Merlin woke up to the loud bell that sounded the end of the curfew, he immediately let out a sigh of resignation, this morning was one he never wished would come.
"Good morning Silver" Merlin said exhaustingly to Silver.
"Good morning Merlin, you look like you haven't slept yet…" Silver calmly replied.
It was true, he hadn't slept much, after falling asleep, a few minutes later, he was woken up by the regular nightmare, the same one that had plagued him since the forgotten shore, after waking up, he spent the rest of the night thinking about how he was going to escape the domain of a cursed devil while having an attribute that can let it know his exact location.
'And worst of all, my trump card can't be used in this situation… what a pain'
He mused in the thoughts of escaping until he finally slept, then the bell sounded what felt like five minutes later.
Merlin shook his head and sighed.
"It's nothing, the night just felt rather short to me"
"You know I can tell if you're sleeping from hearing your breathing pattern right, plus you were rather close to me, so I could also feel your heartbeat" Silver casually said.
Merlin sighed and said.
"I had a nightmare… I've been having it for a long time, but the strange thing is that in my state I shouldn't be able to dream at all, and the worst part about all this is that I don't remember anything from it"
"Sigh… it's alright, if you can't remember that just means it isn't tin yet or you're not strong enough yet… for now just focus on today" Silver advised him calmly.
"Thanks a lot Silver…" Merlin smiled and got off the bed.
He made his way to the bathroom, as for how the water was possibly functioning, Merlin had many questions about that, but he wasn't willing to hear the answers.
"We can worry about that later…" Merlin murmured in the bathroom, after he finished, he summoned his full arsenal as it was when he entered the city, and walked outside.
As he entered the room, he saw Silver standing, staring at the butler Thorax that was standing at the door.
"His Majesty invites you for breakfast?" The butler Thorax said with a slight bow.
Merlin's eyes twitched as he thought.
'Aren't you all the same guy, what's with the difference in attitude, you should definitely receive an oscar for this… and besides don't you mean her majesty'
In reality, he controlled his facial expressions as he answered.
"We'll be there soon"
The butler nodded and politely left the room and closed the door.
"I don't know what that guy will be serving, but I definitely don't want to eat it" Merlin turned to Silver.
"Hopefully you'll have a choice…" Silver sighed and muttered "if only I hadn't brought you here"
Her voice was low, but Merlin still caught it, he immediately sighed and said to her.
"It's alright, it's not your fault, I'm guessing this situation has something to do with me, I'm not sure, but I have that feeling… plus if things go south, I have a way to get us out of danger for a while"
Silver, hearing his words, simply nodded and then she started walking out of the room.
Merlin followed right behind her, outside the room door, they were met with guard Thorax, as for whether it was the one who led them yesterday, Merlin had no way of knowing.
'How much does this guy love himself… I really should find a way to bring Mordret to this place, heh, then Thorax would mimic Mordret's ability, and challenge me to a soul battle, then I can become the vessel Thorax… a rather strange series of events, but I have a feeling that if Thorax enters my soul sea he still wouldn't win… I can't tell how , but I just know'
The guard Thorax, a great demon by the way, led them respectfully to the dining room, Merlin had already gotten used to the immense pressure these beings were giving off, he could feel the pressure of the castle inhabitants stacked on his shoulders, and after staying in the castle yesterday, he had been forced to adapt, or so he thought.
As he walked through the doors, the pressure he felt immediately reminded him why creatures of sacred and cursed rank were called minor gods…
He could tell, Dorax wasn't using any effort to enforce her will, she just simply existed, and the world simply folded to fit her existence.
"Welcome… I hope you had a good rest" Dorax said with a light chirpy voice that didn't quite match the pressure she was exuding.
'A rather peculiar situation, the only other talking cursed abomination that ever existed was puppeteer, but here we've got a whole castle full of them'
"Thank you for your hospitality" Merlin said with a light voice, as he made his way to the dining table.
It was a rather long table, with a chair at its head and tail, and five chairs on each side, Dorax sat at the head seat, and Merlin, he simply sat the farthest away from her as he could, if he had the chance he would rather eat right at the door, but alas.
"You don't have to be so uptight, I won't hurt a vessel of god" Dorax sounded again as her eyes fixed on him.
'Heh… call it survival instinct'
"I prefer the distance out of respect" Merlin said with a smile.
"Ooh, I thought you were rather scared I would do something to you" Dorax gave an exaggerated smile.
'if you already know why ask…'
"I'm scared, but being scared won't really change my situation so I'll just enjoy the moment" Merlin replied calmly, calmly wouldn't be the right word, if anyone saw the turmoil behind his calm expression, they would really give him an oscar award.
"I see, then let's not wait any longer" Dorax's smile widened as she snapped twice, immediately the chef Thoraxes walked in with different types of dishes, there was even what resembled a spoon and fork with a knife on the plates, but the shapes were rather distinct.
"Please enjoy…" Dorax gestured towards the food… At this point calling it food would be an insult to everything edible.
It looked like a blobby mass of flesh that was still squirming as if it hadn't died, worst of all it was black, not black as in shade, but black as in gooish black.
Merlin held the urge to throw up as he turned to Silver, the latter was not even trying to hide the disgust on her face as she pushed the large plate they offered her away.
'Silver's probably the only saint ever that would literally have a stand off with a cursed nightmare creature and still survive… well Sunless doesn't count, he and Neph literally ran away from Condemnation, plus I have a feeling that this guy can actually beat condemnation to a pulp'
"What's this? Is the food not to your liking?" Dorax took the moment to ask.
Merlin took a deep breath and answered.
"If I eat this, I might actually die from unknown causes…"
Dorax's smile dimmed a little then she immediately said.
"Well don't worry, I'll have the kitchen bring in more edible foods"
"Cooked please…" Silver said calmly.
"I understand" Dorax smiled and resumed her food.
A minute later, the chef Thoraxes walked in again, this time with what looked like cooked meat, except it was black… completely black, like it had been burnt to the core.
As the chef brought the food Merlin was about to cut it when his danger sense warned him, he turned towards Dorax and said.
"This isn't edible… atleast not for me"
"I see…" Dorax smiled, then the next moment the pressure in the room shifted.
Merlin saw as the black meat began producing black liquid, the liquid flowed out of the meat until it returned to its regular brownish color, his eyes twitching at the sight.
"That's a rather large amount of poison, are you trying to kill me?" Merlin asked directly, he himself didn't understand where his confidence came from, but he had already resigned to his fate, so he simply spoke his mind.
'Sneaking away from a cursed nightmare creature is one thing, but escaping right in front of its eyes is another'
In his case, doing the former at least had a chance of success, but doing the latter… heh a rather wild dream.
"You don't have to worry about dying, although the poison can kill you, gods will not allow their vessel to die unless they had no use for it anymore, so as long as you are put in an extreme situation, it is very accurate to say that you might receive divine protection" Dorax said calmly.
"I'd rather not trouble the gods over my meaningless life" Merlin sighed tiredly.
'The one in charge of me is a rather passive kind of guy, who knows just how many people he has hanging inside cocoons in his divine kingdom, I die, so be it, he drops another one… what a pitiful life'
"That's not your decision to make, all you have to do is prepare yourself for the descent of the beast god" Dorax said sharply, the air hardened with her words.
'Aah… what a pain, my days just got difficult'
"What happens if it's not the beast god that descends…" Silver spoke up at that moment.
"If that's the case, I will simply eliminate that avatar, no other god is allowed to descend in the vessel meant for the great beast god" Dorax said sharply.
"I understand… I will stay safe until then" Merlin quietly accepted his fate and started eating. He had divined earlier and found that the food was now safe, so he ate.
After they finished, Merlin and Silver made their way back to the room, they refused the assistance of guard Thorax and walked quietly back.
Inside the room, Merlin sighed as he laid on the bed once more.
He closed his eyes and dove down to his soul sea, he immediately stepped into the trial again.
He focused on the landscape for the five minutes of time he had, by the time he arrived in the art room, he immediately started painting the scene he remembered.
A few hours later, Merlin finished his painting and checked the counter, the values showed.
[81% / 90%]
"Almost there… soon enough I'll get it done…" Merlin sighed and left his soul sea.
"You're awake Merlin" Silver said as he stood up from the bed.
"Yeah… I want to take a look around, are you coming?" Merlin asked softly.
Silver sighed and replied.
"Alright, let's go"
Merlin and Silver left the castle, they walked through the streets, and that's when they noticed it, unlike when they first arrived, the inhabitants of the City of Order seemed less aggressive towards them, the aggression was practically non-existent.
"At least Thorax did something useful for once" Merlin sighed as he walked towards the blood ring.
As one would expect from the name, it was practically a slaughter house, corpses of different ranks laid dead on the ground, inside were two great beasts engaged in a heated conversation, so heated that their nails and claws weren't enough to make the other party understand.
"I really want to paint this scene, it'll be something to remember…" Merlin sighed, but the order personnel that stood nearby heard him.
A minute later, Merlin had a blank carton colored board and a rather strange mixture of different colors.
"Well this'll serve as practice for my trial…" Merlin picked up the board and paint and started painting.
He painted the city, that's right, Merlin painted different scenes of the entire city, he didn't forget to sign off on the board he used for each picture, he was now very confident in his ability to pass the trial, and now he had to plan his awakening and escape.
"I can't really tell if today was a particularly good or bad day… Merlin said as he walked back to his room.
"It was a good day for you if you had to paint so many pictures of me in one day" Silver said softly.
"What can I do about it? I needed the practice" Merlin shrugged slyly.
He had painted a lot of Silver's form, he had about a dozen of them stored in his dimension ring, the paintings were just her standing as a key figure and the background was ideal locations in the city.
Merlin and Silver walked down the hall until they met guard Thorax.
Merlin sighed inwardly.
'This doesn't look like it'll end well…'
And he was right as guard Thorax said.
"His Majesty invites you for dinner"
'Again… don't you mean her majesty'
"We'll be there shortly" Merlin answered as he walked into the room.
He freshened up very quickly and started heading to the dining room, he wasn't stupid enough to keep a cursed devil waiting.
As he entered he sat down on the same chair as before, but for some reason he felt the table was rather smaller than usual, when he looked around, he noticed it, he wasn't imagining it, from five chairs, there were now only four chairs on each side of the table.
'ugh… hopefully I won't end up sitting beside that thing in the nearest future'
"How was your tour of the city?" Dorax asked softly.
"Good"
"Productive" Merlin and Silver answered respectively.
"I see, I heard you were interested in painting, you also said the same thing when you arrived…" Dorax smiled as she stared at him.
"Yes, helps me cherish the moment, I've already painted a lot of the city" Merlin answered calmly, his mental fortitude had already been raised to the highest, to him, this conversation was basically russian roulette, if he's lucky he survives, if not…
"When I heard that yesterday, I sent one of my guys to help you paint the city and your movements, I didn't know you would do so yourself" Dorax sighed softly.
'Hey what do you mean 'guys', isn't that just you with a different script'
The next moment, an order personnel walked out of thin air, on his hand were many paintings that had been recorded, Merlin glanced at them and he saw that most of his movements in the castle had been painted, including the breakfast this morning, the dinner painting too was almost complete.
The order personnel immediately handed all the paintings to him, Merlin stared at the detailed painting and sighed.
'Thorax you really should give up the justicar pathway and go receive a boon from the painter pathway'
He sent the pictures into his ring and nodded at the order personnel who immediately left the scene.
"Alright that's done, now let's eat" Dorax snapped her fingers and the chefs brought in the dishes.
'How do you even manage to serve yourself, if I ever get the parasite ability, I would definitely come to you for advice on how to maintain authority'
The dishes brought in by the chefs at least looked better compared to last time.
"I made special precautions to make sure everything was cooked well, hope it's to your liking" Dorax gestured towards the plate.
Merlin, not taking any chances with this food simply divined whether it was safe to eat, after confirming it was safe, he then ate quietly.
'I just want to finish quickly and leave this place'
Merlin ate quietly, and immediately after he finished, Dorax on cue immediately said.
"If it's possible, would you mind showing me your skills, vessel of god?"