Chapter 35: Arc 1: Chapter 33: Path of Darkness

The first thing Merlin saw when he regained his senses was a beauty staring at him.

She had the typical oriental face with silky smooth skin.

She had blue eyes, unlike the sea-blue eyes Europeans usually had, her eyes were sky-blue. She had straight black long hair, in it was a strand of purple hair which looked extra pretty and soft.

She wore black leather clothing in a way that made her look like a female ninja; she wore a chic coat atop her combat suit, and her heavy samurai blade was tossed on the side of the bed.

The mercenary who had completed her mission was simply sitting beside the bed and looking at Merlin curiously.

To be precise, she was looking at Merlin's eyes, those unique-looking eyes.

"Ahem, what...what are you looking at?"

Merlin asked weakly, the beauty shrugs, stands up, and slowly walks to the sofa behind her, then she lies on it.

She said:

"I'm looking at gold!"

"What gold?"

The beauty snorts at his question, she extends her fingers and plays with her fingernails.

She continues:

"Someone commissioned 5 million dollars for me just to save your life. Do you know? You right now in my eyes are equal to gold of the same value."

"Oh, is that so?"

Merlin closes his eyes, he knows the people who hired this strong beauty were none other than Bruce's family.

He never planned to use the number Bruce had left him; but he still had to use it last night, which undoubtedly saved his life.

Sigh, he knows not how to repay him.

"What's your name?"

Merlin leans against the bedboard with difficulty and looks at the female mercenary in front of him.

The latter twists her hair and said lazily:

"Why ask? From your looks, you don't look like you can afford my services. You're not exactly my type either, so why ask? Once I get you to safety, you're someone else's problem."

"I have to know the name of my benefactor. You saved my life, after all; even if it's just business for you, it's my life we're talking about."

Merlin gently yet stubbornly asked:

"In your eyes, I may not be of much help, but if you ever need me, I'll do my best to help you. Since I don't like owing favors."

"..."

Merlin's words made the beauty speechless, she looks at Merlin and said:

"Mmm...you don't feel like an American, more like people from my hometown, you know to repay gratitude; good, very good."

The beauty turns over on the sofa, she didn't mind exposing her beautiful body in front of Merlin. She lies on the sofa and rummages through her purse, before pulling out a crumpled business card and throwing it to Merlin.

She crosses her waist and speaks loudly:

"Then listen well, kiddo."

"The name's Betsy, the best and prettiest mercenary in the world, oh, also..."

Betsy reaches out her fingers, a crimson energy blade forms on her fingertips, she flicks the energy wave and continued:

"I'm a mutant. You seem to be one as well?"

"Mmm...I'm somewhat of a mutant."

Merlin did not wish to explain in detail his condition; he rests on the bed for a couple of minutes, before suddenly realizing something and drinking the cup of water on the side of the bed.

He looks at the clock behind him, it was 9-am, approximately 5 hours and 57 minutes since he last drank water.

That was close.

Betsy who was watching the TV out of boredom glanced at Merlin in surprise.

She cared not of Merlin's actions, she knows that many mutants have strange behaviors and that it was impolite to ask about it.

"Where are you gonna bring me to?"

Merlin stands next to the window, he looked at the bustling street below him; he should still be in Oakland, just on the other side of it, near the airport.

"Anywhere's fine."

Betsy opens a pack of snacks and replies:

"As long as you survive the hunt."

"I plan on bringing you to Canada, the Brotherhood of Mutants has a base there, if you're willing to join Magneto's organization, there shouldn't be any trash that would bother you."

"Magneto?"

Merlin shakes his head, he knows of this Magneto, he's one of the two leaders in mutant society.

But as Magneto had plotted many attacks on human society over the past few decades, his reputation in human society was skin to a supervillain.

Not to mention, even if Magneto loved mutants, it was futile because Merlin was never a mutant to begin with.

He told Betsy:

"I'm not going there, I'm staying here."

"???"

Betsy looked at Merlin with surprise and asked:

"Stay here? To die?"

Merlin did not answer, so Betsy kept talking:

"Do you know how famous the Winter Soldier is in the mercenary world?"

"In the last dozen years, he served the Soviet Union; after the Soviet Union's collapse, he began working for another organization. He has nearly completed all the missions he's taken without fail, and most of those missions were dangerous assassinations on World Leaders."

"To be targeted by such an existence would be a pain in the a*s even for me. And...Merlin, not that I'm underestimating you, your abilities are very unstable, it hasn't even been developed systematically before, you won't stand a chance against him."

"So he's called the Winter Soldier, very nice name."

Merlin nodded, he cared not of what Betsy had just said.

As Betsy looked at him, Merlin looks out the window and looks at his hand, saying:

"Those people died because of me, Betsy."

"Before you arrived, I was hiding in an apartment; the Winter Soldier fired a rocket towards the apartment to kill me, his subordinates threw a lot of explosives in the neighborhood."

"They shouldn't have experienced all that, they were going through this tragedy simply because I was hiding there and I didn't evacuate on time."

Merlin looked out the window with an indescribable expression and said:

"I'm not a bad person, I'm just unlucky, always has been."

"I implicated them into this mess, I implicated lots of people, as I'm surrounded by misfortune...a monster like me hoped to be able to return home one day; I should've known, for a monster like me, it's not that I don't have a home, it was that I don't deserve it."

"I only bring them harm..."

"So you feel guilty? So you want to sacrifice yourself to preserve order?"

Betsy tells Merlin with a tone of ridicule:

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"I've lived far longer than you can imagine, Merlin, I've met my fair share of people like you before. You wanna know how it all ends? Let me tell you, that even if you die, the fighting won't stop. People like the Winter Soldier won't stop their slaughter as long as they're alive, you want to end this?"

"You can...kill him, and everything will end momentarily."

"But the question is, can you do that? Let me ask you this, Merlin, have you ever killed before?"

Betsy lies on the sofa comfortably and extends her supermodel-like figure, she continues:

"An eye for an eye is a lowly method, but in the real world, it's always the most effective method, don't talk to me about world peace or whatnot...even someone as powerful as Professor Charles, who can instantly control the minds of all World Leaders, couldn't achieve World peace in a true sense."

"In my long life, if there's one thing that hasn't changed, it's the hatred humans have for each other...this is original sin, you know? The original sin that cannot be eradicated! So stop it with your naive ideals and stay alive. Don't forget, you're worth 5 million dollars! Much more than any regular person."

Being scolded by Betsy in an elderly way made Merlin nod quietly, he seemed to have given up his naive thinking.

Moments later, under Betsy's watch, Merlin turns around and limps into the restroom.

Betsy returns her focus on the soap opera in front of her, but she noticed something was wrong when Merlin hadn't come out from the bathroom for nearly 8 minutes; she hasn't heard any water flowing since a few minutes ago.

"Bloody hell!"

Betsy kicks open the restroom door only to find it empty.

At the same time, at the hotel entrance, Merlin sits into a taxi and tells the driver:

"Oakland Station, thank you."

30 minutes later, Merlin with his baseball cap and sunglasses walks to the locker room inside the station; he takes a key from the interlayer of his boot and opens the locker in front of him, in it was a black thermos cup.

He takes out the thermos cup and pours out the water in it, before pouring the blue liquid into a syringe he had just bought.

Merlin places the syringe in front of him and looks at the blue liquid inside the syringe.

The liquid reflects Merlin's pale face, as well as his eyes that were hidden under the sunglasses.

Fire flickers in his shadowy eyes.

"How can you make me feel at ease as I watch the innocent die in front of my eyes? The burdens of the past are getting too much for me to handle."

"Just treat me as naive."

The syringe pierces Merlin's skin and slowly injects the blue liquid into his body

He knows not of what will happen after he injects himself with the serum, but maybe Betsy was right; this world was different from fairytales, so perhaps an eye for an eye was his best way to redeem himself.

But an eye for an eye needs power!

"Bam"

Merlin drops the empty syringe and stomps on it, crushing it to bits.

His body begins trembling, it was the serum taking effect. Though he didn't know whether or not the violent trembling of his body was just a normal reaction.

Pain explodes in Merlin's spirit, it was a sign that his body structure was beginning to tear at the cellular level, lethal danger resurfaces, and though black fog begins to appear on his limbs, he did not completely turn into fog.

A power was blooming inside of Merlin's body, it was stopping the dark mana's corrosion on Merlin's body, as well as stopping Merlin's body from turning to fog.

Merlin curls in the corner, deeper shadows enshroud him as if pulling him into a different dimension.

He holds his body with both hands as intense pain begins rushing out from deep inside his body.

It was pain similar to the time in the wilderness of Wisconsin 2 years ago.

Dark powers form a cocoon around Merlin's body as the black fog slowly rises.

Absorbing the Super-Soldier serum needed a lot of energy stimulation, Merlin did not have the sophisticated equipment needed to do that. But luckily he did not inject the full amount of serum, so if it only needed energy, he lacked none of it.

"If, this is a game..."

"Let's...even the playing field."

---

An hour later, Betsy who had changed into causal clothing rushes into the station.

Light flickers in her blue eyes, directing her through the station like a beacon until she came near the locker room.

She could sense a painful life hiding here.

Betsy looks around,  crimson energy forming in her hands as she forcefully grabs something from the empty corner.

Following a slight noise of glass-breaking, Betsy grabs Merlin who was curled up in the shadows.

"Keep running! I dare you!"

Betsy swore as she tied Merlin with crimson energy, she seemed to plan on bringing Merlin with her like so.

Merlin didn't resist since he wasn't in a good condition.

Sweat that came from his body drenched his clothes, making him look like he was just pulled out of the sea. He lowered his head and asked with his coarse tone:

"How did you find me?"

Betsy glared at him and replied impatiently:

"I can sense the spirits of others, though I don't like using this ability, it doesn't mean I won't use it. I must've underestimated you, Merlin, you managed to get away from...wait, your eyes!"

Merlin's eyes had changed.

The light similar to flickering fire in his eyes had completely solidified to a dark orange-red light spot; like the ashen remnants of a burning fire.

Betsy also noticed Merlin's once pale complexion had become ruddy.

His slightly frail body had become muscular.

Even his height had grown roughly 15 cm in this short hour, the originally fit clothing he wore appeared to have shrunken.

"What did you do to yourself?"

Betsy asked astonishingly:

"Did you undergo some evil alteration? Or did you drink a magic potion?"

"It's nothing."

Merlin moves his arms, and as the black fog on his arms rolls, the crimson binds Betsy had placed on him slowly begin to be squeezed away.

Merlin puts on his sunglasses and says to Betsy:

"I just...slightly embraced the power that's been calling for me; I've discovered that the more you run from fate, the closer you get to it."

"So I've decided to make myself more dangerous, just as you have."

"The path into darkness is bad, but it is the only path for those with nowhere to run."

"And now, I'm on it."

Merlin looks back at the slightly astonished Betsy and lets out a friendly smile, he says:

"Speaking about that, you can sense people's spirits, right? Miss Betsy..."

"Can you do me a little favor?"

"Help me find the Winter Soldier. It's about time for me to end this..."

"Of course, before that, I'll have to take a shower and eat something...I mean, I smell horrible, don't you think?"

 

 

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