Lilian suddenly dropped to her knees, memories of every moment spent with Allen flashing through her mind.
Even as clever as she was, she was still just a girl who had just turned eighteen.
In this situation, without a high-ranking Archmage to save them, it was a dead end.
Just as Lilian was falling into despair, a broad hand pressed down on her shoulder.
It was the same hand that had always supported and protected her since childhood.
“Lilian, we haven’t reached the point of giving up yet, have we?”
Allen?
“Since we were kids, you’ve always been like this, thinking you couldn’t do it anymore, refusing to take another step forward.”
“Me, I’ve always thought of myself as not that impressive—a complete fool, really.”
“But, a long time ago, I already figured out what it is I truly want.”
Allen looked at the apocalyptic pressure of the magical energy and the rapidly rising temperature around them, and confessed to Lilian, “What I want is simple—to stay by your side and help you accomplish anything you want to do… If that’s all it takes…”
Allen smiled and slowly stood up.
“I believe I can do anything.”
Allen…
Lilian looked at the ever-reliable boy and revealed a look of relief.
That’s right, it isn’t over yet.
“You two are so lovey-dovey it’s nauseating…”
Beside them, Gus, who seemed to have recovered his strength, slowly stood up and teased.
After all, if he didn’t tease now, he might never get the chance again.
“You guys…”
Charles stood up, gritting his teeth, thinking they were utterly foolish.
Among these people, they couldn’t even scrape together a second-tier mage—who could possibly tell him where this confidence came from to deal with advanced magic!
“If you want to live, you’d better do your part too.”
Allen spoke decisively, as if he was certain Charles would act together with them.
“Tch…”
Charles knew he had no choice but to wait for Allen’s command.
As for Allen, when he saw that Lin Yue did not show any signs of panic but instead furrowed his brows, his eyes flickering rapidly, he knew for sure—Lin Yue definitely had a plan.
This was the habit Lin Yue displayed when they fought together before, deep in thought as he strategized.
And not once had they failed.
Allen believed, this time, they wouldn’t fail either.
At the same time, Lin Yue’s mind was racing, searching his memory for any way to forcibly cancel an advanced spell.
The first and simplest method—kill the caster directly.
Simple and brutal, and currently very easy to accomplish.
Because he had his blade against Isabella’s neck; with a single slash, her life would end.
But he couldn’t do it…
If she died here, who would deal with Lia in the future…
Besides, he simply couldn’t bear to see a living, breathing Isabella die before his eyes.
He remembered her righteousness during the arranged marriage, how she had stood up for her sister, and the way she always held back, only ever fighting with words—he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Lin Yue, kill me…”
Suddenly, Isabella said weakly.
“What?”
Lin Yue thought he heard wrong and shouted loudly.
“Kill me, and the magic circuit will break—you all will live…”
Isabella seemed to have lost all her former pride, leaving only the sinner seeking self-destruction out of guilt.
“I won’t let you die.”
Lin Yue’s brief yet resolute words, for some reason, struck Isabella’s heart like an earthquake.
Isabella’s beautiful eyes were filled only with shock.
The man she always saw as a villain was saying such words at this moment.
All at once, emotions surged up.
She opened her mouth, but no words would come.
She released Lin Yue’s hand, closed her eyes, as if entrusting everything to the man she’d never trusted before.
Lin Yue frantically searched his mind for all information about interrupting magic, only to find every method was too harsh—none were possible.
Was it really over?
As Lin Yue clenched his jaw and felt a thread of giving up, a sentence suddenly surfaced in his mind.
[Space magic can accomplish things you’ve never imagined.]
Space magic!
He suddenly realized—even if he couldn’t interrupt the spell, as long as he twisted space with space magic and shifted the spell’s landing point in an instant, everyone could survive!
But this method required the full cooperation of everyone below.
“Allen!”
Lin Yue shouted to the protagonist of the story: “You and Lilian compress the wind and water elements with your magic—squeeze them together into as tight a sphere as possible!”
Hearing that Lin Yue had a plan, Allen and Lilian wasted not a second, pouring all their magical energy into the same sphere.
Then, he turned to the minor villain, Charles: “You wrap the sphere with lightning element magic, it should create a storm-like effect!”
“You just love bossing people around!”
Though Charles grumbled, he still poured his magic into their last hope.
“Gus, your job is simple! Hit it with all you’ve got!”
Hearing Lin Yue’s final arrangement, Gus grinned broadly.
“Leave it to me!”
As for me…
Lin Yue stretched out his other hand and forcefully drew on the part of his magic capacity that didn’t belong to him—Lia’s residual magic.
He’d lose all of the magic capacity Lia had just strengthened for him, but his life was worth far more.
“This is…”
Isabella looked at the magic Lin Yue conjured, surprise on her tear-stained face.
Please!
Lin Yue could only pray that Lia’s space magic truly had the power to change everything, and with all his might, tore open a spatial rift.
Rumble!
Like a comet crashing into earth, the force of the flame magic, wrapped in black fire, plummeted towards the ground at breakneck speed—like the fires of hell come to claim everyone’s life.
Now!
“Gus, go!”
“Haaaahhhhhh!”
The moment the words left his mouth, Gus’s sword-shield, infused with all his magical power, swung like a baseball bat, hurling the combined power of everyone outwards.
Whoosh!
Its speed seemed to break the sound barrier, leaving a trail through the air—their last hope shooting towards the Black Freya Flames.
In that instant, the storm-like force clashed with the black flames, scattered water droplets blocking the falling fire, and the lightning element burning it away mid-air, leaving no chance for the fire to ignite anything.
But, it was still not enough—this power could only delay, not completely stop the advanced magic.
The real key was in Lin Yue’s hands.
“Spatial Rift!”
Lin Yue shouted, pouring all his remaining magic into a rift that matched the one Lia had cast.
Everything depended on this!
The instant the Black Freya Flames collided with the spatial rift, immense magical power crashed together, the rift twisting and devouring the fusion of storm and fire, as if to swallow it all up.
The massive magical wave knocked out the already exhausted Lilian, Gus, Isabella, and Charles, leaving only Allen barely conscious and Lin Yue struggling to hold on.
“Get the hell out!”
In that instant, the world turned monochrome, as if everything had become black and white.
Silence…
At the same moment, in a valley tens of thousands of miles away, the world changed color, and fire raged.
All that remained at the scene was a few scattered flames and the wreckage of Averina Forest.
“We… succeeded?”
Allen looked at the vanished fire magic, then collapsed onto the ground.
“That’s… great…”
A weary smile appeared on Allen’s exhausted face.
“Lin Yue, we did it! Lin—”
Thud!
Suddenly, a heavy side kick flew at Allen’s face.
Allen, completely spent, couldn’t dodge at all.
“Cough! Cough!”
Allen raised his head, only to find Lin Yue in front of him, looking like a demon who’d just crawled out of hell—clothes in tatters, expression emotionless.