- - -
The battlefield grew still.
What once echoed with lively defiance now rang with silence. The fire in the villagers' eyes had long since died, replaced by something colder—fear.
Kouen Ren, dungeon capturer and Crown Prince of the Kou Empire, stood amidst the carnage.
His Djinn Equip form—Agares, the earth djinn of creation and fortitude—dissolved around him in flickers of molten aura.
Without a word, he stepped over the guard's mutilated corpse and began walking away.
His advisor stepped forward, speaking in his place:
"You are now a part of the Kou Empire. Submission was your chance. Resistance was your mistake. Defy us again... and this village will vanish from the map."
Twelve soldiers remained behind to maintain order. The rest marched after Kouen, armor clinking in rhythm.
To them, this was just another territory conquered. Another name checked off a map.
But something stirred.
Beneath the ash and stone, a corpse shuddered.
The wind turned.
Rukh, thick and wild, began to churn unnaturally—white and gold crashing against tendrils of deep violet. A spiraling pulse surged from the broken earth.
At the center: A single corpse. Pale. Black-haired. Ordinary in death—until now.
As the moon broke through the clouds, it seemed to pause above him, watching. His eyes opened.
Not empty. Not confused. Sharp. Aware. Radiating Something Ancient.
Symbols flickered across his skin—arcane, mathematical, alien.
He sat up.
A grimoire materialized in front of him, suspended in violet light. Its pages turned on their own before freezing on one page:
[MYTHIC TEMPLATE SYSTEM: MERLIN]
Soul Host: Alex (Deceased) —> Status: Reinitialized
New Identity: MERLIN
[Theorist | Magus | Architect of Fate]
Starter Package Equipped:
✓ All-Seeing Eye (Lv. 1)
✓ Grimoire of Echoed Thought
✓ Mytherra
He stared at it, blinking slowly, trying to process—
Shing!
Six blades surrounded him.
Kou Empire Soldiers. Left behind to guard the village. Now staring at the not-dead man who had just risen amid an explosion of Rukh.
Their hands trembled.
The Kou soldiers flinched back. One shouted instinctively.
"What the fuck?! He was dead! I checked him myself!"
Another raised his sword, knuckles white.
"Fall back! Form a perimeter!"
The air remained heavy with Rukh. The strange man Merlin didn't flinch.
He stood slowly, as if waking from a long slumber. His eyes, shimmering with amethyst clarity, locked onto the closest soldier.
His irises shifted. An intricate circulate glyph appeared within them, black in color it began rotating gently like the hands of a celestial clock. It appeared as if death itself was staring back at the soldiers.
SYSTEM TRIGGERED: ALL-SEEING EYE (Lv. 1)
Target Scanned: Jian Rou
Name: Jian Rou
Origin: Kou Empire (Eastern Military Front)
Strength Tier: Low-level soldier (Non-Magician)
Emotional State:
Fear (68%)
Confusion (21%)
Hostility (11%)
Thoughts: "Am I about to die?"
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Merlin blinked, processing the data without surprise. It was as if the information had been there all along, hidden behind a curtain he'd finally pulled aside.
"What's wrong Rou? You look like you've seen a ghost," he said as his calm expression transformed into a smirk, however to Rou this terrified the poor kid even more.
A tall broad shouldered man stepped forward despite the unease and uncertainty plaguing his mind.
"How are you alive!" demanded the tall man. Brushing aside the doubt.
Merlin locked eyes with the man studying him as if he could see through him into his soul.
SYSTEM TRIGGERED: ALL-SEEING EYE (Lv. 1)
Target Scanned: Kang Dan
Name: Kang Dan
Origin: Kou Empire (Eastern Military Front)
Strength Tier: Medium-level soldier (Non-Magician)
Emotional State:
Fear (15%)
Confusion (45%)
Hostility (40%)
Thoughts: "We have to report this to his majesty!"
Cooldown: 15 seconds
"It's magic Dan," he said.
Kang Dan stepped forward again, gripping the hilt of his blade. The other soldiers waited for a command but no one moved.
"Magic doesn't bring people back from the dead," Kang Dan said through clenched teeth. "This is unnatural."
Merlin raised a brow, as if amused.
"Yet, here I stand. Isn't that the essence of magic? Unnatural phenomenon."
Silence. The soldiers exchanged confused glances.
The grimoire at his side stirred. Its pages fluttered as if caught in a wind that didn't touch the grass. Symbols glowed faintly across its cover.
"Enough." A voice barked from behind them.
An older soldier, weathered and scarred, emerged from the ranks.
"No more sudden moves. This isn't a regular anomaly… The Rukh is still spiraling. I've seen something like this only once—when magi descend into battle."
The younger men froze.
"What do we do?" one whispered.
The veteran turned his gaze to Merlin. "We send an envoy to General Kouen. Immediately."
Merlin said nothing. He let them watch him. Let them imagine what he might do.
Then, with a faint hum, the glowing grimoire closed and vanished into motes of light.
He began walking.
"Where are you going?!" Dan stammered.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Merlin replied, glancing back once.
"Tell your prince," he added with a half-smile, "that the world just became more interesting."