Chapter 330 -: 329 Suffering.
Rosalina had no idea how long she had managed to sleep.
Perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps an hour?
It didn’t matter either way.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Julius’s agonizing scream tore through the silence of the ancient tree like a blade, instantly ripping her awake.
Her eyes snapped open, every trace of exhaustion disappearing as the horrifying sounds that followed reached her ears.
Flesh tore apart as though invisible claws were raking across his body, while sickening cracks echoed one after another as bones shattered beneath his skin.
The shelter, which had felt peaceful only moments ago, was suddenly filled with nothing but his desperate cries and the gruesome sounds of his body breaking itself apart.
Rosalina’s face immediately lost all colour.
She rushed to his side without the slightest hesitation, her trembling hands frantically examining his body.
The sight before her made her breathing stop for an instant. His right arm had bent at an unnatural angle, fresh fractures spreading beneath the skin while blood slowly seeped through the bandages she had painstakingly wrapped around him earlier.
Moments later, another crack echoed through the chamber as one of his legs twisted violently, followed by yet another as the second leg suffered the same fate.
Before she could even process what was happening, crimson lines suddenly appeared across his chest and abdomen before splitting open into deep sword wounds that began pouring blood onto the wooden floor.
It was as though...as though...he had returned to the battlefield. As though the injuries he had escaped were happening all over again.
Without wasting another second, Rosalina immediately reached for the containers of clean water she had gathered from the lake.
She carefully washed away the fresh streams of blood, her movements quick but incredibly gentle despite the panic threatening to overwhelm her.
Once the wounds were clean enough to see, she crushed the medicinal herbs she had collected the previous day and pressed the paste against each injury before wrapping them with fresh strips of cloth.
Her hands refused to stop moving, desperately trying to keep pace with the horrifying condition of his body.
If she failed to stop the bleeding...
He might truly die.
Her teeth clenched so tightly that her jaw began to ache.
Julius remained completely unconscious, unable to open his eyes no matter how violently his body convulsed.
His face had twisted into an expression of unbearable agony, every muscle trembling as though he were desperately fighting against something invisible.
Sweat poured down his forehead while broken cries escaped his lips between ragged breaths.
Even without understanding what was happening around him, his body continued resisting the overwhelming pain through instinct alone.
Rosalina had never seen him like this.
Not even during their duel. Not even after he had borrowed mana from his future self.
She had known the consequences of Event Horizon would be severe, but witnessing them with her own eyes was something entirely different.
Every passing moment brought fresh injuries, each one appearing as though time itself had decided to collect the debt Julius had accumulated. It wasn’t healing that had failed.
It was repayment.
The future he had stolen from had finally come to reclaim everything.
Unable to bear watching him suffer alone, Rosalina carefully climbed onto the wooden floor beside him before gently wrapping both her arms around his trembling body.
One hand rested behind his back while the other carefully held his shoulder, doing her best not to aggravate the countless fractures spreading throughout his body.
She could feel every painful tremor running through him, every involuntary shudder caused by unimaginable agony.
"Don’t worry, Julius..."
"I’m here..."
Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. Yet it trembled despite all her efforts to remain calm.
Part of that trembling came from grief.
The other part...It was pure anger.
’You idiot...you sacrificed everything... just to win a ranked duel.’
Her fingers unconsciously tightened around the cloth covering his shoulder.
A whole month...
’You threw away an entire month of your future for that ridiculous fight.’
’Just wait until you recover...I’ll break every bone in your body myself.’
The furious thoughts echoed endlessly inside her mind, yet the moment she looked at his pale face, the anger dissolved into helplessness.
The insults remained trapped inside her heart because she already knew the truth.
If given the same choice again...Julius would do exactly the same thing.
Slowly, Rosalina let out a weary sigh before resting her forehead lightly against his shoulder.
"If this continues...I don’t know if I can keep you alive."
The words escaped almost unconsciously.
She hated admitting it.
No matter how talented she was. No matter how powerful her spells had become. There were limits to what she could accomplish.
As though determined to prove that cruel reality, another horrifying crack suddenly echoed throughout the shelter.
Julius’s left shoulder violently dislocated.
His body arched upwards as another raw, heart-wrenching scream escaped his throat, so filled with pain that Rosalina instinctively flinched. The sound alone sent chills racing down her spine.
She couldn’t continue watching this.
No....
Rosalina slowly released him before standing to her feet, her expression gradually becoming resolute despite the tears threatening to gather within her eyes.
"There has to be another way..."
She couldn’t heal him, not properly.
Healing magic wasn’t something any spell caster could simply learn through effort alone.
Genuine healing required an exceptionally rare constitution, one capable of harmonising with life itself.
While many spell casters possessed techniques that could close shallow wounds or reduce minor injuries, those spells barely scratched the surface of what Julius needed now.
His injuries were far beyond that, his body itself was collapsing.
She did know a handful of spells with healing properties, but they were designed for bruises, cuts and ordinary battlefield injuries. Against shattered bones, torn flesh and the relentless backlash of Event Horizon, they were practically useless.
If she couldn’t heal his body...
Then perhaps...she could save him from the pain instead.
Rosalina slowly sat down opposite Julius before crossing her legs into a lotus position.
Taking several slow breaths, she closed her eyes and allowed every distracting thought to fade away. Her breathing gradually steadied as her mana quietly circulated throughout her body.
She needed to create something.
The pain he was enduring couldn’t continue for another month.
Nobody deserved to suffer like that. If she couldn’t stop the injuries themselves...
Then she would make him unable to feel them. A spell that would separate his consciousness from his body.
A deep, dreamless slumber that would isolate his mind while his body slowly endured the repayment demanded by Event Horizon. Once the month ended, she could simply awaken him again.
At least...that was the theory. The reality was far more complicated. Creating an entirely new spell was never easy, especially under circumstances like these.
Every spell required a foundation, a Path through which its concepts could be expressed. Without selecting the proper Path, the spell would simply collapse before it could ever take shape.
Rosalina quietly searched through everything she knew.
Colour Path.
That was her greatest speciality.
But colour manipulated emotions, perception and various forms of conceptual enhancement. While extraordinarily versatile, it wasn’t naturally suited for placing someone’s consciousness into prolonged slumber.
Fire Path.
She possessed considerable knowledge there as well.
Nathaniel...
Her soon-to-be father.
"...Well..."
A tiny, awkward smile briefly appeared on her lips despite the situation.
"Isn’t he already?"
The thought vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
Regardless of titles, Nathaniel had personally taught her numerous destructive Fire Path spells over the months. They were powerful enough to incinerate battlefields and overwhelm formidable enemies.
Unfortunately...none of them could ease suffering.
Julius’s mother and aunt had also taught her several emergency Space Path techniques, allowing short-range teleportation and escape under desperate circumstances. Those spells had already saved her life more than once.
Yet Space could bend distance not pain.
The Hayes family excelled in overwhelming offence. Nearly every technique they possessed had been designed for battle, destruction or killing enemies as efficiently as possible.
There were almost no records regarding Plant Paths, Life Paths or other branches capable of nurturing and restoration.
If only...If only she possessed even a small understanding of those Paths...How much easier everything would have been.
Rosalina slowly exhaled.
One possibility remained.
"...Illusion."
After Colour Path...It was the Path she understood best.
Illusions governed perception.
Dreams, the mind, Consciousness itself.
Perhaps...Just perhaps...It could become the foundation she needed.
Without another moment of hesitation, Rosalina completely emptied her mind and sank into deep meditation. Countless theories, formulas and spell structures flowed through her thoughts as she dismantled every existing illusion spell she knew before rebuilding them from the very beginning.
Time quietly slipped away as dawn gradually brightened into morning beyond the entrance of the ancient tree, yet she remained completely motionless, oblivious to everything except the countless possibilities unfolding within her mind.
Hours passed.
The forest outside continued its endless cycle of life and death.
Julius’s painful cries occasionally echoed through the shelter, yet each one only strengthened her determination rather than breaking her concentration.
Then...Rosalina’s tightly closed eyelids slowly opened.
A brilliant light shimmered within her onyx-black eyes.