“A lowly slave who, for as long as he could remember, worked day and night in the cotton fields, enduring in silence for thirty years, only to finally be chosen by the Evil God and given the chance for revenge! In one fell swoop, he devoured the entire families of the seventeen former masters who once enslaved him!”
“He lived his entire life in the mud, then joined the Church, spending ten years patiently poisoning five Great Priests and killing three others… and finally, finally, he took the position of Great Priest himself!”
“In his first battle with the faithful at that harbor, he utterly crushed the Divine Empire’s Shieldguard!”
“But, but—”
The man gripped his temples in madness and said, “Who would have thought… who would have thought that the nine hundred knights he forced to the brink would fight back to the death, wiping out all fifty thousand of his followers! What does the Evil God’s fury matter, turning him into a pain-free undead…”
“He can endure. He must endure! He… he… went into the Angekesai household like a dog, feigning madness and stupidity, spending a whole year manipulating them into attacking the slumbering Magic Whale. Look at this Jade Buckle he earned from thirty years of endurance. As long as he reverses the magic array’s power today, the Magic Whale will be his!”
“All of Shilang Bay believes in the existence of the one who can tame the Magic Whale, just as they believe in their Princess!”
“And he, who can command the Magic Whale, will spend the rest of his life there, basking in the worship and devout offerings his new followers give him—treating him like their Princess!”
“He set his sights on the most cautious one—you. He swallowed his disgust and served you like a dog for seven whole years. Seven years! Do you know how he survived those seven years?!”
“But all of this, all of today…”
“Parkes Angekesai!”
“My everything! You didn’t protect any of it!”
After a furious howl echoed through the foggy forest, silence fell once more.
No one knew how much time passed before a figure stumbled out of the woods, dressed in tattered beggar’s clothes and drunk, staggering with no sense of direction.
Using his only remaining arm, he wiped the blood from his mouth, then flashed a sinister smile with bits of flesh stuck between his teeth.
“I’d really like to ask, why didn’t you kill Lin Nuo Clemence first?” came a female voice from somewhere unknown.
“Lin Nuo Clemence, Lin Nuo Clemence—I told you I recognized him! It was him! Eight years ago, at Shilang Bay, it was him! It was him! Nine hundred against fifty thousand, how dare a ten-year-old even try!”
As if triggered by some signal, Vitz’s words became deranged and incoherent again:
“He’s already dead. The power in the Jade Buckle, enough to reverse the entire magic array, I cursed it for him! The Blood Leech Curse was originally meant for the Princess of Shilang Bay! No one can break it, no one…”
“Killing him would be too kind. He fell into the trap without defense, hehehe… He’s about to die! But… but then I’ll just have to prepare a new curse for that hateful Princess, hehehe…”
“The Princess of Shilang Bay, huh—”
The female voice returned, tinged with icy calm: “You can try to assassinate me all you want, but now you’ve gone and used your dirty tricks on my young master…”
“You’ve got some nerve.”
The neurotic, sinister grin on Vitz’s face froze visibly.
Like a madman, twisting with hatred toward some enemy, he broke every tree in the vicinity that had emitted the voices—without even looking.
Yet, no one was there.
Only a paper Paper Crane fluttered in midair.
It was—
Divine magic!
The ancient divine magic left behind in Shilang Bay, from that very Princess—transformed into paper!
“Another thing to tell you—it’s not just about making the Magic Whale obey. Only those recognized by Shilang Bay have the chance to make the Magic Whale acknowledge them.”
“Well then, let the newly awakened protector of Shilang Bay deal with you.”
At the sound of violent water churning in the distance, Vitz’s face, frozen in that maniacal grin, suddenly showed a flash of panic.
He fled blindly, no sense of direction, running for who knew how long in the opposite direction of the Paper Crane and Silver Tears Lake.
His body was scratched raw by branches in the thick forest; everything around him raced by in a blur.
No sound followed behind.
Vitz thought he might escape, begin a new path of endurance.
But before him, in the pitch-black thicket, a pair of dark purple eyes, larger than his entire body, snapped open.
The scent of lake water and a gaping maw surged forth—
Life vanished in an instant.
***
“You killed him… you killed that madman, didn’t you?!”
“Save me… I beg you, save my life…”
Ruding, his legs torn again, his entire body stained with blood and torn wounds, struggled out with one arm.
His eyes, nearly blinded by Vitz’s stabbing, were veiled by mist, so he didn’t see the young girl with the gentle smile softly stroking the juvenile Magic Whale’s body.
“How pitiful,” the voice replied with innate kindness, so gentle it was clear she was a good person.
Her words instantly painted a look of desperate joy on Ruding’s face—one who had survived a calamity.
“You’re this badly hurt…”
“I wasn’t even going to kill you like this, but I saw every punch you threw at the young master.”
Ruding’s pale face seemed to realize something and went completely bloodless.
“You threw five punches, huh.”
“Well then…”
“Let me cut you five hundred times to drain your blood…”
Ruding looked up.
Despite the blood blurring his vision, he could barely see the hem of the priestess’s robe stopping before him.
A blade fell.
Ignoring his miserable screams, she methodically pinned his hand to the ground.
“May the Lord bless you in hell.”
“Anyone who harms the young master must go to hell.”
No one knew how long passed before the entire Mist Forest fell into such deep silence that not even a single sound stirred.
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