Chapter 901: Merlin's Familiars
Chapter 901: Merlin's Familiars
Hati walked back into her house after finishing her check on the situation, she was faced with Merlin leaning on the wall. "You're back?"
"Did you sleep well?" Hati asked with a smile, Merlin had spent the whole night working on some spells and she barely managed to get some sleep.
"Got enough. Look at this." She waved her hand and a small birdcage appeared above her palm, Astrid and Frida were locked up inside. The moment they saw their mother they cried, "MOM! She turned us into frogs!" Astrid shouted and Frida nodded.
Hati approached the cage and looked at her two daughters with a faint smile. "How cute." She turned toward Merlin, "Make sure they don't dry out, it'll damage their skin."
"Worry not," Merlin pointed her finger at the cage and sprayed it with water.
Astrid and Frida looked at their mother with a stunned look. "Mom! Stop her!"
Hati turned toward them with a large smile on her face. "Didn't I spend forty years teaching you polymorph magic? And you're telling me that you can't break out of a human's polymorph spell? I'll get you out if you want, but you'll spend the rest of the week standing naked in the living room, with "I failed Polymorph magic." Written on your foreheads."
She glared at them with glowing white eyes, "You'll be the laughing talk of the week of your sisters."
The two sisters froze in place, looking down.
"Get out on your own. You should've been able to..." She giggled, "Or is her merely encrypting her magic made you unable to understand it." Unlike them, Hati could see straight through Merlin's magic. She knew well that she had taught all of her daughters how to deal with this kind of magic, Frida and Astrid should be able to get out if they used their brains a tiny bit.
"I'll take that as I could do anything I want." Merlin looked at Hati with a smile and she got a nod. "I know what they are capable of, they should be at least your equal in power. They've got lazy in the past decade, fighting the weak ruffians had softened their hide." She walked past Merlin and tapped her shoulder, "Do whatever you want with them. They're old and strong enough to protect themselves. Arad is training so why won't they train as well."
As Hati left, Merlin stared at the sisters with glowing eyes, "Heard your mom, you'll spend the rest of the week as my familiars." She waved her finger and collars appeared on their necks. The sisters cried in shock and Merlin returned them to their normal bodies.
The two sisters grabbed the collars on their necks and cried, trying to rip them off by they failed. Their bodies couldn't have any strength, and they could even feel mana. "My lovely mistress! Why is this collar on my neck?" Astrid turned toward Merlin and bowed down.
Astrid's face immediately paled as she realized what she had just done, she wanted to yell at Merlin, but the words that came out weren't hers. The collar's effect runs brain-deep, twisting their words and emotions to suit Merlin's whims. Even though the sisters were angry at the situation, the only thing they could feel was happiness, they wanted the collar out, but at the same time wished they stayed like this for the rest of the time.
"Sit!" Merlin pointed down with her finger and the two sisters sat on the ground. She flicked her finger, "On your back." And the sisters laid on their back, lifting their legs and arms up.
"Roll." She smiled, and they rolled left and right, "Sit and do a flip." On Merlin's orders, the two-sister sat up and then immediately jumped, doing a backflip, and looked at her with smiles on their faces.
Merlin patted their heads, "Good girls, good girls. And just to let you know, you can break the spell. You'll only have to figure out how."
"They won't believe your words." Hati walked from the back with another one of her daughters, Lamia. "She was taking a break from work so I brought her. Show them."
Merlin pointed her finger at Lamia and turned her into a frog. Lamia fell to the ground and looked at her frog body, and after about a minute she shifted back into her body, and Merlin couldn't forcefully polymorph her again.
Lamia had proved to Astrid and Frida that it was their problem that they couldn't break out of Merlin's polymorph, they needed to step up their skill a bit. But currently, that spell wasn't the one plaguing them, the dominating effect.
Merlin waved her finger, sending a tiny purple spark toward Lamia and a collar appeared on her neck just like the other sisters. "Kneel." Merlin said with a smile.
Lamia immediately knelt, and the collar on her neck shattered. She stood with a passive face, "Interesting, but still could be broken out with ease." She looked at Frida and Astrid, "One is an earthworm that only thinks about earth magic, and the other is a muscle head that only knows how to handle her spear. Unless you try to understand magic on a fundamental level, you won't be able to get out of this." Lamia looked at Hati.
"Mother, is this all? I do want to spend my break doing something else."
Hati nodded with a smile, "You can take the rest of the day off, you've been working hard recently. You deserve it, unlike those two." She looked back at Astrid and Frida. "Feel free to do whatever you want to them." The two left, leaving Astrid and Frida in Merlin's hands.
Just a few seconds later, the gate of the training ground opened up and Kayden walked out, dusted to the neck. He looked around, "Hati, I'm going back home. Get Arad ready for tomorrow, he's doing well. So feed him nicely. He'll need the energy tomorrow." He disappeared without making a sound, leaving even a chill down her spine. His massive aura disappeared all at once as if he was an illusion.
Astrid and Frida who were there rushed toward the gate as they saw it sparkle, Arad was coming out, and they wanted him to save them from Merlin.
"Arad! Merlin had been bullying us!" Frida cried.
"Put a leash on her, she's harming us!" Astrid growled.
The gate before them shifted, and something large came out. The two sisters froze in place as the seven-foot-tall woman walked out, glaring at them with burning purple eyes. They went silent, confused, baffled, and most likely dumbfounded.
"Who are you?" Astrid tilted her head.
The woman's body started steaming and her shape shifted, in her place, Arad was standing with a tired expression on his face. "I guess a trick only works once." He had tried the same trick twice, but Kayden sniffed him out in the second almost immediately and knocked him out. Kayden now would check all the spawns whatever they were for the presence of Arad's
soul.
"You look less battered than yesterday. Was it a better day today?" Merlin asked with a smile, forcing both Astrid and Frida to kneel down.
"I wouldn't call it a better day, but it's less bad." Arad shifted his gaze toward the kneeling sisters, "You're controlling them through the collars?"
"I asked their mother and she allowed me. For the week, they are my obedient little familiars. I'll make sure it's a week they'll never forget in their lives." She giggled, approaching Arad. Arad bent down and looked at their necks, "I see. Just give up, surrender to her." He tapped their heads and stood, "My back hurts and I'm feeling a bit dizzy. I'll go out for a walk; I need some fresh air." Arad walked toward the door.
"A walk? What walk, you don't go on walks." Merlin stared at him with a confused look, "Where are you going?"
"I go on walks, usually at midnight to look for food." Arad replied, "I'll check on the other students and then go find something to snack on." He was hungry, the Tall Neck in his stomach had already ended and he was looking for something to sate his hunger until it was midnight and he could go hunt more.
Dragons' bodies are extremely efficient, if the dragon isn't active, they can survive on the same meal for years, maybe even decades. But if the dragon starts fighting at full power, their energy consumption skyrockets and they might hunt an ecosystem into extinction.
Arad walked away and Merlin looked at the sisters with a smile on her face. "I want you to help me tend to a few things." She approached Sara and sat on her back, "Let's head to my room." She rode on her away as Frida trailed behind them.
On his way out, Arad changed his clothes and approached the living room to look for Mira and the rest, they were sitting there playing with Serin and Ignis. "I'm going out for a walk, need
anything?" He asked.
"You're out of the training room?" Mira stood and gasped, she rushed at him with a worried face, "You aren't hurt, are you?" She inspected his torso and arms, but he didn't have a single scratch on him, he had already healed.
Serin approached Arad, clenching her fists and swinging them down, she growled with a serious face. "GAAAA! GAAAAAAAAA!" She stared at him and he smiled, lifting her up. "You want to come with me? Here you go..." He carried her on his neck. But from the corner of his eyes, he could see Ignis staring at him.
"You two as well, come." He waved his hand and she rushed toward him, latching to his back.
Mira sighed, approaching him, "Take care and don't be late." She kissed him on the cheek.
Arad paused for a second and looked at her with a smile, giving her a kiss on the lips. "I won't
be late."
"Not fair! Me too!" Isdis cried in the back, rushing toward him for her kiss.