"Stop it! I'll stay, alright?"
In the darkness outside the harbor, Constantine with his head pointed at by Fury's gun, lifts his hands, turns around, and looks at Fury helplessly. He says:
"F**k, why do I always get mixed into trouble like this! I need a weapon! At least give me a gun!"
"There are grenades in the trunk, get them yourself!"
Of course, Fury wouldn't give Constantine a gun, he couldn't trust this cunning third-rate wizard with no bottom line. Fury turns back and sets up his sniper rifle on the car hood, he then says without looking backward:
"And aren't you a wizard? Don't you have some way to deal with all this?"
"I'm just a self-learner!"
Constantine opens the trunk and carries out the box of grenades. He looks up at the half-demons who're burning in the darkness and the ground that's been lit up. this all seemed like when the gates of hell opened, he says:
"I don't even have a wand, and Merlin has a wand, I saw it!"
"That lucky guy became an official wizard, he's luckier than I am. I can only hold them back however I can, but unless official wizards like Merlin come to help, we can't hold off these half-demons forever."
"Then we'll stay here! To the last hour!"
Fury pulls the trigger and blows apart the head of a half-demon, he lowers his head to look at the time and grits his teeth:
"Merlin will be here! He will!"
"And what if he doesn't?"
Constantine clumsily pulls the pin off the grenade and throws it to the charging monsters in front of him. An explosion sends two half-demons flying.
The third-rate wizard looks at Fury in slight terror who was retaliating with his sniper rifle and says:
"We best have a backup plan, we can't put our hopes on someone else."
"The backup plan is to fight!"
Fury pulls the bolt and says in a deep tone:
"This is our trouble, and we have to deal with it."
On the other hand, in the underground basement, Merlin places the baton in his hand back into his pocket.
He flings his hands as he attempted to suppress the urge for slaughter and destruction inside his soul. He holds his wand and works the agitated mana inside his body to calm it down, and his reddish eyes slowly turn back to normal.
In the months after acquiring the silver baton, Merlin had been studying magic and deciphering the runes of the baton. He knows that the baton was a part of a magic artifact called the Berserker Staff.
It originates from the mysterious Asgard, supposedly it was a weapon given to the leading soldiers of the Berserker Army, and only warriors ranked centurion and above are worthy to use it.
Or to say, only true warriors could withstand the effects of the negative emotions brought by the Berserker Staff.
And the runes were as incomplete as the baton itself, but Merlin could presume that it turns warriors into mindless beasts that know only slaughter; those without a strong will would be controlled by the staff, and slaughter to the end, only breaking free of the Berserker Staff's influence upon death or during the end of his/her life.
This was truly an offensive magic artifact, but it did not fall into the category of 'treasure'; in fact, in Merlin's eyes, it seemed more like an 'evil' possession.
Regardless of whether or not Asgard was the home of the gods in Norse Mythology, regardless of whether or not this thing was made by gods, one thing was for sure, its creators did not create it for peace.
The baton had another effect, Merlin's strength would increase exponentially when he grabs it.
Merlin experimented with the baton back in the base in Paris, his strength would increase sixfold when he held the silver baton; it means that while Merlin held the baton, without holding back, his punches would weigh over 1.5 tonnes.
And the baton was incomplete, it was just one-third of the true Berserker Staff, which means once completed, its strength increase would rise even further.
What is this concept?
Right now, under Merlin's foot, the head of the mighty Rabid Morris was like it had exploded from a cannonball hit or a watermelon that's been smashed to pieces.
The disgusting red mixed with green and white liquid, along with the pieces of meat and bones, disgustingly dyed Merlin's pants.
Merlin steps backward disdainfully, he did not feel pity towards his shoes and pants.
These two items were bought from Diagon Alley, they had self-cleaning and self-regenerative capabilities, all they need is a bit of mana and they'll be clean as new in a few minutes.
He squats down and looks at the still twitching corpse under his foot.
After Morris' brain was destroyed, the agitated mana inside its body transformed into a hot wind and absorbed all the hellfire in the underground warehouse.
The ownerless mana would slowly dissipate in time, but until then, both the warehouse and harbor are supposedly unusable.
The mana could corrupt the souls of normal people, especially mana that came from demons, over-exposure could easily drive normal humans mad.
But the mana wasn't the most important issue.
In front of Merlin, Morris' distorted corpse was slowly transforming back into human form, and as the half-demon form disappeared, a crimson red glow emits from Morris' heart. It levitated in front of Merlin, like a shard of a dark red crystal, a flame-like fire swayed.
The shard was blinking, as if waiting, calling, alluring Merlin to touch it with his hand.
Merlin knew what this was.
This was the 'seed' of power Trigon gave to its children, the super demon gave all of its 'sons' such seeds, supposedly there's one inside of Merlin as well.
The great devil Mephisto had told Merlin that those seeds of power could be transferred.
When one of Trigon's sons kills another son, he can absorb the power to increase his own.
And in every era, there would only be one sole survivor in Trigon's many sons. It would absorb all the seeds of power Trigon had released and turn into an inferior version of Trigon; the powers it collected would grow as the demon prince grew.
Until that power matures, then the demon prince would be devoured by Trigon, causing the power it released to return to itself more strongly.
This was Trigon's way of increasing his strength, like Mephisto said, it was brutal yet effective. God knows how many centuries these metempsychoses have lasted before Merlin's era.
"How desperate would you have to be to accept a thing like this?"
Merlin half kneels in front of Morris' corpse, he looks at the headless body and takes out a sealing box he bought from Diagon Alley. This thing was made by alchemists experienced in the art of sealing, used to store precious or dangerous magic items.
He carefully extends his hand and places the shining dark red power shard into the box, then he shuts it tightly and adds a lock onto it.
Merlin stands up, after collecting the power shard, Morris' body quickly rotted like it was being washed by time; in a few seconds, there was nothing but grey ash left on the ground.
The red wand Lola is waved, and a breeze blows the ash into the air. As Merlin turns and leaves, it slowly but surely begins to dissipate in the air like blinking stars.
It meant that a life called Morris had perished here.
It also meant the first battle between Merlin and a Demon Son had ended.
But he wasn't happy.
Slaughter, taking away one's life, and destruction, are all things that don't make people happy.
Outside the harbor, Fury pulls the trigger and fires his last holy silver bullet which breaks the arm of a half-demon; the immense pain made the already mindless madman let out an even crazier roar, it rushes towards the two people in front of him who were stopping it from mass destruction, dozens of half-demon follows behind it.
Fury drops the sniper rifle and takes out his pistol, he busts the heads of several burning half-demons that were rushing at him, but the others were not scared. They were still roaring, they were still charging.
"Time to go!"
Constantine throws out the last grenade he had, without looking at the explosion, he drags Fury and prepares to make a run for it.
As the two turn around, a flickering fog appears behind them, quickly transforming into Merlin.
"Sorry, I'm late."
Merlin says so to Fury, then moves across Fury and stands in front of Fury and Constantine.
He turns his wrist, crimson red mana flows into Lola as the tip flashes a light, following Merlin's deep chanting, a spell is cast.
"Impedimenta!"
"Bam"
The fastest half-demon acts as if it had slammed into an invisible wall, its figure stuck in the air like it had been bound by the invisible obstruction.
This was Impedimenta.
A jinx that immobilizes the target.
Merlin keeps his wand, turns around, and tells the two behind him:
"Get back!"
"What are you going to do?"
Constantine who tightly grabbed onto Fury's arm asked:
"You're going to destroy them?"
"There's anger gathering in my heart..."
Merlin rubs his forehead, the aftereffects of using the Berserker Staff was still there, and his eyes still had a faint red glow; his body transforms into black fog and flocks to the bound half-demon in front of him, his voice echoes in the air:
"I have to release it!"
"BOOM"
A few seconds later, following a violent bang, Merlin drives his mana to explode in the black fog like a bomb, the dozens of half-demons were enshrouded by black fog and held in the air; when the mana explosion happened, it was like the half-demons were in an erupting volcano.
Their bodies were ignited alongside the demonic energy, lighting up the night like the brightest of fireworks.
Fury and Constantine raised their arms to shield their eyes from the bright light, and after the light dissipates, a pale Merlin reappears in front of them.
"Cool!"
Constantine looks at the burning remains that were falling from the sky and lets out a huge breath, he then gestures a thumbs up to Merlin.
Merlin ignored him, he looked at Fury and deeply said:
"Trouble solved, we can all rest easy now. Also, sir, I'll leave the aftermath to you."
He looks at the harbor behind him that has returned to dead silence and says:
"Morris' mana and presence still remain beneath this harbor, it's unsuitable for anyone to enter before it dissipates. Mmm, it might take 1~2 months for it to dissipate naturally."
"Leave it to me."
Fury calmly nods, he reaches out and pats on Merlin's shoulder, then says:
"You did good tonight."
"It's my trouble, I have to deal with it."
Merlin smiles, he opens the car door and sits in the front with Fury. Constantine sat in the back with the unconscious Sitwell next to him.
The car slowly starts, and as sirens began to resound in the surroundings, the men who had just eliminated a disaster, quietly leaves the site.
After such a battle, the exhausted Merlin did not notice Constantine frequently turning his head to look at the harbor which had been surrounded by police.
There was a hint of curiosity and a hint of desire flashing in the third-rate wizard's eyes.
7 days later, outside the fully locked-down harbor, a yellow taxi parks by the side of the road. Constantine with his yellow jacket opens the car door, lights up a cigar, leans against the taxi, and looks at the harbor in front of him.
He appeared somewhat turbulent, hesitation flashing in his eyes.
"John, I heard that this harbor is haunted, are you really going in there?"
The taxi driver was a young yet slightly fat young man, he lowered the car window and told Constantine:
"Why don't we head back?"
"Thanks for the concern, Chas."
The driver seemed to be Constantine's friend, it's hard to believe that a guy like Constantine has a friend.
And from the looks of it, the two had good relations, like they were childhood friends.
"But I've made up my mind."
Constantine tells the taxi driver named Chas:
"Go earn some money, you've just arrived in New York and you're going to need the money...you can't always live with me, especially when you don't pay rent."
"Hehe, you're right."
The young man Chas smiles in a silly way and tells Constantine:
"You be careful then, give me a call if you find yourself in trouble, okay? Don't act like how you acted in London, always getting into trouble. You have a job now and you're a proper person now, don't screw up your life again."
"You're acting more and more like me ol' mom! Chas!"
Constantine waves at his friend impatiently:
"Off you go! Don't forget to come to pick me up tonight."
As he finishes, he throws the cigar onto the ground and walks towards the locked-down harbor. As he approached the harbor, a police officer stops him.
"Sir, this place is under lockdown, no one is allowed in."
The officer warns Constantine, the latter takes out a black leather wallet from his pocket, opens it, then shows it to the officer:
"Level 2 Special Affairs Consultant of SHIELD, John Constantine..."
Constantine proudly announces himself and tells the police officer:
"I'm a public official too. Now open it, mister."
"I'm here for work. This is confidential, so remember, keep me coming here a secret!"
