Childhood Friend of the Zenith

With a creaking sound, the Heavenly Lord lifted himself up. His movements were unnatural, disturbingly out of sync with the body’s natural rhythm.

Crunch.

Perhaps because he had forced himself to move, his body groaned and creaked. Anyone could see that something was off.

I quietly observed Heavenly Lord. Once he had fully straightened, he turned his gaze toward me.

The moment I met his eyes, I clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘As expected.’

Red.

The Heavenly Lord’s eyes were as red as blood. Just looking at them was enough to irritate me, sending an uncanny chill down my spine.

And it was familiar. I had experienced it multiple times before. Even if I hadn’t, I had already sensed something off about him.

“Hmmm…”

He exhaled slowly. His voice and face were the same as ever, but the presence behind them was on an entirely different level.

“How did you know…? I don’t understand.”

Blood Demon.

Or rather, Dragon Emperor.

The former ruler of the Dragon Realm, a calamity that had plagued Zhongyuan in its early days, and an entity from another dimension that once sought to claim this world as its own.

And now, for some reason, he had set up camp within the Martial Alliance, plotting something in the shadows.

‘Of course.’

I thought as I observed him.

‘He had already tampered with the Heavenly Lord by this point.’

The missing pieces of my suspicions fell into place effortlessly.

‘The question is, when did it begin?’

I had already noticed that something was wrong with Heavenly Lord. Even if I hadn’t…

‘It’s been bothering me.’

The last time I had exchanged blows with Heavenly Lord, I had sensed a faint, fishy scent and an infuriatingly unpleasant sensation.

I hadn’t overlooked it.

‘Now that I see this…’