Stray

    Not the same.

    Oliver's eyes were fixed on the phantom in front of him.

      The Nemo Wright that he was familiar with was not very good at covering up his emotions, and even had to rely on Sha Jiaomei for help with his "expressionless face".

    The thought flashed through his mind for a second. But the next second, Oliver denied it in his mind.

    The current self is not much different from the Nemo in front of him.

    Oliver pursed his lips and moved a few steps forward. The sword of rest in his left hand was not put down, and the tip of the sword still pointed upwards vigilantly.

    At this moment, the two of them are only one step apart.

    Insecurity, panic, anxiety, and longings, desires, and thoughts. All kinds of turbulent feelings were forcibly suppressed in his heart. At first glance, both of them were even calm.

    Like the calm before the storm.

    Nemo's phantom sat on Ulysses' huge skull, moving naturally without the slightest bit of stiffness. The skull slowly floated up and down in the air by the power of the magic circle, and the orange-red light jumped on the surface of the bones.

    The floating skull made him two heads taller than Oliver. The Demon King lowered his gaze slightly, his inhuman cross-shaped pupils contracted slightly, staring at the summoner in front of him.

    "I would like to trade with you." Oliver repeated, without a title.

    Nimo didn't answer, he just looked at Oliver earnestly without blinking.

    "Can you tell, Dylan? Is that Nemo, or..." Ann carefully stepped over the pattern of the hot coal-burning magic circle and approached the white behemoth.

    "No." Jesse didn't hesitate for a second, "If the Pillars of the World tried to disguise themselves as 'Nimo Wright', I couldn't tell the difference anyway—it's a purely spiritual thing Psychopathic humans pretending to be ordinary people are difficult to distinguish at a glance, and it takes a long time to observe."

    One ear of the white behemoth shook in the direction of Dalla Reinen: "Not to mention the pillar of the world, even if Dalla Reinen pretends to 'love' a person, it's normal Humans can't tell the difference."

    An looked worriedly at the center of the circle and grasped the hunting spear in his hand.

    The Pillars of the World knows everything about Nemo Wright, and no matter what the "Nimo" in front of them does, they have reasons to doubt. There is no "I know it's him" magic or 100% accurate intuition.

    Oliver can't make mistakes in this matter - let alone mistakes, he can't even make small mistakes.

    He is negotiating with the world itself.

    The sky with dark clouds was lit up by the light of the magic circle, and the woods behind kept making a loud noise of tree trunks breaking. That strange smell of water has disappeared. The air was getting hotter and brighter, and it was hard to tell whether it was the effect of the magic circle or the flame was really burning.

    Everything around her seems like the end, and the air of destruction is so thick that you can't breathe. Sweat came out of the pores, sticking the close-fitting clothes to the skin, aggravating the suffocation effect.

    Consider the two people in the center of the circle and the identities of everyone present. This may be a major event that should be recorded in the annals of human history, but Ann does not have much sense of reality. The excessive familiarity and companionship strip away those unimportant parts, leaving only a pair of sad lovers.

    Ann failed to feel the fear, she was just a little sad.

    "...What is the content of the transaction?" Seeing that Oliver didn't continue for a long time, the phantom took over the conversation cooperatively.

    Like the countless conversations they've had.

    "There was a knight's oath between us." Oliver cleared his throat.

    The array is getting brighter and brighter. There is a starry sky overhead, but the surrounding is like daytime.

    "Yes. Then you left my sphere of influence, and it no longer works." The Demon King's tone was calm, sounding just a statement of facts, without any emotion.

    "I want to restore it, in a more egalitarian form." Oliver's tone had a subtle trembling.

    Nemo opened his mouth but did not speak.

    "I have introduced a new power system to the world. This new intelligence, and the developments and changes it will bring, I believe will be of some value to you."

    Oliver's voice was not drowned out by the loud wind from the surrounding forest, and was serious and calm.

    He placed his clenched right hand in the position of his heart, lowered his head, and gave a serious salute.

    “…I promise not to hurt you, and do my best to protect you and block the fatal damage from this world for you.”

    He said word by word.

    "In exchange, you promise me not to destroy the surface until it destroys itself."

    Nimo didn't move, just curled his eyes and showed a little smile at the corners of his mouth. There was no apparent despair or sadness in those silver-grey eyes. On the contrary, his gaze was soft, so soft that Oliver couldn't bear to doubt it.

    But you must continue until the moment you decide.

    "Use your own intelligence and loyalty to exchange the stability of the world...a very good proposal."

    Nemo's voice is soft and easy.

    "…I just noticed that the circles around here are not related to transactions. I'm a little curious, Ollie. If I refuse, what are you going to do?"

    Oliver closed his eyes.

    "I will trap you with that magic circle and seal this place. I will stand by your side, as your jailer in this life, until the current surface civilization disappears. I know that destruction is your freedom ...but I have my side, and I'm really, really sorry."

    This time, Oliver couldn't help but smile, a little sad.

    "If you don't want to wait or sleep, and you still choose to destroy...I promised you, you should remember the answer." He added softly, without concealing anything.

    Nimo just looked at him.

    Please.

    I have given all my options, just waiting for the other party to speak again.

    …Please.

    Looking at the inhuman pupil, Oliver kept repeating in his heart, after all, he couldn't hold back his tears. His expression remained calm, without trembling or choking, but tears kept rolling down his face. He didn't mean to show weakness at all, this was supposed to be a serious negotiation, he just...

    The phantom did not answer immediately.

    The illusion of the demon king lowered his head slightly, leaned over his upper body, and printed a kiss that had no temperature on his forehead, but was like a breeze blowing.

    "Freedom and power on the one hand, and long waiting for no benefit on the other. I have no reason to say no."

    The "Nimo" smile in front of him was even more obvious.

    The Demon King stretched out his incorporeal right hand and stroked Oliver's cheek. Countless pitch-black magic formations suddenly piled up in the air. They instantly overflowed between the heavens and the earth, but they did not carry the slightest murderous aura.

    By the way, I wiped away the tears on the faces of the people in front of me.

    The filaments of gray fog rose and wrapped around the shadow. Copies a large number of identical magic circles. They cut through the darkness in swarms like fluorescent jellyfish floating in the night sky. Unreal and delicate beauty, unreal to make people sigh.

    Although he could not understand the meaning of those magic circles, Oliver could vaguely perceive their effects by instinct.

    It was undoubtedly a contract, a promise, stronger and more stable than their nonsense knightly oath.

    He used the left hand holding the sword to tap the shadow of Nemo's right hand, and closed his eyes.

    The wind stopped at that moment.

    Within more than ten kilometers around, the broken leaves and branches that were swept up into the sky by the wind fell back to the ground. The dazzling magic circle subsided slightly, and the surrounding scene recovered from the fire of the apocalypse to the desolate dusk that was reversed.

    The human being he loves really struggled to the end.

    Nimo didn't withdraw his hand, he could feel Oliver's body temperature.

    The dusty windows were wiped clean and the sun shone into the darkness. "Nimo Wright" will no longer panic and be negative because of the unknown, and it will be difficult to let his emotions get out of control. But he did feel that the moment his body temperature touched his fingertips, his heartbeat in the distant abyss was undoubtedly half a beat faster.

    His lover really didn't let him down.

    He wanted to say believe me, I still love you. He wanted to say that there was no need for a new power system, just "Oliver Ramon" itself was enough to bring too much new information that he couldn't parse.

    But it's easy to suspect anything at this moment. He had to do his best to kiss each other's forehead with the most gentle gesture.

    As they "real" meet for the first time.

    Oliver's proposed deal, whether it is rational Ulysses or himself who loves Ollie, is difficult to find a reason to refuse.

    Then his hero, after making sure that the world will not be destroyed, will never give up confirmation—

    "This is the first part of the contract."

    Sure enough, Oliver spoke again, his voice a little more hoarse.

    "Now that you agree, allow me to continue."

    Nimo retracted his right hand and looked at those familiar green eyes.

    "The next thing I'm going to ask is a question that is too small for the world to even ask. It won't do you any definite benefit by itself, it's just very common among humans of…"

    Oliver's voice really started to tremble with nervousness this time, and he got stuck miserably.

    Although Nemo could recognize the tension in the voice, he had to admit that Oliver had concealed it well.

    But at the moment, Oliver in front of him was a little nervous and couldn't hide it.

    Nimo pondered for a moment, jumped down from the floating skull, stood in front of Oliver in a phantom state, and changed his sight to level.

    Maybe this will make him feel better, Nemo thought.

    How is Oliver going to make sure?

    In the days at the bottom of the abyss, Nemo deduced the game between life and death over and over again, thinking about how the other party should restrain himself and how to deal with the current confusing situation. But he really hadn't thought about it—with subtle anticipation, consciously or not, Nemo avoided thinking about it.

    The serious and calm Oliver is gradually disappearing, replaced by his familiar appearance.

    Showing a bit of youth and helplessness, the innkeeper's son Oliver Ramon is standing in front of him.

     Surrounded by twisted trees, in a prison circle with a chilling atmosphere. Ulysses' skull was crooked to one side, still exuding a faint aura of abyss. But Oliver's eyes slipped to his companion, with a little guilty and embarrassed.

    Nemo raised his eyebrows.

    As if he had done enough psychological construction, his new knight inserted the sword of rest into the soil around him, and took a long breath—

    Oliver knelt down a little awkwardly, and finally opened his right hand, which he had been clenching tightly.

    Two rings were lying quietly in the palms that were sweaty from tension.

    "A... a simple question."

    His brave voice changed a little because of nervousness, and his beautiful green eyes flickered slightly in the chilling light of the magic circle. Full of expectations and desires.

    "Nimo."

     Oliver called softly, his eyes fixed on his face, as if he did not intend to let go of any details.

    "Would you like to live with me, to accompany each other until the end of life... er, I mean, would you like to be with me, be with..."

    Oliver is stuck again.

    And Oliver's comrades, no, their comrades have expressed their opinions on this.

    Nemo was so sure that he heard the huge beast exhaling Jesse's breath, and then let out a long, tone-shifting sneer.

    Adrian Cross swallowed, and only remembered to sigh after a few seconds.

    "I thought about ten thousand reasons why he didn't tell us the plan." Ann snorted loudly, "I never thought the reason would be so... personal."

    "Ramon is crazy!" The grey parrot let out a scream and fell from the branch to the ground.

    A valid question.

    The Pillar of the World has never been proposed, and no expedition member has ever made such a dangerous act at the bottom of the abyss. If it was Ulysses, he really wouldn't know how to react. And if it is yourself - even if it is negative, the first look is enough to reveal everything.

    There is no bright sunshine, flowers or cheers, no warm hugs and kisses, and naturally there will be no blessings from everyone.

    I am a life completely different from any creature on the surface. It was extremely cold and terrifying. Perhaps there is nothing more dangerous than myself in this world - and in most cases, love does not mean eternal . Maybe one day, he will turn back into a downright "fatal danger". Oliver Ramon knows this.

    At present, I still can't leave the bottom of the abyss. The next expedition will come. The devil named Nemo Wright is still the "enemy" of the entire surface. Oliver Ramon should know this too.

    But his hero still asked that question. Serious and firm, with unrelenting courage.

    What a mundane and crazy question. Pay tribute to this crazy love, maybe he should give an equally crazy answer.

    Nemo turned his attention away from his surroundings and focused on Oliver.

    In this hellish scene, his Mr. Brave was half-kneeling in front of him, carefully picking out his lines, trying to get rid of the stuttering state. Oliver seemed to have forgotten to observe his own reaction for a few seconds, and seemed to almost faint from shame.

    "Now I can't take this ring. You're absolutely right, it doesn't bring me any definite benefit by itself."

    Nemo said softly, he no longer suppressed his emotions, and showed a bright smile.

    “…but I would.”

    Oliver was still half-kneeling, with a mixture of daze and ecstasy on his face, like a thirsty traveler in the desert falling into a clear stream. He appeared to be trying to get up, but was pinned to the ground by his weak ankles and knees.

    "Nimo."

    "Yes."

    “…Nemo.”

    "Yes."

    "Nimo." The depression between his brows was finally swept away, Oliver's voice was no longer trembling, but full of joy and trance. This time he no longer stutters or gets stuck, and his speech is extremely smooth.

    "You don't need to take it now."

    He said so.

    “…I’ll go and put it on for you myself.”

    The author has something to say:

    Oliver overtakes Jesse with a goal—

    I am not a boyfriend, but a fiancé! !

    ——

    Oli didn't say there is a reason, and what he said might be like this:

    Everyone: It will be much easier if you agree to the knight's oath, and the world is safe. The next step should be to probe carefully, this and that, and this and that... through various details to determine whether it is Ulysses or Nemo who intends to observe you.

    Oli: I'm going to propose.

    Everyone: .