Ivan Ferminjoy was a name known by everyone in the small town of Ceelix, the bar master was a fine man with a fashion sense that would shake the hearts of women. The sheer grace he walked around with was enough to make married women want to leave their husbands, not to mention that the drinks sold at the Trailing Rosé bar were absolutely top-notch.
It's been three years since he took over this body, and no one had suspected a thing because he simply didn't do anything. Ivan must have not been a very talkative man before he died meaning Merlo would fill his shoes perfectly.
Shapeshifting, one of the gifts daemons are given when they gain a certain amount of mana. Of course, the most important gift would be their consciousness. Merlo walked the streets of Ceelix in Ivan's body, greeting everyone he saw as he walked into his cellar.
He had seen the young man waltzing the forest picking wood, it was a cold day and the blizzard had shielded the eyes of many. He studied the man and then shape-shifted into him before proceeding to consume his body.
Merlo didn't care about how he looked, this was merely a disguise. When the night comes for Vancrest's downfall he would unleash his true skin, he would unleash the form that humans have come to fear ever so deeply.
Although he kept wine in his cellar, that's not necessarily its main purpose. Merlo walked down the stairs and saw Osiris sitting over a chair. Thinking. Glass tubes filled the wide cellar, experiments stood in the tubes having their DNA altered by the mad scientist, Osiris.
The records of daemons doesn't show a reason they came to be, sure there have been multiple theories but nobody knows where the daemons truly came from. However, Merlo thought daemons were sent by a superior being to this planet for a reason, a reason that he would accomplish in Vancrest.
"Hello, master Ivan." Osiris stood up promptly and greeted Merlo.
"Anything the problem? It's not rare to see you think however it seems this time... There's been a setback." Merlo dragged the chair away and sat on it. "And drop the alias."
"Yes sir, it's regarding the hybrid." Osiris brought out a diagram and gave it to Merlo. "Using your blood we turned fifteen humans in pseudo tiger classes, same as Yuri Dragonstead."
"The child could not be created."
"After they've been changed, their DNA is so dramatically altered that their reproductive organs lose function ." Osiris paced around the room but stopped once he remembered Merlo was in the room.
"So what you're saying is that it would be impossible to mass produce Igor's?" Merlo asked.
"'It would seem so." Osiris walked toward a capsule and stroked it.
"Hmm... That is displeasing."
"Your blood can be used as an infectant because it's a gift, no one else can do this... However." Osiris pointed at the diagram he gave Merlo and his master proceeded to look at it. "All humans infected with your blood die within two months, even if Yuri wasn't consumed. He would not have survived."
"What about the woman?" Merlo said as he created a flame in his palm that turned the diagram to ashes. "Is she special?"
"Hana Roosevelt is a normal human, I've checked all her records and although she has a giant mana pool. There was nothing that said she has a gift that could revive body parts or functions."
"Hmm."
"At any rate, I would need to study the actual specimen if I was to create more." Osiris said.
"Then our original plan hasn't been changed," Merlo stood and walked toward a door. "Keep trying, I'll be headed to my bar."
"Yeah, I meant to tell you. Albatross is back." Osiris said before Merlo walked through.
"One more thing. Yuri had a gift that allowed him to resist the effects of my blood. Even though you are right on the fact that he would still have died. This information should prove useful." Merlo shut the door.
"A gift that can prolong the time taken for ailments to affect the body. Basically slowing it down, does Igor have this gift?" Osiris contemplated on the last bit of information his master gave him.
Albatross was what the humans labeled archfiend, he was a prominent daemon and Merlo was probably the one who feared him the most. Not battle wise however, Merlo would be the victor if they were to have a bout. The reason Merlo feared Albatross was that he was the next him, the archfiend slayed clans, destroyed cities, and leveled nations. All outside Greatsdane of course. Albatross had a rage that wouldn't be tamed by even Merlo himself, all because of the death of his brother. At the hands of the walking corpse... Roman.
The exited his cellar through a passageway that sent him straight into his room and he met Albatross, the arch-fiend sat with his feet up and Merlo walked by. If that was any other daemon, well... they would surely taste good.
"Albatross, why back so early? you were sent to establish a faction in the southern out-lands." Merlo poured two glasses of wine, before dropping both on the table.
"Sorry," Albatross recalled his legs from the table. "Everything is in place, it was easier than I thought it would be funny enough."
"That's good news, have you heard from Albion?" Merlo slowly drank from his glass as he awaited a response.
"Not since we left for the outlands, he is fine if that's what you mean... He is almost an arch-fiend himself." Albatross downed his wine in a second.
"I see,"
"How are the preparations coming along."
"I made visits to Vancrest a few times when on a wine run," Merlo dropped his wine glass. "There's more than enough."
"The day where we take over the world is coming."
"Yes... It seems much nearer than I thought it would be."