Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 114: True Identity

Salaar’s gaze swept over the strange machinery inside the tower, then over to Tass and Kalen, who were just as curious, and finally stopped on Myss.

“He’s somewhat useful.” Myss shrugged.

For the moment, it seemed Kendrick wasn’t the mastermind behind the body-swap ritual. He actually didn’t mind killing Kendrick and seizing the Abnormal Fruit that was right in front of him.

But Kendrick had investigated V.O.R for many years, so he should have discovered something. Moreover, this guy’s divine power was “body swapping.” It might be useful.

As for how to control Kendrick, that wasn’t something Lord Archdemon needed to worry about. Now that Salaar had changed back into his body, Myss’s nerves abruptly loosened, and he almost wanted to melt on the spot.

Seeing Myss express it like that, Salaar paused for two seconds, then nodded.

Myss subconsciously wrinkled his nose. This kid was almost certainly going to say some nonsense about being a kin of the Chaos Archdemon again. Who knew how he would smooth over the ancient puppets this time.

“I told you all long ago, my name is ‘Salaar,’” Salaar said.

Inside the brilliant golden protective barrier, Kendrick silently looked at him, a trace of slight incomprehension on his face. Tass and Kalen were also full of questions. Yet as the seconds ticked by, Salaar offered no further explanation.

Unlike Tass and Kalen, whose confusion continued, Kendrick’s expression changed slightly. “Salaar?”

“Yes. I thought that bottle of ‘Return to Youth’ had shown enough, after all, you people have looked at my portrait for so many years.”

Salaar spread his hands. Knife, which had just returned to normal, wrapped around his palm. It apologetically scratched its head with the tip of its tail. Then silver light flashed past, and an elegant cane appeared in Salaar’s hand.

He lightly tapped the floor with the cane and continued, “I know. The young version of me isn’t very likable. You saw that all along the way.”

Myss immediately straightened, the shock on his face even greater than Kendrick’s.

Salaar had actually told the truth, revealing the identity that previously only the two of them had known! Myss abruptly felt the displeasure of a secret being exposed.

Silence completely descended. For a moment, no one spoke. Only a trembling question came from inside the pocket watch. “Have you gone insane?”

Owen sounded as if he wanted to faint on the spot.

“I know. What circulates nowadays is all nonsense, so you won’t believe me immediately.”

Salaar’s gaze lightly brushed over Myss again. “Since we are standing inside the Celestial Canopy’s Middle-Finger Tower, I have plenty of ways to prove it.”

As he spoke, those wandering ancient puppets gathered beside Salaar once again. They tucked away a portion of their slender limbs and sat like hunting dogs, lowering their heads obediently toward Salaar.

Their bodies were too large, and the lanterns had all fallen to the ground. Thus, their heads were all hidden in the shadows above, leaving only dozens of faintly swaying lapis-lazuli points of light.

Salaar casually patted the limb of one of them. The surroundings were filled with pale-blue cold light, and paired with Salaar’s identical lapis-lazuli eyes, the scene carried a chill that sank deep into the bones.

For a moment, no one spoke again.

Kendrick widened his single remaining lapis eye and stared fixedly at Salaar. A trace of ecstasy gradually surfaced on his face, but that ecstasy didn’t look like witnessing a family legend. It was almost frightening.

“You mean that human sacrifice ritual brought you back from the dead.” His voice carried a certain thirst. “In other words, as long as the correct ritual is performed, one can…”

“Oh, then I’ll have to disappoint you,” Myss interrupted him sourly. “This guy was never dead. He just got incredibly old, with more wrinkles on the tip of his nose than a walnut.”

Kendrick instantly turned his head, his gaze stabbing toward Myss. “You sound like you know him very well.”

“Because he is my…”

The corner of Salaar’s mouth twitched. “He is someone who accompanied me throughout my life, someone unique to me.”

“…Heavens.”

Owen finally found his voice inside the pocket watch. “You can’t be trying to say that the Karns family was born from you and this guy…”

Salaar: “…”

Myss: “…” His hand slowly moved toward the pocket watch. Kendrick was still useful. Perhaps they should kill useless Owen first.

Salaar stretched out his arm, pressed down on Myss’s restless claw, and slowly pushed his hand down. Myss puffed a breath through his nose and temporarily let it go.

Kendrick clearly had no interest in his “ancestor’s” relationships, nor did he have any reverence for “Saint Salaar.”

He looked at Salaar fanatically and took a deep breath. “Listen, I don’t care that much who you are, nor do I care what you want to do. Even if you are the Chaos Archdemon, I’m willing to cooperate with you, as long as you are strong enough to bring Peyton back…”

“That’s exactly what I want to discuss with you.”

Crack. The brilliant golden shield shattered. Salaar advanced two steps and grabbed Kendrick by the front of his clothes.

“You have killed plenty of people too. You should know what ‘death’ tastes like. Life and death are not your toys, Kendrick Karns. The only reason I am leaving you alive is that you have not fallen so far as to seek help from V.O.R.”

Kendrick’s expression was almost calm. “Say whatever you like, as long as you…”

“—I will try.”

Salaar said coldly, releasing the front of Kendrick’s clothes. “Today. Here. In exchange, you must cooperate with every requirement I make.”

Kendrick nodded without hesitation.

He tenderly smoothed the front of his clothes that Salaar had wrinkled, as if brushing dust from his favorite treasure.

Only after tidying himself did he leisurely raise his head. “Do you still want the Stargazer inside the chimney? He slid down to the lower part of the chimney and is currently relying on that puppet to hold on.”

Myss and Salaar exchanged a look and nodded for the time being.

Kai was closely tied to Professor Gentry. Letting him die here would do them no good. At worst, they could have Salaar do a little memory manipulation later and handle him together with Owen.

“…But now’s not the time. Let him stay down there for a while longer.”

Salaar pointed upward. “Let me handle Peyton’s matter first.”

Kendrick grunted in agreement.

Salaar waved his hand, and the dozen or so ancient puppets busied themselves. They crawled across the battlefield, which was in complete disarray, recovering the wills from the ruins at a speed that made it impossible to see clearly, rebuilding the damaged wooden cabinets, and returning those fragile papers to where they should have been.

Kalen watched for a while, then couldn’t resist joining the work. Tass, meanwhile, wandered around suspiciously, pondering that explosive conversation just now.

Taking advantage of this gap, Myss briefly explained the complicated situation between Kendrick and Peyton to Salaar.

At the end, he raised his brows in great dissatisfaction. “When facing Magnolia, you still knew to call yourself a kin of the Chaos Archdemon. What, are you suddenly trying to pick the virtue of ‘honesty’ back up?”

His eyes were fixed on the regained hero cushion, but his tone remained as sharp and unsparing as ever.

“Because this is the Celestial Canopy’s tower, and in front of everyone, I mobilized the Celestial Canopy’s puppets.”

Salaar’s tone was calm. “I don’t know how much Kendrick knows, but as long as he knows the Celestial Canopy was hostile to the Chaos Archdemon, that lie becomes difficult to smooth over.”

“That guy is a thorough lunatic, and he holds divine power in his hands. I had to present an identity that could suppress him and was sufficiently real.”

Myss snorted noncommittally. “You even dared to say your true name out loud. He’s not as mad as you.”

“You’re very worried about me?” Salaar leaned against the complex machine on the wall, his gaze scratching over Myss again and again.

“Worried about you? I’m more worried you can’t control your mouth and will drag me down with you.”

Myss reflexively scoffed, his fingers casually rubbing the ends of his hair. Whether it was the familiar touch or the familiar bickering, both made his mood improve a little.

Salaar didn’t continue arguing. He only quietly looked toward Myss.

The dim blue light swayed endlessly. For a moment, Myss couldn’t distinguish whether the one looking at him was that annoying Salaar who didn’t know the height of heaven and depth of earth, or that young illusion with little emotion.

Not far away, the puppets carried papers and broken wood. Fine rustling sounds continued without end, like some invisible thing continuously cracking apart.

“Before I undid the drug’s effects.”

Salaar suddenly spoke, his voice somewhat tense. “Those things I said to you…”

[I must love you very much.]

[So this is only a willful and childish confession.]

Those words abruptly surfaced from his memory. Myss was nailed firmly in place, his fingers playing with his hair subconsciously stopping.

He didn’t know what expression he made, but that expression must have been very far from “I don’t care.”

“Of course I remember.”

Myss advanced two steps and used both arms to tightly lock around Salaar’s back, attacking him doubly with an embrace. In this posture, he could just hide his own out-of-control expression.

He discovered that his body was trembling slightly. His muscles shivered with excitement. Was this the taste of victory, or the pleasure of conquest? Myss couldn’t tell clearly. He only felt that he was being burned by invisible flames.

“You went to so much trouble to prove it to me. I can only believe it. You, who do everything to end the Night Scourge, actually fell in love with the source of the Night Scourge.”

Myss couldn’t help raising his head and snickering twice. “What a pity. Great Hero, no, Great Traitor Mr. Salaar, I can’t possibly fall in love with you.”

Salaar didn’t react. He only lowered his gaze and stared at him as before.

Contrary to Myss’s expectations, there was no sadness or defeat in Salaar’s eyes. Instead, they were even softer than the hero cushion.

Myss was a little dissatisfied. Salaar had said that “falling in love with him” was the most frightening thing, yet Myss couldn’t see where this guy was afraid.

He tightened his arms harder and finally noticed Salaar’s abnormality. Salaar was also trembling slightly. Unfortunately, Myss had never seen Salaar tremble from fear, and he couldn’t be certain whether this trembling came from terror or something else.

Not enough. Still not enough.

Myss wanted to squeeze out sharper words, to mock how miserable and stupid this feeling was, to make this remarkable victory even more exhilarating.

But wrapped tightly in Salaar’s gaze, by the time the words reached his mouth, they turned into a short mumble.

“…Idiot.”

His voice was even softer than Myss had expected, practically without the slightest offensive power.

Salaar smiled.

Since stepping into this tower, for the first time, his brows and eyes curved, carrying a feeling that was hard to describe.

“I suppose I am,” he said fairly, unconsciously leaning against the cold machine behind him.

“Only, there are some things that can’t be avoided just by ‘possessing wisdom.’ So you must use your cruelest attitude and do the thing that pains me most.”

Salaar seemed to realize his instinctive movement, and he quickly stood up straight.

Under Myss’s focused gaze, Salaar’s smile gradually settled, becoming something heavier, very much like the dust accumulated on the machinery.

“…You must accompany me until the final moment, Myss.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>