A moment later, the mysterious woman gently embraced La Di, their long green hair intertwining naturally like vines, gleaming with a lustrous sheen.
When the woman frowned in concentration, La Di, who was unconscious, showed the same expression. When the woman's breathing became slightly rapid, La Di's chest rose and fell faster, as if the two bodies shared the same life rhythm.
The woman's slender fingers traced the wound on La Di's chest, and suddenly an amber halo appeared on the curved corner of her forehead. As the light flowed, the scattered magic began to recombine like sand in an inverted hourglass, and ancient runes of the same color as the woman's pointed horn emerged at the edge of the wound.
The strangest thing is that when the pain from the treatment caused the woman to bite her lower lip, La Di's pale lips were immediately pressed with the same teeth marks.
Their skin, where it touched, shimmered with a mother-of-pearl-like luster, like two mercury mirrors about to merge.
As the amber light flowed, the gruesome wound on La Di's chest healed at a visible speed, and Paul and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Eileen suddenly gasped—she saw a mark appear below the woman's collarbone, exactly in the same spot as La Di's recently healed wound, showing the exact same shape.
A dark red light gathered, which Paul guessed was the so-called magical power. It transformed into fine veins and disappeared beneath La Di's skin. The girl's pale cheeks gradually regained color, her furrowed brows relaxed, and her breathing became steady and long.
Paul let out a long sigh of relief, his tense shoulders finally relaxing. Catherine's eyes glistened with tears of excitement, and Eileen stopped her restless agitation. The blonde girl knelt beside him, watching the miraculous healing process intently.
"That's great..." Eileen muttered softly, her fingers unconsciously twisting a strand of her hair.
Catherine held Collich's hands tightly to her back, her icy blue pupils trembling violently. She watched as the fatal wound she had inflicted was easily erased, watched the two green-haired women breathe in sync like twin mirror images, her nails digging deep into her palms yet feeling no pain.
In this illogical space, unable to cast any magic spells, she was completely suppressed, and for the first time, she experienced what despair truly meant.
But the white-haired witch had no intention of seeking the enemy's mercy; she was prepared to sacrifice herself.
The mysterious woman suddenly looked up, the light from the sharp angles gradually dimming. La Di, nestled in her arms, fluttered her eyelashes and slowly opened her eyes. Two identical emerald green eyes met at close range, reflecting each other's faces. The woman suddenly smiled a bewitching smile, murmuring in a whisper only La Di could hear, "Have you slept enough, my dear…"
La Di's pupils suddenly contracted, and her lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something but choked up.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she laboriously turned her head, and when Paul came into view beside her, she felt a sense of peace. But when she saw the moisture in the corner of his eyes, her heart skipped a beat, a sweet feeling welled up inside her, and her head began to spin.
"Sigh, I must be dreaming," La Di whispered, her emerald green eyes still lingering with the disorientation of her brush with death.
But when she realized she was naked and being watched by everyone, her pale cheeks flushed instantly—even though she wondered if she was dreaming—she sat on the ground, instinctively curling up, her slender fingers frantically trying to gather her long, disheveled hair to cover her body, only causing more magical glimmers to appear on her skin.
Having escaped mortal danger, the witch finally became shy like a normal person.
"Don't...don't look." Her voice was much weaker than usual, and carried an unusual panic. Her fingertips unconsciously traced familiar incantation patterns, but only stirred up a few feeble sparks in the air. La Di stared in astonishment at her trembling fingers—in this bizarre mental space, even the most basic illusion magic had failed.
She looked at Paul for help, but turned her face away as if electrocuted the moment their eyes met. The curves that were always hidden under the loose robes were now exposed, and her skin, which had never seen the sun for years, appeared particularly pale and translucent in the dim light of her spiritual body.
"Damn it." She bit her lip and shrank even tighter, her green hair falling down to form a final barrier. This usually calm and composed witch was now trembling slightly like a bewildered girl.
Even she herself didn't realize that, after facing life and death, the mental defenses she had built up over a long period of time vanished completely, just like the clothes that covered her body.
"Don't waste your energy," the mysterious woman who looked exactly like her said with a sly smile. "This is not the real world, but a reflection of the spirit and consciousness. Only our souls and the bodies bound to them can exist here. Nothing external will appear here."
"I see… Ah!" Paul suddenly widened his eyes, causing Catherine beside him to glance at her husband in surprise.
Difficult, difficult, difficult... Could this be some kind of subspace? Paul's thoughts were churning violently.
Bro, please don't put me on such high intensity!
"But…" La Di frowned, looking at the woman who looked exactly like her, except that she had diagonal corners, and hesitated to speak.
The woman's slender fingers gently stroked La Di's cheek, the fingertips carrying a warm touch. Her gaze suddenly softened, filled with a hint of pity and helplessness.
"Did you think those nights were just dreams?" she whispered. "When you wake up alone in the middle of the night, your heart pounding, your skin burning, but you can't remember the contents of your dream... it's not an illusion, it's me."
La Di's breathing suddenly quickened, her pupils contracted slightly, and those blurry yet burning memories uncontrollably surfaced in her mind—the panting in the darkness, the laughter that wasn't hers, the unfamiliar touch lingering on her fingertips when she woke up... She had thought it was just a dream, but now, those images became incredibly clear with the woman's touch.
"Every time your magic goes out of control, every time you inexplicably learn spells…" The woman's thumb gently caressed La Di's lips, a bewitching smile curving her lips, "that was me trying to break through the barrier of reality and return to your side."
La Di's chest heaved violently, and a series of resonant tremors came from the depths of her soul, as if something long buried was awakening.
The woman watched her reaction with satisfaction, then leaned close to her ear, her breath burning like flames against her nerves—
"The me in your dreams is never an illusion," she chuckled softly, "but rather the other half of my soul, forcibly torn apart, desperately trying to come back."