Alcott Merlin raised his hand and the world went silent around them almost as if Regius was trapped in a vacuum with this man and the family leaders as well as Macarthur but Leem and Devlin seemed trapped` right outside its range and they had stopped moving as if time itself was frozen. Henry took slow steps forward as if he was trapped in a quagmire but he approached nonetheless.
"I thought you were no longer allowed to interfere with the fate of champion candidates Merlin. Your family was cursed to watch until your entire bloodline dies. This certainly feels like interference."
Merlin looked at him and the mana pressure that he exuded forced Henry to his knees like he was able to focus it all onto a single person.
"Yes, and my family has paid that price for five lifetimes but I won't be a bystander any longer. You took your fellow apprentice from me but I will sit by no longer. Humanity has bigger problems and I won't sit by and watch you hunt him down all because after so many years you are envious of his father."
Henry Zhang's face was a mask of rage but he let it slip and opened up an inky black gate that he moved over each of the ten in turn sending them away.
"You took the 12 of us as apprentices and shared your knowledge but not your secrets Master, you shared your secrets with just him because he was your golden boy you took him across the realms while we were left to study in the tower under the guise of us not being ready. You would have handed the world to him if you could but what did he do? He fell in love with a demon and still you showed him the same love despite them being the enemy, you didn't reprimand him you gave him your blessing and walked her down the aisle at their wedding. You treated him like a son and the rest of us were merely a backdrop to his story. He could do no wrong. So yes my envy got the better of me and when Swigen offered us an opportunity to let our WORLD have a fighting chance and he denied us that right, it was only right that he and everyone he loved paid the price so that we could. Your blind love for him led us to this point."
Henry put one foot through the portal as he prepared to leave as well before he turned back
"I will be seeing you soon Regius."
but before he could walk through the Portal Merlin applied the pressure and stopped him in place once again
"I loved you all equally and still try to despite the ten of you turning your back on me. You need to think maybe he was told my secrets not because I favored him but because he was the only one of you capable of bearing the weight of them."
With his piece said he swiped his hand through the air and sent Henry stumbling through his portal as the world seemed to resume. Macarthur made it in front of Merlin and Regius but Merlin shook his head as MacArthur drew near
"Do you wish to scorn me as well?"
Macarthur looked at the distraught Regius and down at the floor before staring directly into Macarthur's own. Macarthur hesitated but exhaled
"No but Leon taught me and you taught him and though you were never my master I've seen you as one. Leon told me of the Merlin family curse bestowed upon you by our world itself. There is no point in blaming you for something your predecessors were scared to overcome. You simply being here for Regius is monumental and not even I dare to speak on what will come of it but when it comes down to it he's past what I can teach him and I refuse to think this is all talent that can be pulled out of him so ill make any sacrifice ill suffer through any storm ill accept whatever but take the boy as your apprentice and push him past the limits of what we think humans are capable of because we both know he's so much more than just a human. Do right by Leon where you didn't before, right your wrong and break your family's curse, raise a true champion."
Merlin looked back and forth at Regius and then Macarthur with a worried look in his eyes but eventually, it gave way to a certain light. Merlin got down on one knee to be level with Regius who had sat there trapped in his mind for the entire past conversation
"We need to speak in private before a decision is made. You have already passed the test and are now a student of my school so now is as good a time as any." With that Merlin tore another hole in space and guided a downcast Regius through it as he walked through it himself leaving the world where it was dumbfounded at what had just happened.