Chapter 347: You Will Always Be Mine

After Celia effortlessly blocked Vera's strongest strike, 【Divine Smite】, the air fell dead silent for a moment.

Vera's eyes widened. Her deep blue pupils reflected Celia's expressionless face and the pitch-black claw lightly gripping her blade.

She watched the other girl step closer, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Yet she couldn't even take half a step back.

The witch...

...was truly... terrifying.

Then,

That hideous demonic claw rose, its fingertip hovering right over the left side of her chest.

The movement was so gentle it didn't feel like an attack at all, as if she were afraid her sharp nails would hurt the girl, wanting only to gently feel the heartbeat inside her chest.

Filthy mana silently gathered at her fingertip.

This was an unavoidable blow.

Vera's pupils dilated. Her lips parted, wanting to call out for her brother, wanting to say the words she never had the chance to say...

But in the end, no sound came out.

Celia let go, leaning down close to the young girl's body.

“This is the least painful way to die, Vera.”

Her tone was incredibly soft and gentle.

But at this moment, that very gentleness was enough to send a shiver down one's spine.

Vera's pupils dilated as her deep blue eyes slowly lost all their light, turning hollow and vacant.

Her body swayed before crashing heavily onto the blood-soaked earth.

A filthy black mist rapidly enveloped her corpse, while the expression on the young girl's face remained frozen in her final moments of confusion and terror.

Lying heavily injured on the ground, Ansu saw everything clearly.

His eyes were bloodshot, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists, his entire body trembling uncontrollably with rage.

But his injuries were too severe; he couldn't even prop up his upper body. He could only force himself to look away, closing his eyes in sheer agony.

Celia looked up toward the distant hillside.

The massive owlbear was long gone, and a tiny greyish-brown squirrel was darting frantically along a cracked fissure in the ground, its small figure weaving through the rocks in a desperate bid to evade her senses.

Yet in her eyes, Altina had absolutely nowhere to hide.

Celia raised her hand expressionlessly.

A massive surge of mana slammed into the earth, splitting the ground instantly. A bottomless fissure, like a giant black serpent, chased after the fleeing squirrel.

A moment later, as if that weren't enough, she lightly clapped her hands together.

In the distance, two mountains seemed to be grabbed by an invisible, colossal hand and slammed violently into each other.

The deafening crash of shattering rock shook the entire wasteland, and a towering cloud of dust shrouded half the crimson canopy. As far as the eye could see, there was no longer any sign of life.

With everyone else dealt with, only one final task remained.

Celia turned around, walking step by step toward Ansu.

Her hideous demonic claw receded, returning to a slender, fair hand. She leaned down and gently lifted Ansu up.

Celia's expression was no longer hollow and cold. Instead, it held a strange, stiff gentleness—like someone who hadn't smiled in so long that she had forgotten how to curve her lips.

“There...”

“No one is in our way anymore.”

Ansu opened his bloodshot eyes and met her gaze.

“Ansu...” Celia spoke softly, her tone like she was sharing a secret she had only just figured out. “I had a very, very long dream. In that dream, I kept questioning myself... asking if I should really keep going like this.”

She seemed to slowly recall that long internal struggle.

In the end, she didn't believe she was controlled by hallucinations, nor was she bewitched by Samantha—that “Samantha” was her to begin with, her deepest inner fear.

Fortunately, Ansu hadn't disturbed her, allowing her to keep thinking.

Finally, she understood.

“The lies, the betrayal, popping the bubble... none of it matters anymore.” She smiled and leaned close to Ansu's ear, her voice as light as a feather. “I understand now. I shouldn't have harbored any illusions about my dear Mr. Ansu, because you were always a massive liar.”

A paranoid light gleamed in her blood-red eyes.

“I shouldn't keep being weak. From this day on, I will get everything I want.”

She raised her hand to gently stroke Ansu's hair, once, and then again. Her gaze held a bizarre gentleness, as if she were soothing a cute doll that had finally quieted down.

“Ansu is so quiet and well-behaved now. I really like it...”

Ansu took a deep breath, having absolutely no desire to respond.

Right now, he couldn't be bothered to listen to the crazed rants coming out of Celia's mouth. He was just quietly waiting to return.

He really couldn't stand this mad witch anymore.

Celia's smile widened.

She seemed to be speaking to Ansu, yet also to herself. “I like my current self, the one who is no longer weak... Love built on falsehoods and lies doesn't matter anymore...”

“Ansu, I don't care if you love me or not. It's enough that I love you.”

“So... from now on, you will never leave my side.”

Ansu felt a cold sensation around his wrists.

Click.

The crisp snap of the chains locking shut was exceptionally jarring in the silence.

He didn't look down, because he knew exactly what it was—magic-suppressing handcuffs, which were nearly impossible to break.

Then, Celia slipped a melt-in-the-mouth pill into his mouth, gently closing his lips with her fingers as she watched him with a smile.

A familiar bitterness spread across Ansu's tongue. Soon after, the mana in his body seemed to instantly dry up, as if forced back down to his core by an overwhelming power.

His entire body felt empty and weak, completely drained of mana.

This wasn't the first time he had seen these magic-suppressing handcuffs and this magic potion...

“Ansu, your talent for magic is too good, even better than mine...” Celia said softly, her hand continuing to stroke his hair. “If given enough time, maybe you really would surpass me one day...”

“So, I can't let you keep growing. Otherwise... I will lose control over you.”

She stood up, snapping the other end of the handcuffs onto her own wrist.

Celia closed her eyes. Following a long incantation, she raised her hand and tore open a spatial rift.

A pitch-black rift into the void slowly expanded, with what seemed like starlight shimmering within.

That was the 【Void Corridor】, hidden within the cracks of the physical realm—a static domain ruled entirely by the caster's will.

“My dear, come with me.”

She smiled, her expression filled with a sense of relief and satisfaction—a borderline pathological sense of security that Ansu had never seen on her face before.

“...What are you...” Ansu spoke with difficulty. “...doing?”

His body was weak and stiff, barely able to squeeze out a few mumbled syllables.

“To hide, of course.” Celia looked at his confused gaze and explained gently, “This world is too dangerous. Look at all of you, one after another... insisting on getting involved, insisting on coming to the South to die. I told you long ago that those gods are existences even I cannot reach... but you just wouldn't listen.”

Holding Ansu's hand, her mana lifted his heavily injured body, guiding him deeper into the rift.

“Have a good sleep.”

“By the time we wake up, perhaps this broken world heading toward its end will have restarted.”

She looked back and smiled at him. The gentle smile on her gorgeous face sent a shiver straight through Ansu.

“Yes, just like the magic academy back then, we will hide in the void and wait out the next thousand years. None of the conflicts in this world will have anything to do with us anymore.”

Her breath brushed past Ansu's ear, carrying her signature faint fragrance, her voice incredibly soft.

Yet it carried an unquestionable certainty.

“You are mine forever.”

“Forever.”

Ansu closed his eyes weakly.

...