Scepter of Thorns

Edward, wearing a black hooded cloak, signed his initials in the register of the Snake Plated Inn, took the key from the shelf, and turned to go upstairs.

The wooden floor soaked in moisture creaked and gasped, and huge shadows gathered in the corner, like a silent beast waiting to be devoured.The tiny creatures that lived in the dark were approached by the water vapor into the cracks in the ground, and their tiny, bright green pupils could still be vaguely seen.Edward used the key to open the rusted iron door, and after entering, he locked the door tightly.

Bean-sized raindrops hit the window, mixed with the roar of Shen Lei, and the curtains tightly sealed the scenery outside.The dark and small room is filled with a damp atmosphere, the carpet is of mixed fur, and the dark red sofa has faded to light red due to long-term scrubbing. Edward took off his cloak and leaned on the sofa with his eyes closed, the pain piercing his body like a needle. neurologically.

The tail of his hair began to gradually turn from black to dark gold, Edward clenched his palms tightly, and the sharper tips of his teeth pierced his soft lips, stained with some blood.The two opposing forces collided with each other in his sea of ​​consciousness, and the black energy weakened for some reason, allowing the gold that had been lurking to dominate.

Ah... He remembered that the power of the crow should be too weak, not enough to compete with those golden fragments.It would be great if there were more powerful dark elements to suppress it...

Edward couldn't help gripping the scepter of lies that had been hidden in the cloak before. Although he didn't want to use this thing, the risk was too great, and he couldn't afford to gamble now.But this is the demon world, if the human race and the heavenly race don't hide it, they will either die or be captured here.

The finely carved lines felt extremely clear on the palm of his hand, and the crystal was cold and moist. Edward finally used the scepter to add a spiritual defense to himself, and the dark elements flowed densely in the air, turning into light and hovering around him.The gold that was about to move was covered by black again, he took a deep breath, stood up and spread his bone wings.

The moment he took the scepter in the Valley of Steles, the space collapsed, and he was teleported to the border of the Mithril Demon Realm.In order not to cause trouble, Edward took back the deterrence of the scepter of lies itself as the owner of the contract, but at this time the sea of ​​consciousness began to go wrong again, and the two forces were quarreling. Cover from head to toe.At some point, the sky was covered with dark clouds, raindrops began to fall, and lightning struck a few times. Edward guessed that this was the prelude to the rainstorm, so he took a rest at the hotel on the way...

Edward looked at Bone Wing beside him with a gloomy face.There is an unspeakable anxiety and loss in my heart.

A half-breed child who lived as a human for 26 years suddenly grew the bone wings of the demon clan, but he didn't know how to use them properly.In the demon world, the weak are preyed upon by the strong, natural selection is a competition, and the survival rate of the non-flying demons is very low.

What is even more desperate is that the currency between Mersack and Mithril is not in circulation. Each race has its own unique currency. Edward's space ring only contains the money and some jewelry of the human race, while the demon world is rich in ore, he is not sure Can the ore excavated from Mersac be exchanged for a relatively reasonable price, but the price is definitely relatively high from the perspective that a cloak requires a thumb-sized crystal.

At the same time, the scepter of lies is also a headache... It can't be put into the space ring, and it can't work on people other than him. If it works, it can't restrain the coercion. If the coercion is released, it will definitely cause trouble ...he didn't want to die too soon.

Edward thought wildly.Suddenly, a thunder bombarded his eardrums. That heavy and violent explosion always made him feel uneasy, as if something had quietly changed, but he was still kept in the dark.The thorns on the neck seemed to absorb some moisture, and they swelled|bigger, making it a little uncomfortable.It's useless anyway, he thought irritably, then opened the window and threw the torn black thorns down.

The bean-heavy rain hit his half-protruded body. Edward closed the window and drew the curtains. His clothes were a little damp. He shivered, and Bone Wing subconsciously wrapped his body to keep warm.

So cold.

In my memory, it seemed that someone put him gently on the bed during a thunderstorm, hugged him, and used body temperature to warm his cold body.He closed his eyes and was half asleep, thinking about those intermittent things, as if an endless dream, he would continue to dream one after another.

So cold.

※※※

It was still raining, but the hour hand on the pocket watch was pointing to 8.

Senna held a black umbrella and walked on the stone path leading to the snake-plated hotel, his handsome face added a bit of color to this desolate place.He walked into the iron and wood hotel, and showed a polite smile to the witch at the front desk: "Excuse me, are there any passengers who came to stay overnight in black and white waiter uniforms yesterday?"

The witch glanced at him, and raised her lips: "Give me a kiss, and I'll tell you."

Senna pointed to the badge pinned to his collar without changing his expression. The witch frowned, then threw him a registration book and said lazily: "The person in black and white waiter clothes? Ah, I don't remember, who do you look at on a rainy day?" All in black."

He turned the page, and there were not many people who registered yesterday, only three. The first two columns had their full names written, while the last column only had a letter D, corresponding to the room number B3.And the key to room B3 on the side shelf has been hung back up, indicating that the guest has already checked out early in the morning.

Senna pulled out a banknote from the shadow and handed it to the witch: "I want to borrow the key to room B3."

The witch took it, glanced at the numbers on the banknote, and her tone suddenly became more respectful: "You can do whatever you want, we haven't had time to clean it up yet..." - she can't offend the demons who can control the shadows.

"No thanks."

Senna came to the rusty door along the road that Edward walked yesterday, he opened the door with the key, and the dark red room with the main theme appeared in his eyes.The furniture was very clean, and the quilts were neatly folded, as if no one had ever lived there.But there were strong dark elements and a certain unique smell on the sofa, and the air was a little stagnant. He opened the window, and the oncoming rain bypassed him and hit the window as if avoiding something, and a white lightning pierced ferociously. The darkness disappeared in an instant.

A few withered roses were sparsely planted in the flower bed below the room. Senna did not miss the moment when the lightning struck. A black thing in the flower bed was illuminated. He stretched out his right hand, and that thing automatically fly into the air.

thorns.

He smiled slowly, but there was no warmth in the corners of his raised lips.

The rain is getting heavier.

Edward, who was on his way, saw huge lightning flashing across the sky, so he couldn't help lowering the brim of his hat, but the anxiety in his heart became more and more intense.

He has to get to the middle of the border today before the rain stops.He was not alone in the rainstorm, there were also several demons on their way, most of them were wearing armor, and a few winged demons were flying in the sky. The wing membranes of the demons' bones in the sky were thin and smooth, and they were not afraid of being wet by the rain at all. gain weight.

Edward narrowed his eyes.

What is this... for?

Rather than pedestrians, they were more like scouts. Their scarlet eyes kept turning, and it was obvious that they also spotted Edward.A person who was closer to him made a gesture, and the rest surrounded him in a semicircle.

"Black Queen." The demon standing at the front pointed to the badge pinned to his collar, explaining his identity, "Show your crystal card, every legal citizen of the demon world has this thing."

Edward narrowed his eyes. The Black Queen is a political party in the Demon Realm. It is opposite to Caesar’s Reverse Cross. Its ruler Ushina is in charge of a part of the political power. The central party is concentrated in the magic capital "Swan", but now it appears on the desolate border , although it is only a few pawns, but the purpose is also questionable.

Because there are teleportation arrays on two continents at the border.

"Hurry up!" the Demon Race urged, and the Winged Demon who had been spinning in the sky lowered a little, covering him within the attack range.Edward took out a thin crystal card from the interspatial ring and handed it over. The other party held it in his hand and looked at it carefully several times, and asked hesitantly, "It belongs to the Bakery family..."

The moment his words paused, the black demonic energy exploded, intertwined with the sound of thunder and bombarded the ground.Except for Edward who was separated by a transparent protective cover, the rest of the demons were all knocked down by the lightning. He quickly took away the magic crystal, and then spread his bone wings to try to fly at a low altitude.

The speed of flying is indeed much faster than walking, but the downside is that due to the unfamiliarity of the technology, Edward has to put away his bone wings. His bone wings are not as light and smooth as the Winged Demon's, and the rain drenches on them If you can't slide down, the weight on both sides will not be uniform and you will lose your balance.

Flying in heavy rain can easily be struck by lightning.

Edward fastened the collar of the cloak. Although the price was a bit expensive, the quality was still good. It was waterproof and had zippers on both ribs to facilitate the extension of the bone wings.The scepter of lies was fixed by the belt sewn on the cloak, and stuck to his back. The moment he put away the bone wings, the originally cold crystals suddenly burned.

Edward was busy shaking off the rainwater on the film, and didn't pay too much attention to this.

A few high-pitched roars came from a distance, but they couldn't hear clearly because of the sound of rain.Edward guessed that the corpses of those demons were discovered, but judging from the appearance of their deaths, they were just sudden lightning strikes, and no abnormalities could be found in a short period of time, which means that he still had time to escape.

That crystal card was collected from the sacrifices that Edward presided over the first sacrifice. It has the unique magic energy of each demon clan on it, which is used as proof of identity.The crystal card will light up when the matching magic energy is input, and if it does not match, it will be broken in two. If the demon just now asked him to prove it, he will soon be exposed.

Fortunately, his devilish energy was very similar to the effect of thunder and lightning, and the group of people who came later would not be able to recognize it for a while.Thinking this way, Edward quickened his pace.

When Senna arrived at the garrison, the military doctor was identifying the demon corpses, and then repeated to the officer who was sitting firmly aside that they died from lightning strikes, and the officer also repeated over and over again: "There are many dead bodies on them. Pale dark elements."

Due to the strong resilience of the demons themselves, military doctors mainly treat wounds that are damaged by light elements and cannot heal themselves, and it is normal to be insensitive to dark elements.Senna looked at the demons' bodies with gloves on, and determined the cause of death very simply: "They died from a dark elemental attack similar to the effect of a lightning strike.

The young officer smiled provocatively at the military doctor, and when he looked at Senna, he straightened his face and said, "Their bodies were found in Chuiling. At around 08:30, the military doctor identified them as dead for half an hour."

"Six o'clock." Senna opened his pocket watch, "It takes an hour and a half from the Snake Plated Hotel to the station, and another half hour from the station to the vertical edge, then..."

He left at six o'clock.

Now, the hour hand points halfway between 9 and 10, and the minute hand points to 6.

"Take care of their corpses." Senna turned around and ordered, "Strictly enforce the order of the army. I don't want any trouble at this juncture."

"Yes." The officer saluted and watched him leave.

The moment he stepped out of the room, the two entourages had already set up the umbrellas. Senna took the umbrellas and boarded the high platform, and the entourages were dismissed.In his field of vision, all the scenery was wetted by the rain, showing indistinctly in front of his eyes, and the desolation and desolation of the demon world turned into a magnificent background, painting the background color of this painting in large areas.

Whether it is the Black Queen or the Reverse Cross, they must rely on this land to survive.

black queen.

He stroked the badge pinned to his chest, smiling contemptuously.The black thorns on his wrist came off automatically, woven into the shape of a bird and stood on his shoulder, waiting for the master's order.

"find him."

The Thorn Bird uttered a low cry, and flapped its wings to fly towards the gray sky.

----Chapter20. Chase & End----