He and It Chapter 87: Dark Sky Sanctuary (22)

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Addis note: This book ends with chapter 104.

Chapter 87: Dark Sky Sanctuary (22)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Yu Mengzhou had to hold the toolbox with one hand, and flail wildly with the other in an attempt to deliver a blow to the demon. The demon’s sharp toes and claws sank deep into his clothing and into his flesh. Red, warm blood instantly bled out and wetted the torn fabric.

In an instant, the demon screamed miserably and let go of his body. Yu Mengzhou’s blood was like the most potent sulfuric acid. It instantly penetrated her hardened claws and corroded her invulnerable body with a boiling sound.

“Shit!” Yu Mengzhou shouted in fear. He had become a falling object again, but he couldn’t fly!

Another banshee demon swooped over and caught him in mid-air. The previous demon that had taken the risk of pulling Yu Mengzhou up was already torn apart in the white light and blown into a shower of flesh and blood.

Yu Mengzhou grabbed the opportunity and struggled fiercely in mid-air and with his strength, those mourning demons that were strong enough to tear apart lions, couldn’t get close to him for a moment. They were either sliced by the hoof trimming knife in his hand and disintegrated, or splattered by the blood droplets from his arm, and reduced to nothing but white light and screams of agony.

The reinforcements in the sky were growing more and more, while silence completely enveloped the Demon Horses in the fortress, and left Yu Mengzhou an isolated and unsupported individual. The demons came in an endless stream and flooded the space in all directions with a sea of people.

No matter how different his physique was, Yu Mengzhou was still just a human being. He had never received professional training in this area, and even if he had fallen into that prison, except for the first day of positive contact with the fearful little demons, in the following days the thirteen Demon Horses who stared at him day and night were like a barrier that couldn’t be exploited, and others couldn’t hurt him even by a single thread of his guardians’ hair.

Therefore, the end of his confrontation with the banshees was almost foregone.

However, he wasn’t willing. He didn’t know what exactly the Prince of Demons had used to cause the herd to go into a coma-like slumber, but he still wanted to try his best to support them. At dawn there will be a turnaround…a moment, a second, there will be a turnaround right?

–And then there was a second. A shrill howl sounded from the rear. The eagle’s wings of a mourning demon cut through the gap in his defense, and heavily pounced on the back of Yu Mengzhou’s head.

I wonder if my blood will guide Falchion and the others to my whereabouts like the quills in the Wild Swans…Uh, except that I’m no prince in distress! ¹

As Yu Mengzhou clutched his hoof trimmer tightly, that was the last thought that flashed through his mind before he passed out.

.

For an unprecedented first time, during his slumber, Falchion dreamed of the place where he was born.

Heart Magma. The true, sleeping core of the Demon Realm. The amniotic fluid that gave birth to all Demon Horses.

He stood comfortably on that flowing thick liquid of translucent gold and red where the temperature had long since pushed the limits of all imagination. Even Angola, the supreme ruler of the Demon Realm, wouldn’t dare stay there for long, for the primordial power of the Heart Magma would disintegrate anything not directly from it, then recycle it into pure energy.

How did he come to be here? Since the moment of his descent, he had completely broken away from the Heart’s control and become a free being.

Although that freedom had been extremely short-lived; as short as an illusion.

But here, Falchion really felt a long-lost peace. Of course, it wasn’t like it wasn’t peaceful around Yu Mengzhou. Well, truth be told, the human’s scent, emotions, and even his soul… moment by moment, it made him experience the taste of endless hunger. These days, Falchion couldn’t bear to think about his horns at all. Just the thought of that night made his blood run as hot as if it was melting.

…Well, now it was getting hot again.

Stay here…

Deep in the Heart, the magma pulsated like a heart, and gave out dull commands.

Stay here…

Falchion took a step back, suspicious. “Talking to me?”

We have all waited too long and suffered too long to be free again. Stay here and wait for the final word…

“What do you mean?” Falchion pressed. “What news do we need to wait for?”

The compatriots were waiting in peaceful sleep, as were the others. Soon, so soon…

Around the Heart lava, the figures of the other twelve demon horses appeared. Falchion watched, but his mind grew more and more uneasy.

There were shadows of the human. Where was the human? Where was his human?

“I cannot sleep,” he said judiciously. “I have unfinished business. I have not left Angola begging for life and wailing for death!”

Unable to end that sinner’s life, the roots of which he knew well…

“Unable to end it?” Falchion bared his fangs. “I am the first descended Demon Horse, the embodiment of the true nature of the Demon Realm, and the best known. However, even if he understands me, how can he defy the will of this world when he is still a being of the Demon Realm?”

Then, to put it another way, no matter how many times he is eliminated, he will be like a ghost that haunts and haunts the Demon Horse’s life for near eternity…

“So, what you’re saying is, you’ve figured out a solution once and for all?” Falchion asked in a deep voice. “Unfortunately, I am one with the two. If I cannot annihilate Angola, then-“

He suddenly stopped his sneering speech.

Human.

The human who had suddenly fallen into the Demon Realm because a large hole had opened in his watch; the human who held instruments the Demon Realm had never heard of, and possessed abilities the Demon Realm had never seen before; the human who was consistently strong, gentle, and filled with compassionate love for the herd…his human.

Angola must not be able to understand how there could be beings like that in the world, in ways that he couldn’t imagine, without taking pleasure based on mutilation.

–Yu Mengzhou didn’t come to lift the spell and return freedom to the Demon Warhorses, he came for the annihilation of Angola. Yu Mengzhou was chosen by the will of the Demon Realm to be the “solution”! 

Falchion let out a roar of shock and rage. His chest swept into flames and his hooves blazed wildly with black fire. He ran, storming up and down, as he smashed his horns through the dream world and crashed headlong into harsh, dark reality.

His human was gone, his blood mixed with the foul stench of demons. The front of the fortress was a mess, and littered with the disintegrating pieces of banshees.

At that point, Yu Mengzhou was the only one without sin, and every drop of his blood weighed more than a thousand pounds and burned more than the creatures of the Demon Realm could bear.

–The human was taken captive by Angola, right at the moment when they were sleeping in droves, right under their noses!

“Wake up!” Falchion roared like a madman. His voice pierced the boundaries of the underworld and the real, and blasted into the ears of all the Demon Horses and pulled them out of the Heart’s dreams.

The herd jumped up in fear as Falchion snapped, “The human is at Angola’s! Depart immediately!”

“The corpse of a Heart Eater…” Noel observed the corpse in front of him. “This can’t be possible. How did it dare to come near us and why did none of us not find it?!”

Gao’er froze completely.

He remembered last night’s pairing. The human said he seemed to see something. However when he blanket-searched the area, he found nothing out of the ordinary, and that was why he replied to the human, “The plains are clean and everything.”

Therefore, the Heart Eater would feel free to waltz across the plains and have the audacity to do something that not any demon would dare to do: snatch the human away from the sleeping Demon Horses and take him to Angola’s royal capital.

“Now is not the time to be thinking about east and west!” Falchion snapped as he stared at the distant horizon. “Ether! Teleport us to Angola’s royal capital now! Full speed ahead!”

.

There was no way to measure the passage of time, a second, a day, or a month, before Yu Mengzhou finally awoke from his coma.

He struggled to rise to his feet, and realized that he was still holding the hoof trimming knife firmly in his right hand, while his left arm was tightly clamped to the toolbox. Since his grip had been too long and too tight, he had trouble loosening his sore fingers and relaxing the aching muscles all over his body.

“Hiss…” He grimaced bitterly. The wound on his right arm had only barely stopped bleeding, and the wound was glued to the air-dried and hardened material of his shirt, so the slightest tug was a fiery pain.

The four directions around him were dark. Except for the white shimmering light that emanated from his body, Yu Mengzhou couldn’t see anything else.

“Where is this?” he muttered, as he anxiously clutched the toolbox in his arms. “I…”

The last scene he remembered was the streaking figure of the banshee that reeked of a rich, fishy odor. He was knocked out by a wing, and then what?

“Welcome to my palace, human.”

In the deep darkness, a soft, one might even say frail, voice rang out, elegant, with a tone that was full of aristocratic air – which made it difficult to tell whether he was mocking, complimenting, or both.

Yu Mengzhou asked in a low voice, “…Is it Angola?”

The voice in the darkness was silent for a moment, then said with intent, “Correct. I am. Because the aura on the Innocent One is just too dazzling, could you please dim the light around you a little bit?”

“Whether I do or don’t mind, I’m still not going to be a shrinking violet.” Yu Mengzhou spoke without mercy. “What did you bring me here for? To kill me or torture me?”

“Oh! No, of course it’s not to torture,” Angola hastily denied. “The blood of the Innocent, I have witnessed its power. To bring you here, I have lost many strikers, almost as many as Radiant Angel slaughtered. The soul of the one who stands, in the eyes of us demons, is like a tower built of silver, pearls and moonlight. So dazzling, so untainted by dust…I invited you here as a guest, certainly not for the sake of torture. That would be too vulgar and trite.”

Yu Mengzhou had the luxury of being swept away by this long string of flattery, but he quickly realized that Angola had vetoed another possibility.

“Trying to kill me, then,” he said with certainty.

After a long moment, Angola continued, “No. Not to admit that the directness of that overwhelms me…Why don’t we just go at my pace and let’s relax for a bit before we get down to business?”

The light suddenly blossomed, and Yu Mengzhou was able to adjust to the scene in front of him without blocking his eyes.

In front of him was a wide golden corridor.

His feet were standing on a long velvet carpet with gold and blood-red colored threads, while both sides were strewn with huge white horse sculptures. They were obviously the thirteen Demon Horses, and lined the corridor that seemed to almost shrink to the end of a needle. Yu Mengzhou had to squint his eyes to be able to see that there seemed to be a thick curtain at the end.

As a horse lover, Yu Mengzhou was immediately attracted to those marble artifacts, which were more than twice the size of the real Demon Horses, and could be used as symbols for the standard which was placed in the center of the square. ²

Those lifelike statues surpassed all the human art Yu Mengzhou had ever seen. Their muscle lines, movements, and demeanor were so vivid as to be frightening. Even the instruments of torture were clearly reproduced one by one. Before this, Yu Mengzhou only knew that the Italian sculptor Raffaelle Monti was good at using marble to express the soft texture, ³ but he didn’t know that he was in this prison. Here he was actually able to see the carving techniques that reproduced the flames of that ethereal, brutal and passionate creature perfectly.

“As the owner of the Demonic Warhorses,” Angola said. “Allow me to present them.”

Yu Mengzhou looked back and said coldly, “Never have I seen such cowardice, to the point of shamelessness, in an owner. Hiding in a shady little corner, waiting for their only recognized pets to come and hunt themselves.”

“Uh-oh,” Angola moaned softly. “That language is really very sharp, and I appreciate the sting against me. However, while you are their physical master, I occupy their minds, so let’s split it in half?”

The statue of a Demon Horse advanced forward to Yu Mengzhou.

The Prince, addressing Yu Mengzhou, said, “Striker, the youngest and most impulsive, my new favorite. In fact, it is a collection of youth and passion, vigor. Looking at it always reminds me of my youth.”

A second Demon Horse moved in front of him.

“Bloody Butcher, ah,” Angola exclaimed. “The son of war, whose single thought can decide the success or failure of a battle. I truly love it.”

As the Demon Prince narrated, Yu Mengzhou was forced to move forward. He gripped the hoof trimming knife tightly. He felt that it was a short-range weapon and not long enough, so also he drew out the forty centimeter hoof cutting pliers which were heavy to carry in his hand.

“Sevenfold Eyes, penetrating all the mysteries of the world. Iron Scepter, the embodiment of absolute monarchical power. Ether, controlling space as if playing with a soft putty.” Angola sighed deeply. “They are the diamonds in my crown. They, and they alone, can add to my splendor.”

The statues of the Demon Horses were still moving forward, one horse at a time.

“Gao’er, lord of the shadows, god of assassins, thieves, scouts, and all those who struggle in the shadows. Blasphe! My dear Blasphe, whose skill in manipulating intrigue and swaying the hearts of men is always the most interesting, and only this prison could give birth to such a special power. And Catastrophe…How can I forget it? Stuttering and low self-esteem bring with them inescapable natural calamities and distress.”

Yu Mengzhou gradually approached the tent on the raised platform.

“Crusade, ha,” Angola sneered, intensifying his tone. “The slave of rebellion, but the power it controls has the capital to support it in its rebellion. Crusade, the symbol of a desire that will surely be fulfilled, the spirit of the heart’s desire to be fulfilled. Radiant Angel, a mediocre name for its power, it dominates the skies. Noel, the embodiment of sorcery and magic. Deathstar, aha! Can anyone not tremble at the majesty of Deathstar! Simply because it is death itself, the hour of the end of all things.”

The last Demon Horse statue appeared in front of Yu Mengzhou’s eyes, athletic and agile, with a calm and indifferent gaze that seemed to have remained unchanged for the past thousand years.

Yu Mengzhou murmured, “…Falchion…Falchion.”

“And finally, the Demon Horse at the very beginning. Honor it. Falchion.” Angola behind the curtain bowed deeply. At that moment, Yu Mengzhou approached the high platform.

“What is it and how does it show it?” Yu Mengzhou, wary and stalling for time, cautiously approached the high platform.

Angola let out a raspy low sound. Following that, the sound got louder and louder, until he couldn’t catch his breath and he let out a sickly choking cough.

“It…it is the Demon Realm itself, the cornerstone from which all powers derive. Since you came, the Demon Horses have not submitted to me without fail, and why? Because of you, of course!”

Because of him. Yu Mengzhou finally realized, “Wait, so what you’re saying is…Falchion and the other Demon Horses are the masters of the prison, and are inherently qualified to sit as demon princes!”

“Yes,” Angola lamented. “I’m a usurper. So what? It is simply that too much time has passed, and the pain I inflicted on them has become as flat as water, so they are due to detach themselves from me. Do you know how powerful a Demon Horse’s healing powers are? The torture devices that remain on them are among the strongest…”

Angola said, “That’s why I was so happy to learn of your existence! Imagine one who loves them, helps them reclaim their freedom…no matter if at the beginning they used force, or took advantage of you in the mentality of defection, now there are eight Demon Horses that have gone through the hands of the liberation. If it happens at this time that your miserable death follows, who is the innocent person?”

Yu Mengzhou was struck dumb.

“There couldn’t be a more wonderful and unparalleled torture!” Angola said exuberantly. “They have the lookout, see it as a lifesaver, and now deserve despair at the knowledge of death…especially Falchion. Poor Falchion, he can’t escape me! This is so…”

“Bullshit!” Yu Mengzhou couldn’t stand it any longer and scolded him. “Since I can undo the spell nails, that means I can’t be afraid that there’s something unclear about me that could pose a threat!”

Despite being interrupted by him, Angola wasn’t annoyed, he hadn’t yet finished two rounds and finally pulled open the always closed curtain and appeared in front of Yu Mengzhou’s eyes.

Yu Mengzhou slowly opened his eyes wide.

–The Demon Prince who only appeared in rumors wore a crown on his head. His pure gold horns were inlaid with blood-colored jewels. His upper body was a humanoid form made up of arms and torso, but the lower half of his body was actually in the form of a warhorse, just like Falchion.

This centaur Prince’s icy cold, incomparably evil aura floated out. He looked down at Yu Mengzhou and sarcastically spat out a long crimson tongue.

“Wrong. It’s true that a demon like me will only be killed by concepts that I don’t understand, but because of that, I can’t be ruled by the Demon Realm to the end of annihilation! The world I love so dearly, all that I own, is my one hundred percent obedient mistress. I have fully understood every collection of concepts it has produced, and have suppressed them with pain, hatred and might for thousands of years! I have even usurped the orthodox posture of those in power. Tell me, what else could be fatal to my world?”

Yu Mengzhou’s lips quivered uncontrollably, while above him, Angola was wild with abandon, almost arrogant, singing and dancing.

“By this sinless man? By the so-called love, by the so-called warmth, by the so-called hormones’ impulsive trick on the brain? Ha! Do you think I haven’t read human literature and really presume that I can be annihilated by ‘love.’ An imaginary ‘love,’ as naive and childish as the ending of a bedtime book, do you?”

Angola opened his arms as if he couldn’t wait to embrace his invisible lover. “Falchion, the mighty, beautiful Falchion, the true master this throne was meant to hold. Yes, it is the original, the beginning, the universe before entropy appeared; and me? I will return in the end. I am the nightmare that this world will never be free of!”

“Okay?” He couldn’t look too intently or too subdued, but after the shock, Yu Mengzhou couldn’t help but be on fire.

“…Love. What’s wrong with it? The only valued emotions are mature, negative emotions are not childish. Shouldn’t the opposite positive emotions be branded with the stigma of ‘hasty’ and ‘naive’? Ok, in the whole day, the most mature, the most reasonable, the most happy, which can it be?!”

Angola’s voice suddenly lurched, and his pupils suddenly quavered.

Yu Mengzhou had noticed the devil’s difference. He lifted up the hoof-cutting pliers, pointed them at the Demon Prince’s nose and snapped, “I really don’t understand what’s so good about it. Anyone who has been to school should know the law of conservation of matter. Enslave them with great pain and hatred, and be prepared, for inevitably there will be the same volume of love and joy, born on the other side of the world!”

For a moment, the room was filled with silence. Angola fixated on that righteous face, and all the unintentional feelings in his eyes.

Yu Mengzhou stared at him and gasped uncontrollably. However, at the sight of the Demon Prince’s stagnant affectation, he became quiet.

“…Wait.”

At that moment, he subconsciously lowered his arms, and the aura that appeared at first caused him to suddenly have an epiphany.

“It’s not that I don’t understand love, it’s just that I don’t understand the way love is born, and I don’t understand me.”

 

“–I am…An existence that cannot be understood.”