Marvel: Impregnation System

DING

[Telekinesis has been successfully integrated within the Host's X-Gene resulting in Psionic Pyro-Sovereignty →Sovereign Telekinetic Ascendancy]

(X-Gene) Sovereign Telekinetic Ascendancy: The host's power is shaped by his unshakable will and leadership instincts as every ability he uses carries the weight of his mind and his dominance. Now, with telekinesis added to his arsenal, Ricky can control this power in an entirely new way.

The entire block of text was pushed aside to save space since Ricky wasn't focused on the specifics anyway. 

His attention was locked on the scene unfolding before him, unwilling to be distracted by the system's tendency to drown him in excessive descriptions.

Even as the area radiated a thick aura of anti-magic, Ricky allowed himself a faint, knowing smile while wiping the blood trickling from his nose as the pain had vanished meaning his X-Gene had integrated the Telekinesis ability perfectly.

But it was then that Merlyn raised his hand, his fingers weaving intricate patterns in the air, and Camelot responded with a surge of arcane energy. 

The ancient city, steeped in centuries of enchantments, began to activate its legendary defenses. 

From the towering battlements, an almost ethereal swarm of archers materialized as their crossbows glowed with runes that promised deadly precision and magical bursts on impact.

But these were no ordinary soldiers; they were summoned spirits bound by centuries-old pacts to protect Camelot from any threat.

Along the stone walls, massive cannons crafted from enchanted metals and imbued with elemental runes slowly rotated into position. 

Their barrels shimmered with a faint blue flame, ready to unleash volleys of explosive arcane fire or bolts of pure energy that could rend both flesh and spirit. 

Each cannon was overseen by a Goldlock and a Captain Britain who channeled their combined power to boost the weaponry, enhancing their destructive potential and shielding them from enemy sabotage.

Magical wards flared to life, weaving an invisible web of protection across the city. 

These wards pulsed with a soft golden light, designed to disrupt and neutralize hostile spells while reinforcing the strength of the walls themselves. 

Traps and glyphs hidden in the very stones hummed quietly, ready to unleash devastating curses or summon spectral beasts upon intruders.

"Hold." Merlyn spoke sielntly, watching Ricky run from the fields as the people behind him finally started charging behind him.

'FORWARD, FORWARD!" Alexander roared, holding out his spear as he looked upon the city he would soon conquer as the undead legion under him roared to life as Ricky had put all the undead under his command.

However amdsit the charged battle field, Ricky's eyes glossed in psychic energy as when he lookd forward, everything felt different.

Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with one's mind, is often described as a feeling of pressure, strain, or a force emanating from the mind and body, similar to exerting physical effort.

Some describe it as a tingling sensation or a feeling of energy flowing towards the object being moved. 

The intensity and nature of the sensation can vary depending on the strength of the telekinetic ability and the size and weight of the object being manipulated.

WHOOOSH

The air around Ricky pulsed instantly with his sovereign will, wrapping him in a shimmering green aura that stretched outward, making it feel as though he could touch anything within a hundred-meter radius.

"Focus," the Ebony Blade whispered inside his mind, watching as Ricky became immersed in the overwhelming sensation of seamlessly boundless reach.

'Eldest is right, Master Merlyn always thinks ahead-'

"Fire." Merlyn let down his hand, 

BOOOM

BOOOM

BOOOM

The roar of enchanted cannons shattered the tense silence, sending a shockwave rippling across the battlefield. 

Bolts of crackling arcane energy tore through the air, lighting up the gloom with bursts of emerald and sapphire fire. 

The spectral archers released their volleys in perfect harmony, each bolt humming with ancient magic that seared through enemy ranks.

The night sky immediately lit up in a bright light, the barrage of projectiles dazzling the night sky and bathing everything in a glowing hue as the projectiles dashed toward Ricky. 

As they barreled closer, closing in on the edge of his mental reach, Ricky felt something strange.

They were barely a hundred meters away, yet as he ran, it felt as if he could already wrap his hands around them.

"Oh yeah~," Ricky muttered with a laugh, slowly tightening his grip on the incoming projectiles, all without expending anything but his thoughts.

Merlyn's eyes widened slowly, a knowing smile creeping across his face as he watched the barrage seemingly halt midair, frozen at a hundred meters out.

"You are an intriguing one, Ricky. I'll give you that," Merlyn said calmly, utterly unbothered, even as those around him widened their eyes in surprise.

"INCOMING!" King Britain roared, his eyes shaking as everyone could only look up in horror.

BOOOM

BOOOM

BOOOM

Merlyn's steady gaze fixed forward as the entire barrage, once sent toward Ricky, was violently hurled back at their own forces, only to be halted completely by the single, ancient barrier that had guarded Camelot for centuries. 

But it was within that very safety, that singular shield of security that made everyone in Camelot feel so nurtured and protected, that a sudden red flash began to creep across their entire line of sight. 

Because this very shield, the bane of Morgana's ambitions time and again, stood unbroken, a shimmering wall of impenetrable magic.

WHOOOSH

Was sliced with Ricky's next action.

Cutting the distance between himself and the heart of Camelot, the protective bubble that had wrapped the city in a warm, comforting blanket suddenly burst beneath them all with a single, decisive swing of Ricky's sword.

"Like butter~" Ricky muttered, his eyes glowing deep red as they locked onto Merlyn, who remained calm, simply waiting.

But instead of lunging towards Merlyn, Ricky moved his Geimorie that hadn't fallen to the ground like the rest of them as he could still feel a connetcinot with only one page.

He couldn't link a spell from any of the pages except that one, single page that had sprouted in his original fight with Dracula.

"From the depths where silence screams, I call the tendrils, born of dreams."

The words spilled out as he read the text that would be unreasbel for hte average viewer as his mouth unciously spilled out more of the whispering voids mother tongue. 

"Through endless darkness, I seek the thread. By the Void's will, all paths are led." Ricky's voice rose a pitch, the words slipping from his mouth like a deadly chant, each syllable steeped in the language of nightmares taht whispered right into Merlyn's ears as his eyes slowly become black.

"Tenebris threads."

Like a volcano erupting, the book immediately shattered into hundreds of tiny, writhing threads. 

A high-pitched screeching whisper resonated through the air, so piercing that those weak to its effects felt their ears bleed before their vision overloaded, unable to process what came next.

BOOM

The threads spilled forth in waves, hundreds at first before it became thousands of black, slender thread-like tendrils bursting from the Necronomicon as they slammed into the earth.

But like water responding to an unseen current, the threads didn't remain grounded and instead, they rose swiftly, twisting and swirling upward in a dark, living tide, stretching toward the sky like

In the blink of an eye, the threads surged into a towering tsunami, climbing higher and higher, threatening to drown Camelot beneath their ominous shadow as the city itself seemed to pale against the overwhelming scale of the spell ramping up.

Yet Merlyn remained unshaken as he simply extended his pointer finger, and from its tip, a small, gooey blob of viscous black liquid materialized.

Without hesitation, as if summoned by mere thought, the small blob was commanded forward.

"I'm surprised he figured it out so fast." Merlyn muttered, his gaze steady as Captain Britain struggled to maintain calm amid the devastating spell poised to ravage the city. 

Around them, the barrier they had always relied on began to dissolve, leaving Camelot vulnerable.

However, Merlyn's surprise wasn't at the rising wave of tenebris threads, it was that Ricky had so swiftly uncovered the truth: only magic drawn from the Void and its shadowed realms could function here. 

Everything else was rendered inert, nullified by the anti-magic field that blanketed the battlefield.

"I suppose even Netherderals can hit their stride once in a while." Merlyn muttered aloud, watching the small black blob compress inward, its shape rippling unnaturally.

Then it happened.

A tremendous pull echoed out as a gravitational tug, so powerful that even the guards stationed atop Camelot's walls were yanked forward, stumbled as their heads snapped upward. 

The massive tenebris wave of threads, once barreling down with apocalyptic force, suddenly shuddered.

And then it collapsed.

With a guttural swirl, the entire towering spell began spiraling downward, sucked toward the tiny black blob as if it were a cosmic drain, devouring the tide it had unleashed.

However, the moment the spell was completely dispelled, the true sight emerged as Ricky, suspended mid-air in the distance, the Ebony Blade gripped tightly in his hands, held back just before the strike and then swung forward.

Merlyn simply rolled his eyes and took a single, fluid step to the side.

CRACK

A blinding red flash slammed down just millimeters from where he had stood as an explosion of wind tore through the battlefield as everything in its path was cleaved clean in half.

However, Ricky's entire back swelled with the full force of his pyrokinetic power, then it exploded behind him.

BOOM

The air cracked violently as the eruption hurled his body forward like a missile. 

In an instant, Ricky wrapped his telekinesis tightly around himself, shaping the force, controlling his trajectory as he rocketed straight ahead with surgical precision.

"You and your new toys." Merlyn said, lightly leaping into the air so delicately as a second later, Ricky slammed down into that exact spot.

BAM

The spot where Merlyn had been standing was smashed apart as Ricky's body crashed into it with devastating force, sending chunks of stone and steel hurtling upward. 

Debris hung in the air like suspended dust until a red flash pulsed from within the swirling cloud.

"I've noticed a pattern in you," Merlyn's voice rang out calmly from above, his silhouette emerging from the haze. 

"You tend to burn through whatever power's been gifted to you until the next one comes along." Merlyn's eyes turned pitch black, void-like, as he leapt into the air, effortlessly climbing higher with a flick of his cloak.

WHOOSH

"I saw it, that moment when you sent all those projectiles back," Merlyn called out, hovering higher with casual grace. 

"That was telekinesis, wasn't it?" Merlyn's tone was curious, not accusatory but more like a teacher gauging a student's breakthrough than a rival measuring a threat.

"Did the constructs become too boring for you-oh, I guess not," Merlyn began, only to interrupt himself with a chuckle, sensing a presence shift in the air.

In response, his body moved a touch swifter, his instincts flaring as the green constructs shimmered into existence above him, morphing from the very atmosphere as he launched himself higher into the sky.

Then it hit.

A hailstorm of psychic bullets plummeted down on Merlyn's soaring form in a sudden, unrelenting barrage. 

But unlike before, when Ricky could only summon the constructs and leave them fixed in place, now he commanded them fully. 

The bullets didn't simply fire but moved, swarmed, adjusted mid-air, following Merlyn's every evasive maneuver with relentless intent.

They hunted him.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

Blips of red electricity crackled through the air in sharp slashes, lighting the sky while all around, green bullets rained down like a storm, relentlessly pursuing Merlyn as he weaved through the air, each shot bending and twisting to follow him with surgical precision.

All the while, on the ground, Alexander kept his gerbil eyes fixed ahead as the undead and the Coven thundered behind him towards the walls of Camelot.

"WHILE MASTER MERLYN IS OCCUPYING THAT FIEND, FIRE!" King Britain roared from atop the castle walls, his voice thundering across the battlefield.

"YOU FOOL! ONLY THE GODS THEMSELVES CAN STOP MY CHARGE!" Alexander bellowed in response, his voice just as fierce. He pointed his small, gleaming spear forward with righteous fury as Bucephalus lowered his head, muscles tensing, preparing for the surge.

The ground trembled beneath them, each of the steed's hooves struck with graceful violence, pulses of light sparking beneath them before a thunderclap of force hurled the mighty beast forward, faster than ever.

Separating himself from the undead horde, the distance between them stretched further as Alexander and Bucephalus surged toward the gates like a divine thunderbolt set loose.

"STOP THEM, DO IT NOW!" King Britain bellowed, his voice laced with urgency as he turned the castle's cannon downward.

THRUMMMM

The weapon roared to life, its runes blazing as it launched a spiraling projectile toward the charging pair. 

It smashed into the ground just ahead, only for Bucephalus to open his mouth with a thunderous neigh.

Sparks of lightning crackled and danced around him, unleashing bolts of energy like the divine bulls of the Gordius Wheel.

Before the others could react, the remaining cannons unleashed a devastating barrage, their attacks pounding down relentlessly as Bucephalus's form glowed with an intense blue lightning aura.

The cannon fire screamed through the air, each blast exploding against the earth or walls around them, but none could halt the divine charge. 

The lightning shield flickered and surged, absorbing or deflecting the onslaught as if Bucephalus itself was a living storm.

"This is it." Alexander tightened his grip on the spear, eyes burning with unyielding determination.

"THIS IS THE SENSATION I MISSED!" Alexander roared though not only to himself.

BOOM

But to all those who stood within the ancient city gates which trembled under the assault as Bucephalus's charge smashed through them, splinters flying like rain, heralding the breach of Camelot's once-impenetrable defenses.

"THE FEELING OF CRUSHING THE ENEMY!"

Alexander roared, his voice echoing beneath the thunderous sky as Merlyn raised a single eyebrow not at the tiny gerbils scream, but at something else as his hand reached up to touch the heavens. 

In an instant, the sky seemed to fold in on itself, contracting like a black hole, drawing in everything within the space of an arrow hurtling straight toward him.

The air twisted and pulsed as the projectile vanished into the void Merlyn conjured, leaving only a lingering ripple where it had been moments before.

"Impressive, you've finally made me-"

"Oh my god, and I thought I was a f*cking prick!" Ricky shouted, appearing in the very spot Merlyn had occupied moments before. 

His spectral arms pulling back another arrow on his Solarflare Bow, steady and ready as he hurled himself forward.

His crown sparked violently as another torrent of Tenebris threads was hurled at Merlyn, amplifying their already scary potency.

But upon seeing this, Merlyn calmly raised a finger as the spell absrorbed before it could fully form.

Merlyn's eyes flickered with surprise since Ricky had managed to keep both the Crown and Shield in check, despite how carefully Merlyn had groomed them.

"I'm also very impressed you turned the Crown and Shield to your side." Merlyn said with a hint of pride. 

"I did such a fine job raising them but I'm glad they're proving to be proper gifts." Merlyn's words echoed in Ricky's mind that housed the Ebony Crown and SHield who looked on at this with a vengeful expression.

The very thing they had been fighting tooth and nail against, trying to convince Ricky was no gift, suddenly revealed its true meaning wrapped in a neat, mocking bow from Merlyn.

"I TOLD YOU!" Ricky said, shamelessly rubbing it these two ebony artifacts faces while winding up the ebony blade.

WHOOSH

'WE GET IT, YOU WERE RIGHT!' The Ebony Shield yelled at him in his own mind, feeling betrayed but now fully willing to contribute to Ricky's fight.

'But must you rub it in our-' The Ebony Crown first started only to facepalm after hearing a lingering chuckle swarm the air.

"YES!" Ricky cackled, releasing another swing of his sword that barreled towards Merlyn who side-eyed this conversation.

Merlyn's hand moved with effortless grace, slicing through a wisp of clouds as he tapped it four times as Ricky surged forward to close the distance.

WHOOSH

But in the next instance Merlyn frowned, Ricky's temporal insight warning him of four threats forming simultaneously. 

Without hesitation, he cut them down before they could fully manifest, pushing himself forward in pursuit.

"You've been shoving it in my face about how great this guy is when the truth is, he handed you over to me on a silver platter! And I fcking knew it SO BAM, RIGHT IN YOUR FACES!" Ricky roared, taking a moment to rub it in with ruthless satisfaction.

'We did, indeed, warn you.' The Ebony Blade also took a second to join in, raising its nose as its younger siblings scowled.

'Yo-'

'WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' The Ebony Chalice remarked as it started to expel vapors upon Ricky's silent command.

Huffing the vapors in the next second, Ricky's eyes glazed over with a haunting gloss as thousands, tens of thousands, of screens materialized around him, floating like fractured windows into forbidden knowledge that the chalice always carried with it.

But it was at that moment Merlyn immediately felt the shift in the air as the pressure deepened, time felt heavier, and even the winds twisted in response.

Then Ricky revealed his next surprise.

From the depths of his Eldritch Abomination skill, the armor he had devoured reformed over his already imposing Black Knight set; a tattered trench coat flowing behind him, jagged gauntlets locking over his arms, and cruel shin guards latching onto him like snapping jaws.

And in his two free spectral hands, weapons took shape. 

A strange, serrated machete glimmered with chaotic energy in one, and in the other, a gleaming glaive that pulsed like that of a storm.

But before Ricky could advance, Merlyn's blackened eyes snapped toward him, the calm in his expression gone.

Both of Merlyn's hands slowly stretched outward and from his palms, thick, viscous black liquid began to pour, oozing like molten tar. 

The air around him sizzled as the substance dripped, refusing to obey gravity fully, writhing upwards instead of dropping down.

"What the-" Ricky tensed, ready to hurl himself forward at Merlyn but in that split second, instinct screamed louder than intention.

He twisted mid-air, slashing across his own body in a tight arc just as droplets of that viscous black liquid fired toward him like bullets, each one shrieking through the air at the speed of sound.

The Ebony Blade's attack cleaved through a handful and yet the attacks, no larger than droplets of water, hurled themselves at him with impossible momentum.

The ones he missed struck his barrier as a tinge of green had formed around him in a circle.

But the droplets struck the shield with an unnatural impact: no explosion, no flare, just a wet hiss and a spreading darkness.

Then the corrosion began.

The green tinged barrier quivered as the black liquid began to eat through it, not like acid but like memory decay, like something eroding the very concept of protection. 

The edges of the dome sizzled into static, blinking in and out of reality as if the construct itself was forgetting what it was made of because Ricky was suddenly introduced to a terrifying branch of magic Merlyn had invented himself.

"Anti-conceptual magic." Merlyn's voice echoed coldly from above, drifting down like falling ash.

Merlyn hovered high in the sky, hand outstretched, thick drops of black, viscous liquid still dripping from his palm.

"I assumed you'd be ignorant of how Void-born power truly works but what I wield is unique to the realm that claims me." Merlyn said, his tone like a knife wrapped in silk.

"I don't care-" Ricky was about to say, unable to give a rat's ass if he could but Merely ignored him.

"My magic doesn't just destroy but siphons, rewrites, and challenges the very definitions of the things it touches." Merlyn said lightly, almost amused at what Ricky could muster within him.

The black liquid coiled around him like a constellation of obsidian stars, orbiting his body with eerie grace, responding not to gravity but to desire. 

The air rippled as a heated barrage of psychic bullets tore toward him but the voidborn droplets collided with them mid-flight.

No explosion followed, just silence.

But each bullet unraveled on contact, dissolving their form that didn't break them and instead, made the attack irrelevant.

"Barriers, weapons, minds, and even the idea of resistance, my magic doesn't attack the body but assaults the very concept of things. " Merlyn continued, his voice unwavering as he drifted forward slowly, a god among scholars, as the sky darkened just from proximity to his truth.

"Oh yeah?" Ricky sneered, glancing between the ebony shield and the psychic barrier unraveling around him as their very truths assaulted by Merlyn's corrosive magic.

'What are you doing? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!' The Ebony Shield's calm voice suddenly cracked into a scream of panic as Ricky held it steady.

Without hesitation, Ricky nudged the ebony shield toward the black goo as the viscous liquid surged forward, hungry to latch onto the shield's surface but recoiled instantly, repelled like oil on water.

"I guess not all things." Ricky laughed, eyes gleaming as he looked up at Merlyn. 

"Which is probably why you want your boyfriend back so badly." Ricky mocked, laughing a little harder at Merlyn while Shadow Broker stood at the side, tearing a piece of paper with ease.

Merlyn's brows knitted in irritation, the faintest flicker of something unreadable crossing his face as he felt the need to explain himself.

"You're childish remarks do not-"

WHOOSH

Ricky closed the distance in an instant, trying to seize the moment and strike but then realized something crucial after being an arm reach away from him as his skills screamed at him to get out.

"Do not even reach me, much like your attacks" Merlyn said calmly, almost detached, as Ricky's slash tore through him cleanly, bisecting his form.

But what followed was no ordinary wound.

In his halved state, Ricky didn't see flesh or bone and instead, he saw more thick, viscous black goo.

It immediately seeped from the wound and deliberately, like ink spilling onto parchment. 

The substance curled and twisted midair, each droplet moving as if alive, reluctant to stay separated.

Then, as if pulled by an unseen current, the goo began to flow back together while seamlessly knitting Merlyn's halves in a fluid dance. 

It was like watching water pour into an empty cup, filling every crevice until nothing remained but the restored whole.

Ricky's eyes narrowed with a dawning realization as he had assumed Merlyn was merely dodging the Ebony Blade's strike all along, avoiding the attack to preserve himself.

But the truth was far more sinister: Merlyn had been guiding him, leading him into a false sense of security, a carefully constructed illusion.

At the exact moment, Ricky saw thousands of possibilities unravel and collapse like decayed parchment as Merlyn calmly extended a finger before him.

SIGH

" Ah, sh*t~" Ricky cursed under his breath, abandoning any attempt to attack and instead, he instinctively fortified himself, bracing for what was coming.

From Merlyn's outstretched finger, a small black dot materialized like a blackhole in the air that didn't collapse inward.

Instead, it exploded outward with a deafening silence, a violent burst of warped space-time fracturing the very fabric around them.

Ripples of distorted gravity surged in all directions, tearing at reality like invisible claws.

First, the force yanked Ricky inward, squeezing the air around him as if trying to compress him into nothingness.

Then it reversed, pushing him away with brutal intensity, only to snap back again, pulling him like a marionette caught in a cosmic tug-of-war.

Finally, with a violent shove, it hurled him outward, sending him careening through the fractured air.

THOOOOOOM

A deafening explosion rippled outward, shaking the very air around Camelot.

In the distance, the last bits of the protective field shattered completely, splintering like glass under immense pressure.

It was under this that the two armies collided fiercely from the flanks, their war cries and clashing steel filling the battlefield as chaos erupted on all sides.

BAM

BAM

Captain Britain and his warriors were hurled backward, sent flying by the raw force of Bucephalus's charge and at the helm, Alexander stood tall on his steed, shouting above the two sides clashing.

"Do not fear an enemy that cannot even be named, they are nothing but shadows in the history we will conjure!" Alexander roared from Bucephalus's saddle, urging his troops forward as they slammed into the enemy ranks.

"K-Kill me~!" The Corpse Colossus begged desperately at a mage, its grotesque arms stretching out and clawing at the earth.

"N-NOOOOOO-" The mage screamed as he was pulled into the Corpse Colossus's rotten flesh, slowly assimilated into its horrid form.

GASP

Another mage gasped, eyes rolling back, mouth glowing faintly blue as an ethereal energy seeped from him, flowing straight into Boney's undead skull.

"Ahhhhhh~" Boney sighed, refreshed as he gorged on the mage's soul, rubbing his ribcage with a renewed hunger.

"MUST YOU GORGE YOURSELF RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR MASTER'S GLORIOUS PLAN!" Chuck roared, wrapping his magic around the neck of a gold cloak and then promptly, tearing it off.

"I CAN'T HELP IT!" Boney yelled, back, catching the head Chuck had just ripped off while quickly consuming the soul.

"Why do I encourage him-"

Boom

A golden shroud of energy slammed into Chuck at that moment, sending the undead mage hurling backwards as Boney dropped his meal while lunging at him.

BAM

The two undead collided with a thunderous crack, bones grinding as they skidded backward through the churned earth, kicking up dust and blood-soaked soil.

Chuck's skeletal form steadied first and without a word, he lifted his hollow sockets upwards where six figures slowly emerged through the haze.

Silhouetted against the flickering lights of the battlefield as golden armor appeared to all those privy to the sight while Chuck's sockets narrowed.

"You there, the fair gerbil riding amidst that steed!" Sir Bors yelled, showing the army that the round table had finally arrived at the battlefield, subtly boosting the morale of their side.

Alexander turned to them as Bucephalus slammed the back of his hooves at the shield of another Captain Britain.

"Merlyn tells us that you are Alexander the Great, the famed man who our king grew up aspiring to be!" Sir Tristan joined in, taking a step forward while resting his hand on his sheathed blade.

"We were taught you were an honorable and courageous man of your time-"

"If you still believe morals win battles, then you haven't learned enough!" Alexander's voice boomed through the battlefield as Bucephalus side-eyed the knights, his nostrils flaring with disdain.

"But-"

"Saints and tyrants speak the same tongue with one for peace, the other for power, but both used force!" Alexander roared, cutting through their upcoming spiel before it could take shape, his words shattering their momentum like glass beneath a warhorse's hoof.

"Both broke rules." Alexander's voice dropped at that moment but not in volume, but in weight.

The battlefield seemed to lean in as his words echoed across the blood-soaked ground because morale is more delicate than people think. 

Soldiers need conviction, that is a fact.

But undead only need commands.

"History cares naught for logic or ideals, only those who won." Alexander then started to utterly smash the morale into the ground in which the undead rose from.

"And I do not lose, I conquer."

In this proclamation, Alexander's eyes swept across the gathered knights of the Round Table.

"You speak of honor, of courage, of a king raised on my stories but let me ask you, Knights of Camelot, to the soldiers of Camelot!" Alexander raised his spear, its point gleaming beneath the blood-stained night.

"Where is your king now?"

That single question pierced deeper than any blade as one of the Captain Britain's flinched, just slightly, but enough to let his focus wavered.

The Dullahan fighting him sensed it.

THUD

A clean, merciless strike was leveraged from that moment of hesitation but with it, caused a head roll across the battlefield.

Severed with such brutal precision from the former Captain Britain as the Dullahan cleaved him down in one ruthless motion.

Then came the others. 

Wraith Knights and the lone Death Knight Commander surged forward, spears and blades piercing the dark as they crashed into the shielded ranks of the remaining Captain Britains. 

"You fight for an ideal of a fallen man, but history doesn't care for anything other than those left standing." Alexander spoke, degrading all their values with nothing more than the proof of the man fighting behind him.

"You ride with fables, I ride with truth."Alexander spoke, his tiny paw lifting up to the resounding explosion in the distance that held Ricky

Bucephalus stomped once, the ground quaking beneath his hooves.

"Now cease your words and come, knights. Show me what remains of your 'table'."

 WHOOSH

From the ground, a wide crater smoked from the dirt and dust of what had upended it as a small faint green flicker sounded.

Ricky's barrier, once wrapped tightly around him, had corroded and had been eaten away by the lingering effects of Merlyn's magic.

"Would you like a second to recover? I'd be more than happy to let you reach your highest level," Merlyn offered, gesturing calmly toward Ricky.

"This need to slowly build up to an all out brawl is very tedious, something I have done countless times before, and it's rather old." Merlny motioned, his void-color eyes closing as he shook his head at all of this.

"Rather than waiting, let's simply go all out-" Merlyn continued his patient pacing, his eyes never leaving Ricky, as if savoring the moment. 

But Ricky was weirdly enough, thinking.

His mind shifting into overdrive as his body hummed with the awakening of his powers. 

With his intelligence now at a sharp 60, the scattered fragments of knowledge he had gathered, from the cryptic system logs to the lessons absorbed before entering the forest coupled with his already existing understanding of them, clicked together with newfound clarity.

This was more than memory retention; it was understanding.

Because Ricky couldn't only just recall the skills, he remembered the fight itself.

Ricky remembered the entire rhythm, the timing, the openings and counters. 

Every strike, every evasive maneuver, every burst of power played out in his mind like a complex symphony he was now ready to conduct.

His muscles tensed as he began activating his skills one by one, preparing for the storm to come but not blindly, but with understanding. 

Intelligence is often confused for just being 'smart' which is but a label slapped on those who score well on tests or remember things quickly. 

But it's so much more than that.

True intelligence is connection, it's the ability to link ideas, it's recognizing patterns, pulling meaning from utter chaos, and making choices based on not just what is, but what could be. 

It's not just raw knowledge, but what you do with knowledge.

Because in that moment of Merlyn's spiel, he wasn't just about to fight harder.

He was thinking better.

'So I can't kill him with this, but I'd probably be able to hurt him with this.' Ricky thought, his eyes lingering towards the Tungsten blade that was consumed by his eldritch skill.

Ricky saw that the ebony blade simply cut through him but this consumed Tungsten blade dissolved the matter it sliced.

'And I've used a bunch of my mana on this douche nozzle so why not steal some from him while holding his slippery ass down.'

Ricky's directing this towards the Chains of the Abyss so when Ricky tries to bind Merlyn, he does it not just physically but spiritually, siphoning the life force and magical energy that Merlyn uses for healing, aiming to disrupt the regenerative process.

'Then I guess lean into that while attacking him with sh*t that counters it.'

What Ricky means is activating Aura of Harmonious Corruption, sapping Merlyn's will and weakening his magical defenses. 

In doing so he would surround himself with the Trench Coat of Watchful Agony's curse and terrifying psychic terror to disrupt Merlyn's concentration. 

Until Ricky's eldritch-infused weapons like the Venomous Fang of the Abyss and Infernal Sun Flare Bow of Eternal Hunger fire corrupted attacks that warp reality, making it harder for Merlyn's magic to stabilize.

'Then I just sort of feel it out after that.'

Ricky's eyes showed what he meant as they dipped into that familiar shade of void that Merlyn has as he started using Void Sight.

Watching Merlyn become a jumbled mess of threats that morphed into a black goo while using Temporal Insight to predict Merlyn's regenerative timing and movement, seeing if he could attack just before Merlyn can reform. 

Then maybe he would fire his Apocalyptic Solar Convergence arrows from his bow to create zones where space-time and matter warp, preventing Merlyn's healing spells from taking root.

'And then if that sh*t doesn't work, I'll just use my weird ass form.'

Only when forced to the edge would Ricky want to use his Eldritch Abomination form while letting his body fracture and reform at terrifying speed, adapting to every wound with monstrous precision.

He wanted to keep some cards close to the chest, shelving the full access to Chastiefol's forms and Full Counter until the moment truly demanded it.

"Have you finished?" Merlyn asked, patiently waiting in the sky as Ricky just looked up at him.

"Only if it's on your moms tits." Ricky laughed, his crude joke only making Merlyn scoff.

"You're fiendishly disgusting, you know that, right?" Merlyn's eye twitched slightly, the only crack in his stoic demeanor.

With a flick of his hand, Merlyn called forth the black goo, rippling like molten tar as it surged forward.

Intercepting the constructs Ricky had launched, psychic weapons and swirling mass ripped straight from his telekinesis crashing into the living wave of corruption. 

"The only thing that's disgusting is the things your mom would do for a dollar." Ricky barked, laughing even harder as the weight of tension cracked beneath his voice.

Without hesitation, he bent his knees and exploded upward as the telekinetic force rippled off his boots as he was about to launch himself toward Merlyn like a living projectile.

"You speak in filth because you have nothing to offer in a conversation." Merlyn intoned coldly, corroding the constructs before sending the molten tar-like liquid towards Ricky.

"At least it's better than hearing about you professing your love for that cuck Arthur-"

"Wait," Ricky muttered, his tone no longer mocking, but curious as he stopped bending his knees to point at Merlyn. 

"You did cuck Arthur, didn't you?" Ricky suddenly realized, watching as Merlyn's expression didn't shift, but the silence that followed was damning.

"Guinevere wasn't the right woman to rule at Arthur's side but she is like a pest, always appearing in every reality, so I did what needed to be done to-"

"Have him all to yourself?" Ricky cut in, watching Merlyn's expression tighten as the topic hit a nerve, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Wow~" Ricky said, incredulous, stalling as the Shadow Broker slowly peeled away another piece of paper, the very perception of reality bending under his presence.

"Is that how you like your boys, Merlyn?" Ricky prodded, deliberately pressing into the subject that clearly unsettled the wizard.

"Enough-"

"I mean, you controlled everything Arthur became, right? But I bet the things you couldn't control drove you insane." Ricky chuckled heartily, using his natural word choice that got under anyones skin after recalling that Guinevere always seemed to pop up in his life since Merlyn wanted Lady Roma as Arthur's bride.

"How'd it make you feel when he started making his own choices like the one that got his ass killed, huh?" Ricky asked, watching Merlyn's calm face start to crack into the spiteful, hateful man he always was behind that gentle smile he wore like some sort of mask.

"I said enough-"

"Bet that didn't get you hard since its seems like you only love your boys neat and submissive-"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Merlyn roared, Shadow Broker actually tearing through as the grand wizard showed genuine anger towards Ricky for the first time.

"I loved him-" Merlyn growled, finally revealing actual emotion beneath all that poise.

SNORT

"I BET YOU DID!" Ricky laughed, cutting him off without hesitation but Merlyn didn't wait for a response as he charged forward, eyes blazing.

"YOU SMALL LITTLE MAN CHILD!" Merlyn roared while Shadow Broker flared wide, parchment pages unraveling Merlyn's unleashed fury.

In an instant, all of Ricky's constructs were shredded to pieces as Merlyn twisted the very fabric of space, causing them to collapse inward on themselves.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING? YOU THINK PROVOKING ME INTO ATTACKING YOU WILL CHANGE ANYTHING?" Merlyn roared, fully aware of Ricky's plan but striking anyway with relentless fury.

"I BUILT THE BASIS OF THIS WORLD'S MAGICAL SYSTEM!"

BOOM

A shockwave erupted from Merlyn's outstretched hand, the goo slamming into each other which forced the very air to ripple like a pulse of raw, unfiltered power. 

But Ricky simply planted his feet firmly, raising the ebony shield just in time as the artifact flared with a fierce blue aura, absorbing the impact as the shockwave crashed against it.

'I GIVE GROUND TO NO ONE, NOT EVEN MY CREATOR!' The Ebony Shield roared, its surface glowing brighter as blue spirals of energy radiated from the depths of his resolve as it was pushed deeper into it.

"I CREATED THE VERY ARMOR AND WEAPONS YOU WEAR!" Merlyn continued, his voice booming with undeniable authority.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Ricky ruptured violently, jagged fissures spreading like wildfire as dark energy surged up to meet him. 

Without hesitation, Ricky leapt into the air, going towards Merlyn instead of from him as the great wizard slashed his hands in the air.

"I AM-"

BAM

"A F*CKING LOSER!" Ricky interrupted Merlyn's tirade, slamming his forehead into Merlyn's oncoming figure.

At that moment, Ricky's corruption aura exploded outward, leeching into Merlyn's defenses.

From beneath the folds of his trench coat, hundreds of eyes burst open as each one glowing with psychic malice, locking onto Merlyn, gnawing at his focus and will.

From Ricky's back, the Chains of the Abyss shrieked out, aiming to bind Merlyn physically and spiritually. 

As Merlyn tried to summon his goo-like magic, psychic barriers suddenly wrapped around each conjured droplet, causing them to corrode the shields instead of following his command, disrupting his spellcasting entirely.

Ricky's blackened gaze flared with Void Sight and amid the shifting streams of his fate, a single red thread shimmered, an opening. 

Ricky seized it.

The tungsten machete, consumed and reforged by his eldritch power, sliced into Merlyn's side. 

But it's main use wasn't the cutting but how it dissolved, eating away at his matter like rust on divine metal.

But through that attack Merlyn didn't even flinch.

In fact, he let it happen because for a split second, he believed Ricky couldn't hurt him as Shadow Broker's influence nurtured that lie.

And then it hit him.

The pain but it was the realization that Ricky had caused that which made Merlyn utterly disgusted as that false sense of security Shadow Broker had was shattered.

And then came the crescendo.

The bow, the one that had been drawn for what felt like an eternity, and the one that Ricky had been hiding behind his back with his other spectral arms.

Was finally loosened.

Apocalyptic Solar Convergence is a special attack that belongs to this eldritch bow and has the power of a collapsing star, a concentrated blast of dark, burning fire. 

Upon release, it tears through all barriers, magical or physical, erasing them from existence as it leaves behind a warped space where the laws of time and matter no longer apply as the shot consumes the very energy it strikes, leaving only oblivion in its wake.

"Ah, I see." Merlyn murmured, his voice dipped in a strange clarity, a quiet calm slithering beneath the attack he was about to take head on.

This was when the arrow launched forward.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The Apocalyptic Solar Convergence arrow no longer wavering, no longer restrained, seemingly tore through the veil of reality. 

A burning core of collapsing starlight surged like a divine verdict, the moment it slammed into Merlyn's being.

But what made this horrid attack so beautiful was the moment it struck, existence seemed to ripple.

Barriers shattered like brittle glass.

Merlyn's magic, seemingly so ancient and untouchable, looked to unravel at the seams.

Even time itself stuttered and wept, hiccuping in fractured beats as the arrow's hunger gnawed at the fabric of reality.

When this occurred, Ricky was thrown back and did so without resistance.

He let it carry him, body spiraling, trench coat flapping wildly, all while behind him the explosion flared.

A mini-star igniting for a single second.

WHOOOOOSH

Until it disappeared in the next one.

The vacuum of space pulled it all in with one breath, no sound.

Before space seemed to exhale.

A deafening, concussive ring of pressure slammed outward as the wind erupted in every direction.

Everything, even Camelot, shook as if mourning something vast and sacred.

Ricky regained his balance mid-air as he lightly stood on a psychic platform he conjured but even then, his eyes never left the epicenter.

Where Merlyn had once hovered.

CLAP

CLAP

CLAP

It was then that two hands suddenly formed from that very spot, black goo rising from the earth and floating before where he had once stood while reforming him.

"Well done." Merlyn's voice emerged from out of nowhere, his figure gradually re-forming from nothing like a god resurrected from myth. 

"I truly believed that you could never comprehend such power but to wield it, impressive." Merlyn's body slowly pulled itself together as more claps followed, almost as if mocking the silence that tried to take hold around him.

"The compression was equal to a fallen star, the warping of causality., and the sapping of my regeneration, truly brilliant." Merlyn took a step forward as the terrain beneath him healed unnaturally fast as even color returned in reverse.

"Did you really believe it would work, really?" Merlyn chuckled with almost no malice in his voice, just ancient pity. 

"A collapsing star against the man who wrote the physics of this world with a quill carved from dragonbone?" Merlyn raised his hand, cleansing everything while licking away the damage, reweaving his robes mid-air, even stitching his burnt skin back into form.

"I think you're mistaken about what I am Ricky for I do not stand above this world." Merlyn stepped forward, understanding that RIcky has some sort of skill that can influence the mind and keeping himself in check while monitoring himself. 

"I am this world-"

"Hey, I hurt ya didn't I?" Ricky asked, looking at Merlyn who squinted his eyes at the interruption.

"Like, you felt pain when I cut ya, right?" Ricky asked, looking at Merlyn who slowly sighed.

"Yes, Ricky, you have successfully inflicted an all but minor wound upon me. A superficial disruption, which, if you bothered to observe, has already healed." Merlyn gestured to the spot where the wound had once been, now whole and flawless again, like time had erased the offense.

Then, it was here, that the mask that Merlyn had always worn had vanished.

"Now, I'm done playing."

"Hey, me too." Ricky laughed, slicking his hand back through his hair while setting down the Ebony Blade for a bit.

"Now, we get to have some real f*cking fun." Ricky laughed, since his words weren't for show, they were a cue and his eyes didn't trail toward Merlyn, they trailed toward the presence looming behind him.

Merlyn's eyes widened within that sliver of a second passing by, feeling a prickle of ancient fear crawling down his spine, one he hadn't felt in centuries. 

That sensation, almost as if divine weight was pressing down against him.

It was then that he turned.

And saw Asteiron, the berserking Demi-God, winding up a fist that looked like it could punch through worlds.

BOOOOOOOOOM

The impact was a seismic event as even light fractured, the sky twisted, and Merlyn was launched like a ragdoll through the air, tumbling end over end until he finally regained control, stopping himself midair with a furious wave of magic.

"Also, I got another favor I want to ask of you, if that's cool." 

If you remember, back in chapter 176, Ricky asked Asterion for yet another favor on top of already guarding the failed bargaining piece that was Lady Roma.

Like an onion, this whole damn fight was layered, plans inside of plans, moments seeded like time bombs.

Because even Asteiron's arrival wasn't just some flashy entrance, it was premeditated.

Flashback

"Ask away." Asterion smiled tentatively, looking down at Ricky who shamelessly smiled back at him.

"Could you also help me kick Merlyn's ass?" Ricky asked bluntly, no hesitation in his tone.

Asteiron paused, the way only gods did when weighing consequences mortals could barely comprehend.

He didn't like stepping into Ricky's battles that were meant to be his growth, one earned by giving blood to a cause, and feeling the relief after you succeed, knowing nothing was in vain.

But even Asteiron could see it: Merlyn wasn't just a trial. 

He was a figure from a higher playing field, something Ricky had never once fought on such a calcauted level before. 

And Asteiron, for all his divine detachment, had come to care about the boy who never shut up, who challenged things far above his pay grade and still grinned like he was winning.

"Very well-"

"Yes-"

"If you manage to deal a true blow and bring forth the feeling we all know as pain."

End Of Flashback

Asterion's condition had been fulfilled and because of it, the minotaur joined the fight.

"Oh come on Merlyn, you didn't think I'd fight fair, did you?" Ricky asked, patting Asterion's back as the minotaur looked towards Merlyn who simply stared at him.

"I only fight to f*cking win."