In the Song Domain…
In the open space of the Jade Palace, the room was wide and detailed, along the sides of the rooms held shelves and racks that each held different unique sets of weapons lined up together in a neat arranged manner.
The room was cold, relative to the nature of the Song domain, but the pressure inside was so packed, that the temperature felt like a relief.
Inside this mostly unused training room in the Jade Palace, two people stood on opposite sides, surrounded by others.
Everyone inside the room was Transcendent in rank, everyone except two people.
Merlin and Ki Song, a puppet she had sent in her stead.
And the reason they had all gathered here, was to witness the spar between him and Beastmaster, Eubin.
The lineup was looking less like a spectating crowd, and more like a battle group.
The ones naturally present were.
Beastmaster, his opponent.
Lonesome Howl who had been with Hel and was dragged to tag along.
Revel, the true darkness elementalist who was forced by her mother to leave the comfort of her king-sized bed.
Silent Stalker, the master of stealth and precision who was invited by Eubin.
Moonveil, who had nothing important to do and just happened to pass by when Hel invited her in.
Hel, the death seer who was told of the information by Eubin and decided to invite a few others to watch.
And Ceres, who was also dragged along by Hel.
Looking at the group before him, Merlin was naturally surprised, it was the first time he had seen most of them, although he had lived in the castle for months, his daily life had been on a constant routine.
Meditate till morning, get served breakfast by the castle maids, go out to hunt and sightsee, return to eat again, walk around the Song domain, and finally, return to his room to meditate till morning.
This cycle was what he had stuck to in order to live in this place, although he could move around freely, his status wasn't really one that made it easy to have fun like a regular person.
And although he could disguise himself and still go out, he felt it was more of a hassle, after all, Eubin was always watching him, and Ki Song herself was following him like a stalker.
When you think you have some time to yourself, you turn your head and see that the unsuspecting cat watching you had a long bloody red colored thread extending from its ass all the way to the Jade Palace.
At first he felt bothered by it, but recently, he simply didn't care anymore, same as he didn't care about the regular lifestyle that existed outside his current scheme of life.
Unknowingly, his humanity had become suppressed, leaving him unbothered by things that naturally existed outside of his current goals, as long as it didn't bother him or his plans, whatever happened could happen.
Inside this constant lifestyle, only his occasional meetings with Ki Song and talking with Hel or Eubin disrupted his routine, but it never caused any major changes.
So when most of the Song family Saints showed up he was naturally surprised to an extent, and he was sure it was Ki Song plotting something only she had an idea of. (Hel invited most of them…)
"Are you scared of losing in front of so many people?" Eubin who was standing opposite him smiled as she noticed him looking around.
He thought about it for a while then shrugged.
"I don't have any problem losing in front of them… but how about you, can you really stand to lose in front of so many of your sisters?"
"I'm not going to lose," Eubin countered with pride.
Then Hel spoke from the side.
"Little Merlin, you're now a Prince, so we're your sisters too"
He turned to her and saw her waving happily, he chuckled and answered.
"I understand Sister Hel…"
Eubin looked between them confused.
"Why do you call her Sister Hel and then go ahead to call me just Bin, I'm older you know?"
"Oh~ Bin, are you jealous?" Hel naturally added from the side.
"When did you guys get so close anyways?" Eubin asked in a suspicious tone.
"I helped her interpret a few visions she had…" he answered calmly.
Eubin turned to Hel and Hel turned her head away, avoiding eye contact, and that small gesture made Eubin more suspicious.
"Hey Merlin I'm curious… where did those interpretations take place" Eubin asked, not taking her eyes away from Hel.
By the side, Merlin, who just realized that Hel is very horrible at lying, took it upon himself to protect his pride.
"In the Jade Palace ofcourse…" he answered calmly.
"I know it's in the Jade Palace, what I want to know is where in the Jade Palace this meeting took place?" Eubin turned to him suspicious, it seemed something was really going on.
Their discussion obviously didn't escape the ears of the spectators as they all turned to Hel with wide and suspicious eyes.
"Hel… you're really" Moonveil shook her head in disbelief.
"What… I didn't do anything" Hel defended frantically, but that wasn't fooling anyone.
Seeing that Merlin wasn't willing to give them any juicy gossip, the Song sisters came to one singular solution that is.
'Pry open Hel's paper defense and get the details'
Revel the romance troupe reader was already prepared to move, and she did.
"Hel, where did you call Merlin to? It can't be there right?" Revel asked with squinted eyes.
Hel shuddered slightly and didn't answer, everyone knew where Revel was asking about, and they came to one conclusion.
'It's definitely there…'
"Hel! So you really did invite Merlin to your quarters!" Ceres said in astonishment.
"It was to interpret my visions…" Hel said in defense.
"Oh really… How many visions are we talking about here?" Revel asked.
Hel turned her head to the side and muttered a sound even more quiet than a whisper, but in a room full of Transcendents, it might as well have been announced with a speaker.
"Seven! Hel you…" Eubin was at a loss for words while the other looked at her suspiciously.
Hel thought for a moment, and came up with a tactic, one that almost made her mouth curl up.
The tactic called, passing the hot potato.
"We honestly didn't do anything…" Hel stated in defense, "if anything, you should ask him why he's so passive?" She pointed to him.
Potato passed successfully!
The girls turned to him immediately.
"That's true, why were you so passive anyway? Being alone in a room with our Hel for a while, nine different times, and you still didn't make a move, is there a problem with our Hel?" Revel questioned him with squinted eyes filled with suspicion.
Potato Received!
"No, there's no problem… it's just that Sister Hel is obviously not as experienced as she seems, she usually ruins the moment at the most important time…" He shook his head and sighed helplessly.
"I was planning on making my move the next time, but this situation came right now," he added.
'Heh… you're not aware that diverting the heat is a seer's true ability'
Potato returned successfully!
"Oh~ Our Hel isn't experienced… should I show you around the ropes?" Moonveil smiled teasingly at Hel.
"I'm obviously experienced, he's obviously lying" Hel folded her arms in defense, a move that made them smile knowingly.
"Sure sure Sister… I'll borrow you a few of my books for reference" Revel patted her shoulder.
"Who needs your book…" Hel scoffed and murmured indescribable curses.
"Alright…" Ki Song who had been listening with amusement finally spoke up, "since we have solved the little mystery, let's get back to the spar"
"Yes Mother…" Eubin nodded and turned her attention back to Merlin.
"Are you ready? She asked.
"Yes," he replied curtly.
"Why aren't you using a weapon?"
"Why aren't you?"
"I'm a Saint though…"
"And I adhere to equivalent exchange, a punch for a punch… that is, if you manage to land a hit"
Eubin's eyes twitched at his words, but she remembered that he had his teleportation ability, so she sneered.
"Are you going to run away like a coward"
"You wouldn't know how accurate you are…" he chuckled.
"Tsk…" she clicked her tongue and got into stance.
Merlin wiped the smile off his face and stretched a little before getting into a combat stance, although he had zero intentions of going blow for blow with a Transcendent.
In terms of physical strength, he was on the weaker side of Ascendeds, but he made up for it in skills and tricks, in reality, the only reason he fought with a sword was to feel among, if he didn't want to, he could walk into a battlefield barehanded, kill everyone there, and walk back out without a scratch.
Screw walking into the battlefield, he could even end the battle from 200 meters away from the battlefield all without breaking a single sweat.
Ki Song spoke up from beside.
"Since you're both ready, you'll start on my signal"
..
"Start!"
The moment her words landed, Eubin was already beside Merlin, her hand shot out to get hold of his hand, and as she reached for it, she phased through his body causing her to momentarily lose her value.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
The sound of clapping echoed from the position Eubin was previously standing, and right there stood Merlin who wore a smile, the body she passed through immediately disappeared into nothing.
Blink Projection—
The moment he heard the signal, Merlin had already used blink to move to a new location, leaving behind his projection.
"Wow… you're really fast," Merlin said with a smile.
Eubin didn't reply and immediately shot out again, except this time, there were two Eubin's rushing at Merlin.
"Illusions huh… I can do a little magic too"
Merlin's figure immediately split in two, each rushing to face the incoming Eubin's. The main bodies and the illusions clashed realistically, giving the feeling that they really had split into two real people.
Eubin ducked under Merlin's backhand and delivered a punch to his gut, but Merlin who had already sensed the danger lifted his free hand to counter.
However at the last second, Eubin changed her punch to a grab, she held his hand and raised it high, before putting it over her shoulder and giving him a shoulder throw, however just as Merlin was about to hit the ground, the thud never came.
Instead what Eubin held in her hand was now a rat.
Merlin had exchanged position with a rat he had made his marionette, as for why there was a rat inside the Jade Palace, it's because the marionette was not a newly made one, but one he had turned for a long time and usually used for scouting.
Eubin squealed and threw away the rat, and turned to Merlin who was now resting casually on a shelf that held weapons.
"New ability?" Eubin asked.
"Borrowed…" Merlin replied as he exchanged positions again, appearing in Eubin's blind spot.
Eubin spun around with a side kick, but the attack phased through Merlin's body.
Illusion—
The real Merlin had already retreated two steps away, the moment Eubin's raised foot touched the ground, it froze solid, sticking to the ground, the ice beam had shot out from Merlin's hand, but he had hidden the difference with another illusion.
Crash!
Eubin used a little strength and freed her leg from the ice, as she turned to Merlin who stood calmly watching her.
"Illusions can only fool me once Merlin" Eubin declared as looked up.
The Merlin on the ground had already dissipated into nothing, while the real Merlin was hovering above through repeated blinks.
Merlin pointed a finger at Eubin on the ground.
Bang!
Air Bullet—
A loud sound rang out, and Eubin instinctively raised her hand to block. Her Transcendent body made it so that she didn't suffer any broken bones, but the weight of the impact hit her like a car, sending her flying back.
Eubin skidded to a stop and raised her head staring at Merlin in disbelief, although she suffered no injuries, her hand burned with stinging pain, a few more of that attack and her bones would give way.
And Merlin who was still hovering was ready to deliver that more.
Bang!×5
Eubin's eyes narrowed as she frantically dodged the incoming attacks, the air bullets were not aimed at the same position, but wherever they hit, they left small craters.
Merlin used blink to return to the ground stopping a few meters from Eubin, as she moved to attack him, she immediately missed her step and fell to the ground.
Tumble—
In a second, Eubin immediately shot up from the ground, but she was a second too late, the sight her eyes registered, was Merlin, a few meters from her, pointing his finger at her.
Bang!
Another loud sound rang out and Eubin hurriedly raised her hand to guard, but the impact never came.
Illusion—
There was never any attack, the sound was something Merlin recreated with an illusion, but that moment has already caused a lapse in Eubin's attention.
Bang.
Merlin reappeared behind her using blink and delivered a strong kick to her torso causing her to stumble backwards.
Merlin didn't give her chance to recover as he switched to close combat, delivery punch after punch, keeping Eubin on the defensive.
At that moment, Eubin immediately released her alluring presence to the fullest, causing Merlin to hesitate in his attacks.
That small moment was enough to give Eubin an advantage as she delivered a punch to Merlin's gut, but the moment her hand made contact, all she felt was a slight breeze and the only thing she hit was a human shaped paper.
Paper Figurine Substitute—
In the brief moment, Merlin had substituted, leaving his tricky position and appearing a distance away.
"Nice trick… how many more have you got?" Eubin said as she crumpled the paper figurine.
"Hey now… a magician never reveals his secret" he smiled.
The next moment, the room became blurry as fog began to fill the room, and the one who caused this change was Merlin with his ability.
Inside the fog, Eubin watched as Merlin's illusory figure multiplied, first two, then three till there were five blurry figures of Merlin in the fog.
Eubin knew he had used an illusion to deceive her, so she raised her guard as the figures rushed at her, the first came with a straight punch which she raised her hand to block.
The moment her hand came into contact with the figure, a physical hit landed, and she blocked it perfectly, however, the point of her hand the attack hit was now covered in ice, and the other illusion was already closing in.
Although Eubin felt it was an illusion, she instinctively still raised her hand to guard against the illusion and shockingly the attack landed a physical blow.
Buzz!
The attack followed a numbing feeling that spread through her arm, leaving her hairs standing.
Shock—
It was at that moment Eubin realized that the illusions were not illusions at all, but Merlin had really found a way to split himself in five places.
Blink Projection—
Merlin who was moving around inside the fog was constantly maintaining five different projections through blink and each of them were delivering physical attacks and using abilities at the time.