Cheers could be heard throughout the arena as the kids cheered on their headmaster, Perseus. He stood in front of Merlin, ready to fight as his magic staff glowed bright.
Merlin smiled and shot a beam of light at Perseus, making the headmaster jump up to dodge the light. Perseus vanished from sight while still mid-air, and the next moment he reappeared, he was above Merlin, flying.
"You know it’s cheating to fly against an opponent who can’t," Merlin said. "Frozen world, DLROW NEZORF," he chanted, and a layer of thick ice covered the entire arena.
Perseus fell back down to the ground as the weight of his frozen legs dragged him back down. "LLABERIF," Perseus chanted, and fire came off his staff and every bit of ice in the arena melted.
The students watching cheered louder. Merlin absorbed the Uzu in the air, and his power started to grow rapidly, making the students in the audience fearful of his power. "Shall we get serious, Percy?" he said, trying to show off to the students and Perseus simply nodded in agreement.
The next steps they took cracked the ground beneath them. They moved at a speed the students couldn’t even see, and hundreds of afterimages were everywhere in the arena, and blasts of spells smashed everything inside the arena, threatening to destroy even the barrier that kept the students safe.
The moment Merlin and Perseus stopped, their clothes were all torn up. They were moving so fast that their clothes had burned up from the friction.
Merlin paused to catch his breath. His opponent was a man who knew every last skill he possessed, a man he had fought countless battles with. And he knew there was only one way to win this match.
"OBLITUS ES," Merlin chanted, and reality glitched. He appeared behind the confused Perseus with his staff pointing at his head.
"I win," Merlin said.
The disappointment could be seen on the students faces.
Perseus was confused by what had just happened. "What the hell was that? I couldn’t sense you at all, and it was like you didn’t... exist," Perseus said, but at that moment he understood Merlin’s technique. "But how could such a technique exist? This skill will bring you great power when you finally awake."
"I’m truly sorry for the danger that will follow you once the gods and primordials figure out what your skill is," Perseus said, sadness filled his eyes as he looked at Merlin.
"I know the kind of life I’m destined to live. I watched my older brother and my mother die because the primordials feared the power they possessed. I will never let that happen to me or any of my loved ones again," Merlin said as he walked out of the arena.
"You will find me in your office. I’m ready to sign Alexander and Dante’s school papers," Merlin shouted from the hallway.
The moment Merlin was done with signing the papers. He took Alexander and Dante back to the inn, and went on in search of any clues that might help him find chaos weapons.
THE TRAVELER
The loud noise inside the pub annoyed Merlin. He sat at the bar holding a cup of beer, but he looked lost in his thoughts, thinking about the life he would have had in his home kingdom if the primordials had not destroyed everything.
"What’s wrong, stranger?" a man sitting next to him asked.
He wore strange clothes. A top hat and a huge coat, and when he looked at Merlin, his strange eyes glowed.
This man had one grey eye and one golden eye, and they glowed a familiar light. Merlin looked at the man, curious to know who this stranger was. "Are you a Nergal?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, I am, young one," the man said. The Uzu this man possessed felt ancient and not of this world, and the strength he carried would put anyone to shame. "My name is The Traveler," the man said.
"What a weird name, The Traveler," Merlin said with a smile. It was always nice meeting a fellow Nergal in a world where few exist.
"My friends call me TS. So just call me that," the man said as he put out his hand.
Merlin shook it, and the moment he touched the man’s hand, tears fell from his eyes. He wasn’t that sad, but for some reason this stranger’s presence made him feel a sense of sadness and joy.
"Who are you really, TS?" Merlin asked.
"I’m just a lone traveler trying to find his way home," TS said, but the smile he gave Merlin seemed to hide pain. "Have you ever heard of a kingdom called Aaru?" TS asked.
Merlin turned to look at TS. He felt so much peace while talking to this person, like he was a person he had known his entire life.
"No. What is it?" Merlin asked.
"They say it is a place where no pain, suffering or death exists, and where you can be happy with the ones you love for all eternity," he said. "The legend says that only one whose Uzu is so pure that it could frighten demons could find this place. And many believe this legend talks about the child of the end."
"I’ve seen countless children thought to be the prophesied one die. So what does this child have that the others didn’t?" Merlin said, curious to know this man’s thoughts on the prophecy of the child of the end.
TS paused for a moment, trying to find words that would convince Merlin. "Mmm. I believe the child of the end is real, and I also believe that when he is born the world will know," TS said.
A prophecy that has been passed down for thousands of years. Many people have waited for a child that may never come, and some have given up hope.
"There is one prophecy that talks about the arrival of the 3 children of man," TS said as he put up 3 fingers. "The prophecy says: when the king of man is born, the first seal shall be broken. When the strongest mortal is born, the second seal shall be broken. And when the promised child is born, the final seal shall be broken and peace will reign over the new world."
Merlin had lived for thousands of years, but only recently did he start believing in these prophecies, and he feared what was to come. The fate of the world rested in the hands of a child yet to be born.
"So you believe the gods and the primordials will just watch as these kids take over?" he asked.
TS just chuckled. "Primordials exist at every moment in time, so they have seen this child and what he will bring into this world. They won’t do anything because they underestimate mortals. Their pride will be their downfall," TS said. He placed some coins on the bar and stood up. "It was nice meeting you, Merlin."
"Goodbye," TS said as he walked out.
"Wait... I never told you my name," Merlin said, confused. He ran after TS, but the stranger was nowhere to be seen. He had just vanished, like he never existed.