"STOP, WAIT!" the Ebony Blade shouted, its voice teeming with anxiety as Ricky immediately pulled the scissors away.
"Eldest, what are you doing?" the Ebony Crown asked from the side, a hint of surprise in his voice as it stepped forward.
"Yes, this is it, this is your freedom-" the Ebony Shield chimed in, unable to understand why the Ebony Blade would stop right at the finish line.
"I have changed my mind," the Ebony Blade said in a resolute tone, raising its hands and shaking its head.
"You what!?!?" the Ebony Crown asked in shock, staring at the most stubborn individual among them who actually chose to remain enslaved, to Ricky of all people.
"Oh, thank God~" Ricky heaved a sigh of relief, clutching his chest and tossing the scissors to the side.
"I was sweating there for a second, not gonna lie." Ricky admitted, wiping the sweat from his forehead and taking a moment to catch his breath.
"To be honest, I never wanted to give up an all-cutting sword." Ricky said genuinely, glancing at the Ebony Blade, who nodded in understanding.
"Phew~" Ricky finally exhaled, stepping to the side as the tension that had built up began to ease, allowing him to release the weight pressing down on his chest.
"Why?" the Ebony Crown asked, watching the Ebony Blade actually deny its own freedom.
"'Cause it cuts-" Ricky started, thinking the question was directed at him, but the Ebony Crown interrupted sharply:
"NOT YOU!" the Ebony Crown screamed, fiercely silencing Ricky as he stared directly at the Ebony Blade, who crossed his arms in response to the outburst.
"WHY, ELDEST? WHY WOULD YOU EVEN WANT TO STAY?" the Ebony Crown exploded, hysterical at the thought of his elder sibling actually agreeing to remain chained to another.
"A part of me wants to believe that Ricky will slay Knoll and fulfill my purpose." The Ebony Blade began, trying to hold onto its greater goal.
But deep down, it knew the truth.
"However, the truth is, I am satisfied with my current arrangement," the Ebony Blade stated clearly, a calm expression crossing its face that hinted at its contentment.
"Your kidding, you're actually kidding-"
"I am not." the Ebony Blade said softly, shaking his head at the Ebony Crown's exasperated expression.
"When I say that, out of all my wielders, Ricky is the most pleasant, you'll understand how difficult it is to align with humans." The Ebony Blade sighed heavily, exhausted just thinking about the hardships it had endured at their hands.
"I'm tired of being the subject of blame for bringing out the worst in humans." The Ebony Blade's words carried a cold edge, yet beneath it lay a rare vulnerability, as if the abuse it had faced had left unseen scars.
"And now that I've finally found a wielder who does not ridicule, torment, or blame me for their misgivings, I don't want to give that up," the Ebony Blade stated without a shadow of doubt, unwilling to relinquish this current peace.
"If that's alright with you Ricky, but I wish to remain-"
"No need to tell me, buddy. Bring it in," Ricky said, gesturing to the Ebony Blade for a hug.
Only to see it hesitate and back away from the kind gesture.
"What are you-"
"Don't be f*cking weird, just bear hug it out!" Ricky laughed, spreading out his arms and stepping toward the Ebony Blade, who kept backing away.
"Ricky, I do not wish-RICKY, STOP IT!" the Ebony Blade tried to say, but ended up yelling as Ricky suddenly ran at it.
Before long, the two were running in circles around the red room, Ricky chasing the living manifestation of a sword with his arms spread wide, while the ebony artifacts looked on.
"Ricky, hurry up!" Merlyn urged quickly as the space began to rumble, but Ricky kept up his antics.
"Acutally Merlyn, it's all good now-"
"You're definitely not all good yet since the spell still needs to be completed." Merlyn said carefully, unwilling to say exactly what would happen if Ricky kept stalling for fear it would only encourage him.
"The Ebony Blade and I have decided to continue our partnership-"
"Ricky, listen to me." Merlyn said cautiously, his gentle tone making Ricky frown at the unfamiliar softness.
"Spells like these need to be completed or they'll backlash-"
"Then I'll just cut it-"
"NO!" Merlyn's voice cracked with urgency, his worried expression catching Alexander's attention and stirring a sense of suspicion in him.
"Why shouldn't Ricky cut the spell, Meryn?" Alexander asked suspiciously, crossing his tiny little paws as Merlyn rushed to think of an excuse.
"Yeah, Merlyn, why?" Ricky asked, stopping his chase and turning toward the source of Merlyn's voice echoing through the red room.
"Because-"
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Ebony Crown screamed, pain sharp in its voice as its body began to convulse.
"Sibling, what is the matter-ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Ebony Shield started to ask but collapsed to its knees, seething out a scream and clutching itself as it convulsed.
"It hurts, it hurts~" the Ebony Chalice whimpered, rocking back and forth while Ricky looked on with a weird expression.
"What the f*ck is going on, Merlyn-" Ricky started to yell, but his words caught in his throat as he turned his head upward, falling into stunned silence.
His eyes locked onto the three ebony artifacts, their chests twisting and distorting unnaturally as they rose eerily into the air.
Ricky's danger sense blared, signaling trouble ahead, but instead of reacting, he found himself standing still.
As the surroundings began to shake more violently, a suspicion started to stir in his mind: why was Merlyn so insistent on ending this?
It was for that very reason that Ricky found himself wanting to see what would happen.
BOOM
A shockwave ripped through the red room and beyond, shaking the very fabric of Ricky's mental realm before crashing into the physical one, violently throwing Merlyn and Alexander backward.
"ARCK!" Ricky gasped, pain lancing through his voice as three ropes suddenly shot out from the ebony artifacts and slammed into his gut without warning.
It felt like the very air had been ripped from his lungs as Ricky was slammed backward with a brutal force, the impact reverberating through his entire body.
The ropes didn't just bind into him; they seemed alive, digging deep into his flesh and sinking further, as if burrowing beneath his very existence.
A searing pressure built inside his veins, each pulse a fresh assault as the ropes twisted and slithered, constricting like serpents coiling tight around his blood vessels.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ricky roared, pain overwhelming him as his eyes slowly darkened into a void black while his body convulsed into a violent seizure.
"You fool, this is still the blood pact!" Merlyn yelled, scrambling upright, his gaze locked on Ricky's convulsing form in the physical world with the ebony artifacts adorning his body thrumming violently to match his rhythm.
"What is the meaning of this? What have you done!" Alexander demanded, scurrying over to the undead lich for answers.
"What have I done? I tried to warn you, but you kept interrupting me!" Merlyn shot back, his voice sharp as he partially lied to Alexander, who quickly turned his attention back to the convulsing Ricky.
THUMP
Ricky's heart thundered in his chest, each beat echoing the weight of the tether finally settling deep within him.
However, instead of fighting it, a small, almost reluctant smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
This wasn't what he had envisioned, but somehow, it felt like an unexpected bonus.
Because the ebony artifacts weren't just artifacts anymore; they were part of his bloodline now, woven into the very fabric of who he was.
And weirdly enough, the thought didn't unsettle him as much as it might have before.
In fact, it sparked a flicker of pride, a sense of legacy that stretched beyond the immediate moment.
Because maybe, just maybe, he'd one day lend these artifacts to his children, passing down their power through his bloodline.
And oddly enough, that thought brought him comfort.
WHOOSH
Then, another shockwave burst outward from Ricky's body, rippling through the air with a calm finality as if it was over.
GASP
Ricky gasped, lungs flaring open as if he were surfacing from deep underwater.
Air flooded in, burning his throat and chest as he clutched at the ground beneath him.
HUFF
HUFF
HUFF
Ricky slowly began to control his breathing, his vision still blurred and colors smeared at the edges.
Until, at last, a surge of adrenaline rushed through him, steadying his nerves and calming him down.
"Are you alright?" Alexander called from a distance, still wary of being violently thrown back again as he watched Ricky slowly take in his surroundings.
"I think-"
'You think?' the Ebony Crown interrupted with a huff, still exasperated from what had just unfolded.
'YOU JUST BOUND US TO YOUR BLOODLINE!' The Ebony Crown roared furiously, the weight of the connection to Ricky and his descendants already coursing through it.
An idea that filled the Ebony Crown with utter disgust.
'HE WHAT?' the Ebony Shield suddenly realized, clutching its head as the newly formed blood connection throbbed across its mind.
'I like it.' the Ebony Chalice laughed, clearly enjoying this far more than another silent century collecting dust on a shelf.
"You see? The Chalice likes it." Ricky said shamelessly, rubbing the back of his neck before glancing over at Merlyn.
'CHALICE IS A MORON-'
'Enough,' the Ebony Blade said, halting the Crown's insults but instead of silence, his younger sibling bitterly laughed.
'And you,' the Ebony Crown muttered, pointing its finger at the Ebony Blade.
'You've been a slave for so long you've misinterpreted it as belonging-'
THOOM
A burst of red electricity suddenly slammed into the Ebony Crown, its form violently thrown backward like a ragdoll.
It scrambled to summon a swirling purple aura, desperately trying to smother the overwhelming surge of energy.
But with every crackle, the blazing red electricity sliced through the violet haze, the aura flickered and weakened, unable to hold back the onslaught of the Ebony Blade power.
They were siblings, all descended from the same ancient Starstone, and bound by that connection.
But above all else, they were not equal.
This was the Ebony Blade: the sole bearer of purpose carved deep within that ancient material.
It carried a power that matched the weight of its origin, a power the Ebony Crown could never hope to rival.
In that truth lay an unshakable hierarchy, one claim to dominance that set the Ebony Blade apart from the rest, destined to lead while its younger siblings followed.
'Do not, ever, call me a slave.' The Ebony Blade said dangerously, lowering its hand just slightly and with that small gesture, an insurmountable power slammed the Ebony Crown onto the murky black floor.
'Do you understand, young sibling?'
'Y-Yes~' the Ebony Crown squeezed out, its cheek pressed against the murky black floor as the red electricity faded away.
'But I do apologize.' the Ebony Blade said with a nod, knowing the fault likely lay with itself and owning it rather than dismissing the problem.
Meanwhile, Ricky lay sprawled on the cool grass, his body healing away the aching but his mind was strangely calm.
He stared up at the vast blue sky, watching a fluffy cloud drift lazily by, its shape slowly shifting into that of a bunny.
A refreshing sense of clarity washed over him, the weight of binding the other ebony artifacts to his bloodline settling into something more like acceptance than burden.
But not everyone shared that calm.
Nearby, Merlyn's face twisted in disgust, his eyes blazing with fury at Ricky's recent act.
Realizing he had just indirectly bound even more power to Ricky, Merlyn was filled with a dangerous mix of frustration and dread.
"Ricky, do you know what-"
"WAIT!" Ricky suddenly yelled, sitting up and holding his hands out toward the fuming Merlyn to halt his words.
"Are the perfectly sized scissors okay?" Ricky asked with a small smile, watching as Merlyn immediately rolled his eyes while Alexander turned away, struggling to hold back a laugh.
"Oh, come on, Merlyn, too soon?" Ricky joked, watching the lich hover away toward the ancient spell book.
"Don't be like that, I was just kidding!" Ricky cackled from behind Merlyn, noticing the lich whispering to himself as he flipped through the pages.
"I wasn't kidding." Ricky whispered quietly to the side, glancing at Alexander who scurried toward him.
"Is everything alright?" Alexander asked cautiously, studying Ricky's body as if searching for something out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, but could you hold on just a second?" Ricky asked, raising a hand toward Alexander before closing his eyes.
Appearing in his mental scape, Ricky opened his eyes to find the ebony siblings each huddled in their respective corners of his mind, clear distaste etched across their faces, except for the Ebony Chalice.
The Chalice sat in its corner not out of protest, but because it seemed to think they were all playing some kind of game and it didn't want to be left out.
"Listen, I know you're probably pissed, but can you at least hear me out?" Ricky said, holding up his hands toward the two who clearly weren't on board with the sudden forced blood arrangement, the Crown and the Shield.
"My bad." Ricky said, a flicker of genuine guilt in his voice, if it could even be called that, as both the Shield and Crown frowned at him.
"Your bad?" the Ebony Crown repeated in disbelief, staring at Ricky as if he'd misheard.
"YOUR BAD?!" The Ebony Crown exploded, its fury erupting as it took a step forward, clearly the most livid of the group.
The Shield followed suit, its expression darkening as it stepped in beside him, though not as angry as its sibling.
"Ricky, you do understand that this was not what we agreed upon-"
"I know and I'm just trying to-"
"YOU PEED ON US!" the Ebony Crown roared, stomping its foot on the murky black floor like it was finally standing up for itself.
"Who says peed-"
"ME, I DO, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU DID TO FORCE OUR SUPPORT!" The Ebony Crown screeched, completely against the idea of its wielder being Ricky.
"And then you-.....you threatened us with your bowel movements." The Ebony Crown hissed, actually having to take a second to regain his sentence at the pure shame he felt in that moment.
"That was very disgusting, if I might add." The Ebony Blade chimed in from the side, leaning casually against its corner with its arms crossed, clearly staying out of this one.
"Alright, I get it, I'm not your favorite person but can we put a pin in it-"
"No, because you'll do what you always do when someone hates you and try to get me to like you. But I won't fall for it. Not like the others." the Ebony Crown chuckled, as if seeing straight through Ricky.
"What?" Ricky asked, only able to muster this response while staring at the ebony artifact with a confused look.
"You don't think I know what you're doing? What you've done!" The Ebony Crown accused sharply, pointing its finger at Ricky as if he were standing trial at that very moment.
"I'm honestly just confused right now since I've done a f*ck ton of stuff, so you're going to have to be more specific." Ricky replied with a laugh, clearly amused by the accusation and waiting to see the reason behind it.
"I've seen it, with my own eyes, how you just find a way to get someone to like you." The Ebony Crown revealed a bitter truth it refused to let go of.
"What?" Ricky said again, laughing this time as if the very idea was absurd.
"It's like you wiggle yourself into whatever makes a being insecure, then accept that part of them, and have them completely fall under your little trick. But I am no fool." the Ebony Crown explained, speaking from experience because that was exactly how it saw Ricky.
Ricky catered to a niche audience, and more often than not, his first impression was rough and always abrasive enough to strain or even break any chance at forming genuine relationships.
People were usually put off by his blunt, almost foul, words and a demeanor that acted like a barrier rather than a bridge.
But the Ebony Crown had noticed something chilling beneath it all whenever Ricky wanted to get closer to someone.
In every scenario it had witnessed, no matter how distant or hostile the other person initially seemed, Ricky had this uncanny ability to find that subtle weak point, the small crack in someone's personality, and that subtle insecurity they kept hidden even from themselves.
But he didn't exploit it cruelly; instead, he wrapped himself around it, making the vulnerable spot feel seen and accepted.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Ricky used that connection to draw people closer until whoever it was felt safe enough to let their guard down and genuinely warm up to him.
That realization sent a cold alarm through the Ebony Crown, especially after watching how Ricky did it with the Ebony Blade.
The Crown had no intention of falling into that trap, at becoming a slave to Ricky's budding ambition.
"Crown, I, uh, I don't think that is what he is-" the Ebony Shield said, trying to speak with some clarity from the side.
"NO, IT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE'S DOING!" the Ebony Crown fiercely interrupted the Ebony Shield, his expression twisting into something bordering on insanity.
"Okay, okay~" the Ebony Shield said calmly, watching the Ebony Crown have a full-blown panic attack as it clutched its head and curled into a ball in its corner.
"I won't fall for it, I can't!" The Ebony Crown wailed, rocking back and forth while Ricky sat quietly to the side.
"I-I don't know what to do." Ricky admitted honestly, glancing at the Ebony Shield, who was slowly moving closer to the Crown to try and give it some comfort.
"Could we resume this conversation later?" the Ebony Shield asked gently, trying to soothe the Crown while Ricky nodded his head agreement.
"Uh, sure."
Then, in the next second, Ricky opened his eyes to the real world once again, finding Alexander waiting patiently for their conversation to continue.
"All right, resume," Ricky said, pointing at Alexander, knowing he had something to say.
"Are they all bound now as a result of the backlash?" Alexander asked, catching the context and wondering if this was the outcome.
"Nailed it, as always," Ricky chuckled, giving Alexander a small fist bump and although his paw reached out to meet it, the gerbil still had something on his mind.
"Ricky, about Merlyn, I think-"
"So, are you still the black knight?"
Before Alexander could voice his worry, a portal slowly conjured at the side, revealing not only the regal form of Morgana but also the unspoken question hanging heavy in the air.
"Is the sky a weird shade of blue?" Ricky answered her question with another, watching Morgana raise an eyebrow at the sky above, tinged with an unusual hint of green.
Morgana merely chuckled at his answer, knowing she had been let off the hook since her words hadn't changed the outcome, but had unknowingly strengthened their bond.
"How are you feeling?" Ricky asked softly, shifting the conversation and stepping forward while pulling her queenly form into his embrace.
"Sore, you're so rough," Morgana teased, placing a hand on his chest and gazing up into his green eyes.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Ricky chuckled, planting a quick kiss on her lips before stepping back.
Although there was a sudden space in their embrace, his hands still lingered, curling around her waist and slowly sliding down with each passing second.
"Are you still mad-"
"Yes, I'm still mad about having to give up half of Camelot's wealth." Morgana sighed, her greed unmistakably casting a shadow of dissatisfaction across her face.
"But I've decided to act in good faith." Morgana revealed, opening another portal that revealed the soaring spires of the Starlight Citadel.
"Uh huh," Ricky muttered, clearly suspicious of her intentions as she immediately scoffed in response.
"Fine, then go back to New York-"
"I'm kidding, relax~" Ricky chuckled, pressing his forehead to hers and gently swaying her side to side as she frowned but didn't continue.
"I'm sorry. Please, continue," Ricky whispered, knowing he needed to ease his way into whatever Morgana was about to say.
"I already know it's useless hiding it from you now, since Merlyn is under your possession," Morgana sighed, shaking her head and side-eyeing the lich as he flipped through the pages, searching for the way to sever all four ebony artifacts from Ricky.
"Well, don't keep me waiting," Ricky said, watching as Morgana slowly lifted her gaze to meet his green eyes.
"The interdimensional energy of the Otherworld." Morgana revealed the very power she had kept hidden since their first conversation within the coven, only briefly mentioning it until now.
"The thing from that one meeting?" Ricky asked, referring to how Morgana had covered for him by mentioning this interdimensional energy as the reason Merlyn picked a fight with him.
This had always been a very touchy subject for Morgana, one she had only ever alluded to in passing.
Even when she mentioned it, she barely scratched the surface of what it truly meant to her.
One of the things that made the Otherworld so unique was its ability to bestow its own interdimensional energy onto a person, turning them into a living conduit for its immense power.
If Merlyn controlled Otherworld's economy through monopolies, then this was the mechanism he used to forcibly suppress anyone who dared question or challenge his rule.
Above all else, this energy was the primary source of power for the Captain Britain Corps.
"Yes, and I was wondering if we could both share it, just the two of us." Morgana said through gritted teeth, struggling to voice the idea she had reluctantly accepted.
"Share, us?" Ricky laughed, caught off guard by the sudden suggestion as Morgana immediately took a step back.
"Fine-"
"Morgana, I'm kidding-"
"No, it's fine Ricky-"
"Morgana," Ricky whispered, lowering his face and pressing his lips gently against hers.
His hands slowly trailed down her dress, sliding along her back before resting on her hips, squeezing slightly.
"You would've found out sooner or later." Morgana murmured, feeling Ricky's lips pull away as she glanced to the side.
"You and I both know it's bigger than that," Ricky said softly, caressing her cheek as she leaned into his touch.
"Just the two of us," Ricky whispered, echoing her words as he caressed her cheek and gently pulled her face back toward his.
"I like the sound of that~" Ricky chuckled, rubbing his thumbs in slow circles on her skin as she shook her head with a soft smile.
"You're such a flirt-"
"I can't help it when you look like that," Ricky said, biting his lip and shamelessly staring down at her cleavage as she tried to playfully shove his face away.
"Ricky, stop~" Morgana said with a breathy chuckle as he leaned into the curve of her neck, her words betraying the clear desire in her voice.
"Truly, Ricky, stop." Alexander cut in from the side, wanting to continue their own conversation only when another figure appeared.
Bucephalus finally made his entrance, trotting up beside the gerbil, still clearly annoyed they had even considered giving those lackluster horses to Danielle.
"So, what do we do?" Ricky asked, grinning from ear to ear at Morgana.
She gently pushed herself away from him, regaining her composure at the arrival of someone else.
"The new head of the Citadel has already prepared everything for us," Morgana said, turning to the side just as Ricky slowly reached out and took her hand.
"Where is this new head-"
"Somewhere else." Morgana quickly interrupted, choosing not to mention she was a beautiful woman, and instead gestured toward the floating obelisk.
"But shouldn't I meet-"
"Look, it's starting!" Morgana said, quickly changing the subject as the Starlight Citadel began to shimmer with radiant light.
Pulling Ricky by the hand, Morgana guided him through the portal and he let her.
Then, as his foot landed on a different patch of grass, he stepped through and emerged beside a cliff, the ground cool beneath his feet as fast, conscious gusts of wind swept across the edge.
That's when Ricky saw it for the first time, the Starlight Citadel.
It was massive, colossal even, hovering high in the sky like a floating crown carved from starlight and stone.
Towers spiraled upward in impossible geometry, their glowing edges traced with arcane symbols..
But as Ricky's gaze trailed downward, the structure narrowed as it extended below, thinning to a long, pointed spire that aimed directly into the abyss.
It wasn't just a swirling pit of darkness; it was one of the ancient entrances to the Void Worlds, each one an isolated realm of forgotten gods and twisted dimensions of eldritch horror.
Then, as it hovered in place, the pointed tip at the bottom of the Citadel slowly began to shift.
It moved mid-air with eerie precision, pivoting until it was no longer aimed at the void, but at Ricky and Morgana.
The tip began to glow, a low hum resonating in the air around them, as Satunye, alone within the heart of the Citadel, calmly configured the controls.
Her hands moved with practiced precision, activating the ancient, potent energy that defined the Starlight Citadel itself.
"And you're sure that's not, like, a death beam or something?" Ricky asked for clarification, his danger sense quiet, though his instincts still nudged him to double-check, just in case.
"I'm sure, Ricky. I'm sure of you." Morgana said softly, locking eyes with him as the wind swept around her, sending her black hair billowing like a dark banner.
"And I'm-" Morgana began, her voice faltering as tears welled in her eyes.
Her eyes shimmered with tears as she stared into Ricky's steady gaze, his hands warm and firm around hers, but it was his gentle smile that made her heart ease.
To Morgana, trust was a fortress she'd built brick by brick, one that no one had ever breached.
People had always seen the cruel edges of her soul first: the ruthless ambition, the utter lack of sympathy, the countless sacrifices she'd made without remorse.
Morgana had unknowingly become a master at hiding the pain beneath layers of anger and envy, at masking the loneliness that gnawed at her from within.
To trust someone fully was a risk she had long abandoned.
Yet, in Ricky's eyes, she saw none of that judgment.
He saw her.
Ricky saw the real her, not the mask or the scars that littered her back.
He saw the bitterness she carried, the envy she unconsciously unleashed, the shadows cast by her own guilt, and the people she'd crushed along the way.
He saw all that hate within her, and still, he smiled like that.
Right now, Ricky smiled at Morgana as if he could never love her more than he did in this moment.
Yet, in the very next second, he would prove himself wrong again and again, deepening that love beyond anything either of them had imagined.
And for the first time in a long while, Morgana felt a yearning to let down her walls.
To trust.
To believe that maybe, just maybe, she didn't have to carry it all alone.
She wanted to trust Ricky, to believe that his acceptance wasn't a fleeting illusion but something real.
That gentle smile was like a beacon for her, a promise that even she could love.
And against every warning, every scar, every hardened lesson learned, Morgana let herself hope.
Morgana finally let herself love with all her heart.
Sniff
"Ricky, I'm pregnant." Morgana revealed, smiling though her hands trembled with a nervous energy.
Anxiety flickered in her eyes as she waited for his reaction, but Ricky only tightened his grip on her hands, grounding her.
"You are?" Ricky asked, his gentle smile blooming with a quiet excitement, as if he'd somehow known all along.
"I-I found out just minutes before." Morgana sniffled, lowering her gaze to the ground.
While she was at the Starlight Citadel, preparing everything with Saturnye, the sudden queasy pulse hit her hard.
She'd rushed to the side, nearly vomiting, and that's when the realization suddenly struck her.
Before a pregnancy spell confirmed it.
She had done it, she had secured her heir.
Morgana had sealed the binding tie she had desperately hoped for to link her rule with Ricky.
Yet beneath that fragile hope, a gnawing dread lingered, tightening around her like a shadow she couldn't shake.
Never before had Morgana felt such a palpable fear pounding in her chest, the weight of dread pressing down as she waited for
Ricky's reaction. But instead of anger or rejection, all she saw was herself being lifted into the air.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ricky shouted at the top of his lungs, scooping Morgana up and spinning her around with pure joy.
The pointed tip of the Citadel began to glow, casting a mysterious light over them, but Ricky didn't notice or care.
All that mattered was this moment as their laughter mingled, celebrating the new life and the uncertain future they would face together.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ricky's laughter echoed through the air, booming with genuine excitement and joy at the confirmation that he would soon be graced with another bundle of life.
Sniff
Morgana sniffled softly, feeling the weight of dread lift and dissolve as laughter bubbled up from within her as she reached out, cupping Ricky's face gently.
"I love you." Morgana whispered, the words coming straight from the depths of her heart.
Her thumbs gently rested in the dimples at his cheeks as she watched him slowly slow their spinning.
Ricky leaned in, his eyes locking with hers, and matched her heartfelt confession with one of his own.
"I love you too."
Then, as their lips met in a slow, tender kiss, the pointed tip of the Starlight Citadel erupted into a dazzling beam of light that bathed them both.
Electric and alive, it felt as if Otherworld itself was amplifying their moment.
Swirling with every color in existence and bathing their passionate kiss in a sparking radiance that made their connection feel impossibly magical and deeply romantic.
As their lips remained locked, a transformation began starting from their feet as a pair black boots materialized on both sets of their feet.
Blue leggings followed, wrapping smoothly around their legs, weaving upward as if stitched by the very light that surrounded them.
Then, across their chests, a bold symbol slowly revealed itself to be the proud flag of Britain.
The power of Otherworld itself had chosen this moment to mark them, to anoint them as champions, the sworn protectors of the realm.
Ricky and Morgana slowly unhooked their lips, staring at each other for a long time until one of them finally noticed their new outfits.
"What the f*ck?"
Those were the only words Ricky could manage to utter, eyes wide as he looked down at himself.
The Union Jack stretched proudly across his chest, crackling with arcane threads of power woven directly from the realm itself.
In his embrace, Morgana smiled, her own form now clad in the regal, tailored outfit resembling his own.
"You do look ridiculous." Morgana whispered lovingly, teasing his outfit when she ironically had the exact same one on.
"Ridiculously hot." Ricky countered, smirking while grabbing a handful of her ass and squeezing as she chuckled.
"Ricky, this power-"
If it hasn't been already stated a thousand times before, Captain Britain's abilities are powered by interdimensional energies, that much is obvious.
But the true essence of this power is concentrated around the British Isles of each reality and, more importantly, within Otherworld itself, the nexus of all those dimensions.
But here's the catch: despite the infinite reflections of Britain across the multiverse, there is only one Otherworld, and thus, only one true source of this power.
And now, with half of that entire interdimensional energy pulsing through Ricky's veins, he had become the most powerful man in Otherworld.
He stood now at the cusp of something far beyond even the Captain Britain Corps as his very being radiating with Otherworld's authority, stabilized only by the ancient magic Morgana had bonded him with.
He had reached the echelon of a Demi-god, tethered to a force that this entire dimension would bow to.
But there was one slight problem.
"What do you mean I can only use my power in f*cking England?" Ricky asked, clearly unimpressed by the fine print attached to his newfound strength.
"It's the British Isles, Ricky, and not just there. You can also access your full power in Otherworld, with me." Morgana clarified, slowly raising an eyebrow at his clear distaste for that glaring problem.
"Why? Do you not want it-"
"F*ck no, I totally want it." Ricky immediately halted her words, greedily wanting this power and now that he had it, would never let it go.
"It just kinda blows that I'm only this strong in this place and England-"
"British isles." Morgana corrected, patting his cheek as Ricky grabbed her palm and kissed it.
"Whatever, thank you." Ricky said, planting a quick kiss on her lips before pulling her into a tight hug.
He honestly hadn't expected Morgana to do something like this for him, not so openly, and was actually happy she was finally warming up to him.
Morgana smiled softly, her eyes lifting to meet him as she traced lazy circles on his chest with her fingers.
"So about the 12.5-"
"Baby, the Luciano family never goes past five," Ricky sighed, gently pressing his forehead against hers, revealing the quiet truth behind their so-called 'deal.'
"I only gave you ten because of our relationship and I went even further 'cause I wanted to share, I guess?" Ricky muttered, almost surprised by his own admission.
SIGH
"Very well," Morgana sighed, her fingers giving his chest one last affectionate pat before she turned with a swish of her cloak, walking away with the poise of a queen though the faintest smile lingered on her lips.
"Wha-What about my sugar!" Ricky called out, dramatically motioning toward his crotch as Morgana sauntered away toward the slowly opening portal.
Morgana paused mid-step, her back still turned to him as the portal's swirling light reflected off her dark hair.
Without looking back, she raised a single hand and flicked her fingers.
"You'll survive~" Morgana said coolly, before stepping through the portal, her hips swaying just enough to let him know what he was missing as Ricky bit his lip.
"No way you just did that-"
SIGH
Ricky let out a heavy sigh as the portal sealed shut with a soft shimmer, leaving him standing there alone.
"Dammit." Ricky muttered, eyes flicking down to his stubborn erection before slicking his hair back with a frustrated shake of his head.
"JENKINS!" Ricky yelled, whipping around only to realize he wasn't in the open field where he'd 'accidentally' bound the other ebony artifacts to his bloodline.
"Oh yeah."
A couple seconds later,
"JENKINS!" Ricky yelled again, stepping through his own portal and walking back onto the field where everyone had gathered.
"Yes-" Jenkins asked at the side, simply waiting to attend to whatever need Ricky had.
"Go and find Chuck. He's already gathering the things I'm taking back to New York, and I want you to help him." Ricky ordered, only to realize he hadn't specifically assigned that task to the undead and frowning slightly.
"Chuck-" Ricky started, opening a portal toward where he sensed Chuck was, only for the skeleton to reach out his skeletal hand.
Ricky raised an eyebrow but understood immediately as Chuck was already on it.
Carefully placing the ledger he had been carrying with him this whole time into the undead's hands without missing a beat.
"And Jenkins, tell Eldric to hurry up, he'll know what it means." Ricky said, gesturing for the undead to step into the swirling green portal as the butler nodded silently and began walking forward without hesitation.
"Alexander get ready cause we're leaving soon." Ricky notified the gerbil, striding over to where Merlyn was muttering to himself, flipping through the ancient pages with focused intensity.
"Ricky, about Merlyn-"
"Got it, I'm already about to go talk to him," Ricky said, waving his hand as he walked off, only for the gerbil to become insistent.
"But Ricky, I truly think he's-"
"I know, I know," Ricky interrupted, seeming to understand as he suddenly grabbed Merlyn by the collar.
Alexander, however, wasn't convinced.
So when Ricky shoved Merlyn into the freshly opened portal, the gerbil couldn't help himself as he darted forward and slipped through just before the portal snapped shut behind Ricky.
"What are you doing, I'm supposed to be preparing your spell-" Merlyn tried to say, realizing Ricky had thrown him into his own study that was filled with his findings.
"Cut the sh*t Merlyn, we're here to really get down to it." Ricky waved his hand, walking over to the side and sitting down at Merlyn's own desk.
Alexander, on the other hand, scrambled into the nearby bookshelf, slipping behind some scattered scrolls left on the floor as he watched their interaction unfold in tense silence.
"About?"
"You know what." Ricky said simply, raising his chin toward the lich as he kicked his feet up onto the desk.
"..."
Merlyn remained silent, hovering in the air, not out of compulsion, but choice, knowing better than to say a word in that moment.
In his mind, Merlyn suspected Ricky had brought him here because of something uncovered in his office.
But he held his tongue, unwilling to speak until those suspicions were confirmed.
Clap
Clap
Clap
However, it was almost unnerving for Merlyn to watch Ricky give him a slow clap, brandishing a smile that only deepened the lich's unease.
"First off, I know this ain't your real study so could you just make it into the real thing before we start?" Ricky first asked, spreading out his arms since there is no way that someone as paranoid as Merlyn would just leave his office out in the open like this.
"Very well."
Snap
Then, the modest space suddenly expanded as the wall behind Merlyn, the very one Ricky had been staring at, shuddered and stretched outward.
Reality itself seemed to buckle and fold, unveiling a vast expanse hidden beyond.
Ricky's suspicion was confirmed: Merlyn's true office lay concealed within an enormous warehouse.
Thousands, maybe millions, of scrolls cluttered towering shelves that stretched endlessly in every direction.
But at the center of it all stood a horrifying laboratory.
Chimera parts hung from rusted hooks suspended from the ceiling: patchwork limbs fused with unnatural joints, pulsating organs preserved in shimmering vats, and strange hybrid creatures caught mid-mutation.
The air was thick with the metallic tang of alchemical brews and the faint hum of eldritch energy coursing through the walls.
"Anything you want to get off your chest before I start?" Ricky asked, deciding it was only fair to give Merlyn the floor as the lich hovered silently in the air.
"Was I wrong to want something more than I'll ever be?" Merlyn replied, turning toward Ricky, his pink toothed maw twisting with restless emotion.
"Can you sit there and tell me you could stomach putting the entire weight of the human race on your shoulders?" Merlyn asked, slowly pacing closer to the desk until he stood right before it.
"You can't, because no one can. People like us, people like you, cannot think like that." Merlyn stated dryly, his gaze sharp as he regarded Ricky like a mirror reflecting his own struggles.
"When Gaea told me of the prophecy, she didn't give hope, she gave the world chains." Merlyn said, closing his eyes when he remembered the day she spoke of that prophecy.
The one that promised humanity their king.
"This false hope, this fragile illusion, it allowed them to cling to their ideals, that being abused and toyed with by the gods as their playthings, would amount to something." Merlyn said, his eyes opening slowly to reveal a mocking expression aimed squarely at Ricky.
"I've stood at the precipice of countless civilizations, watched them soar to heights that brushed the skies, only to be toppled again and again."
"Do you know what was the limiting factor of each of them?"
"All of them touched the stars, only for the gods to kick the legs out from under them," Merlyn said, his voice heavy with bitter finality.
The words resonated in Ricky's mind, stirring an unexpected connection to Alexander.
Someone who, like those civilizations, reached for greatness that was beyond earth only to seemingly drown his own bloodlust.
"But do you know the cruelest part of this hollowed shell Gaea forged me into across countless dimensions?" Merlyn asked, his gaze piercing as if daring Ricky to grasp the weight of his eternal burden.
"Is that I can never relate to a god more than I can to a human," Merlyn confessed, his voice heavy with a bitter truth.
"I am part nethergod, part god, and yet every single second I live within this skin, I find myself more human than divine." Merlyn said, gripping his rotted robes that hung over his undead form.
"Do you know what that's like?" Merlyn's voice dropped low, thick with a pain that Ricky even doubted was real.
"Do you even understand what it means to be something you're not?" Merlyn's voice then twisted into a low, bitter whisper.
"Because I know, I am not a human, I am a monster." Merlyn admitted quietly, knowing that he had probably deserved the fate that was now shackled around his own soul.
"At one point in time, I thought I was the solution." Merlyn continued, his voice seemingly heavy with regret.
"But I realized that I am only part of the problem." Merlyn said, staring past Ricky as if seeing some distant memory.
"Unlike Gaea, I didn't simply want to wait around, I wanted to create the solution." Merlyn explained, tone sharp with bitter determination while pacing in place before Ricky.
"I suppose you could attribute this to my desire for control or my selfishness, but we all want to be part of something bigger, one way or another and I am no exception," Merlyn added with a weary sigh, shaking his head at how even he wanted to feel whole.
"It is true, I created Arthur to be the perfect king," Merlyn confessed, his eyes flickering with pain.
"But was I wrong to create something better than myself, better than all of us?" Merlyn asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Gaea, the gods, let them laugh." Merlyn spat, voice dripping with disdain as he gestured towards the side as if addressing everyone who doubted him.
"But you, as a human, someone who has been born and lived as such." Merlyn's tone softened, almost pleading, when returning his gaze to Ricky.
"Can you blame me for my pursuits?" Merlyn asked in a challenge, eyes locking fiercely with Ricky's though a hint of superiority still shined in the undead rotted irises.
"CAN YOU BLAME ME FOR LEAVING THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN ON THE HEAD OF SOMEONE WHO WOULDN'T USE IT FOR THEMSELVES?!" Merlyn roared, his voice towering within the space while echoing around him in anguish.
"FOR SOMETHING MORE, FOR SOMETHING BETTER, CAN YOU BLAME ME FOR NOT WANTING SOMETHING I WOULD ABUSE!" Merlyn asked, thinking of his actions until now as self-control and wondering if Ricky could ever do the same.
"Even the gods are flawed, everyone is flawed, perfection in itself is an illusion and Arthur's death proved it," Merlyn admitted, lowering his voice back down, raising his gaze to look down at Ricky with a calm finality.
"But I tried."
"And I will not apologize for trying."
Merlyn let it all out, every word, every buried thought, and left it all with Ricky, who sat there in silence, staring at him for a long, unreadable moment.
"Just how delusional are you?" Ricky wondered outloud, watching Merlyn turn his back to him with a scoff.
"There is nothing delusional about-"
"You created a literal nothing guy." Ricky cackled, shifting in his seat to rest his elbows on the desk, gesturing animatedly toward Merlyn.
"I'm a whole damn clusterf*ck of powers, and somehow I still ended up with more originality than that goody two-shoes ever had." Ricky gestured, holding his forehead at how crazy Merlyn sounded just a moment ago.
"And what? You want me to feel bad for you?" Ricky asked, dragging his hand across his face before leaning back in his chair.
"Oh boo-hoo, your boyfriend was the perfect person to sit on the throne while you controlled him like a puppet-"
"I didn't-"
"YES YOU DID, YOU CONTROLLED THAT F*CKING IDIOT LIKE A PUPPET!" Ricky yelled, laughing hysterically as he stood up.
"You wanna know the truth that no one ever had the guts to tell you to your face?" Ricky asked, striding up to Merlyn and staring him directly in the face, eyes sharp with brutal honesty.
"Arthur was a sh*tty king."
Ricky laid bare his true thoughts, threading together every hard-earned truth he'd gathered about Arthur and distilled it all into a single, damning sentence.
"He was a good man-"
"Being a good man doesn't mean sh*t when ruling a kingdom," Ricky said, his voice sharp with disbelief, thought it was mostly because of the fact that he was the one saying it than anything else.
"How the hell was that guy supposed to rule humanity when he couldn't even make a single hard choice himself." Ricky scoffed directly in Merlyn's face, pushing his finger right into Merlyn's dirty robe to drive the next point home.
"He let you do all his dirty work, he let you use him like some f*cking puppet, and then apologized only after you went and f*cked everything." Ricky said, seeing Arthur's actions from that perspective and saying the truth how he perceived it.
"That's why he blew himself into oblivion because he was too much of a coward to continue living with his own choices." Ricky added that last part, wanting to see Merlyn's face scrunch with hate.
"You never even let him rule or make his own mistakes, everything was constructed by you, and because of that, nothing about him was real." Ricky drove the point home again, jabbing his finger into Merlyn's chest with sharp insistence.
"He shined like a firecracker on the outside and was just absolutely hollow on the inside." Ricky said, using the analogy to describe exactly how Arthur appeared to him.
"And ya know what the most hilarious part of this all is?" Ricky asked, spreading out his arms as if he couldn't believe it himself.
"You didn't even win," Ricky said, whispering the words with a sharp edge, as if to give them some more flare.
"You lost, and cause of that, everything you've ever done is gonna end with some footnote about me." Ricky chuckled, watching Merlyn scrunch his rotted brows at his own words being used against him.
"Ironic, ain't it?" Ricky said, referring to Merlyn's speech from days before when he mentioned how history would remember him.
"Alexander said it best 'Rule wasn't meant for good men'." Ricky quoted, tapping Merlyn's cheek with a smirk before turning his gaze toward the vast warehouse he had kept hidden.
"He's a real king." Ricky revealed, putting his hands behind his back and strolling through the shelves of scrolls.
"From everyone I've ever met, ain't no one has ever made me so sure of that statement." Ricky said, wagging his finger to the side as Merlyn continued to anchor himself in place.
"And you wanna know the funny thing?"
"Alexander never even considered himself a king, he considered himself a general." Ricky said before suddenly turning back around, locking eyes with Merlyn, who frowned deeply.
"People who claim that they're leaders aren't true leaders, Profaci said that, and I would've never believed it if I'd never met Alexander." Ricky said, smiling ear to ear as he once again halted himself before the hovering Merlyn.
"That's the humbleness you should've strived for, not that bullsh*t about being completely good but knowing that you're not enough, and still having the guts to go out there and do what your kingdom needs." Ricky said honestly, thinking that's the kind of humility Merlyn should've taught Arthur instead of all those ideals he force-fed him.
"That guy built Macedonia into an empire, and what? Arthur sat as a figurehead while everyone around him made sure he was the hero they said he was." Ricky mocked, chuckling a bit at his own words before continuing.
"All that hard work, Merlyn. All those plans and careful thinking, only to create a watered-down version of Alexander." Ricky said, recounting for Merlyn, who had enough of staying quiet and finally chimed in.
"Alexander was created by Gaea-"
"And Gaea's gonna get what's coming to her, you don't have to worry." Ricky interrupted, holding up a finger to stop Merlyn's words.
"Did you think I'd just forget about all the sh*t she put my boy Alexander through, huh?" Ricky asked, flashing Merlyn a ruthless, toothy smile that gleamed with a wrath only he truly understood.
"Hell no, in fact, I'm gonna ruin whatever plans she's probably scheming right now because that's the kind of guy I am." Ricky said, revealing what he thought of himself while Merlyn scoffed.
"The guy that comes into your house, f*cks it up, and then takes everything out of your cookie jar." Ricky said, enjoying how Merlyn was so infuriated that he couldn't even look him in the eye.
"So stop whining about all your what-ifs and coulda-shouldas, because you lost," Ricky said, emphasizing the last part of his sentence so Merlyn couldn't mistake his meaning.
"You."
"Lost."
"And that's your legacy Merlyn, being my b*tch." Ricky laughed, eyes sharp as he watched Merlyn finally meet his gaze again, his usual scowl firmly in place.
"Because I won."
"And yet, you haven't proved me wrong." Merlyn hissed, hovering closer, locking eyes with Ricky to show he wasn't afraid.
"All I wanted was to prove that a man of purpose and justice could hold the crown and yet, it ended up in the hands of a monster." Merlyn uttered, speaking everything with such clarity so as not to confuse Ricky in any way.
"Like me," Merlyn said, turning away only to hear Ricky burst out laughing, resulting in him turning back to see the man rolling his eyes.
"We are not the same." Ricky cackled, holding his stomach as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.
"You and I are-"
"Different." Ricky interrupted sharply, cutting off whatever rant Merlyn was about to launch.
"Listen Merlyn, say what you will about us, we're completely different." Ricky shrugged, as if the fact was out of his hands.
"Why? Because you're the victor?" Merlyn asked, clearly unamused by Ricky's poor attempt to counter his argument.
"No, because I'm not a coward, not anymore." Ricky revealed, his voice steady and resolute as he laid bare the truth that set them apart.
"You couldn't handle being a king, you couldn't even accept who you are, all because you're not human, and you're not even a god." Ricky said, watching Merlyn turn away as if what he was hearing was nonsense.
"You don't even know what you are, and instead of owning it, you run away." Ricky's words echoed sharply, halting Merlyn's fleeing figure as the lich froze mid-air.
"You ran away from your desires, your ambitions, and pushed it all onto poor little Arthur." Ricky said, mocking Merlyn even in this moment, because that's exactly how he saw him.
"You're pathetic."
"And it's hilarious that you still think you're better than me when I literally made you my undead slave," Ricky chuckled, gesturing at Merlyn's floating form as he was literally bound to him, yet Merlyn clung to his pride like it meant something.
"Because although you've clearly always underestimated me, I've never let my guard down around you," Ricky revealed, his eyes flickering with a green tint as Merlyn suddenly stiffened, sensing that something was very wrong.
"So Merlyn, what are you hiding?"
GASP
It was immediate upon the command that slipped from Ricky's lips, striking Merlyn like a curse he had feared above all else.
Merlyn gasped, his body convulsing as he fought desperately to stop the words from escaping, trembling uncontrollably as if caught in a seismic earthquake.
"You didn't think that I wouldn't realize that you've found some loophole in your forced servitude because if anyone could've done it, it's definitely you," Ricky said with a knowing edge in his voice, certain there was no way Merlyn hadn't prepared for every worst-case scenario.
Alexander's eyes widened at the side, completely shocked to his core that Ricky had noticed it too, especially since even he had only realized it recently.
"You've probably set some stupid precautions after seeing how I can turn people into my undead, right?" Ricky whispered, kneeling down to murmur directly into Merlyn's ear as the lich convulsed on the floor.
HUFF
HUFF
HUFF
Merlyn fought with every ounce of his being, clutching his hands tightly over his mouth, desperate to stop the words from slipping out.
His body trembled violently, muscles straining against an invisible force as he struggled to maintain control.
Merlyn's breath came in ragged gasps, but Ricky's laughter only grew louder, echoing in the confined space like a dark symphony mocking Merlyn's torment.
"Now, show me what you've so conveniently left out until now. I want to know everything." Ricky's voice was firm, laced with unyielding command as he compelled Merlyn to reveal the secrets he'd been hiding.
"ARGH!" Merlyn struggled desperately, his body twisting and contorting as he fought the urge to obey.
But Ricky held steady, letting the struggle play out, he didn't want to force it; he wanted Merlyn to feel it.
Because this wasn't the grand wizard Merlyn anymore.
This was his lich, stripped of pretense and power, shackled to Ricky's will.
And now, more than ever, he needed to be painfully aware of that truth.
"I-"
Then, it all came spilling out, everything.
The more Merlyn talked, the wider Ricky's eyes grew, his smile twisting into something carnivorous, sharp enough to jolt an actual flicker of fear into the lich.
Even Alexander was utterly speechless, caught completely off guard at how Merlyn had managed to tiptoe so delicately around this secret for so long.
There was one thing, one reason, that explained it all, and that was why a portal suddenly opened to reveal a familiar device.
The broken instrument Merlyn had used to bring back Arthur, but it served another, darker purpose.
It should've been strange that Merlyn had been able to cast an anti-magic barrier around the entire city of Camelot and maintain it for so long.
The reason was this device itself, but more importantly, its power source: the number of figures bound within it.
This orb, this monstrous, organic, almost alive device, was powered by living beings.
But it was those living beings that made the device so terrifyingly special.
"No f*ckng way." Ricky whispered, his shock palpable as he used telekinesis to pull off the gags and hoods.
And that's when he saw it.
Merlyn's variations.
"You were actually using yourself?" Ricky asked, genuine shock threading his voice as he turned to Merlyn, who still laid on the floor, pale and drained.
"And you didn't tell little ol' me?" Ricky joked, stepping through the portal with a growing sense of horror as Merlyn's eyes suddenly sparked with clarity, the cold light of realization shining fiercely in his gaze.
"And next time, Alexander, have some faith." Ricky said, turning his gaze to the gerbil who had been hiding nearby the whole time, making him flinch.
"NOOOOOOOO-" Merlyn yelled, only for his mouth to clamp shut and his head to slam harshly into the ground.
Ricky closed his fist as the portal snapped shut behind him, then turned back to the bound figures, barely alive with the tubes sticking into their being.
'Ricky, you should kill them while they're still weak.' the Ebony Blade urged hurriedly, anxiety clear in his voice after facing just one Merlyn and now seeing what looked like six.
"Right, yeah," Ricky replied, still a bit stunned by how Merlyn had managed to keep this from him as he started slamming the sword into their hearts.
SPALT
One by one, they let out their last breaths, their hearts pierced with relative ease.
Until, soon, six figures lay lifeless, the only thing connecting them was the broken device lying to the side.
Merlyn's grand plan revolved around this device, the very same that created a chain binding the Void, Otherworld, and keeping Arthur alive, all into one.
However, it was incredibly difficult to find something stable enough to link to Otherworld, much less reach into the Void.
But for someone like Merlyn, he discovered his own blood served as the perfect medium.
That was the real reason he formed the Citadel.
The heroic front was just a sham; its true purpose was to find copies of himself, weaker versions scattered throughout the cluster of worlds.
For years, Merlyn scoured countless worlds, hunting down these weaker versions of himself. In the end, he managed to find only six.
Six alternate Merlyns whose blood and power could be harnessed to fuel his device and maintain the fragile chain that held this impossible chain together.
"Now, get up."
DING
However, while Ricky was adding even more powerful figures to his growing undead army, Merlyn could only remain speechless within his own study.
"I-he-how?" Merlyn stammered breathlessly, still reeling from what had just happened.
"He's a peculiar man, Ricky, I mean." Alexander said, scurrying in from the side with the purest expression of surprise, clearly shocked that Ricky had beaten him to something.
"Even I didn't expect him to realize that fact before me." Alexander mused, turning his gaze toward Merlyn, who shot him a hateful side-eye.
"Don't lie to me, Alexander. I know what kind of man Ricky is, I know he couldn't have figured that out on his own." Merlyn chuckled bitterly, the weight of his loss settling in as everything he had carefully hidden was uprooted by Ricky.
"I studied him! I STUDIED HIM, ME, I DID!" Merlyn roared, thumping his chest with fierce conviction.
"He is nothing but an exaggerated hubris-"
"Is it hubris when you say the things you do?" Alexander countered, watching Merlyn fall silent, his mouth closing as he searched for a retort but found none.
"You claim to be human, but you miss the vital part of what makes us so special." Alexander said, his eyes fixed on Merlyn, not with disgust, but with genuine pity.
"I am human-"
"No, Ricky was right." Alexander interrupted Merlyn, his stern expression cutting through the room as he looked at Merlyn for what he truly was now.
"You're nothing."
"You deny all the parts of you that make you special for others who do not, and although it could be interpreted as sacrifice, it's truly just fear," Alexander said, seemingly seeing through Merlyn to the core of what he really was.
"You were afraid of what you would become, and that's why you lost," Alexander said, shaking his head. Merlyn never embraced his strengths; instead, he always tried to fix his weaknesses.
"If you had embraced who you were and how you changed, you would've won," Alexander revealed, certain that if Merlyn had accepted all his Void powers from the very start, victory would have been his.
"But you were so focused on keeping things as they were that you didn't notice what was happening around you." Alexander added, his voice calm but cutting through the tension like a blade.
"He's a fool, he's lustful, he's arrogant-"
"He won." Alexander said simply, watching Merlyn visibly crumble under the weight of those words.
"You're not bitter because of who he is, but rather, because you lost." Alexander said with a chuckle, seeing through Merlyn like glass.
"He's infuriating like that. I've never met anyone who can dismantle grand schemes as fast as Ricky can," Alexander recalled, shaking his head in disbelief at just how maddeningly magical Ricky made everything around him seem.
"He's an anomaly," Merlyn hissed, finally breaking his silence.
But just then, Alexander lifted his gaze to meet Merlyn's with a smile that resembled Ricky's.
"But that's what makes him human."
"DAMMMMMIT!" Merlyn's anger exploded, a furious roar that shook the room, watching Alexander slowly turn his back to him and walk towards the door.
"YOU ARE NOT THE PROMISED KING, I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT!" Merlyn roared, his fury breaking free as his words spilled out raw and unfiltered.
"YOU'RE NOTHING, ALEXANDER, NOTHING!!!!!!!!"
However, as Alexander slowly halted his retreating steps, he didn't turn around for the disbelief in a prophecy.
Alexander turned around for his vindication.
"They said the known world could never be conquered."
"It took me thirteen years." Alexander said sternly, slowly turning back to face Merlyn, his gaze heavy as he looked down upon him.
"I was just twenty-five when the world fell into my grasp." Alexander boasted, holding out his tiny paw as if to emphasize the point to Merlyn.
"I didn't inherit an empire, I took one."
Then, Alexander clenched his paw, demonstrating the immeasurable difference between them.
Merlyn almost felt compelled to look upward, even though the gerbil stood far below him.
"Stone by stone"
"War by war."
"Prayer by perscion."
Alexander spoke with quiet certainty, each sentence carrying the weight of every insurmountable obstacle he had overcome to claim everything clenched in his tiny paw.
"Where others saw walls, I saw challenges begging to be broken."
"I forged bridges where rivers didn't want them."
"I dragged ships across land as if destiny had no say."
Alexander's words seemed to tower, rising to such heights that Merlyn had never seen or understood, until he finally spoke with the man Gaea always spoke of.
It was here where he finally witnessed Alexander the Great.
"Because I didn't come to visit history, I came to rewrite it." Alexander's eyes blazed, locking onto Merlyn's with unwavering certainty.
"The known world didn't fall, it was claimed."
"By me."
"And when the dust settled, they no longer said it couldn't be done." Alexander spoke, his voice steady as he left Merlyn with the undeniable proof of what made him someone worth remembering.
"They said Alexander did it."
Meanwhile In New York,
Within the bustling streets of New York, a man's footsteps echoed sharply against the sidewalk.
As they rang out, the crowd instinctively parted, creating a clear path while their eyes watched his departing figure.
It wasn't fear that made them step aside, it was respect.
It wasn't Lucky.
It wasn't Ricky.
It was Benny, with a Y.
And now, everyone within this city knew that name.
No one could go a day without hearing a rumor or two about the boy who had no powers, yet commanded fierce respect within the Luciano family, an empire already filled to the brim with it.
Walking up the steps of his new house, out of courtesy not from Ricky, but Lucky, he opened the door.
After literally throwing his life down for Ricky's children, he hadn't just earned Ricky's respect, he'd earned Lucky's.
And that was a rare honor, held by only a handful of people in the highest ranks of the family.
"Mother, that is not how you unpack," Benny said plainly, strolling into the living room to find his mother repacking all the things they had unpacked the day before.
"Benny, oh, there you are!" his mother exclaimed, standing up and rushing over to him, tackling him into a warm hug.
Benny didn't resist; he let her pull him down to the floor, his plain expression remaining unchanged as she planted kisses on his cheek before suddenly showing him the newspaper.
"Do you see? Look!" she said excitedly, holding her baby boy close so he could see the big, bold letters staring back at him.
'HEIM INS REICH CAMPAIGN!'
The Heim ins Reich campaign was a foreign policy pursued by Adolf Hitler before and during World War II, starting in October 1936.
Yet, through all the twists of fate, its course was distorted, until now, as the headlines blared the news.
The Heim ins Reich campaign, which translates roughly to 'Home into the Empire' was a policy initiated by Adolf Hitler aimed at encouraging ethnic Germans living outside the borders of the Third Reich to return, or be brought back, to what Nazi ideology considered the German homeland.
This campaign sought to consolidate all ethnic Germans scattered across Central and Eastern Europe into a unified Greater Germany.
But it wasn't just a voluntary migration plan.
The campaign involved forced resettlement and population transfers, often uprooting German minorities from their homes in places like Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and the Baltic states.
The goal was to reclaim these people as part of Hitler's vision of expanding German territory and influence, especially in preparation for further military ambitions.
This resettlement often came at the expense of local populations, displacing non-German communities and fueling tensions that helped set the stage for the outbreak of World War II.
In essence, Heim ins Reich was about more than just moving people.
It was a strategic move to reshape the demographics of Europe, strengthen Nazi control, and lay the groundwork for territorial expansion.
And now, the course of history was finally set into motion.
"The Führer has called for our return, and we must answer."
Next day,
"HURRY UP, WE GOTTA GET READY TO LEAVE!"
Author's Note: Shoutout to MDNick cause he made this really long comment that acutally made me reappraoch this conversation, it's a really good assessment of what I wanted to convey with Arthur and Merlyn's relationship as and I gotta show the props. Also Mb for the last post and dont' worry, I'll post a chap tommorrow to contiune my schedule of every other day.