TBR CH73

Chapter 73: The Blade is First Sharpened

The human raised his eyes, quietly looking at the sharp thorn that was almost touching his neck. His gray gaze was like the smoke and dust of burning charcoal, with an incredible heat amidst the composure.

His movements were elegant yet light. The fingers covering the scepter quietly moved aside a little, revealing a faint glow.

If only the sharp bone spur moved forward just a little more…

Whether it was a pity or a relief, Adelaide abruptly withdrew his tail.

Almost at the instant he made his move, Adelaide sensed that something was terribly wrong.

He had always acted recklessly, relying on his status. The dragon elders were always worried he would offend Tarksius, but the Dark God was mostly indifferent to worldly affairs. Adelaide had mostly just tested the boundaries, and they had been at peace for many years.

But he had known Tarksius for so long, and never once—not even on the day they first met—had he felt such strong and undisguised malice.

This was someone he could not touch.

The problem was that he had only wanted to find someone useful to the Dark God as a hostage, not really to oppose him. Even if he had a hundred times the courage, he would not dare to actually lay a hand on Tarksius’s person.

He just wanted to delay for a little time.

Adelaide realized this fact with near despair: he had absolutely gotten himself into a monstrous mess that he himself could not comprehend. He tried to retract his tail as fast as he could and immediately started to admit his mistake in a panic, “I was wrong, I didn’t really mean to—”

But it was too late. It was difficult for him to be faster than Tarksius.

A sharp black light directly cut along the tail that had not completely slipped away, without any mercy. The needle-sharp scales melted like butter at this moment. A burnt, unpleasant smell spread. Adelaide had a huge tail, but this would become a thing of the past for a long time.

His tail, which he had not managed to withdraw in time, was brutally torn off.

Intense pain instantly shot up the black dragon’s severed nerves. A painful dragon’s roar echoed throughout the courtyard. Fear instantly froze the black dragon’s blood. The outside world could not hear anything happening here. The Dark God’s incantation was quite effective.

Everything happened in a flash—

Adelaide fell heavily to his knees. Dragon blood flowed continuously from the huge wound, half of his tail lying nearby. His golden vertical pupils were still dazed, but more filled with fear of absolute power.

Edwin’s fingertips paused slightly, then he silently moved his palm away.

The carnelian covered by his palm was filled with light, like a ripe fruit, fragrant yet containing potent poison. The dragon would definitely not want to taste this fruit.

“I’m fine,” this sentence was like an obvious fact. Edwin said in a low voice, because the dragon’s tail had not even had time to touch him in the slightest. But saying this sentence made him feel an indescribable satisfaction.

Someone cared about him. He didn’t have to fight alone forever.

Tar carefully checked the Bishop’s current state, including Edwin’s eyes. That pair of light gray eyes so softly touched and responded to his gaze, like a gentle mist by the sea, without a single trace of being affected by the surprise attack just now.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about me,” Edwin felt his heart melting under his lover’s focused gaze. He was afraid his previous sentence had been too cold, so he added an explanation to cover it up. “But actually, I’m very happy that you’re thinking of me like this.”

“As long as you’re okay,” the god’s hand gently slid across Edwin’s neck. The human’s breath made that small patch of skin tremble and rise. Below it was a blood vessel. The Bishop had no rejection of him touching his lifeline. Perhaps it wasn’t just touching; Tar had also kissed and bitten every depression and ambiguous hollow of his long neck.

Tarksius took the opportunity to tidy up the collar of his robe, even though the collar was not messy. Edwin couldn’t help but curl his lips. A date. At this moment, this word finally reappeared in both their minds.

This was supposed to be a nice date.

The trouble was the sound of the dragon’s miserable cries in the background.

Edwin blinked and looked at the god with a questioning gaze. Tar leaned in with the force and gently hugged him. His beautiful red pupils seemed to hold only Edwin, but his tone was sinister. “Just an insignificant character who actually wanted to lay a hand on you. It doesn’t matter how he’s tortured. Killing him is also an option.”

The young master of the dragon race was just a fleeting life in the Dark God’s mouth.

Tarksius’s long boots made a crisp sound as they hit the ground, like the drumbeat of fear. To the dragon, this was no different from a death sentence.

It had been a long time since he had been injured to this extent.

The dragon’s tail had rich nerves. It was the dragon’s weapon, and also its lifeline. Therefore, he breathed painfully, miserable cries intermittently leaking from his mouth.

“Shut up,” the god sounded like he had no patience at all. He lowered his eyes and indifferently looked at the youth before him. He no longer had the strength to retract his tail. Dragon scales appeared on his body, a defensive posture.

“I’m sorry,” he had to suppress the tears that were about to well up and the voice he couldn’t hold back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think that much. You were about to enter the house, I just didn’t think of anything else…”

“You wanted to find someone whose life you could threaten to hold me back?” Another merciless blade condensed from black mist cut through Adelaide’s body with a chilling killing intent. Tarksius’s voice was soft and hoarse, with infinite mockery towards him. “You don’t even understand yet. The person you should be apologizing to with tears is not me.”

A dragon’s healing ability was very strong, but it was nothing under a powerful and merciless attack.

New pain arrived as expected. The Dark God raised his finger, and a wound appeared on the dragon’s body. Dragon blood itself was a precious healing material, but at this moment Adelaide was almost drowned in dragon blood, yet the situation did not improve at all.

He had never so profoundly understood what the price of making a mistake was.

And this was just the situation where he hadn’t touched the human at all.

If he had really touched the human in the slightest just now, his skin would probably have been flayed off by Tarksius alive.

His dragon pupils, blurry from pain, rolled, aiming at the human standing behind the Dark God, and quickly and stumblingly began to apologize. It had to be said, he had no backbone at all.

Unfortunately, that pair of light gray pupils still reflected him coldly and indifferently. This human was no easier to move than Tarksius.

The long boots stopped beside him.

Adelaide curled up his body to protect his face, feeling he was probably going to die here for real. He desperately suppressed the increasingly violent trembling from fear and the terrified tears in his eyes. “I know I was wrong. I’m afraid of pain. No, no, don’t really kill me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

To defy the Dark God in this situation was simply asking for death. Adelaide finished this sentence as quickly as possible, then endured the severe pain and tightly closed his mouth.

However, Tarksius did not respond to his request. “I think someone should teach you what you should do.”

In the god’s eyes, crimson blood burned in layers. Just by looking, the god’s wrath could drown the one being watched in fear. Tarksius slowly finished the second half of his sentence, with undisguised disgust and malice, “But it’s a pity, you probably won’t have this chance either.”

“…I can learn,” Adelaide struggled to say another word for himself, even though he knew that every time he spoke, it might bring him closer to death. He really wanted to cry, but the god did not allow him to make too much noise.

The god’s boot stomped heavily on the wound on his back. Tarksius carelessly stepped over the dragon’s blood and pushed open the door of the room behind him. After delaying for so long, the room was indeed empty.

Noah was much smarter than Adelaide and would not miss the opportunity to escape. He also had various props given by the dragon. Who knows which one of them had worked.

But he would never be able to find a hiding place like this again.

He was about to become a conspicuous target—although the Holy Son was destined not to have a good end, and Tarksius didn’t necessarily have to spend this morning dealing with Noah, the sudden small episode still made the god’s mood not very good.

The Dark God sighed. The black mist condensed in his hand was even more terrifying than before. Adelaide looked at the most terrible thing he had seen in his life. He was trying his best to breathe air every second. Because of the trampling, his chest became heavy, and his breath also carried the bloody smell of trepidation.

He had never regretted his foolishness so much.

However, the god paused for a moment and did not immediately use the almost lethal killing move on the black dragon. He seemed to have suddenly remembered something, turned his head, and even his gaze became lighter and brighter. “Hey, Edwin,” Tar smiled at him from where he stood. “Want to try killing a dragon?”

After abandoning the light and turning to the dark, the source of darkness was not stingy at all and completely opened up to Edwin. His past efforts were returned to him tenfold. The strength he had obtained through his own slaughter, which had once been taken away by the stingy God of Light, was now finally boiling and surging into his new ocean.

But to completely control the suddenly increased power was not an easy task.

Edwin had already solved several difficult problems that had troubled the Holy See for a long time in the past period. The new Pope was stronger than the old Pope. Now even the children in the capital knew this fact. Certain creatures that were stubborn about dominating one area—even in the center of the continent, there was no lack of devils and evil creatures who proclaimed themselves kings of the dark side—but they became Edwin’s practice tools.

Blood oozed from the cracks of the bricks in the dark alleys, every time. Edwin felt that blood was too dirty, so after he had dealt with the target he needed to deal with, when he walked step by step towards the waiting god, he would take the initiative to unfasten his heavy outer robe, carefully avoid the bloodstains, and then ask for a hug.

Through a thin layer of clothing.

The more he killed, the more proficient he became in mastering his abilities. Rewards and ambition went up a thin and narrow ladder. Edwin needed a bigger challenge, to kill a stronger opponent, to learn to use his power, to win a higher reward.

Adelaide blinked his eyes with difficulty. Turbid tears wet his dragon pupils.

A few minutes ago, he had thought he would surely die and was full of fear of death. Then, Tarksius had let some of his wounds heal, forcing him to return to his original form, grow sharp fangs and claws, and fly up while enduring the pain all over his body. He looked down at the earth, almost thinking Tarksius was willing to let him live. At that moment, it was as if his fearful heart had been irrigated with sweet rain. Hope once again filled his heart, although his heart beat with difficulty.

Next, the god began to teach the human how to deal with him.

That human. Adelaide hadn’t had a chance to look at him carefully before. But when he stood opposite him, being looked at with the sharp, blade-like gaze of someone sizing up prey, he finally realized the human was wearing the attire of the Church of Light. This fact made his yellowish pupils turn in confusion a couple of times, then he was interrupted by the scorching pain on his scales.

“People generally believe a dragon’s weak point is its abdomen, but actually their reverse scale is hidden under the jaw,” Tarksius explained Adelaide’s fatal point on the side. Edwin pursed his lips. He summoned the sharp blade of the ruby at the top of the scepter in his hand, the tip of the blade shining brightly. That point of light magnified little by little in the black dragon’s pupils, and magnified again. He was a little dazed. He subconsciously lowered his head, and a bone-chilling cold suddenly spread throughout his body.

“Very well done,” the Dark God said softly and slowly. “Now swing the blade downwards.”

Blade? It was only then that Adelaide realized the tip of the blade had already pierced deeply and heavily into his jaw. But at the same time he realized this fact, a tooth-aching, trembling sound was clearly transmitted to his ears. It was the screeching sound of the blade’s edge coming into contact with the white bones. In an instant, bitter tears filled the dragon’s eyelashes. The pain made him lose his reason.

Between the wounds on his jaw that had been pried open, a sparkling black scale was exposed to the air.

Perhaps it would have been better to be killed just now—even though he knew how terrible it was to offend the person before him, the physiological pain forced the dragon to lower its head, wailing miserably, and swing its tail heavily towards the human’s position, spewing flames from its mouth. He tried his best to control these reactions, but couldn’t.

This time he was really going to be killed by Tarksius.

Adelaide thought in despair when he regained control of himself. Everything had reached an irreparable point. The flames spewed from the dragon’s mouth, which could burn everything, were about to touch the Bishop’s robe. His claws were just about to cut the other’s throat, the human’s fragile, thin neck, and his momentum was too fierce to retract his strength.

Just a little more, and then the dragon’s claws suddenly lost their strength, smashing heavily towards the ground.

No, what had been forcibly separated from its body was its half arm. It had been entangled by the swift and sharp blade, like a snake, on the other’s attack.

When they fell to the ground like heavy obstacles, the human slightly raised his head from the rising dust, looking at the dragon opposite him with undisguised arrogance.

For Edwin, who was fighting against such a behemoth for the first time, the counterattack was still a bit strenuous. He bit his lip, swallowing the panting in his throat. Judging the opponent’s next move was the result of meticulous and unslackened thinking. A correct and proper response required precise and masterful use of the power in his hands.

He had done it, and he would do better next time.

Tarksius did not give any hints. The god watched Edwin with concentration from the side, the power at his fingertips constantly and sharply condensing at one point, ensuring that no harm would fall on the Bishop under the protection of the Dark God, but he would not act too early either. Edwin was a brilliant jewel brewed in a cruel and desolate desert. Hiding him in a greenhouse would be a disservice to him.

“Excellent,” he said, unable to help but curl his lips. Edwin also looked at him, his eyes holding a self-pride suppressed under a thin gray mist, like a warrior proudly asking for a reward from his beloved with his gaze after winning a battle. “I mean it, hey, Edwin, do you still remember what I said?”

Tar deliberately made his words vague. Edwin thought for a moment, and seemed to have an answer in his heart, but the Bishop’s light gray pupils stared at him without blinking. Dragon blood splashed on his outer robe. He still chose to cooperate with his whim. “Which sentence?”

Tar tilted his head slightly, but his smile suddenly deepened. That pair of bright pomegranate-red eyes flickered. He said softly, “Wait until you get its reverse scale, then I’ll tell you.”

Whenever the black dragon suffered pain it could not bear and was about to faint, the Dark God would deign to snap his fingers, letting some of Adelaide’s injuries heal, forcing him to fight again. Adelaide walked out of the valley of the shadow of death, feeling his body light and full of power, once again regaining hope. Once, he was even almost completely healed.

Edwin was not at ease at all times. If so, the training would seem meaningless.

At the beginning, the human was unfamiliar with the dragon’s attacks and found it a bit strenuous to call upon his suddenly increased power. But he was like a sharpened blade, becoming thinner and more deadly bit by bit. Every time the black dragon was reset by Tarksius, its initial state would be better than the last time; but every time it was dying and paralyzed on the ground, the situation would also be worse than the last time.

The reverse scale. Tarksius’s request was equivalent to taking off the reverse scale from the black dragon’s jaw while it was still conscious. Edwin had to be very careful, completely focused. The human’s pupils constricted slightly.

At this time, the sun had already begun to sink. The golden edge of the evening clouds gently adorned the sky. The dim shadows created an obstacle for the hunter to capture its prey. However, Edwin knew this would be the last time.

This would definitely be the last time. As long as the Bishop thought so, there would be no mistake.

Adelaide didn’t even feel the blade lightly and without obstruction cut open his rough scales, like the evening wind gently brushing past. His slow brain caught the frantic clamor of his entire body. The black dragon staggered forward two steps, then knelt on the ground due to the immense pressure of losing its reverse scale. Before the human, it lowered the proud head of the dragon race.

Edwin only needed to raise his blade again to cut off its head.

But a smile spread across the Bishop’s lips. He did not rush to do anything more to the dragon, but walked briskly towards his god, a black and shiny scale held between his fingers, shimmering with a deep blue幽光 under the evening clouds.

“I did it,” his breathing was inevitably a little unsteady. He had been practicing fighting all day. Even Edwin would feel tired, but this bit of fatigue could not stop his footsteps at all. “Tar, can you tell me that sentence now?”

Edwin hesitated for a moment when he was finally approaching Tar. His body was a mess of bloodstains, even his inner clothes were soaked. He didn’t want to approach his rose with such an appearance. The Bishop stopped his steps when he was still three steps away, a hint of trouble flashing in his eyes.

Tar took a step forward. “I can use magic,” Edwin suddenly thought. Although cleaning magic was not in his repertoire of bloody projects, he was very smart and could completely research it himself. “Wait a moment…”

Tar took a step forward. The last step could not be considered walking. The Bishop subconsciously opened his arms and caught the god firmly, then realized the bloodstains on his body had inevitably stained the god’s body.

The god leaned close to his earlobe, not caring at all about the rusty, bloody smell on him. The smell mixed with the god’s rose scent. Edwin soon gave up the thought of struggling. His earlobe turned red bit by bit in the moist breath. “You are an amazing human,” Tar said. “I told you so when we first met. That was the most correct prophecy I have ever made.”

A little later, the dragon elders finally found them.

Tarksius let the door open, so Adelaide’s aura passed over the obstacle and spread out towards the capital. The dragon race was a small, closely related clan. After Adelaide had snuck out behind his clansmen’s backs when he was young, although the other dragons might not be able to stop this young master from moving around, they at least established a principle: an elder must follow him closely to ensure his safety.

This time, the one who came to contact the Dark God was one of the four elders with the highest seniority and most respected status in the dragon race. Taken alone, he was also a black dragon with the power to destroy mountains and seas, capable of acting wantonly with destructive power.

But before the Dark God, he very wisely lowered his posture.

Adelaide lay dying on the ground, his turbid yellow pupils half-open. Seeing his relative was like seeing a savior. In an instant, a bellyful of grievances welled up in his heart. But before he could express his feelings, he was scolded head-on by the elder.

The dragon elder’s words were not polite at all. Tarksius listened with great interest to the complete collection of dragon curses. Then, the other turned around with reverence, prostrated himself on the ground, his forehead touching the ground, respectfully bowing to the god, and did not dare to look directly into the Dark God’s eyes. He really knew what the correct attitude was, and did not even say a single good word for Adelaide. “…I only hope you will spare its life,” he said without hesitation. “My clan is willing to offer all our loyalty, and inexhaustible resources, at your disposal, for you—and of course, for this lord by your side.”

“This is a very serious promise,” Tarksius’s smile did not reach his eyes. He said lightly, “What if I ask you to exchange the lives of the dragon elders and your clansmen for it?”

The elder closed his eyes for a moment. The Dark God said this with a faint hint of jest, but he did not dare to really take this sentence as a casual joke. “As you command.”

“But—” Adelaide couldn’t hold back. He eagerly wanted to say something, but was severely reprimanded. The black dragon froze on the spot, because he had never heard such a reprimand, carrying the name that the other dragons tried their best not to mention in front of him.

The dragon elder gritted his teeth and turned to him with disappointment. “Enough. At least think of your mother. If Fia were still alive, you would only be disappointing her now.”

The black dragon swallowed the second half of the sentence in his throat.

He actually didn’t want to exonerate himself, but felt it was too harsh for the whole clan to pay for his mistake. He wanted to say that if it really had to be this way, it would be better to kill him, so at least his clan would not be affected.

But, the elder’s words pierced through his heart like a sharp sword, and his throat that wanted to speak in defense.

It was like a thunderbolt that swept through all his thoughts.

Mother.

That bottle forged by the Holy See with dragon bones and mithril.

He stared blankly with one half-open eye. His turbid yellow pupils had always been submerged in a daze, but suddenly a drop of scalding tear flowed down, and then washed away all the thin shadows. In an instant, Adelaide’s pale yellow dragon pupils finally trembled with pain, but this time it was not because of physical pain, nor because of fear.

Fia.

This name had always been carefully treasured in Adelaide’s heart. He had been doted on by his clansmen since he was a child, and that was because he had lost his mother. So he had become more and more lawless, feeling that everything he did would be indulged.

After all, his mother was the hero of the entire dragon race, who had supported all the storms. If not for Fia, the dragon race would definitely not have developed to its current state. In the hunting operation back then, if Fia hadn’t used all her strength to firmly build the defense of the Dragon Mountains when she was dying, the black dragon race would probably be almost extinct on the continent now.

The problem was, the death of the space-time dragon did not just mean there was one more little dragon who had lost its mother in this world. It also meant that the responsibility and obligation of the dragon race had nowhere to land, and would inevitably fall on its child.

His every move was closely related to the entire dragon race.

The so-called “I will bear the responsibility alone” was actually an irresponsible statement. Time and time again in his pain, he had thought “it’s okay to die here.” This thought now made him feel ashamed.

How could he only realize it now?

“I…” Adelaide opened his mouth.

The elder looked at him sternly, as if afraid he would say something outrageous again. However, the dying black dragon on the ground tried its best to open its eyes, as if finally seeing the world seriously. “…I’m sorry. I accept this result,” he said to the elder. “I seem to have always worried you all. I… although it’s too late, I will seriously change. If I die, I will give my bones to the clan. Didn’t you tell me I inherited my mother’s power to control time and space? Although I’ve never been able to do it, the clansman who inherits all my bones might be able to do better than me.”

There would only be one dragon in each era that completely inherited the power of time and space.

In this era, Adelaide was the only heir, but he had never been able to do it. His clansmen had never blamed him for this, and he had even foolishly interpreted it as them not caring about it.

“And,” Adelaide struggled to try to turn his head to look at Tarksius. The black-haired, red-eyed god’s indifferent gaze fell on him. Just by looking at that patch of crimson, he felt pain spread up his spine, but he still had something he must say. “I’m sorry.”

“I… I don’t know why I protected Noah,” the black dragon sounded very frustrated, but when he mentioned this name, he finally no longer had that strange filter. “But I really, really liked him before. Do you know, a dragon can only choose one partner in its life. This is an irreversible contract. So… so even if he was lying to me all along, I couldn’t not be responsible for him.”

Being deceived in love had different consequences for every victim.

The God of Light could immediately declare a severance of relations and inflict his wrath on Noah, but some victims were much more deeply affected, and even had to spend their whole lives.

“I know I was wrong,” facing Tarksius, Adelaide still couldn’t help but try his best to hold back his tears. This had almost become a conditioned reflex. “Especially since you saved me, and you didn’t mind me treating you as a friend. I should have always been grateful. If you still want to kill me, it’s okay. My clansmen won’t blame you.”

This world was cruel. He had always lived under the sky his clansmen had held up for him. The only time he had rebelled, he had met Tarksius. He was extremely lucky, but he couldn’t be lucky forever. Behind luck were blood and white bones.

He was completely shaken awake.

Unfortunately, he had woken up a little late. Everyone was already disappointed with his childishness.

The Dark God did not look at him directly. The black dragon seemed to have realized something and struggled to try to move his body again. This time, the object of his apology was the human standing next to Tarksius, a human who had torn him apart bit by bit—even in this situation, he couldn’t help but sigh. This was simply not the power of a human.

Edwin held the scepter in his hand. He seemed to ponder for a short while, then opened his mouth. “The temple Tar just mentioned—”

“It will be repaired,” the dragon elder and Adelaide said almost at the same time. The black dragon listlessly moved his half tail a little. “If I’m alive, I’ll repair it myself. It will definitely be exactly the same as the original.”

“And the Holy Son… no, he should be called by his real name, Noah, now.”

“This,” Adelaide’s eyes suddenly brightened a little. “Actually, I didn’t say, he must have used a dragon race’s spatial transfer item when he escaped, but he still doesn’t know I added a tracking thread on it. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find him at that time.”

Edwin and Tarksius exchanged a look with a tacit understanding. Both found what they wanted to find in the other’s eyes.

Then, the Bishop lowered his eyes. His light gray, inorganic-like eyes faintly reflected the black dragon he had cut into a mess. “After you find him, we’ll decide whether to kill you or not.”

This was already an answer that couldn’t be better. The elder was just short of pressing Adelaide’s head to make him hurry up and be grateful. He was full of gratitude, kneeling on the spot, murmuring, “May Fia’s spirit in heaven protect…”

Tarksius interrupted. The god’s tone was still indifferent and cruel. “But you two still have to come over these next few days,” Tar’s raven-black hair hung down. “Edwin needs a practice tool.”

The dragon race was a very good choice as a teaching tool. Although the pain was already drilling into Adelaide’s whole body, the black dragon still said obediently, “No problem.”

“Alright,” Tar stared at him for a while, but still couldn’t help but frown. He was a mess now, and had made the whole courtyard and house very bad. And, today’s date had been very pleasant on the whole—polishing Edwin, making him gradually become incomparably sharp. Although the activity was a bit special, the effect was not bad, so the black dragon should not take up any more time.

This sentence was more important than any other word to the elder. At that moment, this elder’s tense spine finally relaxed in an instant. He heavily kowtowed the proud head of the dragon race to the god, filled with true gratitude.

“You can take it away now.”

The courtyard was finally quiet.

Tar turned his head to look at Edwin. The god’s red pupils were beautiful. Edwin couldn’t help but reach out to touch him, but heard him say, “I originally wanted to bring you here to have a look, but it’s a bit chaotic now. Actually, I don’t often stay in the capital. Edwin, how about I take you to see my homes in various parts of the continent later?”

The Bishop curled his lips. “I really want to see,” his light gray eyes only shed their disguise in front of Tar, revealing their true appearance. “I want to see the places where Tar has lived, and the places where the god has descended. So, of course, I am very willing.”

“There’s one last thing before that,” both of them were a little impatient, but the future was there, clear and bright, without doubt, without worry. Tar’s voice was very soft. “Ready to hunt? My dear Bishop.”

He still called him Bishop as always. Edwin realized he liked this title. Perhaps it was because of Tar that this cold position, the title of a power monster in the Holy See, now had meaning for him.

“Of course,” the Lord Bishop held the scepter in his hand, raised his eyes with a smile. “Of course.”

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