Emperor Word Spirit

The bicycle came to a steady "drift" stop in the middle of the pooled water. Streams of water flowed in from every direction, seemingly converging toward the enormous lake in the center of the city ahead.

A surge of heat welled up from his shoulder. Lu Mingfei had just thought, Why does that tone make it sound like I'm supposed to deal the damage? yet his mouth opened instinctively.

Without prior agreement, they closed the eyes they had once possessed and opened another pair... ancient, solemn, profound, and noble Golden Eyes.

An ancient, proud, obscure draconic language rang out.

"Get lost."

The command was issued, and the world obeyed.

In the puddle's reflection, the overpass numbered "10" became Overpass No. 0. Some mysterious force erased the "1" ahead of it at the boundary between reality and illusion. An ancient being had once used it as a medium to observe the entire city.

But none of that mattered now.

The overpass shook violently and collapsed. The rider reappeared, then wandered away again. The dying whimpers of servant monsters came from within, followed by a warped vortex appearing on the water's surface.

The vortex mercilessly devoured the surrounding light and shadows, like a giant maw leading to the underworld. Before long, the overpass, the rider—everything vanished into the vortex.

Once the vortex was gone, the pooled water became as still as a bronze mirror.

"The Shaking Road to Heaven has been severed. Now He'll have to stay in a little dark room and cry for a while. It'll take Him some time to rebuild it, and by the time He comes out, there'll be no place for Him in either the human world or heaven." Lu Mingze clapped in delight. At that moment, his manner finally suited his apparent age, his Pride tinged with childishness.

The Shaking Road to Heaven was the Rainbow Bridge, Bifrost—the rainbow bridge in Norse Mythology that connected Asgard and Midgard. As an important passage for the gods to travel to the human world, its guardians had once stood watch there against the coming of Ragnarok.

"Brother, you're amazing! What the hell is Odin compared to you?"

When it came to emotional validation, demons truly had no equal.

For a moment, Lu Mingfei even thought that wandering the world with a demon like this for the rest of his life might not be so bad. Most praise he had received in the past had been pitying praise, encouraging praise, or hypocritical praise. Only today, from a demon, had he felt praise born of sincere admiration and reverence.

At this point, it no longer seemed appropriate to call Lu Mingze a demon. Compared to a demon, he seemed more like a younger brother who worshipped his big brother... Lu Mingfei was falling into his old habits again. He did not understand why his future self in the "Genji Heavy Industries dungeon" had labeled him "black-hearted turtle bastard profiteering Little Devil."

He gave out free perks, led you into battle, and even acted as your cheerleader.

No, he could not just trust a demon. Every salesman sweet-talked you before dropping the hammer, and this was a salesman from hell. One day, the demon would reveal his hideous, cruel face... If he trusted him blindly and ended up getting sold out until even his underwear was gone, that would be a disaster.

But he just could not help it. So what if he was a demon?

What if he was a demon who loved you?

Isn't it too naive to talk about love and hate with a demon?

Two little winged figures in his heart bickered and fought.

"This is the 'Emperor Word Spirit,' right? It's so badass—is it really that rare?" Lu Mingfei could not help marveling. "It's practically issuing orders to the world."

Back then, he had directly pinned Fenrir in place with the command "You cannot break free." The effect had been just like the "seals" in certain anime.

"In a sense, it's both the most commonplace and the rarest," Lu Mingze said, studying the now-calm pooled water with amusement. "In the world of hybrids, anyone can recite the chants from ancient scrolls left behind by former users of the 'Emperor Word Spirit,' reproducing a tiny trace of draconic majesty to summon their bloodline. But not a single person in this era can truly use it."

"Ahem."

"Brother, you don't count as a person."

"Ahem, ahem, ahem, ahem."

Lu Mingfei lowered his head and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar person in the pooled water. "Just now... was that power you lent me?"

"Of course not. It was your own power. My power cannot compare to yours at all." Lu Mingze denied it flatly, the Pride in his Golden Eyes showing no sign of fading.

"The sovereigns thought they understood God's power, so they all feared the day God returned. But what God would ever reveal all of His authority and might to kings on earth?"

Lu Mingfei listened in silence. His instincts told him that he should have clamped a hand over Lu Mingze's mouth long ago and stopped him from saying any more. The day when that cast-iron mountain of mistakes was forged was not far off.

In truth, Lu Mingze had already said enough.

Lu Mingze smiled. "Look at you. You have no reaction at all. Is that the mental state of a normal person... I know you woke up a long time ago."

"Are you done?"

"If you're done, what are we having for supper tonight?" Lu Mingfei suddenly began rummaging through his pockets.

Lu Mingze tilted his head, not understanding.

"I'll treat you to supper. My first 'fortune' since becoming an adult—I mean these seven hundred bucks." Lu Mingfei waved the seven hundred yuan he had pulled from his pocket. "Food is the first necessity of the people. I'll treat you to some human delicacies, celebrate your release from prison, and wash away the dust for you."

He really was short on money—money he had earned himself. There were quite a few things in his backpack, but none were easy to sell. He could not bear to sell the medicine and good items. Things like Fourth-Generation Species Scale Fragments and Fifth-Generation Species Scale Fragment were random drops, and he neither knew their exact value nor had a channel to sell them through. If he sold cluster bombs, Thompson Submachine Guns, or steel-core bullets, he would probably be hauled away in handcuffs that very day.

He had also gotten plenty of diaries, such as Seal Diary of the Three-No Girl and Dragon King's Girl's Human Observation Diary.

He occasionally read the former while idling at the standby screen. Reading it was like reading Thaw, the novel by Ellenburg of the Northlands: an individual's winter and spring, though far more monotonous. The latter was a little explicit, so he could only slowly savor its "loli gossip."

Come to think of it, his impression of dragons as powerful, lonely, perfect creatures had been almost completely shattered by Dragon King's Girl's Human Observation Diary. Back in Genji Heavy Industries, he had been intimidated by the terrifying yet majestic descriptions of dragons. Thinking about it now, if dragons were all like this, then what the hell was Blood Sorrow supposed to be...

"How about braised intestines, grilled chicken wings, and Nutrition Express?" Lu Mingfei proposed, his eyes shining. He felt as though he were hosting his former self.

"Anything is fine." Lu Mingze obediently sat on the bicycle.

He seemed like a demon who was very easy to feed.

"Hold on tight. There's a lot of water on the ground, so the bike is a little shaky." Feeling that the bicycle's center of gravity was off, Lu Mingfei hooked his foot backward and gave him a kick. "What kind of side-sitting posture is this? You can't even swing your legs properly."

"Oh, oh."

"Brother, I want ice cream."

"Hiss, don't push your luck. Yesterday my pockets were cleaner than my face, and now I'm treating you to braised intestines and chicken wings, yet you're still not satisfied? When I was your age, no one was willing to treat me... What flavor?"

"Yellow peach."

"It's the middle of the night. Where am I supposed to find an ice cream shop for Your Demonic Highness... Can you give me another free perk?"

"Brother, you have already committed the Original Sin of Greed."

The bicycle wobbled onward, and the city lit up once more.