"Ding Dong"

The ringing of the doorbell echoed through the quiet room, and Merlin, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes suddenly.

He looked out the window, and it was already night.

From early morning to night, Merlin was still tired, his physical exhaustion had dissipated, and this terrible feeling came from his restless soul.

He got up from the bed and looked down to see the blood-soaked pillow, Merlin reached out and wiped his nose, and the sticky blood suddenly stained his fingers.

"It's getting more and more frequent."

Merlin frowned and wiped the blood from under his nose, then folded the pillow and bedspread together and threw it into the house's washing machine.

The doorbell was still ringing, and Merlin shook his head, trying to sober himself up.

He was dazed, as if he hadn't woken up yet, and when he walked to the door, he opened it, and saw Garrett in casual clothes waiting for him at the door.

"Boy, it's time to eat."

The old cowboy-like agent said a word to Merlin, and when he saw Merlin's terrible face, he said with concern:

"Didn't you get a good rest? Or are you sick? ”

"I'm fine."

Merlin reached out and pushed his glasses, and gave Gatler a smile, saying:

"Maybe it's not good for the weather in London, but anyway, it's okay for me. Wait a minute, John, I'll change my clothes, and we'll go. ”

"Okay. I'll be waiting for you downstairs, the restaurant is close enough we can walk over. ”

Seeing that Merlin didn't want to say anything more about it, the old agent decisively stopped asking.

As a veteran agent, Gatler is well aware that everyone has their own secrets, and it is offensive to snoop on other people's secrets.

"Bang"

The door closed again.

Merlin took a few steps back, her body suddenly fogging, and appeared in the bathroom a few seconds later.

He clenched his fists and looked at himself in the mirror, his abilities were not affected, his body was still strong and powerful, even the dark senses were functioning normally, and he was not injured at all.

But what is reflected in the mirror is a soul that is immersed in darkness.

The erosion of the soul and body by the dark magic has accumulated to a bottleneck. Nosebleeds and nightmares became more frequent, representing Merlin's closer and closer transition to darkness.

It's like a train that slowly accelerates and rushes into the darkness.

Merlin clenched his fists under the impact of the dripping water, he was already trying hard to find it.

But he couldn't find a way to slow down, he couldn't find a way to weaken the dark magic, he had a jigsaw puzzle of scattered information from many places, but now he was missing the vital piece of the puzzle to put it together.

He could only sit helplessly in the already fast train, watching as he was about to break through the limitations and rush into the dark realm.

He doesn't immediately become a half-demon, it's still a process of transformation.

But just like a malignant disease, once it enters the onset stage, the speed of transformation and erosion will become faster and faster. Eventually, one day, Merlin. Riley will disappear completely, and what will remain in this shell will be a twisted dark soul.

Half-Demon Merlin.

A monster on the verge of being born.

Nearly 10 minutes later, Merlin, dressed in a gray casual shirt and jeans, walked out of the hotel, where Gatler was already waiting for him.

The commander of this European division has a tough style, can give people a complete sense of security, he has a sense of power in every gesture, and once you get acquainted with him, you can't help but obey him.

This is a charismatic agent and a very good commander.

However, Agent Gatler also has secrets. And you can't hide it from Merlin.

In Merlin's eyes, Gatler's vitality is strange, although he is stronger than the average person, but there is always a feeling that the circulation is not smooth.

Merlin pushed his glasses, and in his vision, he could see that there was an area around Agent Gatler's waist that was not pure flesh and blood, but some kind of sophisticated bionic device.

It fits in with Gatler's flesh and blood and plays a part of the circulatory system.

"In 1988, outside of Vienna, Agent Gatler and Fury were on a mission together, but something went wrong. Agent Gatler was mortally wounded, and is said to have had his intestines broken. ”

Merlin had this message in his head.

It wasn't something he had imagined, but a few days earlier, they had teamed up to rescue Alexander. Pierce's brain-made up facts through the conversation between Gatler and Fury.

In front of him, the strange metal organ in the old agent's body should be a "souvenir" left after that attack.

It's really hard to imagine that a life can survive tenaciously with such a posture. He should have died, but now he is still alive and tenaciously, even more tenacious than the average person.

"Hmm. A warrior worthy of respect. ”

This thought came to Merlin's mind:

"A warrior who has crossed the line of death."

This was his initial assessment of Agent Gatler, and he stepped forward to say hello to the old agent, and the two men walked down the streets of Old London to their reserved restaurant.

It was a feast to pick up the wind and dust, and it was also a gathering of soldiers who had been on the battlefield together to deepen their relationship with each other. During this period of time in the Strategic Science Corps, through a series of words and deeds of Fury, Merlin has learned a truth.

Friends, it's like toilet paper under the sink.

It doesn't hurt to have a few extra volumes on hand.

————————————————

"Hahaha, you have no idea what kind of expression Fury had on his face when he saw me on the battlefield outside Vienna in 1988 when he ran out of bullets."

In the dining room, a slightly drunken Gatler patted the table and told Merlin stories of the past, and with a vivid expression on his face, he said to Merlin:

It was as if he had seen a ghost, and he shouted: "

"Oh my God! Did you crawl out of hell? ”

"Hahaha"

Gatler imitated Fury's tone, and the vivid voice made Merlin laugh too. After laughing, Merlin took his glass, raised it to Garrett, and said:

"That must hurt, right? I mean, crawling from the bomb-blown area to the safe zone, dragging the broken intestines..."

"It hurts, it hurts a lot."

The old agent breathed a sigh of relief, he subconsciously touched the piece of metal around his waist, and said to Merlin:

"I still remember the pain. For ten minutes, I felt like I had been thrown into hell... I even felt like I was seeing the scenery of hell, but I gritted my teeth and crawled out step by step. ”

"I crawled back from hell to the human world, startling the bastards who were ready to retreat."

The old agent took a sip of wine, and he said to Merlin:

"You young people are much happier nowadays, you will never experience that kind of killing battlefield-like mission, in our time, such missions are commonplace, especially in Eastern Europe, in the territory of the Russians, there was a time when every agent had to leave a suicide note before accepting the mission."

"Anyone around you, even yourself, is likely to never come back, and you still have relatives and children waiting at home, maybe a lover. It's brutal. ”

Gatler seemed to be caught up in the memories of the past, and he whispered with a little emotion:

"The cruelty of being left behind to die, the pain of being in hell, you can hardly understand."

"What if I say, I have experienced it?"

Merlin drank the little wine that was left in his hand, and he was a little drunk under the stimulation of the alcohol, and he coughed a few times, and whispered:

"Gatler, what you were torn apart in 1988 was the body, and I was torn apart in 1989 was the soul. I don't know which hurts more, but if I talk about the scenery of hell, I'm in Wisconsin, in that empty wilderness, I seem to have seen it..."

"Magic, the kind of thing that shouldn't exist, destroyed me and created another me."

Gatler listened quietly to Merlin's recount, and he quietly poured Merlin another glass of wine, and after Merlin finished speaking, the old agent raised his glass and said to Merlin:

"Here, have another drink!"

"This cup is a tribute to the pain we have experienced, to the past that we never want to recall!"

"Nope."

Merlin shook his head, he picked up his glass, and gently collided with Gatler's, and said:

"To new friends!"

"Haha, yes! That's right! To new friends! ”

Gatler laughed and drank the wine in his hand, and Merlin looked at the old agent so boldly, he also drank it in one gulp. As a result, the rush of alcohol rushed to his head, causing him to cough several times in a row, which drew good-natured ridicule from the old agent.

"Ahem, I don't drink much."

Merlin stopped coughing and explained:

"As a child, J... I mean, my adoptive father, he was a very traditional man, and he didn't like kids drinking that much. ”

Merlin almost said James's full name, but the reason in his mind made him change his name, and he looked at Gatler, only to find that the latter was looking at him with a strange expression.

"What's wrong?"

Merlin asked, confused.

Gatler picked up the tissue on the table and handed it to Merlin. The old agent's expression became a little cautious, and he said:

"You're bleeding."

"Huh?"

Merlin lowered his head, the tablecloth in front of him was already soaked in blood, he hurriedly took the tissue and blocked his nose, but this time... This time, the blood couldn't be stopped.

It's like, it's like a valve in the body or soul that has been completely opened at this moment.

"Smack"

Merlin stood up a little panicked, and said to Gatler:

"I'll go to the bathroom."

"You look like you need help, kid."

The old agent also stood up, and Merlin shook his hand at him:

"Nope! I can do it alone... Don't come along! Gatler, don't come along... Right here, wait! ”

Agent Gatler's eyes narrowed as he staggered to the bathroom as Merlin staggered to the bathroom, and in his eyes, a searching light grew thicker and thicker.

He became more and more curious about the secret that Merlin was hiding as a young man.

—————————————————————

"Smack"

Merlin rushed into the bathroom, turning on the faucet and rinsing his nostrils with ice-cold water, trying to stop the bleeding by constricting the ruptured capillaries.

But it didn't work.

Soon, the entire sink was terrified by the blood splattered from the fall.

Merlin looked up, and in the mirror in front of him, he saw himself with a bloodstained face and a very embarrassed face.

There was a strange ghost in front of his eyes again, like the after-effects of the day when his soul was torn apart, and he felt that the world was spinning, and the whole world began to roll and turn upside down before his eyes.

"Bang"

Merlin fell to the ground weakly, and he struggled, reaching out with difficulty to grab the nearest handrail.

He could feel that his power was still there, but at this moment, his will was like being locked in a cage, and no matter how he called, those powers no longer responded.

To make matters worse, the ghosting in front of me is getting worse and worse, and the whole world seems to be distorted.

In Merlin's eyes, everything around him seemed to turn into a raging flame, and in the burning of the dark red ash flames, he vaguely saw a floating island in the sky in a sea of magma.

On the central floating island, there was a tall throne of bones, on which a familiar figure sits.

Sannomiya!

Three Palace Demons!

The erosion of dark magic broke through a certain boundary, and the dark magic that grew rapidly in Merlin's soul began to instinctively call for the source of its own origin.

"Nope! No! ”

Merlin struggled, he shouted, trying to stop the mana from emanating from his body.

Can't go any further, go further... It will be discovered by the three houses!

No!

At least not now!

"Stop!"

"Who's going to help me! Stop it! ”

"Wow"

At this moment, a strange soft sound sounded in Merlin's soul, it was like... The sound of a spinning die, falling on the table.

"Ahh

Another shrill cry sounded in front of Merlin at this moment, like a girl's voice.

This sharp scream sobered Merlin's chaotic will for a moment, and he raised his head with difficulty, and saw that a girl was standing in front of him, looking at him with curious eyes.

That girl...

It's very familiar.

"Merlin!"

Pushing open the door, Miss Hermione, who was about to go to the bathroom, looked at the man in front of her in surprise, lying in a pool of blood.

Although she was a little more mature and taller than the face she remembered, Hermione could still see at a glance that the man in front of her who was in a terrible situation was the hero who saved her and a train of people on the North American land 3 years ago.

"Merlin! How are you in the women's restroom? ”

Hermione hurriedly crouched down and tried to reach out to lift Merlin up from the ground, but the moment Hermione touched Merlin's body, a spark of irritable dark magic sparked in Hermione's fingertips, startling the girl.

"This magic? What's going on? ”

Hermione took a step back, she looked left and right, there was no one in the women's toilet except for her and Merlin, she gritted her teeth, in Merlin's consciousness had begun to blur, little Hermione had a black wand on the tip of her finger, accompanied by a low chanting incantation, a golden spark quickly wrapped Merlin.

It was like a curtain, quickly isolating him from the outside world's perception, and it was also a little difficult, cutting off the ever-expanding magic in Merlin's body from the distorted dimension.

"Huh"

The moment the magic boiled was stopped, Merlin's consciousness quickly returned to his body. He stood up, turned on the faucet, washed the blood off his face, and tried to calm himself down completely in this way.

After a few seconds, Merlin turned his head to look at Hermione behind him, and at the wand in her hand that glowed with golden dots, and he asked in a hoarse voice:

"Little girl... Are you a wizard? ”

"That's right!"

Hermione, who had been knocked into the secret, shrugged her shoulders, she looked at Merlin, who she hadn't seen for more than 3 years, she pulled the corner of her skirt and made a very decent ladylike ceremony, she said:

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor's second-year wizard Hermione. Simple. Greetings, Granger. ”

"The Great Hero, Mr. Merlin."