Chapter 15: My Enemy
Mere speculation was useless. After waking from the endless illusions, Joshua had regained his normal thinking ability. He shook his head, brushing off the dust that had fallen on him from the shattered carriage. Ignoring the stares of the surrounding crowd and the rapidly approaching Gold-rank experts, he fell into deep thought.
Just now, when he used the Azure Orb combined with the Order Force within him to cleanse that bizarre and inexplicable Chaos Curse, it seemed that through the [Spark] skill—whose function he still didn't fully understand—he had triggered a power hidden deep within the orb.
A force far beyond what he possessed or could control surged like a raging tide, effortlessly purging and eradicating the evil, alien fluctuation that Joshua had been unable to expel, leaving not a trace behind.
Whose power was it?
In truth, at this point, it wasn't hard to guess.
Because the Azure Orb's original name was the [Azure Orb of the Sage's Legacy].
Without needing to think, it was clear that the power that had just helped Joshua easily wipe away the curse, as if wiping a speck of dust with a cloth, must have been a remnant left behind by the Sage long ago. It usually lay dormant deep within the orb, but once it encountered power from the side of Chaos and met the right conditions, it would activate and fight back.
"If that's the case, could that figure be…"
Thinking this, Joshua's expression turned serious. He considered a possibility that was both logical and incredibly unbelievable. The warrior muttered in disbelief, "Could he be… the Sage?"
That pure white humanoid figure, shrouded in white light, seemingly the embodiment of Order itself—was it the residual image of the Sage?
Although he used a question, a brief recollection made it abundantly clear. Joshua could be ninety percent sure that the sketch-like figure composed of black lines on a white background was the Sage's shadow. The strange pastoral scene that appeared afterward might even have been the Sage's childhood experience, a peaceful era from the previous epoch.
It seemed only the Sage could possess such terrifying power—merely by being observed, he could easily shatter the Chaos Curse, and by his very existence, annihilate all impurity.
While Joshua was still marveling and before he could ponder what those illusory worlds represented, two figures quickly pushed through the noisy, watching crowd on the distant street and ran swiftly toward him. Noticing this, Joshua turned slightly to look their way.
His two weapons came into view.
The silver-haired girl and the black-haired boy stood before Joshua, slightly out of breath from their rapid run.
Logically, such a short distance shouldn't have tired the two Divine Mechanisms, but their anxious mood was the real drain on their stamina. Seeing Joshua unharmed, without any injury, the heavy stone that had been hanging in their hearts finally settled. Lin let out a soft sigh, tidied his disheveled hair, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and muttered something under his breath. Ying, on the other hand, stepped forward and grasped the warrior's hand. Her cool, pale little hand pressed against his broad palm as she spoke with evident worry, "Master, are you really alright?"
The girl's silver hair was slightly disheveled, falling loosely over her shoulders. Seeing how worried they both were, Joshua felt a tremor in his heart and was genuinely moved. He reached out with one hand, smoothed the girl's messy silver hair, and then patted her little head, ignoring her soft protests as he said, "It's nothing. Thanks for your concern."
Though this statement was a bit exaggerated, it was essentially true. While easily eradicating the Chaos Curse this time relied on the Sage's power left in the Azure Orb, Joshua wasn't entirely without means. In fact, he could have suppressed the curse with his own strength, but it would have come at the cost of a significant drop in his combat ability.
That price was indeed steep, but given time, he could find various ways to slowly solve the problem. If all else failed, he could return to Moldavia and find Loranda, asking His Holiness the Pope to bestow a blessing upon him. Even if the curse came from an Evil God, such a tiny sliver could be easily worn away, especially with the blessing of a Legendary-rank Clergy Pope.
"Your master isn't that fragile."
Thinking this, he added another sentence.
But Ying wasn't comforted by such empty reassurances. After sighing, the silver-haired girl recalled the fear she had felt earlier—while they were walking slowly down the street, their psionically-energized bodies had suddenly trembled, and the core sustaining their lives had shown signs of collapse. She knew that the lives of Divine Mechanisms were linked to their masters. Unless the contract was dissolved, the day the master died was the day the weapon would break.
Such a sudden occurrence could only mean one thing for a Divine Mechanism: their master was gravely wounded, perhaps even dying.
In that instant, both Ying and Lin seemed to see the countdown to their own deaths.
But the Divine Mechanism girl wasn't worried about her own death. At that moment, the only thing on Ying's mind was Joshua's safety. Although the situation seemed to have stabilized later, she had still rushed back with Lin, driven by overwhelming anxiety.
Joshua initially didn't think much of Ying's worry. He had experienced this kind of danger many times before, and this time was just a bit closer to death than usual—nothing major. But then he felt something was off.
Because his hand seemed to have gotten wet.
Without a sound, he felt his hand loosen, then his waist tighten again as he was tightly embraced. Joshua opened his mouth slightly, his eyes complex as he looked at Ying's head. As he spoke, Joshua seemed to find something. The corner of his mouth curled up into a fierce grin. "Ha, as expected, it's still here. Not completely closed yet."
Earlier, the curse power had crossed space, ignoring distance, and entered his body directly, using the power of space. After that, the Order Force possessed by the Sage followed the channel through which the curse power had come, surging back cleanly and even expanding the tiny channel to a size the warrior could detect.
And that was enough.
He extended his right hand, Battle Qi burning fiercely upon it. Crimson flames swirled, then gradually transformed into a pitch-black fluctuation. Joshua aimed at a certain point in the void and punched out with force—immediately, a faint blue light flickered as the unsealed space-time channel was forcibly opened again by brute strength.
"You fools over there, you need a bloody lesson."
Meanwhile, deep within the island in the Far South.
"That Holy Light power from before…"
The two Blood Demon Dragons, whose bloodlines and strength had been crippled by the earlier ultra-high-intensity Holy Light purification, struggled to their feet. They couldn't distinguish between Holy Light and Order Force—both originated from the Sage's power but differed in detail. Holy Light was more functional, while Order Force was purer and could spawn countless unique abilities based on its wielder's needs.
For instance, Joshua's purification ability, which allowed him to recover by killing Chaos creatures, was said by Pope Eagle to be unique even within the entire Church of the Seven Gods. It was almost an innate combat skill.
But these monsters didn't understand such nuances. After escaping with their lives, one of the Blood Demon Dragons, perhaps trying to distract itself from the intense pain in its body, panted and said fearfully, "A Holy Light of that power… could it be the Pope of the Seven Gods?"
In its view, only Pope Eagle possessed such terrifying strength.
But its companion scoffed at this guess. "Impossible! The Far Sea Holy Mountain is currently surrounded by five Nine-Headed Sea Dragons, with two Dragon Kings lurking nearby. Even if that Pope could protect the Holy Mountain for a time, there's no way he'd have the spare power to help that human on the other side of the continent!"
In truth, there was something else buried deep in this dragon's heart, left unsaid.
Regarding the curse, it was now deeply regretful. Originally, this was just an ordinary Dragon Slayer—there was no need to go to such lengths, guiding an Evil God's power to curse him. A nominal assassination attempt would have sufficed. Why all this trouble?
But there was no choice. This human had slaughtered an entire White Dragon nest, even taking the dragon eggs back to his territory, intending to hatch them and enslave their descendants.
This was no longer just a grudge against one dragon or the White Dragons. It was a war concerning the dignity of the entire Five-Colored Dragon Clan. That damned warrior had issued a challenge, and they had to respond.
Otherwise, where would the dragon clan's authority be?
"Unfortunately, this was… the wrong choice."
Leaning against the stone wall, now completely purified with no trace of evil aura left, the sighing Blood Demon Dragon finally managed to stand on its own. It even turned back to help its companion rise.
After resting for a while, the two dragons prepared to leave the sacrificial hall. All the ritual implements in the hall had been thoroughly purified by the overwhelmingly powerful Order Force crossing space, leaving nothing usable.
Even though they would surely be blamed, even berated, by the dragon elders later, they were still grateful to be alive.
But good times never last. Just as the two dragons were about to leave the sacrificial hall, a small, azure door appeared out of thin air, opening before their eyes.
And a hand reached out from within.
It was a human hand—strong and powerful, with enough strength to guarantee it. The knuckles were distinct, the veins clearly visible, and the blood vessels held the power of destruction.
This hand was clenched into a fist, wrapped in a terrifying force that shifted from red to black. Within the black mist lurked the shadows of countless magical beasts and monsters, wailing and struggling, yet finding no rest.
Seeing this fluctuation, which seemed to represent death and murderous intent, the two dragons felt genuine fear. They struggled backward, as if trying to flee.
And a male voice, as resonant as clashing steel, crossed space and arrived.
"Die, monsters." (To be continued.)