It was as if time itself had frozen and decided to flow again in the next second.
That was exactly what Emery felt, the tumultuous feeling he experienced when he saw Silva die in such a manner and then found out it was all a ruse. A feeling of relief filled him when he realized what happened, though a hint of irritation couldn't help but rise.
The body who he thought to be Silva's turned out to be some kind of a trap prepared for the attacker, that was also utilized as bait.
As a full fledged Full-Moon magus, especially one who had the infamous Tiger Bloodline like Magus Nimeria, no ordinary substance could really hurt them.
Therefore, seeing how terrible Magus Nimeria looked at the moment, Emery could safely conclude that the liquid which was burning her skin must be a very corrosive and lethal one.
To think he had been carrying such a thing on him for quite some time earlier. It was no wonder Magus Beatrice asked for it from him and even decided to forcibly take it away when she saw him hesitating.
This situation naturally led to another question. Where was the real Silva?
Or perhaps it had all been a carefully fabricated plan and the girl wasn't actually captured by the White Fang at all.
ROAR!!!
A loud roar colored in pain reverberated and shook the trees around the area. Magus Nimeria, whose body continued to be tormented by the unknown liquid, struggled fiercely as she tried to wipe it off her body.
Right now, she was experiencing a very, very excruciating burning sensation all over her body. The substance was able to seep through the skin and gradually burn the muscle and bones inside.
A few drops even managed to land on her eyes despite the fact she had hastily closed them and momentarily caused her to lose vision, causing the tiger magus to slash her claws into empty air in a panic.
The wind wolf, Beatrice, would certainly not let this golden opportunity slip by.
Emery watched as numerous swirls of wind appeared and gathered upon Beatrice's two palms that were put together. Obviously, she was channeling her spirit energy into a powerful wind spell, as the forest around them began to shake violently.
An instant later, Beatrice appeared a few feet from Magus Nimeria and thrust both her palms forward. In the air where her palms connected, a cross-shaped blade of wind materialized, before rapidly flying through the air, landing squarely on the chest of the tormented and partially blind Magus Nimeria.
SPLAT!
Due to the excruciating pain and the partial blindness, Magus Nimeria couldn't dodge the attack. A huge gash shaped in X letter was inscribed on her, deep enough to reveal some of her internal organs.
However, things weren't over yet. Far from it, in fact.
In the next moment, Magus Nimeria dealt an unbelievable counterattack to Beatrice, relying solely on her animal instincts. Both her paws struck the latter's shoulders with a pair of loud bam, sending her skidding a few steps across the ground.
It was clear the blow was very strong, as Emery could see Beatrice stumbling on her feet and falling to her knees after receiving it.
At the moment, Magus Nimeria displayed a level of endurance that was well deserved of a figure like her. Even though she was still in excruciating pain, she was still able to launch a retaliation of her own and it was clear she wasn't done yet.
Very quickly, the temperature in the surrounding area dropped drastically. What followed was the reappearance of the powerful 7th tier spell Emery had seen before.
[Sub Zero]
Starting from the ground Magus Nimeria stepped on, a gleaming blue layer of frost appeared and began to spread in the direction in front of her. It quickly spreaded out like a swarm of locusts, turning everything in its path into ice.
Emery, who was only a dozen meters behind Beatrice, witnessed all this happening and how the spell would hit her. Not wanting to see others lose their lives in front of him, he decided to perform an unthinkable crazy act that would surely earn him a night of scolding from Klea, if she found out.
Casting [Blink], in what was probably fifth of a second Emery's figure disappeared and reappeared beside Beatrice, before he threw his body with all his might at her to dodge the attack that was coming their way.
BUZZ! Emery could hear the faint sound and the frigid coldness that followed right after, as their body shot past the spell's trajectory by a very small distance.
Emery gritted his teeth. Pain shot through his shoulder that had been hit by the tier 7 spell. He knew that just now he was barely escaping with his life.
The two of them fell to the ground very hard, but in the end they managed to dodge the spell. Unfortunately, they were not safe yet.
There, standing a few steps away from them, the tiger magus, who was still covered in that corrosive liquid, was glaring at them as if they had killed her entire family. The look on her face was pure madness.
"YOU TWO! HOW DARE YOU!" Magus Nimeria shouted hysterically, sounding like a shrieking banshee. "NOW DIE! DIE!!!"
A blue glow enveloped her body, displaying she was ready to kill the two with her spell. She was about to unleash it, when Emery suddenly saw a blade swinging from behind her. Magus Nimeria was still focusing her gaze on the two, when her head instantly cut and separated from her neck.
A dull sound rang out in the air, when Magus Nimeria's head hit the ground, shortly followed by her body.
When the headless body fell, Emery saw the seriously injured, one hand Magus Leon standing right behind where Magus Nimeria had been.
"Are you two okay?!" asked the enforcer in a concerned tone.
This time, Emery could see that the usual stern and serious look on Magus Leon's face was nowhere to be seen. Even in such a state where he was clearly having a hard time, the man could still worry about others.
Emery and Beatrice quickly got back on their feet and turned their gazes to the body of the Magus Nimeria lying on the ground. However, it looked like it's not over yet, as evidenced by the sight of Magus Leon still brandishing his sword at the corpse.
"That crazy tiger woman can't possibly still be living without a head, can she?"
To his surprise, Emery saw something moving on the corpse's chest. A moment later, a bluish pearl-like stone shot out from it and floated in the air.
As if he had been waiting for this exact thing, Magus Leon immediately whipped his sword again, striking the stone with all his might until its glow dissipated. Then, he quickly picked it up and put it into the see-through jar he had taken out.
Seeing this scene, Emery had an idea of what had just happened. He had heard about this phenomenon and even seen these similar scenes before. If his thoughts were not wrong, that stone should be the spirit soul of a magus.
When one broke through rank 9 and was about to enter the magus realm, their soul would fuse with their spirit core, which then resulted in the creation of a spirit soul. The miraculous thing about spirit souls was the fact that, with the right treatment methods, one could be brought back to life from the dead.
In a way, acquiring Magus Nimeria's spirit soul could be considered as capturing the existence of the tiger magus herself.
With his hand carefully golding the jar, Magus Leon said. "She will stand as a witness on trial later and tell everything to the alliance."
Now that the crazy tiger magus had been taken care of, the three people turned to look at the fierce battle between Heorgar and Magus Jigow, who had unknowingly moved to this location.
Looking at the condition of the two of them, it seemed like it was coming to an end, as they could clearly see cracks here and there all over Magus Jigow's bone armor.
BAM!
The sight of the destroyed bone armor was quickly followed by Heorgar's dark spear piercing through the goat magus' chest. The former quickly cast his innate ability. Suddenly his tattoos came out of his body and wrapped around the latter, shackling him.
Slowly but surely, Magus Jigow's huge and muscular body became thinner, until only skin and bones were left. It was a terrifying skill to see. Emery definitely didn't want to have a taste of that.
Seeing this, Magus Leon quickly dashed towards them, or rather, Heorgar while shouting, "Stop! Don't kill him!"
However, even in such a precarious situation, Magus Jigow the Black Goat, one of the 12 Flag Bearers of the Zodiac Kingdom, was still laughing.
"HAHAHAHA, you think you already won, aren't you?!"
The nonsense-sounding words were followed by another round of laughter.
"HAHAHA!!!"