Rhine imitated the Slave's tone, pointing at the Middle Eastern Witch's head, half-amused and half-furious as he chastised her:
"Fool, fool!"
"Now I know that the foolish Witch was actually you!"
"Thankfully, the gods helped me with this dream, to warn you not to lose your life in vain."
"You stinking bitch, if you die, who will serve me?"
The Middle Eastern Witch nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Rhine then said:
"Bitch, don't help Black Witch Maleficent anymore; quickly remove the Oz Country's curse."
"If Black Witch Maleficent asks, just say your sorcery is not refined enough to last. That way, she won't use your life to threaten others!"
The Middle Eastern Witch obeyed, took out a bowl, filled it with water, and chanted a few spells. The water immediately boiled as if in a pot.
After a moment, she sprinkled the water into the air, saying at the same time:
"Because of my curse, a distant land was transformed into that state. Now, change back, return to your original form!"
Thus, Rhine knew that Oz Country's curse was about to be lifted.
At this very moment, in Oz Country, a thousand miles away, the fish in the lake immediately became active, each raising its head and gradually transforming into humans. The vanished Emerald City slowly appeared on the land, truly beautiful.
Seeing the Middle Eastern Witch lift the curse, Rhine again chastised her:
"You wretch, I thought you had great abilities. If I hadn't reminded you in time, Black Witch Maleficent might have cursed you to death, causing you to die an unnatural death!"
"Your magic is so powerful that you can easily turn this Kingdom into ruins, but you only have one life after all."
"I advise you, from now on, to be more restrained, don't stir up trouble, and don't abuse your magic by casting spells recklessly, lest someone resent you and you die an unnatural death someday!"
"And that Witch Society of yours, ignore it too. You witches are all untrustworthy; who knows what you're thinking behind your talk of sisterhood!"
The Middle Eastern Witch's tears flowed freely as she kissed the floor at Rhine's feet:
"I will engrave my Master's teachings in my heart. I will never contact those Witch Society members again."
"Dear Master, I will take you to a distant land right now."
"I will no longer be the Queen of this Aramean Kingdom, no longer be with that annoying cousin of mine. I only want to be with you."
"Although it's a bit strange, you two are quite pure in your love…" Rhine muttered to himself.
He knew that the Witch Society had lost another member.
With the death of the Eastern Witch Slaver, and the successive defections of the Sea Witch, the Queen, and the Middle Eastern Witch, and then the death of Black Witch Maleficent, the organization 'Witch Society' could be considered non-existent.
The Middle Eastern Witch then walked out of the castle, sprinkled water around it, and chanted a spell, causing a black wind to envelop the castle, intending to transport both the castle and the two of them to a distant place.
While the Witch was away for a brief moment, Rhine quietly rubbed his ring, and a majestic, gigantic phantom of a genie appeared before Rhine.
Rhine said to the ring genie:
"Now, you can move that Black man back."
And so, a gust of wind swept across the rush mat, and the snoring Black man returned to his original spot, undisturbed.
He was still lying on the rush mat, sleeping soundly.
The Black man had a strange dream.
In the dream, what he said to the Middle Eastern Witch was exactly what Rhine had just said to the Middle Eastern Witch.
--It turned out that Rhine had secretly ordered the ring genie earlier to send the Black man a dream, allowing him to experience in his dream what Rhine had just done while impersonating the Black man.
Rhine saw the big Black man sleeping soundly, snoring, and gently kicked the Black man lying on the mat.
Then, Rhine clicked his heels together, stepped forward, and his figure vanished in a silver whirlwind.
The Black man suddenly woke up, feeling as if he had a dream, in which he had said many things to the Witch.
Recalling it now, the dream didn't feel out of place; it truly seemed like something he would say.
The only slightly strange thing was that in his dream, he seemed a little too kind.
"Did I just dream?" The Black man covered his head, immersed in the chaotic state of just waking up from a deep dream, for a moment unable to distinguish between dream and reality.
However, very quickly, after a conversation with the Middle Eastern Witch, he would completely believe that everything he had just dreamed was not a dream, but reality.
Furthermore, according to Rhine's prediction, by tomorrow morning, the young King would discover that his wife and cousin, the Queen, had suddenly disappeared, and would inevitably be very confused and panicked.
Rhine also planned to find the promising young King later to let him know that he had escaped a great catastrophe.
But for now, Rhine had more important matters—
Return to Oz Country and support Aurora!
...
On the Green Field of Oz Country.
The curse previously cast by the Middle Eastern Witch was gradually fading. The fish in the lake all raised their heads, their bodies slowly expanding and gradually transforming into human forms. The distorted space and terrain rapidly changed, step by step returning to their original appearance, sending people back to their homes. The vanished Emerald City also slowly emerged.
Inside the wooden house, Maleficent had no idea what was happening outside.
She saw Aurora, who was lying on the ground, about to be consumed by the curse, with only a trace of life left, actually smiling. She was greatly alarmed, her body rapidly expanded, and she once again transformed into a giant dragon.
The massive, mountain-like dragon body burst through the house, sending shattered wooden planks and splinters flying.
Maleficent, now a Black Dragon, opened her gaping maw and instinctively spewed flames towards Aurora on the ground.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Emerald green flames engulfed the girl on the ground, incinerating the scattered wooden planks into ashes.
As she exhaled the flames, Maleficent suddenly remembered a fact.
"That's right, the little princess doesn't seem to be afraid of fire! One of the blessings she received was immunity to flames."
Maleficent resented herself for doing something foolish in a moment of impulse. She opened her dragon mouth again, intending to chant a spell and switch to a different type of magic.
However, Maleficent's tongue seemed to be stiff, unable to utter the spell.
She felt a chilling coldness sweep through her entire body; the biting cold spread from her soul to her flesh, consuming all her physical strength and magical power.
"What is this?"
"My curse?"
"I've been hit by my own curse! How is this possible?"
Maleficent felt life rapidly draining away. Her massive dragon body was like a leaking pool, no longer able to retain life force; every second, vitality was being lost.
Thud.
The Black Dragon's body was unable to stand steadily and collapsed to the ground.
"Why?"
"This is impossible!"
"What on earth happened?"
Maleficent could no longer maintain her dragon form, her figure rapidly shrinking, returning to her original appearance—
This woman, dressed in purple-black clothing, with an aura of dark beauty and wicked madness, was now weakly sprawled on the ground, feeling her life force rapidly leaving her.
She struggled to lift her head, looking in the direction of Aurora after the emerald-green flames had dissipated.
"I, I... why would I... be hit, hit by my own... curse... why..."
Emerald green sparks scattered as the golden-haired girl slowly walked towards Maleficent, who was weakly sprawled on the ground.
Aurora was now completely free from her previous state of weakness; color had returned to her face, her eyes sparkled with vitality, and her steps were firm and steady.
She held a sword in her right hand and a crude Scarecrow in her left. The Scarecrow was stained with foul-smelling, viscous green dragon blood.
--[Fate's Substitute]!
This was the life-saving item Rhine had given Aurora, and it was also Aurora's ultimate trump card, making her confident that she would be safe.
During her intense battle with Maleficent, the dragon had shed a lot of foul-smelling green dragon blood.
When Maleficent fled, Aurora quickly smeared a small amount of dragon blood onto the Scarecrow, creating a voodoo doll substitute corresponding to Maleficent.
And when her finger was pricked by the spinning wheel, triggering the death curse, Aurora, with a thought, activated this substitute corresponding to Maleficent, exchanging their fates and outcomes.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The Scarecrow, a one-time item, had now spontaneously ignited, burning to ashes in an instant.
"How... how, how could this be?"
Maleficent felt the bone-chilling cold and the loss of life, her voice trembling.
"I... I'm going to be... killed by... my own... curse? Clearly, clearly the one who should die... is... is you..."
Aurora suddenly smiled:
"Have you forgotten the blessing you bestowed upon me at the christening ceremony?"
"You blessed me to enjoy 15 beautiful years of youth, and only at the age of 15 would I prick my finger on a spinning wheel and die."
"Now, the time hasn't come yet. How could I possibly die from a curse?"
Aurora's face showed a sweet yet mocking smile:
"Thanks to your blessing, I truly experienced a rather beautiful youth."
What?
No, that's not right. That's not how that sentence is to be understood!
Maleficent's body trembled as she tried to retort, but her lips were too weak to open.
Before the last spark of life extinguished, a comforting thought suddenly surfaced in Maleficent's mind:
"That's right, Oz Country's curse is still there!"
"Even if Rhine and Aurora kill me, they can only lift the Rose Kingdom's curse. Everyone in this Green Field will forever be four-colored fish!"
"Hahaha, at least I didn't completely lose. Even if the Rose Kingdom's curse is lifted, at least there's still a calamity forever lingering in a Kingdom they care about!"
However, when Maleficent barely managed to move her eyeballs and cast her gaze into the distance, this ridiculous thought instantly shattered.
In her blurred vision during her dying moments, Maleficent saw Oz Country's curse gradually lifting:
The distorted geography and space were restoring to their original state, and the beautiful Emerald City slowly emerged in the air. And the people who had turned into four-colored fish were returning to their previous positions, surprised by their transformation.
"Thanks to the great Sorcerer Oz Country, thanks to the great Sorcerer Rhine."
The people of Emerald City, discovering that everything had been restored, were both surprised and delighted, expressing their admiration and praise.
"Why?"
"The curse that distorted Oz Country has actually been lifted?"
"Did the Middle Eastern Witch voluntarily lift the curse?"
"What on earth happened over there? Why would she do that?"
Even the last shred of victory was stripped away, and despair filled Maleficent's heart.
At this moment, Aurora walked to Maleficent's side.
"Don't be too disappointed, Maleficent. I can tell you some good news."
Good news? A flicker of doubt appeared in Maleficent's eyes.
She struggled to turn her gaze towards Aurora.
The golden-haired girl raised her sword:
"You won't die from your own curse."
"Who knows, if you die in my place because of the curse, it might cause the subsequent disaster in the Rose Kingdom to arrive early..."
"I will kill you with my own hands!"
No... Maleficent's eyes widened, her pupils reflecting the last image of her life—the valiant figure of the Rose Kingdom's Princess raising her sword.
Aurora plunged the sword down fiercely.
Before the curse could claim Maleficent's life, the sword pierced the Black Witch's heart.
Maleficent's remaining strength was insufficient to sustain her transformation into a giant dragon; she died as a human.
Human, crimson blood gushed forth, like a hot and beautiful fountain.
Crimson stained the Green Field of Oz Country.
"Black Witch Maleficent, you too bleed human blood."
Aurora gazed at the crimson-stained Green Field, feeling a few drops of warm blood on her face, and sighed.
It was over.
Everything was over.
More than a decade of grievances ended, and the Rose Kingdom's curse ended.
At this moment, Aurora felt her body lighten a hundredfold; the heavy burden she had carried for so long was finally lifted.
She relaxed her body, spread her arms, and lay down on the Green Field, meticulously savoring every beautiful moment of the world:
She felt the refreshing coolness of the breeze, experienced the gentle tickle as the grass swayed slightly and brushed against her cheeks, felt the softness of the soil and grass beneath her back, smelled the fragrance of the grass, and gazed at the silver moon and the myriad sparkling stars in the velvet-black night sky.
She saw the road leading to Emerald City materializing around her, saw figures appearing on the ground, and saw the cheering, joyful people who had regained their human forms.
How comfortable.
So life could be this easy...
At this moment, Aurora's peripheral vision caught sight of the handsome silver-haired youth walking to her side:
"It seems I wasn't needed after all."
Rhine crouched down and praised the little Princess of the Rose Kingdom in a boastful tone:
"You succeeded, Aurora!"
"You personally killed Black Witch Maleficent and completely lifted the Rose Kingdom's curse!"