Suddenly, a flash of white light.
He had reached the fourth tier, and his [Copy and Analyze] spell could now replicate and analyze magic beyond two tiers above his own.
This also brought him back to a semblance of clarity.
He tried to speak, but no words came out.
His sweat had all evaporated, he was severely dehydrated, his lungs were scorched by the heat, and his throat was in such pain it felt like a knife was cutting through it, preventing him from making a sound.
Suddenly, Catherine's body temperature dropped rapidly, as if returning to normal, and Kevin felt that Catherine was no longer absorbing his mana.
Finally... Is it over?
He thought to himself, wondering if he would ever recover from the burns he had sustained. His handsome face must not be disfigured!
But this is a world of fantasy, where everything is possible, so he should be able to recover... right?
As these thoughts crossed his mind, his consciousness relaxed, and he fell into darkness.
With Kevin's fainting, Bella's figure also disappeared.
She was a system sprite and could only manifest a physical form when Kevin was conscious. Once he fainted, she could only return to Kevin's mental space.
The moment she disappeared, Catherine opened her eyes.
Her left eye was shrouded in darkness, with an eerie purple iris, but in the next moment, the darkness and purple converged into her pupil, like a black hole being completely absorbed, and her iris returned to a fiery red like a ruby.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
She had succeeded!
The power of the demon realm had submitted!
From now on, this invading force from the demon realm would become her strength, making her even stronger!
And all of this... was because of the guy beside her.
She turned her head to look at Kevin.
She found him sitting cross-legged next to her, holding her arm.
When she was fighting the power of the demon realm, her mana was about to run out, and just when she thought all her efforts would be in vain, a surge of mana flowed into her body. The comfortable sensation made her unable to help but moan.
Then she began to greedily absorb that mana, continuously and without pause.
She was puzzled about where the mana came from.
Because when she was fully engaged in fighting the demon realm and had closed her senses, Kevin was only at the second tier and should not have had such a large amount of mana. But now she knew she was wrong.
In just a few days, she was surprised to find that Kevin had reached the fourth tier!
And he possessed a much larger mana reserve than a typical fourth-tier mage!
But at this moment, his breath had become very weak, his body was severely burned, his skin was peeling off, his hair was charred and crumbled at the slightest touch, and his hands were blackened, almost unrecognizable as human.
Looking at Kevin's face, which was burned beyond recognition, her gaze softened.
She reached out her hand and gently touched his face, her voice filled with magnetism.
"To make me marry you, can you fight so hard?"
"Not a bad guy."
After speaking, a soft flame condensed from her hand and covered Kevin, but it did not burn him. On the contrary, Kevin's severe injuries began to heal at a visible rate, and his dried clothes gradually relaxed.
[Phoenix's Breath]!
In a short while, his injuries were healed by about seventy to eighty percent, except for his hands.
His hands were too severely burned, and even Catherine's healing magic could not heal them in a short time.
She moved her arm and found that Kevin was still tightly holding her hand.
And with this movement, Kevin actually groaned and began to infuse mana into Catherine's body.
Catherine was stunned and found that Kevin was still in a coma.
Looking at Kevin's eyes softened more and more. Suddenly, she chuckled, gently pried open Kevin's hand, and gently tapped Kevin's forehead with her index finger. His tightly furrowed brows immediately relaxed, a comfortable expression appeared on his face, and his breathing became even.
Catherine laid Kevin down flat.
"Why did you save me?" She lay on her side next to Kevin, her hand supporting her cheek, just looking at his handsome face and asked softly, more like talking to herself.
"You clearly do not know me, so why endure such suffering to channel magic for me?"
"A typical fourth-tier mage doesn't have as much mana as you do. Who are you really?"
Speaking of this, a figure suddenly appeared in her mind.
That year, she was sixteen.
Lioncrest City, ruins, a sea of fire, screams...
All of this, she was responsible for.
The flames within her began to rage, and she thought she would perish in the tumultuous fire, dragging the entire city down with her, but at the last moment, she was saved by that person.
She asked why he saved her?
She was clearly a sinner!
But he said, "Does saving someone need a reason?"
She cried, crying very loudly, and the man pinched her cheek and laughed, "Don't cry, face life with a smile."
"But I caused all of this, I, I am a sinner!" she sobbed.
"You are not a sinner, you are Catherine."
"You are the one who will become the strongest Red Lotus Lion in the Kalomun family in the future!"
"But, but I am a girl, how can I become a Red Lotus Lion?"
"What's wrong with being a girl?" the man laughed, "You should know that it is the lionesses who hunt on the savannah!"
"Here, have a piece of gum, this is called being open-minded, hehe, open-minded, laugh out loud and be strong!"
"To laugh is to become stronger."
"The more boldly you laugh, the stronger you become!"
"Well, it's time, we should say goodbye." The man smiled.
"Are you leaving?" she asked, "What is your name, will we meet again?"
"Yes, I am leaving, and as for my name, you will know it in the future."
"I promise you, we will meet again."
"By then, you must..." His voice trailed off, and the man disappeared right in front of Catherine.
She couldn't remember his face, or rather, he was wearing a mask at the time, and his appearance was invisible, and his voice, too, gradually blurred with memory.
But Catherine knew that it was that person who changed her life.
He was the one who made her who she is now.
She wanted to find him, to show him how strong she had become, to let him hear how boldly she could laugh!
And today, she encountered another guy.
A guy who, like that person, saved her without reason.
Didn't he want her to repay him with her life, so how could there be no reason?
No, Catherine could sense that he saved her not because he wanted her to repay him with her life.
Would anyone risk their life for beauty?
Perhaps there might be, but it was definitely not him, because during these days of unconsciousness, he made no inappropriate moves, and even physical contact was very minimal except for feeding.
Could such a person risk their life to save someone for the sake of beauty?
Impossible.
She was curious, why did Kevin save her.
She decided to wait for him to wake up and ask him clearly.
...