Sorry, I knocked you out again.
Looking at the collapsed Allen, Lin Yue couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt.
As a character outside the original plot, he had been constantly stirring up trouble here; who knew if he’d end up completely derailing the whole story.
But to keep key events from mixing together, he had no choice but to take action.
As for why he chose to knock Allen out, first, he was quite familiar with Allen’s usual attack patterns and could knock him out accurately.
Second, he didn’t want to be bombarded with Allen’s endless questions after breaking up the fight; he was afraid that if he let something slip, it might change Allen’s understanding of things.
Whatever the reason, knocking Allen out was the most efficient and least troublesome solution.
After knocking Allen out, Lin Yue hurriedly said to Sefina, “Quick, put away your sword.”
Sefina was startled by the sudden turn of events, then demanded, “And who are you? Why are you two helping me!”
But Lin Yue, as if attacking left and right, paid her no mind at all.
He turned and ran toward the forest at the side.
In the woods, a girl was still kneeling, sweat streaming down her face.
Sefina wanted to ask more, but realized her divine arts were about to run out.
She had no choice but to sheath her Holy Sword and run back to where her avatar was.
Lin Yue slid to a stop in front of Airella, only to see that she was drenched in fragrant sweat, panting hard from suppressing the power of the jade pendant.
“Can you hold it back?”
Airella shook her head, using her spiritual power to forcefully suppress the power of the jade pendant, but to her frustration, the more she tried to control it, the more unstable her emotions became.
This is bad.
If the plot bomb goes off now, everything will become uncontrollable.
The Church’s group is still at Avilina.
If something unexpected happens, who knows how chaotic things will get.
“No, I’m sorry…”
Seeing Airella looking like she was being invaded by inner demons, Lin Yue thought grimly to himself.
If his actions caused the boss to activate ahead of time, he’d have nowhere to cry.
She shut her eyes tightly.
The scene of her hometown engulfed in flames echoed in her mind.
[It’s all because of this power.]
[It’s all because of you!]
“Haa… haa…”
[Green eyes! Freak!]
[Help! There’s a witch riding a magical beast!]
It’s not me…
Her breathing grew more rapid, her pupils unfocused, and a faint green glow began to radiate from her body—a sign that the power of the magical beast was about to rampage.
At this critical moment, a pair of warm, strong hands suddenly covered hers.
The heat from those palms had a calming strength; a gentle warmth slowly spread from her fingertips through all her limbs, preserving her last shred of sanity.
“Airella!”
Airella’s eyes snapped open, locking with a pair of worried and determined brown eyes.
Lin Yue’s face was very close; those familiar eyes were gazing at her.
He spoke softly, “You can do it…”
Airella’s mind went blank in shock.
She could clearly feel the warmth of his palms, even his scent.
He instinctively grasped her hand, and she let him, the anxiety and fear inside her oddly calming down.
The light from the jade pendant gradually dimmed, and both let out a sigh of relief.
“That was close…”
Lin Yue wiped his sweat, feeling as though he’d just brushed past the gates of hell.
“Mm, ah… Thank you…”
Airella also wanted to wipe her sweat, only to realize her hand was still tightly held in his.
His hand is so big…
He’d always grabbed her by the wrist before, so she’d never really noticed how his hand felt.
So reassuring.
Wait… his hand!
Airella’s cheeks flushed instantly, like a ripe cherry.
Lin Yue saw her suddenly fall silent and thought maybe she was suffering from a backlash of the power. “Are you okay?”
She quickly pulled her hand back, her fingertips hot, her gaze darting away in panic.
She didn’t dare look at Lin Yue, and even her voice trembled. “I-I’m fine now…”
S-So strange.
There’d been even more intimate touches before, but she hadn’t gotten so flustered—why was holding hands so…
Airella recalled all her past encounters with Lin Yue and realized none of them had ever made her feel this shaken.
She quickly tucked her stray hair behind her ear and pretended nothing had happened as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
But her burning ears and trembling fingers betrayed her embarrassment.
That moment of heart-thumping emotion was so clear, it shattered the psychological wall she’d put between herself and Lin Yue.
The warmth of his palm, the worry in his eyes, the gentle tone in his voice…
Lin Yue didn’t notice her oddness.
Seeing the jade pendant’s light fading, he let out a long sigh of relief. “As long as you’re okay…”
It seemed as long as the key characters were present, the plot could be influenced.
He’d have to be more careful from now on.
“Sigh.”
According to the original plot, after the Church discovered Sefina sneaking out, they imposed strict rules and punishment on her, leaving her depressed for a long time.
Only after enrolling in Avilina did her mood slowly improve.
He glanced over and saw Airella still fidgeting, clearly at a loss for how to handle the situation.
“Airella, we have to clean up after Allen. If we carry him back, there’s no way we’ll avoid a crowd. There are too many people around right now. We’ll have to wait for him to wake up before we decide what to do next.”
“Ah… okay.”
Airella didn’t seem to hear, merely tucking her hair behind her ear with a flustered motion.
But… why did Airella’s power go out of control?
That was worth looking into.
He couldn’t recall Sefina having any mental interference abilities, so what was the cause?
“Airella?”
“I’m here. Um… can you, like, stay away from me for a bit…”
Just as Lin Yue turned around to ask her something, she suddenly lowered her head and pushed at his chest, trying to put some distance between them.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to calm down enough to talk to him!
Airella’s cheeks were flushed, as if she’d just realized something shocking was blooming in her heart.
Lin Yue felt her push, but it wasn’t forceful.
He was puzzled but didn’t ask.
There was something more important to ask: “Have you ever lost control before?”
“Yes…”
Airella clutched the jade pendant, uneasily turning away, too embarrassed to look at Lin Yue’s face.
“But this time’s different from before. Lately, I’ve been feeling really irritable and restless.”
Restless?
Is it that time of the month?
“Well… it’s normal for a woman to be irritable a few days each month. Is it because of that?”
Lin Yue understood women’s irritability during those days.
“A few days every month? Ah! No… it’s not that, you pervert!”
At first Airella didn’t catch his meaning, but after thinking it over, she suddenly covered her chest, shocked that Lin Yue could say something so embarrassing with a straight face.
Sometimes he’s so reassuring, other times he’s so weird—he makes her heart race non-stop…
“It’s just, ever since your duel with Yuan, Avilina’s been covered by this strange atmosphere. You can barely feel it in the academy, but it’s much stronger in the wild, not far from the teaching building…”
Come to think of it, she’d had a similar feeling during the class advancement exam, though it was very faint, almost nothing at all.
After listening, Lin Yue stroked his chin, pondering all the possibilities.
Out of control, illusions, the Church.
He’d noticed something during the first incident—Lia had found a black and red stone.
In the original, the details of the first exam were very different from now.
Airella would suddenly use the magical beast’s power during the original exam; that was definitely tied to the stone.
Now, because of his choice in the marriage alliance, someone else was being affected, and the trigger for Airella’s darkening had been taken by Isabella.
But Isabella was clearly impossible to darken.
She carried too much; there was no way she’d go down that path.
With the first incident already shattered to pieces, he really couldn’t imagine if things kept going this way, whether he’d ever reach the original ending.
Whatever.
He’d just take it one step at a time…
At least for now, he’d managed to run through every major plotline so far.
According to the original schedule, there were less than two weeks before Airella’s darkening would unleash the forbidden magical beast and turn Avilina upside down.
Now Sefina hadn’t been taken back to the Church like in the game’s story.
Who knew if she’d make it back in time before her avatar disappeared.
Tomorrow was the day of the send-off.
With Avilina’s core strength hollowed out, things would definitely not be peaceful.
Lia might not be able to suppress all those troublemakers.
And Airella…
He glanced at the kind, gentle girl, remembering her fate in the original story, and couldn’t help but sigh—he still hadn’t found a way to restore the plot without hurting her.
“Wh-Why are you staring at me like that? Let’s go!”
Airella was so embarrassed by Lin Yue’s stare that she turned away, trying to hurry him along.
“I’ll… do my best to keep things from turning out that way.”
He murmured unconsciously, not knowing why.
…
At that moment, a figure in black stood atop a tree, gray eyes gazing indifferently at the two below, brows slightly furrowed.
She wore a black hood, and in her hand was a glowing red stone.
After watching the two leave, a trace of hesitation flickered in her eyes.
But as if remembering something, she embedded the stone into the trunk she stood on and whispered softly, “The fourth one.”