Rio noticed the gigantic dragon heads were staring at his sword and were trying to scan his powerful sword intent.
’Is it confusing me with King Allen because I have his sword and a sword intent as powerful as him?’
Actually, even Rio himself has always been confused.
Every time his sword intent mastery improves, his emotions fade away, but that doesn’t seem like the situation for other ’sword intent’ users.
Qi Meng, Rio’s disciple, never lost his emotions because of ’sword intent,’ and even King Allen’s stories never have records of him being emotionless.
In fact, he was said to be compassionate and a very kind person, which means his ’sword intent’ also didn’t reduce his emotions.
’Considering the factor that each person’s legendary skill has their unique soul fluctuations and unique aura, it should be easy to distinguish that my sword intent is completely different from King Allen’s...’
Rio felt confused why the dragon heads were mistaking him for someone else, but as he didn’t want to lie, he had clarified it all.
[Hmm?... You... that sword... hmmm?... You are not him?...]
[I can’t see through you... I can’t sense you... what is... hmm?... What are you?]
[I have never seen something so bizarre as you... the ’laws’ of the ’world’ do not seem to apply to you... what is...]
Those dozens of heads talked one after another.
Some were confused, some looked at each other in shock, while others seemed frightened and tried to back off.
The big shadow dragon head seemed to be thinking about something.
’This is the first time someone has managed to describe my existence so correctly... the ’laws’ of the ’world’ do not apply to me unless I want them to...’
’After all, I have been classified as an ’anomaly’ by this world...’
Truthfully speaking, it would be wrong to say that Rio was a human; he was only in a human body. It would be more correct to say that Rio was a glitch, an error in the very existence of this world.
He’s existing because the world cannot deal with him and is incapable of erasing him.
[Are you the so-called ’Anomaly’ that King Allen once hypothesized about? You do seem something of that kind...]
[He did once say that such kind of ’existence’ can theoretically exist in our world and can bring great changes to the natural order of things...]
[I considered those words to be a joke back then... but to think that you would appear in front of me out of nowhere...]
Rio’s eyes widened in sheer shock when he heard the words of the shadow dragon king in his head through telepathy.
This was the first time someone had accurately figured out what Rio actually was and what his real identity was.
Rio never acknowledged these words out loud in front of anyone because if he said that, he would break one more shackle that was still keeping him tied to his humanity.
Raika was trying to do exactly that.
He asked Rio over and over to become something he wasn’t; he asked Rio to acknowledge that Rio wasn’t a human and was something else.
But Rio refused and said out loud that he was just an ordinary human.
The reason for that was simple, Rio needed to keep reminding himself of his humanity. If he acknowledged that he wasn’t a human, then he would break his shackles.
His ’Path’ that is currently leading to a peaceful, happy life will then lead him to a completely different outcome!
His entire purpose for existence will change, and Rio was aware of this.
Rio’s love for Lia, Rio’s constant acknowledgement of his humanity, and Rio’s constant hard work for a happy and peaceful life were the only final shackles keeping him anchored to his human nature.
If Rio let them go, he might not be himself anymore.
"King Allen knew about the existence of what an ’Anomaly’ is? Well, considering how amazing and powerful he was, it would be weird for him to not know about it..."
Rio didn’t acknowledge the shadow dragon king’s words and changed the topic.
[I see... so he never returned from the ’Sea of Endless Miasma’ after all... I guess, he lost the final gamble then...]
[To think even a person as blessed and powerful as him would end up losing someday... The Sea of Miasma really is a powerful existence and a bizarre entity...]
Rio felt confused by the words of the dragon.
"Entity? What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that there’s someone inside the sea of miasma who can possibly control its power?"
"That’s impossible! The sea of miasma is such a massive existence that it has covered nearly 1/10th of the entire universe by now!"
"How can someone control that level of power?"
Rio already knew the real answer in his heart, but he just didn’t want to acknowledge it all, but the gigantic dragon head confirmed his inner thoughts.
[Everything is possible in this magical world... just like how a bizarre existence like you can exist, it’s possible to do anything in this world...]
[Look at me, I have been cursed with an eternal curse of endless suffering!]
[I was banished to the spirit realm, but miasma made a mockery out of my existence... it’s a horrible power....]
The shadow dragon king went on to explain that not only had miasma twisted his existence and ripped him off of his sanity but also shattered the minds of all shadow dragons one by one.
Dozens of shadow dragons were forced to merge in his own body, and then they were forced to have all of their souls collectively merge together.
The pain of all those souls smashing each other continuously was so horrible that it was unbearable.
But unfortunately for the shadow dragons, their physical body was so strong that even after having so many souls forcefully smashing each other inside them, their body refused to die.
Miasma didn’t let them die; it was continuously and endlessly torturing them and experimenting on them over and over.
It was literally and really a horrible curse of eternal suffering!
Not only was miasma not letting their body and soul get destroyed, it wasn’t letting them live peacefully either.
Their very existence had become a living nightmare.
Just like how some plants would create seeds using self-pollination procedures, miasma had forced them all together, and they were forced to produce new shadow dragons continuously by themselves!
Then those shadow dragon whelps would go and hunt down monsters for their souls and then die by swallowing too many souls.
Other shadow dragon whelps would then transfer their dead bodies to the main tree body, and then all those souls would also be absorbed, creating even more chaos inside the body.
It was a continuous and endless process of endless torture and eternal suffering.
It was so horrible that the shadow dragon king couldn’t bear it anymore, and he cut off all consciousness and sealed his final pure soul fragment in the deepest part of his sea of consciousness.
He used the ’determination’ to wait for King Allen to preserve those final pure soul fragments.
He waited for King Allen as he hoped that he would be saved one day.
And now that King Allen was gone for eternity, his curse had now become a true eternal suffering with no salvation in sight.