[Merlin makes a face like he's already got a great rebuttal for that nitpicking, but he frowns a little more aggressively at his shirt for a moment instead. He's learning how to not get baited into silly arguments...]

Using it and having it are completely different things. [That's the point he's trying to make, somewhere under all of his Magic Is Everywhere romanticism. He knows it doesn't have a beating heart, but it's easier to talk about that way... somehow.

Look, he just has a lot of feelings.]

There is dark magic in my world... but if it isn't a living creature, someone with magic had to make it destructive in the first place. That's all.