"What do you think I'm going to do?" asked Sean.

Ed looked at him in a daze, unable to answer. The angry roar of the ice dragon exploded in his ears, and he couldn't help but want to throw the lightning on the old man in front of him that he once feared, but there was still a faint voice in his heart, with hope that would not give up, telling him over and over again: "Trust Sean." ”

He froze in hesitation, but the dragon's roar grew quieter.

It no longer has the extra strength to use for pointless rants. The arcs of light that wrapped around it pulled it towards the ground little by little, tough as spider's silk and heavy as rock. It had to fight with all its strength to barely hold on to its standing position, stubbornly trying to lift its head.

"Scott used to stand here, too. Sean's voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to get into its ears, "Just like you're firmly bound." However, he easily broke free...... Even a little consciousness that does not belong to him befalls him. If you can't do the same, what can I do to convince me that you have enough strength to stand up to our enemies—you're just going to be food for it. ”

So, is it a test?

Ed stopped talking, with an inexplicable panic in his heart - he didn't seem to be worried that Iss would fail...... He seems more worried that Isis will succeed.

Now, of course, he understood what Isis was trying to do. Honestly, he didn't think it was such a crazy idea...... Although it is indeed a bit overwhelming. After all, even he himself had the same plan.

He looked at his friend, knowing that he couldn't help it at the moment. Even if Sean wouldn't stop it, Iss himself wouldn't allow it.

The ice dragon's strong limbs held its body to the ground, trembling uncontrollably under the weight. The strength was pulled out slightly, and it gradually felt a chill that it had never felt before, seeping into the bone marrow little by little...... Or oozing from the depths of the soul.

"This place," Sean continued calmly, "can trap any living being, turn their life and power into something more pure, whether it's a demon...... Or human. ”

Ed shuddered unconsciously.

"But only dragons, we never know for sure. Sean stepped forward and reached out to touch the dragon's head, which had been forced to bend to the ground, in exchange for a menacing, but somewhat feeble, growl.

"You are the darlings of this world," he said, "and the true masters of it...... Your power comes from within, not from another world...... That's a force that no one can take away, no one can bind. ”

The ice dragon glared at him. It inexplicably felt a deep sadness and helplessness from this overly proud and stubborn human being.

"If you can't fully accept yourself – whether it's good or evil, light or darkness. "If you can't look back and see who you really are...... You can never get the power you want. ”

The hand he landed on its forehead was unusually gentle.

However, that little warmth could not resist the emptiness and coldness that swept through the body. The ice dragon felt that he might have become a dead statue, and even his heart began to stop.

It's so close to death...... In such a calm way. Strangely unafraid, however, even anger seemed to be frozen.

With a strange calmness, it heard a sound that seemed to be the breaking of ice from somewhere, and how far back it was.

It's still cold. In a trance, it seemed to be back before it was born...... Back in the eggshell. It could clearly feel it being tossed aside, surrounded by only a patch of ice—the power of the ice dragon's innate power, but not their source of life.

Trapped year after year, hopeless exhaustion and weariness, its mother no longer intended to hatch it—long before the adventurers found its hiding place.

Its fragile life was frozen a little bit, and in despair and fear, it was desperate to find a silver lining. However, its soul was as weak as a candle, and its body had not even taken shape.

But it persevered. Before the young human paladin held it in its arms, before his warm life force poured into its body, before it slyly chose to burst out of its shell in the form of a human baby...... It has survived for decades.

That was originally ...... It's impossible.

In the long, frozen darkness, something unsettling and even terrifying was about to emerge.

Even in the confusion and confusion, the ice dragon always stubbornly raised his head, even if his neck clucked under the pull, as if it would be broken in the next moment, he refused to lower his consciousness until his consciousness gradually went blank.

Its eyes were bright and cold, like frozen sunlight, frozen flames.

Ed shuddered at the thought that he had seen such eyes. A few years ago, when the giant ice dragon descended from the sky and stepped on the ruins of Criesburg, it walked towards him with a scream of fear around him...... In that dimly lit cavern on the high cliffs of the Far North Ice Field, where the cold wind howled, the ice dragon's huge claws pressed against his chest.

Those eyes were unusually transparent, so transparent that there was nothing, without all the joy and anger, nostalgia and hatred that weak humans could not throw away...... Because it is pure and powerful, but it is also cold because it is pure. Even if there is still a trace of warmth in it, it is like a fleeting shadow that will disappear in the blink of an eye.

Ed subconsciously pounced - he understood what Sean wanted, but he couldn't allow that to happen. Throwing something away, a dragon might become stronger...... But it may never be his friend again.

"Is!"

He threw himself on the ice dragon's nose and screamed eagerly, refusing to think about whether it was too selfish.

The blinding light condensed in his hands. He waved his hand desperately, trying to destroy the rune, but was stopped once again.

Icabird's lack of undulating voice is so disgusting...... Ed, who was swept up in the air by several black vines that suddenly appeared on the ground, almost had a killing intent for a moment.

Those vines seemed to be just black smoke, but they were extremely powerful. One clump is dispersed, and the other rises rapidly, trapping Ed in it in an endless stream.

"Sean!"

Ed roared.

"You're trapping really great power in what you think is 'protection,'" Sean said, "and it doesn't need this." ”

"I need to!"

Ed roared, giving up his struggle from the black vine, raising his hands and pressing down again.

The air was like substance beneath his hands, and after a moment of froze, it silently cracked through countless invisible crevices.

.