Evelyn's face, once proud and icy, was now covered in blood colored cracks, eerily beautiful and terrifying, as if it might completely tear apart the next second.

  She gazed at Ryan, her eyes surging with tangled emotions. There was the sharp hostility of their past, the exhaustion and resolve of the present, and also a trace of attachment so faint it was almost imperceptible.

  In the end, all those emotions sank into a dead, desolate stillness as she silently met his gaze.

  At last, Evelyn could no longer support herself. Her overdrawn magic and shattered body failed her, and her head slackened as she collapsed heavily against Ryan's chest.

  Ryan looked down, his pupils shrinking violently, his heart clutched as if by an invisible hand.

  Evelyn's arms were gone. At the severed shoulders, blood gushed out violently, flowing along Ryan's clothes and spreading slowly.

  The dull sound of flesh exploding still seemed to echo in his ears. This was no illusion.

  After forcibly controlling the corpse of a Grand Magus, Evelyn had suffered terrifying magical backlash. Her arms had been blown apart all the way to the shoulders.

  This was the price of forcibly wielding power far beyond one's own magic rank. Not only were her arms destroyed, her entire body had not been spared.

  Dense blood colored cracks spread across her body. Each crack faintly emitted chaotic magical fluctuations, proclaiming that her life was on the verge of collapse.

  Looking at Evelyn's cracked face and her weakening breath, feeling the warmth spreading across his chest, an unprecedented panic swept through Ryan.

  Even in his eighth life, when he had cautiously studied magic, spent thousands of years ascending to Grand Magus, and endured countless life and death battles against powerful enemies, he had never felt panic like this.

  This nemesis who had been entangled with him for nine lives, this woman he had once wished countless times would vanish completely from the world, was now about to die before his eyes, and she was dying to save him.

  Ryan's eyes were instantly stained red as he forced out a heart rending cry from his throat.

  "Evelyn!"

  His whole body trembled in desperation. He instinctively reached out to lift her, only to realize abruptly that his left arm had already been lost in the previous battle. In the end, he could only clumsily wrap his right arm around her body.

  A man with one arm holding a woman with none, the two of them leaning together amid the ruined battlefield.

  The sight was so tragic that anyone who saw it would feel their heart wrench in pain.

  "Don't die. Don't die!"

  A terror and bitterness he had never known before spread wildly through Ryan's mind, crushing him until he could barely breathe.

  He could not even spare a thought for his own bleeding wounds. All of his attention was focused on Evelyn, whose breath in his arms was growing weaker by the second.

  Once, he had longed desperately for Evelyn to disappear from this world. Yet now, he was fighting with everything he had to keep her alive.

  Why had she appeared here? Why?

  Ryan's thoughts were in complete chaos. His movements had been extremely secretive. He had deliberately avoided every tracking mark. Evelyn should never have known.

  She could have stayed safely at Glacial Arcana Academy. Why would she chase him all this way across such vast distances?

  Suppressing the agony from his own injuries, Ryan struggled to sit down cross legged while holding Evelyn with his remaining right arm.

  He tore the Soulweaver's Pendant from his chest and pressed it against hers.

  The moment the Soulweaver's Pendant touched Evelyn's body, it released gentle green light, attempting to mend her shattered form.

  In a panic, Ryan rummaged through his storage space and pulled out the most potent healing potion he had.

  He was so frantic that his right hand almost failed to hold it steady, the crystal vial nearly slipping from his grasp and falling to the ground.

  In a desperate panic, Ryan bit open the crystal vial of the healing potion with his teeth and clumsily poured the liquid out.

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  His hands were covered in blood and still trembling uncontrollably. After struggling to steady them, he finally caught the potion and immediately brought it to Evelyn's mouth.

  "Drink it! Hurry, drink it!"

  Ryan's eyes brimmed with tears, his voice choked, helpless like a child fumbling in panic.

  But Evelyn remained motionless. The potion slid down the corner of her mouth, refusing to be swallowed.

  At that moment, a small figure shot out from Ryan's chest.

  The Celestial Drake appeared, and the remaining dragon scales on Ryan's body slowly faded away.

  Tears glimmered in the Celestial Drake's big eyes as it anxiously scanned Ryan's injuries.

  Despite its own exhausted state from overusing magic, it immediately radiated a warm golden glow, flying toward Ryan to heal him.

  "Save her first! Quickly, save her!"

  Ryan gently propped up the fading Evelyn with his right arm, his eyes bloodshot as he gestured for the Celestial Drake to tend to her first.

  Seeing the Celestial Drake hesitate, he couldn't help but roar, the blood veins in his eyes nearly bursting:"Hurry up!"

  Frightened by his appearance, the Celestial Drake immediately changed course and flew over Evelyn, sending a continuous stream of golden light into her body.

  As its magic flowed, the Celestial Drake's eyelids grew heavier, on the verge of collapsing into sleep.

  Ryan did not idle either. Seeing that Evelyn still could not swallow the potion, he wasted no time and bent down to place a kiss on her lips, forcefully blowing air into her mouth.

  With the help of this airflow, the potion finally traveled down her throat into her stomach.

  Combined with the Celestial Drake's magical support and the potent healing potion, Evelyn's previously feeble life force gradually stabilized.

  From above, the battlefield was a stretch of scorched, blackened land. In the center of this desolation, two pitiful figures huddled together, and a faint but persistent golden light flickered, the sole spark of life in this land of despair.

  Ryan dared not delay even a moment. He picked up the ultimate ice sword that had fallen to the ground.

  He carefully secured the Soulweaver's Pendant inside Evelyn's clothing with a simple strip of cloth to prevent it from falling.

  The ultimate ice sword seemed to understand his intention. A cold gleam flashed along the blade before it instantly vanished from sight.

  Though the Random Magic Weapon Borrowing Card still had two hours of duration left, returning the sword to Evelyn's spiritual domain could happen at any time.

  After some time, the Celestial Drake's head drooped weakly, its eyes closing slightly, its breathing growing faint.

  Tears rolled down its cheeks, dripping onto Evelyn, carrying a faint healing magic that slowly repaired her wounds.

  Evelyn's breathing finally stabilized, but her lost arms could not be restored. The blood-colored cracks on her body remained, though they no longer spread.

  Ryan, ignoring his own excruciating pain, struggled with his remaining right arm to lift Evelyn onto his shoulder.

  The moment her body touched his wounds, the searing pain made him gasp sharply.

  Suppressing the agony, he mustered all his strength and finally steadied her on his shoulder.

  The Celestial Drake, now weakened, slid back into Ryan's body to continue accumulating magic.

  Clenching his teeth, Ryan forced himself to endure the searing pain from his wounds and ran swiftly away from the battlefield, every step heavy yet resolute.

  Snowmere City and Penney City were now roaring with noise, the streets filled with overlapping cries of shock and endless chatter.

  "It's a Grand Magus! That's a Grand Magus-level magical attack!"

  Several Archmages, still recovering from the aftershocks of the magical blast, staggered weakly atop the highest magical spire in the center of Snowmere City.

  Their robes were torn and tattered, their magic in disarray, faces etched with the relief of having survived and the unmistakable fear of what they had witnessed.

  "Why would a Grand Magus strike between these two cities?"

  The Archmages exchanged worried glances, their eyes filled with confusion and dread.

  A Grand Magus represented the pinnacle of magical power in the world, their movements rarely traceable under normal circumstances.

  Yet now, near these two medium-sized magical cities, such power had manifested openly, a reality that chilled everyone to the bone.

  Both Snowmere City and Penney City were purely magical cities, inhabited entirely by mages. Not a single ordinary person resided within.

  Every mage understood the meaning of a Grand Magus's presence forces capable of crushing them effortlessly. Surviving such an attack felt almost miraculous.

  When the magical shockwave had swept through, countless people had believed they were destined to die.

  Only the timely intervention of Archmages from both cities, along with some heads of ancient magical noble families, had barely managed to hold back the destructive tide.

  Otherwise, even the aftershocks alone might have obliterated both cities entirely.

  The disparity in power so starkly illustrated the harsh laws of the magical world: below the Grand Magus, all are mere ants.

  Indeed, the magical world was not without prodigious talents, and at lower levels, some could rely on exquisite technique or powerful magical lineage to fight above their rank.

  But once ascending to Elder Mage, surpassing one's level became nearly impossible. Even the most extraordinary genius could at most leap a single rank.

  After the chaotic magical aftershocks dissipated, for three entire days and nights, no one dared approach the epicenter of the attack.

  Everyone valued their lives; no one was willing to risk themselves against unknown dangers. The lingering magical energy in that area remained terrifying, a constant reminder of the devastation that had occurred.

  It was only half a month later, after repeated consultations through the magical communication crystals of both cities, that eight Archmages finally reached a consensus: they would join forces to explore the attack's epicenter.

  They split into two groups: four Archmages from Penney City and four from Snowmere City, each moving from their respective cities to converge on the core of the explosion.

  Yet upon reaching the outer perimeter of the epicenter, the expressions of all eight Archmages froze once more, fear creeping back across their faces.

  "The destructive power of this magic… it really is the work of a Grand Magus."

  A white-haired Archmage from Penney City trembled as he surveyed the utterly ravaged land.

  This area, completely scorched by magical energy, was barren; the once fertile soil had been violently upheaved, revealing layers of rock beneath, littered with shattered magical instruments and coagulated blood.

  Soon, the two groups successfully converged, standing on the desolate, lifeless land, exchanging blank stares. Every face was filled with confusion and uncertainty.

  They could not fathom which Grand Magi had clashed here, nor why such a battle had taken place.