The Enigmatic, Unpredictable Male Lead, Part Forty

Even in unbearable pain, Sijiu still wanted to complain.

Such embarrassingly melodramatic lines—old bastard, did you really not feel ashamed saying them?

She had just tried to force out a mocking smile when she suddenly noticed a twitch in Xiu's fingers.

Sijiu was seized by alarm. "Hey..."

A spray of hot blood burst before her eyes. He had summoned sharp claws and, with eerie ease, ripped open his own chest.

The system cried, "Ahhh, holy shit!"

"Hahahaha... hahahaha... Truly, you have surprised me so much." The high priest laughed himself into madness, as though out of his mind. "Yes, that's it. Tear out your heart."

He was too excited. While speaking, he could not help but move closer to the magic circle.

Sijiu was so furious it felt as if her heart might explode. With all her strength, she grabbed Xiu's arm. "You damn—"

Xiu lowered his head and met her gaze. Seeing her eyes unfocused and struggling to gather themselves again, her whole face full of panic, he even smiled at her a little. "It doesn't hurt."

"I painstakingly... healed you... just so you could... mutilate yourself?"

Even the dead seemed ready to rise from the grave in outrage.

Seeing how angry she was, Xiu felt both delighted and helpless. He placed the luminous pearl into her palm. "Here."

Damn it, trying to please me won't help.

Sijiu stared at him, then seized his collar for leverage, wanting to kiss the wound on his chest, but he dodged away.

Sijiu's vision went black for a moment.

The high priest was already closing in. "Hurry, tear out your heart and give it to me! Or do you want her to die?" As he spoke, angered by Xiu's hesitation, he cast the spell again.

Sijiu clenched her teeth so hard they ached, not allowing even a single cry of pain to escape.

Xiu's hand thrust straight through his own chest, then yanked viciously. In his palm, there seemed to be something red and beating.

"Ah..." The high priest gave a greedy gasp and stepped into the magic circle.

A dragon's tail appeared in an instant, coiling around the high priest the moment he crossed into the circle and jerking him backward, then hoisting him high and smashing him ruthlessly into the ground.

The earth etched with the magic formation caved in with a deep crater, stones and debris splashing everywhere.

It all happened too fast. By the time the necromancer reacted and rushed forward to save him, Charles's fist, carrying tremendous force, had already slammed into his face.

Xiu shook his hand. There was no heart in his palm—only blood, a hand full of blood.

Charles had nearly knocked the necromancer's head off, yet the man did not fall, did not die. He even split his lips into a ghastly smile. "Heh... heh... it's already... too late."

As his words fell, Sijiu's hand suddenly dropped limp. The luminous pearl slipped from her palm and rolled across the ground.

Charles's heart lurched. He spun around abruptly, only to see the expression on the black-haired man's face freeze at once. Xiu lowered his head in disbelief.

In the crater, black smoke suddenly rose from the high priest's "corpse," then dispersed without a trace, leaving only an empty priest's robe behind.

At this most crucial final moment, he still had not appeared in person.

What Xiu had just believed was a certain killing blow had in fact been nothing more than a puppet formed by his illusion magic.

Charles stumbled forward almost uncontrollably, reaching to snatch the person in Xiu's arms.

"Give her to me."

Xiu raised his head abruptly, fire seeming to blaze in his eyes. Meeting Charles's red-rimmed gaze, he rasped, "No."

In his arms, the black-haired girl stared blankly, her pupils dilated, her beautiful onyx eyes as jewel-bright as they had been before now utterly without light.

Her heart was shattered. Her breathing had stopped.

He had not wanted to truly tear out his own heart, because he could not bear to lose her. That was his greed.

He had believed he could kill the high priest before the curse was fully invoked, and in his blindness had failed to see through the disguise spell. That was his arrogance.

Now, because of his greed and arrogance, he paid the price.

The dragon's anguished cry rang across the whole continent.

As Charles, in his true form, the black dragon, hurled himself forward without regard for anything, the sky, the earth, even the air itself began to warp violently.

It was as though a fragile eggshell, crushed under unbearable pressure, could no longer endure and began to shatter piece by piece.

The plane collapsed.