Saint smashed the sword and it shattered leaving only a crimson diamond wrapped in darkness, the body of the black knight dissolved into darkness leaving only four soul shards in its previous position.
They had won!.
Merlin didn't even bother standing up as he laid down on the ground, his left hand ached and bled on the ground, Nephis and Sunny rushed to him while Saint picked up the crimson diamond.
"Are you crazy?!, What kind of idea was that having a sword go through you!" Sunny shouted as he stared at him, Sunny then turned to Nephis who was already pale faced.
Nephis responded as she endured another round of excruciating pain as she healed Merlin's arm.
Merlin felt the warm energy stop his pain and wash off his fatigue as his flesh mended itself.
After a few seconds, Nephis sat back as she breathed heavily.
"Thanks a lot Neph…" Merlin said as he stretched and checked out his hand.
"That was very reckless, what if you died?" Nephis said with a pained hoarse voice from overusing her aspect.
"I'm sorry…" Merlin didn't argue, although he had also considered the trajectory and his position before jumping in, but the feeling of having a sword brushing below your lungs, piercing through your muscles, tendons, intestines and kidney was not a pleasant experience, and as someone who lived a relatively safe life before, he really overcame a great fear to achieve that.
Nephis nodded at his answer and just sat on the ground to regain herself, while Merlin stood up and gestured to Sunny.
"Let's go…"
They walked towards the edge of the castle, earlier Merlin activated his spirit vision and from an unsuspecting wall, there was a lot of strange aura gathered around it, so he led Sunny there, as he stood in front of the wall he turned to Sunny and noticed that he already sensed something hence the confused look on his face.
"So you've noticed it too… let's go" Merlin said and Sunny nodded and with his gauntlet, he pried open the fake wall and walked into the dark hall.
After walking for a while, they were met with stairs that descended lower into the darkness, they followed the stairs that were faintly lightened by torches that gave off a dangerous aura.
They walked down till they got to the end of the stairs, and walked forward a little more till they stood in front of a large eerie door.
"Well after you…" Merlin gestured to Sunny as he stepped back.
"Is it dangerous?" Sunny asked, holding the midnight shard in place.
"Nope, I don't think so"
Sunny nodded to his words then brought out the key and inserted it into the door, as the door opened, a cold breeze poured out from the room, then Merlin and Sunny walked in.
"Don't try to read the runes you'll hurt yourself, just touch the mask and we're done" Merlin said to Sunny.
"Why, what does it say?" Sunny asked as he walked towards the corpse.
"Try reading it…" Merlin replied.
"..." Sunny stared at him with a deadpan look 'you said I shouldn't read it, I ask you why, then you say I should read it… what kind of logic is that' Sunny sighed then turned to the runes on the floor.
Merlin watched as Sunny immediately turned his eyes away holding his head.
"The same thing will happen if I read it out loud to you" Merlin shrugged.
"Alright I understand" Sunny sighed then turned to the mask and touched it, immediately the mask dissolved into sparks of light and flew into his chest.
Merlin saw Sunny's expression go from shock, to expectation, to surprise, then to shock again and then even greater shock. He shook his head and said to the shadow boy.
"It seems you're done, let's head out, Neph's waiting for us"
Sunny snapped out of his trance then turned to him.
"Merlin this is a…"
"A divine memory I know, let's go" Merlin sighed and started walking out the room.
"D-don't you want this?" Sunny asked calmly.
"Want it?, Why should I? I already have mine" Merlin said as he pointed towards his clothes.
"Wait… that's a divine memory?" Sunny's expression transcended to one of shock again.
"Yeah, it's just that I can't use it now due to the fact that I'm still a sleeper, maybe when I awaken tho" Merlin shrugged.
"I see…, so do you know of the mask's enchantments?" Sunny asked as he followed Merlin out the room.
"Yeah, I know them, all the more reason you should have it" Merlin casually replied, they talked some more as they headed outside.
By the time they arrived, Nephis had already rested enough and now stood beside a pillar as she waited for them.
"Thanks for helping out Neph… we're done so let's head back"
Nephis nodded and they left the dark city headed towards the bright castle, the siege was about to begin.