Volume 6, Chapter 67 – Cruelty and Love

Searing pain detonated along every nerve — as though countless red-hot needles had been driven, all at once, deep into the base of the spine.

Inside a torture chamber deep within the Shenluo Empire, the stone walls were dark and damp, slicked with dried blood and char marks. The air was thick with the stench of burning flesh. A small Sacred Flame Dragon, white as snow, lay curled in an iron cage. Its scales still had the tender pinkness of a young creature — but now they were scorched black and curling where a red-hot brand had been pressed against them.

“ Aaaaaah——!! ”

A piercing wail tore from its throat. The little dragon convulsed violently, golden tears mixing with drops of blood as they fell, hissing against the floor. It tried to curl its tail away, but iron clamps held it fast — and it could do nothing but watch as that mass of glowing metal drew close to its fragile tail scales once more.

“Heh heh…… what a beautiful sound.”

A golden-haired man in a crown, bare-chested, stood before the cage. His bronze skin was crosshatched with old burn scars, and fresh char marks still trailed white smoke. As the little dragon’s cries continued, he pressed another red-hot brand — without hesitation — against his own forearm. The flesh blistered and carbonized on contact.

“ Hss…… ah~ ”

A sound of pleasure escaped the man’s throat. He gazed at the little dragon in the cage with an enraptured expression, his lips curving into a deranged smile.

“Do you know, little one? Love is pain. One person’s pain is torment — but when two share pain together~, that is the purest expression of love there is……”

With those words, ignoring the little dragon’s tear-filled eyes, he raised a laser blade and drove it toward the small creature’s eye.

——”Little one, let us keep enjoying this together~. Don’t worry — if you can’t hold on much longer, I’ll turn you into my most treasured keepsake~. That way, we can live together in happiness and bliss forever~ Ha. Haha. Hahahaha~”——

“Big Sister, now…… do you feel my love?”

The memory seared itself like a brand deep into Ulutiel’s consciousness.

Now, Ulutiel had shed all her clothing. In her human form, bare skin pressed against Bai Lianyue, she breathed in Bai Lianyue’s scent with undisguised hunger.

Drinking in that fresh lily-of-the-valley fragrance, Ulutiel slowly unfurled a dragon tail from behind her — covered in fine white scales, their edges tinged with faint crimson, as though something had burned them over and over again……

In the next instant —

Ulutiel smiled, slow and savoring.

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The dragon tail moved with fluid grace, first winding gently around both their ankles, then snapping suddenly tighter——

“ Crack!! “

A sharp, clean sound of shattering bone — like a dry branch being broken in two. Bai Lianyue’s body lurched violently. A smothered groan escaped her throat, and cold sweat instantly soaked through the scraps of clothing still left on her. Excruciating pain exploded from her legs — the sensation of splintering bone tangled with the nauseating ache of crushed flesh — and her vision pulsed with darkness. Her crimson pupils contracted sharply with agony.

Her legs were locked in the dragon tail’s strangling grip, bones shattering inch by inch. The flesh warped under the enormous force. Crimson blood slid along the tail’s scales and dripped into the black mud below.

Ulutiel’s legs, too, were caught in the same crushing coil, tendons and bones shredding apart — no less destroyed than Bai Lianyue’s.

And yet.

Where Bai Lianyue was suffering, Ulutiel appeared to be experiencing the most exquisite pleasure. A sickly flush spread across her cheeks. Her breathing turned rapid and scorching. She pressed her lips to Bai Lianyue’s ear and let out soft, broken sounds. The dragon tail tightened further and further — the faint sound of tearing flesh audible now — and still her smile only grew more radiant, wild adoration surging in her deep-blue slit pupils.

What was more — Ulutiel had pressed her hand against Bai Lianyue’s abdomen and linked their pain receptors directly.

Every ounce of suffering that either of them felt was doubled for both.

“Ah…… Big Sister’s pain is so vivid……”

Ulutiel extended the tip of her tongue and delicately licked the beads of sweat that pain had drawn from Bai Lianyue’s neck. Her voice trembled with satisfaction. Her lovely face was flushed a deep, frenzied red.

“I’m so happy~”

As her breathless sounds continued, Ulutiel slowly raised one hand, pale ghostly flames curling at her fingertips, drawing them toward Bai Lianyue’s eyes. Those small, elegant fingers curled slightly — as though at any moment they would close and crush the dark-red pupils that had always filled her with both awe and obsession.

“Give me your eyes too, Big Sister~ Then you’ll only be able to look at me. Only be able to feel me……Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.”

That melodious — deeply disturbed — laughter drifted through the air.

Listening to it, watching all of this, Polarvitan stood to one side with her brow deeply furrowed, her face a picture of undisguised revulsion.

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She pursed her lips and turned her head away on instinct, refusing to spare the two of them even a sideways glance.

“Disgusting hobby……”

She muttered under her breath, fingers tapping irritably against her own arm.

“Can you not be a little more normal, you little bitch? All this twisted garbage is making my skin crawl.”

The insult aside, Polana had no intention of intervening.

After all, this was what they’d agreed upon going into the partnership with Ulutiel.

When it came to agreements, Polana took them seriously.

However — just as Polana was muttering her complaints with an expression of profound disgust —

“ Spltt! ”

Something warm and wet suddenly splashed across the top of her head and the back of her neck, thick with the smell of blood.

The Siren girl’s eye twitched.

“ What the hell?! What are you doing?! Does it have to be that dramatic?! You got it all over me , you know!!”

Polana’s rage ignited instantly. She spun around, already opening her mouth to unleash on Ulutiel — to berate her for spattering blood everywhere. But the words died on her lips. Her fury drained from her face, replaced in an instant by stunned bewilderment.

?!

Something white was dropping through the air toward her.

Polana’s hands flew up on reflex and caught it.

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She looked down.

And froze.

Cradled in her palms was a blood-soaked head.

Ulutiel’s head.

The white hair still swayed faintly. The deep-blue slit pupils still held the last traces of pleasure and infatuation — and the corners of her mouth still wore that eerie smile, as though having her head severed could not interrupt that twisted devotion of hers. The stump of the neck was a ruin of blood and flesh; black blood continued to drip through Polarvitan’s fingers, staining the grey cloth at her chest.

“ Mm…… so good…… ”

Ulutiel’s lips were still forming those breathless sounds.

The bare body that had been pressed so tightly against Bai Lianyue was now slumped soft and boneless on the ground, black blood fountaining from the severed neck in arcing sprays, spattering the surrounding black mud and broken stone.

Time seemed to stop.

Polana stared at the head in her hands, pupils shrunk to pinpricks, her mind a perfect blank.

What…?

Ulutiel’s head…… how did it come off?!

Who?!

The old hag?

Impossible.

According to the plan, her power should have been siphoned off by that thing in the depths of the canyon by now?

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Take advantage of the moment the Terran Malevolence’s power was being transferred — while both the old hag and the thing in the canyon depths were at their weakest — strike them both down and absorb all the resentful power for themselves…… that had been the plan.

In the plan, the old hag shouldn’t have been capable of fighting back.

But if not her…… then who?

Under the guidance of her bewilderment, Polana slowly raised her head — and let her gaze fall on Bai Lianyue, who was still gripped in the Colossal Water Spirit’s fist, her legs twisted and broken.

And then —

Polana’s eyes went suddenly sharp.

Bai Lianyue’s lowered head was lifting, slowly. The agony that had filled those crimson eyes a moment ago was receding, replaced by a coldness and a keenness that had no bottom. Blood no longer seeped from the corner of her mouth. The Bellflower mark on her forehead had rekindled with a faint glow. Through her curse power channels, which had been sluggish moments before, ice-blue energy was now rushing back at speed……

An immense, surging aura spilled once more from her entire body.

And in her right hand — she held the White Horizon Sword.

The bloodied White Horizon Sword.

“Old hag?? You — how…… how is this possible ??”

Polana demanded, voice cracking with shock.

The elf girl tilted her head, looking genuinely a little bewildered herself.

“I don’t know…… but…… anyway, it seems my strength came back.”

Translator Note

If you enjoy reading this please try my other tl “Would you like to keep me, young lady?” and “Ts: high martial arts? You become a god’s chosen instead” Thankyou happy reading!