Water Mage in the Flame Realm-Chapter 337 - 325: Outer Domain (Part 1)
Hoo, the cold wind was becoming ever more piercing.
The Royal Court negotiation had concluded, but the relatively peaceful period that should follow such negotiations might not materialize.
On the contrary, due to Andrew’s identity being exposed, Catherine’s secrets coming to light, and Beiru using up the Warm Fire Order to capture Catherine, the days ahead are certain to be tumultuous, and it might not be long before the second Dual Fire War erupts!
In these circumstances, Andrew knew he absolutely could not be captured, as there was too much that needed doing, that only he could do.
That’s why he took it upon himself to heal Catherine! And during the treatment, he subtly made some small "tweaks" on her.
Yes, Andrew did some tweaks on Catherine.
This might sound unbelievable, as doing such tweaks on a pinnacle-level powerhouse in the Realm of Magic at a Tier Five level isn’t a matter of "daring" but rather "capability". Andrew understood this well.
Fortunately, this wasn’t Andrew’s first time doing such things. Whether it was planting the "Tear Mark" on Rose in the Inner Sea Desert or scheming against Yorkshire with the "Water Prison Training," it was all along the same lines.
It’s just that this time it’s even harder—
While earnestly healing Catherine, Andrew injected a trace of his own power into her "Eternal Frost Ice Pattern".
And that was it.
That was the tweak Andrew made to Catherine.
Yet, it was extremely crucial.
Because Andrew realized, and further confirmed through the treatment, that Catherine’s power was fraught with hidden hazards. Although she possessed two Strange Fires, she wasn’t perfect; rather, her body was teetering on the brink of imbalance. The conflicting and opposing forces of the two powerful Strange Fires—"Formless Blade Fire" and "Fire of Extinguishing"—were like a time bomb to her, a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
Catherine’s solution was to use the "Eternal Frost Ice Pattern" for mediation, cooling the active volcano as much as possible.
"So, what if I tweak her Eternal Frost Ice Pattern and further disrupt the fragile balance within her?" Andrew thought to himself, "If I can do that, her power will end up killing her!"
Catherine, sacrificing an arm to escape from the net cast by President Beiru, might have made everyone think: She had escaped! They wouldn’t be able to catch up to her for a while. Catherine herself probably thought so too.
But Andrew didn’t think so.
In the depths of his heart, Andrew’s most honest thought was: The Royal Court negotiation was over, yet also not entirely concluded!
Because, only when Catherine receives the punishment she deserves, will the Royal Court negotiation truly be concluded.
"Didn’t you say you captured me because I’m useful to you?"
Now, Andrew looked at Catherine, his inner heart fearless, yet his face deliberately showed an expression of "actually very scared but putting on a brave face", to avoid arousing suspicion by being too calm, and asked, "If that’s the case, why are you so eager to kill me?"
The question was genuinely sincere. Andrew was well aware the other party was indeed out to kill him; he felt Catherine’s murderous intent the instant he was captured at the Royal Court. Yet he didn’t expect it to come so soon!
Catherine shrugged her shoulders, seemingly not seeing through Andrew’s feigned fear, and not detecting the subtle tweak Andrew made on her, and with a smile, replied, "I do have use for you, and the way to use you is... to kill you."
"Oh? Specifically, how so?" Andrew continued with a "forced smile", "You’ve avoided answering two of my questions already—Why did you kill your sister, murder your husband, and even not cherish your own life? You didn’t answer me; I asked what’s really behind the Magic Guild, and you evaded that too—you wouldn’t avoid answering this one, would you? Come on, why be so cruel to someone on the verge of death? At least let me know—"
"—Because killing you allows me to achieve balance and thereby reach true perfection." Catherine said softly.
She paused, then smiled and said as she caught Andrew’s sudden change in expression, "Earlier, while you were treating me, you did something to me, didn’t you? You think I didn’t know? But it’s useless, your power poses no threat to me; on the contrary, your power will become the adhesive that fully reconciles the two Strange Fires within me!"
As she spoke, Catherine’s voice shifted from in front of Andrew to behind him.
She raised her hand, gently placed it on the stiffened Andrew’s shoulder, and said with an even softer tone, "The ’Eternal Frost Ice Pattern’ of the Royal Court ultimately can only ’alleviate’ the mutual repulsion of the Strange Fires within me, but cannot ’fundamentally solve’ it. Your power can!
You are the inheritor of the Water God, your Water Power and my sister’s Fire Power complement each other perfectly, something I hadn’t entirely considered before: Water and Fire, these two forces believed to be fundamentally opposed, could form such a harmonious relationship!"
At her fingertips, the Formless Blade Fire emerged, slicing a small cut on Andrew’s back effortlessly.
Then, large swathes of pure black Fire of Extinguishing surged forth like ferocious wolves, intending to flood through the wound and seize all of Andrew’s Water Power as the Water God’s inheritor, and as the Water Magic Lord, for itself!
"So, do you like the way I’m using you?" Catherine’s face bore pride, excitement, and also a hint of relief, as a longstanding problem that troubled her seemed finally resolved, "Though your intentions weren’t pure while healing me, at least you healed my injuries. To express thanks, I will try to make the whole process faster, allowing you to die a bit more peacefully."
Saying this, Catherine suddenly frowned, a hint of astonishment and confusion flashing in her eyes.
She lowered her head and saw: the "Formless Blade Fire" originally used to slice open Andrew’s back had, suddenly, seemingly, lost control and cut off a small piece of Catherine’s own nail.
That small piece of nail didn’t manage to fall to the ground before being devoured by an equally somewhat out-of-control Fire of Extinguishing that swept in from the side.
Catherine: "..."
A small piece of nail was naturally nothing significant, but... what was going on?
Why had her own two Strange Fires, which maintained a tenuous stability under the mediation of the "Eternal Frost Ice Pattern", suddenly become somewhat uncontrollable?
The fear of uncontrollable Strange Fires was the thing Catherine dreaded most in countless midnight dreams.
Yet when this fact truly loomed before her, she found herself too perplexed to feel fear, because she didn’t understand: Why? Why had the two Strange Fires she struggled through numerous hardships to obtain become so?!
Then Andrew’s voice rang out: "You might have misunderstood something, while it’s true I’m the inheritor of the Water God, my power isn’t a pure Water Power."
"What? You... what do you mean?" Feeling the repulsion between her two Strange Fires within her rapidly escalating to an unbearable level, Catherine, who hadn’t shown a trace of fear even before President Beiru, now displayed genuine terror in her eyes!
Andrew, however, no longer replied to her.
As Catherine mentioned, it’s likely his Water Power could indeed help fully reconcile the two Strange Fires within her.
But the tweak Andrew made in her body during the healing wasn’t based on Water Power at all!
Rather, it was Ice Power, derived from the "Ice Prison Gemstone" Catherine used before to trap herself, and sharing the same origin as the "Eternal Frost Ice Pattern" of the Royal Court, an extreme Ice Power!
This Ice Power did not disrupt anything.
It merely... actively integrated into Catherine’s pre-existing "Eternal Frost Ice Pattern."
You wanted my power to harmonize yourself, didn’t you?
Alright, I’ll give you my power!
Ironic as it is, when Andrew truly did so, providing his power proactively to Catherine, Catherine instead let out an increasingly terrified scream: "What are you doing? Stop! Quickly stop!"
This was because: The three forces within her body, namely the two Strange Fires and the Eternal Frost Ice Pattern, originally maintained a delicate and approximate balance, and Andrew’s now frenzied infusion of more Ice Power into her ice pattern not only failed to balance her power but instantly shattered the already extremely fragile balance within her!
Once the balance broke, the two immensely powerful Strange Fires—Formless Blade Fire and Fire of Extinguishing—became not a power to Catherine, but the deadliest Fire Poison.
