Marvel: Impregnation System

"I only fight to f*cking win." Ricky shrugged, looking at Merlyn who was surveying Asterion's form that slowly squared up next to the black knight.

"Asterion, forefather of minotaurs, the Demi-god who is the embodiment of fury, survival, and will made physical." Merlyn suddenly introduced Asterion for him, beating the minotaur to the punch with a calm expression.

However, although calm in his exterior, Merlyn's mind was spinning while he stared toward the new arrival Asterion, the demi-god Ricky had somehow managed to entangle himself with.

Asterion's arrival alone was enough to fracture the tempo of Merlyn's perfectly calculated battle, especially since the demi-god wasn't meant to appear until several blows later.

His jaw remained steady, his posture straight, his tone untouched but deep in the chambers of his mind, alarms rang louder than the war drums echoing through Otherworld.

Although it was true, entirely true, that Merlyn sought for Camelot to be one breath from ruin, he could not let it actually fall. 

The idea of Camelot's collapse was a ritual in itself, a balancing act that would feed into the resurrection he so much hoped for.

But if Camelot truly fell, if ruin became reality rather than threat, then everything would be for nought and the very foundation that he'd built would fracture beyond repair.

It had to be real enough to wound, but never enough to die.

That was the curse of the story he'd authored.

This original test to see if Ricky was capable of defeating him now became life or death with the arrival of Asterion.

The second he allowed himself to lose completely would be the second where Ricky would completely annihilate Camelot.

'Though I expected his intervention, his arrival was too soon.' Merlyn thought inwardly, gazing upon another Demi-god as if he wasn't surprised at all.

'This needs to be perfect, it has to be.' Merlyn thought solemnly, knowing that everything he had planned needed to be restructured entirely.

"Though it is strange to see you, Asterion." Merlyn spoke lightly, his tone laced with a calm amusement that barely masked the razor-sharp calculation behind his words as he sought to buy time.

"Usually, when you grace my attention, you've already descended into madness from your long seclusion." Merlyn words made Asterion slowly squint his eyes, his hand wrapping more tightly around his glowing red axe.

"It's always one person, a woman that makes your variants all seclude themselves but I can't put a finger to the name." Merlyn tapped his lip, pacing back and forth as he suddenly had a lightbulb form atop his head.

"Europa."

That single word made Asterion's unusual calm eyes blaze with a rage as the minotaur exhaled through his nose.

He took a solemn, deep breath, gathering himself as Merlyn watched the scene unfold, the corners of his lips twitching in an almost-smile, if only the next move didn't snap him back to stone-cold seriousness.

"Ah, I see I hit a nerve-"

Pffffft

Asterion couldn't hold it in any longer as the laughter burst out, rumbling from deep within his chest, breaking the tension in the air like a sudden thunderclap.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Asterion's laughter boomed, shaking the very air as he doubled over, the sound deep and uncontrollable. 

Ricky, lounging casually at the side, couldn't help but join in, his finger pointing towards Merlyn with a mocking grin, as if the great wizard himself was the joke. 

"I apologize, it was rude of me to suddenly laugh at your words but yes, her name was Europa." Asterion showed a warm smile, looking completely unbothered as although he cherished her name, Merlyn's words held no meaning to the gentle minotaur.

"I'll follow your lead." Asterion smiled, looking at Ricky who started walking forward until he slowly conjured steps as if building up.

"I got the skies, get my back on the ground will ya?" Ricky said with a smirk, nodding towards Asterion as he ascended into the sky, each step lighter than the last until his feet no longer touched the earth.

His body lifted, slow and deliberate, as his telekinesis wrapped around him like an invisible harness, trying to quickly get the hang of it as Merlyn realized something.

"That girl of yours, Raven was it?" Merlyn pondered out loud, keeping his focus on both of the two opponents before him.

"Didn't she go into labor?" Merlyn continued to press, his words seemingly not bothering Ricky but it was when their eyes met that a mystery had been solved.

"And didn't you just start to exhibit signs of Telekinesis?" Merlyn wondered, furthering into this train of thought as Ricky lifted higher.

Merlyn could never truly deduce, in the short time he had studied Ricky, where the boy had acquired such a vast arsenal of powers or more perplexingly, why he never used them all at once.

But it all clicked into place, like a puzzle piece sliding into position, the moment he watched Ricky lift himself into the air with telekinesis.

Ricky wavered in the sky like a bird freshly learning how to fly, not because he lacked power, but because he hadn't trained it. 

Merlyn's eyes narrowed, two immediate deductions forming in his mind: One, Ricky was like a gambler hoarding aces, selectively hiding powers, intentionally misplaying until it mattered most.

Every move calculated which didn't really fit the loudmouth mobsters style.

Or two and the more disturbing train of thought, that he didn't have these powers until now.

"What a strange coincidence-"

"If this is about me bringing up your little boyfriend earlier, then let me be the first to say-" Ricky interrupted, lazily hovering above Merlyn before he suddenly launched himself at the grand wizard.

"I'm sorry!" Ricky yelled, a fake apology wrapped in unhinged joy while trying to get off that certain topic as he plummeted toward Merlyn like a meteor.

Merlyn barely lifted his hand before Ricky's body collided into him like a collapsing wave, his eyes void as the threads pulsed within his view as the ebony blade swung down.

A thousand eyes opened beneath Ricky's trench coat at that exact moment, their psychic glare anchoring themselves to Merlyn's consciousness like hooks in flesh.

But instead of using that familiar black goo, Merlyn started whispering though not in any tongue of this world, but in the raw language of an anti-being belonging to the void, a soundless syllable that distorted even the concept of sound.

The space between them buckled, not from pressure, but from negation as a magical zone where the concept of swinging was suspended.

Ricky's blade sort of paused mid-swing since although Merlyn couldn't influence the ebony blade, he could influence the arms that held them.

"What the f*ck." Ricky said, looking at his limbs locked mid-motion, not by restraint, but by being caught in a feedback loop as his nerves kept telling him the strike had already happened when it hadn't.

Merlyn raised his hand just as Asterion charged, the minotaur's hooves digging trenches into the earth as the ground quaked beneath him. 

It was less like a run and more like the world was trying to get out of his way.

Merlyn held up his hand as a circle of black-etched runes flared to life mid-air, forcing the space between them to fold like paper.

But then the world around them flashed in a tint of green.

Ricky, hovering above, spread his smile wider, his eyes glowing with that predatory grin on his lips.

From the spaces between his fingers, fire began to bleed.

Not normal fire but sovereign fire, emboldened by the weight of his presence.

His will, now matured and monstrous, poured into the Pyrokinesis, turning it into something far more terrifying: Will-driven flame that burned not the body, but the spirit.

WHOOM

The air around Merlyn distorted as the green magical field cracked under the sudden weight of Ricky's aura.

Flames crawled along invisible veins in space, turning Merlyn's runes into embers, his protective barrier hissing under it all.

"You pest-" Merlyn stated coldly, watching the green flames climb over his runes like creeping ivy.

But that remark ended the instant the air split as even the green flames parted, not by magic or even by anything related to the Netherworld.

They parted by a single presence, a punch.

Asterion's fist surged forward, a freight train of divine might wrapped in mortal muscle as his eyes flared red, and with that glow came a tremor that rippled across reality itself.

Even the negation zone Merlyn had conjured, the one meant to deny the concept of cutting, striking, or even touching, was crushed under the pure force of the punch.

BOOOOOOM

The wizard's body jerked, launched backward like a divine arrow fired from the bow of Olympus.

The sound could only ever be compared to thunder as Merlyn went sailing across the field, the wind behind him catching fire as the atmosphere collapsed inward and burst.

"Holy sh*t." Ricky laughed, holding the ebony blade over his shoulder and sort of watching Merlyn slowly start to regain his balance while tumbling through the landscape.

"I missed." Asterion squinted, knowing that his fist should've hit it's intended spot but it was as if the moment his fist connected, Merlyn moved.

"Looked like you rocked his sh*t to me-"

"No, he merely let himself be carried by the force of my punch but somehow avoided the collison." Asterion frowned, knowing that his punch never connected and Merlyn was blown away by the sheer force.

As Asterion's fist barreled toward him, Merlyn didn't move in the traditional sense and instead, he invoked his anti-conceptual magic, briefly unraveling the very concept of his physical presence in that moment.

To Ricky it seemed like he had successfully landed a hit but to Asterion's eyes, it looked as if Merlyn's body flickered, like a ghost slipping through reality, because Merlyn's form wasn't merely dodging; it was temporarily deconstructing the idea of being there. 

In that fraction of a second, Merlyn's existence at that exact point became paradoxical as his body was simultaneously there and not there.

"I always hate how pesky divinity can be." Merlyn smiled, wiping the dark, almost tar-like blood from his mouth, a souvenir from Ricky's scorched runes and Asterion's punch as he only negated a large portion of the damage.

But not all of it.

"You Demi-gods are such brutes in that area-"

'I need to wait for the right moment.' Ricky thought, pretending to listen to Merlyn but in reality, was actually thinking about when to use his full counter.

'Focus and use us, to our fullest.' The Ebony Blade spoke within his mind and it didn't go unnoticed as Ricky suddenly realized something.

Every power he'd called upon and used against Merlyn be it his eldritch sh*t, his X-Gene, and even the very flesh of his body was vulnerable, if only slightly, to Merlyn's anti-conceptual magic.

His attacks could be unraveled, his constructs negated, and all while his strength was chipped away.

But there was one thing Merlyn's magic couldn't touch.

One thing that didn't bend to the grand wizard's rules within Ricky's arsenal of trades.

"Alright, Chalice, give me a hit." Ricky's voice was calm, but laced with the deadly confidence that always went all in on the things that worked, discarding the rest.

Merlyn's lips twitched, barely suppressing his expression as he observed the brazen display as the fool before him finally figured it out

With every power Ricky unleashed, Merlyn's mind raced, recalculating counters, refining defenses, seeking any weakness. 

Yet, no matter how fiercely he pushed, his anti-conceptual magic faltered against one thing: the ebony artifacts.

"Good~" Merlyn's lips didn't twitch into a frown but an actual smile as he held out his hands.

"LET US SEE WHAT IT IS YOU HAVE IN STORE FOR ME RICKY LUCIANO!" Merlyn beckoned forward, excited to see how far Ricky would push himself.

SNIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Ricky huffed the ebony chalices fumes, his eyes immediately glazing over as tens of thousands of screens appeared before him.

"More!" Ricky spoke, furthering into the ebony chalice's effects as those tens of thousands became hundreds of thousands as he inhaled more fumes.

"COME ON!" Ricky yelled, his eyes, ear, and mouth bleeding as he expanded even further into a million.

Every second, blood dripped as it started to show as the cracks of his helmet leaked with his black blood.

Drip

Drip

Drip

Black blood dripped down his black knight attire, the fight becoming silent as Merlyn and Asteiron simply looked at Ricky to dictate what would happen next.

"Oh, yeah~" Ricky's grin widened in sheer ecstasy, a rush of exhilaration flooding through him as he leaned forward as a surge of crimson electricity began to coil and pulse across his skin, crackling like living fire. 

'I'm ready.'

BOOOOM

Then, with a violent roar, the red electricity exploded outward, surrounding the ebony blade and Ricky's body like a storm of unstoppable force. 

'I am ready.' 

Strapped to his arm, the Ebony Shield shimmered with an impenetrable dark blue sheen, an artifact that could block anything, be it physical force, magical assault, or even conceptual attacks while signaling towards Ricky.

'I too am ready.'

The Ebony Crown gleamed darkly atop Ricky's head, the artifact acting akin to a potent amplifier, pooling and magnifying the powers of the Ebony Blade, Shield, and Chalice into a singular, overwhelming force.

'READY, READY, READDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!'

The chalice happily finished this coming together moment, dancing for joy as it sent a steady stream of white mist into Ricky's being.

'Cut through it, through everything, through reality itself, THROUGH THAT BASTARD!' The Ebony Blade yelled within Ricky's wind, pushing its user forward.

Originally, Ricky had used the ebony blade to cut physical objects while using it like a regular sword.

Then, he started to slip into the groove of how to wield it, learning to cut through space even if it was just the space between him and his target.

But now, to the spectators of Merlyn and Asterion, Ricky had revealed what he had found from those million different outcomes he had huffed from the chalice.

Ricky saw a glimpse, an image, of a scene that came about from a single woven thread amidst billions of them.

Ricky's blacked eyes narrowed, the ebony blade humming with that red electricity as it pulsed in his grasp. 

Because what he was focusing on was not on Merlyn's flesh or magic, but on the invisible thread binding the grand wizard to the Void, the very source where he got this annoyingly overpowered magic.

Then, with a sudden, fluid motion, Ricky swung the blade through the air. 

WHOOSH

The space itself seemed to shudder as the blade cleaved through the intangible fabric linking Merlyn to the Void. 

The connection, one that had held for centuries, snapped like a mere string severed.

For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hold its breath as Merlyn's usual calm faltered; his eyes flickered with confusion and pain as the flow of void energy stuttered and weakened. 

The loss sent a jolt through his being which resulted in his power essentially faltering.

Asterion's body roared to life as his berserk state corroded his white fur with a tinge of red as the minotaur barreled towards Merlyn who simply smiled.

Merlyn's lips curled into a calm, knowing smile all through Asterion's charge, his berserk fury burning hot like wildfire, painting his once-white fur with streaks of crimson. 

"Ah, this feeling takes me back~" Merlyn said unbothered, withdrawing deep within his consciousness, retreating to a realm beyond the physical battle and into the liminal space where the source of his power stirred.

To his connection with the void.

To everyone born outside the void, unless you establish your dominion within it you are tied to the eldritch dimension by a thread.

One that was cut in two, the two ends dangling and slithering around until Merlyn's two hands slowly molded the ends into a singular thread that bound them once more.

BOOOOOOM

Asterion's mighty axe thundered down, cleaving through the air with earth-shaking force, splitting Merlyn's form in two as if he were a nesting doll while inside was more black goo. 

Yet as the blade struck, a creeping, serpentine sensation slithered toward Asterion's mind, tendrils of doubt and corruption probing his consciousness which instinctively made him explode out his divinity.

COUGH

COUGH

Asterion staggered back, violently coughing as thick black goo spilled from his mouth as Merlyn had reconnected his power right at the occurrence of the strike. 

The corrupted essence of Merlyn's anti-conceptual magic had latched onto him in return, seeping into his divine form like a poison before the minotaur promptly expelled it with his latent divinity.

"I remember the first time Percival accidentally cut my connection to the Netherworld, what a moment to behold." Merlyn said calmly, his two halves morphing back into one as Asterion's fierce expression gazed up at him after expelling all the black goo.

"What a shame it was when I had to manipulate Mordred and Morgana to kill him afterwards." Merlyn sighed, expressing it as if it was nothing unavoidable as Ricky's being roared in red electricity as he lunged at him.

However as the two perpetrators in this war slowly grappled further into the fight, Camelot was slowly turning into a battlefield as the two forces held firm at the gates.

"PUSH FORWARD, BREAK THEIR LINES!" Alexander bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos as he led the charge to shatter Camelot's defenses at the gate.

BAM

Bucephalus slammed into Captain Britain's wall of defense, breaking through with brutal force, only for the breach to instantly flood with more enemy bodies, closing the gap before the undead could exploit it.

"TOGETHER KNIGHTS, FOR CAMELOT-"

BAM

However the battle cry was interrupted by Bucephalus's powerful hind hooves crashed into the charging Sir Tristran. 

The Knights of the Round Table struggled to subdue the mighty warhorse, but it let out a thunderous roar, crackling with lightning like the fury of the Gordian Bull itself.

CLANG

Sir Bor tried to stab his sword into Bucephalus's mighty hide, but as he lunged forward, another sword slammed down, knocking his blade to the ground.

CLANG

However even with a black residue coating the blade, all six of the round table recognized this blade as the mythical one of Arondight that belonged to one wielder.

"Sir Lancelot." Sir Benderve spoke, gripping the sword with his only hand left as Sir Bors backed up to the other knights.

However, before Sir Bors could voice his outrage, five other undead knights solemnly joined his side, their armor creaking with age yet gleaming with a rotted light. 

However it was with their arrival that all twelve of the legendary Round Table knights were finally reunited once more.

"Leave the round table to us Sir Alexander." Lancelot spoke calmly, slowly raising his blade to the knights who all immediately became on guard.

Although they were all chosen by Merlyn, the sword chose Lancelot as the most talented knight to ever grace the round table.

"Follow my lead." Lancelot spoke to the other knights as he lunged forward towards Sir Bors.

Sir Bors charged, sword raised high, but before his blade could strike, Lancelot's Arondight shimmered with its cursed radiance. 

CLANG

The swords clashed, but the cursed blade absorbed every ounce of Bors' strength, only for Lancelot's strength to make the golden knight's arms tremble.

BAM

Kicking Sir Bors stomach, the knight stumbled back and as he did, Lancelot held Arondight above his head.

CLANG

Sir Gawain brought his sword down in a powerful arc, only for the blade to glance off as Lancelot angled Argonight above his head, guiding the strike away. 

Sparks flared from the clash of steel, and in the same motion, Lancelot twisted his body to the left, aiming a swift counterstrike toward Gawain's exposed side.

Before Argonight could strike Sir Gawain, the knights linked their powers, sharing their strength freely as their speed surged as one of them lunged backward with supernatural swiftness.

WHOOSH

The blade struck nothing as Lancelot's decrepit form stared at the six knights, each bound to the golden tethers they so willingly shared amongst themselves.

"You were destined for more-" Sir Gawain's voice faltered, his eyes fixed on Lancelot, for to him, he had always been the best of them.

But then through his drawn out hero speech, something slithered behind.

"WE ALL WERE!" Sir Mordred hissed, his voice returning after Ricky had dragged him back from death.

"MERLYN STOLE OUR LIVES FOR A PROPHECY, A FAIRYTALE THAT HAS BEEN SPUN FOR YEARS UNDER HIS LIES!" Sir Mordred roared, his body pulsing with a dark energy taht was his passive skill. 

Shadows writhed across his skin as necrotic power radiated from him, sapping the strength of those nearby and with a furious snarl, he swung his claws down at Sir Gawain.

Venom seeped from Mordred's claws, the dark liquid splattering across Sir Gawain's armor. 

At first, he felt no pain and no physical abnormalities until, without warning, his resolve turned to ice, his will paralyzed by something far deeper than poison.

BAM

Mordred's tail lashed out, striking Sir Gawain and sending him skidding across the battlefield as he rolled to his feet only then realizing he had let go of something crucial.

'Is he poisoning my spirit-'

CLANG

Sir Gawain's thoughts were cut short as Sir Gareth rushed to his aid, only for the undead Sir Kay to crash into him mid-sprint, slamming them both to the ground.

"Must it be this way-ARGH!" Sir Gareth began, reciting the same tired plea until Sir Kay opened his beak in a twisted grin.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" 

Sir Kay let out a screech that rippled through the air, piercing and unnatural, riddling Sir Gareth's heart with fear as his voice caught in his throat, and confusion overtook him as something strange began to happen.

BAM

A blackened fang-shaped sword pierced Sir Gareth's side while he stood frozen in confusion, his body jerking violently. 

The undead Sir Gawain, driven by a maddening hunger, surged forward as the scent of juicy flesh pulled him deeper into bloodlust.

But before he could reach his prey, Sir Bedivere stepped in, slamming his shield into Gawain's face with brutal force. 

The blow knocked him back, only for the shield to come crashing down again in relentless defiance.

CLANG

Ash smoldered across his golden shield as Sir Gaheris, now a wraith, rained down blow after blow. 

Each strike sent embers spiraling through the air, until a storm of ash and fire engulfed the battlefield. 

In the heart of it, all the knights of the Round Table, both present and fallen, were locked in a frenzied clash, a rabid display of brotherhood turned to bloodshed.

"YES KNIGHTS, CRUSH YOUR FORMER ALLIES AND-" Alexander bellowed out, encouraging the undead knights only for King Britain to have enough of this gerbil.

"DRACONUS, TO ME!" King Britain's voice cut through the chaos like a blade, his hand raised to the storm-wracked skies.

Alexander's war cry faltered, cut off by a sudden blast of searing fire that rained down from above, engulfing the battlefield in a roaring inferno. 

Through the blaze, Bucephalus charged forth, bursting from the wall of flame, his hooves pounding the earth with fury.

Then came Draconus.

He erupted from the heavens with his colossal wings tearing through the clouds, scales shimmering, and eyes ablaze with celestial fire. 

With a roar that shook the bones of friend and foe alike, he slammed into the battlefield.

The sacred steed of King Britain, called upon only in moments of true reckoning.

BOOM

The castle grounds of Camelot were interrupted with the landing of Draconus whose being slammed down into the heat of this battle and Alexander's eyes reflected the sight of this being.

Dragon Man or Draconus is a marvel character and a towering, winged android half-dragon, half-machine while standing over 20 feet tall with a hulking, broad frame of pale lavender-grey synthetic hide. 

His skin is thick and leathery, resistant like tank armor, and crisscrossed with riveted seams hinting at his artificial origins. 

His muscular limbs end in clawed, three-fingered hands and taloned feet that crack the ground with every step. 

A massive tail, over seven feet long, whips behind him with coiled power as his wings, leathery and bat-like, stretch over 35 feet tip-to-tip, built with internal antigravity tech but sheathed in dragon-like membrane that flaps with mechanical precision. 

His face is brutish with glowing red eyes set deep under a heavy brow, jagged metal teeth, and vents along his throat that expel steam or fire. 

Horns curve back from his skull, completing the image of a terrifying synthetic beast.

Though it's only weakness is that for all its synthetic brain, it has the intellectual capacity of a dog.

"BURN ALL THESE PUTRID UNDEAD-"

"BUCEPHALUS, FORWARD!" Alexander shouted, cutting off King Britain's command and halting his plan to aid the troops with a sudden charge.

Draconus tilted his head however, puzzled by the horse's movements until then, Bucephalus flexed its powerful legs and sprang forward with unstoppable force.

BAM

"DRACONUS!" King Britain yelled urgently, gripping tightly as Draconus staggered back as Bucephalus had thrown its full weight, slamming hard into the monster's head.

CRUNCH

Falling against a section of Camelot's walls, bricks and stones crumbled to cushion Draconus's fall as he clutched his swollen head.

"Enemy, Draconus! Enemy! Bad guy!" King Britain shouted urgently into Draconus's ear, struggling to make him understand what the horse was. 

But Draconus only shook his head slowly, confusion clouding his eyes.

"A-RAGGGGG!" Draconus roared in agony, eyes locking onto Bucephalus as the horse landed heavily and turned toward them.

"AHHHHHHH!" Captain Britain screamed, torn apart by Alexander's legion as the commander tore off his head with brutal precision before consuming his soul.

Boney scrambled to drain any soul he could all while Chuck yanked him back so that he wouldn't be killed.

Screams echoed across the battlefield as the once-balanced fight began to ever so slowly tip in Ricky's forces favor. 

With every undead chimera clawing at the golden cloaks and cannon fodder, chaos spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, Alexander's legion filled with spear bearers pressed forward relentlessly, trying to crush the front line that the Britain corps was barely holding.

"ATTACK, DRACONUS! BURN THEM TO ASHES WITH YOUR PURIFYING GRACE!" King Britain roared, commanding fiercely as Draconus's stomach bulged before he unleashed a torrent of fire.

Flames surged across the battlefield, roaring toward Alexander who laughed maniacally as Bucephalus charged forward without hesitation.

BOOM

The ground outside Camelot cracked and soured into the air as flashes rippled outward with relentless rhythm, nearly every second.

Ricky's blade surged forward just as the thread connecting Merlyn to the Void snapped then Asterion charged with unstoppable force.

Divinity spiraled his axe in a deadly arc, slashing fiercely as his eyes deepened into a fiery red, the Minotaur descending further into a berserk frenzy with every passing second.

BOOM

BOOOM

BOOOOOM

Asterion's might crashed into Merlyn with every severed strand of his power, his strength digging deeper and deeper into the grand wizard's defenses.

Merlyn was pushed completely on the defensive as Asterion sought to overwhelm him with raw force, while Ricky relentlessly severed the remaining connections, clearing the way for the Minotaur to deliver a fatal blow.

However, with each attack, Merlyn's window to reconnect with his anti-conceptual magic grew smaller, the seconds slipping away like sand.

Then, at the very moment the final thread was severed, Asterion and Ricky struck in perfect sync as Asterion's axe rippled downward with deadly precision.

The blade struck as the impact shattered the ground in a concussive ripple that cracked through the battlefield like thunder, but of course.

Something was wrong as Asterion's red eyes narrowed.

THWOOM

Like before there was no resistance.

Asterion had completely timed it perfectly and yet, there was no flesh, no black blood.

Because the axe had cleaved through the idea of Merlyn, not Merlyn himself.

Ricky's own senses flared as his eyes caught it too as the thing Asteiron struck wasn't even real. 

It was an echo, a sliver of presence left behind like an afterimage, anchored to the battlefield only by the memory of where Merlyn had just stood.

"Are you f*cking kidding me!" Ricky laughed at the side, looking at this scene as if Merlyn was a nesting doll that he could never get to the end too.

The very second Ricky figured out how to sever his connection, Merlyn started to strategize against this weakness and did so with what he called an Echo.

So prior to this exact moment when they finally got the timing down, he planted an echo which was a conceptual afterimage or a false version of himself, created using his Void magic when it was still active. 

This echo wasn't just a hologram but more like a snapshot of his presence, one that tricked both Asterion's instincts and Ricky's detection. 

It felt real because from a metaphysical standpoint, it was Merlyn for a split second.

So when Ricky severed the thread, and Asterion brought the axe down, they hit the echo instead of Merlyn's true self.

"Now let's begin." Merlyn finally said, having prepared everything while Ricky and Asterion were getting their timing right

At the same time, Merlyn's gaze sharpened toward Asterion, the raging demi-god barreling forward like an unstoppable force of nature.

Without hesitation, Merlyn snapped his fingers.

Snap

The very earth beneath Asterion's thunderous hooves fractured violently, cracks spider webbing outward in an impossible pattern. 

But then, the ground began to twist and fold upon itself but not like a physical break, but a surreal, mind-bending distortion, warping like a Möbius strip made of actual earth..

Asterion's furious charge suddenly met an invisible barrier, and the battlefield around him shimmered, as if reality itself was bending to Merlyn's will.

He wasn't transported anywhere and instead, he was trapped in a conceptual prison: a Null Labyrinth if you will, which was irony in its purest form.

Every step Asterion took twisted back on itself, paths folding endlessly, looping into infinite corridors of shadow and silence.

"And to fix this problem." Merlyn spoke calmly, his voice echoing unnervingly across the battlefield as his being slowly started to morph into two, then four, and then six.

But Merlyn's decision to split himself into six distinct forms came at a steep cost.

While each fragment carried the full memory and consciousness of the original, his vast power was divided equally between them.

The anti-conceptual magic that once surged like an unstoppable tide through his singular form was now fractured as each Merlyn wielded only one-sixth of that immense force.

It was as if his essence had been poured into six smaller vessels, each with enough strength to hold a candle to his original might, but none capable of matching his full, undivided potential.

This dilution made each fragment more vulnerable, their magic less potent, their defenses thinner.

But in exchange, Merlyn gained something else: presence.

It was like a way to simultaneously confront multiple threats, defend against relentless attacks, and buy the vital moments needed to reweave the severed threads of his connection to the Void.

Three Merlyn's started governing the null labyrinth while the other three sent attacks spirling towards Ricky 

"I brought you here for you to show me something." Merlyn's first copy said, thrusting forward a twisting spear of pure black goo, writhing and pulsating with a hunger that sought to latch onto Ricky's arms that held the ebony blade and corrupt it.

"But all you've done is pester this fight further." Merlyn's second copy stated, conjured a shattering wave of fractal shards that didn't just slice flesh but targeted the idea of solidity, threatening to unravel the coherence of anything they touched. 

They exploded outward in a spiraling burst aimed at Ricky's periphery, forcing him to dodge or risk being shredded beyond repair.

"So show me the depths of what your power can reach!" Merlyn's third copy yelled as he summoned a creeping, shadowy miasma that flowed over the ground like liquid night, aiming to cloud Ricky's senses and disrupt the chalice's precognitive visions. 

After succumbing to his anger and how Ricky always seemed to be able to anticipate his attacks, the fog warped perception and twisted time itself, blurring the glimpses of futures the chalice once showed with crystal clarity. 

It worked insidiously to scramble Ricky's mind, disrupting not only his foresight but any ability targeting Merlyn's state of consciousness.

'First throw your powers at the shards and then slice-' The Ebony Blade tried to assess what action he should take next only to be interrupted by Ricky's charge.

"I KNOW, I GOT IT!" Ricky yelled, hurling hundreds of thousands of tiny psychic constructs at the fractal shards. 

The shards shattered under the onslaught, but even as the first spear crashed into the ebony shield, it exploded outward in a brilliant blue aura.

BAM

The spear slammed into the ebony shield, which flared with a burst of blue light only for the blade to come from this side and slice clean through the spear's corrupting magic, disintegrating it into nothingness.

Leaping into the air, Ricky pulsed with crimson electricity, cutting through the tendrils of fog as they tried to coil around him. 

But the spear that had cut in half, morphed into eighteen smaller lances, and whirled back like a deadly storm, lunging toward him with relentless precision.

Instead of plunging deeper into the air, Ricky suddenly conjured a platform beneath his feet and launched himself off it. 

The eighteen smaller lances sped toward the platform but veered away at the last moment as Ricky charged straight at the copies of Merlyn.

With a predatory grin, Ricky surged forward, cutting through the air like a blade, rushing directly toward the scattered copies of Merlyn. 

The lances, now redirected, twisted and arced, aiming to intercept him all while the three copies of Merlyn hovered like dark sentinels, their eyes locked on Ricky's descent. 

Each raised a hand, weaving intricate gestures that summoned three distinct anti-conceptual spells.

From the first slowly pulsed a shimmering shroud that sought to dissolve Ricky's very presence from reality, making his actions meaningless.

The second morphed an invisible trap designed to freeze Ricky's movement by unraveling the concept of motion itself.

Then the last manufactured a pulse that aimed to sever Ricky's connection to his own senses, blurring time and perception.

"I am not amused with this performance so far-"

"OH KISS MY ASS!" Ricky twisted midair, spinning with ruthless grace as his ebony blade flared as he slashed through the shroud, the shimmering mist parting and dissipating under the sword's power as the electricity slashed through every particle.

His ebony shield rose in a seamless arc, blocking the trap's invisible grasp just as it tried to freeze him.

Bolstered by the amplifying force of the ebony crown, Ricky's sword pulsed with crimson electricity as he cut through the manufactured pulse, shattering it like fragile glass.

Adjusting his position, Ricky wound up the ebony sword once more and brought it all the way behind his head as he plummeted towards one of the clones.

With a final, brutal slash, Ricky cleaved through one of the Merlyn copies while the other two held out their hands. 

The copy's form shattered and liquefied instantly, melting into a swirling puddle of black goo that bubbled and hissed like molten ink. 

But this wasn't the same as severing his connection to the Void.

This time, Ricky had sliced clean through Merlyn's conscious control over that body with an incision not through magic, but through selfhood itself.

Merlyn nearly winced as that body still existed, still hummed faintly with lingering magic, but now it was dead weight.

Completely disconnected

"Uh oh, did that hurt?" Ricky muttered to himself, his blade pulsing with heat as the red electricity curled tighter around it as he turned towards the two copies.

"Looks like it did-"

Before he could finish, both Merlyns struck at once. 

One raised his palm, summoning a jagged glyph made from inverted logic of a conceptual blindspot that would cause Ricky's next action to unravel before it even happened.

The other flung forward his staff, and from it surged a cascade of colorless fire, the kind that burned away identity, memory, and self-recognition. 

It wasn't meant to scorch his body but to burn Ricky's identity as the Black Knight.

But with those split halves, the spells that hurled at him weren't as fast as they were before.

"Well, would you look at that?" 

Ricky spun a full arc midair, the Ebony Blade glowing not just with its natural hunger, but with the force of the Crown, amplifying its cut beyond the physical, beyond the magical, and into the narrative itself.

The next words that were supposed to fill this page were cut out to give way to the awesome sound effect of-

SHRRRRRRRRRING

The inverted logic shattered as the blade passed through, scattering once again like broken glass made of ideas that was like the next four hundred words.

But it was then with this act of deleting that the colorless fire surged forward.

CLANG

The Ebony Shield rose, absorbing the nullfire into its indestructible core as Ricky exploded forward like a black comet, the red lightning now shrieking around him as he came down on one of the two remaining Merlyns.

SLASH

That Merlyn didn't scream but gurgled because this time, the cut didn't destroy his form, it destroyed his presence.

The copy fell, not as goo, but as silence, vanishing into a void pocket with nothing left behind.

Except the last Merlyn clone.

"Well, there will always be trial and error," Merlyn said, reaching out to connect with the puddles, only for Ricky not to lunge at him as expected, but instead at the labyrinth he had conjured.

BOOM

"THESE WALLS CANNOT HOLD ME!"

BOOM

"NO WALLS CAN CHAIN ME!"

BOOM

The Null-Labyrinth, contorting the space around the mighty minotaur, started groaning under the weight of Asterion's divinity.

Each footfall was a detonation, the structure bending, cracking, recoiling from the pure force of the demi-god's advance.

The air thinned, the angles of the space shivered all while Asterion's berserk state was slowly deepening his rage as although he was losing his sanity, his fury was no longer blind; it had purpose. 

It had a target.

And that target was Merlyn.

With each passing second, Asterion's power amplified, like a tidal wave rolling downhill with godlike gravity behind it. 

His axe pulsed, its edge radiating divine pressure as his mind fractured with the image of crushing Merlyn.

The three copies of Merlyn stood along the fractured ridges of the Null-Labyrinth, each one commanding the maze with subtle flicks of their hands while making the walls shift, pitfalls widened, and the conceptual landscape morphed like living parchment. 

Until a pulse of red electricity surged through the very seams of the space.

WHOOSH

The very labyrinth holding Asterion was sliced clean in two, and with a deafening roar, the minotaur bellowed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Asterion's furious cry shattered every illusion as his muscles tensed and rippled with unleashed rage.

THOOOOM

Slamming his fist onto the already fractured ground, Asterion crushed the split halves as they tried to reform, obliterating them completely under the overwhelming might of his berserker fury.

HUFF

HUFF

HUFF

Smoke billowed from the steaming Minotaur's snout as he huffed, muscles contracting and expanding with the divine power coursing through his veins as a hot red glow suddenly pulsed beneath his white fur.

Then Asterion spread his arms wide, lifted his gaze to the sky, and unleashed another maddening roar.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A spell shot toward him, but the Minotaur slammed his unarmed fist into it, his berserk divinity leaking out like an endless well.

BOOOM

The spell was crushed by the raw divinity Asterion held, completely destroying the magic since Merlyn's anti-conceptual sorcery functions by unraveling the ideas and foundations of what they are, how they exist, and why they behave the way they do.

But divinity isn't bound to those rules.

Divinity, especially in beings like Asterion, isn't a concept but an absolute force of will and it's not built on definitions or laws of the world that Merlyn can negate. 

It is belief made real, the kind of power that doesn't follow the logic of form or idea, but rather reshapes form and idea through sheer existence.

It was from that meaning that with a final stomp, the ground beneath him shattered, and the false space collapsed, raining pieces of broken concept and warped geometry. 

Asterion erupted forth, his axe blazing with divine momentum, red mist rising from his fur as the last strands of the cage recoiled away like dying nerves.

"MERLYN DIES!" Asterion bellowed, his intelligence dulled but his voice echoing across the shattered maze. 

Even as he became a beast, the wraith within remained focused.

"That is not good," Merlyn murmured, retreating his copies toward the lone one Ricky had dissolved in the distance. 

Because the idea of splitting himself was now abandoned after witnessing Asterion's berserker fury.

The reason being, at least from Merlyn's point of view, that Asterion hadn't begun in that state.

His berserk fury was far from a switch to be flipped but rather a sort of storm that took time to gather. 

Especially for beings like Asterion, kind by nature, who did not easily give themselves over to emotions they wouldn't willingly direct inward. 

Rage, for Asterion, was not something he accessed lightly. 

It had to be earned, provoked, until it finally surged beyond his control and consumed him.

Like now.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Asterion roared, his voice echoing like thunder as he surged forward, his massive form a blur of raw power.

Ricky was lost to his mind now, wiped clean from his focus.

There was only one target left: Merlyn.

And nothing would stand between them.

BAM

BAM

His footsteps shook the ground beneath him as he rampaged toward Merlyn, who suddenly unleashed a barrage of nearly a dozen spells.

CRUNCH

CRASH

Asterion's fist thundered forward, the very air trembling beneath its weight. 

Before his knuckles even made contact, the spells wove by Merlyn shattered into fragments, unable to withstand the overwhelming force. 

With a brutal impact, the raw power of Asterion's strike obliterated whatever remained, reducing the magical defenses to dust and sending shockwaves rippling outward.

Even then, Merlyn had quietly woven a hidden curse into the very ground beneath them, a subtle snare meant to catch Asterion off guard amid the chaos of spells. 

But as the minotaur's massive hoof came crashing down, that hidden enchantment shattered instantly and crushed under the sheer weight of his step.

BOOM

The earth itself trembled from the impact, the faint magic utterly destroyed beneath his relentless power.

WHOOSH

In the blink of an eye, Merlyn propelled himself into the sky to avoid the attack while regrouping only to lock eyes with Ricky's smile.

"Surprise~" Ricky cackled, slamming the ebony shield into Merlyn's face and driving him downward, then detonated an explosion to keep him from regaining his balance.

BOOM

Merlyn's body was hurled downward as he scrambled to react, anything to defend himself, until Asterion's fist appeared in his line of sight.

"Enough." 

THUMP

That single word escaped Merlyn's lips as the very fabric of space thumped like a horrific machine pounding relentlessly at the heart of Camelot, signaling his desperate attempt to shed his human half.

BOOM

The very space rippled around Merlyn as Asterion's fist crashed down, only for the swirling void to hold it at bay.

Suppressing his human half, Merlyn unleashed his sealed side, his body transforming and reaching its highest potential.

Merlyn's body convulsed as unseen forces writhed beneath his skin, ancient and unfathomable energies clawing their way to the surface. 

The air around him thickened, heavy with the scent of brimstone and the magic of forgotten nightmares.

His flesh began to twist and warp, dark veins bursting with pulsating eldritch light like molten stars trapped beneath a stormy sky. 

Shadows poured from his eyes, transforming them into endless voids that swallowed the light whole. 

The lines of his form blurred and stretched, no longer confined to human shape but sprawling into something vast and incomprehensible before a monstrous silhouette crowned with writhing tendrils of shadow and fire awakened.

"You are not even a true demi-god, Asterion," Merlyn's voice deepened into a guttural echo, layered with the whispers of a thousand damned souls trapped within his essence. 

"You were created by a bull mating with a human." Merlyn's hand rose, palm open, revealing a single, unblinking eye that shimmered with a malevolent red glow.

"I am the first son of Chthon, the ancient weaver of the Darkhold."

The air trembled as the eye flared, unleashing a torrent of chaotic magic that writhed like a living shadow, coiling tightly around Asterion. 

"Enamorath.

"Emmoreth."

"Ba'al Set Elianath!" Merlyn's voice deepened into a guttural chant as he traced symbols in the air, his mind reaching back to forbidden knowledge, a single page memorized from his father's creation, the Darkhold.

The ancient script pulsed with eldritch power, each rune etched into Asterion's flesh binding him tighter within the prison of raw chaos.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Asterion's roars echoed, but the runes burned ever brighter, sealing his fate beneath this form.

"And you." Merlyn void eyes side-eyed Ricky, about to slam down his ebony blade only for his body to wraith in agony as well.

"HOLY-F********************CKING-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ricky interrupted his words twice, the pain corroding his mind until he started screaming mancially.

Red runs suddenly pulsed over his skin as the ancient spell was literally seering itself onto their very skin.

"You, a being tied to the Netherworld, the void, a realm teeming with forces that undermine the very value of life," Merlyn laughed bitterly, frustration seeping into his voice as his other hand, bearing a glowing red eye, reached toward Ricky.

"HAVE ALMOST NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT!" Merlyn roared, looking at Ricky writhing in place in a mancial scream.

"SHOW ME WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT TO HIDE, OR YOU WILL BE CRUSHED HERE, AND I'LL JUST MOVE ON TO ANOTHER WORLD TO FIND A BETTER VERSION OF YOU—"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ricky screamed but not from Merlyn's attack, but from something far more terrifying as his skin began to tear apart.

It was then that Ricky unleashed his Dreadfiend form.

His ribcage shattered, pieces of bone ripping through his skin, only for the flesh to quickly stretch and reform, compensating for the rapid and violent changes. 

His spine arched, twisting with a painful crack as it lengthened and thickened, forcing his entire frame to shift into something far larger, more monstrous.

His skin, once soft and human, stretched painfully across his newly reforming body. 

With every inch of his body reshaping, patches of dark, coarse fur began to grow, sprouting from beneath the ripped flesh, its blackness mingling with the spreading tendrils of void that wormed under his skin. 

His chest heaved as the transformation reached his face, the skin tearing around his mouth as his teeth began to elongate. 

His teeth morphed first, then his canines, each one growing sharper, more pointed, until they were the elongated fangs of a vampire, capable of rendering through flesh and bone with ease.

His claws followed, grotesque, jagged talons pushing through his fingers as they thickened and darkened with power. 

They gleamed with a black sheen, each one long and capable of tearing through anything in their path. 

The transformation didn't stop there as his muscles swelled, his body warping into a grotesque hybrid of wolf and vampire. 

Ricky's posture hunched over as fur sprouted along his back and arms, thick and wiry, growing into patches of fur that seemed to shimmer unnaturally under the faintest light.

"That's it, THAT'S IT!" Merlyn laughed wildly, feeling the dread from Ricky's hunger manifesting into an aura as it suddenly erupted around him.

Black hues, thicker and darker than any electricity he had ever seen, pulsed and corroded his body. 

His corrupted holy werewolf form emerged, its twisted radiance pouring into the runes scrambling across Ricky's being, until they too were utterly corrupted.

'K̸̼̞̖̔̕ḯ̷̻̺l̷͇̓͝͝l̸͍͇̀.'

'S̴̤̩̓̈́͑l̷͚̘̟͘e̵̢̻̥͌͛ë̴̜́̈́͜͝p̶͕̗̓́.'

'S̶͍̽́u̷̯͉̘͂b̸̠̬̰̀m̷̢̽͛ͅi̷̩̫̇t̶͓̕.'

'F̶̡̘̪̠͗͊̚̕ǫ̷̞̯̜͒͂̾͛r̸̳̺͑̓̐g̶͑̍̍̈́͜ė̵̪͖͎͠͝ͅt̴͕̉͑̈́̅.'

'F̷̢̟̞̿͂i̴͙̫̓̋̓͝g̶̺̰̯̿̔̚ḧ̷̨̯̟́͊̕t̷̺͖̠̂̎̄͋.'

Whispers of every magnitude echoed within Ricky's mind, submerging him in a void of whispers and wrapping him in a strange gooey warmth.

He felt himself sinking into that familiar abyss that had always nourished him in his darkest moments. 

The familiar feeling of warmth he had always stashed away in his psyche as an excuse for when things always got too tough.

But as he descended deeper, Ricky slowly closed his eyes, he saw it.

Himself.

Sinking down towards him with a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other, his suit unraveled and his pants hanging at his ankles.

He saw Ricky Freeman.

'No.' Ricky suddenly thought, his slowly closing eyes snapping open as memories flooded back.

'I won't go back, not to being that piece of sh*t!' Ricky thought, his eyes flaring green as he thrusted out his hand, tearing apart Ricky Freeman and the warm feeling that threatened to pull him under.

Before his being could sink any deeper into that familiar warmth, his sovereign will roared fiercely within his mind.

"I'M IN CONTROL YOU F*CKING SKILL!" Ricky roared at himself, his black void eyes suddenly sparking a small dot of green that appeared as his pupil, as his sense of self.

BOOM

Merlyn's eyes exploded in a burst of chaotic red energy, incinerating the terrain around them everything but Ricky, who stood protected as the ebony shield seethed with a corrosive mist.

"Give me everything, all of it!" Ricky shouted at the ebony artifact, his mouth morphing into the snout of a werewolf, large vampiric fangs dripping black poison, while his fur bristled through the cracks of his ebony armor.

'Ricky, your mind cannot handle-'

'OKAY!' the Ebony Chalice interrupted, cheerfully ignoring the warning as it blasted pure white mist into his pores, his bloodstream, his bones, and inot his soul.

And the final phase began.

Ricky's mind was plunged into the spectrum that the Ebony Chalice constantly existed within.

A realm of endless echoes and splintering timelines, where infinite futures clashed and collapsed on top of one another like dying stars.

It crushed down onto him.

His thoughts were smothered beneath collapsing probabilities. 

Every movement he could make, every outcome it might lead to, every deviation, flooded all into his consciousness at once. 

Colors he couldn't name bled through his vision which took shape into future deaths, and flashes of choices never made.

He saw himself dead.

He saw himself alive.

He saw the world burning under his grasp.

He saw it saved and his corpse hanging like a banner being paraded.

All at once. 

All together.

And within it, he saw that graveyard.

The one he had seen the first time he had submerged himself within the Ebony Chalices power as it was more clearer this time.

"I should've put more things in place, I SHOULD'VE F*CKING DONE MORE!" Ricky's alternate version roared, filled with grief and fury, as he stared down at the grave before him. 

"I should've expected it. I should've expected more f*cking rats, it wasn't just one, it was an entire goddamn infestation." This version of Ricky's words slurred with bitterness as he slowly gazed up at the sky, hollow-eyed.

"I-"

"This won't happen, so stop showing me this sight." 

The voice echoed out, its tone twisting into the sound of nails scraping against a chalkboard as the figure stepped forward, placing a clawed hand on the alternate Ricky's head.

CRUNCH

"Show me how to crush Merlyn." Ricky crushed this version of him as he spoke out towards the graves, watching the mist configure into something else, a manifestation. 

"That's not how it works-" A manifestation of Ricky suddenly appeared, trying to dissuade him only for a green tidal wave of sovereign aura to slam down onto the plane and force the being to his knees.

"NOW!" Ricky wasn't asking, his green pupil staring at the being which conformed into a mist.

It was then that millions of screens appeared, fanned out like reels within a film roll suspended in the void. 

Each one flickered with a different timeline as some washed in red, others static-gray, and a few barely holding their color together. 

All were outcomes. 

Some ended with Ricky's corpse crumpled in the mud. 

Others showed Merlyn untouched, laughing. 

Holding out his hand, the tidal wave of sovereign aura flushed down onto this film and crushed the possibilities that resulted in his loss.

It was as if lights were dimming, one by one, until Ricky walked forward towards it.

Only one, the one screen of reel that the sovereign light didn't dim.

That one screen that flared with victory.

Ricky's green pupil narrowed, locking onto it as the mist-mind of his manifestation stammered.

"That path requires more than just power-"

"Chalice, get this out of here," Ricky interrupted, waving dismissively to the side.

In an instant, the Ebony Chalice materialized, bearing an appearance nearly identical to Ricky, except for a distinct part running down the middle of his hair.

"YOU GOT IT, BOSS!" the Ebony Chalice saluted, grabbing the manifestation and yanking it away.

Then Ricky slammed his foot down, shattering the timeline that held these graves, and reached out toward the looming possibility before him.

"The only thing being buried is Merlyn's f*cking dreams under my thumb," Ricky laughed, reaching toward the screen pulsing with his green will.

The moment his hand touched it, the screen shattered and its mist plunging straight into his being.

From the film, a single spear of memory formed through it was not a weapon, but a command.

A series of actions for his victory.

"Ah~" Ricky exhaled with a refreshed sigh, black blood streaming rapidly from his nose, eyes, and ears.

Yet none of it mattered as his eyes suddenly lit up.

BAM

Ricky slammed his shield into what seemed like empty space only for it to crumple under the force of one of Merlyn's hidden blasts.

He slashed outward toward Merlyn, the grand wizard watching as a stream of red electricity surged toward Asterion, tearing through every rune searing itself into his skin.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Asterion roared, finally breaking free of the chains and charging straight toward Merlyn like a living battering ram.

Before Merlyn could react to restrain the Minotaur, Ricky's Dreadfiend form blurred across the plane, red electricity curling around him like coiled serpents.

Merlyn didn't care to speak but had his existence as a command, a scripture of obliteration etched across the fabric of the battlefield.

With a guttural motion, spires of blackened crystal ripped up from the ground, jagged and screaming with silent mouths. 

One launched toward Ricky, fast enough to pierce space.

KARAKOOOOOOOOOOM

Ricky's ebony shield trembled as the spire slammed into it, shattering into obsidian shrapnel that howled as they fell, still alive with residual will. 

Ricky gritted his fangs, electricity coiling around his monstrous form, fangs bared as corrupted holy radiance flared from his cracked armor.

Merlyn raised his tendril-wreathed arm as the sky seemed to weep sideways.

A gravitational rift opened above Ricky, pulling light, sound, and thought itself inward like a cosmic lung drawing breath. 

A mouth the size of the heavens bared its teeth from beyond the veil, hungering to consume Ricky whole.

But Ricky leapt.

He tore through the air with a deafening boom, trailing a storm of black lightning and sovereign defiance all while his claws scraped against it.

Merlyn's voice was not heard, it was felt, rumbling through the bones of the world as he raised his head to it all.

"SHOW ME WHAT YOUR EXISTENCE MEANS TO THIS WORLD RICKY LUCAINO-" Merlyn's voice was not heard, it was felt, rumbling through the bones of the world.

At that moment, the earth shuddered violently beneath them both. 

The ground cracked open as Asterion destroyed the pathway that sought to bind him as his monstrous form burned with divine fury.

The minotaur's roar shattered the sky, his massive axe raised high, radiating pure celestial wrath.

All while Ricky closed in, a forest of tendrils erupting from Merlyn's back and slamming towards him with a blazing chaotic fire.

The tendrils ripped through the air whispering psalms of madness each one lashing out widely at Ricky with a speed that defied reason.

SPLAT

SPLAT

SPLAT

Ricky spun widely with the Ebony Blade, carving through tendrils that bled time itself. 

One wrapped around his arm before he bit into it, draining it dry with his bloodlust, and ripped it off with a howl that shook the earth around him.

Then, he struck down with a downward arc with every ounce of fury, electricity, corrupted radiance, and hunger packed into one violent expression as Asteiorn brought down his attack on Merlyn.

From the sky and from the ground, two forces sought to clash down on Merlyn's power that was currently twisting chaos magic into endless spirals.

Ricky's corrupted radiance blazed like a dark sun, claws slashing through the air with feral precision, while Asterion's divine might roared in thunderous power, his colossal axe swinging down with cataclysmic force. 

Their combined assault surged forward like twin hurricanes, intent on tearing Merlyn asunder.

The old wizard's form trembled beneath the coming onslaught, feeling the utter power that would result if it was allowed to reach him.

So as Ricky's savage strike and Asterion's crushing blow descended, Merlyn's void eyes snapped open as another pair of eyes, completely red, opened and appeared like pupils.

With a guttural chant that shook the very fabric of existence, he raised both hands skyward, drawing from the endless void within.

"È̸̥̫͎͑̈́͛c̷̰͠͠l̸̪̐͊i̴̺͒̚p̶̢̚s̸̟̹̈́͐̀̽e̷̖͐̎ ̷̬͚͂o̶̞̍͊͗f̸̰́ ̵̬͓̓̽͝t̵̹͙͐̀͐ḧ̵̬̩́̅̅e̸̛͎ ̵͚͆̒̅P̴͔͐͝r̷͉͓̐̽̈́͛i̷͇̓͒̍ͅm̷͚͎̈́̍̚͝o̷͍̐̏̑r̷̦͍̚d̴̰̖́̓̽͝i̶̪̟͌̽a̷̖̍̑l̵̟͕̓̽̈́̽ ̵̫͛͊͌̈́S̷̤̈́͌͒̚t̷͔͛̕a̶͇̾̓̕r̷͎̓̏͠!" Merlyn commanded, ushering in a spell that was forbidden as it was powerful as it was his last card to kill these two.

From his palms erupted a titanic sphere of churning cosmic energy, an eldritch supernova cloaked in writhing tendrils of shadow and searing crimson flame. 

The colossal orb expanded rapidly, swallowing the incoming attacks in a deafening explosion of chaotic light and void, turning Ricky's and Asterion's power into nothing but echoes lost in the storm.

This was no ordinary spell, but a living maelstrom of chaos that he drew from his father's own writings and void. 

Its surface rippled with eldritch runes and fractal patterns that twisted in impossible geometries, each pulse of light cracking reality like shattered glass.

Ricky's senses were assaulted from every angle as the eldritch supernova's searing flames clawed at his skin, its shadowy tendrils whispered maddening secrets directly into his mind, and the raw chaotic energy bent reality around him, drowning out all sound and sight.

His vision fractured, flickering between blinding light and crushing darkness. 

Time seemed to stutter, every second stretching into an eternity as the colossal orb threatened to consume him whole. 

The pressure bore down like a physical force, suffocating and relentless, as if the universe itself was unraveling inside his head.

Just as the overwhelming surge threatened to tear his mind apart and the spell to doom the both of them, Ricky simply swung his sword at a spell.

"Full counter, motherf*cker."

For a fraction of a fraction of a second, the titanic spell froze, seemingly suspended mid-air as if time itself hesitated. 

A faint, metallic clink spiraled through the chaos, like a spoon striking a cup in an eerie, fragile echo that sent it all back towards the attacker.

"Ha~" Merlyn simply laughed at the absurdness of it all, watching the spell instantly redirect itself towards him and everything behind him with double the force.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The reversed supernova slammed into Merlyn's colossal form like a collapsing star unleashed.

The eldritch energies that once danced around him now twisted and shattered under the crushing force of their own reflection.

Jagged cracks erupted across the blackened crystalline spires protruding from his body, glowing veins of ancient power flickering and sputtering like dying embers. 

His monstrous tendrils convulsed spasmodically, lashing out wildly but failing to hold the ruptured wounds closed. 

The eldritch light within him fractured into shards of chaotic brilliance, piercing through his form with brutal precision.

Merlyn's guttural, multi-voiced roar trembled with pain, his cosmic silhouette flickering like a fading nightmare. 

The raw force of the counterattack tore at his essence, fracturing the eldritch bonds that held his monstrous avatar together.

For a heartbeat, the very fabric of his eldritch being seemed to unravel before he snarled, drawing deeper from the dark abyss to resist total collapse.

But even as the devastating counterattack tore through his eldritch form, Merlyn poured every ounce of his will into protecting Camelot itself. 

His Tendrils flared outward, weaving an invisible shield around the city into a shield fueled by his very essence.

The immense strain of diverting such catastrophic energy away from Camelot only deepened the wounds ripping through his monstrous body. 

The black crystalline spires cracked further, and the shadowy tendrils trembled with exhaustion.

His being ripped away as he tried to voice his pain that was layered with the chorus of damned souls.

Until, there was simply silence.

HUFF

HUFF

HUFF

HUFF

A crater had formed at some point, searing mist pouring from its depths and dissipating into the atmosphere. At its center stood a half-charred Merlyn, his legs completely annihilated.

He had sacrificed his own flesh and power to shield the city, his life now teetering on the brink of unraveling with his immortality being the only thing keeping him together.

Yet Camelot still stood, held aloft by the fading remnants of his barrier, an impenetrable embrace slowly collapsing without the strength to sustain it.

"Master Merlyn!" King Britain roared, even as the charging warhorse collided with Draconus in a thunderous clash.

Dismounting swiftly, he sprinted toward Merlyn, his watered-down version of Excalibur cutting down any undead or chimera that dared lunge at him.

Leaping down into the crater, he caught sight of Merlyn's utterly broken form, that had his lower half completely eviscerated and his right arm completely gone.

The school was temporary before King Britain began dragging him out only for something to come hurtling toward him through the smoke.

SPLAT

BAM

"ARGH!" King Britain's body jolted backward as the ebony blade struck him, piercing all the way to the hilt. 

The force carried him through the air, slamming him against the castle wall where he hung, impaled.

"Nice try~" Ricky chuckled softly, hunched over as he emerged from the mist, dried black blood staining his face.

"YOU VILE FIEND, LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MASTER MERLYN-"

"OH NO, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN NOTHING BEFORE YOU SEE WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO WITH HIM!" Ricky yelled over King Britain, holding out his hand as the ebony blade slammed back into his palm while he advanced.

"YOU AND EVERYONE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN CITY ARE GOING TO BECOME MY UNDEAD SLAVES!" Ricky laughed maniacally, striding toward Merlyn, who coughed up black blood, his power drained after exhausting his connection to the Void.

"Especially you, I'm going to make your existence miserable, Merlyn." Ricky pointed the ebony blade at Merlyn's trembling form, advancing steadily as Asterion thrashed a nearby tree against the ground, his berserker rage still raging.

"You're gonna be my fcking paper slave until the day the universe explodes, cause I'm gonna make you my personal paper btch." Ricky said the idea just formed in his mind with an undead Merlyn handling all the endless paperwork that kept the Luciano family running, forcing him into so many sleepless nights at Italiano's.

"I'm gonna make this world hurt, Merlyn, and you're gonna help me~" Ricky laughed, watching King Britain charge at him.

Suddenly, Chastiefol slammed into King Britain's head out of nowhere, releasing Lady Roma, who collapsed to her knees amid the chaos.

The spear crushed the unsuspecting King Britain's skull like a watermelon, blood spraying over them all.

Holding out his hand, it shimmered with his skill, No Longer Human, enough to nullify Merlyn's immortality that had kept him alive through everything.

With Merlyn's mind under his control, excluding the sheer amount of raw power his magic could bring if his favorability was high enough.

The world became Ricky's oyster at that moment and because of that single notion.

Otherworld trembled.

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

The machine emitting waves of anti-magic began to pulse faster and faster, its blackened corrosion slowly glowing with a golden light as Otherworld's preservation instincts started to power the machine.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

A piercing, radiant beam of golden light erupted from the otherworld, shattering the silence and reverberating through the eardrums of every being. 

It soared into the sky, visible even from the stars above, as Merlyn laughed maniacally beneath its glow.

"F*CK!" Ricky cursed, momentarily forgetting about the whole Arthur thing as he lunged to pierce Merlyn's being only for the golden light to suddenly blaze across every inch of Otherworld.

Everything shattered; the barrier holding Morgana weakened as she shattered the glass and burst free from the control room.

Her eyes locked onto the golden pillar of light, stretching not only up toward the stars but also plunging down into the void.

In the depths of complete and utter darkness, the beam descended deeper and deeper, until a being slowly lifted its head.

"No~" The whisper stated, reaching out and trying to shield the oncoming beam only for its hand to burn.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" 

This was Necromon, the hungry shade of a dead god, who rules the Hungry Land. 

After Excalibur was removed from the Starstone, Necromon began to invade before Merlin created The Barrier to defend against any extra dimensional invasions resulting in him having to go through other means which allowed for him to take Arthur's soul.

The very being his hand tried to shield from the light, only to have it corrode before its soul was suddenly enveloped in a radiant golden glow.

"MERLYNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Necromon screeched, watching the light fade back upwards as his eyes roared with a hunger for revenge.

Morgana flew swiftly, appearing above Camelot just as the light fully dissipated.

Amid the towering steps that rose from the battlefield, stretching all the way to the palace, stood a figure cloaked in the shadows that had engulfed the land.

Click

Click

Click

His footsteps clicked steadily down the steps as everyone, every single person, stopped to stare at the figure all while Merlyn's laughter howled louder.

"Yes-YES!" Merlny exclaimed emphatically, snapping his fingers as he appeared at the very bottom of the stairs

The device he had created to nullify magic exploded once its purpose was fulfilled, allowing Merlyn to tap into the untapped magic stored within his half-human side.

Though he slowly began to regret it as the spell corroded his being, it didn't matter as it was all worth it for the person standing before him.

"A-Arthur, i-it's me-" Merlyn tried to say, but his eyes widened as Arthur's solemn, disappointed gaze met his.

"Merlyn, what have you done?" Arthur asked, unable to find any joy in the reunion with the man who had essentially raised him after truly understanding what it meant to bring him back.

"I did it all for you Arthur, for this moment!" Merlyn smiled widely, gazing upon everything he had ever wanted in humanity, personified in the living human standing before him.

All the ideals, the virtues, and the very essence of what a man should be stood before him, a perfectly crafted embodiment of humanity.

Arthur Pendragon, King Of Camelot.

"And how many innocent lives, all lives for that matter, died for this selfish pursuit?" Arthur's golden eyes pierced past the smile and nostalgia, fixing on Merlyn with unwavering judgment.

"Too many," Merlyn finally admitted, biting his lip and bowing his head before his king.

"And for that, I shall pay for my crimes to you, my promised king." Merlyn bowed deeply, lowering his head to Arthur's feet.

Arthur looked up at everyone, his golden eyes widening alongside a faint, knowing smile.

"Percival, is that-

"No, it's his more handsome descendant Ricky, Ricky Luciano." Ricky coughed slightly, black blood staining the corners of his mouth as he wiped it away.

"Ah, I apologize." Arthur smiled, watching Ricky walk over to the stairs as everyone sort of froze as the clashing forces sort of paused with this reveal, even Morgana was speechless.

"But Ricky, I know you've all been wronged by Merlyn, every one of you!" Arthur declared suddenly, looking at both the living and the undead as he clutched his heart.

"But must we continue this fight? Must we really drain ourselves in the gruesome tides of war?" Arthur genuinely asked, clenching his heart tighter at all the needless pain being suffered under this war.

"You know what, Arthur? You're right." Ricky said suddenly, looking up at the king as everyone on Ricky's side fell into stunned silence.

"I mean, after everything I went through and suffered at Merlyn's hands, I think you're right, I should just let it go and we can become best friends," Ricky laughed heartily, flashing a toothy grin as Arthur's face lit up with elation at those words.

"Really?!?!"

"NO YOU DUMBASS"

At that moment, Ricky lunged at Merlyn, swinging the ebony blade down only for another blade to meet his strike.

CLANG

But then something unexpected happened, leaving Ricky with a confused expression: the ebony blade, said to cut through anything, was suddenly halted by a glowing white sword pulsing with golden light.

Though often dismissed as mere legend, the saying that swords speak when they clash proved true as two familiar foes faced each other.

One sword pulsed with a radiant white light, its wielder transformed into a golden figure, Arthur incarnate.

Opposite him, the other sword shimmered with a dark red aura, black liquid swirling around its bearer, Ricky's fearsome silhouette.

To each other, they shared only one name.

"It's been a while, my little shadow~" Arthur's manifestation whispered, but for this being, the foe who had inflicted such trauma upon the Ebony Blade, there was only one name that truly mattered.

"Excalibur." 

Author's Note: I do not know what the f&ck I was thinking with Merlyn and his f&cking magic cause like a month ago I thought it would be cool but it's just stupid annoying to write like how do you even write Anti-concpetial magic LIKE WTF WAS I ON. Coming back to it I'm just blown away at how fcking stupid I made this fight and that's the reason it took my so goddman long and why I didn't post yesterday cause I just combined part two and htre into this final. Sorry if this shIt was mad confusing, I was super high when plannign this sequence and it shows.

Author's note 2: Also sorry about the slow week just getting back on my feet after getting knocked on my ass from being sick. But man, in this time I've been thinking if I ever could write a webnovel cause they never take breaks, in fact they f*cking post twice everyday. I think thats insane and Idk if I could do that much quatity, anyways hope yall enjoyed.