Chapter 6: The Birth of Alice

“Can she really be brought back?” Birand’s voice shook like a frayed string in the wind as he stared at the cold-eyed man before him.

Eli nodded, impatient, like swatting a buzzing gnat. “Just wait and watch. When it’s time, I’ll pull her out.”

“Mm.” Birand’s eyes burned toward the pillar of light ahead. A young man lay nearby—Kait Osborne, third prince of the Miter Empire.

Eli raised a hand. His forefinger touched Kait’s brow like a seal pressed to wax. He lifted his head toward the polar sky, where a column of radiance dropped from heaven like a silver spear.

This was where Zero’s consciousness often surfaced, a winter shore where thought washed up. After finding Kait, Eli had knocked him out and carried him here.

He felt it—the energy churning like a galaxy in flood. A tide of stars roared through him. Excitement flared like dry tinder.

This would be the fiercest enemy of his life. Win, and fate would fork like a river changing course. Lose, and only annihilation waited, a cold tide that would drown everyone he loved.

“My true body, I’m back.” Yiyi appeared at his side and patted his shoulder, light as falling snow.

Eli smiled over his shoulder. “Yo. How’d it go?”

He ignored the frenzy thrashing inside the Jade Seal Sword, where Liqianyu’s restlessness paced like a caged wolf. Eli stayed calm as a still pond, eyes on Yiyi.

“Handled. Here.” Yiyi tilted her head, puzzled. “But what do you need a Celestial God’s blood for?”

“To open the seal here.” Eli looked up and smiled. “Only those ancient from before the flood of history can open that pillar. Only they can touch truth.”

“That so.” Yiyi rubbed her chin, thought pooling like ink.

Eli chuckled, stood, and said, “Yiyi, your turn. I’ve got a little job for you.”

“Eh? What job?” Yiyi blinked, curiosity peeking out like a fox.

Eli’s smile thinned. He drew the Jade Seal Sword in a breath and tapped it gently against Yiyi’s head. In a blink, she fell into the sword’s inner world like a leaf slipping under ice.

Only then did Eli nod in satisfaction and sheath the Jade Seal Sword across his back again.

He drew Thias next, rubbed his own chin, and suddenly, a crooked smile unfurled across his face like a shadow.

Birand’s mouth twitched. He knew that look like storm-sign in a sailor’s bones.

He—or rather, they—wore that expression when someone was about to be unlucky. The scent of mischief was a knife in the air.

Judging from today, it might just be that girl’s avatar who got the short straw. Birand rolled his eyes like a man who’d seen this farce before.

Damn, he thought. My future self looks hopeless.

Eli ignored him and his drifting thoughts, like leaves on a stream. He crouched again, set his forefinger to Kait’s brow, and closed his eyes, holding still as a statue under moonlight.

In his sensing, the laws woven through the Celestial God’s blood were cracking like frost-split glass.

That told him enough about the fight between the Celestial God and Edlyn. A breath loosened in his chest like a knot undone.

He sank into the work.

First, he’d forge a key. He’d bind the laws inside the Celestial God’s body with his own power, then braid in the faith-force of the high tiers among the current races. Many strands, one key. With it, he’d pry open the place Zero kept under lock and fog.

If it worked, then Zero wasn’t invincible. If it worked, Birand’s wife, Icarina, could return like spring after iron winter.

If it failed, then everything the Abyss and Eli had done for hundreds of millions of years would be foam on the waves, bright and gone. Icarina would never rise again. Birand’s soul might twist once more, a compass gone mad.

So be it. Make it or die. Eli and the Abyss had steeled themselves long ago.

He was more focused than a blade at whetstone.

He didn’t notice this: when the Jade Seal Sword had been forged, Zero—still sane then—had fused Eli’s genes, the remnants of Liqianyu’s genes, and a spare shard of the Origin Tree. He’d planted that fusion within the sword, a seed to grow in hidden soil.

Hundreds of millions of years had passed. The embryo had slowly blossomed like a bud in deep time.

Now, with Liqianyu’s true body being the Jade Seal Sword, and Yiyi stepping into the sword’s inner world, that tiny embryo brushed Yiyi’s presence. In that instant, it began to take shape.

It looked—like a girl.

…

“Help!” Yiyi was pinned to the ground by Liqianyu, unable to wiggle an inch, like a rabbit under a cat’s paw.

“Little cutie. Let big sis give you a kiss~ Aiyo, do you know how long I haven’t seen you? I’m going crazy here, you know.” Liqianyu licked her lips, eyes gleaming like a fox at midnight.

“It’s been soooo long! Let me check your… development~”

“Waaah!” Yiyi shrieked. She kicked Liqianyu square in the ribs and sent her flying like a kite cut loose. Then she scrambled to fix her clothes and bolted for the exit of the sword-world.

Yiyi gathered power and slammed headfirst—into a white barrier. She squatted, clutching her head, wailing like a kettle squealing.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow.”

“Eh~ come, come, big sis will blow on it. Doesn’t hurt, doesn’t hurt~” Liqianyu cackled and swooped back in like a hawk.

Yiyi yelped and kicked Liqianyu flying again. She plastered herself to the barrier, pounding with both hands. “True body! Help! Help! There’s a female perv in here! Help! Let me out, sob-sob—help!”

“Yiyi, shout louder,” Liqianyu snickered, face shameless. “Scream till your throat breaks. No one’s coming.”

She and Birand had both turned into nagging monks in Eli’s ear, chanting and chanting till even a saint would snap. Eli had been forced to use every trick to shut them up.

As for quieting Liqianyu—well, give her what she wanted. Eli knew her feelings for him, but he couldn’t answer. So he sent in Yiyi—who already had her own mind and counted as her own person—to deal with the storm.

Besides, Liqianyu had liked Yiyi first.

A wish granted, neat and clean. Eli’s smile had been soft as dawn.

At the same time, he sent all that straight into Yiyi’s soul like a whisper under the door.

Yiyi’s face went ashen. Disbelief flared like flint. “You!”

She jabbed a finger toward the barrier, toward Eli in the normal world beyond.

“You—you—aaagh! True body! You set me up!”

“Yiyi~” Liqianyu’s voice drifted like a ghost’s breath, sliding into Yiyi’s ear.

A shiver bit down Yiyi’s spine. She turned to see Liqianyu straightening her clothes now.

What a proper lady she looked!

If not for the drool at the corner of her mouth, anyone would be fooled by that prim calm.

Yiyi seethed.

“Ready yourself, little—Yi—yi—”

“Eek! Female perv! Help!”

“Heh-heh-heh~”

“Mom. Mama.” A thin voice threaded into both their ears like a breeze through reeds.

Liqianyu grinned. Yiyi froze.

Together, they said, “Why are you calling me Mom?”

One sultry, one terrified. Both went still.

Again, together: “That wasn’t you?”

“Hell no, not me!” x2

“If it wasn’t you, then who?!” x2

“How should I know?!” x2

“Haunted?” x2

“Aaaaaaaaah!” x2

They screamed till they ran out of breath.

“You’re a sword-spirit. You’re basically a ghost. What ghost are you scared of?”

“You’re the Hero’s avatar. The Demon King doesn’t scare you, but a ghost does?”

They stared. Both turned away, guilty as cats.

“Well. There’s…context.” Liqianyu blinked innocently.

“I’m not as strong as him,” Yiyi muttered.

The voice came again, soft as dew.

“Ma… ma?”

They stood and scanned the room.

“Isn’t this your sword-space?” Yiyi asked, curious as a cat at a curtain. “What are you hiding here?”

“Not on me. How would I know?” Liqianyu shrugged.

They finally spotted a small shadow crouched beside the bed Eli had once bought and stored here.

They traded a glance and walked over.

A very pretty little girl—four or five, from the look—peeked up at them.

Black hair like a waterfall, and a face six or seven parts like Eli’s.

The girl shook her head. Her long hair swayed like silk… and shifted to Liqianyu’s shade of blue.

“Holy—” Yiyi’s eyes sparkled with nosy light. “Don’t tell me she’s your and the true body’s secret love child???”

“I—I’m still a virgin, okay! How is that possible!” Liqianyu shouted, scandalized and proud at once.

“Wow… your face is thick. Yell that any louder?” Yiyi gave her a look of pure disdain.

“Tch, it’s just the two of us. What’s there to be shy about?” Liqianyu’s shamelessness shone like polished brass.

“I’m done with you.” Yiyi rolled her eyes skyward.

Silence tugged taut between them. Both stared at the little girl.

The girl blinked big bright eyes and gave them a candy-sweet smile.

“Ma… mama~”

“Waaah, so cute.” Liqianyu’s face lit like lanterns. She squatted and scooped the girl into her arms.

Watching the two of them glow together, and feeling a strange tug of closeness herself, Yiyi sighed and shook her head. “How about we go out and ask the true body?”

“Oh, right.” Liqianyu nuzzled the girl’s cheek, happiness spilling like warm tea.

A flicker of excitement sparked in her.

Let Eli see. Then let Edlyn see!

Let’s hear what excuse he spins. One way or another, the show’s about to start.