Xia Naxin could not possibly tolerate witnessing such a scene. His beloved was crawling on all fours, her silver hair falling forward to obscure her expression.
This was utterly humiliating! How could his girlfriend be subjected to such degradation?!
“Enough!” Xia Naxin roared, his eyes bloodshot, veins throbbing on his forehead.
However, before he could charge towards Ling Qinghe, over a dozen magical phantoms rose from the ground.
These phantoms transformed into dense, black mist, weaving an impenetrable barrier that separated him from Silvia.
“Get lost…”
Xia Naxin’s psychic power lashed out like a steel whip, striking at the phantoms, only to be entirely devoured the instant it touched the black mist.
The phantoms let out piercing cackles, extending tendrils of black mist, attempting to restrain Xia Naxin’s limbs in turn. Yet, these too were utterly severed by his psychic power.
Suddenly, Xia Naxin felt a surge of inspiration, recalling Lingguang Yixian’s sword style.
Mimicking the technique, he manifested a tangible longsword forged from pure psychic energy. The sword light surged like a tide, cleaving the phantoms before him in two!
However, the severed black mist reassembled, transforming into even more tendrils that coiled around him.
“Silvia! Don’t listen to her!” Xia Naxin roared, vigorously swinging his sword.
****
Meanwhile.
Ling Cheyin excitedly raised her phone, the camera focused on Silvia’s trembling shoulders.
“If I send this video to Qiye, hehe~ it’ll be so amusing~”
“Perhaps it’ll even whet her appetite, hmm~ and it’s not impossible I could ask for some of her private photos…”
Silvia crawled to Ling Qinghe’s feet, at which point, the latter used her shoetip to lift Silvia’s chin.
“Hmm~ Come on, say something for me.”
Without hesitation, Silvia bit out the two words, calling: “Mistress~”
Simultaneously, Ling Cheyin stopped her timer.
Witnessing this, a fierce glint appeared in Silvia’s eyes; her previous humiliation had been endured solely for this moment.
She immediately let out a crisp cry of ‘Halt’, and this time, the time-stagnation magic was unleashed at virtually zero range!
Ling Qinghe’s magical phantoms and Ling Cheyin had no time to react, all of them frozen, utterly unable to move!
She had succeeded.
“Cough, cough~” Silvia violently spat out several mouthfuls of blood.
This time, she had squeezed usable magic from her chaotic magic circuits by forcefully drawing upon her life force.
However, she knew that the Ling Qinghe before her was merely a magical phantom; her true body’s whereabouts remained unknown.
After all, Silvia had sensed the command from Taixi Mianfang, urging her to immediately pursue Ling Qinghe’s true body.
Silvia also felt thousands of malicious intentions, both overt and hidden, emanating from all directions, seeping from the cracks in the dome, walls, and floor tiles. These were the doings of Ling Qinghe’s magical phantoms.
But gaining this brief respite was enough.
Therefore, Silvia seized Ling Cheyin by the throat and dragged her towards Xia Naxin.
“Silvia, you…” Xia Naxin, quite surprised by the sudden reversal of the situation, watched on.
It turned out Silvia had merely feigned weakness, deliberately playing submissive; it had all been a masterful performance.
Without hesitation, Xia Naxin took hold of the immobile Ling Cheyin, locking his grip around her throat, and threatened into the air:
“Ling Qinghe, if you want anything to happen to your sister, then keep hiding…”
The next moment.
The ice walls on all sides cracked open, revealing hundreds of Ling Qinghe’s magical phantoms, each with a smile playing on their lips.
“Oh? You’re threatening me with my sister…”
The phantoms simultaneously raised their hands, and dark purple magic blanketed the second-floor hall.
“How many ways do you think I have to make her… disappear… in your arms?”
Hearing this, Silvia’s magic circuits became utterly chaotic, the intoxicating poison still ravaging her mind, yet she stubbornly held her ground.
“Then by all means, try it,” she said, her voice laced with ferocity.
“Either way… I’m all in—at worst, I’ll fight you to the death.”
At this, Xia Naxin’s grip gradually tightened.
Ling Cheyin felt the chill around her neck and the immobility of her body. Panicked, she shrieked:
“Sister~ Save me!”
“Hmm~? Did I say you could speak?” As he spoke, Xia Naxin’s stranglehold tightened further. Ling Cheyin began to gasp for air, her face reddening, eyes rolling back.
He then pressed on:
“Ling Qinghe, aren’t you going to come out? Otherwise, just watch your own sister… die!”
The next moment, the magical phantoms all chuckled lightly, then vanished into thin air.
Simultaneously, Ling Qinghe’s voice drifted down from the dome, carrying a note of approval.
“Silvia, what an excellent strategy of feigned retreat, but…”
At this, the ceiling abruptly cracked open, and sunlight poured down.
Silvia looked up.
She saw the true Ling Qinghe standing at the edge of the rooftop, swaying a phone in her hand, displaying a video file that was 99% transmitted.
“Did you think controlling my sister would threaten me? Don’t forget—I can send videos like this too, you know~”
“Hehe~ Well, I’m terribly sorry, but I’ll just have to kill your sister then.”
As he spoke, Xia Naxin refused to back down, revealing his ruthless side, causing Silvia to instantly gasp for breath, her face turning purple.
“I’ll give you ten more seconds, Silvia…” Ling Qinghe’s figure was silhouetted against the sun.
“Will you choose to become my property, or watch your junior suffer eternal damnation?”
‘Damn it.’
Silvia wanted to use her wide-range time-stagnation magic again, but her internal magic circuits… had once again ‘failed’.
Unless she squeezed her life force one more time?
Before long, Ling Qinghe had already counted down to ‘5’.
Silvia was burning with anxiety. In her desperation, she could no longer tolerate it and roared:
“Ling Qinghe, do you really think I wouldn’t dare to fight you to the death? You must sense that the walls surrounding this ice city are a huge hidden danger, aren’t they?!”
“Tell me, if I were to catalyze it, causing an elemental rampage, where would you run?”
However, Ling Qinghe seemed surprised by Silvia’s words and stopped her countdown.
Just as Silvia thought her threat had worked, Ling Qinghe instead chuckled calmly.
“Ah, you’ve actually reminded me.”
“That’s right, if my sister dies, then everyone in this city will have to be buried with her!”
“Silvia, don’t forget, you used to be a magical girl. Would you stand idly by? This concerns the lives of an entire city, you know~”
Hearing this, Silvia was filled with both anger and vexation. How could Ling Qinghe be so extreme?
Faced with her threat, Ling Qinghe didn’t fall for it; instead, she intended to destroy the city.
Ling Qinghe resumed her countdown, uttering ‘4… 3… 2’.
“Flash!”
Xia Naxin had already gripped Ling Cheyin with both hands. She was being choked unconscious, her eyes rolling back.
After all, without transforming, even a witch was vulnerable.
With the exception of those with extraordinary magical power, such as Ling Qinghe, Xia Naxin, and Silvia, who could unleash their full combat strength without transforming.
Finally, when Ling Qinghe counted to ‘1’.
Silvia could no longer hold back and shouted:
“You dare?”
However, Silvia had no further words. She refused to believe Ling Qinghe would truly go through with it.
The next second—
Ling Qinghe had actually sent it?!
The bright green text ‘Transmission Successful’ appeared before her eyes.
There was no mistaking it.
Suddenly, the entire hall seemed to freeze, with only Silvia’s ragged breathing echoing in the deadly silence.
“You—Ling Qinghe, you… you actually… sent it!”
Silvia shrieked, her voice cracking, her face contorted with rage. Unconsciously, her fingers dug into her palms.
At this moment, Ling Cheyin in Xia Naxin’s hands had already rolled her eyes back, losing consciousness, on the verge of fainting.
Suddenly, Silvia turned, her eyes burning with hatred and bloodlust:
“Naxin, kill her for me!!”
At this moment, the intoxicating poison disintegrated amidst her towering fury.
After her shout.
Silvia stumbled forward a few steps, her body beneath the prisoner’s uniform trembling uncontrollably, her purple eyes flashing with terrifying crimson.
“Ling Qinghe! You disgusting rat from the gutters!”
She was exasperated.
“You’ve threatened me time and again… Do you really think I have no temper?!”
“A witch, indeed a witch, I will kill your sister, then kill you! Even if you manage to escape by some fluke… I swear, I will bathe the Witch Association in blood to clear Qiye’s name!”
At this moment.
Silvia recklessly pushed her internal, riddled magic circuits to their limit.
She was incandescent with rage, veins throbbing on her forehead. Her fists were clenched, the pain of her nails piercing her palms only fueling her murderous intent.
Flashes of memory, like a fleeting carousel, spun through her mind.
Qiye’s innocent smile and voice flickered, but ultimately… they twisted into the triumphant faces of Ling Qinghe and Ling Cheyin.
“Kill… Ling Qinghe, prepare to die…”
Silvia let out a low growl, like a trapped beast, blood flecking her lips with every word.
Now, only one word filled her mind: kill!
Yes, only by killing Ling Qinghe, killing Ling Cheyin, and then returning to her female form to redeem Qiye in the Sky Feather Kingdom! Only then could Qiye be saved!
However, her overly depleted body could not respond to this fury.
“Pfft—”
A coppery taste surged into her throat. Silvia’s vision blurred, and she spat out a large mouthful of blood, staining the front of her prisoner’s uniform.
She collapsed heavily to the ground.
But even so.
Silvia still struggled to lift her head, pointing a blood-stained finger at Ling Qinghe, the hatred in her eyes almost scorching her target away.
She was still desperately trying to activate her magic.
“Kill me?” Ling Qinghe’s elegant laughter carried a chilling undertone.
“If you kill me, who will help you turn Xia Naxin back into a woman?”
****
Alas, her overly depleted magic circuits completely collapsed.
A violent headache exploded from her temples, and the ringing in her ears drowned out Ling Qinghe’s mockery.
Silvia completely lost consciousness.
In her final moments, she saw Xia Naxin throw down the barely breathing Ling Cheyin and rush towards her.
She also heard his heartbreaking cries… Hmm, he seemed to be calling her name?