A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 438 A Shattered Dream

Ding ding ding.

The scythe tore through space and attacked Grace.

Grace's eyes narrowed, and she parried with her sword while simultaneously unleashing a Chaos Lightning spell that struck the playwright squarely.

The lightning struck the playwright, causing him to freeze for a moment.

In a life-or-death battle, this is undoubtedly a fatal flaw.

With a soft thud, Grace pierced the playwright's abdomen with a sharp blade, pinning him to the ground.

"It's really ugly, nailed to the ground like a dead dog."

No, how can you talk like that?

Jiang Shuzhou rolled his eyes, preparing to teach Grace a lesson.

"Cough cough cough."

He coughed violently, bending over, followed by vomiting large amounts of blood.

Jiang Shuzhou stopped suppressing the power within his body, and soon his body gradually weakened.

Jiang Shuzhou will die soon.

"Master!"

In an instant, Grace, who had been aloof, lost all composure and became extremely worried after hearing Jiang Shuzhou cough up blood.

"Come closer, I have a way to save him."

The playwright said.

"What method?"

Grace moved closer to the playwright.

Then, the scythe swung and suddenly attacked Grace.

"Pfft."

The knife tip pierced her body, but it wasn't Grace who was injured; it was Jiang Shuzhou.

"Ahem, I told you, don't believe what the enemy says."

At this moment, Jiang Shuzhou's entire body was stained red with blood, and with each breath, a spurt of blood would flow from the wound in his abdomen.

It's obvious that there's no hope for this.

"That's interesting. You don't seem to listen to your master very much, do you?"

Playwright Jiang Shuzhou still spoke without any conscience.

Since it was himself who was injured, it didn't matter. This is why Jiang Shuzhou was able to block the knife in time. In fact, Jiang Shuzhou rushed here before the playwright even raised his hand.

"Master, I...I'm sorry, Master, don't die."

Grace shakily pulled out a large pile of alchemical potions from her spatial ring, intending to treat Jiang Shuzhou.

Unfortunately, when the medicine was applied to the body, it only turned into a white mist, which relieved some of the pain, but had no other effect.

Under Jiang Shuzhou's influence, the music here became soothing and sorrowful.

As a playwright, he naturally knew what kind of music was most appropriate for the occasion.

"You bastard, you beast, I'm going to kill you! No, I'm going to torture you forever!"

The change in the surrounding music made the disoriented Grace notice the playwright's presence, and without thinking, Grace decided to torture the playwright severely.

Without hesitation, she stabbed the playwright in the heart with her staff.

"hiss."

"hiss."

Two painful hissing sounds rang out.

One was issued by a playwright, and the other by Jiang Shuzhou.

Or rather, both are Jiang Shuzhou.

You heartless bastard, are you trying to kill me with pain?

Then, seemingly still not satisfied, Grace stabbed the playwright several more times, leaving many holes in his body.

During this time, Jiang Shuzhou's expression turned somewhat off.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. On one occasion, when Grace was about to cruelly sever the playwright's limbs, Jiang Shuzhou spoke up to stop her.

"Leave Him alone, let Him die peacefully."

Kneeling helplessly on the ground, Jiang Shuzhou felt his life slowly slipping away.

This feeling is wonderful and unique.

On the grand theatrical stage, everyone begins their own performance.

However, Jiang Shuzhou is clearly a pure practitioner, directly risking his life to act.

"Master, I'm sorry, I..."

Grace's eyes were filled with tears, and her voice was almost hoarse; it was clear that she was overwhelmed with grief.

I don't blame you.

With his last shred of conscience, Jiang Shuzhou began to offer words of comfort, fearing that Grace might choose to commit suicide after his death.

"Everyone has to die eventually. My only regret is that I won't be able to watch you like this anymore."

Jiang Shuzhou spoke to Grace with a gentle expression.

"Grace, come here, let me see you."

Grace held Jiang Shuzhou in her arms, watching him reach out and, with his own blood, draw the final runes on Grace's robes.

This time, Jiang Shuzhou used almost all the power at his disposal to draw runes with concealing abilities for Grace, and also added some other things.

"You've grown up."

Jiang Shuzhou said.

"I've always wanted to give you a gift, but it's not too late now."

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Shuzhou handed Grace a ring he had just hand-wrapped, pretending it was one he had been preparing for a long time.

"This is the Ring of Resurrection, which can bring you back to life. You have ten chances, so be careful to use it only when it's truly useful. Unfortunately, I can't use it myself, so I can only give it to you."

As he spoke, Jiang Shuzhou shakily and laboriously lifted the ring, hoping that Grace would take it.

"No, I don't want it. Master, you can use it yourself. I don't need it!"

Grace refused to accept it.

In her view, her own life was not as important as Jiang Shuzhou's.

"Ugh."

With a sigh, in the end, Jiang Shuzhou couldn't give away the ring; he could only hold onto it tightly in his hand.

Then, as his hand slowly fell, Jiang Shuzhou's mortal life also came to an end.

Grace stood there, holding Jiang Shuzhou's body, until his blood stained her clothes.

Then, the corpse turned into light dust and floated upwards.

Death is not the end, but a new beginning.

In an instant, Grace collapsed to the ground as if all her strength had been drained, her entire body radiating an aura of death.

"Ah, what a tragic ending to the story."

The playwright, or rather Jiang Shuzhou, lamented that at this moment he understood he had to do something, otherwise Grace would really commit suicide for love.

"Although it is said that the dead cannot be brought back to life, there is one exception."

The playwright kept it a secret.

"Speak now! Or I'll torture you to death!"

Looking up, Grace, her face contorted with madness, came into view.

Jiang Shuzhou had no doubt that this guy really dared to do it.

"That is the Dream Lord, the Dream Lord Navis Lebo. As everyone knows, the world is the Dream Lord's dream, so naturally He also has the ability to resurrect the dead."

"Kill Him, seize His power, and then you can resurrect whomever you want. I assure you, you will eventually be able to resurrect him."

"Anything else to say?"

"That's all."

"Then die!"

After saying that, Grace beheaded the playwright with a single sword stroke.

Soon, the playwright's body also turned into light dust, drifting upwards like Jiang Shuzhou.

In the end, He left only one sentence.

"My mission is complete."

From a distance, Grace was enveloped in countless tiny points of light, some of which even seemed to be comforting her.

And so, Grace stayed there, in the pool of blood, for a whole day, without eating or drinking, just sitting there blankly.

A day later, Grace picked up the resurrection ring that Jiang Shuzhou had given her and put it on her ring finger.

She then left to find a way to kill Navis Lebo, the dreamer.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Jiang Shuzhou awoke from an ancient dream.

That was a dream that had lasted for 350,000 years.