Seeing the slowly vanishing Diamond,
Silver Lin squeezed out two streams of crystal-clear tears from the corners of her eyes.
At 34 years old, she was a grown man who had seen all sorts of scenes and tragedies, yet never thought she would be brought to tears by a little cat.
She forced her mouth open with difficulty.
Diamond placed the fruit of the World Tree into her mouth.
There was no need to swallow—it was as if this was just a meaningless formality.
The fruit dissolved inside her mouth, forming a warm current that spread throughout her body.
Her body repaired itself at an incredible speed; shattered internal organs regrew, blood vessels reestablished, and flesh and skin sprouted anew.
Even in this paused state of time, nothing seemed able to stop her.
Only the process was a bit slower than usual.
The pain on her body was fading, and her fatigue seemed to be dissipating as well.
The paused world suddenly resumed for a moment, then froze again.
Diamond started coughing again uncontrollably; he could no longer stand.
His right leg had disappeared for a large portion, leaving only one leg and both hands.
Silver Lin’s body was almost fully restored too.
She forced herself to stand, as if resisting something, moving with great difficulty.
She tried tapping on the paused-time Lightning Man.
The thing was incredibly solid, almost as if it had entered a state of Gold-Body Invincibility.
The paused world flickered back to life for a moment.
Lightning Man sensed something; in its eyes, Silver Lin seemed to have teleported upright.
In the next instant, time froze again.
Silver Lin tightly held the disappearing Diamond and grabbed her staff, flying up at an extremely slow pace.
She checked the charge progress—no interruption; it was still charging, almost full, at 96%.
She continued flying, steadily increasing altitude within this paused-time world.
Time resumed again for a moment.
Lightning Man withdrew its searching hand, seemingly panicked, trying to stand.
Time froze once more.
Silver Lin kept flying; the distance to the nearby tall building was still considerable.
At this speed, it was too slow, but the charge finally reached 97%.
Time resumed.
Lightning Man took a sprinting stance, realizing danger was imminent.
Time paused again.
It held that pose.
When Silver Lin reached a foothold on the adjacent building, the charge hit 99%.
During this time, the flow of time became unstable, repeatedly flickering between resumed and frozen states.
Diamond was in terrible shape; one-third of his body had already disappeared.
Time resumed again.
Even with just a tiny fragment of resumed time, Lightning Man sprinted over ten meters before being frozen again.
Silver Lin stood at the high foothold, finally able to free her hands from the staff.
She turned the staff’s aiming direction with great difficulty, predicting Lightning Man’s advancing path in the paused state.
Charge complete, 100%.
The magic circle before her formed, its power greatly enhanced, creating a complete spell.
Without hesitation, Silver Lin fired the shot.
The magic cannon froze the moment it emerged from the magic circle, unable to continue forward.
It couldn’t move in the paused-time world like Silver Lin could.
Looking at Diamond, she whispered, “Release it.”
Diamond replied, “Silver, once released, I won’t be able to use this anymore. You’ll have to rely on yourself.”
Silver Lin gently patted his little head.
“Trust me.”
Diamond nodded.
Time pause was lifted.
Silver Lin hugged Diamond to her chest protectively, reopened her shield, then grabbed her staff and continued to ascend, putting distance between herself and the battlefield.
The magic cannon had already been fired and could no longer be redirected.
The thick beam of light shot down toward the ground.
Lightning Man was facing away, delayed by a second and didn’t see the incoming magic cannon attack.
By the time it reacted, the magic cannon was already very close to the ground.
Silver Lin had fired too close to the surface, leaving Lightning Man little time to respond.
It was almost at the center of the explosion and hastened its speed in a desperate attempt to flee.
The magic cannon struck the ground and detonated.
A milky-white explosion rapidly expanded.
This was a fully charged magic cannon; the spread was incredibly fast, instantly enveloping Lightning Man inside.
The shockwave threw it into the air.
Once airborne, its speed was lost, and it couldn’t run.
The intense magical explosion tore at its body while high temperatures scorched and burned it.
Even a cadre-level Demon couldn’t withstand the central blast of a fully charged magic cannon.
Silver Lin couldn’t fully escape the blast radius either.
Because she had fired so close, she was grazed by the edge of the explosion and caught in the periphery.
Her shield was destroyed repeatedly, forcing her to reopen it each time.
She clutched Diamond to her chest tightly.
Even her magical girl uniform was torn to shreds by the blast.
The powerful shockwave became her saving grace, blowing her away—her not-so-heavy weight was lifted and pushed a kilometer away before crashing to the ground.
Her shield shattered again, and she quickly raised it once more.
Silver Lin was in a sorry state, covered in countless wounds, injured moderately by her own blast.
Countless stone fragments rained down, hitting her shield but causing no harm.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something and turned to look, but there was nothing there—as if a mirage.
Suddenly, a scorched chunk of flesh fell from the sky, crashing nearby.
It was the Lightning Man that had taken the full force of the charged magic cannon.
Only half a head and half a shoulder remained; most of its body had been vaporized.
Such tenacious vitality.
This was a fully charged magic cannon, yet it hadn’t been completely vaporized—there were still remains.
Had it not been fully charged, this creature might have survived by relying on its resistance.
Examining the chunk, it was completely dead.
Suddenly remembering something, Silver Lin looked down at Diamond in her arms.
Diamond was still somewhat protected, though his fur was a bit disheveled.
However, half his body had already disappeared, dissolving into points of light that dispersed into the air.
Tears she hadn’t yet wiped away escaped again uncontrollably.
“Silver, crying is an expression of sadness. I remember human books say so. Are you sad for me?”
Diamond’s expression remained calm, as if he didn’t understand death.
“No, I’m happy. Celebrating that you finally left, and I can have peace again.”
She spoke as her mouth formed a wailing shape, unable to hold back her tears.
“Silver, I know, you can’t fool me this time.”
Diamond grinned, trying to smile, but it looked a little creepy.
“Don’t be sad for me. I’ve just returned to Contract Island, back to the Goddess’s side. Maybe we’ll meet again.”
“Don’t go, Diamond. You still haven’t finished the fried dumplings from last time; wasting food is wrong.”
“You help me finish them.”
Watching as Diamond vanished until only his small head remained,
Silver Lin sobbed, “Thank you. Thank you for letting me know you, for making my monotonous life both terrifying and thrilling. Now I understand why you were named Diamond.”
Diamond weakly nuzzled Silver Lin’s hand with his head.
“When I was named, she said Diamonds are the most precious gems imagined by humans.”
Silver Lin nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Yes, you truly are my Diamond.”
The last part of his head also dissolved into points of light, slowly rising until disappearing completely.
The Golden Luan had been standing nearby for a while, watching silently without disturbing them.
This wretched world
noooo 🙁