As a searing pain assaulted me, I staggered backward into the damp, dark cell.

In that fleeting moment, looking at the gaping wound in my chest, a thousand burning questions flashed through my mind, yet I didn't have time to ponder any of them.

Seeing that I was still standing, Jenny momentarily froze as if unsure what to do, but then the same cold determination seemed to overcome her uncertainty, and she resumed her attack, resolved to finish me off.

Not that I was going to let it happen... Previously, I was taken entirely by surprise, so I couldn't gather enough essence in time to stop Jenny's strike.

The only thing I could do was to slightly alter the knife's course so that it narrowly missed my heart.

But now I was ready for it. I tightly pressed my left hand against my wound, trying my best to slow down the bleeding as I moved further back.

Meanwhile, with my other hand, I quickly drew my trusty old hunting knife and pointed it straight at Jenny to prevent her from getting close to me.

This forced her to retreat a bit as, despite me being injured, she seemed to realize that she wouldn't stand a chance in hand-to-hand combat.

What ensued was a tense stalemate as both of us were hesitant to make the first move. But this momentary pause finally gave me some time to consider my options.

There was no point in trying to talk it out as she had clearly made her choice, and there was no going back from something like this. Not that I would forgive her even if she tried.

Before we left, I briefly entertained the possibility of this being a trap. Yet the mere implications of such were so harrowing that I rather chose to cling to the hope that it wasn't.

Still, I could never imagine that it would be Jenny who would stab me in the back... or the front, in this case.

However, something about this whole situation didn't add up. Even if the nobles wanted me dead, why would they risk the life of Sir Roderick's prized apprentice to do so?

'Ah, whatever...' I grunted in pain as I started feeling light headed from the blood loss. I can think about all of this later. First, I need to do something about this bleeding, or I'm done for.

Jenny also seemed to have realized that this led nowhere, so she dropped her knife and instead started mumbling something as the air around her swirled.

I widened my eyes as I quickly realized she was casting a spell, and by the amount of essence gathering around her, it was something big.

I silently cursed, but then a subtle smirk appeared on my face as this had bought me the few moments I desperately needed to finally do something about my wound.

Not having enough time to search for a potion, I did the second-best thing. While intently focusing on the knife in my hands, I made my essence seep into it.

The essence swirled and began to rapidly turn into heat. I kept at it, not stopping until the knife was glowing red.

Then, with desperate determination, I tightly clenched my teeth, and with a quick motion, I cauterized my wound.

"AHHHHH!" Screaming with all my might, I incredulously watched as the wound sizzled and the cell was immediately permeated with the smell of burning meat.

'It hurts, it hurts so much...' The pain was all I could think of at that moment. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. Yet this indescribable suffering also helped to clear my head of all unnecessary thoughts, leaving only a raw, primal desire for survival.

The bleeding seemed to have stopped for now, and I immediately narrowed my eyes at Jenny, who was currently finishing her incantation, and I knew that I needed to end this quickly.

Right now, my body was pumped full of adrenaline, yet I was aware that it wouldn't last for long, and in my current condition, I couldn't afford to fight a prolonged battle. Thus, I once again pointed my knife at Jenny's slender figure, and with a clear intent, I filled it with essence.

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Then, without wasting a single moment, I send it hurling straight at her. She widened her eyes a little but, for some strange reason, didn't move and kept casting.

I only intended to break her concentration; thus, I couldn't quite understand why she wouldn't do anything to stop it or dodge it, but I quickly got my answer.

A mere moment before the knife plunged right through her chest, the small necklace she wore on her neck shined, and a translucent shield appeared in front of her, sapping the knife of all its energy.

The knife then fell uselessly onto the ground below. Jenny meanwhile managed to finish her incantation, and long tongues of flame began manifesting before her.

'Oh, crap!' I thought as I realized I was now in real trouble. I didn't have time to cast another spell, not to mention that Jenny seemed to have some sort of artifact that could block magic.

Everything seemed to have slowed down as I watched the torrent of vicious-looking flames that were mere moments from consuming me.

Yet I couldn't help but smile as I remembered my master's harrowing training I went through on my birthday not so long ago. 'This is nothing...'

I hurriedly manipulated the earth under my feet, making it rise up while it formed a makeshift wall. Without the proper incantation, I could do only an imperfect copy of the real spell; thus, when the flame tongue collided with it, the wall instantly shattered.

Still, it was enough as it slowed Jenny's spell down, allowing me to jump out of the way in time. When I landed, I only felt a whiff of hot air on my back, but otherwise, I was unharmed.

The hungry flames then quickly dissipated as even though Jenny had enormous talent, she still couldn't maintain such an elaborate spell for too long. However, she began casting another one as soon as the previous one ended.

'She's strong...' I had to admit watching her put out such vast quantities of essence like it was nothing.

I then took a deep breath while closing my eyes and focusing on circulating the essence in my body. By now, I managed to mostly recover from the previous shock and to calm my raging emotions.

'I really didn't want it to come to this, yet she is giving me no choice...'

My essence surged forth, compressing the air in front of me. Then I opened my eyes and released a massive shockwave directed straight at the still-casting Jenny.

*BOOOM!*

A massive explosion ensued, shaking up the entire prison. Jenny's pendant shined again, blocking the spell's energy from shattering her organs, yet it couldn't block the physical force behind it.

The moment before it hit her, Jenny lost her concentration, looking at me with an incredulous expression as she seemed to realize that I just released a spell without an incantation.

But before she could begin to comprehend what just happened, she was promptly lifted up by the shockwave and thrown against the cell's door.

The shockwave, however, didn't stop there. It blew out the heavy wooden doors alongside a portion of the cell's wall, throwing everything into the hallway.

Jenny was smashed against the opposing wall. Her protective pendant seemed to have reached its limit as it shined for one last time before the crystal in the middle cracked and turned to dust.

The explosion also gave rise to a large cloud of dust, which restricted my view and made me cough.

However, I noticed that despite all of this, Jenny didn't seem to lose her resolve as she immediately tried to stand up and once again began chanting a spell.

Yet she never managed to finish it as in the next moment, a lone knife appeared out of nowhere, soaring through the air with tremendous speed before it plunged into her chest and pierced her heart.

Jenny slumped down against the nearby wall and blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what had just happened. However, she then lowered her head, looked at the knife which was sunk into her chest, and showed a painful smile.

"Ah, it seems that you were stronger after all..." She whispered with great effort.

I came next to her, kneeling at her side as I grabbed her small hand.

At that moment, I felt no hatred toward her for betraying me as I rather chose to remember her as that honest, naive girl I met at the Measuring ceremony.

I realized almost instantly that she must have been manipulated somehow into doing this. Yet that was also precisely why I couldn't let her live as she knew too much and I wouldn't be able to trust her ever again...

She looked calm in her final moments. Her previous desperate determination was all but gone, replaced by a serene expression.

"...I only wanted to save my family... But it's too late now." She mumbled before raising her head and looking straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry..." Those were her final words before she breathed out for the last time.

I offered her a smile, keeping her company as she left this world. 'What a waste...' I couldn't help but shake my head dejectedly as I tiredly slumped against an opposing wall.

The exhaustion from the previous fight seemed to have finally caught up with me. My head was spinning, and my whole body hurt, yet I knew I couldn't afford to rest.

Right at that moment, I heard a loud bang coming from somewhere above, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. The sound of the explosion must have already reached the guards, and they will be here soon enough.

With a trembling hand, I reached into my pouch and took out an elixir. 'Good thing I always carry them with me just in case...' I thought as I hurriedly uncorked it and downed all of it in one go.

'Ah, so that's how it feels...' I smiled pleasantly as the pain was quickly subsiding, slowly being replaced by a cool, numb feeling, and I instantly felt much better.

I still had a nasty scar running across my chest, but that could wait for later as I now had much more important things to worry about...