Mutual Defeat?

"Ah!!!"

A scream of agony pierced the sky.

Golden light filled the area for dozens of meters around. Faintly, a figure could be seen struggling and convulsing within it for a while, before finally collapsing limply to the ground...

"Thud!"

Seeing Sheris defeated, Ul hadn't even had time to celebrate.

Suddenly, Jelka, standing opposite Sheris, also buckled at the knees and dropped to the ground with a thud. The staff fell from her hand, the gold in her eyes quickly faded, and her aura weakened at an alarming speed.

A mutual defeat!

Ul looked at the scene before him, the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.

Everything had happened far too quickly. Especially that fight just now—it had been like watching gods clash.

In a situation like this, forget stepping in; he hadn't even had a chance to get a word in, let alone fire off... Ahem!!!

For Ul, a mutual defeat was definitely the best possible outcome.

He first jogged over to Jelka, the saintly beauty. Seeing her pale face, he asked with concern, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just overused my magic," Jelka replied.

But barely had she finished speaking before a pained look slipped onto her face, and sweat kept dripping from her forehead.

Clearly!

Her condition wasn't nearly as good as she made it sound.

Ul knew how much pain Jelka was in. After all, "overusing magic" might not sound like a serious problem, but for a Mage, running out of magic power was extremely dangerous.

Magic power wasn't like the "inner energy" from Ul's previous life. There was no "dantian" or anything of the sort to store it in.

Magic power existed throughout the body.

In a sense, magic power was practically synonymous with "life force" for a Mage. Ul remembered that, later on, Makarov had once faced the danger of running out of magic power, and the old man had nearly died.

One could imagine just how painful "overusing magic" could be.

Even so,

Ul really didn't have any way to help with Jelka's pain.

Jelka's condition was just like when one of Ul's "ex-girlfriends" had her period. He knew she was suffering, but what could he do besides tell her to "drink more hot water"? It wasn't that he didn't care about his girlfriend. It was just that, in a situation like that, he truly was helpless!

So, looking at Jelka's pained expression, Ul could only say, "That's good. Then get some more rest!"

As soon as the words left his mouth,

Ul was rewarded with a glare from Jelka.

The meaning in her eyes was clear:

I did save your life, after all. Is this how you treat me? Hmph, men really are all heartless jerks!

Ul: "..."

After checking on his "savior,"

Ul started toward the area where Sheris had landed, intending to see whether she was still alive.

The magic Jelka had just unleashed was incredibly powerful. It had turned the entire area, dozens of meters across, around Sheris into dust. It had even blasted a huge hole in Moya City's wall, and at least seven or eight buildings had been caught in the blast. The dust still hadn't settled...

But just as Ul had covered half the distance, a burst of wild laughter suddenly rang out from the haze!

"Ha ha ha..."

"I knew it. So it was all an act."

"Jelka, you bitch! I almost fell for your trick!"

"But now that your magic power is exhausted, let's see what you can use to fight me with..."

Hearing the laughter, Ul and Jelka's expressions changed instantly.

They hurriedly looked ahead.

A gust of wind swept through.

The dust scattered, and a figure slowly emerged from within.

At the sight,

Ul and Jelka's pupils contracted.

Compared to before, Sheris no longer looked alluring. Her body was badly injured, covered in wounds, and blood dripped steadily from her. Her clothes were in tatters, and her purple leather armor had been reduced to a few scraps. If this were an anime, at that moment, Holy Light would probably have to cover every part of Sheris except her face.

Emmm!

Why did she seem even more attractive to men like this, despite no longer looking alluring?

Although Sheris was badly hurt and trembling all over, it was obvious she still had some strength left.

Her expression was twisted, wild with madness. Especially when she saw Jelka—her eyes immediately turned bloodshot, and murderous intent shone in them.

"Bitch, die!"

Sheris frantically gathered her magic power, instantly forming a purple Magic Circle beneath Jelka.

Clearly!

Sheris was filled with hatred for Jelka, who had left her in this state. She was so intent on revenge that she even forgot Ul was standing nearby.

Of course, it was also possible that she simply didn't care about him.

Either way,

her disregard for Ul was a huge mistake.

Although Ul's magic power wasn't strong enough to pose much of a threat to Sheris, his hand-to-hand combat skills were better than those of Sheris, who had never trained in them...

Caught completely off guard,

Sheris took a vicious roundhouse kick from Ul. She felt a tremendous force hit her abdomen, and then her whole body went flying.

Ul naturally wasn't about to waste the chance to land a successful sneak attack. He pushed off hard, instantly catching up with the airborne Sheris.

Sheris clearly hadn't expected that the kid she'd dismissed had trained in hand-to-hand combat, much less that he was so strong. On top of that, her body was already badly injured. For a moment, she found herself losing control of it as Ul attacked.

All she could do was watch helplessly as Ul charged toward her and raised his foot to strike...