A profound sorrow filled the heart of the witch.
It was more mournful than the fallen leaves of autumn.
More painful than the lingering glow of the sunset.
Though she stood amidst a sea of roaring flames, the witch, whose heart had been hollowed out, could only feel the biting cold and the suffocating sensation of drowning.
She had lost her purpose, her very soul.
Submerged in an ocean of despair.
Letting her thoughts and reason sink deeper and deeper.
“It’s all my fault… If only I had returned sooner…” Her voice broke, her gaze empty as she stared at the still-burning courtyard in the distance.
Her heartstrings had snapped, leaving only regret.
The pain was so intense she could no longer breathe, no longer think.
The internal collapse overshadowed her physical injuries entirely.
At this moment, Krisha longed to cry, yet her eyes remained dry and lifeless.
The immense grief trapped in her chest tormented her heart, spreading numbness and helplessness through her limbs, plunging her into endless self-reproach.
“Why… me…”
“I can’t even shed tears for my mentor…”
“What right does someone as useless as me have to live?”
The 16-year-old Krisha knelt on the ground, her eyes vacant.
Her pupils trembled, flickering with pain.
She clutched her head, banging it against the hard ground again and again, hating her emotionally flawed body more than ever before.
Once, twice, thrice, four times…
The witch continued to slam her head, as if she felt no pain.
Or perhaps, she deliberately used this self-inflicted torment to replace the tears she couldn’t shed, to dilute the guilt and collapse within her.
But it was all futile.
No matter what she did, the one person who mattered most to her would never return.
When this realization struck, Krisha stopped her head-banging. Blood dripped from her forehead, tracing a path down the corner of her eye, her cheek, and the bridge of her nose.
Finally, it gathered at her chin.
Like crimson tears, it fell slowly to the ground.
At last, the despair crushed the persona known as “Krisha,” turning her pale golden eyes dark.
This was not a metaphor for her mental state but a literal description.
Her golden eyes darkened from within, like black holes devouring everything, consuming the gold, her thoughts, and her sanity.
Just disappear, just fade away.
It doesn’t matter anymore…
A world without her mentor is meaningless…
The girl thought numbly, remaining motionless in her kneeling position, even as the flames crept closer.
She almost seemed to welcome the fire’s embrace.
But then.
A hand appeared.
It shielded her from the encroaching flames.
A broad, warm hand appeared before the girl as if by a miracle, unbothered by her filth and disarray, lifting the despairing Krisha to her feet.
Accompanying it was a voice she knew all too well.
“What’s wrong, Krisha?”
“Are you hurt?”
“Let’s get you up. I’ll heal you.”
The familiar voice broke through her self-imposed isolation.
A miracle had occurred.
The witch looked up dazedly at Xu Xi standing before her. Her half-golden, half-darkened pupils trembled, then gradually calmed as if she had been saved.
It’s okay, everything’s okay.
Her mentor was safe.
Her snapped heartstrings mended, her soul pulled back from despair, and the immense grief trapped in her chest dissipated with each breath.
No explanation was needed, no reason required. The “sun” had reappeared before her.
“…I’m fine, Mentor.”
As long as you’re here, I’ll be alright.
Fearing it was a dream, fearing it was an illusion, her trembling hands tightly grasped the man’s hand.
She didn’t want to let go.
“This…” Xu Xi fell silent.
Looking at Krisha’s pitiful state and her strangely altered eyes, he couldn’t accept that she was “fine.”
Earlier.
Xu Xi had been alone in the study, practicing magic.
The Observer’s ability suddenly activated, allowing him to sense the attack from above. He quickly cast a defensive spell, protecting himself.
Concerned for Krisha, who was outside, he immediately flew to the market to search for her.
But after scouring the area, he found nothing.
Finally, he decided to return to the ruined courtyard to wait, where he found Krisha kneeling alone on the ground.
Her wounds, the bloodstains, and the look of relief on her face.
Everything indicated.
That Krisha had been through something terrible.
“Hum—” A faint green light emanated from his hand as Xu Xi used healing magic to treat Krisha’s injuries. Then, he began to ask what had happened. Krisha didn’t hide anything, recounting everything.
She had thought Xu Xi was dead.
She had been consumed by guilt and regret in the ruins.
And at the very beginning, she had tried to stop the fireball.
Perhaps because Xu Xi was by her side, the girl’s expression returned to its usual calm and emotionless state.
But it was precisely this demeanor that made Xu Xi even more silent.
“Crackle—”
The flames around them continued to roar, the fire snakes hissing as they coiled around the buildings, blackening the walls. Occasionally, large mechanical equipment would overheat and explode, creating even more terrifying blasts.
In the intense light of the fire, amidst the billowing black smoke.
The witch’s figure seemed so small. Her clothes were singed by the flames, her body covered in small wounds, and her face still bore traces of despair and helplessness, evoking pity.
“I’m sorry, Krisha.”
“I should have come sooner.”
“It’s my fault as your mentor for leaving you worried for so long.”
Gently ruffling the witch’s hair, then carefully wiping the blood from her face, Xu Xi spoke with deep remorse.
He could have done better.
He could have avoided this crisis for both himself and Krisha.
But Xu Xi had underestimated the higher-ups of Alenson. He never imagined that their departure was meant to destroy the city.
To annihilate Alenson and its hundreds of thousands of residents.
It made no sense.
He couldn’t comprehend what they stood to gain from this.
It defied all logic.
A wrong judgment led to a wrong outcome. Because Xu Xi hadn’t anticipated the city’s destruction, he and Krisha had been caught in the crossfire, leading to this series of events.
“It’s alright, Mentor,” Krisha said softly, shaking her head.
She didn’t care about anything else.
As long as Xu Xi was by her side, watching over her, she was content.
This was the awareness of being an “object.”
If she harbored more thoughts, if she acted with unnecessary willfulness, the “object” would become a burden to its master. Krisha didn’t want to be a burden to Xu Xi.
Faced with such a stubborn Krisha, Xu Xi had no choice but to care for her in his own way.
He summoned a stream of water, gently cleaning her face until the soot was gone, revealing her fair and delicate features once more.
Throughout the process.
Krisha remained silent.
Like a delicate porcelain doll, she let Xu Xi tend to her.
The black soot wiped away, her refined and pale face emerged.
Then, Xu Xi looked up at the sky.
He had initially thought the biggest challenge in leaving Alenson was securing supplies for the journey to another city.
But now, it seemed the real difficulty was escaping Alenson safely.
The overwhelming meteor shower was just the beginning. The true threat was the hordes of foreign races—orcs, goblins, pure-blooded demons, and magical beasts—that had inexplicably surged into Alenson.
“Orcs, goblins, pure-blooded demons, magical beasts…”
“What are the higher-ups of Alenson planning, inviting these foreign races to attack their own city?”