Stray

Oliver erected an ice shield in front of Nemo almost instantly. An Ze took a step back, the sharp end of the hunting spear was firmly facing the eyeball, and Adrian pulled the sword out of the scabbard this time. The grey parrot turned and turned his **** toward him in disdain.

Nimo did nothing. He patted off the dead branches and grass clippings on his robe, walked around the ice shield, and walked to the red eyeball.

"Nimo, don't—" Ann warned loudly.

"He had a deal with Mr. Cross, and it looks like it went well."

"Be careful." Oliver moved his fingers and removed the ice shield. "Witherspoon was on his side."

Nimo nodded, staring straight at the twisted pupil on his eyeball. He couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from—the words seemed to pour into his ears from all directions.

"I don't deny it." Della Lane said briskly, "I have my position, and doing charity is not my style."

"It's okay, I can feel it, it's weaker than me now—it keeps getting weaker." Nemo ruffled his hair casually.

Adrian was silent, the silver blade gleaming cold and soft in the moonlight.

"What do you want to know?" Strangely, Nemo didn't find the eyeballs in front of him disgusting or scary. He breathed in secretly, a vague thought flashing across his mind. "What can you offer?"

"I want your real name." Della Lenien's voice was a little hurried, "The engraving is governed by the law, you can't lie. Oh, don't care about human rumors, the real name is nothing Use. It's just a marker." It pauses deliberately for a few seconds. "On my side, I can provide information - as long as it is within the scope of my knowledge, I can answer a question for you."

"Listen to you...are you sure I'm not human?"

"Is that your problem? I'm not in the habit of paying deposits up front."

"Of course not." Nemo added quickly. "I need time to think."

"Thinking is a good habit." The eyeballs floated randomly in the air, and the drooping dry flesh began to become translucent. "But your time to think is limited, and I personally advise you to think quickly. If you can't think of it, I can give you some examples—such as the venerable knight over there, who I gave him two options. future."

Nimo carefully kept his mouth shut, lest it leak out the question of what could be caught as a transaction. He nodded vigorously, posing as if he was listening.

"I can let him see his friend's 'death.' What a pity he missed it, just a little while later. This is the past." Sad emotion. "Of course, I can also help him with a small innocuous thing, this is the future. I think you can guess what he chose, although I can't agree with it - he struggled for a long time."

Adrian raised his sword a little higher and shook his eyes a few times—with so many pupils Nemo could only guess it was a symbolic roll of eyes.

"What about you, which one do you care more about?" It ignored Adrian's meaning and continued cheerfully.

"I accept your deal." Nemo's mood is not high. In fact, the prudence in his tone was almost overflowing, and every word was as careful as a knife edge with the pads of his fingers. "How to start? No, when I didn't ask—we can start."

He thought he could see spells like honesty spells, but the magic of the higher demons was obviously much simpler and cruder - as if an invisible knife cut through his flesh, and it was on his left wrist Leave a nick. Not a drop of blood oozes out, and the wound glows with orange-red light like burning charcoal.

"Immediate, please follow the deal and tell me your original name—the one connected to the abyss." Eyeballs snapped close, almost touching the tip of Nemo's nose. "The engraving has taken effect, which means that you must know the answer to the question."

"...Baggarmoru." Nemo replied slowly.

The grey parrot turned its head in shock and let out an earth-shattering "Bah" sound.

"Shameless!" It almost rushed over to protest, "Grab my power and grab my name, I love my name!"

As if it was not a shallow notch, but a section of the wrist. The blood was draining so fast that if Nemo was just an ordinary human, it would be enough to take away his consciousness. His body temperature was slowly dropping, and the pain was almost insignificant compared to the eerie emptiness of blood leaving the body.

Oliver's body stiffened visibly. Ann did not speak, she frowned slightly, and exchanged surprised glances with Adrian.

"Lies," said the eyeball, "but that's okay, you've got a lot of blood to shed—best not to lie in a deal, Wright."

The gray robe was mostly red with blood, but Nemo showed a relieved smile. He stretched out his right hand and gestured to stop Oliver, who was about to come forward.

"Excellent," he whispered, and the rapid blood loss made him shrink back unconsciously. "I see."

"Listen, my original name - Nemo Wright." He raised his voice and raised his left wrist in a demonstration. "I am the adopted son of Patrick Wright of Waymark, who gave the name."

The blood has stopped.

The only remaining bright red liquid slowly dripped down his fingertips. Nemo, who was staring at the engraving, breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly straightened his body with an inexplicable taste of victory.

"That's my only name," he announced in a sworn tone.

Deralainen was silent, the pupils on the eyeballs were like oil floating on the water, and they were twisting violently now.

"You're not lying." It spoke extremely slowly, slowly fluttering round and round him. "The law recognizes that."

"Yes, I didn't lie." Nemo wiped his blood-stained left hand on his robe. "Sorry, I'm purely human, not what you think... uh, whatever you think."

Dara Lennion fell into a long silence - until the dry flesh disappeared, and its small half eyeball began to become a little transparent. Suddenly, it began to make a series of strange noises, it was hard to tell whether it was laughter or some strange scream, like a crappy carpenter slicing through a dry log.

"You're more interesting than I thought—" Eyes twirled for weeks in the darkening night, "Very interesting!"

It twirled excitedly for several minutes, until half of its eyeballs began to become smoky.

"Come on, your question." It said generously, "Past or future?"

"I don't have a past, and I don't need you to meddle in my future." Nemo's voice was steady - he had never been so at ease, like someone who had been struggling in the water for a long time finally grabbed the driftwood . "My only question has been answered."

"Are you giving up the opportunity to ask questions?"

"Of course not." Nemo exclaimed, "You say you can't agree with Mr. Close's choice...I'm not qualified to make irresponsible remarks about other people's choices, but there is still a chance, yes , I think 'now' is fine."

Adrian just opened his mouth when Nemo interrupted him without hesitation.

"Tell us the truth, yes, all of us," he demanded aloud, "tell us the end of Cahill Edwards."

"You have to know that you wasted a very precious opportunity."

"This sentence sounds familiar." Nemo pouted and glanced at the grey parrot. The latter is nervously pulling his feathers with his mouth. "...I'm very good at waste."

The dark forest is gone.

It was a very sunny afternoon. The sun shines through the windows, and everything has a delightfully warm golden hue. The fresh roses by the window are still with dew, refracting crystal-like light in the sun. From time to time, children's laughter came in from the window, and the owner of the room, Cahill Edwards, lay silently on the bed, his face calm and empty. He lay on his back, staring at the light spot on the ceiling motionless, only his chest heaved slightly.

The half-melted amulet was still hanging around his neck.

The four stood in the corner of the house, Nemo tried to reach out and touch the flower, his hand went straight through it. Ann looked around curiously, while Oliver and Adrian stayed where they were, silent.

This is the last piece of the truth, and they know it.

The door panel pushed open the sunlight and slowly opened. The cute braided girl walked into the room with a basket on her back, humming a little tune, freckles on her milk-like skin, and a dress that was popular among the commoners.

"I'm here to see you—yes, I'm here again." She winked playfully at Cahill and sat down lightly on the edge of the bed. She put the basket on the head of the bed, and the cover slipped slightly, revealing the bright red and attractive fruits inside. Delarion's vision is so lifelike that Nemo can even smell the aroma of cinnamon and baked apples on her.

"Why, won't you drive me away this time?" She looked at Cahill who was silent, and sighed in a low voice pretending to be surprised.

Cahill still stared at the light spot on the ceiling, his eyes didn't even move.

"Why don't you give up?" He said softly, "Don't you only show up when you are called? I said last time, I didn't call you."

"I want your knowledge." The girl shrugged and took out an apple from the fruit basket. She picked up the knife, and the bright red peel slid from between her fingers like blood. "Your level of magic is regrettable, but spellcasting skills and experience cannot be learned in any book. Do you know how much despair smells in you? I can smell you in another city—yes, It's a very unfortunate coincidence that I'm the outlier who is very proactive." She covered her mouth and snickered as if she was telling some funny joke. "And I'm going to make a correction—you weren't so polite last time, you let me get out of here. It hurts."

Cahill fell silent.

"Poor—poor Cahill," she whispered, putting the peeled apples aside. "Tired? Do you want to rest?"

"Hawkes committed suicide the day before yesterday. He lost his arms." Cahill still didn't look at her. "It was Tobin a month ago, he lost his legs."

The girl closed her mouth and fluttered her big eyes.

"But I'm still alive." He murmured like a sigh. "So I'm a 'strong and admirable hero', a symbol of hope. And they're a 'coward of not enough faith'...I know Ed is always fighting for more for them, but..."

He moved his lips and said nothing.

"Yes, I'm tired... Dragon Breath Stones are really expensive."

He closed his eyes. "It's really too expensive."

"Ed? The one who just left?" The girl played with the ends of her hair, sounding a little absent-minded. "That person is also very interesting."

"I promise you."

"What?"

"I promise you. I want to make a wish, Della Layne... that's your name?"

"Oh - yes." The girl took out another apple from the basket. The apple floated from her palm, and the peel quickly twisted and festered, turning into a red eyeball. "You will become part of me. What is your wish?"

Cahill looked her in the eye this time. He opened his eyes wide, tears streaming down the corners of his eyes.

"I want to stand up again and join Ed to help those friends who fought together...I want my mother to restore the irreversible wear and tear of this time. I want to see Your Majesty and tell him-"

"Stop, stop." The girl, one of Della Lane's husks, made a pause gesture. "You're too greedy! As I said, your magic level is not up to the standard, so a boring type like me would be willing to trade with you. You have too many wishes." She licked the corner of her mouth and moved her eyes closer .

"You can only choose one," she announced cruelly. "I suggest you choose the first one. Look, how young you are. Even if you become a demon warlock, you won't be too ostentatious with your personality. You can stand up..." She was close to his ear, sweet murmured. "You can save countless people, and you can restore hope to those desperate remnants. Isn't that what you swore, dear healer? It's enough to sacrifice an old man, and she won't live long."

Nemo turned his face, he didn't want to look anymore. And Adrian didn't know when he walked to the bed. He looked down at his friend, his expression blank.

"I can do it," he said slowly.

Dara Lane was stunned for a few seconds.

"...not me," repeated Cahill Edwards, "you said you wanted to fulfill my wish, then you will live in my place. I want you to recover slowly , do what I have to do."

"Then that's one wish. I want you to be a true 'hope'...don't let them down."

"Take everything from me, demon. Just a human life. It's too short for you, isn't it?"

(m..=)