34 Who Am I To Stop Love?

Darkscale felt a strong sensation of pain coming from his cultivation base. It was as if a needle had been embedded deep in his skin, cutting his flesh and burning his soul.

Suddenly, the invisible mark that connected him to Winter Leaf disappeared with a cold snap.

The blowback sent his blood in turmoil and his damaged his cultivation base.

The serpent felt the control that he exerted on the human disappear, and knew that the blue monk had destroyed the connection that he had with the black haired huntress. He also discovered directly that when such a connection was severed, the one creating it would receive great internal damage.

This, added to the great pressure he was already under, made a crack appear on his Natural Heart.

'No!'

The serpent panicked: not his cultivation base! He worked so hard to create and maintain that energy container and now it had been almost destroyed in two with.

Upset, he screamed in his mind for Carelia to come and help him, but nothing answered his prayers. That hurt him as much as the blowback from the Slave Mark Technique. For the first time in his life, he felt alone and betrayed.

Before this moment, he never had friends or others that he relied on. However, he now had Carelia. He thought of the MAID as much more than a simple interface that powered up his Blue Cave: he thought of her as a true mentor and a friend.

Yet, at the moment where he truly needed her help, she was nowhere to be found.

Beaten both physically and mentally, the snake could do nothing but look as the now free Winter Leaf rejoiced, tearing with happiness. She immediately stopped kneeling to him and gave him a nasty look full of hate.

No words were exchanged between them but the reptile felt the smugness and happiness that she felt seeing him in that position. However, he couldn't find the strength to hate her for that.

He didn't realize why on the spot, but he didn't feel that her behavior was wrong in the slightest.

The freed huntress bowed toward the Blue Monk, that nodded with a kind gaze in his eyes.

Even so, the woman felt like lightning passes throughout her body when she met his eyes, leading her to immediately divert her gaze.

"So... did he do it?" suddenly asked the hovering man, his blue eyes shining with a menacing light as the pressure around the snake mounted so much that he could feel his bones crackling under its power.

"N... no... your majesty" said the woman timidly, not daring to meet again the strange man's eyes.

Immediately the pressure around Darkscale reduced, but it was still enough to make him have trouble even breathing.

"Still, enslaving people is a damnable thing!" sentenced the blue-robed monk. His voice resounded uncontested on all the battlefield and even reverberated around the silent Blood Woods.

He lifted his face towards the dark skies, an expression full of pain emerging on his strange blue face covered by foreigner symbols.

"There is no other choice, Amithaba. May the Buddhas guide my hand to extirp this evil from this world!"

He said slowly as if he was talking with himself. However, his voice echoed loudly around him, informing anyone who had a functioning brain about the thing that he was planning to do.

Winter Leaf smiled, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. Finally, the devious devil was going to be punished for all the evil that he had done.

"The heavens truly have eyes" she continuously murmured, brimming with happiness.

The rest of the Forest Will Tribe was also happy about the sad fate of Darkscale: that serpent clearly wanted to kill them not long ago. If the blue monk didn't show up they would probably be all dead right now.

They were happy about his demise, especially the hunter that was almost bitten to death by the snake. He looked at the unmoving snake, his eyes shining with anger. The only thing that stopped him from going there and killing the evil vermin himself was the respect for the old monk that saved his life.

The remaining Fire Earth marauders also didn't care much about Darkscale's life.

No, they were all more concerned about the fact that the monk seemed to be in the business of punishing evil people. They were raiders, for heaven's sake! They made all their living by killing, ravaging and enslaving people!

When the self-righteous monk finished with his punishing of the black devil, would he take it on them? If the Forest Will people weren't keeping them surrounded and unable to flee, they would have already run away.

Even Godermo wasn't feeling good now that he knew whom and, especially, why he had been saved. If that strange monk did all that to the serpent only because he enslaved a single woman, he couldn't even imagine what he would do to him. During his life, the chieftain had killed, raped and enslaved hundreds of people. Doing so was the lifestyle of the Fire Earth people.

However, not one of the Fire Earth People talked on behalf of the snake. They didn't want to attract attention to themselves and hoped that after killing the beast the blue man would simply go away with the same rapidity he arrived.

The blue-skinned man raised his left hand slowly, swirling azure energy emerging from his body and concentrating in the form of a water blade.

"Now, beast..."

The monk was ready to unleash the attack and destroy Darkscale, but when he looked at the tired and vacant violet eyes of the creature, his will wavered: there was something in those two flames that made him falter.

"So similar..." he suddenly murmured. "No, it's not possible..." he continued after a long silence.The pressure around the snake started to lower, but still kept him frozen in place.

The monk remained lost in his thoughts for a while. The blue blade kept pulsing and weaving in the air as its salty odor started to propagate on all the battlefield, covering the strong smell of blood. It was as if a sea had miraculously appeared in the area.

"There is only one way to be sure" suddenly said the blue man.

He made a grabbing motion with his right hand and immediately a drop of blood emerged from the front of the unmoving serpent. That single drop darted towards the blue-clad man and stopped only when it reached his hand, hovering on top of it.

After a moment of hesitation, the monk closed his hand, entering in contact with the blood he had extracted from the serpent. The instant the strange man touched it, a flash passed through his eyes.

First, he appeared pleased. Yet after a moment, his beard began wriggling weirdly, and a stunned expression appeared on his face. That only lasted for a short moment and after, it was immediately replaced by a displeased grimace.

Immediately, the blue blade disappeared and the pressure around the serpent started to lessen gradually, until it wasn't there anymore. However, Darkscale remained immobile, looking at the blue monk with eyes void of sentiment.

The old man interpreted his motionlessness as a form of disrespect: he was clearly daring him to attack him! That little punk! He knew from the beginning that he couldn't do anything to him, and he didn't say anything, letting him act as he wanted. The pain that he was showing? A lie! A sham! He was surely acting! He was treating him like a clown!

Probably there was a protector nearby, ready to act when things went too far.

"Little Prince, you surely need to learn some discipline. Just because of your title you can't run around hurting poor mortals!" said the monk furiously as the blue radiation around his body expanded, cracking the air that surrounded him.

Not receiving any response from the beast, the horned individual furrowed his thick eyebrows.

Was he ignoring him? Never a member of the younger generation had been so disrespectful to him!

A strange light passed inside the azure eyes of the horned man, as he pointed towards the green haired girl that was between the group of human and the snake. He heard what she was saying before and he even felt the desire hidden under her mask of worries.

"You, good girl, didn't you say that you wanted to help him? Who am I to stop true love from happening? Let this old monk give you his blessing!"

A blue light darted from his finger, penetrating inside Star Leaf. The girl screamed in shock: love? When did she ever say that she loved anyone?

She wanted to avoid the light sent by the monk, but it was too fast: it hit her, sending her mind in turmoil as the azure energy infiltrated every single part of her body. The dart of blue force then bounced from her body to that of Darkscale, doing the same thing with him.

"It's just a gift to congratulate the formation of such a golden couple... naturally if you want it removed... I would understand... if you manage to, ahahaha"

Laughing, the creature started to hover farther from the ground.

"Tell your father I'm waiting for him on top of the Broken Mountain! And stop committing evil! Your bloodline won't be able to save you from eternal damnation!"

He screamed before transforming into a beam of azure light, darting away in the night skies.