“Swish swish swish”
“Swish swish swish!”
Countless white sheets of paper fluttered, weaving endlessly in the sea breeze.
The battle with hundreds of wolfish Cultists had dragged on until now, leaving only a numbed, mechanical struggle as exhaustion set in.
XÄ«’s ears rang with near constant buzzing.
Yet she still heard it clearly—
The crack of a Thunder Arrow, launched from the Magic Array–fitted wrist crossbow on the hand of the person behind her, the very one she had personally set up with Thunder Crystal and reinforced with a protective bracer, whistling straight toward her…
“Whoosh—”
“Clang!”
The Thunder Arrow truly had aimed for her, slicing cleanly through her flowing hair and sinking deep into the cypress wood hull before her.
Slowly, XÄ« turned around.
She noticed the nearby monsters: the moment Lin Nuo attacked her, it was as if some signal had been sent.
Every single creature froze like a puppet, their expressions still twisted with venomous hatred as they glared at the pair.
Not one Cultist dared step forward.
Standing directly opposite her, Lin Nuo was indeed aiming another condensed magic skill straight at her.
The hope she had clung to—that her young master had foreseen the enemy’s assault and fired the Thunder Arrow to help her—was shattered…
The Water Tornado swirling around Lin Nuo edged closer, spraying cold droplets that struck XÄ«, every breath she took echoing with confusion and helplessness.
“So this is magic he’s using…against me…”
She had become the sole target of the two Water Tornado magic skills, as if Lin Nuo was ready to battle her alone for as long as it took.
Yet even facing this, XÄ« remained her graceful and pure self, surrounded by an aura that belonged only to her.
She stood with one delicate foot before the other, upright in the wailing sea wind, her hair whipping high, only to crash back down.
With her chin slightly tucked, her gaze was hidden beneath the soft hair falling over her forehead, her expression stubborn, seemingly incapable of showing fear in any situation.
But she only dared to stare at Lin Nuo’s toes, afraid that if she looked up, she would be scorched by the killing intent in his eyes—so much that her own would never focus again.
Even so, crystalline tears, fragile as powdered snow crushed by a giant’s hand, easily welled up.
“Swish swish swish –”
As if sensing the danger from Lin Nuo, the white paper gathered in her limp hand on its own.
It became a white whip.
XÄ« gripped the long whip, as if using every ounce of strength just to extend her arm, pointing it at the one who would finally fight her.
But her trembling hand could hardly hold the weapon steady…
“Buzz buzz buzz—”
The hum of magic being cast, like ice water quenching the last spark of fighting spirit, forced XÄ« to lower her whip, steeling herself to calmly accept her end.
Until a dark-purple ring of light spread from Lin Nuo to her feet.
It swept through her heart.
It filled her vision.
In an instant, all light flickered anew in the girl’s eyes.
“This is…”
“The Magic-Devouring Ring she once hid in her bracer, the one she showed her young master…”
“The one she could shatter with a single step… the Magic-Devouring Ring.”
“Buzz!”
Still dazed, XÄ« seemed to realize something.
She slowly, steadily raised her head to look at Lin Nuo.
She couldn’t see his expression.
She couldn’t make a sound.
But at that moment, neither of them needed words.
Just a meeting of eyes—
And their hearts aligned as one.
This time, XÄ« truly trusted the whip in her grasp, nodding gently at Lin Nuo, who stood behind the two Water Tornadoes.
Suddenly, she unleashed all her magic without holding back, whipping the air and launching her fiercest assault on Lin Nuo!
“Crack crack crack…”
“Crack, crack, crack!”
The white whip shattered the tough cypress deck.
No matter how aggressive her attacks became, Lin Nuo always predicted and dodged them deftly, then countered with volleys of magic.
The Water Tornadoes compressed XÄ«’s space, manipulated with precision by Lin Nuo so that they pressed ever closer, even soaking the ends of her hair.
It seemed that if she slowed for even a moment, she’d be swept up, meeting total defeat and death at his hands…
Any bystander—even a master tactician—would believe the two were forced into a deadly battle by circumstance.
When XÄ«’s magic burst forth, it was devoured entirely by the Magic-Devouring Ring’s “magic-leeching” power, along with the Water Tornadoes that followed behind her, absorbing every trace.
XÄ« saw it then.
The young master needed her—and her magic.
The gentle water magic behind her drew nearer again, its chilly droplets bringing a moment of clarity to her mind.
To escape the Illusory Cycle Mirage, all Cultists had to be slain, but her own wide-area magic had been restricted; using a destructive Magic Array would trigger disaster…
XÄ« gradually grasped Lin Nuo’s intent.
She understood his gift for Magic Arrays.
The magic array capable of turning her countless Paper Cranes to smoke in a flash was a wide-area skill.
If the young master could recreate the annihilating Magic Array that had appeared earlier and use it himself…
But it was useless!
That kind of magic, which only triggered upon detecting her paper techniques, simply couldn’t affect those Cultists.
In fact, given the young master’s strength, even if he borrowed her magic to cast a high-level Magic Array, at best, he could only create a rough facsimile…
It would have no offensive power at all and her remaining magic was her last trump card, not to be wasted.
XÄ«’s lips tightened into a near-straight line.
At this moment, she seemed to understand what her young master intended—and yet, not quite.
But she understood what she must do: place complete trust in her man.
“Just as he’s telling me now, the choice he wants to make…”
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh”
The sea wind battered the reefs ceaselessly.
All around, the vicious Cultists signaled that the situation remained fraught.
Her magic was quickly drained to emptiness; her face grew pale and her lips lost their color, showing just how near collapse XÄ« had come.
“Whoosh—”
When a slip of paper flew from her hand, slicing again toward Lin Nuo’s face—
Though she aimed away from any vital spots, sure the young master could evade, this time he didn’t.
A lock of his golden hair was cut loose and fluttered down.
In the briefest instant of eye contact—
XÄ« seemed to understand even more.
She stopped moving, ceasing the pretense of a running, circling fight with Lin Nuo.
Letting go of the white whip, she caught the second paper slip between two fingers, flicking it into the gale.
“Swish swish swish!”
It split apart, but with noticeably less power than her last paper technique—yet she used it again.
White slips of paper drifted toward Lin Nuo, exploding with a boom and sending up a blinding flurry of confetti, as if winter snow was swirling in a storm.
“Swish swish swish –”
Dazzling Paper Cranes soared from the snowy flurry, shooting out like deadly darts.
This paper technique’s true targets were still the four hundred fifty Cultists on the deck…
She had understood from the way the Water Tornadoes moved—her young master was signaling her.
“Even now, you still won’t give up?”
Blaineau, who had been spectating with great interest, gave a languid sneer: “Why waste your strength on such a pointless magic, attacking these puppet-like foes that you’ll never be able to kill off?”
In the void, the runes of the annihilating Magic Array shimmered once more.
Just as before, the Paper Cranes, whistling through the air, only managed to pierce a few Cultists.
The rest turned to smoke almost instantly, and the Cultists that had fallen moments earlier revived just as quickly…
“Look at the wounds on you, and on him…”
Blaineau ignored Lin Nuo, who was now encircled by a cloud of paper debris.
Instead, he grinned at XÄ«, whose face was now deathly pale from expending her magic, barely able to stand.
“Surely you don’t think he’ll keep struggling on, stupidly, the way you do?”
‘In the end, he was the first to ambush you…’
“I knew I’d see this with my own eyes—the person you refuse to admit is useless, crawling to your feet like a beaten cur, weeping and begging for mercy.”
“Blubbering ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ as he stabs a fatal blow into your heart, then staggers away in tears, praying to escape…”
“Oh, Your Highness, tell me—are you disappointed in him?”
“You’ll say yes, won’t you, just like all those who were killed by their own comrades here before, right? Hahaha…”