fight
The demon corpses that had been stagnating at the bottom of the abyss for many years were nowhere to be found, and the air beneath the ground was cold and dry, smelling like long-frozen snow near the roots of a tree.
The white behemoth drew a trail of faint light in the darkness. Jesse sprinted quickly with spells, and from time to time, his claws kicked up on the demon skull floating in the air, changing directions neatly.
Considering that it takes more time to prepare in advance, it is too unnatural for the three of them to disappear together. Taking advantage of the role played by Bagelmore, they left the expedition that was fighting the "Demon King" ahead of time. Adrian and Jesse were heading in the direction of Nemo Wright.
It was different from the frail appearance when he was guarding the reconnaissance team two years ago. Adrian's fingertips sank into the hot white fur, brushing the soft fluff close to the skin, and he could feel Jesse's undulating breathing and the extraordinarily vigorous vitality beneath his skin.
It seemed that Jesse was in excellent physical condition, and Adrian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Feeling the touch of the person behind, the behemoth turned his head and licked the hair next to his mouth: "Ed, we are doing business, and you can't help but slow down by touching like this—"
Adrian glanced at the smoke that exploded in the distance, deftly ignoring the other party's meaningful subtext: "Mr. Ramon should leave now."
"Well, I can feel his breath."
Jesse twisted his head, claws smashed a huge floating skull, and the bone fragments and the lighting liquid contained in it splashed around. With this springboard, they went a little faster.
"What, Ed, are you worried that those two will end too soon? Not to mention that they will definitely have a serious fight. Even if the Demon King stands still and lets Mr. Ramon fight, this battle will take a lot of time. . This is the site of the Pillars of the World after all."
"I know, but we must be ready at any time." Adrian rubbed the soft fur under his palm.
"You sound in a good mood," Jesse grunted.
"They will succeed."
"Maybe, maybe Ramon slipped—"
"Isn't this what you prepared in advance?" Adrien was calm.
The white giant twitched its ears.
"In the beginning, there were many ways to let Mr. Wright recognize his identity, but you directed them to Nadine, the witch of the east. If it wasn't for that, the two might not be able to find a solution so quickly."
"Oh, you always like to think of me very well, my dear Ed."
Jesse said in an extraordinarily hypocritical tone.
"When the horizon is staring, most humans will choose to stay out of the way and stand by. I can't predict the fate of those two. Strictly speaking, they saved themselves, I'm just trying all kinds of possibilities - such as letting Those two young Lopez meet and see what happens."
"Maybe." Adrian smiled and shook his head.
There is a trace of order in the ruthlessness, and the other party never wants to admit it.
"Since your faith is still so strong." Jesse's ears drooped a little. "Then why don't you want to—I mean, even once—ask me in bed and try it?"
"Do not."
"It's stingy."
"… "
Adrian grabbed the fur a little harder, and sighed with a faint smile: "If everything goes well."
The white giant beast tightened its neck, and the speed immediately became a little faster.
Less than an hour later, an open space in the middle of Dead City.
"I've waited two years, Ollie."
The black-robed Demon King spoke calmly and gently, as if they had never been apart.
Oliver's nose was a little sore.
This is the first time they actually meet after learning Nemo's identity.
Unlike when he first saw him, Nemo is still flesh and blood, but his initial restraint and panic have faded, like a swaying reed turning into an ancient tree with roots deep into the soil. There was a gentle smile in the beautiful gray pupils, the cold inhuman feeling was a little heavier, but the faint sense of alienation completely disappeared.
The confusion disappears, leaving everything under control, the dull and quiet that belongs only to the superior. The plain rough stone was finally finely carved, and Oliver couldn't take his eyes off the brilliance.
This time it wasn't a phantom or a voice. In front of him was a lover with real body temperature and the master of the world beneath his feet.
He thought he should have mixed feelings, mixed with awe or something—
But now, Oliver found that there was only one feeling left in his heart, which was strong and ordinary.
He raised his hand.
Layers of ice rose from the battlefield, and the dry air was instantly filled with ice debris. Nemo's shadow blade lingered but mercilessly attacked, breaking through the hard and thick ice - but the center guarded by the petal-like ice was already empty.
Nemo responded quickly, and the shadow shield was erected immediately. The Sword of Rest slid across the shadow shield, leaving deep marks bubbling around the edges and a hissing sound.
Shadow thorns rose mercilessly from the ground, and several large circles bombarded down from the sky.
Before the blade was gone, a cool fingertip brushed Nemo's cheek, closing it with a touch.
"...I miss you so much." Oliver said softly, jumping back, perfectly avoiding the shadow thorns that exploded on the ground.
The other party's body temperature was still on his fingertips. It should have been warm, but his fingertips seemed to be on fire.
The majestic gray fog suddenly rose, corroding all the large magic circles that had been smashed down, and a storm burst out in the air. The dead city around the two instantly turned into ruins, and the rubble shattered into powder and exploded all around.
"Me too, Ollie." Nemo responded with a gentle smile, but the attack was even more aggressive.
His Demon Lord was serious, and showed no signs of letting up.
Good, thought Oliver.
Although the effect of the contract is there, the World Pillar will not really do anything to the surface. But considering the way they came to break through the instinct of the Pillars of World, Oliver didn't want to do it unilaterally.
Something brushed his cheek, warm blood dripped down the side of his face, and the corners of Oliver's mouth rose higher and higher. The overwhelming sense of oppression reminded him of his fight against Jesse Dylan more than two years ago, but right now he doesn't feel any hopelessness or pain.
Even if the next shadow blade cut off his left arm directly.
This time, there was no blood from the fracture, and the left arm turned into a gray fog, holding the ring on the left finger and quickly returning it. It's a pity that the sleeves and armguards of the lining fell to the ground, and Oliver was too lazy to instruct Gray Mist to pick it up.
It should be painful, and it seems that he was paralyzed by the joy of reunion, and Oliver's movements did not stop at all.
The Demon King's fighting intent spiraled upwards, the condensed shadow dragon soared into the air, and the black flames headed down.
On the other side, the sharp ice blades gathered together and became a giant eagle surrounded by gray fog. Weird spells shimmered and revolved around elongated ice cones. These icy murderous weapons continued to shoot towards the shadow dragons, one of them could not dodge, was pierced through the throat, and roared away.
The moment Oliver was burned to his right leg by the black flame, Nemo's chest was pierced by an ice pick. But his lover just raised his eyebrows, his ribs quickly folded, and the ice pick turned into powder.
"You kept your hand, you could have attacked my head just now." Nemo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, but there was not much blame in his voice.
"Young people are just inexperienced, Nemo, you have to be fair." The burnt foot was also recovering rapidly, and Oliver grimaced a little.
"Who was screaming 'I don't want to hurt you unilaterally! Why don't we take this opportunity, let's have a decent fight, let me prove myself thoroughly-'" Nemo imitated Oliver's tone in his memory vividly. "You'd better hurry up. Jesse and Mr. Cross will get impatient waiting for this little fight."
"...I didn't scream at that time!"
"It's loud, it's shrill, it sounds like a scream to me."
Oliver blinked pitifully and stepped on the shaking ground.
The gray fog swept up, swallowing up all the ruins, leaving no trace. The Sword of Rest pointed straight at the Demon Lord controlled by the gray fog, but its owner sounded like he was bickering childishly.
"You can't say that. In exchange for you, you have to beat the defenseless me to the point of death. Do you have the heart?"
"..." Nemo turned away.
"Don't look at me like this, I'm heartbroken." Oliver picked up the tip of his sword, and the rapidly circling gray fog engulfed Nemo's figure.
"Then you should be more straightforward and give me a good time." The mutilated body appeared again, and while the flesh and blood quickly recovered, Nemo finally unconsciously accelerated his breathing. "Of course, I'm not going to hold back either. In terms of heartache, we're even."
Suddenly, the dark thorns covered the ground and wrapped around Oliver's heels. The thorns quickly bloomed strange black flowers, and the long and narrow petals that flew up were like the sharpest blade, and the knife was like a bone.
Oliver sucked in a breath of cold air and wiped the blood from his eyes.
The earth trembled under his feet more and more violently.
"Are you trembling with distress?"
"...I'm just thinking, can't wait when this lovely human will bring me back to the surface."
"Where's the ring?" Oliver took his breath away while commanding his gray fog army, and approached Nemo by covering up.
"Even if you don't give it, I can grab it. But look, you're still wearing it, I don't think you have any regrets."
Day and night are hard to see in the abyss, this long and bloody dance spans time and the rhythm is getting faster and faster.
In fact, about returning to the surface, he and Nemo discovered the solution almost at the same time.
Three years ago, when they were still in a small village in the desert, trying to save the witch Nadine, Nemo was right about Woodruff's theorem.
["Once a two-way connection across space is established, it can only die naturally according to the law. The connection itself cannot be destroyed"... The surface contract of the superior demon also conforms to this theorem, and I suspect this is the reason I know.]
[That is indeed why I know it. ] Nemo talked about this on the night he renewed his knightly oath. [Accurately speaking, this is the biggest theoretical basis for me to successfully send Aurora to the surface.]
[Looks like we thought of the same thing.] Oliver replied at the time.
Nemo climbed to the surface for the first time by erasing his own perceptions. He asked Flint Lopez to take away his skull, thereby creating a memory disorder that would last for decades, or even centuries, and successfully deceived his subconscious. Like a human who successfully hypnotized himself.
But Oliver didn't want to cut off his lover's head with his own hands, and spend several years waiting for the next devil to emerge naturally.
Since they have to do it anyway, they have a better way.
They had done exactly the same thing - tricked the cognitive instincts of some massive creature.
The root system of the Eastern Witch has no brains, and the consciousness of the World Pillar is in Nemo's body, only retaining the instinct of the creature. The situation they faced was very familiar.
Oliver was the first to put forward his own ideas.
[If your flesh and blood is dying, then let's simulate the burst of energy brought about by the disappearance of flesh and blood. Can this fool your instincts... I mean, if your body thinks that consciousness is going to return for a moment, it will definitely react a little bit, right?]
[Yes, I will relax for a moment, waiting to receive the information brought by flesh and blood. At least for that moment, the fence Jesse and I put up will fail. The body of the superior demon is very huge, and that moment is not enough for them to pass through—]
[But you can.]
[I can't do this alone. ] Nemo's voice in memory is not distressed. [I think about it, I was slack at that moment, and my enemy might take the opportunity to kill me.]
At the end, his voice even brought a smile.
[…Well, maybe I should change my statement, we can. But Nemo, after all, Nadine lost her power because of this, would you—]
[No, the root system and the Eastern Witch are not the same creature, their relationship is much weaker. I just need to rely on that moment to pull the distance, that's all.]
Yes, they only need that tiny moment.
Nemo stepped on the shadow and rose into the air. Oliver was hiding in the gray fog, waiting patiently for the moment to strike.
Consistent breathing, consistent heartbeat.
It's now.
It was more of a hug than an attack—a pale bone sword stabbed out of Nemo's back, splattered with blood. The eroding charms surrounding the blade devoured the flesh and hissed.
Everything was silent in an instant.
Oliver's sword was steady, not shaking at all.
He wrapped his free left arm around Nemo's waist, and squeezed his lover tightly. Holding the sweet pain in his arms, he felt that the vitality was rapidly passing in the other's body.
"Nemo..."
"Shh, my Mr. Knight." Nemo grabbed the hair at the back of his head and brought his bloodstained lips together. "Ready at all times."
The other party's body temperature is as beautiful as a dream.
Oliver let go of the hilt of his sword and tried his best to kiss his lover. His eyes were sour, and the hairs on his arms almost stood up. He tasted the sweetness, the blood, and the smell unique to Nemo that had appeared in his dreams countless times—a faint, chilly scent, like the ashes of burning incense wood.
He tightened his arms, wishing to embed the opponent directly into his body, using all his strength to keep his mind clear.
He is kissing his world.
Nemo's body was getting cold, the body temperature was passing. The other party's breathing slowly stopped, and the hand gripping his own hair slowly lost its strength.
The explosion of power before the flesh and blood collapses is imminent. Oliver moved his lips up and pressed them to the other's forehead.
"Let's go."
He murmured softly, completely letting go of the force's restraints and pouring them all into Nemo's body. While retaining the last vitality, it simulates the terrifying force of the dying of flesh and blood.
"… Let's go home."