Ende04: Ride the Wind

Foreword:

The story goes that of two old friends, scarred by war.

On a lonely, rainy night, we clink glasses at a dimly lit bar.

Respect to your weary eyes and carefree smile.

--poison

[Part 1: Shameless Bastard]

At 8:50 a. m., the Tequila Sunrise Hotel welcomed six distinguished guests.

Led by Gloria Sebastian, the core members of the Church of Dionysus filed in, entered the main hall, put away their black umbrellas, and revealed the pale faces of the Blood-giving Monster. Among them was Axue, a temporary mercenary—all were Wings of Light under the command of the Immortals.

"Welcome, Gloria Sebastian!"

After investigating the magic pool, Fret found nothing seriously wrong. However, the report written by the gargoyle who had been investigating the spell the night before was truly outrageous. He rushed back to his lair immediately, greeted the distinguished guest with a smile, and addressed him by his full name.

Gloria smiled outwardly, but her heart was in turmoil.

--This disobedient devilish helper usually gives me some face, addressing me respectfully as "Lord Dionysus." It seems Flavia was right; the General of Tears has been utterly defeated, and Fret has gained the upper hand in the bidding.

The two deliberately avoided their subordinates and chose a secluded private room to discuss some private matters.

After dismissing the waiters and manager, Fret personally poured Gloria a pot of hot tea and cheerfully began to recount today's bet.

Gloria caught a glimpse of Fret's smug expression, and she felt uneasy as well.

--Judas arranged such a powerful bodyguard for her in East Horse Port, seemingly for her safety, but in reality to restrict her personal freedom.

Gloria's Soul Power is a vital strategic resource for the Immortals Alliance. If this Feathered One no longer protects Judas and develops a rebellious streak— Fret Caesar will no longer serve as her bodyguard and will have to clean house for the Alliance.

The same applies to Fret. Gloria possesses a portion of Fret's life contract, a meticulously divided labor contract used to command the devil to work obediently. Specific terms include, but are not limited to, protecting Gloria and the alliance's property, and safeguarding the Church of Dionysus's celestial cave in East Horse Port.

As long as this labor contract remains valid, Fret has no way to leave this hellish place. Demons are creatures who value contracts above all else, and he cannot bear the consequences of breaching the contract—not only would he have to pay Judas an exorbitant penalty and continue working for this insatiable Immortals for another 168 years, but there would also be numerous additional clauses. After the life contract is broken, he will be banished back to the Netherworld, and the Demon Pool will have to be severely damaged and rebuilt. At that time, his physical body in this material plane will be greatly weakened, and the psychic catalyst in the magic workshop will also become ineffective.

"Gloria, it's not even nine o'clock yet. My duel with the General of Tears is scheduled for noon. Why are you here so early?" Fret grinned, revealing four sharp teeth and exuding powerful confidence, a look of absolute certainty. "Did some blind scoundrel whisper in your ear beforehand and say some nonsense? I had no intention of cheating."

Faced with Fret's endless nonsense, Gloria remained calm and composed, responding in a composed manner.

"The day when the elixir is ready is not far off; Judas should arrive in East Horse Port in early September."

Fret asked suspiciously, "Why are you talking about these things?"

Gloria: "I just feel a bit emotional that after all the hard work we've done for the President in East Horse Port, it's finally come to a good result."

"Ah," Fret, neither concerned with the Dagda's Cauldron nor with Judas's grand plan of making a vow.

Whatever changes the human world undergoes makes little difference to the demons of the Netherworld; it's just a matter of changing the trading partners and the rules of the game.

"Lord Caesar," Gloria continued, "I'm very curious, what promises did Judas make to you? What price did he pay to make you, a powerful Marquis of the Netherworld, submit to him?"

Fret practically wore the words "be careful" on his face as he crept into his chair and furtively sized up Gloria.

He didn't trust this woman; there wasn't a single good person in the Immortals Alliance.

Even a wicked creature as evil as him, who is utterly depraved, would keep his promises when doing business with ordinary mortals. But these Immortals, these evil seeds running a pyramid scheme, are all shrewd individuals who have been ruthlessly selected through the survival of the fittest.

"I'm so sorry," Gloria said with a light laugh. "It was my rudeness."

The silence and awkwardness lasted for about ten seconds.

Aside from the sound of teacups clinking against saucers, the chirping of thrushes from the flowerbeds on the first floor drifted in through the window.

At this moment, Fret spoke up.

"Judas wants to help me kill someone."

Gloria: "Wood Plark?"

This is no secret within the Immortals Alliance; the materials for Fret Caesar's Horcrux were provided by Judas, and the entire production process was completed step by step under the supervision of the League members.

Fret: "That's right."

Gloria suddenly laughed, "Heh."

She thought to herself—who is Wood Plark? He is a bridge between the nations of Shambhala and the Abyssal Railway. He is also the unchanging authority of Galahad Magic Academy for centuries, a professor who remains constant despite the changing students—the chosen one of the Goddess of Abundance.

Judas could neither recruit this immortal freak nor destroy this thorn in his side.

--The leaders of the alliance were simply not capable of killing Wood Plark. So many years have passed; if Judas had had the chance, he would have done it long ago.

The rise of the anonymous individuals was not achieved overnight; it wasn't something that a dozen or twenty capable young people could accomplish by simply gathering together and turning the world upside down at Zero Platform.

Besides the gunsmith, the person Judas most wanted to kill was Wood Plark.

Although this Redstone Train Captain had no illustrious military achievements and was practically invisible during the six-year expedition, after the hot war ended, the unseen wars—the Cold War, the counterinsurgency war, the propaganda war, and the virus war brought about by the concentration of Spirit Calamity in the region—were all wiped out completely by the Nine Realms Cabinet Think Tank, represented by this man.

On the surface, the Nameless Ones and the Guiyi Sect are engaged in a life-or-death struggle, but behind the Ming De, there is a pillar of stability: Wood Plark's terrifying administrative ability is like an invisible and intangible "alternative Universal Elixir"—incompatible with his soul power.

The manpower and resources needed for launching an army into battle, the necessary combat conditions and public support, the transportation environment required during the battle, the reconstruction work that proceeds in tandem with the battle line after the war, and the process of transforming enemy-occupied areas into wartime economic production zones—all these complex and trivial matters were all within Wood Plark's grasp.

He understood all too well what the soldiers needed, and what the people who had suffered so much bullying and humiliation at the hands of the Madness Butterfly longed for.

Unlike their leader, the Nameless Ones and their many warbands are not as eco-friendly as the Nameless Ones – these war machines are expensive to maintain. Without Wood Plark, it would have taken the Ming De far more than six years to reclaim their lost territory, and there would be no Nameless Ones with their legendary ability to change battlefields and advance like the wind in two or three days at a time.

The five underhanded tactics of espionage—internal spies, double agents, suicide spies, living spies, and collateral agents—can be used on nameless individuals, and even on gunsmiths, yielding some results and reliable intelligence—but they are completely ineffective against Wood Plark.

This mysterious figure, scheming behind the scenes, possesses world-class counter-espionage capabilities and an extremely keen sense for psionic matters. Unveiling his identity and finding his Gate of Death is virtually impossible.

Judas simply couldn't kill such a godlike figure.

This is why Gloria is laughing.

--Judas a picture of a cake for the devil, and Fret ate it.

"Gloria, why are you laughing?" Fret had always harbored illusions about Judas.

Gloria: "No, it's nothing."

"You were just talking about the elixir, weren't you?" Fret smiled, fiddling with his fingers like a child. "Actually, I have something funny to share with you."

Gloria: "You said."

Fret: "Last night, my scout spell, Gargoyle, sensed some strange psionic tides. Ming De must have received news that General of Tears was trapped in East Horse Port and sent reinforcements."

Gloria: "Hmm?"

Fret: "They won't get anything out of me, so they'll definitely come after you."

Gloria: "Hmm"

Fret pulled back the curtains and opened the window completely.

"Just half an hour ago, a messenger came from the Governor's Mansion, saying that a blood-soaked demon flew out of the Church of Dionysus. I was curious, so I went to the top floor and looked through binoculars—oh wow!"

"Good-hearted pilgrims! Benefactors! There was Master Li, who paid 100,000 shi of grain for over 4,000 mu of land; Master Huang, who managed 6,000 cattle and sheep in Hengzhou Ranch; Madam Liu, who dealt in opium; and even imperial relatives, Consort Chang and the Thirteenth Prince—every single one of them, they were torn apart and shredded by this demon, their entire families swallowed whole without a trace."

"Your elixir is divine!"

Gloria took Fret's hand and they both looked out the window.

At first, she couldn't sense the spiritual pressure of the Flash Butterfly, as Que Mountain Street was too far away from here.

After a while, a strangely shaped "jellyfish" could be seen drifting across the horizon over the port area.

She stared intently at it.

This isn't a jellyfish at all; it's a fairy spirit from the brewery that has transformed into Flash Butterfly!

The string of fluffy things beneath the "jellyfish" were actually human heads clung to by the toes and claws of the Flash Butterfly as it flew! They were woven together with hair and swayed in the wind, rising and falling with the Flash Butterfly's movements.

Looking at the residents of the city, some of the bolder ones had just stepped onto the streets and rushed out with the city defense soldiers, beating drums and gongs. They were so frightened by the spiritual pressure that they wet themselves and their eyes bled. Those who could still maintain their senses immediately hid back home.

Gloria wasn't angry; instead, she became excited. "This is going to be hilarious!"

Fret: "Don't you care?"

For Gloria, the celestial fetus was merely a business deal with Judas. Once this deal was finished, there would be another, and another after that; the work was never-ending, and this wasn't her mission.

--Now, the General of Tears is what she cares about most, it is her mission. As long as she can grasp the General of Tears's life contract and do a good job in this human flesh business, she can get a better job from Judas.

"Let it fly freely for a while." Gloria slumped back in her chair, completely unconcerned about the matter. "I don't care about the lives of the common people. Maybe the Nameless One's reinforcements will help me solve this little problem—even if the sky falls, Judas will hold it up."

Fret: "The Governor asked me to convey a message to you, since the demons flew out of the Church of Dionysus, and he needs your help."

Gloria interrupted impatiently, "Where is General of Tears? Bring him here."

[Part ②: The White Wolf Awakens]

Ever since Fret Caesar returned to the hotel, Meteor has been forbidden from crossing the line.

His mental state was deteriorating, especially an hour earlier when a strange, sharp pain suddenly gripped his heart. He fainted right under Manager Man Yin's nose—the same moment Jason Megan was Flash Butterfly to make a skull lantern.

The wolf blood within Meteor is subtly at work. The wolf mother will grant her blood relatives several special abilities, including but not limited to extraordinary sense of smell and Inspiration, enhanced physical strength and stronger, faster nerves, psychic telepathy between individuals in the pack, and pain if any blood relative nearby is harmed.

While Gloria and Fret were haggling over the value of General of Tears's goods, Meteor's physical body was slowly undergoing a transformation.

He suffered a backlash from the fate contract [thirteenfold retribution]. The White Lady's products used to treat his fractured skull contained the blood catalyst of his wife, 3301—sacred blood blessed by the wolf mother, which could grant mortals the blood of the blue wolf and transform them into immortal beings who were half-beast and half-human.

Manager Man Yin stayed by his side until he woke up.

"Honorable guest, how are you? We can't afford any mistakes before Sir Fret successfully sells you. I can't bear the responsibility if he blames me."

Meteor didn't answer. He felt the whole world spinning around him, more painful than when he was seriously injured and about to faint.

Jason Megan's lapis lazuli bloodline was connected to his heart. At this moment, he was unaware of the changes that had occurred to his body. He struggled to climb to the dressing table, holding onto the bedside table, to wash his face and wake himself up.

"Vomit!--"

The moment the hot water touched her cheek, Meteor spat it out.

A stream of pus and blood mixed with crusts gushed from his throat, and his body grew increasingly weak.

Manager Man Yin panicked. "I'll go get a doctor! Please wait a moment!"

Meteor was panting heavily. His eyesight was gradually deteriorating, and the figure in the mirror seemed unfamiliar—he couldn't recognize the face.

During the time he was unconscious, he had the same nightmare again—

The image of the wolfhound in his dream became clearer and clearer, which made him think wildly.

Am I sick?

"Is this a curse from Fret? Or some strange virus?"

Meteor stood in front of the mirror, carefully examining her eyebrows and eyes, and twirling a stray hair at her temple.

"His hair's all turned white, damn it."

Mottled, multicolored hairs grew from deep within the hair roots, with many white hairs already emerging.

"I feel like my stomach is going to burst, oh my god!"

He vomited violently, and the blood in the copper basin kept increasing. He wiped his mouth clean and looked down to examine the bloodstains at the bottom of the basin.

There was at least 800 milliliters of blood, which had pooled into a strangely shaped mass of sludge in the basin.

But to his surprise—

--This blood clots extremely quickly, as if it immediately turns into dense particles and layers of scabs after leaving the body.

This is the super-fast hemostatic ability brought about by lapis lazuli's blood transfusion, thanks to the hard work of overactive platelets.

The pus and blood gushing from his abdomen were the last bit of metabolic waste from his liver and kidneys as a Homo sapiens. This waste could not be expelled in large quantities from the newly formed half-wolf hair follicles and skin. Some lapis lazuli mutants with overdeveloped sweat glands would also have bloody sweat, but most lapis lazuli mutants would experience vomiting blood and bloody stools when they first began to molt.

Before Manager Man Yin could call the doctor, Meteor stopped vomiting, pulled down her eyelids, and almost pressed her face against the mirror to examine her eyeballs.

He felt his eyesight wasn't as good as it had been a few days ago. Could it be that he had suffered severe brain damage?

Several blood vessels bulged from the whites of his eyes, coiling around his brownish-yellow pupils, seemingly trembling in sync with his heartbeat.

Meteor watched in horror as her pupils slowly changed color, briefly turning into slits of golden light.

When the Lapis Lazuli Guards are in human form, their eyesight is more or less inferior to that of ordinary Homo sapiens, and they also exhibit some symptoms of red-blue color blindness, which is a genetic defect of the wolf mother.

The same was true for Meteor. His vision blurred, his steps became unsteady, and he felt a chill run through his body. He walked to the library window, wanting some fresh air.

As soon as I opened the window, a blood-red sun was peeking through the rain clouds in the harbor area, its crimson glow painting the sky and earth in one color.

In that instant, an indescribable shame and pain almost crushed the meteor.

He spoke with Flavia and Duran--

--As long as you hide behind a hero, you can live in peace.

He even boasted to his wife that he had said this—

I'll be home soon.

There were so many bold, thoughtless boasts that never came true. At that moment, he mistakenly thought he was going to die, and the Rose Shining Stone stopped responding to him.

A string of colorful ribbons drifting slowly from the west side of the bay caught his eye, and before he knew it, he started crying again, only this time because of disappointment and helplessness, because of his fragile body and mind.

He couldn't see the "ribbon" clearly, just like Gloria mistook the Flash Butterfly for a "jellyfish" at first glance.

But Jason Megan's spiritual pressure made him instantly sober, as if he had been electrocuted.

"The Chef"

His head was covered with more and more white hair. He reached over the windowsill, trying to grasp that wisp of drifting catkin in the distance, trying his best to see it clearly.

"Jason? Jason?!"

When his fingers had completely crossed the window frame, he was again stopped by Fret's life force, and his skin felt as if it were being cut by a knife, producing a burning pain.

But this time, the wolf mother, as the blood lord, came to tamper with the fate contract of the General of Tears.

This pain lasted only a moment before he regained his freedom.

After blinking hard a few times, the meteor's pupils instantly turned completely golden.

The once peaceful, warm-colored sky turned blood red in those wolf eyes.

--The overly sensitive lapis lazuli Inspiration can hear the wails of the dead, and the sound of Flash Butterfly fluttering against human skin and wings.

For Meteor, the Inspiration Pressure emanating from the wolf-head lantern seemed to be right in front of him, very close.

"Beast!!!"

Fret: "What do you think? As long as you return the contract to me, Judas will naturally fulfill his contractual obligations. I can also sign another one with you."

Gloria: "I don't want to stay in East Malaysia either, but I think there are still a few clauses in General of Tears's contract that need to be revised. As for the price you offered, I think there are still some controversies. Also, the bet between you and General of Tears needs to be completed, at least so I can have some fun."

A cold wind blew in from outside the window.

--At almost the same time, the Dionysian servants guarding the hall and the Wings of Light officers of Gloria all turned their heads and looked in the same direction.

An abnormally violent spiritual pressure made them uneasy.

A furry white wolf jumped out of the window of the Tequila Sunrise Hotel.

--His mouth and nose protruded forward, exhaling bursts of hot air, as if he had lost all reason. He let out a low growl between his lips and teeth, his hair stood on end, and his golden eyes gleamed with ferocity as he leaped and bounded between buildings.

Unbeknownst to Fret, his valuable cargo had already escaped.

Gloria did the same, until the two heard a long howl.

From the undulating buildings of the port area, the furious roar of the General of Tears could be heard.

"Give my friend back!!!"

"Give it back to me! Give it back to me!"

"Give it back to me!"