Simulated Lives: The Sorrow of the Sword Maiden-Chapter 47 – You Who Reunite with the Witch

A profound sorrow filled the witch's heart.
Sadder than the falling leaves of autumn.
More painful than the afterglow of the sunset.
Though she stood amidst the searing heat of roaring flames, the witch, whose heart was a gaping void, felt only coldness and a drowning suffocation.
She had lost her reason for existence, her soul vanishing along with it.
Drowning in an ocean named despair.
Letting her thoughts and sanity sink deeper and deeper.
"It's all my fault... if only I could have come back sooner..." she uttered, her voice broken, staring blankly at the still-burning courtyard in the distance.
Her heartstrings snapped, leaving only regret.
The pain was so intense she couldn't breathe, so intense she couldn't think.
The collapse from within completely overshadowed her physical injuries.
At this moment, Krisa so desperately wanted to cry, yet her eyes remained hollow and dry, not a hint of moisture.
The immense grief trapped within her chest tormented her heart repeatedly, spreading a sense of helplessness and numbness throughout her limbs, ultimately plunging her into endless self-reproach.
"Why... why can't I even shed tears for my mentor..."
"What right do I, such an incompetent person, have to live?"
Sixteen-year-old Krisa sat on her knees, her eyes vacant.
Her pupils trembled, a look of agony flashing across them.
She clutched her head tightly, banging it against the hard ground, hating her emotionally deficient body more than ever before.
Once, twice, three times, four times...
The witch continued to hit her head, as if she couldn't feel the pain.
Or rather, she deliberately used this self-torture as a substitute for tears of sorrow, to dilute the self-blame and collapse in her heart.
But ultimately, it was futile.
No matter what she did, the only person who mattered in her heart would not return.
When she realized this, Krisa stopped her self-harming actions, blood trickling down her forehead, past her eyes, her cheeks, her nose.
Finally gathering at her chin.
Like blood-red tears, they slowly dripped to the ground.
At last, the despair crushed the persona known as "Krisa," causing her pale golden eyes to turn dark.
This was not a description of her mental state, but a physical reality.
Her pale golden eyes turned black from the inside out, like a black hole devouring everything, consuming the original gold, along with the girl's thoughts and mind.
Just disappear like this, just fade away.
It doesn't matter anymore...
A world without her mentor is meaningless...
The girl thought blankly, remaining motionless in her kneeling position, unmoved even as the flames spread toward her.
She even seemed to welcome the flames consuming her.
But at that moment.
A hand appeared.
Blocking the encroaching flames.
A broad and warm hand appeared before the girl like a miracle, disregarding the dirt and disgrace, helping the despairing Krisa to her feet.
Accompanied by a familiar voice.
"What's wrong, Krisa?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Stand up first, let me heal you."
The familiar voice awakened her self-sealed consciousness.
A miracle, a miracle had appeared.
The witch dazedly lifted her head, looking at Xu Xi standing before her, her half-gold, half-dark pupils trembling slightly, slowly regaining calm as if finding salvation.
Thank goodness, truly thank goodness.
Her mentor was unharmed.
The broken heartstrings reconnected, her soul emerged from despair to regain itself, even the immense grief trapped in her chest dissipated with her breath.
No reason why, no need for why, just because the "sun" had reappeared before her eyes.
"...I'm fine, Mentor."
As long as you're here, I'll be fine.
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Afraid it was a dream, afraid it was an illusion, her slightly trembling hands tightly grasped the man's hand before her.
Unwilling to let go.
"This..." Xu Xi was somewhat silent.
Looking at Krisa's miserable state and those strange eyes, he couldn't possibly conclude that she was "fine."
Earlier.
Xu Xi was practicing magic alone in the study.
The Observer Entry suddenly activated on its own, alerting Xu Xi to the attack from the sky, allowing him to promptly cast a defensive spell and successfully protect himself.
Considering Krisa was still outside, Xu Xi immediately flew to the market to search for her.
But his search yielded nothing.
Finally, he decided to return to the courtyard ruins to wait, where he found Krisa kneeling alone on the ground.
Her body covered in wounds, dirtied with blood, and a look of relief on her face.
Everything indicated.
Krisa had experienced something earlier.
"Buzz—," his palm emitted a faint green glow as Xu Xi used Life Magic to heal Krisa's injuries, then began to inquire about what had happened. Krisa did not hide anything and recounted everything.
Mistakenly believing Xu Xi was dead.
Blaming and regretting alone in the ruins.
And initially, seeing the fireball and attempting to stop it.
Perhaps because Xu Xi was by her side, the girl's face showed no trace of abnormality, returning to her usual calm and expressionless demeanor.
But it was precisely this demeanor that made Xu Xi even more silent.
"Crackle—"
The surrounding flames continued to burn fiercely, fire serpents hissing as they coiled around the buildings, charring the outer walls black, and occasionally, large mechanical equipment exploded from overheating, creating even more terrifying explosions.
In this intense firelight, amidst the billowing black smoke.
The witch's figure seemed so small, her clothes burned through by the flames, her body and limbs covered in small wounds, her face still bearing the remnants of despair and helplessness, evoking pity.
"Sorry, Krisa."
"I should have come sooner."
"Leaving you worried for so long was my fault as a mentor."
Gently rubbing the witch's hair, and with tender, meticulous movements, wiping the blood from her face, Xu Xi spoke with deep apology.
He could have done better.
Preventing this crisis for both himself and Krisa.
But Xu Xi had underestimated the high-ranking officials of Allenson too much, never imagining their departure was to destroy the city.
To annihilate all of Allenson, along with the hundreds of thousands of residents within.
It made no sense.
He couldn't fathom the benefit of such an action.
It was truly against all reason.
A wrong judgment led to a wrong outcome, and it was because Xu Xi hadn't anticipated the city's destruction that he and Krisa were caught up in this series of ordeals.
"It's okay, Mentor," Krisa said, gently shaking her head.
She didn't care about anything else.
As long as Xu Xi returned to her side and looked at her again, she was content.
This was the awareness of being an "object."
If she had more thoughts, if she were unnecessarily willful, then as an "object," she would become an invisible burden to her master, and Krisa did not want to be a burden to Xu Xi.
Facing such a stubborn Krisa, Xu Xi had no better solution, only able to care for the girl in his own way.
He summoned a stream of water, carefully wiping the girl's face clean, restoring the soot-blackened little face to its pristine state.
Throughout the process.
Krisa remained very quiet.
Like a delicate porcelain doll, allowing Xu Xi to wipe her face.
The black soot was wiped away, revealing a face that returned to its fair and exquisite appearance.
Then, Xu Xi looked toward the sky.
He had initially thought that the key to leaving Allenson City was solving the supply issue for the journey to other cities.
But now it seemed, the real challenge lay in how to safely leave Allenson.
The meteor shower attack was just the beginning; the real challenge was the unknown hordes of foreign races that had surged into Allenson, roaring and invading.
"Beastmen, Goblins, Pureblood Demons, Magical Beasts..."
"What exactly are those high-ranking officials of Allenson plotting, to have foreign races attack their own city?"