A large sheet of paper was spread all over the table, but it was still not big enough. The shrunken runes www.biquge.info the Pen, Fun, and Pavilion looked cringe, and there was no such chilling, mysterious, and cold aura as the secret chambers beneath Rockburg.

“...... It's ugly!" Iss commented unceremoniously, "Has no one taught you how to write?"

Ed rubbed the ink stains on his fingers awkwardly - no one had ever taught him to write dragon language!

Iss didn't say anything more. He looked down at the successive runes with a gloomy and critical gaze, and his face gradually became more and more ugly.

"It's an altar. He said.

"Uh......" Ed cautiously pointed to the "door" in the center, "but I know this...... It's a door. ”

Isis looked at him like a fool: "If the sacrifice is from another world, of course there must be a door...... But without sacrifices, how do you think the door will open? Poke the keyhole with a wire like a thief?"

Ed was dumbfounded.

"I probably know that. "This is something that the dragon created to become one of the gods...... But they obviously failed...... It's not something that humans can use either......"

His expression was a little dazed, and always with a hint of anger. Ed didn't dare to say anything more, so he waited quietly.

Then Eth abruptly grabbed the whole sheet of paper and rushed out the door.

Ed had no choice but to follow, and with great sadness realized that although he had the courage to take a step...... In fact, there has been no progress.

He might as well apologize first.

Frustrated, Ed didn't dare to climb on its back when Iss turned back into an ice dragon, but in a moment of hesitation, he was grabbed by a claw and hoisted in the air and flew straight to the west of the city.

Maybe there's still some progress, he thought, optimistically.

The ice dragon flew straight to the Temple of Nessus, then kicked Scott's door open, throwing the crumpled lump of paper in Scott's face.

"Did you know all along?!" he roared, "in what capacity did you enter the Sea of Nothingness?!"

In what capacity did you come back?

By the time Eren arrived, the increasingly uneasy brothers had already been fighting, but Ed didn't rush up to try to stop them—he crouched to the side, grim, chin propped up, staring at them in a daze.

Alan glanced at him from afar, and walked slowly to Ed's side.

"What's the matter?" he asked, feeling his few remaining black hairs lamenting and turning white.

"Well......" Ed replied, "I can't tell...... Probably Scott lied to him again, but he didn't give Scott time to explain at all...... It would be nice to let him vent, probably. ”

He didn't dare to say that the reason why Isis was so irritable was probably his reason.

The courtyard was covered with ice everywhere, but it was very cool. Everyone could see that Scott didn't fight back at all...... Just hiding around, and also trapping the ice dragon within a certain range with ease, so as not to hurt the innocent.

“...... Can you vent this?" Alan asked calmly, "Won't you be more angry?"

As if in response to his question, the ice dragon's angry roar made the ground seem to shake.

“...... Maybe it'll be good when he's tired. Ed replied, completely resigned to fate, "Scott's temper has gotten better." ”

“...... Not necessarily a good thing. Alan sighed.

He looked at it for a while, and was very pleased to find that the ice dragon's combat ability was much stronger than before...... Although now does not seem to be the time for rejoice.

In contrast, Scott's unfathomable power made him feel fear and unease. What made him even more uneasy was Scott's almost blank expression...... The ice dragon, which kept roaring and even grabbing and biting, looked a little more human than him.

It's less human than a dragon - the absurdity of this makes Alan feel a little ridiculous, but he can't laugh.

He couldn't look at it like that anymore.

“...... Enough!"

He took a few steps forward and yelled.

Scott stopped almost immediately, but Alan wasn't happy at all - he reacted more like a puppet with orders and forbiddenness, than a person with self-judgment and choice,

The ice dragon is biting down. When it realized that the other party was not going to dodge, it suddenly looked up, and with such force that it almost broke its own neck and almost bit its tongue.

It roared, and slammed Scott to the ground with a claw.

Ed watched silently, shaking involuntarily.

Even though he was dusty, covered in blades of grass and sludge, Scott was still standing quietly by the window...... It can almost be called a divine temperament, like a stone statue standing in the depths of the temple, which is intimidating and inaccessible.

Ed was a little dazed. How long had it been since he had seen Scott?...... When did he become like this?

And as an old father who was exhausted by a bunch of disobedient children, there was a deep exhaustion in every wrinkle on Alan's face.

"And for what this time?" he asked, turning to Scott before getting any answer, "And you—do you know you're wrong?"

Scott nodded very dryly.

“...... What's wrong?" Alan held back his anger, "Why?"

There was no answer.

Ed pounced in resignation, holding back Is, who was about to punch him again.

“...... This is the price that must be paid. Scott finally spoke, "To be able to get out of its grasp." ”

"It can't control you in the first place!" roared Iss, "the altar in Lockburg is not the same as the one in the Sidney Temple...... Even if you are not as powerful as it, even if you can easily be consumed by it, you have never been its sacrifice! You are the same existence as it...... It's like a created god!"

Ed blinked, unexpectedly calm.

So, it's an altar, it's a door. Sacrifice your life and let your soul enter another world...... The Sea of Nothingness, the birthplace of the gods.

"But I don't know. Scott whispered, "I only knew that I had been betrayed and killed by my friends who I regarded as brothers, and I thought I existed only because of my anger and unwillingness...... And when I returned to this world with the help of Blazing Wing, my soul was already in chains...... I am not its puppet, but I am indeed its prisoner. ”

Isis fell silent. Ed could clearly feel his straight, stiff body crumbling, and couldn't help but tat him on the shoulder before letting go of him.

"So......" Alan asked, "what price did you pay?"

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