Chapter 1 (2/2)

Eris spreaded her body, and as if a G.o.ddess dancing gracefully, she drifted from place to place without a trace that there's not half a moment when she stayed at the same place. The Beastman Army chased behind her beautiful figure like a bunch of headless flies, totally fell into a mess.

The Beastman soldiers didn't have much of a tactic to start with. In order to capture Eris, hundreds of Beastman soldiers packed together, waving chaotic wolf's fang maces. But Eris dodged all of them within a hair's breadth, and the maces all hit soldiers on their own side. Eris exploited the upper hand, advanced and retreated to evade the attacks while her Minor Stellar Finger turned into radiants of star light, forcing the Beastman Army to fall back again and again.

Although her attacks were quick and forceful, she moved with a grace and lightness. One moment she soared in the sky, then suddenly sweep past near the ground. Her spiraling and fluttering were simply dazzling.

”What's the relations.h.i.+p between this lady and Kadar? The Three Sages have quite a reputation. It turns out they do have some genuine talents.” Watching Eris fighting, Temujin couldn't help admiring them a little.

The Three Sages were proverbially famous in the Wind Continent. The three started as n.o.body, gradually gained strength through the five-hundred-year war and finally stood head and shoulders above the rest, becoming the leading figures of the rebellion powers.

For the races in the continent, they were great saviours. To the Demon Race, these three were abominable enemies. They led a rebellion force with limited numbers, but managed to block the Demon Race's course of unification again and again and did great damage to it.

The Three Sages had incomparable strength. Not many demons could be certain to win in a solo fight against any one of them. In fact, even in a joint a.s.sault, great prices were required to take out these three. Therefore, the entire Demon Race hated their guts, while avoiding them like the plague.

Temujin had never met them in person. Other than there were no such opportunities, the other reason was that he didn't see the necessity. Even though the Three Sages had great capability, they could only protect certain limited regions. It never affected the overall situation. On a political perspective, it might've been a good thing to keep thing to keep a certain amount of rebellion powers.

And at the moment, Eris was exerting every last drop of her strength fighting, but regarding the huge bodies of Beastman soldiers, Eris's attacks could only do skin damages. And that's all it could do. No matter how ingenious a martial art was, in the absence of powerful internal energy as backing, it's just showy but not practical.

Her move ”Sparkling Stars” stabbed an enemy in the left arm, but the enemy did not fall as expected. Instead, he waved his arms and counterattacked immediately. Awkwardly evaded the counterattack move, Eris disappointedly found out the martial arts she was so proud of was not as good as she thought it was. It shouldn't have been like this! The Minor Stellar Finger was a very profound martial art. At least it was when used by the original owner.

Martial arts were created during repeated struggles in life-and-death practical combats. No matter how many exercises one had, if it deviated from the way of practical combat, it was no more than a sport. Certainly, it might've been a good thing that all martial arts no longer took killing as a purpose. That would've been a beautiful dream. Unfortunately, this dream might've been too much for human beings. At least it didn't serve Eris well in this situation.

No matter how good she was at fighting, Eris was only a girl with limited stamina. When her attacks could not effectively reduce the enemies in number, it turned into moves that waste stamina in vain. It wasn't long before Eris began to breathe raggedly and sweat heavily. Her movement was no longer swift; it was obviously getting slower.

If she were to run away, there still was chance. As long as she used her lightness skills, the Beastman soldiers were too slow to follow. However, Eris had been worrying about whether the child had got away successfully all the time. Even though she had been at a disadvantage, she still did not give up buying time for others, tangling the enemies at her best.

If this went on, once she was exhausted, the situation would be reversed, as she would be tangled by the the enemies. But natural compa.s.sion supported her tired body to continue fighting.

”Human beings are really a strange kind of creatures!”

Temujin thought like this. In demon Realm, due to the harsh living environment, strength meant everything. In the Demon Race, it's a normal thing to be eliminated for the lack of strength. They only respected the strong. Given this prerequisite, since human beings were born weak, they were naturally considered an inferior race.

This was the mindset of most demons. Human beings were weak in strength yet very warlike. Their long history was written in blood and tear. While they were in the mutilation of other races, they also killed each other in incredibly cruel means. They were incomparably despicable and bullied the weak. But when they met the strong, they kowtowed. Oddly, the human beings who made these evil deeds, not only didn't manifest the slightest repentance, but also often put the words like ”evil” or ”devil” upon the innocent who stood up against them, so that they could slaughter them and boast about it.

The demons were disgusted with the long struggle between the two sides. Although they loved raiding and acting tyrannically, they did it aboveboard and straightforward. demons believe if you dare do it, don't be afraid to be talked about.

The strange thing was, human beings had another side. Sometimes, some human beings would sacrifice their lives fighting for others. The ”others” here could be someone who was neither relative nor friend, someone they had never even met before. To demons who embraced the law of the jungle, this self-devotion spirit was difficult to understand.

Moreover, whenever these people devote their life fighting for a certain reason, their strength would suddenly burst and rise by thousands folds, becoming a formidable power. This unknown power was the very reason why the Demon Race with overwhelming advantages could not completely defeat the human beings throughout their five-hundred-year-long invasion of the Mortal Realm.

It's not because of somewhat Three Sages, not because of somewhat racial coalition, nor somewhat ”Warriors of the Legend”. It's only because of these weird human beings.

Temujin finally saw such human beings today. Despite the fact that they had just met, the girl was doing everything she could to protect him, facing the strong enemies on her own. Why did she devote so much? What empowered her motivation to fight? What was the power that supported her to face enemies way powerful than her, yet still was not defeated?

Temujin recalled the mother who sacrificed for her child earlier. In some ways, maybe, the two women's origin of power was the same! For unknown reasons, uncommonly, Temujin was bewildered.

”What on earth was that stupid boy doing!”

Having noticed that the child hadn't gone far and was still hiding in the tall gra.s.s, Eris was desperately anxious. If things turned out like this, wasn't her baiting the enemies totally meaningless?

The enemies had already discovered her difficulties. They formed several rings and trapped Eris in the encirclement, restricting her range of drifting. Only the soldiers in the inner rings did the attack, while the rest of them just looked at the show and waited.

She had not enough stamina left to break out of the encirclement. That Eris's own conclusion.

”d.a.m.n it. I never planned to sacrifice for others!”

Because of an act on momentary impulse, she ended up like this. And that d.a.m.ned kid was frightened to stay in the tall gra.s.s and hadn't moved a bit. Today was the unluckiest day ever.

The wolf's teeth mace went for her face. Eris leaped to evade. When she was going to turn and s.h.i.+ft position in the mid air, she felt a pull on her left foot. Her ankle was grabbed. Then followed a brute force, throwing her to a stone edge on the ground.

”Wrrr....” The Beastman army leader made a sound and stopped it. This kind of girl should serve well as a toy. To throw her to death was a waste.

”So I'm gonna die like this?” Realizing death was just ahead,  many thoughts went pa.s.s Eris's mind. Finally, that person's figure, features and voice filled her heart.

”Elder Brother...”

Two beams of light soared and arrived. With an earthshaking noise, the Beastman soldier was blasted into a pool of blood . Eris felt the grip on her foot loosen, then a gentle force supported her to slowly fell onto the ground.

The Beastmen roared like thunder, charging madly toward Eris. In the next moment, rapid shots of beams formed a light web, firmly protecting Eris. Outside the light web, continuous blasts and cries of dying turned the whole world into a Shura Purgatory.

In the center of the Purgatory, Eris felt she was wrapped by a comfortably warm power. It's wholly peaceful. Not a half bit of danger could be felt.

When all the howls returned calm, Eris open her eyes. She saw the ground full of broken limbs and a river formed of blood. The entire team of Beastman soldiers was wiped out in an instant. Not a single survivor could be found.

The ground looked like it was lashed by whips of blood. All the blood and minced flesh, as Eris being the center, splashed towards all directions. The deep tracks on the ground formed a sun-like shape, as if they were engraved there.

Eris trembled faintly. It's the first time she saw so many dead bodies. And they died so terribly. She was shocked by the overpowering smell of blood that she almost puked. There fear she experienced throughout the intensive battle just then was completely no match of this short moment.

Slowly, Eris turned around her head. She knew that the person who took this many lives was right behind her.

Behind her was a delicate and pretty boy, giggling. He looked incomparably innocent.

”You… You are...”

Eris's voice was trembling. Within the beam just now, she sensed a powerful demonic qi. A common demon, no matter how strong his martial arts were, how profound his magic was, could only empower them with fiend force. To turn fiend qi into demonic qi was a natural gap very hard to overcome.

Therefore, whoever could exude demonic qi was definitely a super expert in the Demon Race. They usually only exist in the royal family. And what she sensed just then was 100% genuine demonic qi.

Such internal energy, such skills, maybe even elder brother Kadar was no match for him. Who was this expert?

The little boy raised his head and looked at the sky. His mighty bearing and dignified manner of a king swept across the heaven and earth.

”We are the n.o.blest, the thirty-second Great Demon King, Temujin.

Eris fainted.

”You are the Great Demon King. Are you really the Great Demon King? Wow! How amazing. I actually meet the Great Demon King.” Eris was overwhelmed with joy, jumping and skipping happily.

Temujin really wished Eris to stop. She had been repeating the words ”Great Demon King” for a hundred and thirty-seven times since she woke up.

As far as he remembered, whenever people learned they were facing the ruler of the Demon Race, trembling, horrified, kneeing and kowtow would be be the normal reaction. There were even people frightened to incontinence. There were even more extreme cases where someone's heart and guts cracked, frightened to death on spot.

If those were normal reactions, then what about Eris? It's really good that the girl was not afraid of him. Of course! But, her reaction was way too abnormal. From how she was jumping and dancing, she must have taken him as some kind of rare species. It seemed she almost came at him asking for a signature. Being treated like this, Temujin felt quite embarra.s.sed.

Maybe it's like the old saying goes, newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. —Young people are fearless. Eris seemed to have no clue of how formidable he was. When she first woke up, she was kind of afraid. But all the kid did was giggling dumbly. He didn't looked harmful at all, neither did he show any malice to her. She worked up the nerve to touch him a few times. It turned out he was not much different from her, that they were both creatures with flesh and blood. He's not scary.

Having got rid of the fear, Eris's hopelessly happy-go-lucky personality came into play. In her eyes, the child was nothing different from a normal human child. The bright and fiery look in his eyes gave out the maturity not for this age, but generally speaking, the child was still at a pure and innocent age. Especially, there was always a babyish smile on his pretty face. It was just so cute.

And, it's the Great Demon King!… It's said that there seldom were people able to see the Great Demon King alive, especially humans. That made her the first ever human in the history! With such a mood, Eris gamboled restlessly.

”Errr! If it's possible, would you please not to call us like that. Our name is Temujin.” As the most powerful ruler in the continent, n.o.body should address directly him with his name. But for this girl, he would grant her this privilege. Temujin wished she was only his friend.

”Temujin… What a weird name!” Eris muttered.

Temujin was really dumbfounded. This girl might have some nerve as thick as a chimney. She dared to nitpick on his name. It was a crime punishable by extermination of the entire family in normal times.

”Are you truly the Great Demon King?” Eris still had doubts.

”Of course! Who would dare to impersonate our ident.i.ty?”

”But you don't show any grandeur at all. You look neither majestic, nor regal. You are so small...” Eris criticized him from head to toe, then quoted a cla.s.sic, coming to a fair conclusion: ”Right. You simply don't look like a king.”

Criticize like this, Temujin had not much of a reaction. As far as he knew, the court officials of the Demon Race had been having this misgiving in the first place. Eris was just a little too honest to directly speak it out.

”Well. How shall I put it...” Temujin tried to explain to Eris the reason he attained this position.

”Whatever. You demons are weird anyway. I never get it.” Eris waved her hand. That man used to say that she had a simple mind, that she took things too easy and might never achieve something great. Humph! Was that supposed to be hard? The kid right beside her was greater than anybody else.

”My name is Eris Vause Danita.”

”Judging by your surname, you are from the royal family of Parikia, right?”

”Bingo! That's correct.”

Temujin smiled. Seeing her using the Minor Stellar Finger, he guessed her connection with Kadar. Kadar was a prince of the Princ.i.p.ality of Parikia, and Eris a princess. What's the relations.h.i.+p between these two?

”Right. There's a man, do you know who he is?” Eris's eyes gleamed cunningly. She asked: ”Have you heard of the name Kadar?”

”I have. The Star Sage has quite a reputation. He's a rare expert of the human race.” Temujin spoke indifferently.

”Wow! So wonderful. Even you knew about him!” Eris beamed with delight. It was the expression of feeling proud for a relative's glory.

Out of no reason, seeing Eris was so happy for Kadar, an unpleasant feeling crossed Temujin's mind.

”What is he to you?”

''He's my elder brother. He taught me martial arts. What do you say. Not bad, right!' Eris said narcissistically.

According to Eris's explanation, Kadar was a cousin of the same branch in the royal family. The marriages in the royal family was complicated. Their blood relation was rather distant. However, Kadar had been taking care of her since she was young. He cherished her to the utmost. He personally taught her martial arts and literatures. As long as Eris asked, there was nothing he wouldn't say yes to.

”The life in the palace was so boring. I want to watch Elder Brother's valiant and heroic bearing in battlefield, so I sneaked out to find him.” Growing up in happiness, one often fails to appreciate what happiness really means. That's how Eris was. Princ.i.p.ality of Parikia was one of the few places that hadn't been affected by the war for five hundred years. And behind this fact, was Kadar's blood and sweat for stopping the enemy and protecting his homeland.

”But why was I so useless just now? I've seen him using the Minor Stellar Finger. It wasn't like this!” Thinking of her performance just then, Eris was frustrated. Before that, she always thought herself a top expert. She never expected that this beautiful dream was popped up as soon as she left the palace.

”There's nothing to be surprised at. You training method has problems.”

Despite Temujin's young age, his martial arts was not only thousands folds stronger than Eris's. The Minor Stellar Finger, although it didn't count much in his eyes, was an ultimate skill among human's martial arts. However, many profound variations of this set of finger techniques required solid internal energy to bring full play to its potential.

Eris always led a comfortable life and was not very diligent at practicing. Although she had an excellent teacher, she didn't have much internal energy. She could not bring out one tenth of the might of the Minor Stellar Finger. It's a mere formality. Of course it could not defeat enemies.

Kadar himself had a mixed idea on this matter. He wanted his younger sister to have enough capability to protect herself. But he didn't the want the bloodiness after slaughtering to contaminate Eris, to destroy her innocence and kindness. Therefore, when he taught her martial arts, he only taught a smatterer and did not urge strictly.

Hearing Temujin's comment, Eris was a little upset. She never thought that she was so beatable. Elder Brother would laugh so hard at her when they meet again. She raised her head and saw Temujin. Recalling the amazing martial arts he used just then, Eris came up with an idea. She smiled sinisterly: ”Answer me this. Are we friends or not?”

”Yes. Of course we are.” Temujin nodded vigorously like a blockhead. After all what had been said indirectly, he wanted her to become a friend, a sincere good friend.

”Will you feel sorry to see your good friend's martial arts are so poor?”

”I won't. I can protect you.”

”You are so dull! If you say it again, I'll be angry. Let me ask you again. Will you feel sorry?”

”May… maybe a little.” The poor little fool caved.

”That's all I need.” Eris smiled: ”From now on, you teach me martial arts, and I will play with you. How about it?”

Temujin tilted his head and thought about it. Although the Demon Race's martial arts could not be taught to outsiders, it wouldn't be much of a problem to pick a few middle-level martial arts for her. It didn't take much consideration in comparison with the importance of Eris.

”In this case, let's make a pinky swear.”

”Pinky swear?”

”Correct.” Eris said gravely, ” That ensures none of us will regret.”

He's not thinking too much, but Temujin did feel it by heart that, speaking of psychological age, Eris, who should have been the older one, might be the more naive one between the two.

”I, Eris Vause Danita, swear to be a good friend of Temujin.”

”We...”

”Hold on there.” Eris shouted him down, ”I am your friend. Isn't it inappropriate to use 'we' when talking to a friend? We agreed that we are gonna be normal good friends.”

Temujin nodded. He didn't care much about these boastful addresses anyway.

”I, Temujin, swear to be a good friend of Eris.”

As a gesture of sincerity, he not only gave up ”we”, but also omitted his tediously long surname.

”From now on, I'll call you Little Tem.”

”Why would you call me that?”

”Because I'm older than you, it's just normal for me to call you that.”

Then, the two entwined each other's little finger, and a friends.h.i.+p of eternity began.

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