12.1 - Perhaps the Holy Saint had really offended the author's entire family...
translator: xiin
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
Even before Xue Ling shook off the lingering effects from the memory, he became aware of a bone wracking pain. He was caught off guard and screamed, but hardly any sound emerged from his mouth. His voice was hoarse and cracked, and his scream sounded like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard. Even just thinking of a sound like that was unacceptable, let alone hearing it with one's own ears.
Xue Ling opened his eyes. Everything in front of him had become blurry and confusing from the pain. The figures were twisted into strange shapes, and it was both dazzling and grotesque.
"Oliver, why did we have to come to this point..." He waited for everything in front of his eyes to clear up, but a voice penetrated into Xue Ling's eardrum, making him feel even worse. "Kent didn't hurt your parents intentionally. Why can't you two live in harmony together for my sake..." The voice carried traces of crying, and it made the listener feel sad. By the time Xue Ling managed to see this delicate and pitiful person, he understood who the saying 'those who saw him shed tears' referred to.
He stretched out his hand to support his head. His body was incredibly uncomfortable, but he had to concentrate on listening to the words from the youth in front of him so that he could analyze what the situation was.
"Oliver..." The teenager came forward with tears in his eyes and spoke pitifully, "Don't break your contract with me, alright? That would harm your body too much. How could you hurt yourself like this? If your parents saw you like this from heaven, they would be heartbroken."
Xue Ling grit his teeth. This body was full of anger after hearing this sentence, and immediately shook off the youth's hand.
It was perhaps the first time the youth had been treated like this, so his face was full of bewilderment. That expression of his made him appear even more pitiable, and expressions on the faces of everyone around Xue Ling turned increasingly odd. "Oliver, I know that Kent killed your parents, but that was for the sake of making a gift for his mother. He was also doing it with good intentions, right? Since the mistakes have already been made, can't you forgive him for the sake of the living? If you really insist on killing him, as his boyfriend, what am I supposed to do?"
"My good Oliver, how about we renew the contract? I know that I promised to help you obtain revenge back then, but I really have no way to make a move against Kent. That person is my lover! Oliver, you should be able to understand what kind of feelings I have for him, right? Just like how you love me so much, I'm also passionately in love with him~ There is nothing in this world that can't be affected by love, Oliver, why don't you try and see what this kind of love feels like?"
Xue Ling couldn't stand any more of this passionate speech or this Holy Saint aura. He had approximately figured out that this body was currently feeling so terrible due to the 'contract breaking' that the youth had mentioned. He bit himself, using the pain to shock himself further into consciousness, and managed to speak with much difficulty, "After I've killed your entire family, you can come to talk to me about the influence of love." Having said that, he no longer wanted to stay here for another second. If he hadn't sensed that this glowing Holy Saint was one of the main characters, Xue Ling would probably have just killed him.
Generating electricity with love? Ha-ha.
The youth was left stunned in place and watched as he went further and further away. His eyes, that had been red the whole time, were filled with despair, and tears began to gather and fall. There was finally a stir from the people around him, and someone called out that Kent had arrived. The people around him immediately dispersed and soon, nobody was left.
The swordsman had his sword by his side as he approached. His heroic brow wrinkled slightly, and he appeared incredibly distressed. "Ivan, what's wrong?"
The youth pursed his lips. Because he was crying, he looked like a weak, pitiful young best, and with just one glance, the man's heart had already softened into a pool of water. He anxiously embraced the youth, and tenderly pulled him into his arms. "Don't cry, don't cry. If something's the matter, just tell me. I will help you solve it. Don't cry - if you cry, my heart will ache to death."
Ivan gripped Kent's clothes aggrievedly. His voice was muffled as he said, "Oliver broke his contract with me. Why?! He was willing to let go of his hatred and grudges towards you... He clearly used to understand me so well, why is he so cruel now? He even forcibly broke the contract. He'll die... Kent, he's going to die..."
Kent gently patted Evan on the shoulder to comfort him: "It's just three-star demonic beast. If you really want, I can help contract another one."
Iven froze, then stamped on Kent's foot and said angrily, "Oliver is my partner! I will never give him up so easily!" So saying, he turned around and ran, following the direction Xue Ling had headed in. Kent hurried after him and the scene really looked quite strange...
Xue Ling had no time to think about whether those two were playing around or chasing each other or whatever else. At the moment, he had fallen into the grass. He covered his face with two paws, then pulled the system out in his mind to ask him exactly what the hell was going on!
The system had already been chased around in a circle and beat up once, it pitifully wrapped its arms around its head and appeared in front of Xue Ling. This was great! The day had finally come when it was of the same height as Xue Ling - and it was even slightly taller, and could stand up and look down on its host.
Oliver made an oath using his own soul that he would kill Kent no matter what in this lifetime. Because of him, the entire continent became enveloped by the darkness from the Devil World.
Ivan was the chosen savior, but in this story, the savior could only save everyone but himself.
Ivan was not a princess who could live happily ever after with the prince. Kent's mother was dissatisfied with his identity and background, which led to the second half of the story.
The second half was about how Ivan gradually degenerated from a 'Holy Saint' to a 'broken doll'.
Xue Ling: "... I didn't have enough time to prepare. Is the plot going off-track just like that???"
In order to stop Kent, his mother hired a man to follow Kent and Ivan and their team during the Academy's final examination with a secret potion exclusive to the royal family.
Ivan ingested the potion during the examination. His soul, which had originally been the purest one in the world, slowly became dyed by darkness little by little. He lost his light powers, and was thrown into the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest. A strange combination of circumstances led to him stumbling into the deepest parts of the Demonic Beast Forest, and arriving in front of the Sacred Pool.
Exactly. That Sacred Pool that Oliver could never find was somehow discovered and used by Ivan through a series of strange events.
Because he entered the Sacred Pool, he met the second gong of the story, the Beast God, Xi.
Xi was a God who lived in seclusion within the Demonic Beast Forest. He had not emerged into the world for many years, and Ivan was the first human being he met after he woke up. Ivan's purity astonished him, his tenacity made Xi take a second glance at him, and then he lost his heart to him.
Simply put, Xi had been affected by the light of the Holy Saint.
He took care of Ivan, whose soul had become even purer after his baptism. He had deep feelings for him, but never made them clear to Ivan. He even promised to send Ivan out of the Demonic Beast Forest after he recovered from his injuries.
Although Ivan was fond of him by then, his heart still belonged to Kent, and he was anxious to return to him. He felt that Kent must be very sad that he had disappeared for so long. But he had never thought that after he had been given the potion, Kent's mother would still have something up her sleeve. In addition, Oliver had returned from the Devil World while he was recuperating, bringing darkness in his wake.
And Oliver had once been his contractual beast.
All this added up, and made it so that he became a scourge that everyone shouted at and wanted to beat up. Although Kent trusted him, there was too much evidence against him, and he had no way to truly believe in him. Therefore, the Holy Saint Ivan stood still and allowed Kent to stab him in order to prove his innocence.
He almost died, and Kent finally realized his true feelings. But he could not save Ivan, and could only watch as the Beast God appeared and took the comatose Ivan away.
Ivan was heartbroken by Kent's attack, and after being carefully cared for by the Beast God, he seemed to have sided with the Beast God. But even before the Beast God could confess his feelings, he fell into the dimensional crack and ended up in the Devil World.
At this point in the story, the author started acting like they had gotten high on drugs and suddenly began to steer the plot like an insane drag car racer as they abused the protagonist. It was as though the previous Ivan was nothing but an illusion; an innocent white flower like Ivan couldn't possibly survive in a place like the Devil World. He was tormented in all sorts of ways before finally being sent to warm the bed of the Supreme Devil King of the Devil World. The Devil King's main form of entertainment was to torture him all day long - after all, it was a very delightful thing to watch such a pure soul become slowly tainted by darkness.
But at the end of the day, Ivan was still the protagonist. The Devil King slowly fell in love with him as he was torturing him. But by the time the Devil King's feelings turned genuine and he sincerely wanted be with him, Ivan had long turned into a broken doll; eyes empty, heart gone.
At this point, the Beast God and Kent, who had succeeded the throne, both slaughtered their way into the Devil World.
As a result, the great battle over Ivan began.
Xue Ling followed the plot up to here, and there was already no expression left on his face. He truly couldn't think of a single expression he should use to express his feelings, and could only silently stick up a middle finger towards the author. Perhaps the Holy Saint had really offended the author's entire family...
the plot for this arc is more dogblood-ish than the dogblood arc