Chapter 71: Arc 2: Chapter 26: First Auror Encounter

Merlin looked at the woman by his feet with an odd expression.

To be honest, this black-haired woman who fell by his feet from nowhere was a true beauty.

She had soft long hair spread on her shoulder which covered half her face, yet simply from that, one could see that she was truly pretty, her face was slightly thin, and she wore a black mask that covered the lower part of her face.

She had an excellent body figure, her slender legs would attract the attention of any man.

But she appears to be wounded.

Merlin could see clearly that she had burn marks on her elbow and waist, but there was no blood. She was holding two odd-looking weapons with her fingers.

Like sharp forks.

Merlin could still faintly recall, in the movies, he watched as a kid, those ninjas would use such weapons, not to mention, the black combat suit this woman was wearing was quite similar to the legendary ninjas.

She still had consciousness, after the odd shadow on her was gotten rid of, she was staring at Merlin while Merlin stared back.

A few seconds later, Merlin with his hands in his pocket lightly coughs and asks:

"Do you need help? Miss."

"No! Move out of the way!"

The cold beauty reprimands in a cold tone and she staggers to her feet, Merlin turns his body sideways, obediently moving out of the way.

He didn't want trouble, and the lady had clearly said that she did not need help.

However, while Merlin didn't want trouble, trouble came to him.

"Bam"

A fire shoots towards the woman next to Merlin like a sharp arrow, the latter dodges to the side the moment the fire arrow appeared, but her left leg gives out and she falls into Merlin's arms.

Merlin did not dodge, instead, he caught the lady, since helping a lady is what a gentleman should do.

"Shwa"

A figure leaps from above and lands in front of Merlin and the woman.

He wore a brown coat, a light blue shirt, and a blue tie, he looked just like a normal office worker, but he held something in his hand that Merlin had seen once before.

It was a wand, a wand that was shining.

This was clearly a wizard.

Merlin notices that the wizards' pupils were a rare greyish color, he had a strong appearance and short but straight brown hair. He pursed his lips, seeming to be a non-smiler.

"Thief!"

The wizard reprimanded:

"Return what you stole from the Ministry of Magic!"

Merlin immediately realizes the identity of the woman in his arms, he tries to shove her away to clear up the misunderstanding. But the latter did not get up, in fact, she reached out and hugged Merlin's waist while acting very close.

It was like, they were a loving couple.

"My beloved is right here. What can you do to me?"

The woman used a complacent tone and taunts him, Merlin frowns, reaches out, and pushes the woman in her arms away. He takes a step back and raises his hand, he, with a serious tone, tells the wizard:

"No! Sir, I'm unrelated to her! I just don't want to meddle in your business."

"I'll be on my way."

As he finishes, he turns around and prepares to leave.

But then, as he turns around, a golden flash of light soars past his body and lands in front of him, chains appear in its place as it attempts to encircle him.

But just as the chains touch Merlin's body, his body quickly dissipates into fog, as if he had disappeared on the spot.

"Demon's Believer!"

The wizard screams, he raises his wand and it flashes a bright light, revealing Merlin who was attempting to leave under his Shadow Cloak.

This made Merlin frown.

He puts both hands into his pockets, turns around, and tells the wizard:

"As I said, I'm unrelated to that woman, I have nothing to do with what happened here between you two tonight. Just let me leave, okay?"

The wizard was unmoved, he raises his wand, and as fiery mana flows, flaming arrows appear mid-air behind him. With one thought, these arrows would fly towards the man and woman in front of him.

He snaps at Merlin:

"IF you really think that you are innocent, then stay right there! Once I'm done dealing with this thief, you will come with me to the Ministry of Magic! We'll let you go once we make sure you are innocent."

The wizard's demand makes Merlin squint his eyes.

A dangerous light flashed in his eyes.

Seeing as she successfully dragged Merlin into her affair, the injured woman leaps into the shadows and reappears next to Merlin.

She whispers to Merlin:

"It's no use, this one in front of us is an Auror. Don't expect to reason with them, their brains are filled with cement, the only way to leave is to take him down."

"An Auror, huh?"

Merlin sighs.

Mr. Arthur had just handed him magic textbooks and his life was taking a good turn, and then he gets mixed up in the worst possible situation.

Merlin could guess, once he gets caught into the Ministry of Magic, not only would the magic books he just received be confiscated, Mr. Arthur and young Hermione may also be affected.

He had not forgotten what Mr. Arthur had told him about wizards having plenty of ways to detect the truth from lies.

He was a man with secrets, he cannot, and wishes not to implicate those around him.

"I'm sorry then, Mr. Bad Temper."

Merlin takes out his gloved hands and moves his shoulders, his fingers turn into black fog and he gently says to the embattled Auror in front of him:

"It is not my intention to do this."

As he finishes, billowing black smoke appears in this calm street and storms towards the Auror.

The latter did not panic, the Auror simply waved his wand and an invisible shield appears in front of him, he continues waving his wand as magic fireballs smash towards the black smoke in front of him.

The fireballs consist of mana, so Merlin directs the black smoke to avoid the magic arrows, and as usual, his black smoke entangles the wizard, attacking him from all sides.

Yet the seemingly fragile shield did not give in, as Merlin attacked, bits of light appeared on the shield, though it remained unbroken.

"Lumos Solem!"

The Auror lifts his wand and a blinding light shines from the tip of the wand, it was like the burning light of the sun and it made Merlin very uncomfortable.

The Auror kept waving his wand, slicing away at the black fog, yet it couldn't truly harm Merlin.

The two sides were at a stalemate.

In the billowing black smoke, the injured woman moves around, instead of running away, she was like a hunter in the night, waiting for the time to strike.

Seeing his inability to force Merlin away, the young Auror grits his teeth and waves his wand, then, his entire body begins to distort.

He was running!

"Shwa"

Sharp Sai's enshrouded by the shadows appear in Merlin's fog and charges towards the wizard from left and right.

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The shadows imbued on the Twin Sais seem to hold some mysterious power, as they penetrated through the Auror's shield as soon as they came in contact with it.

But the Auror's figure disappears in the distorted flash and reappears 10 meters away.

"Don't let him escape!"

The woman screamed, and Merlin redirected the black fog towards the Auror.

But the prepared Auror confidently waved his wand, and a distorted lava swirl opens in front of him; following a fiery light, a clump of erupted lava shoots towards the black fog, blocking its advance.

"Fwa"

 Merlin's black smoke quickly dissipates, and he himself dodges the approaching lava balls and reappears on the other side of the street.

He takes off his glasses, presses a bulge on the glasses, and throws them at the chanting wizard like a hidden weapon.

The hidden weapon coming from behind made the wizard stop his chant, he moves his fingers and sends an invisible magic blade towards Merlin, while he attempts the block the 'hidden weapon'.

But the woman, like a shadow, swiftly follows after him, and as he raises his shield, she cuts it apart with the blade in her hand.

"Pa"

The glasses Merlin threw slammed into the wizard's chest without obstruction and a spark of blue electricity bursts out of the metal frames.

The high electric current swiftly paralyzes him. Behind him, the woman in black raises the sharp forks in her hands and thrust them towards the wizard's neck.

The wizard that was pincer-attacked seemed like his life would end here.

"Bam"

Merlin grabs onto the woman's wrist.

The sharp forks in her hands were merely a few centimeters from the wizard's neck.

Merlin raises his hand and accurate chops on the wizard's neck, the wizard was no different from a regular human, both had similar bodies, so what made regular humans faint would make the wizard faint as well.

"Bam"

The wounded wizard collapses onto the floor, his wand bounces on the ground a few times, then the glow on the tip dissipates.

"What are you doing?"

The woman who was interrupted asks coldly, Merlin picks up his glasses from the ground and puts them on. He pats off the dust on his coat while calmly saying:

"No killing!"

"What's your problem?"

The woman throws away Merlin's hand and places her weapons back into her waist, she moves her wrists while saying with a gloomy tone:

"Who do you think you are? Do you think all Aurors are rookies like this guy here? If it were an experienced senior Auror here today, both of us would've been sent to Azkaban already!"

"But we survived!"

Merlin stands guard in front of the unconscious wizard and tells the woman in front of him:

"You will not harm him with me around! And, for the last time, miss! I'm not one of you! I can explain clearly even if we do go to the Ministry of Magic!"

"Oh really?"

The woman sneers:

"Then why did you join forces with me to fight him? Enough, Mr. Mysterious, you and I both are people with hidden secrets..."

As she spoke, she turns and glances at the wall, then she looks back at Merlin:

"Coming to the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in the middle of the night, plus that weird-looking black fog you just showed off...you're a hidden dark wizard that's heading towards Knockturn Alley, aren't you?"

Merlin did not speak, his expression was dark like he is what she said he is.

The woman puts her hands on her waist, and under the relight street lights, she tells Merlin with a mocking tone:

"A dark wizard with such moral standards. I'm suspicious how you survived the Auror's hunt?"

"Because I am powerful."

Merlin snorts and tells the woman:

"I am uninterested in your affairs like you said, I'm unwilling to meddle with the lackeys of the Ministry of Magic. But I'm already in enough trouble, and if an Auror dies by my hands...I don't want to run to Africa."

"You get what I mean? Don't cause my trouble, lady, otherwise, I would not mind testing my newly developed magic on you."

"Fwa"

A sinister-looking, golden-red fire appears in Merlin's hand, the flame gave Merlin's face a gruesome appearance, he extends the fire in his hand towards the lady and says in a gloomy tone:

"This here is venomous fire, just slight contact with it and...huhu."

"Keep that thing away from me!"

The lady dodges away from Merlin, she looks at the fire in Merlin's hand warily as it didn't look like something good, she says:

"Wizard! You best stay calm! I wouldn't provoke a member of the League of Assassins if I were you!"

"League of Assassins?" 

This was Merlin's first time hearing of this organization, he did not know of this organization's strengths and secrets.

But the name sounded terrific, so Merlin decides to probe again. He puts away the flame, puts his hands back into his pockets, and examines the woman in front of him, he then says confusingly:

"Are you sure? I've met assassins from the League of Assassins before, they don't get pushed by a rookie Auror like this."

Merlin's words seem to affect her, she turns her head and grits her teeth:

"Soon! I'll reach that level soon! I've completed the trial Ra's al Ghul gave me! I've proven myself!"

"Huhu, say whatever you want."

Merlin seems to have lost interest in the topic, he tells the lady:

"I'll leave this Auror to you! But no killing!

"Sure!"

The black-clothed woman smiles, she walks over and picks up the heavy Auror, then she throws him along with his wand into a nearby trash can.

She takes something from her waist and stabs it into the Auror's neck.

It was like a small injector.

"What is that?"

Merlin asks, which the lady replied without turning back:

"Don't ask! All you need to know is that this little thing here to make him 'sleep', and after waking up, he won't remember anything of what transpired here tonight."

A few minutes later, the woman turns around and looks at Merlin, she hesitantly says:

"What's your name? Wizard. I'd like to request that you keep what happened here tonight a secret...for this, I can provide some 'suitable' payment."

The question makes Merlin hesitate.

Moments later, he raises his head, presses his glasses, and says:

"Call me...Coulson."

 

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