Chapter 333: Permission (Bonus)
Ethan remained silent, letting Merlin continue.
"For ordinary summoners," Merlin said, "the output of spiritual force energy is weak, only enough to draw forth the single summon they require and nothing more. High Invokers produce a greater output, but even then, the increase isn’t particularly significant."
Then his gaze settled on Ethan.
"But that isn’t the case for you... the one who possesses the power of the Spirit King."
"Hold on." Ethan raised a hand, stopping him.
"I understand that you know some of my secrets, but I’m not too keen on anyone else learning any of this."
He was, of course, referring to the prince standing off to the side.
Alistair merely scoffed and shook his head.
Merlin responded by raising a placating hand. "Don’t worry. Alistair is already under a spell that will make him forget everything discussed here the moment we’re finished."
"Hm..." Ethan muttered, but said nothing more.
"Now, as I was saying," the rambling mage continued, "you possess the greatest concentration of spiritual force energy of any living being. It is why the Spirit King is also known as the King of Life and Death. The very force that governs life, death, and the soul itself answers to Him more completely than it answers to anyone or anything else."
"And that," Merlin said, gesturing toward the ground beside him, "is exactly what I need from you."
Ethan’s gaze followed his hand, settling on a body that had seemingly just appeared in a burst of blue butterflies.
It looked exactly like Merlin.
"What Alistair will do," Merlin continued, "is unbind my contract, returning me to the Well. Then... you will summon me again."
"In that brief window while you’re pulling me out, your spiritual force energy will be flowing at its maximum output. All three components at once; Life Energy, Death Energy, and Soul Energy, converging at the point of transit."
"Spiritual force energy is capable of far more than simply pulling and binding spirits."
He glanced toward the hollow body.
"So I’ll tamper with that current a little. Instead of allowing it to bind me back to you as a summon, I’ll redirect its usage... and send myself into that body instead."
Ethan found himself genuinely amazed by what this summon was capable of.
It made him wonder just how vast the gap in skill truly was between the casters of Merlin’s era... and the casters of today.
Ethan stared at the hollow body for a long moment before looking back at Merlin. "You don’t think I could simply choose not to summon you back?"
Merlin smiled. "And that would make you a man who does not honor a bargain."
Ethan rolled his eyes. "Let’s just get this over with."
"Perfect!" Merlin exclaimed enthusiastically before removing his monocle and handing it to Ethan.
Ethan accepted it, understanding that it was going to serve as the catalyst.
Merlin then turned toward the prince. "Alistair... unbind me."
Alistair turned toward Merlin and stretched out his palm. "The contract that binds us has been fulfilled. You’re released."
A bluish magic circle appeared beneath Merlin. Then, without warning, his body began to disintegrate into countless motes of blue light.
The unbinding spell itself may have appeared simple, and in truth, it was.
But it could only succeed if the summoner genuinely wished for the contract to end. Not even the strongest forms of mind control could force it.
The Soul Energy component always recognized the summoner’s truest intent. So until the desire to release the summon was genuine, the unbinding could never take place.
Ethan stepped forward and carefully placed the monocle upon the ground.
Then he began the process of summoning Merlin once more.
The crimson magic circle formed from his blood.
A moment later, its glow change into purple as countless specks of purple light gathered together, condensing into a single point.
However, instead of the violet light continuing to take on a humanoid form to bring forth Merlin, it abruptly changed course and streamed directly into the hollow body.
Both Ethan and Alistair stared in genuine shock. It had actually worked.
The Hollow’s eyes suddenly opened as it drew in a sharp breath.
Its widened eyes darted around for a brief moment before Merlin pushed himself to his feet, looking almost exactly the same as before.
A smile slowly spread across the Trickster’s face.
Then it grew into a grin as he raised a hand to touch his own face, as though even he hadn’t truly expected the experiment to succeed.
Everything fit together exactly as it should, until the System suddenly began sending Ethan notifications displayed in crimson light.
It was the first time anything like that had ever happened. Even warning notifications normally appeared in blue.
[The System has detected an anomaly!]
[The Spirit King’s Authority cannot be tampered with!]
At that exact moment, Merlin’s body began to tremble.
His eyes widened. It felt as though his body was trying to reject his soul, trying to force it back out.
As illogical as that sounded, it was the only way to describe the sensation.
Ethan’s own eyes widened at the notifications continuously flooding his vision.
[The Spirit King’s Authority cannot be tampered with!]
[The Spirit King’s Authority cannot be tampered with!]
[The Spirit King’s Authority cannot be tampered with!]
He immediately looked toward Merlin.
The mage had already stretched out a hand, a blue magic circle forming before him as he unleashed every illusion spell at his disposal, attempting to deceive the process into accepting the false state of affairs and leaving everything exactly as it was.
But each time a magic circle formed, it disappeared almost immediately.
His body suddenly jerked and Merlin dropped to one knee before looking toward Ethan.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
Ethan frowned in confusion. "Huh?."
Immediately, he reached out to the System mentally. ’Hold on, System... why is this failing?’
[Do you give your express permission for this to occur?]
"Yes, yes..." Ethan replied, shaking his head, now almost feeling sorry for the Trickster, who looked as though he had just been put through unimaginable agony.
[The System acknowledges your permission.]
[The System requests that prior notice be given should such an occurrence happen again in the future.]
"Okay, okay," Ethan replied, shaking his head with an amused smile as he watched Merlin struggle to catch his breath after nearly dying.
[As a result of the permission granted, the mage will now bear the Sigil of the Spirit King.]
[Upon his death, his soul will belong to you.]
[This permission may be revoked at any time.]