There was no mistake. Du Wei had brought back the icy beauty who fought Vivian over the Dread Phantasm in Halfhorn City.

Now her eyes were shut, her lips pressed into a bloodless line. Even unconscious, her brow remained knotted with the last traces of panic and terror.

Du Wei had witnessed her terrifying strength that night. What could reduce a woman like this to such a state?

Then he remembered the inexplicable roar and earthquake that day.

Vivian sat beside her sister, carefully holding a gourd of water. Looking up, she stammered, "H-how did you find her? Wh-what happened to her?"

Du Wei shrugged and gave her the short version. Equally bewildered, Vivian examined her sister and found no wounds. Her breathing was simply shallow and weak.

Vivian tried to give her water, but the woman's teeth were clenched tight. Du Wei soon lost patience. He knelt, pried her jaws apart with a branch, snatched the gourd from Vivian, and poured in a mouthful.

"Ah! No, y-you will make her choke." Vivian hurriedly caught his arm. Her large eyes studied him. "Y-you seem unhappy."

"Should I be?" Du Wei shook his head. "Think about what happens when she wakes up. Your magic has failed. We can't fight her."

Du Wei sighed. The same dilemma had plagued him from the moment he spotted her at sea.

Save her? She was no ally. What if she woke and flew into another murderous rage? That night, she had threatened to capture him and refine him into some sort of soul essence. Whatever that meant, it could not be pleasant.

But leave her to die on an iceberg? He was not ruthless enough for that either.

While Du Wei wrestled with his thoughts, the water did its work.

The icy beauty coughed violently, rolled over, and struggled upright. Weak from her long unconsciousness, she immediately collapsed again—but she was awake.

"S-sister..." Vivian whispered. Plainly frightened of her own sister, the silly girl edged closer to Du Wei.

"Ugh... my head hurts..." The woman clutched her head in pain. "What happened? I... you..."

The confusion soon cleared. Her eyes widened at the sight of Vivian and Du Wei. "You? Why are you here? Why am I here? Did you save me?"

Before either could answer, a memory struck her. She lurched to her feet, face twisting.

"My dragon! My dragon! My frost dragon! My Octe!"

Her legs buckled. She sank to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and sobbed.

"My dragon... my Octe! My Octe!"

Vivian blinked at her heartbroken sister and asked timidly, "S-sister... what happened to your d-dragon?"

"What happened? He's dead! Dead!" She pounded and clawed at the earth as though she could tear her grief out of the ground. "That monster ate him! He died saving me—that monster ate him!"

Du Wei's eyes widened.

Ate a dragon?

What kind of monster ate dragons? Weren't dragons supposed to be the strongest creatures alive?

Vivian's sister wept until her voice turned hoarse and her eyes raw. Nothing Vivian said could console her. Only when the sobs left her struggling for breath did they finally subside.

Du Wei drew Vivian back with a hand, his expression grave. "What exactly did you encounter? What was that monster? Is it still here?"

"A monster..." Fear flashed through the icy beauty's eyes. "Yes. There is a monster!"

She glared at them, and grief abruptly turned to anger. "This happened because I was chasing you! I searched the nearby waters on Octe until I found this island. I thought you might be hiding here. But the moment we approached, he began crying out as though something terrified him. No matter how I commanded him, he refused to land. In the end, I forced him down with my magic, and only then..."

Fresh tears streamed down her face. "It was my fault. I killed Octe... I killed my frost dragon."

Du Wei interrupted coldly. "Stop crying and tell us what happened."

The icy beauty sprang up and pointed at them. "This is all your fault! Vivian! If you'd handed over that phantasm, I would never have chased you here!"

Du Wei raised an eyebrow as anger stirred within him.

Bandit logic, pure and simple.

There was no time to argue. Hatred flashed in the woman's eyes as one hand darted toward her waist.

"Looking for this?" Du Wei produced an emerald-green flute from behind his back. He had confiscated her weapon while she was unconscious.

"Hmph! You think taking my magic staff makes me helpless?" Her surprise lasted only a moment. "Come, Vivian! Even without my dragon, I can defeat you. You've never beaten me!"

She drew a deep breath, rose into the air, and launched into an incantation.

Damn it. Du Wei could have slapped himself. He had known this might happen. He saved the hateful woman, and she attacked him the moment she woke.

Then something strange occurred.

The icy beauty had barely reached the lower branches when her face changed. She wobbled in midair, then dropped headfirst.

Vivian darted underneath and caught her. They rolled into the grass together. The icy beauty shoved herself upright, terror on her face. "You! What did you do to me? My magic! My magic!"

She shoved Vivian aside and tried another spell. Only a palm-sized shard of ice shot from her fingertip and struck Du Wei. The impact hurt, but realization eclipsed the pain. "Your magic stopped working too?"

"My magic!" The woman stared at her hands.

She had cast the intermediate spell Freezing Aura—and produced a single tiny ice crystal.

Du Wei stared for a beat, then burst out laughing. "Your magic failed too! Ha! Yours doesn't work either!"

"Damn you!" the icy beauty roared. "What have you done to me? Vivian! What spell did you cast?"

Du Wei watched her rage and sneered. "We are enemies, not friends. Did you expect us to sit obediently and wait for you to wake and attack us?"

"You did this!" Her face turned pale and her eyes panicked.

"N-no, Sister," honest Vivian said. She gently embraced the woman. "M-my magic has failed too."

"Hmph. You're too kind. Why tell this hateful woman?" Du Wei curled his lip, then paused as the pieces came together. "It seems we've found the cause. Vivian's magic failed, and now yours has too. The problem isn't either of you. It's this place. Something on this island may suppress all magic."

The knowledge that this terrifying woman had lost her magic relaxed him at once.

A tiger without claws or fangs was hardly so frightening.

He sauntered close until their faces almost touched. "Well, Honorable Mage? What will you do to us now? Cast a spell? Refine me into soul essence? Hmph..."

The icy beauty seemed frozen by his approach. Then, just as their noses nearly touched, a vicious glint entered her eyes.

Du Wei's instincts sounded the alarm a moment too late.

Pain exploded through his stomach. The blow hurled him backward and slammed him into the ground.

The icy beauty raised one clenched fist. "Hmph! You think losing my magic makes me helpless? I'm not only a mage. I'm also a warrior—a swordswoman certified at the sixth level!"

Oh, no.

Du Wei lay on the ground and smiled bitterly.

He had grown smug and forgotten what she displayed in their earlier battle. Unlike Vivian, this woman was no delicate mage. She had mastered both magic and martial arts.

Even without magic, she could handle both of them with ease.

The icy beauty stepped forward to follow her punch with a kick. Vivian rushed between them, arms spread wide. "N-no! Sister, d-don't hurt him!"

The woman sneered. "Ah, useless Vivian! So I was right. This hateful little noble really is your lover. Look how fiercely you protect him!"

"N-no, that is not it..." At the word lover, Vivian's pink face immediately reddened. Shyness flashed in her eyes, and she lowered her head. "It is not like that. I... he... after we fell here, h-he took care of me. He found water and food for me. E-even you were rescued by him. Y-you cannot hurt him!"

The icy beauty considered this, then lowered her fist. "Fine. The boy saved me? Then I'll spare him this once."

"Th-thank you." Vivian sighed in relief.

Du Wei gave a cold laugh. He climbed to his feet through the pain and dusted himself off. "Had I known, I would have left you in the sea."

"Hmph." The icy beauty sneered. "Unfortunately, you lack the ability to throw me back."

Du Wei remained unruffled. "True. Regrettably, I do."

"Vivian says you rescued me and carried me here. Then I owe you once, which is why I am sparing you. But you had better not provoke me again." She turned away.

Du Wei laughed and applauded. "Excellent! Wonderful! I've met many unreasonable women, but never one so beautiful and so utterly shameless about it. You've truly broadened my horizons."

The icy beauty looked embarrassed, then snapped, "Do you object?"

"Not at all." Du Wei's voice remained calm. "I even find it fair. The hardest fist makes the rules. Whoever is strongest has the strongest argument. That's how the world has always worked. You're stronger, so I can hardly complain when you bully me. If I were stronger, I might have kicked you back into the sea already."

The woman studied him from head to toe. Instead of taking offense, she looked intrigued. "Oh? You're an unusual little noble. Amusing too. Not as hypocritical as the others I've met."

Du Wei rubbed his stomach. "Now that the fight is over, let's discuss what matters. You've lost your magic, which leaves all three of us trapped here. There's almost no food, little fresh water, and no way off the island. Worse, you say there's a monster nearby that eats dragons. Correct? Then we need to sit down and discuss our situation."

His tone was solemn.

Remembering her dragon, the icy beauty's face filled with grief again. "My Octe..."

"This is not the time to mourn. Tell us what happened," Du Wei said coldly. "If that monster can eat your dragon, it may come to eat us. We need to prepare."

The icy beauty had far more steel in her than Vivian. After a few more tears, she mastered herself. Grief remained etched across her face, but her voice steadied.

"As Octe descended, a monster burst from the sea beside the island. It was enormous—truly enormous. I don't know how else to describe it. A huge ball of flesh, with one eye on either side. I never saw its entire body; much of it remained underwater.

"Octe panicked. The monster roared and attacked with water magic. Its power was tremendous. It raised waves nearly a hundred feet high and almost knocked us from the sky!"

Her voice trembled.

"Octe fought back, but his frost magic couldn't harm it. Some kind of magical aura shielded the creature, deflecting his blizzard the instant it struck. My spells were useless too. I've never seen such a powerful monster. I've never even heard of a magical beast this strong. Not even a supreme great mage could hold a barrier against a dragon's direct assault for so long!"

"Then what?" Du Wei frowned.

"I tried to flee, of course," she said darkly. "Once it became clear we couldn't win, I ordered Octe away. But it was too late. The monster had raised some sort of barrier. We climbed only a short distance before striking an invisible wall and being thrown back. I tried again and again, in every direction. There was no escape. Finally..."

"Finally what?"

She wiped her tears away. "Finally, the monster roared and summoned an enormous wave. I've never seen one so high. I doubt even my teacher could summon its equal with water magic. It tore us from the sky. I fell from Octe's back and watched the monster open its mouth... My dragon fell, and it swallowed him whole. One bite!"

One bite?

It had swallowed such an enormous dragon in a single bite?

Then just how large was the monster?

Du Wei's face turned pale.