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Chapter 223:
Chapter 223:
Chapter 223:
One man stood in heaven; his every action changed the world. The people feared him and thus avoided him. He was forced to walk in the shadows.
He was always alone… too alone.
His life went on, solitary and dark, for ages. But one day:
Help me!
For the first time, someone asked for his help. Two words were all it took. He asked no questions and abandoned his lofty perch to return to the real world.
The world he knew was gone. Laughter had been lost to desperate screams and despair; the long-standing peace was shattered. The first attempt on his life was by people aiming to claim his position. A hundred monsters died with every swing of his scarlet spear; not even the war tribe could stand up to his blows.
They cowered before him like he was a god. Their morale—already like that of common thieves—plummeted. His existence alone ended a thousand years of war.
After the war, he was no longer alone. He even had, for the first time, someone he could call a friend. It felt good. He thought his life would never be so lonely again.
But it was just an illusion. His associates became frightened of him. His “friend” trampled all over him wearing a smile. Thousands upon thousands of enemies beset him on all sides, whittling down his strength. He killed and killed, but he could not bring himself to kill the ones he called friends.
It was the first lesson that life taught him.
“I don’t resent you… but for disobeying God, I shall take your wings.”
These things had fulfilled their purpose, so they ceased motion. In the end, there was nothing left to live for.
A swordsman of pure white sliced him from head to toe. His beautiful wings were shredded and torn free, and blood flowed freely from his body.
After that, it was dark. Half-forgotten memories came and went, but only fragments: a pure white place filled with laughter, a place lit by a red moon.
That was how his story finally ended.
He—a being with a human body but no face—disappeared all at once. All that was left behind was his burning red spear.
If neither heaven nor hell would accept him, then there was only one place where he could go.
“Ho—!” Joshua took a sharp breath as the memory flooded in. “The sixth form…” he muttered.
He still didn’t know who this person in his memory was. Strangely, though, the memories turned out to be quite useful. When he used Moon’s Space, the Total Control Pattern was revealed to him. This time, when he used Defying Heaven, he was shown a memory of that man. If Joshua’s guess was right…
The Magic Spear Arts were the way forward. The sixth form—the Superhuman level—onwards hid the existence of something else. When he reached the eighth form, a god’s power, he would know everything.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Joshua’s eyes snapped open. The space he was trapped in was almost completely shattered; all he had to do was thrust his spear.
The space shattered like glass.
[Hybrid… What the hell is this?] Crevasse’s quiet, startled voice rumbled in his head.
The dragon had to wonder if Joshua was still a human being at all; he still looked more or less like a human, but the differences were obvious. His eyes were pure black and what looked like a horn protruded from his forehead. Large wings spread dramatically behind him, coated with curling flames that instantly incinerated anything they touched. A swarm of lights danced through the flames and into his hair, bleaching it white.
But why was it happening?
[Hngh.] Crevasse’s enormous body, floating in the air, shivered. His sheer bulk seemed to shake the sky along with him. [What the…]
He saw a spear streak through the air, filling the space behind it with a veil of bright red. It was so beautiful that, for a moment, the dragon was entirely enthralled—but more pressingly, it frightened him.
The spear fell right on top of his head. It was awful. It was no mere cut but a terrible, tragic pain. Nothing Crevasse had ever felt before could have prepared him for this; it went beyond pain of the body, it assailed his very mind.
The dragon’s instant death magic bore a heavy price for its failure; mental magic that could destroy the victim’s inner reality had a potential backlash that could threaten even a dragon.
Crevasse never had to worry about that, of course. Never in over 3,000 years of life—3,071 years, 5 months, and 23 days, to be exact—had he ever failed.
…Until now.
Joshua slowly lowered himself to the ground, locking eyes with the dragon as he descended. Crevasse didn’t remain afloat either—he collapsed to the earth like a drunk before safely planting his feet on firm ground. By that point, Joshua had already returned to his normal appearance.
[Who are you… and what did you do?]1 Crevasse struggled with the skull-splitting pain.
Joshua took a deep breath; he was also exhausted, but he didn’t show it.
“I didn’t mean any harm. You did try to kill me, though, so why should I answer your question?”
[You…] Even among his own people, Crevasse was known for his anger. Up until just now, anyone who made such rude noises at him would’ve been crushed under his feet—but he couldn’t do that now. Aside from the still-growing pain, he was distinctly afraid of the “human.”
“I will get what I deserve.”
[What?]
“I put my life on the line.” Joshua stood defiant before the dragon. “I need Ash and the blooming Sanders.”
Oh, no! Ash, still cowering behind the tree, trembled like he’d been struck by lightning.
Crevasse saw Ash’s anxiety and smirked.
“Hah!” Ash looked up at the dragon and clenched his fists, nervously choking down a laugh. Do you think he’s just going to sit around and let you walk all over him like that?
[You won’t leave here alive.] The dragon’s tremendous mana enveloped the area. Mental damage2 had kept him asleep for five hundred years, but he would remain still no longer.
“I’ll make you a deal.”
[A deal?] The fracturing of reality paused.
“I know that the humans’ intrusion isn’t the only reason you’re angry.”
Joshua thought back to what occurred at Rebrecca Castle. Crevasse peered into his eyes and was startled by what he found.
[You saw it, too. Humans crossed the line between the realm of possibility and reason. They have betrayed their own kind, and for that, they must die.]
Startling revelations continued to spill from Crevasse’s mouth:
[It was forbidden, and it should have been impossible to even try without using the power of the demons. I will hold the emperor of this country responsible.]
There were some other important facts: Crevasse would have awakened on his own even if Marquis Crombell hadn’t broken the dragon’s laws. The dragon was not, however, acting as guardian of Middle Earth. Joshua had carefully hidden this information from the Imperial family in his past life.
Even his own people treat Crevasse like a different species. When the Imperial family struck a deal with him, it may have been the first time humans and dragons have conversed since the hatchling incident.
Crevasse was the only known dragon in Avalon at the time, so it was obvious that he would cooperate with the Imperial family.
Keep it secret and stay out of their business. In exchange… Joshua’s eyes narrowed. Crevasse was a black dragon, an Evil Dragon. Their mana was pure magi, making them perfect for studying demons. Even a creature as long-lived as a dragon may never see a demon in their lifetime, but with the Avalon Empire’s help… The highest-level demon contractor in the Imperial family still lived.
And I’m here to stop him. Joshua smirked. If everything went as planned, this was his chance to become a dragon knight rather than just the first dragon slayer.
It was time for him to cheat again.
ED/N: Who’s yo daddy and what does he doooooo? ?
ED/N: He’s not only mentally damaged, he’s mental and he’s damaged—just like every other character in this story. ?