Cypher froze on the spot because he had witnessed a scene he never could have expected.
Newt was still Newt. A huge black panther suddenly vanishing into the vast grasslands... that was nothing much.
Even Newt raising both hands, one palm above the other as though cradling an invisible basketball, was nothing much.
But there was not actually nothing between Newt's hands.
Because of the battle, Cypher had activated Dragon Eyes. If he concentrated, he could clearly see even the hairs on the back of Newt's hand from far away.
From his current angle, what he saw was an utterly dreadful sight.
Newt's left hand was raised, his five fingers spread wide and deeply buried in the hair of a charcoal-skinned girl.
His right hand was slightly curled, trembling faintly as it firmly and rhythmically scratched beneath the girl's chin.
The girl had her eyes closed, wearing an awful expression.
Her tongue lolled from her wide-open mouth, revealing teeth that gleamed white in contrast.
Hearing Cypher call out, Newt visibly shuddered.
Coming back to his senses, he hurriedly withdrew his hands.
The girl suddenly lost the soothing sensation of that touch.
When she opened her eyes in confusion, she seemed to notice that she had reverted to her wizard form.
Overwhelmed by embarrassment and indignation, she lowered her head in silence. Fortunately, her skin color was currently her strongest mask, concealing the dilated capillaries beneath it.
"Senior? Were you... checking her injuries?"
Only after approaching did Cypher notice, in the blind spot of his vision, a dark bruise on one side of the girl's face.
Remembering how the black panther had carelessly taken a whip-like blow from the snake's head to the face and been sent flying...
Cypher suddenly understood that this girl was the black panther from before.
That