'No way.' Ethan thought to himself. He exhaled slowly, forcing his expression back under control.
"You inferred that I have the power of the Spirit King… from a chant?" Ethan said. "Doesn't that sound flawed to you?"
Merlin shook his head. "It would be, If it were the same chant every summoner uses. But it isn't."
Ethan didn't interrupt.
"The number of summons in your possession also agrees with me," Merlin continued. "No one on this planet has that many."
"So yes… I have come to understand that you are something else entirely. Perhaps a low-level incarnation of him. The Spirit King."
Ethan listened.
"Or perhaps," Merlin added, "you don't even know what you are. And honestly, "I'm very glad that you don't."
Merlin let out a comical breath of relief. "Because if you did, if you fully realized your power, I would never have been able to make this contact."
There was a brief pause before he added, "I'd be dead on arrival."
