"Brother I'm flying!" Ariel cheered happily.
'The fuck…' Merlin was honestly thinking he was still dreaming, he had been considering the possibility that she had been kidnapped, but was the kidnapper a bird, or did they coax her into taking a nice view?
What the hell was Silver doing during this time?
He took a breath to calm himself as he asked.
"How are you flying?"
"My new friend is carrying me on her back…" She answered.
'Oh please I hope it's not a nightmare creature…'
"Ari… can your friend talk?" He asked helplessly.
"Um… no"
"Do I know your friend?"
"No"
"Is your friend a human?" He asked shakily.
"No…"
'Fuuuuuck…' he cursed inwardly.
"Okay wait for me Ari… I'll be there soon"
He immediately went into his soul sea and checked on their point of lights.
Silver was sitting on a park bench holding a cone ice cream in her hand, not at all bothered about Ariel in the slightest.
And Ariel was like she said, flying on what seemed to be a giant bat like nightmare creatures that had snow white fur, and she was indeed riding it like he once rode his Spire Messenger, and worst of all, the creature was clearly alive, and a Fallen Devil.
'Oh my days…'
He immediately left his soul sea, and entered the Spirit World, following his intuition, he used travel and reappeared mid air.
As he couldn't fly, he kept using blink to keep himself steady on air while searching for Ariel, a few seconds later, she streaked by with the Fallen Devil while cheering loudly.
"Ari!" He shouted out, hoping his voice would reach, and shockingly it did.
Ariel turned around mid flight and waved happily.
"Big brother!"
He was about to blink to her side to save her, but a shocking scene happened, the Fallen Devil stopped and turned around, flying in his direction. He got on guard ready to defend, but it just stopped and hovered right in front of him as Ariel smiled.
"Brother, meet my friend…"
"???" Merlin's brain instantly went through a full reboot and stopped at the processing stage.
After a second, he recovered himself and raised an eyebrow.
"How did you… you know what, let's go meet Silvy first, okay?"
"Okay… sister is down there" Ariel pointed down, and as he looked, he was stunned as he found out that he was just right above the park where Silver was, and she was already staring up at them.
He pinched his brows and sighed.
"Let's just go down… can you tell your friend to drop you down?"
"Okay…" Ariel nodded and the next moment, the Fallen Devil dove down, descending near Silver.
He used blink to reach the ground as he sighed tiredly, only a few minutes after his return from the dreamscape and he had already gone through a nerve-wracking situation.
Ariel hopped off the Fallen Devil and ran over to hug him. Ironically, the nightmare creature didn't make any move to leave, it simply watched them with its eerie looking black eyes.
He ignored the creature and picked up Ariel in his arms.
"I'm really interested in your explanation…" he stared flatly at Silver.
She looked at him for a few seconds then turned her gaze and said calmly.
"She said she wouldn't take long"
'I doubt that's the problem here…'
..
.
Merlin pinched his brows.
"So let me get this straight… you heard there was a category two gate open in the waking world, and Ariel said she wanted to go see it and you agreed…"
"However, when you got there, the situation was already under control, and when Ari saw the Fallen Devil, Silk Bat, she decided it was cute and wanted to keep it… and you said 'Okay'," He gave Silver a deadpan look.
Silver merely shrugged.
He felt a slight urge of rising blood pressure but he suppressed himself.
"Don't you see the issue here… that was obviously a reckless act right there"
"She was fine… I was watching " Silver countered.
He sighed and continued.
"Now after the Silk Bat was killed, Ari used her ability to bring it back as her thra… friend, is that right?"
"Yes! I gave it my shadow!" Ariel chanted happily.
He ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle, "you did well Ari".
Then he turned to Silver.
"And facing the reformed Silk Bat, Ari said she wanted to fly with it, and you agreed?"
"Yes… is there a problem?" Silver tilted her head.
"A problem?" He glared at her, "ofcourse there is… did it never occur to you that she might not be able to fly it?"
"She wasn't the one doing the flying…" Silver countered.
"Okay… fair " he nodded in agreement then asked, "but what couldn't control it?"
"With her ability she can, you said so yourself" Silver added.
"Tsk…" he clicked his tongue.
"But what if she falls off it?"
"She'll survive…." Silver countered again.
He hurriedly thought of another point, but Silver beat him to it.
"No she won't fly off and get lost because I told her to circle around the park area…"
"No she won't scare anyone because she was high in the sky…"
"Yes… I was keeping an eye on her"
"If she needed help I know how to reach you through the honorific name…"
She smiled smugly at him, "is there anything else you're curious about?"
Merlin's lips twitched repeatedly as he forced a smile.
"You really prepared an answer for it all didn't you"
She shrugged and stood up from the bench.
"I hope you prepared something at home… don't tell me you spent two hours doing nothing?"
'Oh crap, I doubt she'll understand something called the dreamscape…'
To shift her focus, he took a step forward and said sternly.
"I'm not done yet… Your actions, although calculated were still reckless"
He turned to Ariel and his face softened.
"You…little one, were perfect"
Then he turned to the Ascended Devil, Silk Bat, and glared slightly.
"And you… what are you looking at?"
"Squel…" the creature let out a small sound.
"Huh? Got something to say?" He glared fiercely.
Facing his gaze, the Silk Bat simply turned its head to the side and looked away.
"I thought so…"
"Brother, don't bully Silky" Ariel pinched his hand softly.
"Pfft… Silky… that almost sounds like Sil… cough… cough… nevermind" he swallowed his words midway as he felt a death stare emanating from close by.
He instantly reverted to his regular self and clapped his hand.
"Alright… since we're done here, let's go get dinner"
"We're eating out?" Silver asked.
"Yeah… any problem?"
She stared at him for a full five seconds and said.
"So you really didn't make anything at home… I'm curious, what were you doing during the past two hours?"
"Hiss…" he drew a deep breath and turned away from her piercing gaze, "forget about the little details… let's go eat"
"Uhm... what of Silky?" Ariel asked, and the Silk Bat turned to look at them.
"Sigh... I'll drop it off in the dream realm so it'll get stronger, whenever you want it, I'll get it back okay?" He said to Ariel.
"Okay..." She nodded then went to hug the Ascended Devil and whispered a few things to it.
The scene looked so harmonious, if only you ignore the fact that the creature could potentially wipe out a small cohort.
After Ariel said her goodbye, he sent the Silk Bat to the dream realm, the Rocky Plains to be exact, let the creature hunt there and maybe get stronger.
…
After he finished eating with them, they all returned home at near dusk, Silver had also drawn attention to the fact that she hadn't let go of his stunt back in the Spirit World.
As for that reason, they had to take a car home, which on its own was hell because neither of them had any idea of what their address was.
He was considering buying a car for himself, but thinking of the fact that he had the traveller's ability, and he wouldn't be staying in the waking world after Antarctica, he simply decided to leave it for his next life.
After they arrived at home, he changed and went to see Sunny.
"Yo…" he greeted as he arrived.
Sunny, like the night creature that he was, wasn't asleep, he was simply scrolling through his communicator doing absolutely nothing.
As he called out, Sunny looked up from it and waved.
"Hey… what's up"
"Well I'm calling a meeting… Master Jet included" he answered.
"Right now?"
"I'm sorry Sunny, not everyone's as jobless as you, some of us still need to close from work before doing anything"
"..."
He waved his hand, "anyways, let's call the cohort so we can meet"
Just as Sunny was about to pick up his communicator, he stopped him and sat down on the chair.
"Hey Sunny… what do you think of Nephis?" he asked with a smile.
"I think she's strong… and she's very focused on achieving her goals" Sunny answered.
He nodded and his expression turned serious, he brought out a paper figurine from his ring, infused it with Sefirah's castle aura, and flicked it as it burnt to ashes.
"What was that for?" Sunny asked as he sat straight, and the calm expression faded from his face.
"Anti-divination" he answered and stared at Sunny.
"The next part of our conversation concerns your shadow bond…"
Hearing that, Sunny turned serious, Merlin ignored him and continued.
"Sunny… do you like Nephis, and I mean more than just a friend?"
"...Yes" Sunny answered after some hesitation.
"Good… I'm sure you've figured it out already, but aside from the one I said, you know there's another way to disconnect the bond between you and Neph right?" He asked calmly.
Sunny was confused, then he answered in a low voice.
"Yes… by getting rid of the Master"
"Indeed…" he nodded, "now if for any reason, I decide that I want to break that bond, in other words, if I decide I want to kill Nephis, what will you do?"
"I'll stop you," Sunny answered without hesitation.
"And if I decide I won't rest until she's dead, what will you do then?"
"I won't stop either"
"That's good… now, what if I do succeed in killing her, what will you do then?" He locked eyes with Sunny, his expression still serious.
Sunny narrowed his eyes, he opened his mouth and closed it again, and after a few seconds, he answered.
"I… don't know"
He shook his head, "I'll tell you what you'll do… you'll kill me Sunny, you'll stop at nothing to kill me, even if I come back to life, you'll still kill me"
Sunny looked confused, but seeing his serious expression, he nodded calmly.
"I understand, but can I ask why?"
Merlin smiled and shook his head.
"It concerns our third nightmare, I'll tell you later… Has any of our cohort members come to see you in a while?" He asked.
"Neph and Cassie, why?"
"That explains it… we're being watched, sigh… Valor sure does have a lot of people to spare"
"What about the meeting?" Sunny asked.
Merlin sighed and walked to him, he sat down beside him and immediately used his ability, the next second the entire room was filled with fog. By the time the fog cleared, Both Sunny and him were nowhere to be found.
Earlier when he arrived, he had done a divination and confirmed that although they were being watched, they couldn't be heard, that was why he proceeded with the discussion.
As for the reason he had the talk with Sunny, it was solely because they needed the endless loop in the Tomb of Ariel, and he didn't know what changes his presence would make.
He had a feeling that things might spiral out of control in their third nightmare, so he at least had to make sure that he and Sunny stayed on opposite sides.
If he ever got corrupted, he would have to die at Sunny's hand, and resurrect again using one of his resurrection plans.
During his free time, he had always prepared resurrection plans in case of an emergency, but due to his current rank, there wasn't much he could come up with.
His avatar in the Song domain was one of them, another was a marionette in his soul sea, the body of Harper.
Currently, using the cloak, he couldn't split off another conscious worm of spirit after Merlin(avatar), but he could split off dormant ones.
The dormant worms of spirit would only gain consciousness whenever he and the avatar had died. The reason being that when he died, his consciousness and memories would return and fused with the avatar as the first priority, and only when both of them died would he finally revive inside the body of Harper.
…
He and Sunny arrived at the government office, where they waited for Master Jet to get off work. Before he came to pick up Sunny, he had checked all of their points of lights, Sunny, Kai, Cassie and Neph were at home, Jet was still at the office doing paperwork, and Effie was out eating.
Effie's situation was another case entirely, the person he felt pity for was Master Jet, even at dusk, she still couldn't catch a break, it subtly reminded him of the horrors of a civil servant, luckily he went and switched worlds before he could experience the love of taxes.
While waiting, he picked up his phone and texted the rest of the cohort, to meet with them at Neph's place, then they sat down and waited for Master Jet to finish her work.
A few minutes later, Master Jet walked out.
"Hey guys…" she waved as she saw them.
Earlier, he had already sent a text telling her they were waiting outside so she should hurry.
"Hello Master Jet" They answered.
"So… why are you here?" She asked, confused.
He sighed and answered.
"Well I believe the cohort meeting is due, and you're invited" he smiled.
"Oh… right now?"
"Yeah…"
"Isn't it a little late?"
"Not at all"
"Can't you reschedule?"
"Nuh uh"
"Sigh…" She gave up, "fine where are we going?"
"Neph's place" he answered.
"Why there?"
"My place is occupied, Sunny's place is being watched, Cassie's mom is at home, I honestly have no idea if Kai has a home, Effie… nevermind, would you volunteer your place?" He listed then looked at her.
"Neph's place it is then" She replied.
"Great… let's head out"
At that moment, Sunny spoke up.
"Won't Neph's place be watched too?"
"It will, in fact, Neph's place is on constant surveillance, so if we show up there, it won't change anything, but if the entire cohort shows up at your place… well you can guess the rest" he explained and added.
"Plus it's not like we would be staying there for long, I just need to set things up…"
"Alright" Sunny nodded and they set off.