Warlock of the Magus World – Redux

Yet another friendly reminder in case someone still believes this Leylin is the same as the original: DISCLAIMER FOR DARK STUFF. LEYLIN IS A VILLAIN, NOT AN ANTI-HERO. PROCEED WITH THE STORY AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

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"What are you guys doing? Put me down quickly!" -At this moment, Langford -who was still trapped in vines- transformed rapidly.

The maniacal aspect on his countenance faded, and his eyes showed sanity instead of bloodthirst. The originally bald head had grown a large amount of green hair that quickly extended to his ankles.

"Since his hair is already grown, it shows that he has fully regained his sanity." -The little girl's voice rang out and the green vines were withdrawn into the rocky ground.

The other level 3 acolytes had already left without a trace, and Leylin never caught sight of them, even after the battle had ended. Moreover, the interior of the cave remained unharmed. Nothing was out of place.

"Langford, you did not master anticipating when your episodes of insanity would trigger and lied to me. You even broke the rules of the canyon by startling our customer! You had better obtain our customer's forgiveness. Otherwise, you will be chased out of this market!" -The girl admonished in a serious tone not befitting her outward looks.

Upon noticing that something was amiss, the dwarf hurriedly bowed before Leylin. The latter wanted to chuckle right then and there.

"My apologies, sir! Due to acute mental strain, there are times when I'm unable to control myself. I made a grave mistake, I see that now. Please, I beg that you will allow me to make amends for the inconvenience I caused you!"

'Either I'm leaving this place with free ingredients or his head. Let's see which one it will be.'

Putting on his best amiable expression, Leylin intoned: "Mister Langford. I am not a man without reason. You see, I am nobility of this beautiful Kingdom. And as such, this humble Baron is more than willing to put this matter to rest..."

At this, Langford beamed whereas the little girl seemed curious as to where it would lead.

"So long as you make an appropriate demonstration of your goodwill and repentance, of course. Fulfilling my previous order of ingredients free of charge would be enough to alleviate any past transgressions." -Leylin finished, as he grabbed one vial of a strange liquid and examined it.

Langford hesitated for a bit, giving up in the end in a deep sigh. "Fair enough, my Lord. I did try to kill you, so I don't believe you are wrong in your assessment. Thank you for your understanding."

The green-haired dwarf quickly went to the back of his store, leaving Leylin and the girl alone with the fallen bodyguards.

The supervising little girl smiled warmly at Leylin as she flashed him a wink.

'What the fuck.'

[Somehow, I get the idea that she's at least over 60. I don't know but it seems unlikely that someone under that age would try to pass as an 8-year-old.] -Aralis commented.

Ignoring that, Leylin then took some brown-colored powder from his trusty satchel and forced both Greem and Fraser to swallow them. Not long after, the burly individuals woke up.

As soon as they regained their bearings, they kneeled in front of their Master.

"I've heard enough apologies for today. Stand up and resume your work. Do not fail me a second time." -Leylin signaled with his hand for them to rise.

"Yes, Master!" -The slave guards shouted in unison and once again flanked Leylin, acting like normal.

[You surprise me, Doctor. I was sure that you would kill them where they stood for their incompetence.]

'Then you still have much to learn about me, Aralis. The only reason I did not slit their throats was that I spent too many crystals on them just to let the investment be for naught. When they die, they will at least serve as a distraction in battle.'

The cave had turned silent for a couple of minutes.

"You certainly are a fair master. I didn't catch your name, Baron...?" -The little girl broke the silence.

"That's because I didn't mention it. I value anonymity just as much as I do reliability. And security." -Leylin told coldly.

The girl only scratched the back of her neck and swiftly went outside in embarrassment.

'How dare she come on to me looking like a child, and after that disaster no less. Goddamn, I am going to follow my backup plan and just kidnap some peasants on my way home. I need to blow off some steam.'

Langford had returned by now, and he had brought out a small wooden box.

Delivering it to Leylin with an apologetic smile, he said: "To compensate for your troubles, my Lord."

"It gladdens me that we could solve our differences like civilized beings. Have a good day, Mister Langford." -Leylin took the chest in both hands and turned to leave.

"Should you wish to trade with me in the future, please remember, only when my hair has grown past my ankle will I be in a period of sanity. The rest of the time, avoid me for your own safety." -The dwarf added in a voice denoting his shame.

'Don't make me laugh. Crazy storekeepers, flirty child-pretenders, goats...? I shall never come back to this shithole if I can help it. Sure, there might be a lot of interesting goods on sale and whatnot, but every moment I spend here tests my limits.'

As his hooded client walked to the exit, Langford bowed deeply again.

[You will need to resupply eventually. Will you look for another supplier?]

'No need for that. Either one of my bodyguards can do a simple ingredient run now that the guarding acolytes and the dwarf have seen them with me. Serving as moving statues or meatshields is not how they will prove the most useful. I can trust them with my magic crystals; they are utterly obedient.'

[And if they get mugged or killed by a Magus?]

'Then it'll give me an excuse to go hunting. It is a calculated risk. You worry too much, Aralis.'

[Only for your sake, Doctor. But oh well, you're the boss.]

With that, Leylin and his slave Knights left Brey Canyon and headed for Extreme Night City.

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In the lab, under the brilliant light, Leylin took and stared at a test tube from the table. It continuously bubbled with blue froth.

With extremely firm hands, he shook it according to a mysterious rhythm.

The blue bubbles in the test tube continued to froth upwards then vanish as they reached the brim.

[The reaction in the potion has become extremely stable, and is estimated to exceed the threshold in 3 Minutes 24 Seconds.] -Aralis' observation alerted her Master.

After reporting this condition, a timer at the bottom corner of Leylin's visual field started the countdown.

When the countdown reached 0, Leylin immediately used the ancient Byron language and muttered an incantation. His other hand immediately dropped some of the blue crystals he was holding into the test tube.

The test tube started to tremble. A few streaks of a brilliant blue light flew out of it and rotated slowly, changing into little blue-colored mermaids.

These little mermaids had a girl's torso and were only the size of Leylin's thumb. On their chests hung two shell pieces while the bottom half of their body was that of a fish's tail. At this moment, they were holding hands together, circling the test tube, singing, and dancing.

Their sweet distinct elegant voices sang and it reverberated within the room. The final step of the concoction was to resist the alluring voices of the mermaids.

Rumors had it that the singing voices of mermaids not only had terrifying bewitching energy, but these voices were also used to prey on sailors in the deep seas. Many suspected these mermaids as the main culprits behind the creation of ghost ships.

However, to Leylin, this series of chants and dances were only a mild bore. He could not be moved by any means of seduction. If he wanted it, then he could feel lust, but never involuntarily. Such a degree of control had caused many of his girlfriends in his past life to be offended. Fortunately, they didn't live to tell the tale of his frozen heart.

"Manse!" -After waiting for roughly 30 seconds, Leylin suddenly blurted out a word in the Byron language.

Black-colored needles appeared piercing through the chests of those little mermaids. Agonized expressions could be seen on the pretty faces of the mermaids. Leylin smiled gently at the sight as if he had seen a puppy.

After being stabbed, the mermaids dissolved and turned into a few drops of blue liquid that returned to the test tube.

Huge amounts of bubbles, crystals, and drops of liquid rapidly merged. At that instant, they had turned into a dark blue potion.

Leylin shook the test tube lightly. From within the test tube came the crashing sound like that of great surging waves in an ocean.

[The modified Azure Potion has been brewed successfully.] -The A.I. indicated.

'So long have I waited for this... Although, it is a pity how the amount of Hove Violet Leaves required for this process is too high.' -Leylin glanced at the remnants of the empty boxes of ingredients lying on the side.

[I estimate that with all of the ingredients available, you can only afford to brew the potion another 30 to 40 times.]

'Enough of that. It is time for me to drink my creation and start reaping all the benefits of my hard work.' -Leylin's eyes flashed in anticipation.

He directly walked to an empty space and sat cross-legged on the floor. He then poured the Azure Potion into his mouth with caution. He wouldn't let a single drop fall from his mouth.

[How's the taste?]

'Bad. Now go hibernate. There's a hard meditation session ahead of me.'

[Understood.] -With a beep, Aralis went temporarily offline.

Without delay, Leylin entered a profound meditative trance.

Compared to how it was before, the effect of the meditation was very unique. With a vague concept of time, Leylin felt like he was in the middle of an azure blue ocean and boundless blue sea water squeezed his middle almost suffocating him.

When seen from the outside, the muscles on Leylin's handsome face twitched, and drops of sweat continuously dripped out.

Almost two hours later, Leylin abruptly opened both of his eyes.

He let out a relieved sigh and stretched his muscles. His face reflected how uncomfortable he was.

The meditation of an acolyte, more often than not, led to exhaustion afterward. However, right now Leylin felt his whole body aching, especially his brain.

'I'm done. Aralis, display my gains from the meditation.' -Leylin ordered.

Immediately, a blue screen appeared before Leylin and showed a stream of numbers.

[Thanks to the potion, you're under the influence of a powerful buff that increases your SF passively. Your current SF is at 4.9 and rising.]

'Excellent.' -Leylin smiled as he clenched his fist, feeling his powers increase with every heartbeat.

[You'll need approximately two months of continued Azure Potion ingestion to reach a Spiritual Force of 7, and the subsequent breakthrough to level 3 acolyte.]

'Not a problem. I'll just order my servants to keep buying the ingredients as I keep brewing my potions. It is only a matter of patience. Soon, I will take the next step in my road to supremacy...'

Leylin cleaned his lab table, took off his work robes, and then changed into another set of robes. These were black instead of grey and had dry blood spatters all over.

'Finally! Since my work has progressed right on schedule... I think I deserve a reward...' -His mask dropped altogether.

A shriek of metal against metal echoed through the lab, as he pulled a lever that opened a secret passage under the floor. It led to a dark room with dim lighting and stone walls. Leylin had secretly built it himself after he purchased the estate.

The muffled screams of various people could be heard now. Elderly, young, very young... Many genders, races, and species were gathered in the depths of Leylin's dungeon. The total number was under 20 though.

The perpetrator of such horror made his way down the stairs and greeted them with his most twisted expression.

They were gagged and blindfolded, and most of them had missing limbs. The excess of blood had gone down the drain in the center of the room, leaving a small pool under each victim. They wouldn't bleed out unless their captor wanted it. He had used a few human medicines to make sure of it.

"Good news, dear friends. I have completed my objective, so I will indulge in my selfish desires for tonight... I see that most of you are lacking an arm." -Leylin spoke ominously, as his chained victims screamed through their gags for mercy.

"So? Who wants to be the first to lose a leg? I promise I will kill you right after I do it." -Leylin cooed as he took a pair of nippers and a butcher's knife from his toolbox.

Every prisoner began twitching desperately. If they could raise their hands they would do so. They wanted to be chosen. They needed to die.

"Hahaha! All that enthusiasm! I haven't fed you in three days and you are still going strong...!" -Leylin crouched down next to a blonde woman. She looked to be in her mid-thirties.

"You were the only sad one. Why is that? I haven't done anything to you... OH! Don't tell me you were jealous! Yes, everything makes sense now. Fret not; you are the chosen one tonight." -When he said this in an icy voice, all the prisoners screamed in terror, except the woman.

"I will take off your blindfold and gag. It's alright. You can breathe now."

The woman was silent. Her dirty face hanging low. She didn't even look up to see who it was that had kidnapped her. She was already dead inside.

"How lame. You're not even crying. Guess you won't mind if I start pulling out your fingernails then." -Leylin turned his back on the woman, and she promptly looked at him. The light in her eyes was back. It showed only one thing: fear.

"What was that? I didn't hear you." -Leylin glanced at her from the corner of his view.

"I... I didn't say anything..." -The woman replied after a while.

At that second, he dashed to her side and in a blink, removed the fingernail of one of her toes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" -Her pained cries filled the dungeon. The other victims had never heard something of the sort. The younger prisoners had already peed themselves.

"That's what I thought." -Leylin muttered with a wide grin, as her tears and blood mixed on the floor.

One man started to make a greater effort to break free from the black chains that bound him. He simply could not bear to sit idly while his wife was being tortured like that. The man was no fool though; knew it would get him killed, but did it anyway. Perhaps, he had done it hoping that he would die. Perhaps, it had been a selfish action after all.

"You dare interrupt me, trash?" -With a snap of his fingers, Leylin spawned a red fire that began burning the man alive.

His loud cries deafened whatever the other victims had thought possible. The stench of charred flesh caused more than one prisoner to puke whatever was left in their stomachs.

"Don't get any ideas. I assure you, the pain he suffered is ten times higher than what I can inflict with my tools." -Leylin warned the remaining victims.

"Please, please, PLEASE! Just... kill me..." -The woman said in a broken voice.

"I'm sure you can't wait to meet with your dear husband. Naturally, I will murder you. As soon as I finish with your nails and your leg, that is... Just hang on for a while... Or not." -Leylin told softly as he approached her once more.

Outside the lab, not a sound could be heard. It was only Anna, sitting quietly by the door like she always did. It was peaceful, even.

No one, not even her, had any clue as to what was happening behind the closed steel doors.