Chapter 59: Arc 2: Chapter 14: A Terrible Person

"This is Papa Midnite's territory."

In a small compartment in the nightclub, Constantine leans against the sofa, and while gobbling a plate of macaroni, he tells Merlin:

"That brutal vodun shaman began operating his nightclub here a few dozen years ago. This is a neutral zone where everyone is welcome, that is if you don't make a fuss here, otherwise, Papa Midnite will get angry, and someone will get unlucky."

"Mmm, is that so?"

Merlin nods, no wonder there were so many irregulars in the nightclub interacting in peace, so someone was upholding the order here. And he sounds like quite the ruthless one.

He takes a sip of wine and looks at the ugly eater Constantine in front of him, he frowns and asks:

"How long have you not eaten?"

"Another plate!"

Constantine wipes his mouth and sets the empty plate to the side, he showed no signs of embarrassment, and while wiping his mouth with a tissue, he tells Merlin:

"I arrived in New York just 4 months ago. I've been living in London before, everything in New York is great, the gals here are enthusiastic too, the weather's better than London as well. The only downside is that I spend money here faster than I can earn them."

"I just used the last bit of money in my pocket for today, and then I met you, Merlin. How lucky I am, amirite?"

Merlin shakes his head, he presses the button for calling a waiter then tells Constantine:

"Constantine, are you a wizard? Do all wizards live so poorly?"

"Depends on who I'm being compared with, also, call me John."

The young Constantine brushes his hair, he takes a cigar from Merlin's cigar box and lights it, then he tells Merlin:

"Don't look at how poorly I'm living right now, I'm much luckier than the black wizards being hunted by Witchers."

"At least my body is fully intact and I can enjoy life, I've not turned into some monstrosity due to all kinds of accidents. But if you compare me to the official wizards, I'm barely even a homeless person."

22-year-old Constantine was observant, he noticed that Merlin seemed to be quite interested in the matters regarding wizards and magic, so he gave Merlin what he was interested in and told him about the things he saw and the things he heard from rumors.

"You cannot imagine how extravagant official wizards are, especially the ones from pure-blooded families. They've amassed a great amount of fortune throughout their long history, especially those isolated wizards in Hogsmeade...I've heard that a normal breakfast for them is worth 10 Gold Galleons!"

"Money is pointless to those undying bastards."

As he spoke, Constantine had a face of envy, while Merlin noticed some of the smaller details and asked:

"Hogsmeade? And Gold Galleons?"

"Oh, that's an all-wizarding village in Britain, they reject all things muggle, which are normal people, from entering. As for Gold Galleons, that's the currency wizards use."

Constantine explains:

"A piece of Gold Galleon is equivalent to 5 English Pounds, or 7 USD, you can only exchange them in the Gringotts Bank. So to speak, Merlin, why are you looking for wizards?"

"They're old-fashioned, and they're hard to interact with, not all wizards are as easygoing as me...oh, thank you."

Before Constantine could finish, a waiter puts a big plate of macaroni in front of Constantine, the latter gives his thanks to the waiter, then he moves his fingers as he prepares to start eating again.

He casually tells Merlin:

"Especially when you have a demon's scent on you, official wizards hate demons and devils, any act that's related to demons is considered a sin to them."

"I too, think of it as a sin, John."

Merlin finishes the wine in his hand and tells Constantine:

"Can you help me dispel this sin?"

"Dispel it?"

Constantine who was gobbling his food raises his head, looks at Merlin, and shrugs:

"I can't, even if I could, I wouldn't."

"Why?"

Merlin's constant questions made Constantine impatient, the latter stops eating and tells Merlin:

"Because it's risky!"

"Demons are a bunch of b****es, they're more troublesome than devils, they don't reason with you. Once I touch the dark powers inside you, it may attract the demon's attention, then your problem will become mine."

The carefree man shrugs:

"And I've enough problems."

Merlin nods and gives up. He knows what Constantine means and he can understand.

A few minutes later, Constantine finishes eating and lets out a satisfied groan, he picks up the beer on the table and takes a sip; he wipes his mouth and finds Merlin deep in thought, so he rolls his eyes and says in a mysterious tone:

"Thank you for your hospitality, my friend Merlin. Although I may not be able to help you with your current problem, if you can give me $500, I'll give you some well-needed advice."

Merlin was surprised, he looks at Constantine, the latter let out a fake smile.

"Pa"

A few dollar bills are put in front of Constantine, the dispirited young man takes the money and puts them into his pocket, he snuffs out the cigarette in the ashtray, then he tells Merlin promptly:

"It's best you leave here as soon as you can. What I mean is, leave New York, get as far away from here as possible and find a new place to live."

"Why? Does it have something to do with the dark powers inside me?"

As Merlin asked, Constantine let out an embarrassed smile, he scratches his head and says:

"Sort of. As you know, I'm an excellent detective, and I take all sorts of work."

"Half a month ago, I received a consignment from a not-so-well-tempered man, he requested for me to help him look for someone. It told me that it had an unfamiliar 'brother' appeared in Manhattan a few months ago before disappearing again, and then it reappeared recently."

"That man eagerly wishes to meet its brother, talk, eat together, etc."

The young man smirks and says disdainfully:

"But it's stingy, not as lavish as you are. Oh, right, the demonic scent on it is similar to yours...almost the same. So if I'm not wrong, who it's looking for..."

"Is you."

"What?"

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Merlin abruptly stands up. He looks at Constantine and questions:

"Are you saying, that there has been a half-demon looking for me these past few weeks? Why tell me this? More importantly, why now?"

"Because you offered me to eat, you're enthusiastic and you're lavish, this made me hesitant."

Constantine had an innocent expression:

"I'm a detective, buddy, I follow the rules! And I've taken the man's advance! I hesitated for quite a bit before deciding to break the rules and tell you this."

"Run, Merlin, it's on the move nearby tonight, if you're unlucky, you may not be able to run."

"Constantine, although I just met you, you...are an absolute bastard!"

As he finishes, he pushes the door and runs out.

In the compartment behind him, Constantine proudly flicks his finger, the guy with zero professional ethics mumbles to himself:

"Mmm, taking money from both sides, I'm a genius!"

"At this pace, I'll be rich in no time!"

---

The Great Devil Mephisto had told Merlin before, that Trigon liked to give out its powers to its many 'children'.

This wasn't a sign of kindness and generosity, because these powers can be reaped from each other, Trigon uses this way to encourage its 'children' to kill each other until the strongest demon son is born.

It's like raising Gu, the last surviving, strongest demon son will be cruelly devoured by Trigon and increase its own power.

Mephisto once urged Merlin to hunt for those demon sons in New York, but Merlin did not do so.

But he's been cautious, trying to keep himself from the sight of other demon sons. And from what Constantine had told him, one of those demon sons has set its eyes on him.

Constantine may be a bastard, but his reminder came on time, this gave Merlin some time to prepare himself.

Merlin opens the car trunk and takes out the briefcase, then he drives off into the night.

He did not drive too quickly, as he drove, he spread out his dark senses and soon notices someone following him.

That guy's scent was practically from the same source as Merlin's dark powers, and compared to the carefully hiding Merlin, that guy did not hide his presence and was like a live torch in his second sight.

But the one following behind his car did not have a strong presence, he's only somewhat stronger than the phantoms and little devils.

This meant that Merlin could easily finish him off if he finds a place to do it.

"Vroom"

Merlin drove his car into an abandoned parking lot, where he stepped out of his car and held something ice-cold in his hand. As the night breeze blew on his coat, Merlin takes off his sunglasses, and the night becomes clearer to him.

In front of him, following the flash of car lights, a roaring heavy motorbike enters the parking lot.

Under the noise, a muscular man dressed as a motorcycle rider jumps off the motorbike.

He looks to be in his 30s, wearing a black leather jacket and a blue headband on his hair, he had a fierce expression and multiple tattoos on his shoulder, but those were unimportant.

What was important is that right now, in the night, the man had a facially distorted expression; another set of eyes appeared on his distorted forehead above his original pair of eyes.

Those sinister 4 eyes were burning a crimson red light like there was a fire burning from within them.

"Found you!"

The guy didn't even try to converse, he howled desperately as if his consciousness had been burned out by the demonic power. With no constitution and with only brute strength, he charges at Merlin with both arms emblazed.

"Give me your power! Give it to me!"

"Bang Bang Bang Bang"

Merlin shakes his head and gives up on trying to communicate.

He raises the carbine rifle in his hand, and following the flash of its muzzle, Merlin unloads a hail of bullets at the half-demon.

As the two were less than 20-meters apart, the lethal impact of the bullets tore through skin and flesh, the half-demon's enhanced body stood no chance, the spewed out blood made his originally powerful charge turn into a miserable one.

Despite all this, the half-demon did not stop as his brain had been partially fried by the demonic powers, the flame in his 4 eyes shining ever brighter from the pain.

He pounces at Merlin, and as the two got closer and closer, the half-demon lets out an excited howl, as if in the next second he would devour the 'brother' in front of him and become even stronger.

"Kack"

Following a light sound, Merlin raises the muzzle and looks at the facially distorted half-demon, then he says:

"You look angry, cool off some heat."

"Bonk"

From the muzzle of the grenade launcher mounted below the rifle, a round-shaped grenade spews out of the launching port; like a heavy punch, the grenade smashes onto the half-demon's chest, tears apart the flesh, and sends him rolling backward.

"BOOM"

Within seconds, under the catalyzation of large amounts of high explosives, mega thermal flames devour everything within an 8-meter area.

Over 300 irregular pieces of shrapnel utterly destroy everything within the burning flames. The citizens in the neighborhood around the abandoned parking lot were spooked by the explosion, and the situation becomes chaotic.

"Shwa"

As black smoke spread out, Merlin reappears outside the explosion site, he looks at the remaining wreckage left from the explosion.

He had his weapon at hand, yet there was no sign of happiness on his face. Because he could still see a moving figure in the burning wreckage.

"Sigh, normal bullets aren't that useful against demonic beings..."

Merlin looks as the burning man gets back on his feet, he sighs disappointed, then he places the gun in his hand on his back, and pulls two grenades from his waist.

"Kack Kack"

Following two sounds, the safety pins of the grenades drop onto the ground. Eagerness flashes on Merlin's face as his body turns into fog, then he rushes towards the figure walking out of the flames:

"Then let's try something more powerful."

 

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