It's a small sandy area.

It is located in the middle of several sand dunes of various sizes, sleeping quietly and silently under the misty sky.

Until all the sand on the sand began to tremble slightly.

Bang.

There was a muffled sound, and an irregular plane suddenly arched in the middle of the sand.

Boom.

In a series of muffled sounds, countless clouds of sand and gravel slipped from the gradually arching plane, sinking into the dark hole that was exposed beneath it.

The sliding sand rattled.

The plane, which is several meters wide, is constantly raised, revealing its black-gray nature.

Ten seconds later, a dusty figure holding a torch took the lead in poking out the dark and mysterious cave.

The figure slapped the sand off his body and looked around.

He turned around, reached out and grabbed the second man, pulling him out of the hole.

And then the third, the fourth...... More and more people are crawling out of this hole.

Dozens of people.

Until a thin figure appeared from the hole in the ground, was pulled out by someone, and stepped on the sand.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem......"

A grizzled Tails took off his towel and coughed up dust and sand in pain, slapping off the sand all over his body.

The pre-dawn wind temperature and the smell of sand invaded his senses at the same time.

It made him shiver.

Familiar and unfamiliar.

Tails subconsciously reached behind his waist but felt empty, only to remember that his dagger had been confiscated by Ricky again.

Behind the young man, Tardin, Brie, and Cannon were escorted out one after another with their hands tightly tied.

Sakel, Barney, and Belletti were even worse, even blindfolded, and looked after by Clay and Josh.

The fast rope seemed to be treated like an inconsequential handyman, and he carried the equipment and equipment that a mercenary had recovered from the battlefield, glancing at Tails from time to time.

The chisel was also blindfolded and rudely pushed out under the guard of two mercenaries.

Everyone came to the ground one after another.

"Here...... This is not a prison of bones?"

Stepping on the incomparably kind sand under his feet, Tails ruthlessly ignored the complaining eyes of the fast rope behind him, and while cleaning up the mess on his body, he tried to observe his surroundings in the faint light of the sky:

"Not even ...... Camp Bladefang?"

The vast yellow sand around him surprised and frightened him.

Ricky turned around under the shimmering eastern canopy:

"How ......"

"You think we'll go back the way we came?"

Ricky threw away the torch in his hand and shook his head sarcastically:

"The entrance to the Prison of Bones - I guess it's surrounded by people from the Mystic Branch. ”

Tails sighed inwardly.

The prince crossed his arms, rubbed his body that had suddenly encountered the cold wind, and looked around suspiciously:

"Where is this?"

"It's not far from Camp Bladefang," Ricky looked up in the gray sky and looked at the familiar small row of fortresses in the distance:

"But just enough to see. ”

Tails squinted at the Bladetooth camp that seemed to be close in front of him, frustrated.

In the desert, "just enough to see" is equivalent to "walking all day".

So, what's next for them?

"What are you waiting for?" Tails asked, rubbing his hands.

This time, Ricky just glanced at him coldly:

"Timing. ”

Occasion?

Tails frowned.

In the cold wind, Ricky looked up at the sky, turned around and ordered:

"Everyone, check it one last minute. ”

"We're leaving. ”

Ricky walked past Tails, who was struggling in thought, and walked towards Semir, who was standing in the middle of nowhere.

He stared at the tightly bound guards in the distance, and lowered his voice to Semir:

"How?"

Semir avoided everyone, glanced at Sakel, and shook his head:

"They won't join. ”

Ricky frowned and exhaled.

"Barney?"

Semir snorted softly, and seemed particularly upset:

"Especially Barney, that guy's temper is harder than a stone. ”

Ricky stared at Barney, who was blindfolded, and whispered:

"But it's he who has the secret of the Northland military swordsmanship. ”

Semir's eyes lit up:

"And is he?"

Ricky shook his head in disappointment:

"Melting of glaciers. ”

The two were silent for a moment.

Ricky glanced at his subordinates who were making the final counts and preparations behind him, and nodded in the direction of Saker:

"I've been trying to convince their prefect if he agrees first......"

But Semir shook his head decisively.

"Not Saker," the resoluteness in Semir's tone made Ricky a little stunned:

"The key is not in Saqel. ”

Semir looked at the slightly shorter, thin figure behind him with a complicated expression.

"They owe only allegiance to Him. ”

Ricky followed his gaze and saw the torn, tired-looking, bruised young man staring dejectedly at the sand beneath his feet, muttering something to himself.

"Him?"

Ricky was momentarily stunned, and his gaze rested on Tails for several seconds.

"You told me you could get them to fight each other," Ricky said, turning back with a serious expression:

"What happened? That kid showed up, and you all knelt down?"

What happened.

Semir was silent for a moment.

In front of him, Naki and Nai appeared in a deep sleep.

And the teenager's smile.

I have rested on the side of the Emperor......

"Nothing. ”

Semir looked up, shook off his memory, and tried not to look at Tails:

"He's just...... Very convincing. ”

Feeling the alienation in the other party's tone, Ricky raised an eyebrow.

"Ho. ”

Very convincing.

Yes.

He gave Semir a deep look.

"I'm curious about one thing, Semir," Ricky's words made Semir nervous, and the Crassus narrowed his eyes:

"Before we arrived, did you ask: why did the Knight of Punishment kill that child?"

Semir's breath faltered slightly.

Why?

He was silent for several seconds.

Ricky slowly approached him:

"Haven't you told me something?"

"Maybe it'...... About the royal family?"

Looking at Semir's expression, Ricky chuckled:

"Well, I know you may not be able to let go of your vows, I totally understand that......"

But Semir took a deep breath and interrupted him.

"Sakel did that—"

Semir looked at Ricky seriously:

"Probably because of ...... He's really crazy. ”

Really crazy?

Ricky frowned, suspicious.

Semir bowed his head unnaturally:

"You see, Sakel shouted and killed one moment, and the next he came back to help them - I think he must have been really crazy. ”

This time, in the gray but bright sky, Ricky stared at Semir for a long, long time.

And Semir did not look up.

"Oh, crazy," Ricky kept his eyes on the other, but his tone was strange:

"No wonder it's so hard...... Communication?"

He still watched Semir's expression.

Semir coughed, and suddenly spoke:

"Listen, you want the secret of Barney's swordsmanship, yes, if we can take that kid......"

At this time.

"Hey, Ricky, Uncle Ricky, Ricky's stupid?"

Ricky and Semir turned their heads and were surprised to see Prince Tails raise his hand high in the crowd and shake it at them.

Small...... Stupid?

"Well, can we take a step to speak?"

Tails' vigorous hand shake and loud shouts attracted the attention of many, and Marina behind him even put her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist.

"You say...... Take him away?" Ricky glanced at Semir, sighed and walked back:

"I do. ”

Ricky came to Tails and regained his calm and slightly witty look: "Your Highness, don't tell me you want to find a secluded place to pee. ”

"Because you can fix it on the spot – we don't mind. ”

To his surprise, Tails smiled, revealing a row of teeth:

"A question occurred to me, about the Scourge of Qi - he went with you to the Tower of End, right?"

As soon as these words came out, the mercenaries, who were still busy with their own affairs, fell silent.

Many people look this way.

Ricky's face changed.

He turned his head and said to Semir with a gloomy face:

"Look at them. ”

With that, Ricky grabbed Tails by the shoulder, and pulled Tails to a secluded corner away from the crowd with a drag.

"Ah, ouch, light, light...... I'm still young...... You can't ......."

"Okay, okay, I won't resist, just don't push hard......"

As Tails stumbled along the way in protest, Ricky shook him off.

"Give me a reason not to knock you out. Ricky said coldly.

But Tails just patted the sand off his body and shrugged his shoulders as he gasped.

"What's that dragon breaker, that's what the Scourge of Qi wants, right?"

Tails said with a smile:

"Your performance in prison makes me feel ...... You don't have that much desire for it. ”

Ricky's expression changed subtly.

"And what you want is a black sword with the sins of the Hellriver," Tails' tone became formal:

"That's right, I know, that weapon was brought back by Black Sword. ”

Ricky's eyes widened a little.

He stared at Tails for three seconds.

"Honey, I find," Ricky's tone was probably as hot as a desert night:

"You're cute when you're still listening. ”

Tails bared his teeth helplessly.

The boy looked back at the crowd and scratched his hair:

"Those names. ”

"The names you mentioned, they took me some time to remember, but ......"

Ricky's eyes narrowed.

Tails turned around, took a deep breath, and said solemnly:

"The Iron Blood King is the king of the north who died in a heroic battle against the ancient orcs before the Chronicle of Kings;"

"There's an Empire-era drama about how the Black Knight was judged for murdering his lord;"

"Solon Tann is a name in the House of Tann of the Northlands, who were stripped of the Willand Territory and removed from the ten Grand Dukes of Exeter for their intent to murder the king;"

With every word Tails spoke, Ricky's expression sank a little.

"As for Chu Crassus, he is the one who betrayed the Tower of Termination more than a hundred years ago to build the Sword of Calamity. ”

Tails finished the last sentence.

Ricky looked at him and snorted.

This kid, maybe Sémir is right.

Thinking of this, Ricky spoke:

"Correction, we do not call the plague ......"

Tails interrupted him again with a voice:

"According to you, they're all the ones who awakened to the sins of the River of Hell, right?"

Ricky raised an eyebrow.

"You said the end power is me," Tails took a few deep breaths:

"But it seems that every master of the sins of the Prison River will not end well. ”

"Including the Black Sword. ”

This time, Ricky looked at him deeply, as if he had discovered something terrible from Tails.

"I have a few friends who have studied in the Tower of the End, and they told me," Tails said tentatively:

"The Sword of Calamity's finishing power, the greatest difference from theirs, is surrender to the worst of the power—madness, rage, pain, even the adversary can feel it. ”

"Did I think too much?"

Tails paid attention to the other party's expression:

"Or should I really give up the sins of the Hellriver?"

Crazy, violent, painful.

I don't know if it was the "Tower of End" or the "Sword of Calamity" that stimulated his nerves, but Ricky's expression became difficult to look at anyway.

"Your friend must be extraordinary," Ricky was silent for a moment before he spoke:

"You know, we are the secret scars that the Tower of the End doesn't want to uncover. ”

"Also, correct, we don't call it the Sword of Calamity. ”

Tails heard that the other party was changing the subject, and couldn't help but sigh:

"I've seen how you fight, and you can't deny it: you fight like beasts. ”

Ricky snorted and shook his head:

"Then you should know that our strength is stronger than the average finishing swordsman, and there are fewer restraints. ”

But Tails didn't buy it:

"What you taught me today, and what you said, I look forward to the day when I reach the 'True Realm' or something. ”

"Will it turn me into a beast like that in the end?"

Ricky snorted unhappily and was about to answer, but suddenly he remembered something.

"Strange. ”

Ricky raised an eyebrow:

"Why are you talking so much all of a sudden?"

Tails stiffened slightly, and he looked behind him sneakily, as if he was afraid of being seen, and then he raised the thing in his right hand in embarrassment:

"Because...... This?"

Ricky saw what was on Tails' right hand.

It was a cold light - a dagger.

It seems that it was confiscated by him before......

Ricky's face has changed!

He subconsciously lowered his head and touched into his arms:

"When did you steal—"

Ricky didn't finish the sentence.

"Whew!"

In the next second, a gray blade that he was incomparably familiar with protruded from the air, like a battleship that broke through the waves, pierced Ricky's left forehead, and stabbed into his head!

Swish!

The gray blade draws out the skull, bringing out endless blood!

The sand was splashed scarlet.

"Ricky!"

Tails gritted his teeth and ran a few meters to the side, and before he could say hello to the dark purple mask that had reappeared, he heard an uproar from the mercenaries who were watching this side behind him, and exclaimed in surprise.

"Enemy attack!"

Gritting his teeth and hating, Josh roared and drew his sword, leading a few mercenaries to rush towards the black-clothed figure that suddenly appeared!

"I'm grass and he's him again!"

Clay laughed angrily, and also came with a few people around:

"It's the first ......"

But the next moment, Clay sensed something was wrong.

"Boom!"

There was a loud bang, and Josh only felt a pain in the back of his head, and the whole person fell to the ground in a whirlwind!

The three mercenaries beside him subconsciously turned around and saw that the embarrassed prisoner who was still hanging from the splint of his left arm had squeezed into the middle of them!

Clay lay on the ground and turned his head tremblingly.

In despair, he watched as Saker, who had somehow broken free and regained his freedom, struck down three men with light and swiftness—or only one, because the other two had somehow knocked each other out—across his body.

Sakel limped towards where Ricky and Tails were, leaving only a fluttering word:

"For the fourth time. ”

Clay took a painful breath.

No......

When exactly did they loosen their ties......

Not far away, Brie, who was also free, roared and knocked a man into the air, Barney Jr. knocked over the mercenary guarding him with a mallet, Tardine snatched an axe and threw it at Belletti, and Cannon threw a throwing knife from nowhere......

The ranks of the mercenaries were in chaos!

Josh, who rushed forward, turned back in surprise to find that at some point, the prisoners of the guard had all broken free, and they took advantage of the shock of Ricky's fall to quickly break through the siege and fight Tails!

No.

They are......

"Boom!"

Josh subconsciously looked down, only to find an arrow shot into the sand at his feet.

"Why didn't I shoot again...... You're a fake......

On the other side of him, the fast rope angrily slammed the time crossbow in his hand.

But when he found three people surrounding him, Fastrope immediately rushed in the direction of Tails, dancing and dancing:

"Help—"

In the crowd, Semir roared to reorganize the chaotic ranks and formations:

"Don't panic, they're just the end of the crossbow!"

"We have a numerical advantage!"

In the chaos and uproar of a few seconds, Tails breathed nervously, and turned his head to see Yodel throwing something at Barney and the others who were rushing towards him.

But before the prince could make a speech, he heard a chilling rustling sound from nearby!

The cold wind blew, and Tails looked back with goosebumps.

"You ...... this"

In a pool of blood, Ricky, whose face was as pale as a dead man, got up from the ground again, gritted his teeth and eyes, and reached out to pull out the "Eternal Truth" on his waist:

"Kill yourself—"

But before he could finish speaking, Saqel, who was the first to run towards him, turned grim, a short body, and suddenly leaned forward and stretched out his hand.

The next second, Tails' eyes widened and his mouth opened wide.

He was shocked to see the heroic and imposing Knight of Punishment heading towards the resurrected Ricky......

threw a full handful......

Sand.

"Ahhh

Perhaps he didn't expect the famous Punishment Knight to do this, Ricky, who had just drawn his sword, was caught off guard and was slammed.

"Damn it!"

Ricky cried out in pain, his left hand covering his gritty eyes, and his right hand subconsciously stabbed forward, but was dodged by a nimble roll of Saker.

"Yes!"

"That's it!"

In the chaos, the fast rope that crawled over with seven hands and eight feet and rolled and crawled over gritted his teeth and shook his fist, shouting loudly:

"Give him one more time!"

Cannon, who had covered him to the side of Tails, frowned and looked at the fast rope when he heard this.

Fast Rope's voice suddenly weakened, and he looked at Cannon embarrassedly:

"I, that...... The ambiance, the ambiance ......"

"Never mind Ricky, he'll be able to fight back quickly," Semir gritted his teeth, trying to restore order and command the scene:

"Surround them first!"

The next second, Tails saw little Barney take out what he had taken from yodel, and his heart was shocked.

"You think you're going to kill me?"

Ricky rubbed the sand from his eyes in pain, swinging his blade to the sound of the wind in his ears.

But soon, he heard a metallic thump in his ears.

With his eyes closed, Ricky, who endured the pain in his eyes, only felt a huge force rolling in, squeezing him from all directions!

Squeezed him all over!

Burst.

With a soft sound, eternal truth fell to the sand.

In the exclamation of the mercenaries, Ricky tried his best to open his eyelids and saw the scene in front of him:

Chains.

I don't know when, a vicious iron chain with countless barbs has already circled him three or four times from top to bottom, tightly locked!

His left hand was chained to the side of his face, and his right hand was tightly chained to his torso, and his legs were on his knees.

I saw Barney and Belletti clasping one end of the chain with cold faces, while Brie and Tarding grabbed the other end, and the strength of the four people stretched the chain left and right, straight, and locked Ricky's movements.

"Come on, we know we can't kill you. ”

Sakel, with his arms hanging down, gasped and came to Ricky:

"Then I'll just trap you. ”

Ignoring the strange eyes of his subordinates and Tails, the Knight of Punishment rubbed off the remaining sand on his right hand as usual, picked up the eternal truth in front of the immobile Ricky, and turned in the direction of the mercenaries:

"By the way, what a sword. ”

Tails exhaled, grabbed the stumbling rope, and recognized the chain on Ricky's body: the same chain that the chisel had used to trap Yodel before.

"Ahhh

Ricky, who was locked up, roared angrily:

"Sakel!"

But just like Yodel just now, the more he struggled, the deeper the barbs in the chain pierced.

The more difficult it is to break free.

Tails gasped and smiled and gave yodel a thumbs up.

Well done.

From Yodel's appearance to Ricky's trapping, it was only a dozen seconds before and after, but he felt like he had experienced a lifetime.

Yodel reversed the Supreme Sword, the hilt of the sword buckled in front of his chest, and bowed slightly to Tails.

In the next second, the black-clad masked guard rippled and disappeared into the air again.

A few seconds later, under the leadership of Josh and Samir, dozens of Swords of Calamity surged up in unison, spreading out from the front and converging on the guards!

But another figure was already in front of them.

The body of the Punishment Knight seemed to have some kind of aura, and as long as he stood anywhere, the mercenaries who had seen his skills would all froze.

"Steady!"

Semir angrily stopped all the angry mercenaries and stared at Sakel in front of him:

"Don't forget his abilities!"

Josh gritted his teeth and said:

"He's badly wounded! we'll just—"

"No!"

Semir shook his head decisively:

"I can't risk it, don't forget that mask!"

Josh roared in dismay.

Tails finally straightened out his breath and observed the situation of returning to the balance of power and the confrontation between the two sides:

Ricky closed his eyes tightly, trapped in chains by the four of them, Tails standing behind him with a fastrope, and Cannon vigilantly guarding him.

And Sacael alone held the eternal truth, indifferently in front of the remaining mercenaries.

The small sand slowly regained silence, and only the countless gasps could be heard.

"My old friend with a mask. ”

Trapped in chains, Ricky struggled to open an eye, searching for the mysterious figure:

"Marina said you were killed - when did you come back?"

No response.

Tails took a deep breath and said with a smile:

"Underground, while your people rest and wait, while I drag you to nag the demonic knowledge and the power of the end, so that you can enjoy the pleasure of being a good teacher. ”

Ricky froze slightly.

The boy continued:

"Your old friend is sneaking around, busy untying ropes, delivering news, and arranging plans. ”

What the?

A good teacher...... Pleasure?

Ricky's chest heaved violently, locked tightly.

He struggled again, but the four of the guards blushed and locked him tightly.

"And you use this to let my guard down, and when the time comes, 'take a step to speak'?"

Ricky's eyes were closed, but there was anger in his voice that seemed to burn everything out.

Tails smiled and acquiesced.

Under the gray eastern sky, Ricky was full of anger, gritted his teeth and said to Tails behind him: "I underestimate you again, Your Royal Highness the Prince." ”

"Really...... Insidious, cunning, and scheming. ”

Insidious and cunning.

Scheming?

Tails sighed.

He rolled his eyes and looked far away in the direction where Camp Bladefang was.

"You're too much of an award. ”

Tails turned his head and smiled in a friendly manner, baring a mouthful of white teeth at the angry group of mercenaries in front of him:

"After all, I'm not a demon. ”8)