Ailia and Osha refused to yield to each other.
Their clash gradually escalated from a war of words into a white-hot confrontation.
It was on the verge of erupting into outright violence.
Facing Ailia’s magic, a trace of ridicule flashed through Osha’s eyes.
“What big talk.”
She mocked, “What exactly do you amount to?”
Ailia did not respond to Osha.
She only coldly looked at the black-clothed woman before her, while her peripheral vision could not help but worry whether an outbreak of battle would harm Zhe Zilin.
Yet that brief moment of distraction was seized by Osha as a weakness.
“Now you remember to protect Ed? What a pretentious act. With me here, Ed has no need for you to divide your attention. First take care of your own life and death.”
In a single instant, a pitch-black ghostly shadow coiled around Ailia, binding her limbs and devouring the green flames.
The girl’s mouth rapidly chanted an incantation. The ghost seemed to hear an extremely terrifying sound.
It clutched its head and dissipated in midair, letting out a shrill, miserable scream.
Osha looked down on Ailia.
In the past, when the other party hid behind Zhe Zilin, she had looked down on her.
Now that she had personally dealt with her, she looked down on her even more.
Therefore, no matter what Ailia did, the contempt in her eyes remained consistent and never changed.
In the next moment, the corners of Ailia’s mouth curved into a cold smile.
A layer of darkness suddenly enveloped the entire room, and dark-red flames began to ignite in every corner.
A trace of surprise flashed through Osha’s eyes, yet after a moment it turned into composure.
She chuckled lightly.
“You know my ghosts fear Nether Fire and are trying to restrict me? You underestimate me far too much.”
She lightly stamped her foot.
A deep black hole appeared on the ground, and a disheveled skeleton crawled out, hovering beneath the ceiling.
Judging from the skeleton’s ancient clothing, the other party had most likely been a witch in life as well—and one who had existed for an even longer time.
The skeleton began chanting an incantation. The originally dark-red Nether Fire was instantly extinguished, and light returned to the room once more.
Ailia stared at the skeleton witch. She knew very clearly that this was Osha’s most troublesome aspect—the ability to summon all kinds of ghosts and undead.
The king who ruled over hell could easily control any soul for her own use.
…
The development of the situation made Zhe Zilin uneasy.
If things continued like this, it would once again turn into a mutual destruction.
From the moment Ailia and Osha began attacking each other with words, the entire matter had been developing in a bad direction, heading toward something uncontrollable.
Although he had remained silent the entire time, his mind was racing, desperately trying to think of a way to resolve the current situation.
Yet the magical clash between the two of them was not something a single Magic Sword Cavalier could stop.
Both of them had already lost their tempers. To persuade them, the atmosphere first needed to be eased.
Zhe Zilin felt like an incompetent husband. Aside from watching helplessly, the only thing he could do was stand to the side and shout, “Stop it!”
Once Osha and Ailia decided a victor, he would again be powerless to accept reality, staring at the battered loser and letting out a heart-wrenching cry.
He could completely act like a fence-sitter, attaching himself to the winning side, swaying back and forth in his dealings with people, and living as a despicable person who pleased everyone.
Yet the image of Ailia sacrificing herself resurfaced in his mind. Just as he wanted to reach out, the sight of Osha crying and fearing she was no longer beautiful seemed to appear before his eyes once more.
Zhe Zilin could not help but recall—everything he had worked so hard for, was it not precisely so that everyone could live, and so that their mutual conflicts could be resolved?
Yet he could not insert a single word. The past the two of them were discussing was something he could not remember, and thus could not empathize with.
Nor could he use any details to mediate between them.
Many times, Zhe Zilin had tried to tell himself to regard himself as a “player.” All he needed to do was complete this “game.”
But everything was so real. Ailia was struggling to resist the simultaneous attacks of the skeleton witch and Osha, her petite body enduring enormous pressure.
The girl never dared to release large-scale magic. She had been dividing her attention the entire time out of fear of affecting Zhe Zilin.
At that moment Zhe Zilin raised his head and happened to meet Ailia’s clear yet melancholic eyes. Familiar words suddenly roared through his mind.
“I believe in you…”
“When you look back in your memories, the me of the past will tell you everything…”
“Be yourself, Ed!”
While he was in a daze, the residual wave of magic released by the skeleton witch suddenly swept toward him.
Ailia tried to stop it, yet she was too far away and it was already too late.
With a sharp riiiip, by the time Zhe Zilin came back to himself, Osha was standing in front of him. A bone spike had sliced across her arm, leaving a bloody line.
He stared blankly in a daze. When Osha turned her head, those eyes were gentle, without the slightest trace of ferocity.
She worriedly scanned him once, and upon discovering that Zhe Zilin was unharmed, she flung her dagger, actively dispersing the skeleton witch, and continued fighting Ailia alone.
After a long while, Zhe Zilin could not help but laugh.
This goddamn world, these mad and crazy characters—not a single one of them was normal.
And yet he had still wanted to make the correct choices in the manner of a normal person.
Faced with the thoughts of madmen, only by becoming a madman yourself can you understand them.
Zhe Zilin took out that item he had delayed using for so long—the Love Letter.
As the name implied, it was a letter representing one’s feelings.
The effect of the Love Letter went without saying; it could greatly increase favorability.
The system prompt sounded.
[The Love Letter can strengthen emotional bonds and can be used when facing a romantic rivalry. Please use it with caution]
Zhe Zilin knew that whichever person he gave this Love Letter to, the situation would tilt because of him.
And what he needed right now was for the balance to tip toward either side.
In the past, the so-called normal-person way of thinking had been to ensure that neither Ailia nor Osha was harmed.
But that was impossible. He lacked absolute strength to suppress them, and he also lacked the memories of the past.
Therefore, all along he had been drifting along with the plot, attempting to make the most correct choice.
He had begun to become calculating, caring about every single decision, growing hesitant and timid, believing that everything should remain within his control.
He had confidently believed he could achieve the perfect result he wanted, predicting everyone’s actions and using reloads to force everything onto the path he envisioned.
But now, Zhe Zilin realized that with every reload, not a single character had been changed.
The only one who had been changed was himself.
Therefore, he could no longer hold onto naive thoughts. He could no longer simply believe that the outcome could only be beautiful.
Zhe Zilin stood up, drew the Dragon Slayer, and charged toward Ailia, whose body was already covered in streaks of blood.
His hand trembled as he cleaved apart the defensive magic Ailia had raised.
The impact caused Ailia to stagger back several steps until her back pressed against the wall.
Zhe Zilin raised the Dragon Slayer. Bloodshot filled his eyes, and his teeth were clenched tightly.
Complex emotions overflowed from Ailia’s eyes.
She did not understand, yet she clearly felt the resolute determination in that sword strike of Zhe Zilin’s.
“E… Ed?”
Zhe Zilin looked as though he had run for an entire day and night.
His body heaved with heavy breaths. Sweat streamed down from his forehead as he glared viciously at Ailia.
“Witch, I no longer wish to have any connection with you.”
Ailia gazed at those fierce eyes. Within those pupils she saw a different kind of emotion.
The golden-haired girl shed tears as she clutched her chest. The corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.
“Ed, I will not lose.”
At this moment Zhe Zilin seemed like a madman.
He clearly needed to appear even more decisive, yet aside from the continued ruthlessness in his eyes, his expression carried a peculiar sorrow.
“We… no longer have any relationship.”