Chapter 100: Arc 3: Chapter 17: Behind Merlin

With Carol's current condition, she may be struggling against something on a spiritual level.

This was the area of the spirit and soul, an area modern technology is unable to explain.

But Merlin is a wizard, he read about descriptions of the spirit and soul in magic books.

It was a textbook called <Curses and Counter-Curses>, in it included a detailed explanation of knowledge regarding the soul.

From that book's description, the stronger the soul, the easier it is to resist cursing magic, along with it is stronger resistance against metal coercion; the stronger the soul, the stronger the body.

Merlin's soul was double-layered, and after a long 5 years, the two layers of his soul have completely assimilated with each other.

Merlin as of now had a pure soul equivalent to three adults, so in comparison, he has a stronger mental resistance, perhaps even stronger than Carol.

This was one of the reasons why he dared to touch Carol.

On the other hand, Merlin had not forgotten that the Atlantean Vulko had told him that everything he was experiencing seemed to be planned beforehand.

It was the secret behind Merlin's existence, and a secret he yearned to explore.

Right now, 

That secret would be revealed.

Right here!

Right now!

Then, on the top floor of Mar-Vell's lab, Merlin's finger comes in contact with Carol's blonde hair. The intervention of a foreign object caused a reaction with the black liquid enshrouding Carol's body, it quickly flows towards Merlin's body.

Merlin hesitates and grits his teeth, he actively places his hand into the black liquid.

"BOOM"

A large conscience appears in front of Merlin, it was like the door of the spiritual world, pulling in Merlin's will with unending force.

"Clatter"

A sound akin to the sea awakens Merlin from his daze.

He raises his head and sees a crystal dome flashing limitlessly, like a ray of sunlight, reflecting an endless glow atop Merlin.

The lights were glowing colorfully, yet there was no warmth from them.

It felt as unrealistic as the beautiful futuristic scenery.

In front of Merlin was a spotless crystal surface, Carol was standing there, facing off with a silver-haired woman in a black flight jacket.

"Carol!"

Merlin shouts, but there was no response from Carol.

He and she were so close, yet so far.

"Confusing, isn't it?"

A gentle voice resounds behind him, Merlin looks back and sees an elderly man holding a walking stick, wearing a white suit and brown sunglasses with neatly combed white hair.

He recognizes this elderly man, he was the elderly man who taught him to save the innocent on the train in Central City 5 years back.

Old Martin, or Stan.

But Merlin was certain that the one in front of him was most certainly not Stan.

"Let me introduce myself, I am the Supreme Intelligence."

The elderly man extends his hand and a cigar appears on it, he holds the cane and shrugs while telling Merlin:

"My existence is formed by the wills of the countless sages and forerunners throughout the Kree Empire, you can see me as the spiritual polymerization of a civilization...in this spiritual world that I created, the me you are seeing right now is the person you remember most in your memories."

As he spoke, the Supreme Intelligence looked down at his current form, he shrugs and tells Merlin:

"Mmm, this elderly man should be the person who guided you out of the darkness...let me guess, you came all the way here, setting aside life and death, just to save Carol Danvers as he saved you, right?"

"She doesn't need me to save her."

Merlin tells the Supreme Intelligence in front of him:

"She's fully capable of saving herself, I'm just here to bring her home."

"But Carol is already at home."

The Supreme Intelligence lights the cigar and breaths out a smoke ring, saying:

"She doesn't need anyone to save her...Merlin Reilly."

"Carol is now accepting her fate, so should you accept yours! Return to planet C-53 with your friends, and remember to leave the Tesseract on Mar-Vell's lab. The Kree Army will collect it."

"That does not belong to you, you have no way of studying it, let alone protect it."

"It doesn't belong to you either!"

Merlin rebukes:

"You're just a group of shameless thieves, barging into other's home when the owner isn't around and taking a precious jewel, then wave your sword shamelessly claiming that it was originally yours!"

"Whether it's Carol or the Tesseract, it fully proves your disposition! This is how you 'noble' Kree act, how ugly!"

"Oh, I understand."

The Supreme Intelligence leans backward and a holographic chair appears behind him, supporting his body.

He casually crosses his legs, puts his hand on the armrest, then tells Merlin:

"You seem to not be here looking for Carol...you're in fact here to quarrel with me, right? Earthling?"

"I don't mean so, I wish not for conflict."

Merlin says straightforwardly:

"I just want to awaken Carol and take back what's mine."

"But unfortunately, you cannot."

The Supreme Intelligence shrugs and says to Merlin:

"Carol is a gem of the universe, she belongs to the Kree and should belong to the Kree. Kree blood flows in her veins..."

"She has Earthling blood in her too!"

Anger flashes in Merlin's eyes as he says:

"You're just erasing her will and turning her into your puppet. What kind of evil does so! Is the supreme will formed by the Kree sages and forerunners such a despicable madman?"

"Yes, it may disappoint you, but this is how I am."

The Supreme Intelligence says expressionlessly:

"My existence is a method used by countless souls to strengthen the Kree Empire. My existence is to let the glory of the Kree Civilization shine across the galaxy. My existence is the core pillar of the every-stronger Kree Empire!"

"Everything I do is for my people and civilization."

"What business is it to you Earthlings whether I'm right or wrong? And you, an ignorant Earthling soul, what qualifications do you have to judge my actions?"

"You want to take her away? Sure...give it a try."

The Supreme Intelligence lightly waves his finger, and Merlin abruptly appears next to Carol.

Stan and the silver-haired woman wearing a black jacket formed by the Supreme Intelligence merge together, and changes into Yon Rogg's appearance.

He stands in front of Merlin and Carol, he looks at them and says:

"Carol, I don't wish to destroy your soul and turn you into a mindless war machine. So I'll give you a choice."

He raises his finger, and Merlin's soul is lifted into the air and pulled all around by an invisible force.

Carol screamed and clenched her fists, unleashing a high-temperature photon cannon at the Supreme Intelligence in front of her. Yet her attacks were like an ant's provocation in the Supreme Intelligence's spirit world.

"This soul, this man, would risk having his soul perishing to come all this way to help you...he's either your friend or your lover, I don't care! All I know is that he must be important to you."

"Clack"

The Supreme Intelligence closes his hand, and Merlin's soul is pulled all around by an invisible force, he grits his teeth as to not let out screams of pain, yet his expression tells it all.

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"Do not resist!"

The Supreme Intelligence tells Carol:

"Come back to Hala with me, and I'll let him go!"

"Carol!"

Merlin grits his teeth and says word by word to Carol:

"Don't listen to him! And don't worry about me..."

Merlin lets out a difficult smile at Carol and says softly:

"I'm not here for you, Carol. I'm here for a secret...keep resisting! Don't forget who you are!"

Carol grits her teeth; she looks at the painful Merlin, and looks at the confident Supreme Intelligence.

She did not know what choice to make, even if she held an invincible power, she could not 

"It seems that you are hesitant."

The Supreme Intelligence opens his fingers one by one, and the sound of the soul being torn apart resounds from Merlin's soul.

He tells Carol softly:

"Why don't I make that decision for you!"

"Carol!'

Merlin's voice becomes coarse as he shouts with difficulty:

"I came all the way here! Not to see you...become a coward!"

"Tell me, who you are!"

Merlin's shouts echo in Carol's ears, the blondie tightly clenches her fists once more, and as the red-blue energy threshed about, she opens her eyes and a shining golden flame appears in them.

She answers:

"I am Carol Danvers..."

"I'm from...Earth!"

The Supreme Intelligence sees the bright golden light in Carol's eyes and realizes that his forceful suppression had only stimulated the blondie's fierce will. He once again closes his fingers, and Merlin's soul becomes distorted.

And as Merlin's soul was being suppressed to the limit, as his soul was being twisted bit by bit, an illusion seems to appear in Merlin's eyes.

A spiraling galaxy appears in front of Merlin.

At that end of that ever-expanding galaxy was a gathering of people.

They were gazing upon the galaxy like they were observing something...

Close...

Even closer...

As the pressure placed on Merlin by the Supreme Intelligence gets bigger, the illusion in front of Merlin becomes clearer, like there was a sheet of paper between the two, a simple poke, and he would be able to see all of the...

Truth.

"Bam"

A sound resounds.

Like the sound of a door being opened.

The sudden sound causes the Supreme Intelligence and Carol, who was prepared for a death fight, to turn their heads to the source of the sound; they see a door made of dazzling stars appearing abruptly in the Supreme Intelligence's spiritual world.

When the door opened, the resisting Merlin faints mysteriously.

The illusion in front of him also disappears as his soul is sent out of the Supreme Intelligence's spiritual world in a flash.

So fast that not even the Supreme Intelligence himself could stop it.

A man with yellow skin who was wearing a casual suit along with a gemstone bracelet casually walks into the Supreme Intelligence's spiritual world through the door.

He reaches out and takes down the cigar in the edge of his mouth and lets out a smoke ring, saying in a low tone:

"Oops, how mischievous of you."

"It took me great effort to find a suitable soul in the void, and it was tough making it to this point, yet, he was so close to being broken by you ignorant scumbags...I made a heavy wager!"

The man raises his head, indifferent bloodlust flashes in his flashing pupils as he says:

"How are you...going to compensate me?"

"Who are you!"

The Supreme Intelligence senses something's gone terribly wrong as he questioned sternly:

"How did you get in here!"

The Supreme Intelligence that was formed by the will of countless Kree drew its power in an attempt to vanquish the invader from his spiritual world. Yet as of right now, his connection to the spiritual world seemed to be cut off.

He could not control any of it, despite the fact that it was his own power.

"Ah!"

The Supreme Intelligence lets out a roar, he raises both hands as terrifyingly powerful green energy crashes toward the man in front of him as a column.

But before it could even get close to the man, the energy was decomposed to the most basic elemental particles as if it never appeared in the first place.

It was two very different levels of power, like an angry baby throwing its fist against an adult.

"Heh, what an adorable attempt..."

The man chuckles softly.

He takes a step forward, and like crossing light-years in a second, appears in front of the Supreme Intelligence; he extends his finger and curls it.

He says:

"Regardless of which dimension it is, you ugly thing is as disgusting as ever!"

"So die again!"

"BAM"

Like playing games with children, the expert flicks on the Supreme Intelligence's forehead.

The supreme entity formed by countless Kree thoughts and will makes a horrified expression as if he was experiencing something devastating.

His body begins to dissipate, starting from the area where he was flicked, he slowly dissipated into the air like quicksand. And then, this spiritual world formed by the Supreme Intelligence begins to crumble at a devastating rate.

It was like the end of the world.

Carol looked on in shock, she knew not of who the man was, nor did she know what he was going to do.

What she did know was that the ultimate weapon of the Kree Empire, the one who suppressed her so: the Supreme Intelligence...was easily destroyed by the man in front of her as if it was a joke.

"Come, girl!"

After the man was finished, he waves his hand at Carol as he lets out a gentle smile.

But with the crumbling world, flame tornados, end of world stuff happening behind him, his smile looked ever horrifying.

"Let's make a little deal..."

The man tells Carol:

"You help me keep this a secret, and I'll unshackle you and give you freedom."

"Like I've always said..."

"You help me, I help you."

 

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