"WHO WANTS TO DO SOME F*CKING SHOTS!" Ricky roared, fist pumping his arm into the air.
The room erupted in cheers, the roar of the crowd crashing against the walls like a tidal wave of reckless energy.
However, for all the maniacal excitement, the calm composure of Asteiron immediately stood out like a sore thumb.
The minotaur's expression showed unease, clearly standing up to speak some forgotten sense into the soon-to-be partying Ricky.
"Ricky, your son is-" Asterion wanted to clarify, trying to tell him something but Ricky shook his head.
"I know." Ricky said with a bitter laugh, the sound flat and humorless.
His face smiling, yet so distant, struck an unexpected chord in Asterion.
The minotaur's mouth slowly closed, the words he meant to say dissolving on his tongue at the realization.
Ricky wasn't here to let loose.
He was here to pull himself together, before returning to whatever waited for him in New York.
Because of an internalized realization Ricky had, even before he fought Merlyn.
There was something he needed to face before he could truly step back into his position.
"I need to take care of something here before I go," Ricky said quietly, the weight behind his words clear even if he couldn't quite explain it.
Though he never needed to as the expression alone was enough to make Asterion nod slowly, placing a firm, reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"I understand." Asterion said with a gentle smile without offering advice, nor pressing for details.
"AND NONE OF THAT WEAK SH*T, BRING OUT THE GOOD STUFF!" Ricky roared, picking up where he left off as the shout echoed through the room.
The coven members didn't hesitate as they rushed to clear the nearest table, making space as the atmosphere shifted towards the coming party.
Shot glasses were lined up in a neat row as one of the coven members stepped forward, unscrewing a silver flask with deliberate care.
The thick, purple liquid poured slowly, filling each glass with a shimmering, unnatural hue.
Ricky grabbed the first one without hesitation and downed it in a single motion.
But the moment it hit his tongue, his head jerked sharply to the right, eyes widening in surprise.
"Holy-"
Cough
"Holy f*ck, what did I just put into my body?" Ricky actually coughed, the burn hitting so hard it forced even a seasoned drinker like him to double over, clutching his stomach as a rough laugh escaped him.
His throat flared, eyes watering slightly as the crowd laughed and hollered in approval.
"Dwarven wine really packs a punch, doesn't it?" the old warlock chuckled, slapping Ricky on the shoulder as he licked his lips with a knowing grin.
"That was just their wine?" Ricky coughed again, covering his mouth with a fist before breaking into a completely exasperated expression.
"If that's their wine, I can only imagine what their whiskey will do, probably knock me on my ass." Ricky laughed, scanning the room with a mix of disbelief and anticipation.
"Aye, anyone here got a bottle of dwarven whiskey?"
The coven members exchanged glances, eyes drifting down to their own drinks before they all shook their heads in unison.
"I've got a bottle of dwarven wine." Another coven member offered, passing it to Ricky as he smiled, his thumb lingering on the worn label as he studied it.
"Alright, who wants to see me chug this entire bottle?" Ricky asked, lifting his gaze and meeting the roar of the crowd as cheers erupted around him.
"Alexander, relax." Asterion chuckled from the side, giving the table a gentle pat as Alexander's face went pale.
"I do not even remember all the faces I borrowed money from~" Alexander whispered, lost in his own world of despair as his tiny paws curled around his furry head as he shut out Asterion's presence.
Sigh
Bucephalus sighed softly at his rider, shaking his head before lifting a golden necklace with his hoof.
Doing what the horse had always done but what history never recorded: bailing his rider out of yet another tight spot.
"No need, I came here to say that I never intended to take from a friend." Asterion smiled warmly, placing not only ALexande'rs borrowed money but Bucephlaus jewels on the table.
"Really?" Alexander raised his head, smiling wide as Asteiron nodded towards the small gerbil.
SNORT
Bucephalus snorted, nudging the jewels back toward Asterion, as if his pride forbade him to accept the gift.
"NO, BUCEPHALUS IS ONE FOR JOKES AND NEVER KNOWS WHEN TO CEASE THEM! Alexander yelled, swiftly reclaiming the jewels to his side of the table, his eyes darting to confirm they were indeed all the money he had lost.
"Bucephalus, I assure you that I do not want such things from my-
POP
Biting off the cork, Asterion's gaze diverged from the scrunched brows of Bucephalus and shifted to Ricky, who was poised to chug the entire bottle of dwarven wine.
"Is that dwarven wine?"
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
Asterion's realization was shattered by the rising chorus of chanting from the coven surrounding Ricky, who pumped his fist triumphantly in the air as he started gulping down every drop the bottle held.
Then, as abruptly as the noise had swelled, the crowd fell into a deathly silence.
Ricky swallowed the last of the wine and raised his fist to his mouth, the tension hanging heavy in the air.
Cough
Ricky coughed, utterly still, not even a single twitch betraying him as the entire coven held its breath, hanging on every second.
His cheek ballooned in a desperate, almost gagging effort, to keep it all down as the very last of the dwarven wine hung in his cheeks.
GULP
Finally, Ricky downed the last of the wine and raised the empty bottle high.
Like a signal, the coven's excitement swarmed him like moths to flame, their cheers roaring as Ricky's energy surged, fueled by the potent dwarven wine that awakened a new side of him that no other alcohol had before.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ricky exclaimed, the feeling of excitement pumping through his mind as he felt his skin become prickly.
"I'M THE KING OF THIS GODDAMN WORLD!" Ricky shouted, both hands thrust into the air as the crowd erupted in cheers around him.
Meanwhile in the outer wings of the castle,
As the coven's celebration roared on, one figure slipped quietly away.
The undead, busy restoring the battered castle walls, paid no attention, while the coven lost themselves in the chaos around Ricky.
Moving like a shadow through the dim, crumbling halls, the figure weaved cautiously between rooms, searching for something, anything, that might satisfy their restless need, but found nothing.
Step by step, the figure made their way to Merlin's study, finally finding the crown jewel still standing amidst the crumbling palace.
But any who had been there before would notice immediately: things were disturbingly out of place as if this wasn't the entire room.
The figure paid no mind, moving deliberately around the study and slowly, the figure raised a hand.
Conjuring a flicker of pale light that revealed him to be none other than Eldric, elder of the coven.
His bloodshot eyes darted nervously past towering shelves of dim orbs, finally settling on the ancient scrolls before him.
"Please, please," Eldric whispered, desperation thick in his voice as his gaze swept over the parchments.
One scroll after another, Eldric poured over the ancient writings, each scroll deepening his desperation as none held the answers he sought.
Frustrated, he threw the scroll to the side as it was flung across the room, its form slowly rolling towards a tucked away corner of the office, revealing a filing cabinet.
A flicker of hope stirred in Eldric's eyes as he cautiously glanced around, then lowered himself onto one knee beside the cabinet.
Just as his hand reached for the cabinet, he froze as his grimoire floated beside him, its pages turning slowly on their own.
With a deliberate wave of his hand, countless wards suddenly shimmered into view, guarding the cabinet.
However, Eldric's eyes widened in pure horror, overwhelmed by their sheer, impossible number of them all sewn together.
Gulp
Eldric swallowed hard, drawing deep, shaky breaths as he inched closer to the filing cabinet.
Beside him, his grimoire continued to flip through pages one after another, as if searching for guidance.
His hand began to glow faintly with a spell, carefully tracing the intricate wards that guarded the cabinet to take a closer look.
Drip
However, almost immediately, Eldric was visibly sweating with beads trailing down his forehead, dripping from his nose onto the floor.
His hands trembled uncontrollably as he closed his eyes, knowing deep down he couldn't break them all.
No, deep down, Eldric knew he wouldn't be able to break even one.
Simply put, the wards guarding this mere filing cabinet were endless, strung together like a maddening labyrinth, so dense and tangled it was like staring into a living spider-web spun by a thousand furious arachnids.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes to steady himself.
Focusing on the countless wards, his gaze finally locked onto a single sigil and slowly, he flipped his grimoire to a corresponding page.
This was an old trick, one once used by homeless mages in a time when ward-breaking wasn't nearly as intricate as it is now.
Their method, the same Eldric now employed, began with careful observation.
First, analyze the wards.
Then, meticulously identify the one that would do the least harm, something survivable.
Finally, lock onto that single ward and focus everything on it.
Focusing his magic, Eldric began to slowly expand the principle of the chosen ward, letting its essence stretch outward across the tangled web.
Nudging the surrounding wards aside, gently shifting the balance without triggering the whole trap.
"Do it, do it, do it-ARGH!" Eldric chanted under his breath, psyching himself up before thrusting his hand into the parted ward.
The moment his fingers breached the barrier, a jolt of pain surged through him, but he forced it deeper, pushing past the resistance.
This was exactly what old homeless mages used to do back in the day, expand the principle of the weakest ward just enough to slip a hand through.
Without any grace and little to no protection, Eldric forced his hand through the ward as the agonizing pain became scorching.
The second his hand crossed the barrier, his skin began to visibly melt while his flesh bubbled, the scent of scorched meat filling the room.
Third-degree burns blossomed up his forearm like cruel flowers but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward.
As he reached inside to grab the files, he froze at the realization that the cabinet didn't simply end when pulling it out initially.
His eyes darted back and forth, horror sinking in as he realized the files were organized by year, stretching all the way back to the 1400s.
"1910, 1910, 1910-." Eldric whispered under his breath, his hand shaking as he kept pulling the cabinet back through time.
It was then that his eyes locked onto the right year and with a subtle jerk, he reached for the file.
But the moment his fingers touched it, the ward flared and his entire arm was instantly submerged.
Then, the second his fingers wrapped around the file, he jerked his entire body backwards.
BAM
HUFF
HUFF
However, Eldric couldn't even celebrate.
His grimoire flapped open on its own, pages flipping in a blur as he clutched his scorched arm, still sizzling with magical heat, and hastily held up his hand to cast a counterspell.
Whoosh
Eldric's spell suddenly backfired, jerking his body backward as he skidded against the wall as the orbs on the shelf trembled and wobbled, threatening to fall.
'NEURTILZIE, NEUTRILZIE NEUTRILIZE!' Eldric screamed in his mind, his hand glowing with a pale white light.
The ward Eldric had plunged his arm into was far from ordinary.
It was a highly intricate spell, one that fed on a mage's very mana like gasoline, burning them from the inside out until nothing remained but ash.
Pale light flickered relentlessly through the room, casting the same spell over and over again until Eldric finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He collapsed onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling, his body trembling from the ordeal but finally free from the deadly magic.
HUFF
HUFF
His chest rose and fell steadily as his grimoire fluttered to another page.
Eldric closed his eyes, accepting that healing his arm would be a luxury he couldn't afford since there wasn't enough time to recover before he needed to continue his search.
Without wasting a moment, he raised his injured arm and began conjuring glowing bandages to wrap the burns.
Carefully, he rolled onto his side and, using his only good arm, slowly opened the file he had so painstakingly wrestled free from that deadly file cabinet.
Sniff
Eldric sniffled softly, tears welling not from pain but from the haunting images on each page that could be his daughter.
He combed through files filled with pictures of children, their descriptions meticulously recorded, each page marked with a faint, glowing symbol.
Eldric had searched everywhere for his little girl from the endless bodies of the chimeras to the twisted forms of the heavy infantry where bodies of children were used as conduits, but all of it was in vain.
The elder found nothing and that was why he had to look in the last place his little girl might be: under Merlin's watchful eye.
At this moment, all hope had drained from Eldric, leaving only one desperate need, to know.
As a father, he needed to understand what had become of his baby girl, his face twisting with anguish and resolve.
"No~" Eldric whimpered suddenly, clutching his face and shaking his head as he stared at one of the final pages.
A photo of his baby girl.
"No, no, no, no~" Eldric repeated, his face contorted with utter despair.
For a long while, he sat there, tears quietly falling, holding the fragile paper close to his chest as if it were the last piece of her left in the world.
Sniff
After a soft sniffle, Eldric lifted his head, as if trying to dry his tears away.
But when he had, his eyes landed on one of the many orbs lining the shelf, and yet, this one was glowing with a distinct symbol.
His gaze then drifted downward to the same symbol, a delicate pink swirl encircling three dots, imprinted on the page clutched in his hands.
Slowly, Eldric rose to his feet, a quiet but fierce determination settling over him.
Wincing from the pain in his arm, Eldric tapped the orb, which continued to glow with that faint pink light.
Only when he pressed the symbol engraved on the paper to the surface of the orb did it suddenly flare to life, glowing brighter and filling the room with a soft, pulsating light.
Thump
All the strength drained from Eldric's body the moment his daughter's image flickered before his eyes.
His heart hammered in his chest as he focused on the orb, the haunting vision all too familiar.
"Isabella?" Eldric whispered, his trembling eyes reflecting one of Merlin's many catalogs.
Records of experiments, the very means by which the mage had circumvented the ravages of time.
Merlin was one of the many trapped within Camelot, bound by the same spell that held them all.
But that didn't mean he was untouched by its curse.
One of the cruelest drawbacks was the inability to move beyond the moment when the spell took hold, forever frozen at that point in time.
Growth, progress, even understanding were locked away under Arthur's preservation..
For Merlyn, this meant he could never truly advance his knowledge from that point.
Instead, he was forced to painstakingly document every step of his research, endlessly repeating the process while learning, implementing, experimenting, all from square one, again and again.
Unfortunately, Eldric's daughter had become one of Merlin's guinea pigs, a tragic casualty of the mage's relentless experiments.
A suffocating weight pressed on Eldric's chest as he watched the haunting image of her bound to a chair, helpless and restrained.
Her eyes were hollow, lifeless, and she slumped to one side, drooling as if stripped of everything that made her human, her very will to exist extinguished.
"Experirment 1920204, subject 173653." Merlin slowly walked into frame, glanced at the sheet in his hand, scribbled a quick note, then fixed his gaze on the orb.
"So far, the subject's mind is adapting to the reshaping." Merlyn said, his tone flat, as if the entire process were just another chore he was forced to record.
"As previously documented before, ripping apart who a person is and patching an entirely different identity is like any surgery." Merlyn muttered while scribbling something onto her file, one Eldric couldn't retrieve, locked even deeper within the cabinet.
"It must heal."
Merlyn's eyes seemed to pierce straight into Eldric's soul before he turned back to the girl, gently brushing her hair aside so it wouldn't slip into her mouth.
"This subject, like the six others, shows much promise. Her mind seems to possess a unique malleability." Merlyn's cheerful tone made Eldric cover his mouth, tears streaming down his wrinkled face as he found himself unable to look away.
"She has very strong memories of her family, particularly her father, which I initially thought would be a problem." Merlyn sighed, shaking his head as he jotted down a note, clearly irritated by the hassle of tearing those memories out.
"So much so, I considered having her repurposed with the other broken ones."
HIC
"Since we don't want to waste any materials, right future Merlyn?" Merlyn chuckled at his own inside joke, a private amusement as Isabella's body jerked violently in response.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" Isabella screamed, her throat ripping until Merlyn casually waved his hand, silencing her completely as if muting a broken instrument.
However, there was no laughter from Eldric, only silent, unrelenting tears streaming down his face as the orb flickered, shifting abruptly to the next scene.
"Now, what is your name?"
THUMP
Eldric's heart thudded violently as he instinctively scrambled backward, crawling away from the sight that now burned itself into his mind.
"N-No, it can't be~" Eldric cried out, clutching his head in disbelief as the image slowly shifted to reveal a familiar figure.
"I am Lady Angela."
Angela's figure materialized before the orb, standing as stiff and rigid as a carved statue before Merlyn.
If one remembered, Lady Angela was a witch slayer from the Ordo Dracnium, tasked with hunting witches and warlocks, harvesting their parts to deliver to Merlyn.
That's why Eldric's head shook violently, as if trying to deny the impossible truth staring back at him, the woman before him, the ruthless killer of so many of their kin.
Was really his daughter Isabella.
"And who do you serve?" Merlyn asked, winking at the orb with a hint of satisfaction at his success before turning back to Lady Angela.
"I serve my master Merlyn and my promised king Arthur Pendragon."
"What is your purpose?" Merlyn asked, slowly circling around the statue as Lady Angela's hollow eyes stared forward.
"My purpose is to purge all the demons who disguise themselves as witches, warlocks ,and other magical users alike."
Eldric slowly rose to his feet, clutching his burned arm and biting his lip to hold back the pain.
But as his eyes lingered on Lady Angela, something shifted, beneath the cold exterior, he saw the remnants of Isabella.
His fingers trembled as they traced the faint outline of her image, a mix of hope and despair flooding his heart.
"Experirment 1920204, concluded." Merlyn merely said, cutting out as the orb dimmed but in its place
Two red eyes suddenly shone in its reflection.
"You're not supposed to be here."
A calm, deadly voice echoed behind Eldric, making his body go rigid though not from the words, but from the cold hand that suddenly closed around his neck.
"Ah, ah, ah~" Veredelt's voice drifted slowly as he revealed himself to Eldric.
The elder's eyes burned with hatred as Veredelt's nails dug into his throat, crimson spreading between his fingers.
The old vampire felt his magic stirring, trying to funnel power into his grimoire despite being trapped in Veredelt's grasp.
"Please do not be difficult." Veredelt said calmly, knowing any fight between them would be pointless, especially in Eldric's current weakened state.
"The one you owe an explanation to isn't me, it's Ricky Luciano." Veredelt said softly, attempting to calm Eldric's rising dread.
"So, you have two choices: I take you to him, or I crush your throat before you can even form a syllable in your brain." Veredelt whispered, his other hand placed on Eldric's shoulder and squeezing.
"Do you understand? Answer yes or no," Veredelt said calmly, loosening his grip just enough to let Eldric squeeze out a reply.
"Y-Yes~," Eldric gasped, forcing out the word as Veredelt tightened his grip once more.
"Before we make the journey to him, let me warn you of something," Veredelt said first, squeezing down on Eldric's windpipe as the elder gasped but managed to whisper dryly.
"I-I'm not scared of you~"
A resolute expression eclipsed his otherwise suffocating face, his bloodshot eyes staring right back into Veredelt's.
"Before you came here, I doubt your life was worth much, less worth living," Veredelt chuckled darkly, eyes narrowing as he aimed to crush Eldric's defiance.
"You were nothing but a hollow man, clinging to a coven whose fate now hangs by a thread." Veredelt mused while gesturing with his other hand, the one that had previously rested on Eldric's shoulder, before breaking eye contact and stepping forward.
"Coming here, you didn't care what would become of you. You had no reason left to keep living." Veredelt said quietly, pulling Eldric even closer to the orb and slowly pressing the old man's face against its glowing surface.
Tick
Tick
Tick
However, Eldric's eyes began to convulse as Veredelt tapped the orb slowly, signaling something they both understood all too well by now.
"But I think we just found one, your last reason."
"After all those years of torture and misery, are you really going to throw away your last chance to reunite with your dear, sweet daughter over something as fragile as pride?" Veredelt asked genuinely, his red eyes locking onto the old man.
"I thought not." Veredelt chuckled softly, watching Eldric crumble beneath the weight of his words as he pressed on.
"Now, let us return to Ricky Luciano, shall we?"
Meanwhile In Castle Le Fey,
"TONIGHT, WE CELEBRATE LIVING, FOR ALL THOSE WHO ALREADY LOST THEIR CHANCE AT IT!" Ricky roared drunkenly, hoisting another bottle of dwarven wine as he stood atop the table.
Below him, every thread of attention in the room was forcibly pulled toward Ricky's drunken, exaggerated movements.
"But listen to me, just really listen~" Ricky slurred, the last word dragging out as he held up the bottle of wine.
"I know with all the sh*t going down in New York, you're worried about this and that, so let me clear the damn air." Ricky waved a dismissive hand, slicked his hair back, then pointed out toward the crowd, his eyes burning with drunken conviction.
"I got your back, you hear me!" Ricky suddenly shouted, his voice cutting through the noise as the crowd erupted, roaring in approval and applauding at the rise of his very hand.
"Because I'm Ricky motherf*cking Luciano and do you all know what that means, huh?!" Ricky shouted, eyes scanning the room through a haze as the crowd kept cheering, feeding off his energy.
"IT MEANS THAT LUCIANO'S LOOK AFTER THEIR OWN, SO LET'S GET F*CKING WASTED!" Ricky roared, throwing both arms in the air as the crowd bounced with his energy, while he hoisted his second bottle of dwarven wine.
"Alexander, is drinking this much dwarven wine a good idea for Ricky-"
"Shuttup just shuttpus cause Ima fly, just watch cause ima fly like birdies~" Alexander suddenly cut off Asterion, waving his paw wildly before staggering to the edge of the table.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Alexander shouted, leaping with his eyes shut, only for Bucephalus to catch him squarely on the face.
"I'm doing it, I'M REALLY FLYING!" Alexander drunkenly declared, still convinced he was flying, while Asterion sighed deeply nearby.
"Where's my f*cking brother, Asterion, huh?" Ricky slurred, finishing his second bottle of dwarven wine and hurling it to the ground.
CRASH
Glass shards scattered across the floor as everyone followed his move, smashing their beer bottles onto the ground.
"Where's the goddamn demigod who's always had my back?" Ricky yelled, his eyes scanning the crowd until they landed on the minotaur flinching under his gaze.
"GIVE IT UP FOR THE FATHER OF ALL MINOTAURS, ASTERION!" Ricky cheered, the coven roaring in response as Asterion meekly raised his hand.
"Hi, thank you, very much appreciated-" Asterion laughed meekly, waving at everyone cheering towards him.
"SOMEBODY GET THIS GUY SOME DWARVEN WINE!" Ricky interrupted Asterion's appreciation, pointing at him as Asterion raised his hand in response.
"No, really, I'm fine-" Asterion began, but before he could finish, three bottles of dwarven wine were thrust into his arms.
Not wanting to be rude, he caught them carefully, just as Ricky started pumping his fist in the air.
"CHUG, CHUG, CHUG-" Ricky shouted, hyping up the crowd as they gradually joined the chant.
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
The peer pressure swelled until the entire dining hall was roaring for Asterion to down those three bottles.
Asterion sighed deeply, then uncorked each bottle with his teeth, casually spitting the corks aside as if this were old routine.
GULP
GULP
"HOLY SH*T, THIS GUY IS AN ANIMAL, LOOK AT HIM!" Ricky shouted in disbelief, clutching his hair in amazement as Asterion raised the bottles high, downing the potent wine like it was nothing.
GULP
GULP
Asterion drained all three bottles before tipping his head back up, covering his mouth as everyone held their breath, waiting to see what he'd do next.
Then, suddenly, he opened his mouth.
BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP
A loud burp erupted from Asterion, rippling through the dining hall with such force that nearby witches had their hats nearly blown off.
"What a delightful taste." Asterion muttered, gazing at the bottles in awe as he examined the label.
"YEAH, YEAH!" Ricky laughed hysterically, completely thrilled as he raised up his bottle, not wanting to be left behind.
*GULP
GULP
GULP
"AH~" Ricky let out a refreshed sigh at his third bottle, his grin widening while wiping his mouth and throwing the bottle onto the ground.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, WHO WANTS TO SEE A SHOW?!" Ricky laughed maniacally, slurring as a wild idea struck him as he suddenly issued a command in his head without hesitation.
"Now, now, it's a special show, one that everyone here deserves to see!" Ricky grinned wide, his words wobbling as he staggered backward, arms spread like a showman.
The coven's curiosity swelled, their eyes tracking him as he backed into the grand double doors, the tips of his fingers just brushing against the brass handles, theatrics dripping from his every move.
"NOW, WARLOCKS AND WITCHES, GET READY TO THROW ANYTHING YOU'VE GOT AT THE UNDEAD OF THE HOUR, MERRRLYNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Ricky cackled, his hands trembling in a manic daze as he flung them wide in a dramatic pause.
BAM
The doors were flung open and there, standing at their center like a grim spectacle, was none other than the undead himself: Merlyn.
Sigh
"You foul-" Merlyn began to spit, only for his words to be cut off by a sudden, unexpected object hurtling straight into his face.
CRASH
A beer bottle crashed against Merlyn's draped form, shards of glass embedding in his tattered black robe as the undead jerked his covered head to the side.
"WALK OF SHAME, DO IT!" Ricky laughed, yelling and pointing ahead as Merlyn sighed deeply, his body pushed forward against his will.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"I F*CKING HATE YOU!"
"GARBAGE, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT TRASH!"
"GREATEST MAGE MY ASS!"
The hateful roars thundered through the room, but the true spectacle was the massive amount of beer and wine bottles the coven hurled relentlessly at him.
Merlyn's figure started shaking not from the bottles but from the coming humiliation, hovering towards the center of the room as Ricky forced him to go there in a very slow, dramatic fashion.
"NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU HAVE IN STORE!" Ricky cheered, commanding Merlyn to do what he considers the most embarrassing thing possible.
POOF
A pink puff of smoke suddenly spiraled around Merlyn, his magic blazing into full view for the first time since he had been turned into an undead.
Except this time, instead of an undead, he turned into a ballerina.
PFFFFFFFFFFFT
A barrage of mocking laughter erupted as Merlyn's black cloak was transformed by a cruel spell into a pink ballerina tutu and a delicate crown.
For the first time, his undead guise was stripped away, revealing his brutalized form.
Half his face peeled back to expose the gleaming skull beneath, his rotted corpse hovering in the air, legs vanished into nothingness.
However, the true show came from the words that were slowly ripped from his rotted teeth.
"I-I'm a little t-t-tea pot, short and stout." Merlyn fiercely resisted, struggling with every ounce of his will as the humiliating words were forced from his lips.
Ricky's command was clear: 'Dress yourself up as a ballerina and do the most embarrassing thing you can think of'.
What Ricky didn't expect was that Merlyn, having once visited a world where the dreaded 'My Little Teapot' song played endlessly as the national anthem, knew that tune all too well and loathed it with every fiber of his being.
"Here is my handle, here is my spout."
But it wasn't just the song he heard, but also saw the dance.
"When I get all steamed up, hear me shout:" Merlyn sang, his voice cracking as he performed the full 'My Little Teapot' dance, humiliating himself openly before the coven.
"OH MY GOD, HE'S DANCING TOO!" Ricky laughed, snorting fiercely as he clutched the dwarven bottle, rocking back and forth with glee.
"Tip me over And pour me out!" Merlyn struggled against the order and yet, the words poured out from his lips until there was nothing that poured out except his shame.
Holding out his arm like the teapot in the dance, the other hand perched atop his head, Merlyn poured out all his pride to the whimsical laughter echoing around him.
But shame barely scratched the surface of the absolute humiliation he endured, forced to degrade himself in such a ridiculous, degrading spectacle.
As he suddenly began to dance, leaping into the air with a desperate twirl before landing as he hovered above the ground.
CRASH
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A warlock spat, hurling his bottle straight at Merlyn's face the moment he landed his clumsy twirl.
The coven continued to make fun of and enjoy the spectacle of the dancing Merlyn before Ricky suddenly scrunched his brows.
While everyone started to circle around the humiliation ritual of Merlyn, Ricky suddenly had an idea as he held out his hand.
Crash
"Careful, careful-" Asterion slurred slightly, nudging Ricky's shoulder as he began to telekinetically lift the nearby tables and chairs.
"I know, I got it." Ricky replied with a grin, his eyes gleaming as if the very image of what was about to happen was already burned into his mind.
Ricky started to arrange the tables in a neat, precise formation, all the while silently swapping the cards with the ones he had hidden in the system.
Thud
Thud
The tables slammed together with hard, deliberate thuds as Ricky pushed them into place, locking them into a tight circle surrounding a single, central table.
"Excuse me, pardon me." Veredelt said politely, weaving through the crowd with Eldric walking in front of him.
"Ricky-" Veredelt first said, pushing Eldric near Ricky who shook his head with his eyes completely focused on what was in front of him.
"Not right now, I'm busy being f*cking awesome." Ricky chuckled, fully absorbed in arranging the setup he was crafting.
"Yes but-" Veredelt began patiently, quickly realizing Ricky was drunk and accidentally loosening his grip on Eldric.
Before he could react, Eldric seized the moment.
"Did you kill Lady Angela?" Eldric asked sharply, eyes fixed on Ricky as he was about to take a step forward until Veredelt yanked back his collar.
"Who?" Ricky asked, turning his hazy gaze toward Eldric's battered, bruised form, his brow furrowing with a mix of confusion and actual concern.
"Woah, what the hell happened to you-"
"He-"
"Did you kill Lady Angela, the witch slayer!" Eldric's voice cracked as he raised it, finally getting the attention he wanted and surprising both Ricky and Veredelt.
"....." Ricky said nothing, his eyes glowing with an eerie green light that pulsed softly in the dim room.
Eldric swallowed hard, his gaze flickering up to take in just how much taller and more imposing Ricky had suddenly become.
Snort
"What's with this guy?" Ricky laughed, unable to even take Eldric seriously in this state, looking at Veredelt who shook his head slightly at the old man.
Bam
Without thinking, Eldric's delirious state mixed with a drop of adrenaline suddenly swung his arm across his face.
Crack
"Argh!" Eldric grunted, his aged fist pounding against his superhuman physique and yet, Ricky barely flinched, his head unmoved by the impact.
BAM
In the next second, the elder's face was slammed into the floor, Veredelt doing the honors himself while the rest of the coven remained too caught up tormenting Merlyn to notice.
"What are you doing, Eldric? And Veredelt, what the f*ck is going on?" Ricky sighed, shaking his head as he glanced between the battered elder and the calm vampire, waiting for an explanation.
"But before you start, make it like eight words or less cause I wanna get back to what I was doing." Ricky suddenly stopped Veredelt from going into a huge explanation, giving him a limit as the old vampire thought about it properly.
"Caught hurt snooping, Lady Angela is his daughter." Veredelt thoughtfully complied, still feeling a quiet gratitude from his perspective earlier and summed it up in exactly eight words.
"Is it really bad snooping or like, manageably bad snooping?" Ricky genuinely asked, scratching his chin as he looked at the old vampire.
"Manageable." Veredelt replied with a shrug since he didn't care about the document itself, only the principle of the man breaking in.
"We'll talk about this, and whoever the chick is you're talking about, later." Ricky waved his hand at Eldric, watching the old man grit his teeth.
"AYE BALLERINA, COME OVER HERE FOR A SECOND!" Ricky suddenly yelled across the room, waving his arm in wide, dramatic gestures as he called the dancing undead over to him.
"I got it from here Veredelt, you da man." Ricky shot him a pair of finger guns, gesturing with full confidence that he had everything under control from this point forward.
Veredlet nodded, releasing Eldric who laid on the ground with an expression of pain circulating around his face before looking up at Ricky.
"Listen Eldric, you're drunk." Ricky drunkenly bent down to the sober Eldric, slurring slightly as he slowly explained to the hurt old man.
"And cause of that, I'm only gonna punch you once." Ricky said, patting Eldric's cheek as the old man scrunched his brow.
"What-"
BAM
The old man's face jerked to the side, spit flying from his mouth as his eyes rolled back from the sheer force of the punch.
His body slumped halfway before catching itself on one elbow, breath rattling as he tried to remember where he was.
"Put him in the cellar tonight, O'l Eldric here is f*cking wasted!" Ricky suddenly raised his voice the second the coven looked toward him, waving his hand and calling over Merlyn with a casual beckon.
The crowd erupted in laughter at Eldric's slumped form, his head spinning from the punch, barely able to stand.
Merlyn, eager to escape this situation, darted forward, opening a swirling portal and ushering the old man inside into the dungeon.
But as Eldric stumbled through, he didn't enter just any cell; he found himself in Morgana's private dungeon instead.
Bam
Eldric collapsed to the ground, the world swirling around him in a dizzy haze.
Merlyn let out a weary sigh, ready to turn himself back only for Ricky's mental command to ripple through his mind, forcing him to keep the humiliating ballerina uniform on, exposed before everyone in the dungeon.
"What a lamentable, insufferable man-child." Merlyn whispered with contempt, flicking his hand as a cell door flew open at the side.
Just as Eldric struggled to steady himself, a sudden blast of wind struck his side, sending him sprawling into the cell.
The heavy door slammed shut behind him with a decisive clang while Merlyn simply sat there, waiting for Ricky to call him back.
"Y-You~" Eldric gasped through the pain, his eyes wide with recognition as he beheld the undead figure he had witnessed transform with his own eyes.
"Eldric Stone, a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, or at least what's left of mine." Merlyn muttered, his voice tinged with a cold familiarity as he truly knew the man before him.
"How-...........could you~" Eldric huffed, dragging himself closer to Merlyn as his eyes coldly scrutinized the inner workings of Morgana's dungeon.
"How could I utterly unravel what it means to exist within your own psyche? Through the help of your daughter, of course." Merlyn added with a cruel playfulness, his tone dripping with the deliberate intent to infuriate Eldric.
"I still remember that day, the very moment I finally succeeded in my experiment." Merlyn said with nostalgia, leaning on Eldric's cell while dazing off into the distance.
"You see, tearing apart a person's identity means unraveling every memory that shaped them." Merlyn added, passionate about this subject since he was the forefather of all mental magic on this earth.
"Highly complex stuff, no doubt beyond your understanding, but essentially, I succeeded with your help." Merlyn subtly mocked Eldric, uncaring that the old man was getting closer in his attempt to crawl.
"LIAR!" Eldric yelled, his hand slamming into the pavement as he clenched his fingers tight.
"No, I'm genuinely serious. Otherwise, why would I bother remembering your name?" Merlyn said with a cold certainty, as if it were obvious since he remembered Eldric's name for this very reason, and nothing more.
"By pretending to be you in the memory I wanted to rip out, her consciousness didn't reject me." Merlyn began, explaining simply but deliberately omitting the deeper, darker implications of what that truly entailed.
"Realizing that the only way to change a person was by becoming one that they knew with strong personal emotions allowed me to transcend what we think we are." Merlyn purposely phrased, deciding to say it in this way to confuse Eldric even more to egg him on.
"Ha~" Eldric suddenly paused, his fury melting away as he rested his forehead against the cold ground, lingering in silence for a long moment.
After a minute, the old man spat onto the ground, a flicker of blood staining his teeth as he suddenly forced himself upright.
"I get it, this must be killing you." Eldric wiped his mouth, then retreated back to the cell, leaning against the wall as he looked up at Merlyn.
"Whatever it is you think you know, it doesn't even come close-"
"That feeling eating you up inside, twisting your stomach into a knot as you think any second you're gonna wake up." Eldric pressed on, letting out a small, bitter chuckle.
"Until you suddenly realize this is your reality, your life, for f*cking ever." Eldric muttered, exhaling sharply as his fingers ran through his hair.
"Yeah, I know that feeling, know it all too well." Eldric sat there for a moment, turning his gaze to stare directly at him.
"You ruined my life, Merlyn, and you didn't even realize it. I get it." Eldric laughed bitterly, turning his head to the side as if searching for someone to share the cruel joke that his life had become.
BAM
Eldric slammed his fist against the wall he was leaning on, fury and frustration boiling over as he grappled with the helplessness and depths to which he had fallen.
"But as a father, let me ask you something."
"How could you sacrifice so many daughters and sons, yet abandon your own child for some f*cking poem?" Eldric asked genuinely, his voice heavy with pain.
After everything Merlyn had done, it was clear he hadn't done it for his own child, but for a prophecy and that truth gnawed at Eldric like rot in his gut.
He couldn't understand it.
Couldn't accept it.
Why would Merlyn sacrifice his daughter for a purpose that didn't even involve protecting his own blood?
Merlyn stared at Eldric, his silence louder than any defense he could offer.
In a distant cell, Lady Roma slowly lifted her head from where it had rested against her knees.
She looked on towards Merlyn, waiting for an answer with the other Round Table knights and Cedric, paying attention from their own bound and gagged forms.
However, Merlyn didn't even grant them the courtesy of a response.
Without a word, he silently hovered down the long, shadowed hallway of the dungeon, leaving the prisoners in tense silence.
"What am I doing?" Eldric reprimanded himself, thinking back to his rash decision to punch Ricky while raising his gaze, leaning it on the wall behind him.
In the opposite cell across from his, Cedric hung bound and gagged as the two last remaining elders of the coven stared at each other in Morgana's dungeon.
"Cedric." Eldric sighed, staring at Cedir who simply lowered his eyes in shame.
"I'm completely disgusted with you. What you've done is nothing less than what you deserve now." Eldric said, spitting to the side, repulsed that he had once called him a friend.
"I guess, it's what we both deserve."
THUD
THUD
Meanwhile, at the party, the crowd began to swarm around Ricky, their cheers slurred and half-senseless with drink.
Bottles clinked, laughter echoed, and no one really knew what they were applauding only that Ricky, in all his reckless drunken state, had become the center of attention once again.
He was up to something; sliding tables, shifting chairs, and rearranging whatever he could reach with his newly acquired telekinesis.
But no one was sober enough to truly understand what he was doing; they just watched, dazed and entertained at the perceived party trick.
"Is everything alright with Ricky, he seems to be a little-...........off." Veredelt asked quietly from the side, casting a glance toward the drunk Asterion, who was currently rubbing his nose against his fur.
"From what he says, it seems handled." Asterion replied, carefully phrasing it so as not to sound rude to Veredelt, while making sure to keep what Ricky really said to him between them.
BAM
Then, after setting the final table at the center of the arrangement, Ricky spread his arms wide, turning around to face the entire crowd behind him.
"ARENA GO FISH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Ricky shouted, his adrenaline surging as the alcohol prickled his skin.
He felt unstoppable, as if he could smash through every obstacle with his head alone.
Because behind Ricky, a lone table stood, bearing a deck of cards he'd snagged from the system.
But it was the surrounding structures that drew everyone's attention since Ricky had torn apart chairs, tables, and whatever furniture he could find, using his telekinesis to assemble them into jagged, uneven stands.
The makeshift arena rose around the central table, seats stacked and angled to face inward from every direction, transforming the entire dining hall into an impromptu battleground for the upcoming game.
The coven surged forward, scrambling to claim spots in the makeshift stands Ricky had crafted.
Until they soon discovered two fully stocked bars nestled within the structure, assembled from the scattered alcohol.
"Ya'll up for a game?" Ricky asked, turning toward the four of them just as Alexander beckoned Bucephalus forward.
"Quickly, Bucephalus, we have to grab the seats in the middle, they're the best spots!" Alexander said promptly, while the horse shook his head at all the money his rider was about to lose.
"I'd be willing." Asterion raised his hand with a smile, his confirmation causing all eyes to then shift toward Veredelt.
At that moment, Veredelt was about to decline, feeling out of place in the loud, chaotic atmosphere.
But then his gaze landed on Ricky, and something made him pause.
A single perception flickered in his mind, one born from Chuck's earlier misinterpretation of Ricky's forgetfulness, that shifted Veredelt's view entirely.
That mistake had inadvertently made Veredelt grateful to Ricky.
And because of that, he found himself about to make a decision he would normally never accept.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt," Veredelt chuckled, prompting Ricky to pump his fist triumphantly and point toward the crowd.
"Then let's get you ready to play Arena Go-Fish!" Ricky yelled excitedly, his drunken enthusiasm driving him to dash to the side, causing Veredelt to flinch.
"Wait, what do you mean ready-"
"CATCH!" Ricky suddenly shouted, hurling a bottle of dwarven wine he'd grabbed from a witch straight at Veredelt.
"Oh, Ricky, I can't-"
"Don't be such a pussy and chug, Chug, CHUG!" Ricky suddenly yelled, pumping his fist wildly as the crowd caught his energy, their voices rising to echo his chant, one by one joining in the rhythm.
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
"CHUG!"
The coven roared all around Veredelt, their eyes fixed on him like he was a gladiator in a Roman arena.
The ancient vampire smiled, savoring the rush of that familiar thrill, that nudged him beyond caution and into agreeing once more.
"I suppose a sip wouldn't hurt."
3 bottles later,
"CHUG!"
GULP
"CHUG!"
GULP
BURRRRRRRRRRRRP
Veredelt let out a low burp, having just finished his third bottle of dwarven wine, keeping pace with the others' relentless tally.
"GIVE IT UP FOR VEREDELT, EVERYBODY!" Ricky clapped loudly, the crowd roaring their approval as Veredelt raised his hand in acknowledgment.
He strode toward the go-fish table, where Alexander and Bucephalus were already locked in a heated debate at the center.
Asterion followed close behind, his eyes drifting over the six arranged seats before turning to Ricky with a raised brow.
"Are we expecting a sixth?" Asterion asked, reaching out to grab another bottle of dwarven wine, his tone casual but curious.
Ricky was about to speak when a thought struck him, an image flashing in his mind of the screen that had shown him his newborn son, Thrawn.
Deep down, he knew no amount of jewels or money could ever make up for the days he'd already lost.
And that's why, in that instant, he felt a sudden need to give his son something more.
Something beyond material wealth.
Something rooted in his tradition, in identity, and a gift that had stood as a pillar in Italian culture for generations.
'I'm gonna give my kid a f*cking crazy powerful godfather.' Ricky thought, his smile stretching wider as it made the minotaur shift uneasily, sensing something about to happen.
Meanwhile, in a hellish dimension, within an elegant red castle forever drenched in the screams of the damned, sat a singularly demonic figure.
Mephisto.
He sat poised, a delicate teacup cradled between his fingers, his reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he carefully turned the page of an ancient tome.
SIP
The soft slurp echoed through the solemn library, reverberating off walls upon walls of countless books as Mephisto lowered the cup just enough to flip the page with deliberate grace.
"MEPHISTO, I WANT TO MAKE A DEAL!"
Suddenly, a thunderous roar shattered the silence.
The voice boomed, shaking the very stones of the castle. But Mephisto barely flinched.
His eyes remained fixed blankly on the page, his hand frozen mid-air, teacup poised as if time itself had stopped.
POOF
Mephisto suddenly vanished into a swirl of red smoke, only to reappear before the familiar voice that had completely scammed him last time.
"Ricky, what a pleasure to hear from you again-" Mephisto chuckled, a sly smile spreading as he clasped his hands together.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you wanna play cards or not?" Ricky's hand abruptly halted his words, shifting focus to the real reason he'd summoned the demon.
But instead of being enraged, Mephisto merely raised an eyebrow in response.
"What are the stakes?" Mephisot asked, unfazed by Ricky's deception since after all, a game might serve his interests better than any deal.
The room erupted into excitement at those words as the coven went wild at Mephisto's presence, money flying between players like wildfire as even the players started to move.
Alexander immediately began pulling out borrowed money he had yet to repay.
Bucephalus laid down gleaming jewels from Ancient Greece.
Veredelt conjured a blood diamond from thin air, its dark gleam pulsating ominously.
And Asterion reached for the other precious stones he'd won in earlier games.
"A favor, that'll be the pot." Ricky's words froze the players mid-bet, their bodies stiffening as they turned rigidly toward him, as if they'd heard wrong.
"Nothing like 'kill yourself' but a f*cking fun favor, ya know?" Ricky added, drunkenly slurring his words while emphasizing what he meant.
Alexander, Bucephalus, and Asterion thought of it as a fun way to pass the time, thinking it was a good idea.
But Mephisto and Veredelt's eyes gleamed with a predatory intent, shining with an instinct only those of their nature could recognize and seize upon.
"Now, who's ready to play some cards?"