"Father, did the ancestor really lose?" the young man called Eder Woer Despark sat by a burning furnace and asked his father who had regained a rare moment of clarity.
"Isn't it obvious? If not, the one who's being worshipped in the churches of New Royas would be our ancestor instead" the man who had cut off his limbs to ensure that his desires for bloodthirst would not harm his family members answered.
"At that point, having obtained dragonoid bloodline, the ancestor had continued to pursue the path of strength and obtain immense power. Under his leadership and strength, the Despark family had quickly grown prosperous. Even his majesty Eldridge was ready to bestow the ancestor a peerage"
"But the ancestor refused. Instead, he used this peerage as a condition to issue another quest towards his majesty Eldridge" at this point, the man became excited: "That was to challenge Eldridge!"
"If the ancestor had wanted to challenge Eldridge, he was surely confident in being able to win, then why did the ancestor lose, could Eldridge have played—" the young man asked with an agitated tone.
The Despark family hadn't fared very well for the past few years, being shunned by everyone as the descendants of the 'rebels' who were ready to challenge his majesty Eldridge. For that reason, the young man had considered Eldridge an enemy, and it's in human nature to think lowly of one's enemy.
"No, it was the exact opposite. His majesty Eldridge had unified the continent by his own hands and reached the peak of his power after establishing the great Empire. Our ancestor was not confident in being able to defeat him, and Eldridge had very fairly fought and defeated the ancestor by one move" even while talking about the enemy who caused their family to fall into this sorry state, the man still referred to him as 'his majesty', showing his respect.
This was Eldridge's charisma, not only did he crush his enemy with the righteous might of his empire, but after defeating Neville, he still posthumously bestowed him the peerage and forbid his other subjects to not isolate the Despark family.
During the time of the Royas Empire in the Age of Flames, Eldridge had kept his promise and sheltered the Despark family for them to develop as normal. The current state of the Despark family's isolation had actually occurred during the Age of Metal.
Having expended most of his strength, Eldridge did not have the spare efforts to still be managing his country.
"If the ancestor wasn't confident, then why?" the young Dragon Warrior asked in confusion.
"Because it was impossible for him to grow any stronger through mere training alone" the man's body slightly shook: "Before the battle, the ancestor had once made an analysis and realized that he would not survive one full-power attack from Eldridge"
"But he went ahead with it regardless. Even while knowing that it was impossible, he had made the decision to attempt it anyway like a fool. And in that battle, he had grown from not being able to survive an attack to losing by only one move"
"Eder, your ancestor was a great person" the man's body limbless writhed unnaturally.
The bloodthirst of a dragon was about to act up again following his excitement, but the man who had chopped off his own limbs continued his story.
"My son, your latent potential is clear, I fully believe that you will surpass your father who had no choice but to chop off his own limb, surpass the bloodthirst, even surpass the ancestor, surpass that final attack that he could not surpass, surpass his majesty Eldridge, and surpass the impossible!"
"I have absolute faith in this, so show me that you can do it! My son!" the man declared with a hysteric voice, then finally became completely paralyzed as his body fell down next to the furnace, having breathed his last.
On that day, Eder Woer Despark lost his father, but obtained the blessings of his father to surpass everything.
…
"I will not fall in this place! I am the one destined to surpass it all! Father, I will show you!"
The Dragon Warrior dug his feet into the mud and dirt under his feet, then concentrated all of his strength into a single point, using that to infuse the mud and dirt with his Metal Qi.
Numerous cracks immediately spread all over the ground, followed by the Dragon Warrior's kick that sent numerous pieces of dirt flying towards Ying.
Immediately after that, the Dragon Warrior leapt upwards, using the flying pieces of dirt and mud as his foothold to once again charge towards Ying.
…
"It's useless, your abilities only amount to so much!" Ying slightly raised her parasol and looked straight into the Dragon Warrior's nearly burning red eyes, then lowered her gaze back down.
Although men are creatures controlled by their own desires, there are still moments when their radiance can shine after all.
The Terracotta Warrior took off the golden bow that had been on his back this entire time and fully drew it backwards. A large amount of hostility poured out from the Terracotta Warrior's body and manifested an arrow of hostility, which was then shot towards the charging Dragon Warrior.
As the arrow of hostility was fired, the Dragon Warrior had no other place to dodge except the pieces of dirt and mud in the air, as the ground under him had already been filled with mud-soaked limbs, a sutured monster Ying calls the Desire Beast.
She had sewn together the nauseating desires as well as the dead bodies that those people had ever held towards her, turning it into this infinitely growing monster. Those who were stuck inside would be tightly grabbed and pulled down into the swamp of desires.
Once the Dragon Warrior had fallen inside, he would not be able to simply break free through brute force like he had done before.
"And so, you've lost!" Ying declared with absolute confidence.
…
Seeing the arrow of hostility approaching him increasingly closer, the Dragon Warrior smirked and reached both hands behind. His sharp dragon claws ripped open the bulging muscles on his back, causing a pair of bloody wings to spread.
The wings rapidly flapped to increase his altitude, after which he swooped down towards Ying once again like a hunting hawk.
"DIE!" the Dragon Warrior's ferocity was now on full display.
As he landed in front of the Terracotta Warrior that was shielding Ying, his hands and feet became the most terrifying weapons, ripping the Terracotta Warrior's body apart in a flash before once again charging at Ying.
Only to discover that Ying had taken advantage of the time that the Terracotta Warrior had bought to be covered by the Desire Beast and brought away.
Looking down at his body full of slime and her ruffled clothes, Ying displayed an irritated expression and took out another talisman.
"What an excellent appearance that is, Miss Ying, would you like me to help you?"
Hearing the sound of arrogant laughter and seeing his signature blonde hair, Ying's brows became furrowed.
Blondie was standing with two girls, one small and one big, just a bit outside of the battlefield. As expected, the Tagula clan descendants had also gathered in this location, and he managed to find them.
Seeing how Blondie was holding the two girls' wrists, Ying frowned and crushed the talisman in her hand, summoning another figure behind her: "Just stand there and watch, I don't need your help. Also, watch your hands!"
"They are the targets of the mission, if you offend them, then your mission would already be meaningless" Ying paused a bit before continuing.
The reason why they had retrieved these Tagula clan members was to console Nala, so she really didn't know why this skirt-chaser had been assigned to such a mission.
"I'm merely watching out in case they run away, and I'm doing this for their sake. Once they understand the truth, they'll be thanking me, perhaps even falling in love with me" Blondie replied in an exaggerated manner, but still relaxed his grip somewhat: " Although, they weren't qualified to love someone like me in the first place"
The Dragon Warrior glanced at Blondie, then continued to fly towards Ying. Regardless of how powerful the enemy was, he would continue to fight. This wasn't simply the pride of his dragon bloodline, but also the pride of him as Eder the person.
Swatting the Dragon Warrior away with a swing of his hand, this newly appeared Shikigami started to laugh in a disgusting voice:
"Gahahaha! My adorable daughter, so you've called upon me once again. One of these days, you will no longer be able to control me and return to being my toy. Gahahaha, what a day to look forward to indeed!"
