The moment Elvira appeared, there wasn’t a hint of panic on Samuel’s face; instead, his smile grew even brighter.
In a perfect drama, how could the male and female protagonists be missing? They needed to endure hardships and cross through crises to finally come together. And he was here precisely for that purpose—to deliver this crisis.
As for whether they could survive it safely… that was not something he needed to consider.
“Are you Xiao Huohuo? Do you love saving people at the last second that much?” Jiang Ming’s urge to complain instantly erupted.
“Who is Xiao Huohuo?” Elvira looked confused.
“It’s nothing.” Jiang Ming shook his head, not continuing the topic.
“Too many people here. Let’s go to the roof.”
Elvira didn’t explain further. She used her scissors to force back two lunging puppets, grabbed Jiang Ming’s collar with one hand, supported his legs with the other, and picked him up in a horizontal carry.
Before Jiang Ming could react, she had already leaped out from the window.
Almost simultaneously, the two of them landed on the rooftop.
Samuel did not stop them. The maintenance of the Void Domain was closely linked to the changes within it; the more commotion there was, the more straining it became to support it. Fighting on the rooftop caused the least damage to the apartments below, which was not a bad thing for him.
The two puppets followed like shadows, silently trailing behind Samuel. He walked toward the rooftop with leisurely, steady steps.
Since both the hero and heroine had taken the stage, as an indispensable part of this play, it would be quite rude if he did not show himself.
—
The night wind on the rooftop was exceptionally piercing.
Samuel stepped onto the final stair. Two puppets stood on his left and right like silent stone statues guarding him.
He bowed slightly in a theatrical salute. “I have kept you two waiting. The climax—it can begin now.”
Before the words finished, Elvira moved first.
Her figure was like a bolt of lightning. The scissors in her hand carved cold arcs of light through the air. Everywhere they passed, the air seemed to be clipped into fine cracks, silently yet with incomparable sharpness as they struck toward Samuel.
At the same time, Jiang Ming took a deep breath and spread his arms. The airflow on the rooftop suddenly became chaotic. Invisible Wind Blades and Wind Walls were generated under his control, attacking or defending as he attempted to coordinate with Elvira’s assault to seal off all of Samuel’s retreats.
Samuel merely chuckled. He didn’t even move his feet. The two puppets at his side suddenly animated, meeting the attacks at incredible speeds and angles.
Their limbs seemed to have no joint restrictions, twisting to parry Elvira’s cutting strikes or forcefully shattering the wind pressure Jiang Ming had condensed.
The battle rapidly reached a fever pitch. Elvira’s scissors danced into a blur of silver light, every cut attempting to tear through Samuel’s protection. Jiang Ming controlled increasingly violent whirlwinds, compressing the air to form hammer-like impacts.
Under the pressure of life and death, their cooperation quickly became synchronized. The sharpness of the scissors and the fluidity of the wind intertwined, forming a unified offense and defense.
However, the gap was obvious. Samuel was like a spectator standing in the center of a storm without a single leaf touching his clothes, elegant and composed. It wasn’t that he wasn’t consuming energy; maintaining the Void Domain while neutralizing the full-force attacks of two people—especially attacks with a special power like Elvira’s cutting—caused a slight bead of sweat to appear on his brow, and his control over the puppets showed signs of lagging.
It was roughly a forty-sixty split. They could shake him, but they could not truly threaten him.
Unable to break through despite the long assault, their consumption increased drastically. Elvira’s breathing was the first to become heavy. During a forced dash, her scissors nearly grazed Samuel’s sleeve, but she was struck in the shoulder by a heavy blow from a puppet. She let out a muffled groan and staggered back, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of her mouth. She knelt on one knee, barely supporting her body with her scissors. The sharp light in her eyes had not dimmed, but the hand holding the scissors was trembling slightly.
“Elvira!” Jiang Ming’s pupils shrank. The wind surged violently with his thoughts, trying to force back the puppets that were taking the chance to strike. He flashed forward and blocked the path in front of Elvira.
Next, it became Jiang Ming alone facing the siege of Samuel and the puppets. He abandoned most of his offensive maneuvers and utilized his wind abilities to their limit, laying down layer after layer of flowing wind shields in front of him. His figure was like a willow catkin in the wind, dodging with great difficulty.
The wind shields were constantly torn apart. His clothes were shredded, and several wounds were added to his body, yet he did not retreat half a step, deathly determined to protect his exhausted companion behind him.
“Oh? A hero saving a beauty, a classic trope.” Samuel watched with great interest, yet his attacks did not stop; if anything, they became more cunning. “Only, how much longer can you hold out?”
Jiang Ming did not answer. He gritted his teeth, squeezing every last bit of power from his body. The wind wailed around him like his unyielding will; though it was teetering, it never went out.
Perhaps he should run, but his conscience told him he couldn’t do it.
He really wasn’t cut out to be a protagonist; what a waste of his transmigration.
Jiang Ming sighed to himself. His magic power was almost at rock bottom. He estimated he couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Go! Get to your Order Bureau and find someone!” Jiang Ming roared. During the battle just now, the power of the Void Domain had been weakened. With Elvira’s ability, she should be able to open a hole in the domain.
And he had to stay behind to resist Samuel’s attacks, fighting for a slim chance of survival for Elvira’s escape.
If he didn’t do this, both of them would die here.
Elvira knelt on the ground, looking at that back—a back that wasn’t particularly broad, yet at this moment stood before her like a mountain. She saw his arms trembling from the recoil of the wind blades, saw his footsteps that refused to move even when he was in a wretched state, and saw how he clearly reached his own limit yet still gathered most of the wind shields on her side…
A strange, burning emotion exploded in her long-frozen heart. Trust? Reliance? Or something deeper… being moved? She had never thought that someone would protect her so recklessly, placing her above their own safety.
They had clearly only known each other for two days. They couldn’t even be called friends. Was she really worth his full effort?
“…Idiot,” Elvira cursed in a low voice.
She had seen many of these idiots in books.
These idiots all shared a common name—people with a conscience.
She hadn’t expected to have one right in front of her eyes.
Elvira took a very, very deep breath, as if making a long-treasured resolution. A flash of determination intertwined with a complex, gentle light crossed her eyes. She whispered softly, her voice barely audible, yet it clearly reached Jiang Ming’s ears: “Don’t resist… believe in me.”
In the next moment, she used the last of her strength to reach out and grab Jiang Ming’s hand, which was hanging by his side and clenched into a fist.
There was no world-shaking light, and no drastic change in appearance.
Jiang Ming only felt a cold and powerful force surging into his body through their joined hands. It was not a takeover, but an integration, a resonance. At the same time, a slight burning sensation came from his right eye.
Samuel was about to command the puppets to launch the final strike when he suddenly froze.
He saw that the girl’s figure, who had been kneeling on the ground seemingly exhausted, fluctuated slightly like a phantom before melting into Jiang Ming’s body. As for Jiang Ming himself, his appearance had not changed at all, except…
His right eye, the originally black pupil, had now turned into a deep and fiery red. That red eye looked at Samuel calmly.
This was the Angel’s Gift, the present Elvira received for becoming a Cleaner.
Twin.