Stray

The eyes of the other three immediately focused on Adrian's back, and even the grey parrot froze on Nemo's shoulder without saying a word. The crowd has thinned a lot from the beginning. The knights of judgment neatly drew their swords and surrounded the four in front of the burning house.

The aroma of rose was finally completely dispelled by the unique firework smell of burning.

-Unfortunately, the whole thing is a cloud of translucent black mist, and the details cannot be clearly seen. The shadow sticks out its smoky end, blending into the dark shadow beneath Adrian's feet. Nemo frowned slightly, the demon's shadow in front of him showed a strong sense of disobedience - if he had to say it, he did not feel the breath of Pandora from the shadow. It's not powerful, it's the opposite - it's a bit weaker than the fake 'Cahill'.

Adrian turned around, his left wrist was still exposed, and the engraving shone faintly.

"Long time no see, my teacher." He said in a deep voice, bowing his head slightly.

The knights removed their shields, revealing a hunched figure. The old man was dressed in a red robe and was not tall, but he exuded an indescribable majesty.

The expression on his face was closer to regret than anger.

"Holy sacrifice." He sighed, "I know Joanna, she is for you."

"I guess." Adrian raised his eyes.

"I believe she knows how we will deal with it." The old man said chatteringly, ignoring the burning engraving. The blade of the judge knight flashed in the firelight, like a neat row of metal fangs. "Of course, you know it. Come back, boy, and Denny will forgive you."

Adrian didn't speak, he sighed, and slowly raised his left wrist, which was lit with engraving. Behind him, the huge demon shadow slowly twisted, and a few daring civilians crossed the silver shining armor of the trial knights and stared desperately from the gap.

"I know what that is, child." The old man's tone was a little more sad, "It's not a contract, it's just a trade mark. You know that the devil has invaded the world, you are not the reason, God Not too guilty."

"But they don't know." The former knight commander's tone was calm, and his eyes were turned to the people who were watching carefully in the distance.

"Son, I can guess what you're thinking," said the old man in the red robe, "please—yes, please come back. Don't get carried away, Cahill Edwards is dead, and You're still alive. The reputation of the living is always more important than the dead. Joanna is my friend and I know the pain. They're gone, you have to accept that."

"So you guys still plan to use the old way to solve it." Adrian put down his wrist.

"Everything is for the overall situation." The old man said slowly.

"Push him off the altar and tell everyone that Cahill Edwards was overrun by demons from the beginning, trying to become a hero and then demagogic. He miraculously recovered and active, and I went to jail Soon to be chosen as a sacrifice, these can be the best evidence. And I - I will become that new 'tragic hero', still holding on to the glory of God in prison."

Adrian smiled - it was the first time Nemo had seen him smile, and it was complicated and sad.

"Then His Majesty and the Holy See only need to admit this innocuous little grievance - who made this the devil's evil plan?"

“…This is the most suitable, and your persistence is also the truth.” The old man said. "The dead are gone, people need stability, they need to know that heroes exist."

"I'm not a hero." Adrian said word by word. "I am without a doubt a sinner."

"One, my blindness led to bloodshed. Two, my lies created despair. Three...I colluded with demons to induce the fall of heroes who trusted me wholeheartedly, do you think so How about 'truth'?"

"Theoretically it works." The old man whispered, "But are you sure you want to go down this road, my child? Your sacrifice will be worthless, the same thing is bound to happen Happen again."

"There are two and a half sentences in there that are facts, you know." Adrian lowered his hands, and the huge shadow of the superior demon fell silent. "This is not a sacrifice, Mr. Mercer. This is just an attempt. I can guess the ending, but I don't regret my decision. Even if you still ignore the cause of the devil this time, one day, Your Majesty must face up to that fact. - A few symbolic gold coins are useless, and the wounded soldiers on the road to despair cannot survive only by faith."

"If he goes his own way, doesn't think of solutions, just hangs them up with virtue, then the devil is destined to come back again. Because that's not God-given suffering for them, it's man-given . . and glory to those who died and wounded for his command, not God."

"'Don't run away from your fault, as look at all heart-wrenching truths'...you taught me. And Cahill Edwards saved the Three hundred and eighty-seven, he is still their light."

The former knight straightened his back and raised his head, his eyes shining with fire.

"...and I don't want you to erase that. I'm so sorry, my teacher."

The old man known as Mr. Mercer was silent for a long time.

"I respect your choice, my child," he said, taking a deep breath and raising his voice. "Adrian Cross colluded with the devil for selfish desires, lost the grace of God, and betrayed Chenni's love and trust."

"Cardinal Mercer Nathaniel hereby proposes that it be treated as 'apostasy' for the time being."

The crowd watching in the distance became commotion. The old man coughed twice, his back bent a little, and he looked thinner and thinner.

"Grab them," he ordered wearily.

At that moment, Nemo was about to raise his hand, and An was the first to act.

"Come on a big—" she yelled at Nemo, "Clear the field!"

Nemo understood immediately. He took a step back and raised a hand - the purple-black light of the abyss magic suddenly covered a piece of the sky.

"I'm a demon warlock." He thought for a moment, "I suggest you run away... no, get out."

A living demon warlock is not the same thing as an unknown shadow, and the nearest peeps screamed and fled, spreading the panic quickly. After a few minutes, the people who were still watching from a distance suddenly escaped, leaving only the small debris that was too late to pick up.

The Knights of Judgment will not politely wait until they have finished their shots before attacking. They rushed up well-trained, raising their shields and advancing under the frenzied pouring of ice spikes.

"You can't last long." Mercer said, "Don't resist. Now leave Adrian Cross to us, and I can help you think of a solution for the dungeon."

"We have such a big demon warlock!" Ann stepped on the upper edge of the big shield and jumped, dodging a sword neatly. "Are you going to turn it in together? Oliver will be heartbroken and die."

Nemo is leaning in Adrian's direction, the shadow shield cancels the beams of light spears bombarding. He tried to find the time to cast An inexplicable glance at Ann. Oliver's icicles stopped unnaturally for a few seconds, and he almost slapped the heavy shield in the face. He waved his hand uncomfortably, and the ice thorn changed direction to suppress the numerous enemies in front of him.

Grey parrots are screaming happily, throwing black orbs of light one by one at the trial knights - although they can't do much damage, they are very annoying on this small battlefield , but also restrained a lot of people.

Adrian used his arm to clamp the right arm of the knight who was attacking from behind, grabbed the sword, and even removed the scabbard from the armor. He put the sword back in its sheath and assumed a calm stance. The shadow behind him is really just a hideous decoration - now it is slowly dissipating.

"Hiram's city wall has been blocked, the teleportation circle has been disabled, you can't escape. It's better to be earlier—"

"Oliver, have you got the Amulet of Light? As we agreed before."

"No problem."

"How about you, Nemo?"

"I..."

"Are you ready?"

"...Probably." Nemo was so nervous that his palms were sweating.

"Nemo, wondering how you got out of the Wall of Sighs? Come on, Oliver, it's time for you to act—"

Oliver interrupted her mercilessly. He held up the Holy Light Amulet, and the surging magic power rolled into a vortex and poured into the small amulet, turning into pure light. The dazzling white light burst out at once, this time he had no reservations - the talisman directly turned into powder.

Under the pure brilliance, the knights subconsciously stopped their movements.

"Nimo!" cried Oliver.

Nemo crossed his fingers unskillfully, and the vines formed by the shadows rose up—he was rolled up by the vines, and his stomach was so nervous, Oliver jumped and climbed the closest to Nemo the root. Anzel quickly grabbed a shadow vine that had rubbed past her, and grabbed Adrian by the collar—she dragged him off the ground alive.

"Sir," she grimaced with a smile, "The radius of the spell that disables the teleportation array is a few hundred meters?"

The sky above them was defenseless.

The knights came back to their senses and tried to cut the shadow vines, but at the moment when the silver sword touched the black vines, they seemed to turn into real shadows - the sharp blade could not break the nothingness. The shadow vine rose very fast, and soon the figure above it was so small that it was invisible.

But in reality, these happy-looking fugitives are far from being as calm as they seem.

There was no cloud in the night sky, the lighted windows of the buildings turned into tiny stars, and the fireworks turned into tiny splashes under their feet. Nemo only felt his feet soften even more, and even the shadow vines began to sway - the gray parrot with wings was fine, and the other three wingless humans were almost thrown out.

"What are you doing!" Ann shouted. With a slip of her hand, she almost threw the incompetent knight commander into the sky.

"This is my first time!" Nemo yelled back in the violent wind.

"This is the life of the black chapter, let me adapt!"

"I'm afraid of heights!"

“…what are you?”

"I'm afraid of heights, okay?" Nemo tried his best to focus on the shadowvine, not to look at the ground. "I was the tallest in the tree before!"

"Oliver, think of a way to stabilize him!" Ann's voice became a little sharp, "It's too stupid to be killed by a companion - I need a stable environment to activate the teleportation array!"

Oliver let go.

Not to let go. He exerted a force at the end of the wildly shaking shadow vine, jumped steadily to Nemo's side, and hooked one arm with the vine without hesitation. He raised his other hand and covered Nemo's eyes.

"Don't be nervous," he said softly, "It'll be fine in a while."

The vines swayed a little slower, but still trembled violently. Nemo licked his lips nervously, he could feel the high wind blowing against his cheek, and the darkness in front of him didn't reassure him much.

Suddenly the gust of wind became cooler, and his vision was once again illuminated by the moonlight.

He can't see the ground. Thick clouds gathered beneath their feet, obscuring everything on the ground. They tumbled slowly, and Oliver smiled at him, drifting ice chips that were gradually turning to powder.

"Is it better?" he asked lightly.

Shadowvine answered the question quicker than Nemo himself, and became extra smooth, like a giant tree soaring into the sky.

"Nice job." Nemo commented eloquently, trying to ignore the sudden beat of his heartbeat. "Take this note down, Ollie, it'll be useful for chasing your girlfriend later."

I don't know if it was his illusion, Oliver looked away for a moment. Nemo just wanted to make a joke, when the light of the big teleportation array lit up again. The next moment, their faces were firmly buried in the grass. Nemo got up in silence, desperately spitting out the scraps of grass in his mouth.

"Welcome back to the frontier forest." An announced happily, "The big teleportation array is very expensive, and the account must be placed on both of you."

Adrian loosened his neckline, revealing a terrifying red mark - it was a miracle that he was not strangled by Ann, and Nemo couldn't help but add some sympathy in his eyes.

"The deal is now complete." A strange voice that clearly did not belong to anyone rang out. The engraving on Adrian's left wrist was completely extinguished, and an apple-sized red eyeball was floating in front of them - the alien pupil squeezed and flowed on it. Nemo was familiar with the eye.

"Dara Lanene," he murmured.

"It's me." Slightly wriggling threads of flesh hang from the eccentric eyeballs, drying up from the ends. "My deal with this gentleman is done—oh, don't be surprised, it's just an intelligence deal. He gives me intelligence, and I do him a little favor. What a pure deal."

"I've had a lot of fun this time, but I don't mind adding a little more insight before returning to the abyss. Nemo Wright, I'm making a trade request to you."

It wafted ominously in the night sky and sounded very pleasant.

(m..=)