"Ahhh!"
A scream of agony ripped through the sky.
Golden light flooded the battlefield, covering dozens of meters in every direction. Within its glow, a lone figure twitched and writhed for a moment before finally collapsing limp onto the ground.
Thump!
Sheris had fallen.
Ur barely had time to feel relief. When, across from her, Jelka's knees buckled as well. She crumpled with a heavy thump, her staff clattering from her hands. The golden glow faded swiftly from her eyes, and her aura plummeted in an instant.
A double knockout.
Ur's mouth twitched at the sight.
It had all happened so quickly. Especially that last clash, it was like watching gods themselves trade blows. Forget interfering; he hadn't even dared to breathe too loudly, let alone say a word.
To Ur, this was the best possible outcome.
He jogged toward Jelka first, stopping at the side of the saintly girl. Her face had gone pale, yet she still managed to hold herself upright.
"Are you alright?" Ur asked with genuine concern.
"I'm fine… just overused my magic," she replied.
But the moment the words left her lips, a grimace twisted across her face. Sweat beaded and dripped down her forehead in steady trails.
Clearly, her condition was worse than she claimed.
Ur understood all too well what overusing magic meant.
It might sound harmless, but for a mage, magic exhaustion was dangerous. Magic wasn't like the inner energy from his previous life, with some dantian or reservoir to hold it safely. Instead, it coursed through every part of the body. In a sense, it was life force itself.
He remembered later in the original story, when even Makarov nearly died from running out of magic. That alone was proof of how terrifying this state could be.
But what could Ur do? He had no way to help.
Her condition reminded him of one of his ex-girlfriends when she was on her period. He knew she was miserable, but all he could ever say was, "Drink more hot water." Not because he didn't care, but because… what else could he do?
So he just said, a bit lamely, "Then just rest a bit."
The words had barely left his mouth when he earned a sharp roll of the eyes.
The message in her gaze was painfully clear:
I just saved your life, and this is how you treat me? Hah. Men really are all pigs.
Ur: "..."
❖≔﴾═══════ﺤ
After checking on his savior, Ur turned toward Sheris's side of the battlefield. He needed to confirm whether she was truly dead.
The magic Jelka unleashed was devastating. It obliterated everything within a radius of dozens of meters. Even Moya City's walls left a gaping hole. Seven or eight nearby buildings reduced to rubble, dust still churning in the air.
But before Ur could make it halfway there, a voice rang out from the haze, wild and mocking.
"Hahaha!"
"I knew it! So it was all an act!"
"Jelka, you b*tch! You almost had me fooled!"
"But now? Your magic is spent. Let's see how you plan to fight me now..."
The moment the voice reached them, Ur and Jelka's expressions shifted in unison.
They both snapped their heads toward the sound.
A gust of wind swept the dust away, and out of the clearing smoke stepped Sherris.
Ur and Jelka's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
But no longer the bewitching beauty from before. She was battered to the core. Her body was slashed with wounds, blood dripping in crimson trails. Her purple armor hung in tatters, little more than rags clinging to her frame. If this were an anime, the censors would have long since drowned her body in radiant beams of holy light.
Ermmmm.
Strangely enough, she looked less seductive this way… yet somehow even more dangerous, and, if anything, more alluring to a man's eyes.
Despite her trembling body, Sheris still had strength left. Her face twisted with madness, her eyes wild and bloodshot, brimming with killing intent as soon as they locked onto Jelka.
"Die, b*tch!" With a manic surge of magic, a violet array flared to life beneath Jelka's feet.
Her hatred was palpable. She had suffered this humiliation at Jelka's hands, and her desire for vengeance had drowned out everything else. Even Ur, standing right beside her, didn't register in her mind.
Or perhaps she simply dismissed him entirely.
But whichever it was, her neglect of Ur proved to be her fatal mistake.
Because while Sheris' magic was powerful, her body was untrained in close combat. Ur's was not.
With no guard up, Sheris never saw it coming.
Ur's leg whipped around, slamming into her midsection with bone-cracking force. Pain exploded through her abdomen as her body went flying.
Ur didn't hesitate. The instant his attack landed, he pushed off the ground and pursued, refusing to let the chance slip away.
Sheris, reeling, could hardly comprehend that this insignificant brat had trained in martial arts and hit this hard, no less. Already wounded and reeling, her battered body no longer responded the way she wanted.
She could only watch, helpless, as Ur closed the distance, his leg rising again for another crushing strike.