Chapter 18.1 – Protagonist: Give it back to me

The person with the purple eyes, under the Lord of Halphas City’s glassy stare, smiled menacingly.1

A strong sense of crisis assailed the heart of the Lord of Halphas. He knows that what he should do now is to retreat, but the magic sword in his hand won’t let him. How can a magician clash swords with a warrior? The Lord of Halphas City doesn’t know why, but he is reluctant to let go of the demonic sword. That moment when he didn’t retreat resulted in an almost fatal scene. The Lord felt a pain on his waist. He had used stone skin magic, but there was something sharp enough to break open his stone skin, cut into his flesh and blood, and almost pull out his intestines.

His near death crisis finally led to the Lord breaking free of the Burning Desire Demonic Sword. He let go of the sword and, jerking to the side like a rolling meat ball, successfully avoided the attack. He never felt so close to death before. In order to survive, the Lord began chanting magic spells even while he was still lying down on the ground, summoning countless thorns from the ground.

This action did save the Lord’s life. The attacker clicked his tongue, expressing his dissatisfaction. His flung his hand to the side and shook off the blood and flesh gouged out from the Lord’s abdomen. With one hand, he held the black-haired youth who was still in a coma while his other hand picked up the demonic sword. A pair of black bat wings tore the back of his shirt and he jumped into the air. His wings fanned out, looking majestic and raising his stature in the eyes of the onlookers.

The Lord crawled up from the ground, dirty from rolling around in the dust. He saw the wound on his belly – pain … blood pumping out as he breathed … He raised his head angrily, but when he saw the figure in the air, he inevitably froze in shock. Not only him, but almost all the demons stared at the figure in disbelief. The gnome became … a demon?

The huge bat wings fanned behind his back. His black hair was swept back, exposing two curved horns, and a pair of purple eyes with vertical pupils shone brightly on his handsome face. However one looked at him, Xiu looked like a genuine member of the demon race.

The demon held onto his personal property2 and flicked away the blood that was on the sword. When he looked at his arm, it was no longer the thin childlike arm of a gnome. Xiu was pleased at the arm’s graceful muscles and the power it contained. The abdominal injury did not hurt so much; instead, it acted like some kind of catalyst that made him feel more excited. Now he can escape from these demons, but … he doesn’t want to.

Unwilling, unwilling, unwilling –

The Burning Desire Demonic Sword is trembling, an inaudible whisper seems to hang in the air.

Since you don’t want to leave, then go ahead and do it.

Xiu stared at the Lord of Halphas City below him, narrowing his purple eyes.

Dan looked at the slender figure. The businessman’s face is full of interest; it has been a long time since he has seen such an interesting creature.

The Lord, on the other hand, did not think it was interesting at all. That person was originally a gnome and turned into a demon, but all he wants to do is to cut him into a thousand pieces to make Xiu pay for the flesh and blood that he gouged out.

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!!!”

When the Lord roared out this command, the demons moved to act, but Dan floated himself up and projected his voice so that all of the demons could hear him clearly:

“Alas, don’t be too ignorant of the rules, do you not see that the demon is ‘challenging’ Lord?”

The demons stopped and looked at each other while the Lord turned green with anger. The demons follow the law of the jungle and respect personal strength, so in each of the 72 cities, the Lord of each city must be the region’s most powerful demon. As long as you are the strongest, the region’s demons will spontaneously support you.

If a demon wants to be a city master, it is simple to “challenge” the Lord. If a demon can defeat the present Lord in front of 20 high-level demons, that demon becomes the new Lord. It may sound unfair to the incumbent, but the reigning city owner has the right to three rejections in one month, and as long as he has defeated a demon’s challenge, he does not need to accept any more challenges in that same month. Most importantly, the Lord of a City can seriously injure or even kill the challenger, while the challenger cannot kill the city master. In any case, the challenge is sacred to the demons and is a one-on-one battle. No one is allowed to intervene.

Right now there are 25 high-level demons and the Lord has already rejected three challenges this month, so this time he has to accept Xiu’s challenge. Xiu doesn’t know the rules, but when he saw that the other demons wouldn’t interfere, he wasn’t silly enough to deny that he was a challenger. He gave Dan a meaningful glance. Dan noticed and smiled, saying “You can put your baby down. No one will touch him during the challenge.”

The Lord of Halphas City sucked in a breath, his heart filled with violent anger and malice. First, he would teach the uppity demon some manners, then he would call into account that d***ed businessman. While the others were not paying attention to him, he took out a magic scroll that he had spent a fortune on, knowing that it would help preserve his life.

Xiu put Du Ze down on a high rock and quickly treated his wounds. The other demons did not stop him. During this time, the Lord started chanting a magic spell. Xiu no longer hesitated; he turned and jumped down the rock and approached the Lord of Halphas City.

Seeing Xiu draw near, the Lord decisively triggered the spell inscribed on the magic scroll. A transparent ring of force emerged, forming around the Lord and expanding outwards. Xiu jumped into the air, trying to avoid it. However, it changed direction with his movement and hit him. Thankfully, it did not cause him too much damage and he was able to deflect it.

While Xiu was breaking free of the magic influence, the Lord finished chanting the next spell: “-the Earth’s sanction!”

The land began to quiver and countless lumps of earth gathered at the core of Halphas City. More and more stones combined together and finally formed into a huge stone giant. Somewhere inside the giant was the Lord of Halphas City. Standing in front of the stone giant, one can see that Xiu is only as big as its foot.

The demons were in a flurry as they stared at the huge stone giant, eyes full of anticipation and reverence for power. The stone giant looked at Xiu, who was as small as an ant compared to it. Lifting its foot, it tried to trample Xiu – although its body is huge, its movement is unexpectedly agile.

Xiu’s purple eyes brightened and his blood boiled. He did not avoid the stomping foot. Behind him, his wings forcefully fanned the air and he raised his sword. The sharp demonic sword easily cut the stone giant’s foot into two. Xiu flew up, his eyes on the stone giant’s huge fist. Xiu flew to its side and severed the stone giant’s hand from its wrist.

“…?”

Xiu did not fly to it again but drew back. Opposite him, the stone giant was still intact. The places that he had cut off were together once again. The giant’s restoration ability is so strong that Xiu’s attacks did not damaged it at all. The Lord laughed: “Ha ha ha ha ha! You can’t beat me! In front of my magic, you are an ant! Go to hell!!!”

The stone giant waved its hands as if to slap a mosquito to death. Xiu swiftly moved away and attacked, but no matter how he attacked it, the damaged place was restored. Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly. The best thing to do would be to attack the place where the magician was, but the stone giant was really too big and he can’t spot the Lord’s hiding place.

If the stone giant could be destroyed in one fell swoop …

Xiu flew to one side to avoid the stone giant’s attack while thinking about the solution. His current body is powerful, stronger than any of his previous forms, but he is not familiar with it. He voluntarily awakened this bloodline. There was something in his body that spoke of a destructive force, but he did not know how to call it and make it accomplish what he wanted to do.

If he did not find a way to destroy the stone giant in one blow, the first to fall down will be him.

Before Xiu could become too anxious, the Lord made his move. Inside the stone giant, the Lord’s stomach still hurt and his eyes were red with anger and hate. His eyes moved to the distant area where the dam**d demon placed the human.

Chapter 18.2 – Protagonist: Give it back to me

Once again Xiu cut off its hand, but the stone giant didn’t give up trying to hit Xiu. It was easy to avoid the giant, but Xiu suddenly had a bad feeling – with the stone giant’s recovery speed, the other hand should have already been restored, why not attack him with both hands?

Xiu had just figured out that something was wrong and his face showed his consternation. The Lord of Halphas City burst out laughing while launching his sneak attack: “Haha – say goodbye to your human friend!”

Ignoring the stone fist above his head, he turned back. In his line of sight, he saw that the stone giant’s enormous hand was about to hit the rock where Du Ze was – with that speed and amount of force, Du Ze and the rock would both be smashed into rubble.

A moment, it will take but a moment, and that moment is impossible for him to overtake…

It was like pressing a pause button. The space around him was dyed black and white.In that space and time, his heartbeat was so loud that it was deafening.

That person – will die?

His heart contracted painfully. That pain caused his brain to send out comforting thoughts.

He will not die. He can revive. He …

He will die.

The first time they met, the man said: “My only power is to restore myself. You can easily kill me.”

He has never deceived me.

He will die.

– but I won’t allow it.

So destroy everything, destroy that eyesore.

-Snap-

His heart beat wildly, the blood in his veins was boiling hot as it broke through a barrier, bringing unequalled strength.

“Now -”

A sudden burst of blindingly bright light stung the eyes of the demons. The purple-gold lightning tore through the void and a destructive energy obliterated the stone giant’s hands. When the beautiful lightning dispersed, all of the demons were looking at the place where stone hand had disappeared without a trace. If it were not for the small purple lightning arc still crackling in the air, they might wonder if they dreamt the whole scene.

Dan can hardly contain his excitement at finally seeing something fascinating. He cannot believe his eyes. That spectacular electric power … This is obviously the legendary –

The businessman shifted his eyes to look at the demon who was the culprit. Not just Dan, but all of the demons were looking at Xiu, whose fingertips were occasionally sending out sparks. The demons’ breathing became labored and their eyes were glued to Xiu. They were in a frenzy of awe and worship.

What a mighty and beautiful devil!

If it was not for the rules of a challenge, the others would have already kneeled in front of Xiu and asked to become his followers.

Xiu looked at Du Ze’s closed eyes, then at the tiny current at his fingertips. The purple electricity affectionately rubbed his hands. The corners of his lips lifted and he laughed.

Why didn’t he discover this before? This power is too simple and pure.

There’s a word for it: Destruction. Deconstruction.

Xiu’s long black hair fell down from his head, revealing a pair of gorgeous purple eyes. In those purple depths, electric power glowed. He looked at the stiff stone giant and his smile became wider and wider.

Destroy it.

Bang!

A tiny current flashed in the air, and then triggered a cascade of reactions, like falling dominos. An enormous power grid covered the stone giant. It cut it up mercilessly, destroyed it, and let the prey fall apart.

Destruction, destruction, destruction…

In a bustling city towards the east, a demon wearing a pair of spectacles raised his pen and was about to write something when he suddenly stopped. After confirming that the lightning element was not an illusion, he stood up and nearly overturned the tables and chairs: “… Lord Bael? ”

*******

When the stone giant had been defeated, the Lord of Halphas City fell from the sky. The arrogant Lord was in terrible shape. Because he was not good at controlling lightning, half of his body was charred. His whole body was like a badly-roasted pig that was cooked by a rookie chef.

Xiu’s victory was clear and the demons were excited to know that they would have a more powerful Lord soon. Xiu stepped forward and placed his sword at the Lord’s throat, saying, “Finally you came out.”

The Lord of Halphas City looked at Xiu in horror. Voice trembling, he said, “You, you can’t kill me – according to the rules, you cannot -”

His eyes were wide with terror and his face pale with disbelief. The Lord desperately wanted to speak but could not say anything. The one holding a sword to his throat stooped down and said, “Give it back to me.”

Give it to you … What? …

The Lord couldn’t figure out what Xiu wanted. The huge body fell to the ground, twitched a few times, then was still. The demons were in an uproar. They saw Xiu raise his sword again, a lot of blood sprayed out and stuck onto the blade. Some of the blood had splashed on the smiling Xiu.

He had to get back what belonged to him.

The red glow of the Burning Desire Demonic Sword intensified as it was saturated with blood.

Yes, it’s all yours, so take it back.

In front of the other demons, Xiu cut into the body. He wanted to find the stomach but, because the Lord had a lot of fat in his body, he was repeatedly frustrated. So he began to dismember the corpse. All of the demons stared at this bloody scene. Even though demons are cruel, a sight such a this was very unusual.

He is mine, everything is mine.

Xiu finally found the stomach and the small intestines, but unfortunately the innards had been turned into paste by the lighting. This made Xiu’s expression somewhat ugly. He destroyed the body and looked up. In his red-tinged vision, Dan’s figure was particularly striking.

Dan knew that Xiu’s attention was on him and he smiled, “Hey, I just helped you -”

“Give it back to me,” was all Xiu said.

Dan knew that he was referring to the clothes but he was reluctant since he had not thoroughly studied the restore function yet. While he hesitated for a moment, he saw the electricity crackling above Xiu’s fingertips.

“I’ll return it!”

Xiu took back the sweater vest. The familiar smell made the red light in his eyes dim slightly. When he looked up again, Dan had fled. The demons surrounding him kept silent as Xiu fanned out his wings and flew to a certain rock.

Du Ze was still unconscious, therefore he could not see that the demon hovering over him had a complex expression. Xiu’s eyes were still red, and he was tempted to do something to prove his complete ownership of that human.

The Burning Desire Demonic Sword whispered: Kill him, this is also total possession.

Xiu stretched out a bloody hand to the black-haired youth’s throat. As Du Ze breathed, his Adam’s apple trembled, proof of the life moving within him.

As soon as force is applied, that movement will stop.

The red glow of Burning Desire turned brighter and brighter.

The next moment, Xiu’s fingers felt the familiar warmth of Du Ze’s skin and started to stroke it.

He did not betray me, the demon thought contentedly. He’s mine.

The red glow in his purple eyes finally faded. He picked up Du Ze and left.

*******

After escaping, Dan patted his forehead with the book in his hand and breathed a sigh of relief: “Really terrible.”

Though he said that, there was no fear at all in the green-clothed demon’s face. When he put down his hand, he saw a blood stain on the cover of his book. Dan wiped his forehead with his hand and saw blood: his forehead had been cut open, and he hadn’t noticed it at all.

Dan looked at the blood and began to laugh happily: “It is very interesting, it is really worthy of someone descended from him.” For a long time he hasn’t seen the lightning1 of destruction. He wiped his forehead with his hand and the cut in his face vanished in an instant: “If it was allowed, I would like to fight with him, but it’s also interesting to continue watching as a bystander …”

“I still like the world, so I definitely do not want to go to the boring god-realm.”

*****

*****

The law of the jungle is our truth.

Invasion, destruction, and conquest? We are loyal to ourselves.

Make us stronger with the blood of the enemy.

Not satisfied with it? Go and play a game.

Daring is a synonym for us; we pursue strength, speak with strength.

Angels? That is a group of bird men.

We? We are the noble demons (Asmodians).

– “Mixed Blood: Demon race collection”

The author has something to say:

“One day the protagonist dropped a reader on the river.”

Author: Did you drop a literary reader, a regular reader, or a two-cornered reader?

Main character: Give it back to me.

Reader: Which side should I spray with auntie’s blood first?