Monsters, this is a force that is hard to describe.

As mentioned earlier, it is not the name of a specific heterogeneous race, but more of a heterogeneous and united organization. And this organization, which is very low-key among the aliens, is actually very powerful behind it, at least according to what Merlin has learned so far, there are traces of their existence in various regions of the world where alien activities occur.

Any outlier can become a member of the Demon Force, as long as they are willing to agree with the manifesto and system of the Demon Organization.

"I don't know much about monsters."

In the reception room of Blood Street, Merlin looked at the old man who called himself the Sphinx and was smoking a pipe, he played with the cigarette in his hand, and asked softly:

"So I have some questions for you to answer, Mr. Sphinx... First question, are you really the legendary Sphinx? ”

"You can call me that."

The old man Sphinx nodded, he spat out a smoke ring, and he said:

"The real name of our race is the demon scorpion, and we do have the same thirst for knowledge as the legend suggests, and the people of ancient Egypt saw us as a mythical creature, and the pharaohs occasionally prayed to us for wisdom, and they placed our sculptures in front of the mausoleum, trying to communicate with us even after death, but in reality, this could not be done."

He said:

"The Sphinx don't have the ability to communicate with souls, we're just one of a myriad of outliers."

"Well, thank you for your admittedness."

Merlin pushed his glasses, and Icarus quickly added an information note to the Sphinx in front of him, and added it to Merlin's alien database.

He looked at the old man in front of him, this guy was undoubtedly a legendary creature, probably not as good as Dracula, but in this city, he was already one of those reclusive old guys.

Merlin thought for a moment, and then he asked:

"Are there many people like you in this city?"

"No, not much."

The Sphinx replied:

"But not as little as you think, don't worry, Mr. Merlin, the legendary creatures that can live in seclusion in this city have more or less their own problems, and unless you push them into a corner, they will not actively jump out and interfere with your efforts to reorganize the order of the city. They, including me, are not a problem for you. ”

"Okay, one last question."

Merlin Says:

"Monsters, I mean, what the hell are you in your organization... You know that your legacy is ancient, and it seems that an ancient demon dynasty is involved, but I don't know much about your history, and the paths and principles you uphold. Can you explain that for me? I'm very interested in that. ”

"Of course, that's what I'm here for."

The Sphinx reached out and took his pipe, he looked at Merlin, and he said:

"If you want to know the history of the Demon Dynasty, Mr. Merlin, you must first know the origins of the aliens... I have read almost all the historical texts of wizards, and I know that wizards believe that most of the aliens in the world are born in this world, but in reality, this view is wrong, at least one-sided. ”

"Indeed, there are many outliers who are native to this world, such as the disgusting vampires. But there are many outliers from other worlds, such as dwarves and elves, and the elves have their origins in a world called Alfheim, where their ancestors came to Earth through the Rainbow Bridge and then lived and multiplied. ”

The Sphinx said eloquently:

"But in addition to these two sources, there is one last... Mr. Merlin, did you know that there is a rare astronomical phenomenon called 'Celestial Sphere Convergence'? （1）”

"No, I don't know."

Merlin Says:

"I'm not very good at astrology or astronomy."

"Well, indeed, with the longevity and history of human beings, it is really difficult for you to come into contact with this phenomenon."

The Sphinx said:

"After all, it only happens once every 5,000 years."

"Its cause is very complicated, let me explain it briefly, you can think that it is a strange natural landscape, when the celestial sphere meets, the nine kingdoms ruled by the Asgardian God Domain, the nine worlds will be connected in the phantom of the World Tree, and at that moment, the dimensions of each world will be completely broken and merge with each other."

"The Asgardians call it a catastrophe, but they don't know that the nine worlds connected into a single line are only part of the intersection of the celestial spheres, and its impact is far beyond the imagination of the Asgardians, and we... The original monster was thrown into the earth during a celestial meeting 10,000 years ago. ”

"If you still can't understand it, then allow me to use a more straightforward analogy."

"The collision of worlds is like the collision of ships sailing in the sea in the tide, and the violent shock will throw the cargo on board the other ships, and this is where we come from."

The old man looked at Merlin, and he said earnestly:

"Yes, we come from another world, a world that is not in this stellar world, not even in this dimension. The outliers generally think that the Monster is an organization that embraces all the heterogeneous, but it's not... The earliest term was used by us to distinguish us from the native aliens of the earth. ”

The old man waved his hand, and he said:

"As for the Demon Dynasty, that's just the name given to us after we've conquered enough aliens under the leadership of our leader, Emperor Charla."

"There is no undefeated dynasty in this world, even the wise and martial Emperor Xia Kela will encounter rebellion from within, and after a long enough time, our race and power from another world are withering."

"In short, our dynasty fell nearly a thousand years ago, and the leader who commanded our group of alien remnants died in battle, and those vassal aliens set a fire on the corpse of the dynasty, incinerating the entire demon dynasty."

"As for why we have been holding on for this millennium until now..."

The Sphinx looked at Merlin and said:

"The reason is simple, we want to go home and send our descendants back to our real home before the real monster is completely gone, and that's it."

Hearing this, Merlin's eyes immediately became strange, he looked at the Sphinx in front of him, and he asked:

"What do you mean... The next celestial sphere meeting is coming soon? ”

"Hmm."

The old man nodded, and he said to Merlin:

"Probably 8-10 years from now, but we are going home, and it is not enough to wait until the celestial spheres meet, we also need a signpost, a signpost in the endless stars, that can guide us back to our world."

"We hope S.H.I.E.L.D. can help us find it."

The old man stood up, and he said in a serious tone:

"For its sake, we're willing to do everything we can to help S.H.I.E.L.D... This is the only one we ask for! ”

"Wait, it's a bit informative, let me go through it."

Merlin made a pause to the old man in front of him, and said:

"First of all, it's not hard to accept that you're from another world, I've seen too many aliens. Secondly, it is not difficult to understand that you were sent to Earth by a natural phenomenon called the Celestial Convergence. Finally, you'll need a signpost to get home when the next celestial meeting comes, well... There is nothing difficult to understand in the language. ”

He raised his head and said to the Sphinx:

"So, tell me, what are the difficulties in this work? So much so that you haven't been able to find that sign for nearly a thousand years, and you still need our help in the end? ”

"Because of that Dao Mark, it was sealed by Emperor Xia Kela himself when the Demon Dynasty fell, and in order to protect its safety, the Emperor hid it with his own power."

The Sphinx explained a little helplessly:

"Can't be locked by prophecy, can't be detected by detection magic, no one even knows where it's hidden, we've searched almost the entire world in the past thousand years, but we still haven't found anything, and after the rapid rise of human civilization, our living space has been compressed, so that we can't move freely as before, therefore..."

"Tell the truth!"

Merlin reminded:

"We won't help you unless you tell the truth."

The Sphinx stared at Merlin, who stared at him, and after a few seconds of stalemate, the old man sighed and said:

"Well, you're really the kind of person who is very difficult to deceive."

"I'm asking you for help because I saw Miss Cilia talking to you before. Miss Ciria has the ability to travel through dimensions, which many long-lived outliers know, and my idea is that if we haven't found the path sign before the confluence of the celestial spheres, maybe we can use your relationship to ask Miss Ciria to send the young monsters back to the world where we came. ”

"Then why don't you go and ask her personally?"

Merlin Says:

"You're a legend, she's a legend too, and there's always a lot to talk about between legends and legends."

"Because... Because the forces behind Miss Ciria are something we can't and dare not touch. ”

The Sphinx said vaguely:

"I can't reveal more to you, that's all I can say, Mr. Merlin, do you agree to my request?"

"I'd like to see your actions first."

Merlin Says:

"Will I be able to see the results by this time tomorrow?"

"As you wish, Mr. Merlin."

The Sphinx took his pipe in his mouth and leaned slightly over Merlin, and he said:

"I'll go talk to the dwarves now, and by this time tomorrow the Brimstone Harbor will be yours."

"Oh, by the way, we're asking for your help finding the sign..."

"It's... Well, she's called Hipperi. Sheehan. Xia Kela, our first princess, Her Royal Highness. （2）”

————————————————————

At the end of the afternoon, Merlin stood at the top of the tower at the highest point of Blood Street, looking out at the sulphur harbor in front of him.

The city looked even more dilapidated than it had been a few days ago, Merlin could see the buildings that had collapsed in the chaos, and the figures huddled in the corners, and the whole city seemed to be overshadowed by the heavy rain.

It wasn't what Merlin wanted to see, but he wasn't disappointed either.

The destruction was only a moment, and the reconstruction was a process, and Merlin wanted to look further away, and he saw the agents in the distant city who were cloaked in cloak and gave some food and shelter to the homeless aliens, who were carried by Coulson to distribute the necessities of life in the rain.

And in the northwest corner of the city, in the ruins of the ruined dark spire, large engineering equipment is being assembled with the help of wizards, and perhaps in a few days, a temporary containment area will appear on the edge of Brimstone Harbor.

The building that matches the shelter will be the first step for S.H.I.E.L.D. to swear sovereignty over the city.

"I'm sure you can shine with the light of order..."

In the rain, Merlin whispered, then turned around, took a step forward, and disappeared into the gloomy city.

When he reappeared, Merlin had already returned to his home in New York, and Oberwulf was shaking the raindrops on his body, and Merlin's trench coat was quickly dry again. He stepped into the room and saw Elsa cleaning.

She was wiping down the living room table carefully, not seemingly noticing Merlin's return.

"Ahem"

Merlin coughed, and Elsa woke up suddenly, and when she turned around, she saw Merlin standing in front of her with a hand behind her back.

"What's in your hand?"

Elsa snorted, and she said:

"There's a hint of fragrance, it can't be a flower, right?"

"It's not interesting when the story starts to end."

Merlin took his left hand out of his back, holding a blue flower in his hand, and said:

"I stole it from Nissa's house, and it is said to be the favorite plant of Archduke Makinos before he died."

"How old are you, still playing this kind of game."

Elsa glared at Merlin with disgust, but still happily found a vase and put the gorgeous blue flowers in it, because it was not a day off, and the two small light bulbs were not at home, which meant that Merlin and Elsa could always be tired of being together from work to bed.

Merlin even accompanied Elsa to watch a romance movie he had never watched before, even after eating.

Everything seems to be changing.

Change for the better until everything comes to an abrupt end.

At midnight, Elsa stood alone on the balcony, outside the window in the increasingly frantic pouring rain, and she looked at the sleeping Merlin in the dark, her eyes full of nostalgia.

"Buzz"

In the beating white light, Ciria appeared beside Elsa, and she said to Elsa:

"It's time to go..."

"Wait."

Elsa replied:

"Let me see him again... Give me a few more seconds. ”

"It doesn't make sense, Bloodstone."

Cilia looked away, she looked out the window at the crazy rain curtain, and said:

"In another 2-3 hours, this rain will turn to snow, and in another 24 hours, the whole city will be frozen up. After 48 hours, the whole of North America will be a no-man's land at minus 200°... Father warned you before, Elsa, it's time to leave. ”

"Okay."

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief, her fingers touched the blue flowers on the balcony, and the cold gas erupted from between them, and soon the beautiful flowers were frozen in the ice cubes of the flowers, which would not melt as long as she was there.

"Let's go."

Elsa took one last look at the sleeping Merlin, and she said to Ciria:

"Leave this world and probably never come back."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Bloodstone."

Ciriah comforted:

"It's not yet possible to determine the relationship between you and the hoarfrost..."

"If you're lucky, Elsa, you'll be back."

PS：

1: The intersection of the celestial spheres, from a natural phenomenon in "The Witcher 3", the appearance here is just to borrow the background to expand the worldview, the explanation is slightly different from the original book, including the appearance of the 'hoarfrost', don't be too entangled in the details.

2: Hipperi. Sheehan. The name Xia Ke La is made up, and the name of the monster princess is Xia Ke La, but I think it's a surname, but I can't find her name, so I just make one, anyway, everyone will call her Xia Ke La in the future.

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