Scepter of Thorns

Chapter 42 41. Breakthrough

The main sphere of influence of the Black Queen is in the north of the Red River. The river divides into tributaries and rushes towards this desolate Gobi. This is where the first demon expedition army originated, led by Queen Black, the queen of the first demon king Ulysses Phaethon.

The current leader of the Black Queen, Franz Laverde, bows deeply to the realistic and detailed portrait.The woman in the painting has a cold and serious expression, her back is straight, her hands are clasped around her waist, a black iron crown is pinned to her hair, and she is wearing a simple but formal black high-necked long dress, which makes her skin as white as ice and snow.

Queen Black's life experience is a mystery.She has no touching beauty, nor the unique gentleness of women. Her real name has never been made public, and no one knows how she met the first Demon Lord.But when Ulysses returned to the capital Swan from the northern border after defeating the Light Arrow Knights, he took the woman by the hand and climbed up to the nine-storey platform, announcing to all his subjects, "Crown Black as queen."

This is the simplest coronation ceremony for a queen in the history of the Demon Realm, and it was performed by the Demon Lord himself.There were no bands and grand banquets, no costumes and lavish celebrations, and he wore a plain black iron crown in Black's hair.The crown was uniquely cold to metal, and there was nothing inlaid on it, but it was by no means the five-pointed crown that a queen should wear, but the seven-pointed crown of a demon king.

This caused an uproar at the time, and most of the courtiers opposed the marriage. They threatened with an unwarranted marriage contract and added dozens of beauties from famous families as queen candidates. Faced with such exclusion, Black chose to ignore it—she just led the [-]th Demon Legion to recover Tingta, south of the Red River, and used it as the main material storage area, bringing a large amount of food from the north of the Demon Realm by river. and arms, thus laying the foundation for the future Southern Expedition.When the news of the victory came back to Swan, Ulysses returned all the "queen candidates" in the harem, and granted the queen military power, allowing her to lead troops to the expedition.

At this time, the first batch of queen supporters began to appear, and the black queen party took shape.What is incredible is that Ulysses has adopted a tacit attitude towards this, so even though the queen is far away in the south, she can understand the changes in the first place at the first time.During this ruling period known as the "Black Gold Age", the Queen's status was even higher than that of the Demon Lord. The first feminist movement in the history of the Demon World was launched, and both the economy and culture were thriving.

The cause of Black's death is also a mystery. She did not leave any children. This woman buried her youth in the bloody battlefield.And after the death of the first demon king Ulysses, she inherited the scepter of lies that symbolizes the imperial power. At this time, Black’s clique was spread all over and the military power was in hand. Almost all the subjects thought that she would replace Ulysses. Continue writing The legend of the "Black Golden Age".However, 13 years after Black became famous from being crowned queen to leading the expeditionary force, she chose to quietly withdraw from the stage of history and hand over all power to Prince Aldorna.In addition to the scepter of lies that was taken away, the black iron crown she left behind serves as a symbol of power for the leaders of the Black Queen Party, but only women can really wear the crown.

Franz was dumbfounded by this, and when he got up, his face was still respectful.The sharp eyes of the woman in the portrait seemed to be able to pierce all hypocrisy. He was a little embarrassed and quickly left the hall of worship.After turning around several remote corners, he walked into an ordinary building. Under its black and gold exterior, the building was full of magnificence, as beautiful as a mirage.

He walked through the long corridor, where the petals of the dull irises were withered on the carpet painted with the map of the devil world, and the maid was sweeping the petals away.He glanced at it, and the other party immediately bowed and saluted.At the end of the corridor, Franz opened the door and entered the spacious hall.

The red-haired woman wearing a black iron crown leaned on the main seat with her chin propped up. Her cheekbones were high, which made her look a little haughty.But Franz knew in his heart that this woman was like a sinister snake, with a sinister and terrifying scheming under her superficial arrogance, he couldn't help lowering his head, "Madame Red."

"Frantz, this is the third time this month." The voice she poured out from her red lips was cold and hoarse, as if it was neighing like a snake letter, "It seems that you are full of doubts about the plan, so let me reiterate Well, killing Caesar will not mess up the Anti-Cross Party at all, because the consul is too young and vigorous, and someone in the party has already conspired to get rid of him. An excuse to eradicate. Once Caesar is dead, the spearhead will be aimed at you, and no matter who you push to take the blame at this time, it will not be good for your position in the party."

"...Yes." This woman really knew, Franz thought, "Then shall we continue to cooperate with the royal family?"

Madam Hong looked at him like she was looking at a hopeless lunatic, "Do you want to continue?"

"Why not?" Franz tried to muster up his courage, "Now that the Anti-Cross Party still trusts the royal family, and the royal family has long since intended to clean it up, why don't we add fuel to the flames and gain from it when they fight to the death? profit?"

"Do you think Caesar and Victoria are as stupid as you?" Madam Red's expression turned ugly, "In fact, every faction has the same idea as you, watching the melee between the two sides and benefiting from it, but they don't want to go Be the fuse. And you, Franz, if you are the one who incites the flames, then the most likely result is to be eliminated by the Royal Family and the Anti-Cross as the first victim of power."

"This is just a temptation," she emphasized. "I repeat, don't touch Caesar—his identity is not simple. I thought he was just the most outstanding of Gunther's many adopted sons, but his silver eyes are obviously Because of his alien blood, I suspect that he is a descendant of Silver Eyed Prince Clement."

Franz retorted, "But Prince Clement has no heir."

"That was the time when Victoria rose up and confronted Clement, probably out of the protection of his heirs, he didn't dare to make it public." Mrs. Red sneered, which made her look even more mean, "Just cut into this Start investigating Caesar's identity at this point. As for the royal family, don't act rashly for now, and don't be the first to start a war if you are not completely sure."

"Yes." Franz nodded, but he hesitated again, "Then how does the Seventh Prince reply?"

"Keep the appearance of the alliance, but take back his military power over the border army." Madam Hong tapped the table with her knuckles, "How is that child Valentine?"

Franz immediately grasped the key point, "The last time he gave me a memory, it was about a half-breed demon in Caesar's mansion who was accidentally injured at the assassination banquet. I have already sent someone to check his identity."

"Very good." The red-haired woman stood up, "Then I hope to see you again next month."

Franz bowed respectfully and then backed out. When he stepped out of the building, the expression on his face became ferocious.

※※※

The silver-haired magician shrugged helplessly, "Sorry, I only have a broken violin in my ring."

"Then can you fly?" asked the pope, spreading out the wings made of black runes on his back.

The magician spread his hands, "I don't even have wings, of course not."

The Pope thought for a moment, put the diary back into the ring, and just happened to see a bundle of ropes in the space of another ring.He took a quick glance at Lyall standing behind, who was staring into the abyss, as if thinking about something.He turned his head and took out the rope, and went to check the steel wire.

It is very tough, but I don't know if it is an illusion, the steel wire feels as slippery as oil.

"Then you can only hold on to this." The pope threw the rope to the magician, "The wire is very slippery, tie it up."

The magician looked at the wings on the backs of the two of them, looking as if he thought he was unlucky, "Thank you."

He tied the rope to the steel wire, then tied his own waist, chose a steel wire and began to move forward step by step with difficulty.

The pope tried to fly in the abyss, and out of caution, his flight path was always along another steel wire.But the accident happened suddenly, halfway through the flight, the strong suction was like an invisible hand protruding from the abyss, pulling him down severely.The wings drooped feebly, and the pope grabbed the steel wire with quick eyesight and hands, barely hanging himself on it.

He gasped, knowing it wasn't that simple.

Lyle was still standing far away on the edge of the cliff, seeing the pope struggling a little, he spread his wings and stopped a little distance away from the fatal suction.Then he stretched out his right hand and pulled the pope up.

When the ability to fly came back, the pope got rid of the fear that his life was hanging by a thread.His face softened a lot, "Thank you."

Lyle smiled, "You never have to say that to me because it's what I'm supposed to do."

The pope lowered his head, and the dark golden hair covered his eyes, which made the expression on his face even more unpredictable.The magician had put his hands on the edge of the cliff at this time, and just as he was about to jump up, his eyes suddenly swept across the stone on the edge of the cliff. There were fine scratches on it, as if something had been engraved on it.

"Hey, there are words here." He turned his head, only to find that the Pope and another blond man were standing still in the air, "Why don't you come over?"

"There is a strong suction in the middle of the steel wire. I fell on the steel wire while flying, and he just pulled me up." The Pope maintained the balance of his body and wings, "What did you say?"

"Let me take a look." The magician leaned over to identify it carefully, because it was carved on a stone, and the handwriting was a little blurry, "'Just when my life was hanging by a thread, he extended a helping hand to me. My body and mind Redeemed and captured, embracing him like a lover, dancing and falling to the corner of the dead'—this is a bit like what you said, is it true, is the exit at the bottom of the abyss?"

The Pope felt a little uncomfortable. Most of the poems were true. He speculated that he might be the "I" in it, and Lyle...

Forget it.

"Can you see the road over there?" Lyle asked, his wings gently brought the Pope to his side, and the crystal white feathers brushed the other's face, as if to indicate something.

The magician narrowed his eyes and looked carefully, "I just noticed after you said that, there is no road here, they are all blocked with stones, and the only exit seems to be the abyss." Then he changed the subject, " Are you a couple?"

Before the two of them answered, he continued on his own, "It seems that the only way out is to jump down. This poem seems to be about the two of you. You have wings and you can't fall to death. Since it said that you should hug or something , I don’t expect anyone to take care of me, just one thing—if anyone of you can give me a hand when I’m about to fall to the ground, I promise not to disturb the whole process.”

Then before the Pope could react, Lyle agreed, "Okay."

pope:"……"

"Okay, then you jump first, and I will let you go after you get down." The magician moved himself between the steel cables.

"Come on, this way the resistance will be smaller." Lyle took the Pope's hand, "Remember to fold your wings and hold on to me when you fall, my wing skeleton is wider than yours, and I will fly up a few meters before falling to the ground .”

The Pope actually didn't want to do this at all, but the way the magician looked at him was completely "go, go, go, hurry up", and he was not that familiar with flying, so he couldn't fall in a straight line.In desperation, he had no choice but to close his wings and lean on Lyle, but he felt a burst of warmth and a faint fragrance like after the rain.The other party smiled and hugged him even tighter, and the huge wings were gathered at once.

come down--

There was a whistling wind in his ears, and the pope subconsciously hugged Lyle back, the discomfort of weightlessness made him a little unbearable.It seemed like a few minutes or more had passed, and he could even hear his own heartbeat as dense as a drum.

No matter how he flipped in the air, Lyle pressed the Pope firmly against his heart.At a distance of five meters from the ground, he suddenly spread the wide white wings behind him. Those soft feathers were suddenly hard as if carved from ice, leaving scratches on the cliffs on both sides.Even so, he couldn't hold it any longer. The weight of the two people increased the resistance of the vertical jump. He first stopped in the air and slowed down, and then gently put the carefully protected person in his arms on the ground.

The Pope remained expressionless throughout the entire process, but Lyall knew that he was like a bow stretched to the extreme, which could break if he pulled it at will.He quickly withdrew from Lyle's embrace, leaned against the stone wall, and said slowly, "Thank you."

"You..." Lyle smiled wryly, "Oh."

Then he flew to a higher place and shouted to the magician above: "Come down."

In this way, the magician was caught by Lyle from the fall, and then slowly descended to the ground.He straightened his messy silver hair, and said in a determined and meaningful tone: "It seems that I am still too bright."

After speaking, he took the lead in walking into the corridor at the bottom which was cut by the stone wall.Lyle admired his sense of wit, turned around and said gently to the Pope with a complex expression, "Let's go too."

The Pope actually wanted to explain that there was nothing going on between the two of them, but he always felt that this would get darker and darker, so he simply ignored it, but now it seems that the misunderstanding seems to be quite big.The instigator in front of him smiled innocently, and he couldn't say anything.

Unexpectedly, there is a dark green forest outside the stone wall, and the silvery white light spots are scattered everywhere like broken stars.The magician stopped, pointed to a shadow in front of him and said to the two people behind him, "Look, there seems to be someone there."

The black shadow not far away also noticed them, and suddenly teleported over, appearing in front of the three of them.The man with black curly hair has a pair of strange blue eyes like phosphorous fire, but there is no shadow under his feet, as if he is floating in the air.He was the first to notice Lyall's blond hair, followed by the Pope, with a sly smile like a fox.

"Hey, the pope and the one with the blank card, oh yes, and the magician." He bowed in a gentlemanly manner, and in the Tarot card on his chest, a person covered in black robes was riding a nightmare with a sickle in his hand. Immediately, trampling on the soul struggling in the flames, "below is death."

----Chapter41. Breakthrough & Finish----

The author has something to say:

I am so slow and my favorites have risen... I was so moved and cried QAQ This is actually a story of two single dogs watching two people who are about to leave the group to show their affection and then fight and fight (^o^)/~