Chapter 47: You, Reunited with the Witch

A massive sorrow filled the witch's heart.

Sadder than the falling leaves of autumn.

More painful than the afterglow of the setting sun.

Even though she was in the midst of a scorching scene filled with billowing flames, the witch, with a massive void in her heart, could only feel coldness and a suffocation akin to drowning.

She, who had lost the meaning of her existence, and her Soul along with it.

Was drowning in an ocean named despair.

Letting her thoughts and reason continue to sink.

"It's all my fault… If only I could have returned sooner…" she voiced, as if broken, staring blankly at the courtyard still burning in the distance.

Her heartstrings snapped, leaving only regret.

It hurt so much that she couldn't breathe, hurt so much that she couldn't think.

The collapse from within completely overshadowed the injuries on her body.

At this very moment, Klisa wanted to cry so badly, but her eyes remained hollow and lifeless, without a single trace of moisture.

That immense grief was completely trapped within her chest, repeatedly torturing her heart, allowing that powerlessness and numbness to spread to her limbs, and finally causing her to fall into endless self-reproach.

"Why… I…"

"Can't even shed tears for Mentor…"

"What right do I, such an incompetent me, have to live?"

Sixteen-year-old Klisa, with lifeless eyes, knelt on the ground.

Her pupils trembled, flashing with a look of pain.

She hugged her head tightly, slamming it against the hard ground again and again, hating her own emotionally defective body more than ever before.

One, two, three, four…

The witch continued to slam it, as if she couldn't feel the pain.

Or rather, she was intentionally using this way of torturing herself to replace tears of sorrow, to dilute the self-reproach and collapse within her heart.

But this was ultimately useless.

No matter what actions she took, the only person who mattered in her heart would not return.

When she realized this, Klisa stopped the head-slamming motion; fresh blood dripped down from her forehead, sliding past the corner of her eye, across her cheek, and past the side of her nose.

Finally gathering at her chin.

Like blood-colored tears, slowly dripping onto the ground.

Finally, that despair crushed the personality named "Klisa," causing her pale golden eyes to turn dim.

This was not a description of her mental state, but a realistic depiction in the physical sense.

Her pale golden eyes turned black from the inside out, like a black hole devouring everything, consuming the original gold, as well as the girl's thoughts and mind.

Just disappear like this, just fall silent like this.

It doesn't matter anymore…

A world without Mentor is completely meaningless…

The girl thought dully, maintaining her kneeling posture without moving, even as the raging fire spread toward her, she remained unmoved.

One could even say she was looking forward to the fire consuming her.

But just at this moment.

A palm appeared.

Shielding her from the increasingly encroaching scorching flames.

A broad and warm palm appeared before the girl in a miraculous manner, unconcerned with the dirt and dishevelment, helping the despairing Klisa up.

Accompanying it was an incomparably familiar voice.

"What's wrong, Klisa?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Get up first, I'll treat you."

The familiar voice awakened her self-enclosed consciousness.

A miracle, a miracle had appeared.

The witch raised her head blankly, looking at Xu Xi who had appeared before her, her half-golden, half-dark pupils trembling slightly, as if she had found salvation, slowly returning to calm.

Thank goodness, truly thank goodness.

Mentor is safe and sound.

Her snapped heartstrings were reconnected, her Soul broke free from despair and regained itself, and even the immense sorrow trapped in her chest dissipated into nothingness with her breath.

No reason, no need for a reason, just because the "Sun" had reappeared before her eyes.

"…I'm fine, Mentor."

As long as you are here, I won't have any problems.

Fearing it might be a dream, fearing it might be an illusion, her slightly trembling hands tightly grasped the man's palm before her.

Unwilling to separate.

"This…" Xu Xi was somewhat silent.

Looking at Klisa's miserable appearance, and those strange-looking eyes, he couldn't reach the conclusion that she was "fine" no matter what.

Previously.

Xu Xi was alone in the study room, Cultivating magic.

The Observer trait suddenly activated on its own, allowing Xu Xi to detect the attack from the sky, so he promptly cast defensive magic and successfully protected himself.

Considering that Klisa was still outside, Xu Xi immediately flew to the market to search for her.

As a result, he searched to no avail.

In the end, he decided to return to the courtyard ruins to wait, only then did he see Klisa kneeling on the ground alone.

The wounds all over her body, the dirty bloodstains, and that expression of relief.

Everything indicated.

What Klisa had experienced previously.

"Hum—" A faint green light bloomed from his palm as Xu Xi used Life Magic to heal Klisa's wounds. Then, Xu Xi began to ask what had happened, and Klisa did not hide anything, telling him everything.

Mistakenly believing Xu Xi was dead.

Blaming herself and regretting it alone in the ruins.

And her initial action of seeing the fireball and attempting to stop it.

Perhaps because Xu Xi was by her side, there was no longer any trace of abnormality on the girl's face, and she returned to her usual calm and expressionless state.

But it was precisely this posture that made Xu Xi even more silent.

"Crackling—"

The surrounding flames were still burning intensely, fiery snakes hissed and coiled around the buildings, scorching the outer walls black. From time to time, large mechanical equipment exploded due to overheating, creating even more frightening explosion sounds.

In this intense firelight, in this billowing black smoke.

The witch's figure appeared so small; her clothes had been burned through by the flames, her body and limbs were full of small wounds, and her face still retained the lingering color of despair and helplessness, which was heart-wrenching.

"Sorry, Klisa."

"I should have come earlier."

"It's my fault as a Mentor for letting you worry alone for so long."

Gently rubbing the witch's hair, and with gentle, delicate movements, helping the witch wipe the blood from her face, Xu Xi said apologetically.

He could have done better.

To let himself and Klisa avoid this crisis.

But Xu Xi had underestimated the high-ranking officials of Alenson too much; no matter what, he could not have imagined that the purpose of those people leaving was actually to destroy the city.

To annihilate the entire Alenson, and the hundreds of thousands of residents living inside.

He couldn't figure it out.

He couldn't figure out what the benefit of doing this was at all.

It was truly contrary to common sense.

Wrong judgment brought wrong results. It was precisely because Xu Xi did not expect a city-wide annihilation that he and Klisa were implicated, leading to this series of setbacks.

"It's okay, Mentor," Klisa said, shaking her head gently.

She didn't care about anything else.

As long as Xu Xi returned to her side and looked at her again, she was satisfied.

This was the self-awareness of being an "object."

If she had more thoughts, if she had unnecessary willfulness, then to the master, the "object" would be an invisible burden, and Klisa did not want to become a burden to Xu Xi.

Facing such stubborn Klisa, Xu Xi had no better solution, and could only take care of the girl in his own way.

He summoned a stream of water to carefully wipe the girl's face clean, letting that small face, blackened by smoke, return to cleanliness.

Throughout the whole process.

Klisa behaved very quietly.

Like an exquisite porcelain doll, letting Xu Xi wipe her face.

The black soot was wiped away, revealing an exquisite face that had returned to fairness.

Then, Xu Xi looked up at the sky.

He originally thought that the most critical part of leaving Alenson City was solving the supply problem on the way to other cities.

But now it seemed that the difficulty lay in how to safely leave Alenson.

The overwhelming meteor shower attack was just the beginning; those alien races that had emerged from nowhere, roaring and breaking into Alenson, were the real biggest problem.

"Orcs, Goblins, pure-blooded Demon Race, Demonic Beasts…"

"What exactly are those Alenson high-ranking officials who have already left planning, to have alien races attack their own city?"