After leaving Eubin's room, he didn't go towards the party venue, instead, he walked out of the Jade Palace, walking towards an open space he usually sat for comfort.
It was a really well known place, as it was near to the center of Ravensong, well center as far as the city itself was concerned.
As he arrived, he took another look at the space, unlike regular parks, this one was lacking the green of nature due to the multitude of snow available in Ravensong.
It had benches on each side, trees around, and a fountain at the center, with pavements intersecting each other to form an intriguing design.
Unlike most snowy areas, the roads in the park and the entirety of Ravensong were always snowfree and warm, heated through runes that were etched on them.
He felt a slight stirring inside him, then looked around, and his eyes fixed on a particular bench, due to the party that was about to take place, the park was relatively empty, except for the bench which had only one occupant.
He walked to the bench and sat down, resting his back on the warm bench.
"I didn't think you'd attend the party…" Merlin said with a calm smile.
"Now why would a Prince like myself miss such an interesting event?" Mordret said in his signature smile.
Mordret was in a slick black suit and white shirt, he didn't wear a tie, but coupled with his silk black hair and mirror-like eyes, he had a very formal air around him.
"Ah… that's right, you became an honorary Prince of the Song domain too" he nodded.
"Well since you're here, you might as well help out with the preparations…" He added.
"Now now… I'm sure the Queen's people are doing just fine, they shouldn't need my help for something so trivial" Mordret replied calmly.
He turned to Merlin, locking eyes with him.
"I'm curious though, why didn't you inform the Queen of worms of our little acquaintance?"
Merlin scoffed, "If I do that, then what's stopping you from telling her about the true extent of my abilities…"
"I see… looks like your loyalty to Song might not even be as much as mine, and mine is bordering on non-existent" Mordret's smile widened as if he just confirmed one of his theories.
"Ki Song doesn't need my loyalty, just as your Father doesn't need to loyalty of Changing Star, as long as you can carry out your task, you're fine"
"That's not a nice thing to say as a Prince of Song, you know…"
"Heh…" Merlin chuckled, "hey… hand me one of your mirror shards… I might have something that needs your help soon"
"Now why would I help you?" Mordret raised an eyebrow.
"What if my plans are going to cause a lot of problems for Valor?"
"Where?"
"Basiton"
Mordret scoffed, "You're planning to cause problems right under Anvil's nose… I've never seen a better suicide plan"
"So are you coming or not?" He asked.
Mordret stared at him for a few seconds, then reached into his pocket and brought out a mirror shard, then placed it on the bench, the next second, his figure faded away like he was never there.
Merlin picked up the mirror shard and placed it in his dimension ring, he leaned back fully on the bench as he stared at the white sky.
"It's about time…"
…
Inside a room in the Song domain, multiple pods laid dormant, the only sounds echoing inside the room were the beeping noises the dream pods indicating the sign of life of the people inside them.
The only person inside the room that wasn't in the pod, was a young middle-aged man with pale skin and distant eyes. He sat still like a statue, not blinking, or moving or even breathing.
The middle-aged man was actually a puppet of Ki Song, one that kept watch on the people that had yet to return from the nightmare.
The room remained quiet for a few minutes, until one of the pods began to beep rapidly, then followed by another, then another. In a matter of seconds, all the pods in the room seemed to seize, then the sounds of gasps and sighs filled the room.
The people in the pod were fortunate enough to survive the nightmare with all of their numbers complete.
When they finally came out of their pod, the puppet finally spoke with a clear voice.
"Welcome back my daughters…"
…
Merlin was still seated on the bench when his intuition warned him about someone nearby.
"You can come out now"
"Do you have an observation ability?" A female voice sounded out.
"It could be that your stealth isn't as good as you think," he snorted.
"Please… I'm the best at stealth" Silent Stalker declared as she dropped her stealth appearing out of thin air.
Merlin scoffed, "You're not even the best archer…"
"Hah! Do you know a better archer?"
"There's Kai… Nightingale"
"A mere Ascended! You're comparing me to a mere Ascended!?"
He just chuckled and conjured up a butterfly using an illusion, then he made it fly high into the sky, moving around like any regular one.
"Alright then…" he pointed to the butterfly, "Kai can shoot that down from a mile away, why don't you try"
"Are you mocking me?" She sneered, then immediately disappeared from her position.
He opened his mouth and shouted, "Hey! Shoot that your arrow far okay, it shouldn't land in residential areas"
"I'll show you far!" Silent Stalker's voice sounded through the wind.
'Seems like she's still angry at the fact that I said I can beat her' he chuckled to himself.
Whoosh!
The sound of an arrow cutting through the wind echoed in his ears, he looked up to see his illusion had been pierced through, but he couldn't see the arrow that had already flown farther.
"How's that for competition…" Her voice sounded from behind him.
"Average at best…" he turned around, "so why are you hear, I hope you aren't putting the 'Stalker' part of your name to practice"
"Who would want to follow you around" she scoffed, "Mother said to inform you that they have returned"
"Oh… that's all?"
"Yes"
"Alright, mission accomplished, you can go now"
"If Mother wasn't so interested in you, I would've put an arrow or two in you…" She snarled.
"Sorry to pop your bubbles, but there's a 75% chance you won't make the shot"
Immediately, he felt a chilling killing intent radiating from her body, he immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright I'm sorry… you wouldn't want to get blood on your clothes would you?"
She scoffed, "please… I use long range weapons, your blood won't be able to reach me"
He shrugged, "I never said it was my blood"
Right as she was about to summon a memory to put him in the ground, he immediately teleported to his room as he laughed out loud.
"These Song sisters are very easy to annoy"
He immediately stood up and walked to his wardrobe, opening the door, he was met with a separated and arranged set of clothes.
One side held his regular everyday clothes and shoes, another side held sleeping wears, and there was a side for formal clothing.
He picked out a white shirt, plain black trousers and a black tie. He didn't pick a suit because he was planning on changing the shape of the [Cloak] to that of a suit.
He kept the clothes on the bed, then picked out another set, a blue three-piece suit set. This one wasn't for him, but for the marionette he was going to use.
He couldn't allow his marionette to look out of place, after all the seer quote was 'Show me your marionette and I'll tell you if Amon is inside'
"Before that, I'll have to do my blood donation…" he took out a sheet of paper, and placed a cup nearby.
'Time for the worst paper cut in history…'
He used his [Paper Dagger] ability to cut open his palm and bleed himself into the cup, then he used [Freeze] to turn it frozen solid before sending it into his soul sea.
"Now… time for the hard part" He sighed and summoned the [Cloak].
As the familiar black and gold cloak appeared, he immediately willed it to the shape of a suit, as its appearance changed, he tried it on, the aesthetic quite suited to his taste, so he kept the look in mind as he reverted it to its regular form.
With the cloak floating in front of him, he immediately connected with one of the countless Spirit Body Threads extending from it, the threads all came from the marionettes hanging above his soul sea.
He immediately controlled one of the marionettes and it walked out from the cloak which turned slightly illusory.
The marionette he chose was one of the Ascended Jayson had killed during his time as Jack the Ripper.
He made the marionette stand at a corner of the room while he changed the cloak back to a suit.
Merlin left the marionette in the room and went to take a shower, he came out refreshed, and the marionette went in next while he got dressed.
Honestly, the experience of bathing a marionette left his mood in the wrong places as he delved into the dark side of having a dead guy serve as a marionette.
He channeled his essence into the [Cloak], immediately he felt his sequence rise, the refreshing feeling of power and the faint feeling of divinity made him realize that he had truly broken away from being a mortal.
For a limited time only, He had become a demigod, a Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer.
This was the first time he was using the cloak and really feeling it's effects, back in his soul sea, the feeling of power was there, even more than he felt currently, but it was ultimately his soul sea.
In the dream realm, the way the pressure around him twisted in his presence, and the way the dream realm embraced his existence felt different than his soul sea.
Back on the Forgotten Shore, the limited time as sequence difference made him unable to feel the profound change.
Without wasting time, he immediately split off a Worm of Spirit and placed it into the marionette, manipulating the worm, he controlled the marionette which had gained the ability to use his abilities, and made it use the [Faceless] ability and changed its face into one he was sure would never be identified in this world.
Unless Shadow Slave world suddenly got a character named Arthur Leywin.
The marionette changed into its blue suit, then he stopped channeling his essence into the cloak, allowing his sequence to return to normal.
The Worm of Spirit inside the marionette didn't return or die, instead it lay dormant as he could no longer control it.
Since there was still some time till the party, he just decided to hang around in his room, while he kept his marionette hidden in the closet.
'Others have skeletons in their closet, meanwhile I got a dead guy'
…
Meanwhile somewhere out there, at the borders of the Song domain, Silent Stalker's arrow had finally come to its stopping point.
The arrow had travelled a far distance and upon landing, pierced right through the skull of an Awakened Tyrant, one that had multiple spawns around.
Upon witnessing the death of their superior, the spawns went feral and out of control, some immediately attacked each other, while some fled from their current position, some moved towards the populated areas of the Song domain, while some moved out of its boundary.
Due to the extreme weather, and the fact that the creatures were all Dormant beasts, most of them died before achieving anything worthy of notice.
The ones who fought were already too weakened to face the extreme conditions and died off, but somehow, somewhere out there, a Dormant Beast that had gone out of the border survived.
Not only survived, but managed to walk its way into dangerous territory. The Beast threaded the snow weakly, its legs felt weak from running and its body had no protection against the brutal cold.
But at some point, it sensed something, something comforting, something warm, beneath the snow, and so it began to dig, it dug and dug, until the ice stopped and its body fell into a hollow part of the earth.
It stood up weakly, and walked forward, the ground was warm, and moreso, the feeling of comfort was getting stronger by the second.
The Beast finally reached the end of its journey, where it came face to face with what could only be called the embodiment of its dreams.
To the world outside, it looked like a blooming water lily, but to the Beast, it was the incarnation of its greatest desire.
It walked closer, and closer, until it reached into the depths, becoming one with everything it ever wanted, its weak body immediately broke through its mortal restraint and turned into essence, for the nourishment of the Lily.
The Beast was dead, but the scent it carried from the outside world had made the Lily realize that there was more it could feast off up there, it didn't have to draw its limited essence from the creature that lived in the volcano below.
At that moment, the Lily made its decision, using its abilities, it would conjure up an army of creatures, and besiege the world above, that way, it would harvest enough essence to finally become a Titan, A Cursed Titan.