Myrlin Samael Wyllt-Garyushi

I had the entire arena, aside from the two combatants transfixed on my still body as I slowly lifted the Ida sword, tip facing down, towards my face; took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled as I opened my eyes. 

Ever since my first Caliburn Advancement  Tournament, I felt a bit off; not in a bad way, but different. Almost as if I’m capable of doing more, but I’m not sure how I can progress. I asked around to see if anyone was familiar with how the mind and memories work, and I happened to stumble upon an unlikely source, Mugen Yume. She was the one of the first people I met in this world that willfully bullied an innocent person, however, she was the direct student of Lady Hypnos, The Demon Lord of Sleep, so I couldn’t let something that happened years ago affect my decision making now of all times. 

Six Months Prior

“What do you want to know,” Yume asked with a raise of her eyebrow. For being a Night-Skinned Demoness, she had a stand-offish attitude about her. My mother and her cousins, our parents’ maids, are all Night-Skinned Demons and they have a warm and inviting air around them; even the meanest of them. But Yume was different, she was undoubtedly beautiful, with a nebulous cloud pattern that painted her upper body; she wore an indifferent scowl on her face, almost as if she were never impressed. 

“A little birdie told me that your master knows secrets about the Mind Aspect,” I said with a cheeky grin. I had secretly met with one of her friends, Karenza, the Slime Princess. She told me that Yume was rumored to be next in line to succeed Lady Hypnos as the new Demon Lord of Sleep. 

The young demoness rolled her eyes, “I’m going to wring her slimy neck of hers,” she said to herself with gritted teeth. “Yes, Lady Hypnos has complete dominion over the Aspect of Sleep and that includes the fabled Mind Aspect,” she took a pause before she continued. “Are you sure you want to know more about this? Lady Hypnos’ research on the subject isn’t as vast as you think it is,” her expression had softened, almost as if she was actually worried about me. 

“I can make do with what little information she has,” I said with a reassuring smile. I’d never imagined myself doing something like this, relying on the aid of a bully, but time can change a person, at least I like to believe it can. “Besides, ever since our first battle, I have this urge and I guess like an innate desire to harness the Mind Aspect,” it was like I spoke an incantation in another language. The looks of horror, amazement, admiration, confusion and fear simultaneously swept across Yume’s face. 

“Are you listening to yourself,” Yume scolded while ducking our heads down, albeit we were completely alone. “The Mind Aspect is far to complex and ancient to understand, you’d need Lady Tiamat herself to even begin to comprehend its complexities,” her words started to sound more and more concerning as the conversation progressed. 

“Well, I’m built different,” the words were practically instinctive, I didn’t even register the phrase until after I said it. “Eh-, What I mean is, I haven’t encountered anything that I wasn’t able to overcome, and this is no different.” 

It was small, but I caught something completely unexpected, Yume blushing. When a Night-Skinned Demon experiences extreme emotions, the stars on their ethereal skin starts to glow and flicker. However, in Yume’s case, the cosmic clouds that sit across her face began to pulsate ever so faintly; and as quickly and faintly as they appeared, she instantly corrected her embarrassment. All I could do was smile. 

“Why are you making that face? You better not be thinking of anything weird,” she shouted. 

“Anyways, M’Lady’s tutelage is intense and brutal,” she said quickly trying to change the subject.

“Eh, I’m not worried about that, remember what I said,” I raised an eyebrow and gave her a smirk. 

•••

The past six months I spent digging through my mind and soul, and I happened to have stumbled upon something rather interesting. It looked like a dense, yet fragile glowing blue rock; at first, it didn’t appear to have any special properties, that was until I began meddling with it. 

At first I simply touched it, and it started to flake off and revealed more of its glow. Whispering filled the dimensional mind-scape, unraveling a treasure chest of what I can only describe as memories; whose memories? That I was unsure of, but they were in fact memories. 

I continued scratching the surface of the rock and began to understand the different types of memories were present, memories of music and art, science and culture. It was like a whole different world was being contained in this Memory Rock, that’s what I called it. I really took a liking to the music from these memories, I couldn’t explain it, but it felt almost nostalgic, as if I’ve heard the melodies in a past life. These will surely be useful with my ‘Bard’ skill, I thought as I collected the memory flakes and turned them to sand. 

When coming to, the sand around me had a bluish-purple tint to it, and at that moment I knew my Sand Control Signature had evolved into something unheard of and unseen, but completely on brand for someone as clever as myself: Mind Sand. 

This unique signature is a dual Aspect Signature, something that is again, never heard of; its base aspect is Terra, and the secondary is the Mind Aspect. According to Lady Hypnos, because I spent time honing into my inner thoughts and learning the formation of my soul, I was able to tap into the Mind Aspect. 

Present Day

I lifted my fan in the air as I stretched my right leg to the side, as I did so, the sand I placed all throughout the arena began to glow and faintly emit sound. The crowd simultaneously inhaled and began singing and chanting upon my command. I instructed the men to chant and create various percussive sounds with their mouths, while the women and children were guided to sing. 

The melody was one from the Memory Rock, however, I couldn’t tell you the name of the song; I couldn’t tell you the name of any of the music I’ve found, not yet at least. I took a deep breath in and spoke, “That’s… Abnormal,” and at that moment the music’s intensity began to flare.

Hikariryushi Ogunosuke

As Myrlin began his dance, it was like it could feel a major surge of mana rush into my cache. I’d never experienced power like this before, and I knew my opponent, Akinyemi, also felt the same way.

She first started by scribing her name in the air with one of her rapiers, constructing a shield and turning the thin blade into fiery whip, “I will be the fire that burns within the princess!” Akinyemi yelled as she rushed me. 

Is she thinking right now? I pondered, I immediately countered using my Sub-Signature, Light Speed to close the distance and get behind Akinyemi. 

Whilst closing the gap, I quickly scribed and created and Ida sword made of light using my light manipulation, “You’re too slow.” In that moment, she reacted and blocked my attack with light speed reflexes, using her whip to grapple my blade. The impact of our collision caused a spectacular light show, albeit a dangerous one, so much so that we both needed to regain distance from each other. I opted to use my sub-signature, Phase Shift in combination with Light Speed to create a sneak attack on Akinyemi; however, almost as if she expected it, she immediately countered, “Hell Fire Signature: Inferno Burst!”

The attack managed to cover the entire battlefield with fire that I couldn’t phase through, ultimately forcing me back to tangibility. She’s tougher than I remembered, I thought, feeling desperate, but not completely out of options, I decided to take this battle just as serious as my opponent. I took a deep inhale and swung my blade, clearing the Hell Flames in my immediate vicinity, “I admit, I didn’t expect that you’d be taking this battle as seriously as you have been,” I remarked. 

“As I stated prior, I wish to be the flame that burns eternally within the princess,” Akinyemi reiterated with a voice laced with mana. “As Ayosaki has claimed her right hand, and you’ve claimed her left, I must be the fire within,” she raised her weapon and pointed it at me. 

I closed my eyes, “I see, your resolve tells me everything,” I replied. I took a deep breath and spun my ida sword in the air, catching it in an under hand position. I scratched my name in the air as I chanted, “Aspect of Elysium: True Shine Dragon: Sol Invictus!” Mana pulsated in the wind causing all the Hell Flames on the battlefield to dissipate. 

Ololadeseijin Akinyemi

How was he able to dispatch my flames? I frantically pondered, The Aspect of Samedhi is renowned for having the most potent flames, and they were disrupted by simple swing of his sword and a rush of mana?

It was clear this was Ogunosuke’s trump card, and my suspicion was proven right after that dust and mana settled. Ogunosuke, the young boy with dark skin and short dark hair looked like a completely different person. The hair on his head, including his eyebrows and lashes, turned stark white and his amber colored eyes became that of a vibrant yellow; This looks bad, I thought.

In response to my opponent’s transformation, I decided not to hold back anymore and deactivated my Flame Whip. Using my rapier, I swept my blade in the air, forming my name along with the character for ‘Amaterasu’. After finishing my scribe, gently grabbed the tip of my blade, “you’re not the only one that has a trump card,” I swung my rapier to my right and chanted “Aspect of Samedhi: 

True Hell Flame: Amaterasu!” 

Just like with Ogunosuke, mana surrounded me and I was engulfed by my Hell Flames that morphed into black. Once completed, and the flames dissipated, I remained wearing a samurai’s armor. Both my opponent and myself understand what’s at stake here and we both have the same goal. Ogunosuke spared no time after my transformation and attacked me with an aggressive beam of light, “Sol Invictus Signature: Solar Flare!”

I responded by creating a flurry of Black Inferno Slash, causing a clash of the elements on the battlefield. The slashes appeared to be doing damage to him, which gave me a thought, what if I used a concentrated beam of Black Inferno to eat away at his defenses, that should be enough to win. The strategy was risky, but if I could pull it off, I know I’d have what it takes to be her flame. 

“Amaterasu Signature: Black Inferno!” I quickly carved the character for Amaterasu in the air and stream of black fire shot out towards Ogunosuke. However, something felt off, like I wasn’t doing nearly as much damage as I thought I was doing. 

“I see you tried to exploit my weakness in defense,” Ogunosuke stated as he walked through my stream of black flames. The area where he was being attacked was doing something that I’d never seen nor heard of before; it was healing itself, he was healing himself. “You didn’t account for this form, Sol Invictus, and the sub-signature in use right now, that’s my Eternal Radiance, to make a long story short, it makes up for those weaknesses I have outside this form.” He approached me, stretching his right hand out in front of me, with a menacing, yet polite smile, “Solar Flare.”

There was a brilliant, blinding light that cover the arena, I don’t remember anything after that, except Ogunosuke’s silhouette, blocking the harsh beam of the sun; after that, I blacked out.

To be continued