Rory had no idea what was happening outside.
The mont her ntal power entered Xarion’s consciousness sea, she was stunned by what she saw.
Xarion’s inner world was completely different from anyone she had encountered before.
Paros, Jasper, and Nix—their consciousness seas had all been blazing infernos.
But Xarion’s... It was filled with countless razor-sharp ice spikes.
Even worse, the spikes weren’t static. They seed alive, constantly stabbing into the walls of his ntal barrier.
Each spike was like a sword.
Xarion was enduring the agony of being pierced through the heart by a thousand blades—every single mont.
No wonder he had looked half-dead since the day he appeared. Who could possibly remain energetic under that kind of tornt?
The fact that his mind hadn’t completely collapsed under such pain was already absurdly impressive.
The soothing thods Rory had used on Paros and Jasper were utterly useless here.
She rembered reading on her communicator that a female’s ntal power could change form.
Taking a steady breath, she focused and tried to shape her ntal power into a fire dragon. It was her first ti attempting such complex control. Unsurprisingly, she lacked finesse.
Instead of a majestic fire dragon, she produced a fire snake. And not even an impressive one. Just a tiny snake about one ter long.
Rory’s brows knitted in frustration.
Seriously? How many discount cuts did it take to shrink it down to this?
Still, small as it was, the little fire snake was brave. The instant it ford, it lunged toward the ice spikes.
Like a greedy serpent, it opened its mouth and began swallowing them one after another. Its tiny body gradually swelled as it devoured the spikes.
It tried its best.
But there were simply too many.
After consuming only a fraction of them, its body reached its limit... And exploded.
The burst of fla lted all the ice spikes it had swallowed. At the sa ti, Rory’s ntal energy was completely drained.
Her body went limp and she collapsed.
"Rory!"
Vincent had been watching her closely the entire ti. The mont she fell, he caught her and imdiately called out, "Yuel—inside."
Yuel and Jasper rushed in together.
Seeing Rory unconscious in Vincent’s arms, Yuel imdiately reached into her spatial ring, retrieved one of the leaves he had given her earlier, and used his power to feed it to her.
"Is Rory alright?" Jasper asked anxiously, staring at her pale face.
"She’s fine," Yuel said. "She just exhausted her ntal power. She’ll wake up after so rest."
Vincent handed Rory to Yuel, then turned his sharp gaze toward Xarion, who still lay in the ice crystal coffin.
Thanks to Rory’s intervention, Xarion’s rampaging ice ability had gradually cald.
He still hadn’t woken up, though.
Before Vincent could act, Jasper’s tail lashed out and struck Xarion hard.
"—Hiss!"
Jasper recoiled in shock, staring at his own tail.
Why did it hurt him?
Vincent glanced at Jasper and slowly withdrew the hand he had been about to use.
"There’s sothing strange about him," Vincent said.
"I hit him, but I felt the pain instead," Jasper growled.
Yuel’s gaze darkened. He suddenly rembered Paros’s attitude toward Xarion earlier in the front hall.
"I kept wondering," Yuel said slowly, "Xarion provoked Paros so viciously. With Paros’s temper, how did he restrain himself from attacking?"
As he spoke, a vine shot out from his body and struck Xarion.
"Just as I thought. The harder we hit him, the more it hurts us."
Vincent said calmly, "Is it only pain? Cut him. See if the injury reflects back as well."
After speaking, he took Rory back from Yuel’s arms. The entire estate was still frozen.
Xarion’s ability hadn’t completely stabilized. Vincent couldn’t withdraw his own power or leave.
He could only continue holding the unconscious Rory.
Yuel’s lips twitched. Resigned, he shaped a vine into a wooden blade and made a shallow cut on Xarion’s arm.
The next second, three identical wounds appeared on Yuel’s own arm in the exact sa place.
Vincent watched silently and imdiately understood. Yuel quickly used his power to heal himself.
As the three wounds on his arm vanished, the wound on Xarion’s arm disappeared as well.
Jasper was completely stunned. "He can reflect injuries back at others, fine—but why does he also heal when we heal ourselves?"
What kind of ability was that?
It was outrageous.
Yuel and Vincent both fell silent.
Jealousy.
It was pure jealousy.
Why would such a broken ability belong to soone who spent every day trying to die? It would’ve been far better placed in the hands of soldiers fighting on the outer battlefield.
After a mont, Yuel sighed.
"When Rory wakes up... should we discuss packaging him up—along with his dowry—and sending him back to the Snow Domain?"
Jasper nodded fiercely.
"Even if we have to compensate them, it’s fine. He’s too dangerous."
They absolutely couldn’t keep him by Rory’s side.
Vincent exhaled slowly. "I’d like to send him back, too," he admitted. "But the Snow Domain worked too hard to get him out. They won’t let us return him so easily."
Yuel pressed a hand to his forehead. It hadn’t even been a full day, and Xarion had already caused this much chaos.
Would there ever be a peaceful day again?
Once Xarion’s ability fully stabilized, Vincent carried Rory out of the frozen room.
He first went upstairs to clear the frost from Rory’s bedroom, restoring it to normal with his power.
Then he gently laid her down on the bed.
He called Yuel to stay by her side, while he resigned himself to heading downstairs with Jasper to clean up the rest of the aftermath.
The entire estate had been frozen solid.
Vincent couldn’t withdraw his barrier until he had eliminated all the lingering cold. Otherwise, the frost would spread outward and harm others.
Nor could he leave it inside—it would freeze Rory.
Bit by bit, Vincent, Jasper, and the guard team cleared away the freezing energy. By the ti Vincent restored the entire estate, it was already deep into the night.
Only the artificial lake remained—frozen thick and solid.
Vincent stared at it, utterly drained. "Let’s rest," he said to Jasper. "This area won’t pose a threat."
Jasper was exhausted, too; his tail wouldn’t even retract.
He practically crawled back to his room and collapsed onto the bed, losing consciousness instantly.
Vincent was no better. Since Yuel was staying with Rory, Vincent didn’t disturb them.
He returned to his own room.
Then, just before dawn, Xarion finally opened his eyes.
He sluggishly crawled out of the crystal coffin, peeled off his frost-covered clothes, checked the ti on his communicator, and opened the door.
Swaying slightly, he made his way toward Rory’s room.
Rory had been sleeping peacefully in Yuel’s arms. Suddenly, she felt the left side of her body grow cold.
Still half-asleep, she reached out to tug the blanket closer, but instead of fabric, her hand touched sothing cold.
Hard.
And icy.
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