Ruins north of the Avalonian Continent
After flying for about 30 minutes, Ryuda soon arrived at a cluster of ruins.
There was a tattered sign with faded characters placed at the entrance of the ruins.
It read "Ambrosius City".
There, a group of black hooded men carrying cursed relics could be seen walking around the ruins.
It seemed that they were searching for something.
Ryuda merely glanced at them for a moment before he teleported away.
He could roughly guess what the group of hooded men wanted from the ruins.
It was most likely the same thing he wanted to find in the Ambrosius City ruins too.
Thus, Ryuda paid them no mind after that.
Half a breath later, Ryuda appeared inside a dilapidated church.
The church was missing a few walls while the rest of the building was covered in thick black vines.
An ominous aura seeped out from under the wooden floor of the church.
With another look, Ryuda waved his hand at the wooden floor. A silent gust of wind appeared afterwards and blew away the ominous aura.
It was only then that one could see a series of faint markings scattered around the wooden floor.
These markings had a light red hue to them, allowing one to guess that these markings had been drawn a long time ago.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that the markings on the wooden floor were actually magic circles of all shapes and sizes.
Each of these magic circles represented a type of sealing magic.
If a demon hunter or a priest were to see these magic circles, they'd be shocked.
Not only were the magic circles there hard to draw, the magic circles would usually need a high price to activate and maintain it.
And now that there were more than fifty such magic circles spewed across the wooden floor of an abandoned church, one couldn't help but guess that a demon had crossed realms and entered the mortal world to wreak havoc.
Thus prompting the heroes of that era to band together to seal the demon here.
Moreover, this guess would explain why Ambrosius City had become a city of vines and crumbled walls.
A huge battle must have happened in the past before they could seal the demon.
The sealed demon might very well be the lord of Hell, Satan himself.
Ryuda looked towards the various magic circles with an indifferent expression.
'Haiz, to think that I will be the one to unseal you after 500 years. Times surely have changed...'
With a wave of his hand, golden light flashed past his eyes as countless clicking sounds resounded within the church.
"Click click click…"
The light elements within the church gathered and converged into the biggest magic circle on the wooden floor.
A pillar of light then shot up from the magic circle, revealing a shadowy figure chained to the pillar of light.
The shadowy figure's face was overshadowed by the pillar of light.
Even so, Ryuda knew that the shadowy figure's face was skinny with sunken cheeks.
After all, this wasn't the first time Ryuda had met the shadowy figure.
"Long time no see, my dear disciple. How's it going?" Ryuda greeted the shadowy figure with a smile. "It's been forever since we've last talked. Do you still remember your fellow students?"
Ryuda's tone was calm and casual.
He treated the shadowy figure in front of him as his student so conversing with the shadowy figure became natural.
The shadowy figure remained silent.
It had no face yet Ryuda could sense the shadowy figure's two bloodshot eyes glaring at him fiercely.
Ryuda smiled at the thought of this. 'It seems that this fellow has yet to let go of his grudge. Well, it can't be helped. Although I was responsible for subduing and sealing him here, he has no one but himself to blame.'
Just then, the Azure Monarch had just reached the ruins of Ambrosius City.
He saw a group of black hooded men searching through the ruins of the city.
'What are these people searching for? This is the ruins of an abandoned city. There should be nothing for them to loot. Yet, since they're searching so hard, it seems like they are certain that a treasure exists within these ruins.'
Taking note of this, Azure Monarch then flew towards the same dilapidated church Ryuda was currently in.
He reached the dilapidated church shortly after.
But just as he was about to walk in, he sensed a familiar aura within the church. He couldn't help but tear up as a result.
'Just who was sealed in this church? Teacher only told me to come here after I had prepared my heart. I didn't ask why but now I understand. It seems that someone close to me had caused teacher trouble, so teacher decided to seal them here as a result.' Azure Monarch wiped away his tears as he thought to himself.
With a light push, Azure Monarch took a deep breath to calm his surging emotions before he finally entered the church.
When he walked through the doorway, Azure Monarch saw that Ryuda was currently talking with a shadowy figure chained to a pillar of light.
'That must be the sealed demon. I wonder, how is he related to me?'
As Azure Monarch entered the hall, the shadowy figure that was unresponsive to Ryuda's small talk suddenly raised his head to look at the blue haired man.
By then, Ryuda knew that his student had arrived.
'As expected, only Azure Monarch can grab your attention.' Ryuda sighed in his heart.
Ryuda then continued his small talk with the shadowy figure, while the shadowy figure continued to stare at Azure Monarch who was standing quietly behind Ryuda.
This went on for a while longer.
When night came, the pillar of light shrunk by a meter, allowing the shadowy figure's feet to touch the cold moldy floor.
With a thud, the shadowy figure suddenly howled at the blue moon hanging above him.
It's howl was filled with sorrow and regret as it grew louder and louder.
Nonetheless, only Ryuda and Azure Monarch actually heard the shadowy figure's sorrowful howl.
When the shadowy figure was done howling, Ryuda flipped his hand and "Pop!" sound appeared.
He had actually casted a soundproofing magic barrier over the dilapidated church, isolating the shadowy figure's howl from the rest of the ruins.
He wanted to prevent any unwanted people from interrupting his reunion with his grand disciple, Merlin.
And yes, the shadowy figure that was chained to the pillar of light was actually the legendary X rank Sage, Merlin.
But this Merlin was not the Merlin who appeared in the Avalonian Empire 100 years ago.
The Merlin of Camelot was said to be an X ranked Sage while this sealed up Merlin was only SSS rank.
But if one were to argue, the chained up Merlin was the real legendary sage while the X ranked Merlin was an impostor.
Since the real Merlin was here, who was the impostor Merlin then?
Just then, Ryuda flicked his finger before his appearance started to change.
If King Arthur or any of the Avalonian Empire nobles were here, they'd be shocked to death.
Ryuda had become Merlin.
Or more accurately, Ryuda was the impostor Merlin from 100 years ago.