Chapter 112
"Ardion, hand over Laila, and I'll let Serina go."
But Ardion didn’t respond. He just glared at Rowell. Before anyone noticed, his mana began to wrap around Rowell.
Rowell glanced at where Serina was being held. At his signal, the person next to her pressed a sword close to her.
Suddenly, a pillar overhead shattered, and debris rained down in an instant. Screams erupted from all around. Ardion raised a barrier beneath the ceiling with just a light motion, yet the shield looked incredibly sturdy.
He shouted to , "Laila, if the building collapses, this barrier will fall too!"
I looked around quickly. Rowell had vanished, and the nearby nobles were crowding around the exits. There were so many trying to escape that it seed like blasting a hole through the wall would be faster.
"Ardion, focus on capturing Rowell. I’ll get everyone else out of here!"
"Laila, let’s do it together. It’s too dangerous."
"No, this is our only chance. We have to catch Rowell now, no matter what," I said urgently.
Ardion grabbed my hand. "I can’t leave you behind again."
"It’s okay. I can use my mana now. And this really is our only opportunity. If we miss it, everything will fizzle out again. Look at all the people it took to co this far. I don’t want to let them down anymore."
Until now, anything related to Rowell had ended in failure thanks to his interference. This ti, we couldn’t let him escape.
Just then, Derol poked his head out and said to Ardion, "I’ll help too. Please go quickly."
Ardion looked at him for a mont, then turned to et my eyes. "Alright. I’ll take care of the exit."
He reached out to the wall by the entrance. A burst of mana flashed, and a large hole appeared.
Startled at first, the nobles soon rushed through the opening.
Suddenly, another scream rang out. More debris began to fall from above. Ardion grabbed my hand. I looked at him in surprise as he said, "Laila, be careful. This ti, I’ll trust you and your mana."
I smiled and nodded. Ardion slowly let go of my hand, and I ran towards the exit.
Serina had her head down, clearly exhausted. The glow of mana had completely faded from her hands.
The person holding the sword yelled, "You’d better start using your mana, or else I’ll kill you right now!"
"Just kill already!" Serina scread back.
The man grinned and raised his sword. I quickly created a water bomb and threw it at him.
"Ugh." He collapsed to the ground, unable to resist.
I ran to Serina. She blinked at in surprise, then lowered her head.
"We have to get up. It’s not safe to stay here."
"I’m sorry."
"No, it’s okay. But what happened?"
"Rowell noticed you kept appearing. When he found out you saved , he tracked down."
No wonder I’d felt uneasy every ti I ran into Rowell. A loud crash echoed again, followed by piercing screams.
I quickly ford another water bomb and threw it at a different wall. Just in case debris fell nearby, I created a water shield first.
"Let help too."
"No, you can barely stand. We need to get you out of here first."
I grabbed Serina’s arm and helped her up. By now, the walls had multiple openings, and people were escaping through them.
"I’m sorry," Serina said again as she stood.
"You’ve already said that. Right now, getting out is the priority. Go." I gave her a gentle push.
Serina disappeared into the crowd with a stiff expression.
"Master, what should we do now?"
I looked up at the ceiling. Ardion’s water barrier still held strong. "We’re okay as long as the building doesn’t collapse. But just in case, we’ll leave once everyone else is out."
I kept an eye on both the fleeing people and the ceiling. Serina had used her mana on the floor, causing debris to fall near the pillars and ceiling.
To support Ardion’s barrier, I kept forming water shields beneath it. Strangely, the more I created them, the more confident I felt. The shields grew larger, sturdier.
"Master, at this rate, the structure could collapse, and we’d still have about two minutes of safety."
"Looks like it." I looked around in disbelief. It seed everyone had made it out. I turned towards the exit with Derol. Just as I was about to step out…
A deafening crash rang out. The wall crumbled completely. My shield, unable to hold the weight, collapsed on one side.
Dust filled the air, and everything went silent for a mont.
"Derol, I guess my mana still isn’t perfect."
"What should we do now, Master?"
Before I could answer, a huge stone slamd down in front of us. Screams followed, not far away.
I gathered my hands to form another water bomb. But I had used so much mana already that only a small one appeared.
I threw it at the wall, but it didn’t explode and just kicked up more dust. "This isn’t good."
At least my head didn’t hurt. I simply had no mana left to cast anything properly.
"Derol, we should go towards where the scream ca from. Maybe we’ll find a way out."
Derol nodded and ran ahead.
"Ugh! Stop it!"
As we got closer, I recognized the voice. My pace quickened unconsciously.
"You know that if I die, Laila dies too, right?"
"Is that so?"
A cold laugh followed, and a beam of mana struck Rowell directly. He coughed up blood.
I rushed to Ardion. "Ardion!"
He turned from where he had been glaring at Rowell.
I shouted, "What are you doing? We need to get out of here!"
"No… We need to kill Rowell now." His voice was calm, but sothing about his eyes felt dangerous.
"No, there’s still too much we need to learn from him. We have to keep him alive at least for now…"
"He’s the one who’s always stood in our way. We should end it while we can—"
"Ardion!" I grabbed his arm.
He frowned and looked down at . A mocking laugh echoed behind us.
Rowell had wiped the blood from his mouth and was looking smug. "Ardion, you won’t be able to kill ."
Ardion’s mana surged again. I stepped in front of him. His face hardened, but he turned slightly to face Rowell again. "I don’t have to kill you. But you’ll suffer from heart problems for the rest of your life."
Rowell’s expression contorted. "Heart problems?"
"Yeah. You keep clutching your chest in pain whenever you get a chance. I’ve seen it all."
"But you’re the sa as . If I die, you’ll die too."
"No. I’ve already removed the magical drug from my body. That won’t happen," I said with a smile.
Rowell’s face fell. "Serina said it couldn’t be removed. How did you do it?"
"The sa thod I used before."
Rowell crawled towards , his face changing rapidly, and grabbed the hem of my dress. "If you’ve really succeeded, you can remove the drug from my wrist completely. If you do, I’ll forget everything you did to . No, I'll give you a house, a whole estate. You can live in peace."
I scoffed. Did he really think that offer ant anything now?
Suddenly, Rowell’s hand was wrenched into the air, then he was hurled across the room.
"Ardion!"
"Laila, it disgusts to see his hand touch you." Ardion walked closer to Rowell.
"So this is it, Ardion. You’re finally going to finish off. Go ahead." Rowell sneered.
Ardion suddenly stopped. "Do you really want to die?"
"Otherwise? It’s better than living like this. What are you waiting for? Finish it already," Rowell taunted.
Ardion’s face went cold. I grabbed his arm. He exhaled and stepped back.
"What are you doing?" Rowell demanded.
But Ardion’s answer was only to light up mana around Rowell.
Suddenly, Rowell’s limbs jerked like they were tied up. "Let go! What is this?!"
"I don’t feel like granting your wish right now. And more importantly, Laila doesn’t want it either."
With a simple gesture, Ardion created a barrier and pierced the broken wall. "Laila, let’s go."
He took my hand, and I followed him outside. A mont later, Delzion and several knights ran over.
"Delzion, Rowell’s inside. Take him."
Delzion nodded and went in.
Outside, nobles and commoners were gathered. So watched with curiosity, others with concern.
Among them, Duchess Heverun rushed to . "We owe you our lives, Your Highness. Are you alright?"
I nodded. Normally, using this much mana would have knocked out, but I felt fine and not even a bit dizzy.
People were now surrounding Ardion and .
T/N: Rowell deserves more than that, really. Why stop Ardion, right?
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