Whew"

As soon as the illusion of the form of Eckern in the mystery room dissipated, Merlin stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the room.

He had just finished a conversation with the priest, and Father Paul's logic did not conform to Merlin's usual view of things, but he did help.

And, so far, what needs to be done, has been done.

Merlin looked at the empty house, which had become empty and unfamiliar after all the decorations in the room had been put away.

There are no more familiar people here, and there are no more things to worry about.

It's no longer home.

Merlin reached open the fridge and pulled out a can of beer.

He walked over to the couch and turned on the TV.

The news that is being broadcast echoes the chaotic scene of New York.

The out-of-control superheroes, disturbed by fear and psychic powers, have become a source of renewed turmoil in the city.

And the criminals who escaped the first purge, they also made their way through the city under the pursuit of the tyrant, trying to escape with all their might, and then making everything worse.

Waves of high-pressure rays continued to shoot from the sky.

But after the initial chaos, when the fear and malice in people's hearts are unleashed by the chaotic outside world, all kinds of crimes emerge one after another.

Some of them are not even intended by the people, but some of their irrational actions are also criminalized and knocked to the ground by the rays that fall from the sky.

Rather, it is the powerful villains who have been able to escape from the observation of the Eye of Insight time and time again.

After all, there are holes in the insight system...

It is effective in stopping ordinary people from committing crimes, even by forcibly intervening before the crime has even begun.

But for those transhumans, it's not so magical.

Whether it's a bullet or a ray, as long as someone dodges the first time, as long as the aura of omnipotence is broken...

There will be a steady stream of malicious returns.

Merlin sipped an ice-cold beer as he stared at the screen in front of him.

He looked at the city struggling in chaos, and he didn't need to close his eyes to hear the city's wails and supplications.

But now, it's not time yet.

A few minutes later, Merlin, who was leaning back on the couch, felt an irresistible sleepiness hit him, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

The familiar feeling of falling came over him, and he stretched his body in the scattered clouds, and the dream world was as colorful as ever.

It's like a child's novice graffiti, which looks weird, but it's full of freshness.

Filled with some kind of quirky vitality.

Merlin landed on the ground, and the fog in front of him flipped to the sides.

The golden palace appeared, and on the balcony of the palace, Merlin leaned against the railing, and he looked at Zatana, who appeared before his eyes with a sad face.

Miss Magician appeared unusually dignified this time, and she no longer had the amorous posture she had before.

She also seemed to foreshadow something to come.

"Why are you crying?"

Merlin beckoned to her, and he whispered:

"I'm here to say goodbye to you, Zatana, and you should at least smile."

"Is it really this far?"

Zatanna looked at Merlin, she stepped forward, and she said:

"Is there no other way? Maybe you can hide here, or I'll send you to a dimension they can't find..."

"Running away won't solve the problem."

Merlin held out two fingers and stroked Zatanna's long smooth black hair, and said:

"It's a game to win, and I used to think about how much I had to give to win, and now it looks like I'm probably going to have to give everything for it."

"I felt restless last night."

Miss Magician Says:

"I have done divination for you, all kinds of divination, from the most ordinary tarot cards, to summoning the All-Knowing, I have tried to spy on your fate, Merlin, but I have not seen anything."

She looked at Merlin, her pretty eyes full of worry and powerlessness, and she said:

"Your fate is like a fog that I can't see clearly, and I can't predict its direction, neither good nor bad."

"That's hard to guess, maybe you should avoid it."

"Hehe, we're talking about fate, Zatanna."

Merlin did not care about Miss Magician's persuasion, and said:

"The more you try to escape it, the more it will speed up after you on the other side of the chasm, and instead of waiting for the trapped beast to fight when the mountains and rivers are exhausted, it is better to fight now."

Merlin turned, and he looked to the edge of the dream world.

Beyond the curtain of mist, the black glare had swelled to a terrifying level, and it had begun to squeeze the dream as if it were roaring with surging malice.

It's not peaceful here, just like this world, and horrors happen here.

Here, too, there is an upcoming war.

Merlin Says:

"This is fate, it made me born with a weak attitude, experienced hardships, so presumably, it is looking forward to a story of breaking out of the cocoon and becoming a butterfly..."

"The end has come..."

"How can I let it down?"

The moment his words fell, Zatanna hugged him from behind.

The two had been intimate many times, even though only in a dream, even though they were driven by the power of the Sandman, but that intimacy still changed the relationship between the two.

But this time, this time the hug didn't have much erotic overtones.

It's like another kind of goodbye.

Miss Magician pressed her face against Merlin's back, and she said:

"Why is it always you? Poor man. ”

"Because I'm the source."

Merlin put his hand on Zatana's fingers, and he whispered:

"When I came into the world, calamity followed; I have never stopped moving forward, and so have the bad things that have happened to me. ”

"It's like a moving storm brewing power that will eventually bring everyone into it."

"Only when the storm dissipates will there be peace."

Zatanna didn't reply to Merlin's words that seemed to be emotional.

She just wanted to hug him again.

Keeping that familiar taste in mind, perhaps...

This is the last time.

"The Nightmare's power is growing by the day, and perhaps it will soon invade this dreamland."

The two maintained this rare silence, and after a few minutes, Merlin looked at the black glare in the distance, and said:

"I should have worked with you to resolve this threat, but..."

"Anyway, if I can come back, I will do my best to help you, but if something unfortunate happens, then you have to be prepared in advance."

"I have a preliminary idea."

Zatanna let go of her hand, she took a step back, and she said:

"You don't need to worry about me anymore, at this time, you should focus on your future."

"Merlin..."

"As a friend, I hope you are safe and sound, and I will look forward to our next goodbye..."

A smile tugged at the corner of Merlin's mouth, another warm blessing.

He came back to his senses and said to Zatana:

"Well, I'll try my best."

———————

"Drip, Drip"

The black phone pulsed on the empty coffee table, and it kept buzzing.

After a few seconds, Merlin, returning from the dream, reached for it, he looked at the number that jumped on the screen, and he put his phone to his ear.

After a moment of silence, he said:

"I thought we didn't have much to say anymore."

"Absolutely!"

Pierce's hoarse voice came from the other side of the phone, and he said:

"Even now, I still haven't given up my efforts."

"Effort?"

Merlin watched the flames erupt on the screen of the television in front of her, and at the scene of Louise's interview, a mob set fire to an apartment, and the flames were rising into the sky.

He said calmly:

"Trying to destroy the world?"

"It's to protect it!"

There was a stubbornness in Pierce's voice, and he said:

"Things get worse before they get better, but the chaos in the city is being suppressed every minute, and the criminals are fighting back, but they have been cornered."

"This is their last madness!"

"I didn't see it."

Merlin modulated the sound of the phone, threw the phone on the coffee table, and said:

"I only saw peaceful cities turn into battlefields, and wavering fears are driven to the side of chaos."

"Those who once swore to protect have become vandals, and the protected can only cry helplessly in the flames that have been lit."

"One city has become a battlefield, another is about to become hell, and it's all because you're doing whatever you want!"

"I don't see you protecting order, or trying to rebuild it."

"I only saw the destruction..."

"Pierce, all I saw was chaos coming. This is the new order you are pursuing? ”

Merlin shook his head, and said sarcastically:

"Shit-like stuff!"

"Patience, Merlin."

Pierce wasn't angry, explaining:

"Any greatness takes time."

"You were also a member of this system, and you also know that the system of this order is not a caterpillar, it is declining, pale, backward, it will not form a cocoon on its own, and then turn into a butterfly and become more beautiful!"

"It has no vitality, someone has to push it, it has to die once before it can be reborn in the fire that we have kindled!"

"Come back, Merlin."

The old man said in a sincere tone:

"Come back and stand with me, what happened in Raccoon City was an accident that made people feel sad and painful."

"But you see, in your S. . L.D. combined with the insight system, and we were able to control the situation very easily. ”

"In just a few hours, we saved 600,000 people! This proves that when we stand together, we are enough to move the world! ”

"You are a believer in order, and so am I, we all have an obsession, an obsession to make the world a better and more perfect place, and we are natural allies."

"Merlin, come back, we can accomplish our common ideals together."

Pierce paused, and he said:

"You see, there was a problem with my plan, an unexpected problem, which means that I can't do it all alone, and I need help."

"I need your help! I will give you all the power in my hands, and you will turn bad things into good things. ”

"You will turn the tide as you did before and become a hero to save this country, this continent..."

"You're insulting me now just because you empathize with it, watching a city go through the torment of change, and that makes you feel pain, and that's a beautiful character."

"But I know, deep down, you also understand... When the chaos is over, something better is born. ”

"This is a decisive moment, Merlin, this city, this country, this world, it has come to the brink of the arrival of order, it only needs a gentle push from us!"

"The new world we long for will come!"

"After seeing hell coming, you will long to return to the world, the freedom of indulgence and the comfort of safety, after all, you can only choose the same... You and I both know what will happen to the people we protect. ”

"You know, that's right!"

"If you still feel fooled, if you feel pain, then it's not a big deal if I give you my life!"

"Come on, Merlin!"

The old man accentuated his tone:

"I have set all the stages for you, and I will also take all the blame, take my life, let me make amends for the deception and concealment of the past, and then you will do what I have to do for me..."

"You will be a hero, and you will be my best successor!"

"I've got everything laid out for you."

"I pray to you, accept it!"

“......”

Pierce's words silenced Merlin.

After more than ten seconds, he sighed and said:

"What's wrong with you? All of you..."

"I don't need it, I don't want it, Pierce, I've done a lot for order in the past, but I have a conscience other than the idea of longing for an order that won't be destroyed, and I can tell right from wrong."

"It's wrong, you're doing something wrong!"

"Ideals are not a reason for you to destroy the world and hurt other people; And whether the perfect order in your heart is good or not, it is not up to you to decide. ”

"What's the difference between you and the thugs that are ravaging the city?"

"Pierce, if I choose to walk with you, then what's the difference between me and you?"

Merlin coughed a few times, and he said:

"A lot of people have called me a cruel conspirator, but I know that I'm not, I'm not blind, I'm not drunk, I know what's right and what's wrong."

"I refuse!"

"Pierce, I'll ruin everything you've worked so hard to build, I swear!"

"Wait for me at your hiding place, I'll be there soon."

Merlin stood up, his finger out, and an emerald green ray burst from his fingertips, annihilating a howling superhuman thug flying through the sky.

The trench coat behind his back fluttered at this moment, and the blood-red cane jumped into his hand.

He said:

"I saved you in the first place, Pierce, I don't know if it was another conspiracy you arranged, but it doesn't matter now."

"I unleashed a terrible mistake with my own hands, and now, I'm going to fix it and everything it created with my own hands."

"Pierce, we used to be friends, best friends..."

"But now, we're not!"

Merlin raised a sharp blade in his heart, cutting all his worries at this moment.

In an increasingly cold voice, he said:

"Today, we..."

"Grace and righteousness!"

"And then..."

"I'll send you on your way with my own hands!"