Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

Or rather, in any case, Ivina is Ivina, and Cecilia is Cecilia.

Ivina could not possibly have any connection with Cecilia, and even if they did, they would certainly be enemies.

After all, if Ivina were Cecilia, or had some connection with Cecilia, how could Cecilia possibly allow her to become a vessel for the Demon God's Echo and die?

The only thing Cecilia truly cherishes is her "bond."

She would never use her friends, family, or lover to create a predicament.

Furthermore, Cecilia's left eye is red, while this guy's right eye is red...

Rhodes understood this, but he couldn't deny that the hallucination he had just experienced had indeed frightened him.

He was genuinely a little afraid of Cecilia, not of her killing him, but of her overwhelming love.

The suffocating, sticky substance bound me like a quagmire, making it impossible to move or resist.

Rod really wanted to kick himself for choosing to give her a place to live and fatten her up four years ago—otherwise, he wouldn't have brought himself into such big trouble.

He quickly shook his head to dispel these annoying thoughts.

He took a step forward and walked straight toward the sickly, petite figure.

But in that instant, Ivina put up a fight.

"Don't come near me." Her voice trembled with intense panic.

After she said those words, she used her thin arms to support herself on the recliner and hurriedly got up, her long, silvery hair flying wildly.

But she quickly lost her footing due to panic, causing her to fall violently.

With a thud, he fell to the ground.

But she seemed oblivious to the pain, biting her lip, she quickly got to her feet and, as if seeing a terrifying monster, tiptoed away from Rhodes.

And she was muttering frantically:

"Don't come any closer, don't come any closer...!"

Talking nonsense.

Ivina's state of mind is undoubtedly that of a mentally ill person.

But this madness is quite unusual.

At least, Felicity was momentarily stunned, her delicate brows furrowing slightly as she bit her lip.

"Miss Ivina, how could this happen?"

In her eyes, Ivina shouldn't dodge when anything gets close to her; instead, she should reveal a ferocious look in her eyes and attack directly, baring her teeth.

But now, she's backing down?

What's going on? Is she afraid of Rod...?

Confusion lingered in Felicity's mind, but before she could explain it to Rhodes, he began to move—

Rhodes' eyes narrowed slightly; he could certainly see Ivina's fear of him.

But he didn't think much of it, assuming that this was the root of Ivina's problem, so he immediately took action to stop her and have a proper talk.

"Wait a minute, Miss Ivina."

He walked very fast, and catching up with Ivina was an easy task.

Rather, Ivina's unsteady gait made it hard to believe she had reached the second peak level; it was just... too chaotic.

"Miss Ivina."

Rhodes quickly caught up with Ivina, stood behind her, and reached out to grasp her slender wrist—

thump.

The moment her wrist was grabbed, Ivina's body froze on the spot;

That stiffness was the extreme fear one experiences after being captured by a monster.

Her lips twitched slightly, and her pupils dilated wildly, displaying an extremely abnormal state—

"Let me go!!!" Suddenly, she roared, drew the longsword beside her, and swung it toward Rhodes' head!

Yes, start with zero frames!

In an instant, everyone's heart jumped into their throat.

No one expected that simply pulling her hand would cause her to pull out a knife and attack someone!

Both Felicity and Lilith understood that Rhodes was no match for Ivina.

In Lilith's eyes, Rhodes' strength was only at the level of someone who had just broken through to the second level of ascension not long ago, so how could he possibly withstand this attack?!

Therefore, in an instant, both of them suddenly used their power, but it was already too late—

After all, no one expected that she would attack Rhodes directly while she was dodging just a second ago.

Their anxiety reached its peak at that moment, but—

Rhodes' eyes flashed with surprise, but he instantly activated all his skills as a defense, his eyes turning slightly cold.

[Life Dragon Heart LV.1], [Listen to the Dragon Song of Life LV.1], [Soul Enhancement LV.1], and [Dragon Sword LV.1] were all activated in an instant.

【生命龙心LV.1】提供了15点的体魄，而【聆听生之龙曲LV.1】提供了8点全属性提升，以及【魂体增幅LV.1】的体魄5%、敏捷10%的叠加，在这一瞬间让罗德的体魄属性直接翻倍。

Physical Fitness: 32→62

[Agility]: 25 → 34

[Physical Constitution]: 26→34

[Spirit]: 30 → 39

boom--!

The moment the swords clashed, arcs of light scattered in all directions!

The powerful airflow was deflected to Rhodes' right by his knife, thus deflecting most of the force of Ivina's attack.

As it turned out, Ivina, who was only a hair's breadth away from being promoted three times, unleashed a power that Rhode could not withstand.

The tearing, jarring sensation made Rhodes' arm go numb, but even so, he ignored the pain.

His eyes were as calm as ice as he used the basic effects of [Life Dragon Heart]: [Pierce Soul] and [Share Mental Thoughts].

brush--!

The mental stimulation instantly penetrated Ivina's brain!

Countless chaotic threads tore through Ivina's mind like a storm. In an instant, her face, which had been contorted with rage as she prepared to attack, froze completely after her mind was struck.

“This is… damn it, Rhodes…” She couldn’t even call out Rhodes’ name before her broken mental state caused her to collapse to her knees—

"Ah..." She knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, while gripping the long sword stuck in the ground tightly with her hands, trying to keep her body steady.

Even so, the intense mental attack was like a blender to her already chaotic soul, causing her to lose her grip on the longsword and her mind to become confused and disoriented.

This is Rodman's trump card.

For people with mental health issues, psychological attacks are indeed difficult to resist.

They wouldn't cultivate mental defense skills because their chaotic mental sea simply couldn't create a barrier.

Therefore, even though Rhodes's mental strength was nearly a third lower than Ivina's, he could still easily shatter her soul and make her obediently manipulate him like a doll.

Seeing Ivina kneeling on the ground, Rhode used his last trump card—

【Life Dragon Heart LV.1】: Can share mental thoughts.

Chapter 28 You just want to do ( )!

Every mental patient is highly likely to have a natural mental protective barrier against the outside world.

In other words, if you talk directly to Ivina, then it's very likely that the person talking to Rhodes isn't Ivina, but a fake protective personality.

That's why Rhodes wanted to use the mental link; only in this way could he have a real conversation with her.

At that moment, Rhodes cleaved the longsword in her hand with one hand and successfully took advantage of her mental weakness to forcibly connect with her mind.

Ignore the enemy's strongest will and attack her weakness in the simplest way possible—

However, the moment the connection was established, Rhode was attacked by the backlash.

At this moment, countless mental signals flashed wildly through his brain, like the low murmur of an ancient god. Crazy and chaotic things exploded and filled his mind in an instant!

I wish I could die.

If only I could avoid hurting others.

If only someone could come...

If he could come, I could survive...

I hate him... but I can't let him die...

No, I have to kill him...

The words rolled on and on at breakneck speed, so fast that Rhode couldn't even make out what they were before they disappeared.

But every single word he uttered was related to death.

Rod's movements stiffened slightly, and his face went blank.

He knew this guy was mentally ill, but he never expected him to be as terrifying as a ghost.

Forget about dying, let's save him first...!

He gritted his teeth and still forced his mental signal to Ivina—

In the midst of this mental storm, conveying a normal message is no less difficult than standing firm in a tempest.

At least, Rhodes felt as if his mind had been shattered, and he could hardly utter a sound.

Boom boom boom!!!

Countless storms battered Rhodes's clear consciousness, attempting to blast him out of this mental link.

Fortunately, the 10% mental resistance provided by [Soul Enhancement LV.1] played a very good role at this moment.