MCDWTBS Chapter 38
by VolareOn Serra’s small, soft, and chubby body, grayish-red cracks gradually tore his skin apart, the scent of charred blood flowing out from those cracks like dirty red clay, leaving messy traces on his cheeks.
Edwin carefully held Serra, but his limbs were no longer obedient, his eyes lost the sharpness they should have had on the battlefield, leaving only a dazed expression.
He forgot everything around him, immersed in a dangerous and unreliable blankness, his eyes only able to see the young Chong in his arms who was almost lifeless. For a long time, he tried to call out “Young Male Master”, even “Serra”, but his ears were only filled with the noise of chaotic currents. His own ridiculous voice was fragmented, and occasionally a few words reached his ears, sounding so empty, without a trace of reality.
The male insectoid infant in his arms was so light that Edwin could hardly feel the weight of his arms. Had the Young Male Master always been this light? He looked so small, so fragile. Without his flaunting male insectoid tendrils and pretentious composure, he looked surprisingly young and pitiful.
He had always been like this. He would never grow up—even with more disguises, Edwin always remembered that the Young Male Master was just the infant who had originally laid alone in the medical bay, uncared for. He was a disabled insectoid child who was disgusted by his male father and had lost his male parent. He could hardly be called a godchild with great power and favor.
But the Young Male Master had never shown his weakness. Even his crying and childishness, in Edwin’s eyes now, were excessively sensible, never crossing the line—as if he innately knew how to make Edwin compromise, but without embarrassingly accepting the meticulous care of an infant, how to slowly heal Edwin’s wounds.
The male insectoid infant was too good at doing these things, so much so that Edwin later actually believed in his shrewd and determined attitude, believing that his weak shoulders could carry the lever to pry open all of this injustice.
He had not protected his infant.
Edwin suddenly realized this, but it was all too late. He couldn’t feel anything. All his senses became absurd and bizarre. Only pain, pain was the only old friend in his weakening, burdensome body that made him feel at home. Pain tore at him, pulling him back into this world when nothingness almost devoured him.
The wings he had forcibly summoned were burning fiercely behind him, like a huge shield formed by flames, blocking in front of the fragile insectoid infant. Edwin had always possessed a very large and powerful pair of wings. This was the symbol of his proud combat power and the assistance of his countless merits on the battlefield. He had always valued his wings, knowing that for a female Chong, losing wings was equal to losing life, and the remaining time was only a humiliating existence.
But at this moment, his huge wings were burning behind him, his blood with the metallic copper scent evaporating into the air. He didn’t even spare a shred of consciousness to perceive it.
The Duke’s Mansion’s robots raised their shields, but those couldn’t last for more than a few seconds in the bizarre flames and smoke emanating from Bishop Sasz’s left arm. The darkness in the sky above the Duke’s Mansion was completely torn apart. Countless dark male insectoid tendrils fell from the void, piling up on the ground like worthless, dirty debris. The blood-red light illuminated the entire sky, and the shadowy black snakes vaguely resisted stubbornly. Everything seemed absurd and bizarre.
This was divine punishment, this was the Apocalypse.
This thought flashed through the minds of countless horrified Chong. The male insectoids of the Church who were still standing also knelt on the ground at this moment, piously praying with Sandersfi. The screams and blood of the female Chong and Sub-males became a discordant symphony in front of their sacred eulogies. And at this moment, Serra finally opened his eyes in Edwin’s arms under the tearing pain in his body.
To describe the pain in Serra’s body as tearing was a bit of an understatement. In fact, Serra doubted whether he even had a body left. It seemed that the infant body he had been randomly stuffed into in the insectoid world had also been completely destroyed, every inch of flesh and blood like trembling slices of meat and excessively heated plasma. Serra was very puzzled why his broken body, scattered to this extent, still had the need to emit such devastating pain.
He really wanted to die a little.
Serra felt at this time that when he was a human on Earth, being run over at the waist by the wheels of a large truck was nothing at all. Yes, he had glimpsed the internal structure of his abdominal cavity at that time, but that was only brief, okay? His consciousness had extinguished after a few seconds, and the revolving lantern of his short life hadn’t even had time to play. It was like a drunken blackout, which was actually not much of a torment.
But such clear, specific, and unbearable pain made Serra unable to even scream. For a moment, he forgot what he was doing and where he was, until he smelled a familiar, clean, metallic copper scent, mixed in with the ashes in the sky.
That was the scent that had accompanied him to sleep every night since he came to the insectoid world. That was the cleanest scent he had ever smelled in two lifetimes, without any worldly or amazingly talented attraction. It was just… clean, so clean that it made him think of moments of peace and innocence in his life countless times.
Edwin!
He instantly opened his eyes wide, Edwin’s pale face reflected in his vision. He didn’t look too good, his eyes mixed with tears, broken and at a loss, his face pale, his expression so indifferent that he looked almost like a meticulously crafted but poorly kept work of art. He reminded Serra of all the ways Edwin had looked when they first met, without any will to survive, as if the world had collapsed in front of him a thousand times.
“What have I done to him? Oh my god……”
This was the first thought in Serra’s mind. Then, he saw the wings burning behind Edwin. Flames had always been a sacred ritual for the ancient human civilization. Humans’ imagination of flames was endless, creating endless legends and myths, using Prometheus’ stolen fire to allude to hope and vitality.
Serra never felt that he had the ability to appreciate the beauty of flames. He didn’t like the scorching smell of burning, and the destruction and death that came with it. But he privately always liked the magma patterns flowing on Edwin’s wings, like an immortal lighthouse in the darkness, as if symbolizing Edwin’s tenacious life and his burning flame of revenge.
But he had only seen these wings twice in a hurry, and neither time was under ideal circumstances. It wasn’t like he would ask Edwin to release his wings for him to admire. He would never, ever treat Edwin like that, nor would he treat any life in a position of weakness like that.
And when he saw these wings for the third time, they were slowly melting in his eyes. The S-class female Chong were the peak of the empire’s combat power. Even after Edwin had experienced everything, his huge, strangely patterned black wings still briefly resisted the evil power of Bishop Sasz. That was the resistance of low-dimensional energy in front of high-dimensional energy, but he still did it, even if it was only for a brief moment.
And those strange scarlet rays of light stained Edwin’s wings, like burning white phosphorus kissing brilliant butterfly wings. The light gradually pierced the wings, and the black wings began to tremble violently, melting and emitting fierce and brilliant firelight, but it still tightly protected the male insectoid infant in front.
Not far away, a twisted smile appeared on Bishop Sasz’s face. He also seemed to be enduring some pain, but the transparent film on his body protected his body well. He let out a hoarse laugh, murmuring:
“Blasphemer… die, die! Die under the Mother Goddess’s divine punishment! The Mother Goddess will grant you eternal silence! Return the power you stole to the Mother Goddess! Despicable… vile thief…”
Serra opened his pale lips, almost wanting to scream, but he only let out a ridiculous gasp. He blankly looked at Edwin’s burning wings, watching the magma patterns on the wings gradually swallowed by the red light, turning into ashes. He couldn’t hear what Edwin was saying to him, only gently flicked his fingers:
“Leave quickly, male parent.”
After he finished speaking, the black tendrils that were torn and swallowed by the red light boiled hysterically again. The few intact tendrils, like moths flying into the fire, rushed towards Sasz against the fierce red light and flames, breaking inch by inch, turning into powder, but continuously.
Even Sasz slightly widened his eyes and restrained his twisted smile. He considered himself to be one of the insects who understood the power of God the most and was the most devout to the Mother Goddess. He knew that even if a male insectoid’s tendrils were damaged, they would become demented and paralyzed in the pain like the old Duke Noah. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like for mental tendrils to turn into ashes.
Sasz had to admit that this made him a little flustered. He retracted his left arm pointing at Serra and defensively placed it in front of his body, and Edwin’s remaining wings were no longer attacked and suddenly collapsed.
But Serra didn’t stop. He lay in Edwin’s arms, staring at an unknown void. His mental tendrils repeatedly pierced the red light and turned into ashes, and those tendrils that were not directly burned by the red light also faded into gray-white, stiffly lying in the space.
And it was these gray-white, dead tendrils that became the shield for the other tendrils. The black pythons that never died and never rested wrapped around, forcing the red light to weaken, and Bishop Sasz’s face became even more ugly. The flames on his left arm had spread to his shoulder, almost burning his chest.
“Bishop Sasz! Please stop!! The artifact cannot be used indiscriminately, it will backfire—”
Bishop Sandersfi, who knew a little about the inside story, screamed, but Sasz couldn’t hear clearly anymore. The Church’s artifact was not exclusive to the Church, but was once a part of the Mother Goddess—one of her ribs carved into the shape of a snake. The Church had mastered the method of driving the artifact. To this end, thousands of male insectoids had died in experiments, because this artifact, while being able to harm the male insectoid’s divine power, was also an indiscriminate attack.
The only thing that could protect the user from being attacked was the Mother Goddess’s own skin. And the protective film formed by that skin was already in jeopardy under Serra’s relentless attacks.
Bishop Sasz’s heart was filled with monstrous hatred. For the first time in hundreds of years of his life, he experienced panic. The predator, who had always only deprived life, had for the first time fallen to the same position as his prey. He felt anger and panic gnawing at his organs.
Why wasn’t this damn infant timid and surrendering like other male insectoids! Why did he have to stand in front of that damn female Chong, why wasn’t he afraid of the Mother Goddess’s divine punishment! Not afraid of the Church’s wrath! Who did he think he was? This stupid, ignorant fool who was an enemy of God!!
He had to tear the female Chong he was protecting in front of this infant, that damn blasphemer!
Anger and unwillingness overwhelmed Sasz’s mind. He seemed to have forgotten the pain of having three of his four tendrils torn apart, and once again released his purplish-red tendrils, attacking Serra and Edwin in the direction of the light.
Serra rolled out of Edwin’s arms. In fact, he didn’t know how he did it, because there was not a single organ or part of his body that felt intact. His body seemed to be alternating between flames and ice caves, and was repeatedly torn apart and reattached by countless thin threads. He couldn’t hear anything, including his own voice.
“Sison, take the male parent away from here, thank you.”
He couldn’t avoid Edwin’s hand reaching out to him, so he could only push Edwin away with force. He took two steps forward, and something wet flowed down from his chin and landed on his own front.
It was dirty blood.
He clenched his palms, waving the only remaining tendrils and desperately attacking in Sasz’s direction, while tearing apart Sasz’s tendrils relentlessly, until he completely tore Sasz’s tendrils apart.
A ghostly scream came from not far away, the red light flashed extremely brilliantly, and then returned to silence, and Serra could no longer hear other sounds.
His eyes were also not clear, but he still raised his hand to wipe off the dirty blood on his chin, and then turned his face towards Edwin’s direction, revealing a sunny and carefree smile like an infant.
“Male parent, it’s okay. You leave here first, okay? I’ll take care of everything and come find you.”
As he said that, he suddenly knelt down on the ground, his panting mixed with the smell of blood, hysterically crowding out all the space. He felt that he might not be able to survive this time.
The system suddenly went online, buzzing in his mind about something. Based on the frequency of the words, it sounded a bit like cursing. Serra shushed it twice, almost helplessly saying:
“Don’t be noisy… Promise me, next time you look for a host, give him or her an adult insectoid body to do the task, okay? Also, be sure to find a creature with high moral standards, this world can’t stand more scum. Sorry, system.”
“I!!!”
The system’s voice still sounded very excited, but Serra couldn’t hear what it was saying at all, only taking it as a farewell. Most of his tendrils had been shattered into powder, and more had turned into lime-white, stiffly standing in this space. The remaining few withered and drooped, almost becoming transparent.
Serra propped himself up on the ground in front of him, desperately urging the remaining tendrils, attacking in the direction of the Church’s male insectoids. But he knew that those tendrils were already weak, and his actions were more like bluffing.
He needed to buy some time for Edwin and the other insectoids in the Duke’s Mansion, to deter the Church’s male insectoids in front of him.
In a dead silence, his tendrils were no longer under control. They were stiff on the ground, like dead objects. And Serra also didn’t move. The only remaining Church’s male insectoids not far away looked at all of this in horror. At their feet, Bishop Sasz’s body was slowly turning into black ash.