Chapter 33: Ragnarök

Magic-driven puppets and bone dragons transported a huge number of rune stones to the location marked on the scroll. Dark mages chanted mantras all the time in the mage tower as a huge stream of elements rushed onto the wastelands, roaring like a wave.

The huge binding circle spread out, and with the injection of elements, it lighted up, painting the dim and shadowless sky into an strange blood red.

“Found him.”

Melville opened his eyes abruptly, and the purple pupils lit up in the dark, shining with the murderous excitement of a predator.

The demons were already scarce in number, excluding the ones that must stay in the mage tower in order to maintain the formation, there were not many that could be used.

However, how many powerful demons could it take to capture a human being trapped by the binding circle?

A team consisting of twenty high level demons and fifty demon subordinates set off from the mage tower and flew quickly toward the position shown by the magic circle. The huge black wings covered the sky and set off billowing waves in the air.

The demons were led by Ace.

The human had escaped from his hands once, and he would never allow the same thing to happen this time.

The wounds left by the previous encounter on him had long been healed with the treatment from the mage, but the soul mark left by the punishment was still aching deep in his body.

This was a wound of shame.

Ace flapped his bone wings, and the wind filled with dark elements blew past his ears. A pair of scarlet eyes with shrunk pupils from the stimulant of pain and the excitement of revenge, staring firmly at the uneven and rippling horizon in the distance.

His vision was connected to Melville, who was sitting in the mage tower, so that everything could be faithfully presented to his commander.

This distance was not far, especially with the swift flight of the demons, it was as short as a blink of an eye.

The position displayed by the circle was getting closer.

In the vast bare wasteland, a small black spot could be seen standing alone in the middle, bound by a powerful restraining formation from head to toe, unable to move, and helplessly isolated.

A excited smile appeared on Ace’s lips, his wings folded, and then he swooped down!

The small black spot quickly magnified in the field of vision.

His heart beat vigorously in the chest, violently pounding against the ribs, making a thumping sound of excitement due to the upcoming victory.

The young man stood quietly in the empty wasteland, with thin shoulders, and his face faced up motionlessly. His facial features were a little blurred due to the distance. His pale face almost melted into the night sky, but his eyes became deeper and brighter. The dark fire in them burned silently and fiery at the bottom of the abyss.

The scarlet lines were completely visible, enfolding his slender and pale limbs tightly like a vine, stretching out its teeth and claws from the neckline, and the visual impact of contrasting colours became more and more dazzling in the darkness.

The wind whistled, sweeping by and blowing his shoulder-length hair, like a pitch-black flag, billowing and waving in the air.

At this moment, the boy raised his hand.

——He could he move!?

It’s impossible!

Ace was horrified in his heart, and the speed of his dive suddenly slowed down – such a powerful binding spell, as long as he was trapped in it, there was….

no way….

to get out of it–

the bone wings that were extending behind him seemed to be sealed in cement. All bones and blood coagulated, every joint of the body was instantly frozen, the demon’s vigorous and powerful body was full of strength at that moment, but it was unable to get rid of the invisible and terrifying shackles. Just like looking in Medusa’s eyes, feeling every inch of his skin becoming petrified, turning into stone, until – life in him stopped.

It felt as if time stopped in place here.

The demons with wings on their backs were like specimens frozen in ice, securely nailed to the sky stained dark red. Only their eyes widened in horror could tell that they were still a living species.

The boy’s hand in the air was slender and elegant.

It looked so beautiful, so fragile.

He smiled and suddenly put his fingers together.

“Ding clang ding clang!”

The demon suspended in the air were like puppets pulled by a short rope, slamming heavily into the soil.

At the same time.

Melville, who was sitting inside the Mage Tower, was shocked, staring incredulously at a scene that was almost beyond his comprehension. The other wizards behind him also watched the sudden change of situation in horror—the formation was still intact, completely undamaged, the elements continued to supplement the formation with the chanting of the spell, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea*, without any effect. In the image in the mirror, the boy still moved without a hindrance.

How could this be?

Melville’s face was pale, suddenly he seemed to think of something, and abruptly turned his head to look at the mage behind him.

The dark purple pupils shrank as gritted his teeth and said: “Magic puppets!”

During the entire search, only the core magic stone of the puppets was changed and replaced with a magic stone that could be directly connected to the wizard——!

And almost the entire process of setting up the magic circle was completed by the magic puppets and the bone dragon.

That human must have messed** with the magic circle during this process!

But… it was almost impossible to influence such a large number of magic puppets!

The opponent’s level of control over the dark elements couldn’t have had such a terrifying increase!

unless……

Melville stood up with an almost panicked speed, rushed to the table full of parchment papers and turned it over. In the end, he found a long scroll with the deduction process and the prediction diagram, and compared it with the bloody moon gradually rising from the horizon outside the mage tower-

His face distorted and his expression became extremely terrible.

In the end, his calculation was wrong.

The night of the full moon came earlier than everyone expected.

The time…

it was tonight.

·

Spell stone was a really interesting thing.

It was more like a machine than magic.

The runes engraved on the spar were like the core code, and the dark element contained in the spar was fuel.

Low-level magic puppets were the most difficult to influence because they were purely closed-circuit machines. However, after they were upgraded, runes that let them be remotely controlled by the mage were engraved on the magic stone – they become controllable and with a little change could become pawns.

Ge Xiu looked at the immobile demons in front of him, and a happy smile passed over his lips.

How interesting.

He really liked the world more and more.

At this moment, a burst of blood-red light shone from behind, casting his shadow in front of him.

As if Ge Xiu felt something, he turned to look at the blood moon slowly rising from below the horizon.

The once distant and faint waning crescent moon became round and huge at this moment, like a gigantic scarlet eye, occupying a small part of the sky, as if it could be touched with a reach of a hand. It slowly and steadily rose from under the rugged and uneven ground, as if moonlight was a river of blood flowing on the ground, staining the entire wasteland into a bright and dazzling blood red, making the cruel and terrifying Calvary became even more eerie and frightening.

There was a strange allure coming from the depths of the blood moon, and the irresistible call of the moon made Ge Xiu unable to move his steps, so he could only stand in place and wait.

The bloody moonlight reflected on his cheeks and dyed his eyes red.

At this moment, there was an extremely distinct feeling of someone tugging at his feet.

Ge Xiu came back to his senses abruptly, and looked down at his feet in the direction where the force came from—the little wolf pulled his trousers with sharp teeth, seeming to want to drag him in one direction, in his golden-red eyes flashed an indescribable eagerness.

Yes, he must go now. If he waited for the group of demons to slow down and find that he messed with the formation so it’d control the demons, then it would be too late to leave.

The little wolf found Ge Xiu regained clarity of mind, so he let go of his trousers, turned and ran in a certain direction in the distance.

He ran a few steps, jumped onto a rock, and then looked back behind him.

… looks like he’s telling him to follow.

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows, and without hesitation, lifted his leg and was ready to run in the direction showed by the wolf, but before he took a step, a strong and dangerous wind swept across his cheek and brushed against his cheek, blasting a long crack in the ground, blocking the road in front of him.

He subconsciously dodged to the side, but the hair on his cheeks was still cut and fell to the ground.

Ge Xiu turned back his head abruptly.

He saw that Ace, who was stiffly lying on the ground just now, actually stood up supporting himself with his weapon. It was a sharp hook made of keel bones and blood thorns, and the thorn thorn at one end was deeply plunged into his palm. The purple-black demon blood tickled down his palms.

He raised his head, and under his long sharp horns, a pair of dark purple pupils shone under the light of the blood moon. His eyes were cold and deep, and there was a strange fanatical obsessive look in the depths of his eyes, winding up like a snake, entwining the human being not far away.

Ge Xiu had a strange look: “You are not him.”

Only the one who cast it could ignore the binding effect of the formation.

His eyes were shining, and he looked up and down carefully with an enthusiastic and curious look, as if he wanted to cut through the other’s skin with his own eyes, and carefully study the structure of his muscles, skeleton and internal organs: “It’s so interesting. How did you do it?”

Purple eyed demon has completely stood up, his posture and expression carried extraordinary cruelty and arrogance, which was completely different from before.

He smiled and said:

“It’s just a side effect of the soul imprint, which allows the caster to get a series of interesting advantages.”

Ge Xiu’s eyes brightened, and the corners of his lips curled up from excitement uncontrollably: “So you are controlling him remotely. Is it… his body is holding your soul?”

The demon raised his eyebrows in surprise, and stared at the human being in front of him. The complex language that was originally difficult to use became proficient and accurate in his voice, with pronunciation that had a little exotic and wonderful accent, smooth and elegant like velvet: “It seems that you know a lot about this aspect… I can hardly believe that you have never received magic training – so, are these are things you figured out on your own? Including invading and controlling my puppets?”

Ge Xiu blinked and said with a smile: “If you don’t want them to be controlled you should put more thought in making them.”

The contempt and arrogance in his words made the smile on Melville’s lips freeze.

However, he quickly curbed his excess emotions, gracefully saluted to Ge Xiu, and introduced himself:

“Meeting for the first time. You can call me Melville.”

Ge Xiu did not answer, but turned his head to look to the east.

The Magic City of Esther was standing in that direction.

The dark element was being drawn to that side like in a thin trickle, rushing towards the enchanted city.

A few seconds later, Ge Xiu withdrew his gaze, his gaze once again fell on the purple eyes demon in front of him, and a naive and innocent smile appeared on his lips: “Although I really want to know more about each one of you, but the time left seems to be running out – after all, other people seem to be trying to cut off the elements from the magic circle. “

Melville did have this idea. When the elements in the magic circle were emptied, the restraining circle would become invalid, and all the trapped demons would naturally return to their original state.

This was the most foolproof method.

After all, at this point, he could no longer bear the consequences of failure.

But obviously, this method hasn’t worked.

There was only one way left.

Melville fixed the smile on his lips, and the fanatical light in his eyes burned hotter and hotter, making it harder to hide:

“Yes, time is running out.”

His words had not yet fallen, as the curse hit Ge Xiu with the wind and the tall demon instantly jumped into the air, holding a thorny blade, and suddenly dived toward Ge Xiu, with a frenetic and bloodthirsty smile on his lips:

” ——So in order to avoid unnecessary pain, I suggest that you don’t resist.”

Ge Xiu had already been prepared.

He rolled to the side, and took advantage of the terrain to avoid the attack. The dark rocks on his side exploded. Countless sharp gravel and dust rose up, and the blood-coloured tip of the thorn blade extended like a living thing under the moonlight. It breake through the layers of smoke and dust and almost hit him, but when it was about to wrap around his ankles, it was blocked by a thick elemental shield.

Almost as soon as it was blocked, the demon’s bone wings stirred, and his slender figure was like a deadly blade, that flew forward in the blind of an eye.

His purple pupils flashed with confidence in his look, and the pitch-black sharp claws stretched towards the young man who was close at hand——

Ge Xiu stared at the pitch-black pointed claw that was almost near the tip of his nose, and a hidden and contemptuous smile passed quickly across his lips. His pitch-black eyes reflected the icy snow-like glint on the tip of the blade, that torn through the dark cloudy sky like lightning, illuminating the sky.

He seemed to sneer silently.

Melville had no time to think before, in the next second, a huge pressure and terrible force came from his ankle, pulling him and making him fall backward.

After being heavily pressed to the ground, his eyes widened. In his sight, a tall magic puppet rushed forward and clamped on his shoulders tightly with cold mechanical claws. At the edge of his sight, in an instant, more magic puppets broke through the ground.

Amidst the loud clashes of the metal, the boy’s casual voice seemed to be coming from a very distant place:

“…in order to avoid unnecessary pain, I suggest that you don’t resist.”

His ridiculing smile seemed to be engraved on Melville’s iris.

But he had no chance to fight back.

Almost in an instant, the densely packed steel puppets occupied this seemingly empty field in a flash. From behind the rocks in the distance, there were more middle-level and high-level puppets rushing continuously. Then, the huge bone dragon flapped its bone wings in the air, swooping from the distant sky, and the magic-powered skull was shining with scarlet light of a spell stone.

Like a storm, like a wave, engulfing the terrifying force that could destroy the sky and the earth, the darkness roared from all directions and gathered.

In the face of the loud like tsunami huge like a mountain army, the slender human teenager looked very fragile and small.

The corners of Ge Xiu’s lips were raised, and the dark eyes burned with evil and pleasant light, which almost inhuman cruelty.

——He was the one who was delaying time just now.

He waved his hand and commanded lightly:

“Go.”

At the moment his words fell, the army that was supposed to be controlled by Melville attacked their former master with an unshakeable force. This trick was deadly and merciless. Spells exploded like fireworks under the rising blood moon, almost igniting this eternally dark place of skulls—they were machines without pain and thought, constantly moving towards their only goal, as if all the meaning of existence was to let the brilliance of life be taken from the eyes of the demon.

Melville fought with the magical creation that had no mind and would not retreat. The thorny blade shone with a dazzling blood colour, cutting down the existence in front of his eyes while he was tossing and turning, but every time he created a gap, there would always be a new magic puppet to fill it, even the cut off limbs tried to attack him by all means.

He struggled with difficulty and retreated after the impact.

As the tip of the food chain on the back of the continent, the power of the demon race is far greater than these demon bone dragons. However, this didn’t mean that one demon race could face thousands of intermediate or above demonic puppets–!

What was even more hateful is that most of these magic puppets were created under his orders!

Melville gritted his teeth, almost vomiting blood, he had an unfathomable feeling he lifted a stone and dropped it on his foot, and that suffocating feeling reached its peak when he used his claws to take out one of the spell stones from the chest of one of the puppets and was injured by defensive spell set it in.

And! This spell was even created by him!

It would be fine if he was in his own body. As the leader mage of the demon clan, he could easily grasp the huge range of attacks. But in the end, he himself was actually sitting in the mage tower hundreds of miles away, just controlling Ace’s body remotely.

——This useless and abominable single-celled creature, who only knew how to fight and with such a low affinity for dark element!

The scarlet moonlight covered the metal armour of the puppets, and the huge plains looked like a turbulent sea of ​​blood, and the hard-lived and stubborn demon was like a little pitch-black boat floating in the waves of blood, trying to survive with difficulty impact of the storm.

The scene before him was bloody and spectacular, with a kind of almost magical attracting force.

Ge Xiu jumped off the rock lightly, not even glancing in that direction again.

The blood moon was about to rise high into the sky, and the elements in the magic circle are gradually being emptied. Time was pressing and couldn’t be wasted.

However, a second before the foot touched the ground, his knees suddenly softened.

Ge Xiu hit the ground heavily as he stumbled.

His face suddenly became white, as if the bloody moon drained all blood out of his body, his teeth clenched as he shivered, and he swallowed a wailing coming from his throat deep into his stomach.

The fingers with protruding blue veins shivered on the ground, and the round and huge blood moon reflected in his suddenly dilated pupils.

The bloody moon hasn’t lifted off yet.

However, the pain came early.

Ge Xiu shivered and curled up on the ground. The totem that was already clearly visible on his body seemed to be oozing red blood drops, and the strange lines seemed to be absorbing his vitality, twisting slowly.

The spell that controlled the magic puppet suddenly stopped.

The blood-coloured wave of metal puppets seemed as if someone pressed the pause button, and all the magical creations froze in place.

The black demon crushed in the center burst out suddenly. Although he looked embarrassed, he didn’t have much fatal injuries on his body.

Melville stretched out the tip of his blood-red tongue, licked the injured lips, and then suddenly flapped the bone wings behind him and rushed towards the human being curled up on the ground.

For him, time was also running out.

In the moment between heartbeats, the heavy breathing and horrible growl of the wild beast sounded behind his ears. Although Melville’s senses were slightly dulled by the fierce battle just now, he didn’t lost the instincts of the demon, a barrier from dark element condensed behind him, but the indestructible magic shield was as fragile as a piece of paper under the opponent’s claws, and it was torn apart without a pause.

Melville had to hide in embarrassment, but he still hadn’t had time to avoid the strong wind slashing with the claws.

Four visible bone-deep scars spread from the back to his wings, the flesh was torn and the purple blood dripped down along the wound.

The beast with silver-gray fur landed lightly and stood in front of the young man, with his back raised, its fangs bared, and the red-gold vertical pupils shone in the dark with a primitive and bloody brutality, guarding with an unquestionable protective posture the teenager behind him.

Melville stood still, raised his eyebrows in shock, but his expression became solemn:

“Fenrir? I thought this race went extinct ten thousand years ago.”

This ancient race was so powerful that it was said to be created by God of Creation himself. Their vitality was extremely powerful, and their teeth and claws could even cut through god’s domain. Futhermore, according to legends, an adult Fenrir had the power to rival the gods.

And in front of me… seemed to be a cub?

Melville didn’t have time to think about why this race extinct 10,100 years ago appeared on Calvary. He only knew that he couldn’t finish it within time this year, he’d have to wait until the next time that’d be thousands of years later.

He held the blood blade with thorns in his hand, flapped his wings, and dived toward the Fenrir.

Sharp blades, sharp teeth, roars and blood spread out under the blood moon, but as time went by, the little wolf gradually took a disadvantaged position.

It was just a cub after all.

No matter its size, strength, or speed, they were not as good as of an adult demons in their heyday.

The blood moon slowly climbed upwards, and the scarlet totem almost painted the air close to Ge Xiu’s skin into a deep red, spreading like silk threads.

The little wolf was kicked hard in his stomach and rolled a few times on the ground, his back slammed into a hard rock.

Melville shook his hand, glanced at the scarred Fenrir with fear, and let out a deep breath.

Unexpectedly, this cub was much more difficult to deal with than he expected. If it hadn’t been for it not being grown up, the outcome would not be known.

He retracted his gaze and walked quickly to Ge Xiu’s side and squatted down.

In his slightly blurred vision, Elinor saw that the tall demon carefully put his arms under his legs and back, and hugged the thin human teenager in his arms, then stood up and turned to leave.

He wants to take him away.

He wants to take him away.

The fragile white petal fragments flashed in front of his eyes, the burning fire magic that exploded in the schistosome swarm, and the back that stood in front of him before his vision collapsed.

From his side…take away…

Elinor stuck out his scarlet tongue and brought the dead flesh on his teeth into his mouth. The scarlet red colour surged in the golden beast’s pupils, and his slender pupils shrank, and an uncontrollable rage and tyranny spread in his eyes.

Revenge and leaving become meaningless empty words in his mind at this moment.

He doesn’t allow it.

Melville opened his bone wings and was about to fly into the sky, but his calf hurt suddenly!

The Fenrir cub rushed over at some unspecified time, bit his calf firmly, and with a strong jaw, it pulled off a large piece of flesh and blood, and the foul-smelling purple blood was sprayed around, Melville yelled involuntarily.

It stared at the demon with those pure scarlet pupils, opened and closed its sharp teeth, chewed up the piece of meat and swallowed it.

It was an extremely shocking sight, and there was a kind of craziness and obsession in his eyes, as he stared at him stubbornly.

Melville’s heart was shocked, and he subconsciously fluttered his wings.

However, before he could react, the human teenager held in his arms suddenly became violent, raised his hand to hug his shoulder, and then opened his mouth and bit the side of his neck fiercely. The dark eyes shuddered and trembled from pain, but deep in the abyss-like pupils, wild madness and excitement burned, as if it was this moment that he had been waiting for. He gnawed and chewed the meat in his mouth. The purple blood completely wetted his chin and chest, and the colour of the blood moon was reflected in his eyes.

Bloody and violent.

When Fenrir swallowed that piece of flesh and blood, his figure seemed to grow up in an instant. It flapped its wings, opened its blood-stained mouth, leaped again, and fiercely tore off the second piece of meat. Chew, swallow, swallow, absorb – absorbed power rushed through his body and blood vessels, its silver-gray fur was dyed into deep ink-like black at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the only remaining bit of gold in the vertical pupil is covered with bright red, as the dense dark elements leaped and danced happily around his body, welcoming their compatriots to join in.

This was the predator at the top of the food chain, hungrily plundering his own power, declaring his status and spoils it should have.

Falling apart from the light, he finally became a dark follower.

———————————————————–

*泥牛入海lit. a clay ox enters the sea (idiom); fig. disappear with no hope of returning

**动手脚-lit. moved his hands and feet, meaning he messed with something

The author has something to say: Become a demon for you, fall in secret for you, give up revenge for you

Little Theater:

Ace: every time I meet them something really unfortunate happens to me

Ge Xiu: YEAH, DEVOUR!!

Elinor: YES, DEVOUR HIM!!

Ge Xiu: …why are you looking at me?