The Black Saint is My StalkerCh99 - He liked the sound of chaos

Edited by dreamandwonder

A bulbous structure attached itself beneath the control panel, strange magic churned within. It was black, ugly, and seemed to have a pulse, like a mutated heart that attached itself to a cold, metal surface. Though it looked fleshy at first glance, it beheld a wood-like texture. Valtteri must have scanned it at least ten times with the machinery around his wrist, but the runes that appeared on the screen were but a jumbled mess, making little sense to the hedge witch. yzlhGs

Valtteri paled. Though his powers as a witch were scant and limited, his knowledge was rather expansive. But he could make no sense of the dormant magic that coiled around the panel. “I…can’t tell what this is. We…should probably call in…experts.”

Han Li clicked his tongue. “It’ll be too late by then,” he said, his expression chilled, posture stiff.

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“W-What…?”

“Magic’s dense but also active,” Han Li explained, arm folding over his chest as he shifted from foot to foot. He was feeling antsy, his third eye scanning the room over and over, as though it had a mind of its own. The blaring alarm didn’t help, etching a spot in his mind until he found himself on the edge of sanity. It was a miracle that he was able to keep his voice straight. “It’s compacted so tight it might as well burst at any moment.” Y275OP

“Burst…” Valtteri repeated before surging up to his feet, eyes wide. “Oh fuck, it’s a bomb, isn’t it?”

Han Li pursed his lips and scratched the back of his neck. “Can’t be sure but…honestly? Yeah. I think so.”

Valtteri was suitably rattled by the news, but Han Li in comparison seemed oddly calm, or perhaps simply contained. Collected would be the wrong term to describe Han Li’s state for he was both quelled and agitated at once. A part of him wanted to jump into the fray and sample the coppery aroma of battle but another part of him was calm. He felt simultaneously distracted and focused, his emotions lingering just barely out of reach.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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He liked the sound of chaos. It nursed an odd spark in Han Li’s stomach, one that reminded him of his bottomless hunger and endless wrath. Subconsciously, he ran his tongue over his canines, perhaps in anticipation, perhaps to check that they were still normal.

“That doesn’t make it any better…!” Valtteri whined, sinking back down on his knees. Using a dagger, he slit his left palm and used the free-flowing blood to draw runes around the oddity. A slew of curses was uttered as he worked. “Dammit…I’ve never…seen magic like this before! What’s with this…convoluted spell structure, it’s so damn archaic, how am I supposed to decipher this…!?”

While the scout worked, Han Li felt a little useless. Feeling restless, he took a step back and inspected their surroundings another time. The auras in the atmosphere danced in various hues. Han Li, still new to the powers of his third eye, found them confusing and difficult to discern, but he couldn’t help but think that there was something lingering in the air. Something that conjured familiarity. srDKB7

The more he thought about it, the more hunger-ridden nausea began to stir, leaving Han Li’s head feeling light, his mouth wet and salivating. But he was no desire demon.

When it came to the nature of wrath, hunger and want only inspired irritation and restlessness.

A strange spark of inspiration befell him, influenced by the bottomless wrathful hunger. Han Li staggered to Valtteri and cocked his head. “How about I just cut out the entire control panel?”

Valtteri jerked, startled. But his composure was quickly regained. “You can…do that?” His eyes twinkled with hope. “I-I mean…damn, I don’t know what will happen if we just…cut out the control panel like that but…I can probably disconnect it from the Edelstein structure to avoid any damage to the magic itself—“ Quickly, he shifted to the control panel, taking a few buttons to light up screens filled with numbers and data that Han Li couldn’t hope to understand. jNksbm

“Uh,” Han Li licked his lips, almost feeling a bit bad. He only said those words to tease, or perhaps incite unfounded chaos. “Yeah, I probably can but…if it really is a bomb, it’ll probably blow up.”

Valtteri flinched off the panel as though he was burned. “What the fuck! We can’t just blow up the Earthbound Layer on…purpose!”

“…” A part of Han Li wanted to do just that. Sheepishly, he apologized, “Sorry.”

Valtteri sank to knees with an exasperated sigh and tried to wrack his mind for a knowledgeable witch or sorcerer he could contact at the ready. But he couldn’t really think of anyone off the top of his head. Begrudgingly he took out his phone, seeing a bunch of missing calls from Oscar Bancroft. And that was another headache just waiting to happen. Uv5ygV

While Valtteri was busy feeling helpless and dejected, Han Li inspected the perceived bomb further. For some reason, he was fostering a childish desire to simply cut the entire panel away from the wall and see what would happen. However, the magical structure was connected to those blackened veins that wound around the entire floor. To cut out the control panel would mean those veins would have to be severed as well, which may or may not trigger the magic to explode in their faces right then and there.

Just as Valtteri was about to push the call button, he was once again startled by Han Li’s voice. “Do you think you can just sever the flow of magic where these veins are?”

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Valtteri huffed, shoulders sagging from frustration. “Do you…think that I didn’t try?” The characteristic breaks in his sentence sounded even more strained than usual. “I’m just a hedge witch. I know the spells and the theory and I can draw the runes, but when it comes to power…I can’t do much.”

Han Li made a face, only to brighten a second later. “I…think I have an idea,” he said, a smile curling on his lips. a3DMRm

“What is it? As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with curses…or explosions…”

“Well…” Han Li started, taking a step back, “If it’s raw magical power that you’re missing, I think I can help with that. But brace yourself for the miasma.”

He drew in a long breath and held it, eyes closed. Han Li dug inside himself, searching for the endless pit that rested within his belly. There, a fire flickered, bright and eager, full of anger and unnamed hatred. It was part of himself that was buried so deep that it would only see the light of day when Han Li’s mind was shrouded with madness’s haze.

But he wasn’t mad, not yet. Perhaps a little overly-eager, overly-excited. But his grasp on sanity was yet tangible enough. So he stirred that flame, waking it from its slumber. GZ9 AT

Valtteri took two steps back, coughing from the sudden overwhelming flow of miasma. If it hadn’t been for his witch blood, he might have fainted from the oppressive power alone.

Han Li’s miasma was a wild and unruly thing, unwinding and filling up the room with eager splendor, like a beast stretching out its limbs and testing its prowess after a long rest. There was nothing refined about it, explosive, raw, and dizzying to bear witness to. Han Li’s human appearance did not hold true, his skin turned into an ashy blue, almost as pale as paper but with an icy glow. His two eyes were red, but the third one on his brow remained obsidian. A dark tongue darted out, running over elongated fangs. The smile on his lips curled up into a smirk.

Valtteri didn’t know if he ought to be in awe or fear. For the first time since meeting the kid, he understood that he was in the presence of a higher demon. Han Li’s aura was one terrible but equally as enchanting. The scout suddenly knew why humans might have worshiped these beings as gods in the ancient past.

“Sorry.” Even Han Li’s sheepish apology beheld a newfound dangerous tilt, his voice just a little sharper, a little lower. The way he rubbed the back of his neck was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. “I can’t uh…control it very well so you’ll have to bear with me.” H6a1k9

Valtteri gulped and nodded, his words having escaped before they could leave his lips.

Han Li blinked, feeling both amused and awkward at the same time. He couldn’t stop running his tongue over his teeth, like some sort of nervous habit. “Uh, I guess normally we would need a contract for this kind of thing. Erm, yeah fuck that. This here,” a bluish hand moved through the air. The miasma, thick in concentration, was like dark vapor bending and twisting around Han Li’s wrist and hand. “This is free for you to use. Think it’ll be enough?”

Stupidly, Valtteri responded, breathless, “Yeah. Yeah, it’ll…do just fine.”

Author: lowkey realized that nothing even happened here i— im sorry for dumb chapter T__T also thank you dream for editing my dumb poopoo VHl5wL