The villain's way to tame the protagonist

But if it's for protection, there should be no problem.

She stood in front of Anser, her pure white robe wrapped in thorns fluttering in front of the young man's eyes like a blooming flower.

"It's okay, Mr. Devil, I'll--"

"boom!"

The hot bullet shattered the hair on Xin's ear and hit the monster. It only made a tiny hole in the huge body made of mud, but this monster that even Xin's power could not destroy collapsed and dissipated in an instant.

"You will protect me?"

A light laugh sounded behind Xin, and the cold gun barrel passed through her hair and gently caressed her face. Hydra's cheerful and joyful voice just now suddenly became silent and indifferent.

"And then, drown with me in this swamp, Miss Sheen?"

Only then did Xin realize that her body was sinking little by little. The swamp, which had just reached her knees, was about to swallow her thighs.

You can't stop, you can't rest for a moment.

"The only way to cross the swamp of suffering is to... move forward."

Hydra easily pulled her out of the swamp, and then continued to move forward, but Gleipnir did not turn into a cane again, and was always firmly held in Anther's hand in the form of a hand cannon.

The landing place of the Broken City was already visible to the naked eye, but as Anther moved forward, the entire swamp began to tremble and even boil. Xin lowered her head and saw that endless dark mud and filth were gathering in front of Anther, forming a huge vortex just in front of the Broken City!

A beast claw made of mud stretched out from the whirlpool. The moment it stretched out, it even seemed to touch the gloomy and dark red sky in the dream. It was hard to imagine... what kind of horrific body the monster in the whirlpool would have after it completely climbed out!

Its appearance made Xin realize that the monster just now was not even a small fight, but Anser seemed extremely calm. He didn't even wait for the monster to show up, and directly shot at the beast's claws that were pressed heavily into the mud and rolled up layers of huge waves.

This time even the bullet hole could not be seen. The bullet looked like a stone dropped into the sea, unable to stir up any waves.

But the next second, the beast's claw began to tremble violently, and the strange thing that Xin had just witnessed happened again. Absolute destruction and disintegration occurred on the beast's claw. The monster didn't even have time to stick its figure out from the vortex and let Xin see its true face. It roared and was annihilated by the shot.

It seemed as if there was no actual damage involved. As long as the enemies blocking Anser's progress were hit by the gun, they would be crushed.

"Let's go. If you drown, I'll laugh at you, Miss Xin."

Anser, who was always calm and showed no sense of "having experienced hardships", stepped onto the land of the Broken City, looked at the buildings obscured by the dragons, and whispered: "To the end... huh?"

He looked back and found that Xin did not catch up with him. Instead, she lowered her head and allowed the endless darkness to swallow her up bit by bit.

"This is... the pain that once surged in Mr. Devil's heart."

The pain and despair that could easily burn the soul of an ordinary transcendent into dregs was completely unable to shake Xin's soul. It was just that the black thorns on his pure white robe seemed a little more vivid due to this erosion.

Fear, hatred, numbness, silence, madness... these emotions converge into this swamp, and in turn originate from the suffering represented by this swamp.

What on earth happened to give rise to such a dream?

Xin raised her head and looked at Anser, but the devil had a blank expression on his face, as if he was indifferent to her empathy.

"Mr. Devil, I'll be fine."

Her voice was light and gentle: "If you want to move forward, there is no need to wait for me, I will catch up with you soon."

"You said you would help me, so why are you planning to soak in the swamp now?" Anser stood at the edge of the land, looking down at Xin who was about to be swallowed by the swamp. "Do you think... this is helping me?"

Xin raised his hand, watching the sticky black liquid slowly dripping from between his fingers until it covered his chest, feeling the various emotions that were constantly eroding him.

"Mr. Devil taught me that if you understand a person's emotions, you can understand him... I can easily understand anyone, but I can't understand Mr. Devil."

Anser squatted down and held his chin with one hand: "I'm really sorry that I prevented you from using that unreasonable force on me."

"No, it's not like that, Mr. Devil."

Xin shook her head. The swamp had already reached her neck, so she could only look up to talk to Anser.

"Mr. Devil taught me a lot, and taught me how to understand and see through other people's hearts without using God's power. But I found that this can't be applied to Mr. Devil. I thought I understood Mr. Devil several times, but I was wrong every time."

Anser was quite surprised that Xin had such self-awareness at this time.

Logically speaking, as her only support now, Xin should force herself to believe that her ideas and choices are correct. Although this self-knowledge will help Xin not to be easily deceived by Ansir in the long run, but... she doesn't have much time for the long run.

If she didn't tie her heart to Ansher, her self could be destroyed at any time by her already shaky faith.

...Unless her will is stronger than Anser thought.

"I thought I hadn't learned enough and wasn't doing well enough, but that wasn't the case."

Xin stared into Anser's eyes, and Anser actually saw...apology in those holy blue eyes?

"Because I never really got into Mr. Devil's heart."

Xin has seen many faces of Anser: confident, angry, humorous, indifferent, gentle, cold... But no matter which face it is, can they represent the real Anser?

Xin once thought that she knew Ansel well enough, but in fact, what she knew was just a mask carefully decorated by the devil.

"So... you think you can understand the real me by soaking in this mud?"

Anser was not moved by Xin's words at all. Instead, he laughed and shook his head: "Ms. Xin...you have made the same mistake again - you think you know me."

"Who says dreams represent the truest me? Who says the phenomena reflected in dreams are projections of my inner self? I am the master of dreams. Is there a possibility... that what you see now is still what I want you to see?"

However, Xin easily defuses Anser's attack with just one rhetorical question:

"Is that the most important thing?" she asked.

Even Anser was stunned and didn't react to Xin's meaning immediately.

"Mr. Devil, it is certainly important to be able to discover the real you, but before that, there is something more important... that is, the idea of ​​'wanting to understand you' itself."

"My salvation for you was originally a mission from God, and then... then it was the poison of jealousy that you fed me."

"No matter what kind of salvation it was, I never thought about understanding you. I just wanted to satisfy myself. So I couldn't understand Mr. Devil, so Mr. Devil... also hated me like that."

The swamp was about to swallow Xin completely. Before he completely sank into the endless darkness, Xin said in a guilty yet gentle voice:

"So I'm sorry, Mr. Devil, please forgive me."

"As long as you can feel it, I want to understand you... It's not a mission, nor is it jealousy. I just want to understand you and save you, even if you don't care, even if this dream is still a lie of yours, as long as you can feel it, I am... someone will..."

She suddenly paused, as if she couldn't utter a word no matter what.

"As long as you can feel that I... care about you from the bottom of my heart, I am willing to accept everything you do."

Finally, Xin closed her eyes, letting the endless darkness and despair swallow her up.

Before darkness covered her vision, all Xin could think of was the words of Mr. Devil that seemed to have completely changed her soul, a cry for help that was not fully expressed in words and that the devil himself was not aware of.

She had obviously saved countless people and accepted requests from countless people, but why... was Mr. Devil's request so special?

Is it because at that moment, Mr. Devil turned to... me for help instead of the Saint?

Xin didn't know the answer either, but she knew that she had done nothing wrong and she would definitely find the answer.

Anser looked at the dead silent swamp for an unknown amount of time before he suddenly sighed.

He sat on the edge of the land, letting his calves be swallowed by the swamp, and held Gleipnir flat on his thighs.

"I had this dream many years ago."

"As you said, I am afraid of the end of the dream. I cannot face that end, so there is a monster blocking my way. Only by defeating this monster can I have the courage to face despair."

"But I can't stop."

Hydra calmly stroked the solemn and ferocious hand cannon on his leg: "Even if you are afraid, you can't stop. Even if you can't overcome this fear, you can't stop. Even if there is no way to solve the problem... you absolutely can't stop."

So no matter how painful it is, you have to force yourself to move forward, even if it will make you collapse, you have to force yourself to face that despair.

Because to stop is to be destroyed; because to stop... is to be defeated.

And Ansir Hydra would never allow himself to lose to the damn fate that destroyed everything he had.

Therefore, under this morbid and twisted obsession, his madness and pain accumulated day by day, forming this swamp, but no matter what, he could not overcome the obstacles in his heart and could not defeat the fear.

“Until my father built it for me.”

After Anelsa's death, Ansher did not leave Flamel's sight for a long time, and there were at least three knights protecting his safety at all times.

During that time, he was hysterical and wanted to fight back against fate in every possible way, but in order not to irritate Flamel and not be noticed by the Contracting Lords, Anser could only do so much. It was precisely because of this limitation that Anser Hydra, who was the craziest, most dangerous and capable of doing anything, did not make an irreparable mistake during that period.

When Ansel learned his lesson little by little, adjusted his mindset, and was ready to officially start his plan, Flamel handed Gleipnir to him.

Anser placed his index finger on the trigger of Gleipnir, closed his eyes, and recalled the scene when Flamel handed it to him.

"Protect yourself, and... kill your enemies, Arthur."

Flamel was already terminally ill at that time, but even so, he could make the most correct judgment for Anser - when to let go and how to ensure Anser's freedom so that he would no longer be threatened.

Kill all... my enemies.

From that moment on, Ansel Hydra, who held Gleipnir tightly, received the courage to overcome despair from his father.

That's why Gleipnir, who appeared in the dream, could easily tear apart those monsters, not because of its lethality, but because it represented the courage that Flamel brought to Anser.

The determination to move forward or die, and the courage to kill all enemies, allowed Ansir Hydra to finally cross the swamp and face what he once feared... the end of his dream.

"So, have you heard enough?"

Anser looked at the motionless swamp, holding his forehead and sighing.

"Your soul is not so fragile that it can be worn away and devoured by the pain of my childhood, Miss Xin. You want to understand me, and I have told you. Can you come out now?"

Guji——

Half of his head poked out from the swamp, and his pair of holy blue eyes, without any impurities, blinked gently and looked at Anser.

The devil looked at her with amusement: "Why, do you think I said those words because I was tricked by you? Do you think I would be angry?"

"Mr. Devil is not such a stingy person." Xin muttered.

"Then why don't you come out."

"Because I want to hear Mr. Devil say it again."

"……what?"

"'If you want to know me, I'll tell you.'" Xin stared into Anser's eyes, "If you want to hear it, Mr. Devil, say it again."

"It would be best if you could tell me every day, many times."

Anser looked at her for a long time, as if he was looking at a silly girl who was different from Sitana in a silly way.

Half a minute later, he turned and left without saying a word.

So Miss Xin had no choice but to get out of the swamp and follow Ansher obediently forward.

"You're not such a mean person, are you, Mr. Devil?"

"Ah."

"Then can you please tell me again? If you don't want to tell me your reasons, that's fine too. "

"You're really annoying... Miss Xin, people who help shouldn't be so talkative, okay?"

"Oh, but I really want to know..."

Xin, who was not stained with any black mud, kept chattering in Anser's ear, but Mr. Devil seemed unwilling to answer this question. He either avoided the topic or simply ignored it.

You don't think I'm shy or embarrassed, do you?

Ansher felt like laughing as he felt the breath getting closer and closer.

From the moment Xin said "I care about you", Ansel realized that Xin was now most easily controlled by him.

——Once again, she misjudged the devil. She thought the devil needed to be loved.

But in fact, Ansel doesn't care whether Xin cares about him or not. There are already enough people who care about him, so how could he be missing Xin? Is there anything special about her?

Since you think I'm in need of love...then keep thinking like that, Miss Saint.

Ansel's story was not a lie, but he deliberately exaggerated the help Flamel gave him, making Xin further believe that her devil wanted to be saved and wanted help.

As for Xin, she certainly didn't know what Anser was thinking at the moment. She just looked back while asking Anser questions.

Is that just... childhood pain?

Xin thought so as he looked at the dark swamp of suffering.

Chapter 171: Between Reality and Illusion Part 4

The majestic city was shrouded in continuous shadows, and a group of circling dragons with flapping wings covered the sky, revealing only a few extremely oppressive dark red lights.

Xin and Anser walked on the broken streets strewn with corpses. The surrounding ruins were covered with dried blood, broken armor and limbs.

Everything indicates that the city is about to fall, and its destruction and end is only a matter of time.