The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

And all the troublesome and exhausting tasks were given to An Su and his pals.

Merlin's thoughts became increasingly clear.

To have a holiday and hardly lift a finger—that was a win-win situation.

Merlin and An Su caught each other's gaze, cataract meeting glaucoma in a brief touch before retracting, each discerning a tacit understanding in the other's eyes. Merlin then coughed and said, "If it's for the noble cause of the Holy Light, even a slight deviation from the norm can be acceptable."

"Naturally," An Su agreed with devout eyes, nodding, "We are all for the noble cause of the Holy Light."

"All this you're saying is just conjecture up to this point."

Merlin coughed slightly, opting for a safer approach,

"We still know nothing about the number of cultists, their hiding places, personnel distribution, organizational structure, their parents' social relations, home addresses, and family income situations."

"If you want my support for your assassination plan, you need to present all this information first, then wait another seven business days. After discussing it with myself, I'll give you a response."

His Excellency the Archmage still hadn't given up on his little vacation, but this time he didn't mention having a discussion with the bishops,

because no bishop would be born agreeable to it.

"This matter is of great significance."

With just a glance at An Su, Merlin knew exactly what the shrewd little guy was thinking and said coldly, "Call your two companions over. I want to see if I can rely on them, if they are serious."

Too reliable and too serious were not what Merlin wanted.

Lest they report to Merlin.

"Don't worry." An Su nodded earnestly, radiating sincerity, and replied, "They're all unreliable and unscrupulous scumbags."

Merlin granted access to the gates of Heaven's Gate, and Arthur and Lister, who had been waiting on the ninth level, were finally able to ascend to the tenth level.

They took a deep breath and climbed the seemingly endless staircase with determined expressions, arriving at the epic Heaven's Gate. They had both heard about the plan in advance from An Su: only the most reliable and upright individuals could be entrusted with such a task.

An Su had recommended them to Merlin. Find your next adventure on empire

They had to perform well to win the trust of His Excellency the Archmage.

When An Su looked at them with trust in his eyes, they were genuinely moved.

Arthur entered first, radiant and wearing a priestly robe, dragging a magic wand of alloy construction, sparking flares along the way, full of martial virtue. Lister followed, dressed in a lavish and elegant tailcoat, his inner lining fitted with his newly developed blood-stopping bandages, fully prepared.

Merlin, with flickers of Holy Light in his eyes, saw through their natures and said with heartfelt relief, "Seeing you two, I must say An Su wasn't wrong."

Recognized by the Archmage himself, Arthur and Lister wore triumphant expressions.

They hadn't let An Su down.

They indeed were exceptional people.

"Our trio is now assembled."

An Su's eyes flickered with light.

"So now, could you show us your perfect Transformation Spell, Your Excellency Merlin?"

Last time he had copied 'Judgment Light' from Merlin, and now the urge to copy had struck again, wishing to plagiarize further.

Merlin knew this guy was up to no good again.

It didn't matter, for Merlin never minded being copied—to copy is to be prepared to be copied in turn, and that was a truth Merlin had always adhered to.

"Our academic 'transformation' means to physically twist one's own visage to impersonate another person, to create confusion with falsehood," Merlin explained, only resembling a Holy Light bishop when lecturing about magic, "But the appearance of the soul won't change, and physical disguises ultimately have their limits. However, against magicians capable of observing the soul, Transformation Spells become ineffective."

Merlin had previously written a Gender Transformation Spell, a pity nobody appreciated it.

The miserly old man from the Alchemical Church scolded him fiercely.

Accusing him of plagiarizing from beginning to end, changing just one letter.

That was unfair.

Well, next time he'd just change a few more letters.

"The Sanctuary of Chaos, however, proposed a different approach," continued Merlin,

"They directly invade the victim's body, merging their soul temporarily with the host's soul, which makes it less likely to be detected. It's exceedingly evil and dangerous, commonly used to infiltrate important institutions, extract vital intelligence, steal treasures, and so on."

An Su's face showed a flash of realization; he had seen the Chaotic Saintess use this technique.

She had once possessed Alice's body to infiltrate an important Pain School, attended classes for a month, gathered a lot of vital Holy Light knowledge, and even stole twenty to thirty sets of the "Hengshui Holy Light Scrolls."

The cultists indeed were evil and dangerous.

An Su thought to himself.

Fortunately, I know how to hypnotize female students, otherwise I'd be done for.

Merlin had no idea what An Su was thinking, he continued.

"And I... referenced the magic of the Sanctuary of Chaos, and also created a set of spells."

"That would be my Transformation Spell."

"So, a higher level of Transformation Magic isn't just about changing one's own appearance, but twisting others. It focuses on the distortion at the cognitive level. Not 'impersonation' but actually 'replacing' the identity of the original owner."

"What I am going to do now is extract their souls."

As Merlin said this, he walked over to the three unconscious prisoners of war, his gaze sweeping past the Serpent of Pain, the Child of Sacrifice, and the Chaos Staircase.

He raised his finger, his lips moved slightly, and the light in his pupils kept changing.

Heaven's Gate trembled slowly, the elongated index finger of the Archmage touched the foreheads of the three people in turn, pinching the index and middle fingers together as if pulling a misty thread from between their brows.

And those who were touched by Merlin convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and their faces showed unbearable pain, looking utterly distraught. They died instantly, not even qualifying to enter the stream of life.

[The Absolutely Not Plagiarized Transformation Magic]

[Epic-level Concept Magic]

[Magic Power Consumption: Unknown]

[Effect: Extracting souls to create a fixed form (the stronger the soul's rank, the harder it is to extract and shape). The magician holding that soul will change others' perceptions, seeing them as the original owner of the soul.]

[Note: His Excellency Merlin is a devout bishop of the Holy Light. He solemnly declares that this magic has no plagiarism whatsoever]

An Su had long known that Merlin was eccentric, but he hadn't expected it to go this far.

Even going so far as to steal black magic from the esoteric religion.

Something about extracting souls.

Involving souls...

This was a complete breach of taboo.

And here he thought this guy was only a menace to the followers of Holy Light.

And the name, doesn't it sound ridiculous? Just by stating there's no plagiarism, does it mean there is none?

Merlin held three souls in his hand, "Who wants to be this 'Serpent of Pain'?"

"I do!" Arthur raised his hand.

"Carry this with you, and don't let go," Merlin handed over the distorted soul of the Serpent of Pain to Arthur, "With this, others will automatically view you as a person of the Mixed Cult."

Arthur blinked his eyes as he took the thread from Merlin. The moment he got it, An Su and Lister looked at Arthur with something wrong in their expressions.

Although they were forewarned,

And even though Arthur's appearance didn't change at all,

An Su and Lister still regarded him as the Serpent of Pain. Lister couldn't help but pick up a brick, wanting to give this guy another hit.

Arthur blinked his eyes, he pulled out the small mirror he carried and looked at his reflection. There was no change whatsoever.

If this was how they reacted despite knowing the truth, one could only imagine how others would react.

"You haven't transformed at all."

An Su turned his gaze away from Arthur, unable to resist teasing, "This can't really be called a Transformation Spell, can it?"

Extracting souls was already beyond the realm of any conventional Transformation Spell!

"Who says there's no transformation?"

Merlin became furious, his magic capabilities were not to be questioned.

The dignity of the Archmage did not allow for any desecration.

Immediately, Merlin seized the soul of the Child of Sacrifice and pinched it into a rectangle shape as if it were clay.

"Look, now it's a rectangle."

Merlin pinched again, kneading back and forth with both hands, and soon shaped it into an oval, "Now it's an oval."

Being of the Third Order, the Child of Sacrifice had no choice but to be at the mercy of Merlin's whims. Smugly showing off to An Su, he said, "I can even pinch it into a poop shape."

Was this the kind of transformation they were talking about?

An Su, looking at Merlin's innocent expression as he played with the soul, genuinely felt that this guy belonged to the wrong religion.

This fellow would have become the pope had he joined the Mixed Cult!

It seemed there was much more An Su had to learn on the path of magic, he thought, eyeing the distinctive Transformation Spell of Merlin, wondering when he might be able to copy one for himself.