Upon leaving his master's abode, Merlin was just about to walk down the mountain when his master's voice flowed into his mind.
'Merlin, don't be alarmed but, if you don't succeed in breaking through to X rank within the next ten years, Ryuda will bring me back to our guild. To be honest, I have enjoyed teaching you these past few years, so I hope that you can complete this mission successfully. Your master, Azure.'
Hearing his master's words, Merlin's heart was stirred.
If he could not break through to X rank in the next 10 years, his Grandmaster will separate his master from him forever.
How could he let that happen?
With this thought in mind, Merlin began his arduous grind towards the so-called X rank.
He trained and trained again, studying ancient scrolls day and night.
Soon, Merlin had studied enough. He could see the wall blocking his future.
But when he tried to walk towards the wall, an incredibly strong pressure descended from above, forcing him to kneel at the first step of the pathway to his breakthrough.
Shortly after that, Merlin woke up.
His body did not suffer any visible injuries, yet when he tried to cast some spells to clean himself, a sharp pain appeared in his chest.
It was only then did he realize that the path to breaking the wall was not that simple.
Following that, Merlin thoroughly prepared himself before he tried to break through into the mysterious X rank domain again.
Just like before, for every step forward, a majestic pressure would fall onto his shoulders, causing his astral body to bend down a bit.
After ten steps, Merlin's hands had actually touched the floor of his soul.
He continued to walk towards the wall like a dog.
He was just forced to crawl like a dog, so Merlin didn't feel shame from this.
Mins became hours, and hours became days.
It had been 10 days since Merlin had attempted to break through into X rank realm.
He had already crawled a total of 500 steps and had finally reached the wall.
Looking up at the wall, Merlin remained composed as he tried to push his body against the majestic pressure.
As long as he could resist the pressure and get up, breaking the wall was not a problem for him. Or so he thought.
Merlin endured the intense pressure weighing down on him and slowly got up from his dog-like position.
'Come on, I can do this! For my teacher, Azure Monarch!'
Days later, Merlin was finally going to stand up straight.
He mustered up all of his strength into his legs before he finally stood up and faced the wall in front.
His face was only centimeters away from the wall. There, he noticed that the wall was not a wall, but a yellow curtain decorated with ancient runes, tricking Merlin into thinking it was a wall.
'Haiz, to think that I, Merlin the Grand Magus of Time and Space, would be fooled by a yellow curtain. Well played, God. I'll see myself out now.' Merlin thought to himself as he let out a hearty laugh.
But just as he was about to step through the curtain, a laughter filled with disdain resounded within his mind.
'Who's there?!' Merlin got into a battle stance and shouted.
He was only an astral being right now with no physical body.
If a demon or an evil spirit wanted to cause trouble for him, Merlin would have no choice but to summon his soul treasure to fight them here.
'HAHAHAHAHAHA!' Laughter continued to resound within his mind, causing him to increase his vigilance as he stared at the direction where the laughter came from.
Merlin squinted his eyes to see who it was, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see anyone within his soul.
'Odd. I can clearly hear laughter yet I don't see anybody. Just where is this person hiding?'
Merlin turned his back on the yellow curtain to look for the intruder.
Right on cue, a sword 2 yards long appeared out of the yellow curtain, piercing Merlin's back with a soft 'swish'.
Merlin did not expect an enemy to hide behind the yellow curtain, therefore allowing himself to suffer a deep injury on his astral body.
'Pui!' Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Merlin was forced out of his soul before he returned to his physical body.
'No fucking way. I lost just like that?? Impossible, I want a rematch!' Merlin shouted angrily at the sky.
Alas, fate was cruel to him.
No matter how he searched, Merlin could no longer see the path and the yellow curtain anymore.
This was simply unbelievable!
He was just about to break through to X rank yet a demon had interrupted him!
At that point, Merlin was at a loss for words.
His mind became blank, so blank that even his inner demon had become a white demon.
His inner demon saw that Merlin had failed to breakthrough and decided to take this chance in front of him.
With a shout, Merlin's inner demon unleashed its full power onto Merlin, forcing his way into Merlin's soul before he fused himself with Merlin.
As for the Grand Magus, he was lost for words for a very long time.
Not only did Merlin fail to break through into X rank realm, he had actually let his inner demon devour his soul and become one with him.
At that point in time, Merlin felt that giving his inner demon control of his body was a much better option than everything he had done till that point.
And so, with his inner demon in control, Merlin went on a rampage.
He killed and killed and killed.
He killed people of all statuses for months.
He killed the children, he murdered the men, and he humiliated the women.
Even the elderly were not off the hook.
Merlin became a demon of slaughter as he continued to let his inner demon control his body.
This prompted the people of Avalon to send a distress signal to their neighboring continents, hoping for someone to save them from the vile demon.
Not long after that, the X ranked guilds, School and Eden both received the distress call.