One week later…
Merlin stood at the center of the house, opposite him was Ariel who stood with a sad face, it was the day that he would leave the city, and venture beyond the wall to face what could be considered the crux of his nightmare.
"Must you go? Can't you stay longer?" Ariel asked sadly.
Merlin ruffled her hair slightly and replied.
"I have to… but don't worry, I'll be back soon"
Little tears began to form in her eyes as she asked.
"Is it really important?"
"It is…" he replied softly.
"But… it's dangerous" she began to sob.
Merlin hugged her as he replied in a calm voice.
"Don't worry… I'm very strong"
Ariel held him tighter as she asked with a muffled voice.
"Are you scared?"
Merlin hesitated for a while then he replied.
"Yes"
"Will you lose?" Ariel looked up to him with slightly red eyes.
He gave an encouraging smile as he replied.
"Nah… I'd win"
"I trust you big brother… promise me you'll come back" She left his arms and held out her pinky finger.
"I promised… I'll definitely come back" Merlin locked his finger with hers.
"Big brother, come closer" Ariel gestured for him to come closer.
Merlin obliged and lowered himself to her level, Ariel placed her right hand on his right chest and she gave a brave smile as she nodded then removed the small hand.
"What was that?" Merlin asked curiously.
"It's nothing big brother… I just gave you my heart" Ariel smiled at him as she hugged him again.
Merlin instinctively wanted to tell her that the heart stays on the left side, but he abandoned the idea as he simply hugged her back, enjoying the moment.
"Let's get going… I don't want to get there late" Merlin said as he held her hands and they walked out the door.
Merlin stood in front of the familiar house and smiled melancholically, then he turned around and started walking towards the station. A few moments later, they arrived at the front of the station, the place was quiet unlike other times he had visited and he knew the exact reason why.
Him and Ariel walked hand in hand as they entered into the station, just like the outside, the inside was also quiet as there were even fewer officers on duty.
"Hey Carol… please can you make Ariel comfortable, I need to catch up with Jeffrey" Merlin said to the familiar desk officer.
"Ah… awakened Merlin, thank you for your hard work… I'll take good care of her" the officer nodded politely.
'You'll take good care of her? Is that a jinx? Huh? You don't think I'll make it back alive? So just because a transcendent died, does that mean I'll die too? Tsk tsk tsk…' Merlin's mouth twitched at her choice of words.
"Big brother…" Ariel hesitated to release his hand as she turned to him "please come back".
"I will… I promise" Merlin hugged her tightly, then she finally let go of his hand as officer Carol led her away, her gaze still lingered on his figure.
As she disappeared into the hall, Merlin's smile immediately disappeared from his face, as his expression turned cold and serious. He leaned into the cold rationality his flaw offered and he walked towards the meeting point that had been designated.
As he arrived, he met with other geared up warriors, the atmosphere was tense as everyone was checking their gears, he went into an empty room and there he took off his casual clothes and summoned the spectre suit, then he summoned the cloak of mysteries, willing it to wrap around the spectre suit like a second later, he needed the soul and mental immunity it offered for the battlefield.
He also summoned the cuthul's gloves, then he summoned the formless, willing it into its gauntlet style, then he summoned the stone sword as he held it in hand. He walked out of the room fully stacked and ready for whatever the battlefield offered.
Back with the group of warriors, he silently counted their numbers and they totaled at fifty three, that's also counting the two transcendents that just walked in.
"Alright let's come together…" One of the transcendents took the stage and addressed them.
He discussed their tactics and discoveries, most of these things have been briefed to him by Jeffrey, but he still paid attention, but what really caught his attention was the mention of a great abyss creature among the horde of abominations outside the walls.
Merlin was expecting the strongest being in the nightmare to be project X, but as fate would have it, he was not that lucky.
'So that means the two transcendents will be busy with the great one while we handle the rest…, but considering there will be corrupted creatures too, the siege is now looking more difficult…'
By the time the speech finished, the once tense atmosphere was now brimming with energy and vigor from the warriors who cheered.
A few minutes later, they began to head out, and about half an hour after that, they arrived at the large walls that separated the city from the outside walls, the walls were built high enough to get a good view of the city, and wide enough for ten people to stand side by side without being too compact.
After a few more minutes of final debriefing, they were finally across the walls, the other side was covered in trees and a few ruined buildings, they began their march through the woods, as the target was on the plain land on the other side of it.
Along the way, they encountered a few creatures that they killed, but the problem was that the creatures were too few in number, according to a recruit, normally the forest was supposed to be crawling with nightmare creatures.
"Everyone stay on guard… something's wrong" the leading transcendent ordered.
"Roger!" The recruits all answered in unison.
"What now?" The second transcendent asked the first.
The leading transcendent thought for a while then spoke up.
"We advance…"
And so they marched forward through the forest, Merlin's intuition was telling him something was truly off, because the ruined city he saw before entering the nightmare looked like it was overrun by powerful nightmare creatures, and not just one great one.
And about an hour later, his suspicions were confirmed, when the field finally came into view, the recruits halted, not out of an order, but out of fear.
Out there a distance away, there was an entire army of nightmare creatures numbering to almost a thousand, and leading them were three great nightmare creatures.
'A great tyrant, a great devil and a great monster… plus over six hundred nightmare creatures of different ranks, look like we weren't the only ones preparing for a siege… I'm guessing this is what ruined the city'
He sighed as he instinctively held his sword tighter, even if he was confident in surviving, that probably won't mean much in the face of this horde, the city would still be destroyed.
"General… what's the order?" The second transcendent asked.
"They're preparing to attack the city, and we can't allow that…" the leading transcendent spoke with a grim voice, then turned around and said.
"Send one soldier to get reinforcement… we'll hold off the horde till they arrive"
After an order from the second transcendent, a soldier broke off and began running back towards the wall as the rest focused on the now approaching horde of nightmare creatures.
"Alright let's do our best! For the safety of the city!"
And with that, the battle began, the first roar rolled across the plains like thunder, nightmare creatures poured forward in a tide of twisted flesh and malformed limbs, their shrieks echoed through the empty plain and the forest behind.
The leading Transcendent slowly unsheathed his spear.
"Hold the line!"
The recruits stayed silent, their expressions grim, every recruit knew this was likely the last battle of their lives.
The first collision shook the earth.
A massive ape-like fallen devil crashed into the frontline, crushing a soldier before its feet even touched the ground.
'Here we go…' Merlin appeared above it in a burst of crimson fire, his stone sword descended and with a slash, the creature's skull split apart.
The movements sent vigor into the others as they marched forward, before the corpse even fell, two other wolf-like abominations leaped from opposite directions.
His danger premonition screamed, fallen monster. Merlin twisted mid-air, the first wolf missed by inches, then he threw a paper dagger, the thin white slip pierced its eye before detonating as the two air bullets followed behind it, exploding the head in pieces.
The second wolf reached him as he reached the ground, he flame jumped at the last moment, the wolf's claws bit into his last position.
The wolf recovered and it lunged again, Merlin sidestepped and delivered one slash, killing the wolf.
"Push!" On the other side, Jeffrey roared to the recruits as they surged forward.
..
Far ahead of them, the true monsters finally moved.
The Great Tyrant resembled a colossal centipede covered in black crystal armor, the Great Monster was an enormous walking mountain of flesh, every movement causing earthquakes.
The Great Devil, it looked almost human, tall and wrapped in black scales, their eyes watched the battlefield calmly.
The leading Transcendent launched first, the sky exploded, the shockwave flattened nearby creatures and moved through the land and the forest.
The second Transcendent intercepted the Great Devil that was already on the move charging towards the city.
Another explosion erupted, craters appeared through the surface of the battlefield, the noise echoed loud enough to be heard from anywhere.
..
Merlin ducked beneath a spear-like limb, as three paper figurines burst from his sleeve, each of them transformed into identical copies of himself with illusion.
The charging Nightmare Spider hesitated in confusion and Merlin took advantage of the split moment.
"Freeze!"
The joints on its body froze as the ray of ice hit it, the creature shrieked and tried to move, but Merlin was already on it, he swung the stone sword and divided its head as his danger sense activated again.
"Flash"
Without looking, he activated his ability, pure white light erupted, he ducked to the side as dozens of nearby creatures screamed as their vision disappeared.
"Wind"
A gale blasted them backward giving him room to move and balance himself, then he pointed his fingers at them.
"Air Bullet"
Invisible impacts punched through skulls one after another, some took more than one bullet, but the end point was still the same, bodies dropped dead to the ground
..
Elsewhere, Jeffrey fought like a madman through the horde of abominations, his spear blurred as every thrust claimed another life, his armour was soaked in blood as his breathing grew heavier.
A corrupted beast lunged, he dove to dodge, then he stabbed straight at its eye, the spear pierced through as its body became limp and fell to the floor lifeless.
Another appeared, he fought, then another, minutes became an hour as the battlefield transformed into hell.
Blood…
Fire…
Broken bodies…
The fifty-three soldiers became forty...
Then thirty-one...
Twenty...
Fifteen...
Every death widened the cracks in their formation as the Nightmare creatures never stopped coming, the battlefield was an endless slaughter.
..
High above, the leading Transcendent crashed through the ground creating a crater, his spear was broken, half his chest had disappeared.
The Great Tyrant roared triumphantly then it lunged at him to end it, the transcendent smiled.
"...Got you."
Then he activated his aspect, his broken spear exploded and a blinding pillar of light consumed both of them incinerating a quarter of the battlefield including the nearby nightmare creatures.
When the light faded, nothing remained, not even the ashes, everything gone in a single suicidal attack, the Great Tyrant was dead.
The second Transcendent saw the explosion and his face froze, then silent rage filled his eyes as he turned to his opponent.
He abandoned defense and fought with deadly precision, his blade carved through the Great Devil again and again, his aspect burnt away at the regeneration of the devil till they were both nearing their limits.
Finally, both combatants struck simultaneously, the Great Devil crushed him beneath both fists, while his final slash split the creature from neck to waist.
They fell together as the battlefield lost four of its strongest fighters.
Only one Great Creature remained, the Great Monster, it had been battling against the leading transcendent with the Great Tyrant, one of its flesh arms hung uselessly, half its torso had been blown away by the first Transcendent before dying.
Yet, it turned towards the battlefield then descended.
..
The recruits were already exhausted, its arrival shattered what little hope remained, with one swipe of its flesh tendrils, five soldiers died.
Another attack and another three exploded, its rapid movements destroyed and killed everything they touched.
One of the leading ascended charged anyway, he swung his mace towards the monster, but it caught the weapon with one hand.
Crack!!
The mace shattered as a tendril pierced the ascended's chest, Merlin watched helplessly as the young recruit coughed blood, then smiled, one similar to that of the leading transcendent.
"You... monsters..." He grabbed the Monster's arm "...Burn with me."
Runes across his body lit up as he invoked the name of flames, the next second.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
An enormous pillar of fire engulfed both of them, the shockwave threw Merlin hundreds of meters away as he forced himself to stand upright.
"...Damn..."
His ears rang, his armour was torn, his body was bloodied, then he looked around, dead bodies, everywhere around the battlefield, friends, strangers and nightmare creatures, all mixed together.
"...Still alive?" Merlin turned as he heard a voice from behind him.
A recruit crawled from beneath a dead monster, his left arm was gone, his face was bloodied, but Merlin still recognized him, Officer Jeffrey.
Jeffrey looked toward the battlefield, his face turned pale.
"...Is..."
Merlin answered before he could finish he turned to the battlefield too.
"...We're the only ones left."
Leon slowly stood up while his legs trembled, then they both looked ahead as the smoke finally cleared.
Waiting for them on the other side were nearly fifty nightmare creatures, behind the abominations was the heavily injured Great Monster.
The remaining creatures began surrounding them, Merlin tightened his grip on the stone sword as his danger premonition screamed so loudly it became almost meaningless.
Leon laughed weakly.
"...Guess we're dead."
Merlin stared at the approaching army, his expression became strangely calm thanks to his flaw as he replied.
"...Not yet."
He adjusted his grip, his cold, flawless rationality suppressed every trace of fear, fifty Nightmare creatures, one heavily wounded Great Monster, two exhausted recruits.
The battlefield fell silent for one final moment, before the last stand began….