In the ancient city of Arcadia, a sealed chamber hid where no instrument could ever ping—Endymion’s refuge, a stone heart veiled in silence.

“You did this… and you think you’ll be forgiven?!” Endymion, now a little girl, shouted. Her voice trembled like a sparrow in a winter gust.

“Nah. I’ve already got a basketful of bad labels. A few more won’t change the weather.”

Yekase rubbed her smooth blonde hair—she should be called Artemis now—then stepped back, dropped onto a low stool, and pulled out something like a music player. The device gleamed like a black pebble in a riverbed.

“Like this place? It’s laced with Europe’s strongest anti-magic material. No one can find you. So I have time—long, patient tides of it—to convince you to back my plan.”

“You—so despicable! Letting you walk away that day was my greatest misstep!” Her anger flashed like lightning behind stormglass.

“Worthy of a Chancellor of the Mage Academy. Such a proud magus. Shame my Nightlight Torch makes all creatures equal before its flame. Now, let the show I tailored for you begin…”

Snap.

She clicked play.

“MUSIC.”

A tight beat punched the air, bold as drumfire.

Dum-dum-dum-dum… “Young man!”

It sounded old, sung by a group called the Village People; the rhythm marched like a parade down a summer street.

Right then, four silhouettes slid out from behind Yekase’s apprentice, Jiang Bailu. Their shadows moved like cats slipping through lantern light.

“Heard this one? It was pretty hot in the ’80s.”

Artemis didn’t know the song, but dread crawled her skin like ants. Goosebumps rippled, and cold sweat ran like a sudden rain.

Who were these four? What level of monsters had she drawn?

“Big sis, is that her?”

“A body mod that thorough…”

“Zero hint an old man’s inside.”

“Hehe… so cute.”

Whoosh—the truth hit like a curtain whipping back. Four girls, dressed in almost no cloth, wore swagger like knives, played affection like silk, and smiled like wolves who hunt only when the moon is ripe.

“W-whoa—ah—”

To Artemis, these four were more terrifying than ten billion Church troops. Her fear surged like a flood breaking a dam.

She stumbled back. Her spine kissed the chamber’s cold stone.

“I heard the ‘Magus-King’ Endymion devoted his whole life to Sorcery. Cold to a queen in a political match. Years without ever stepping into the bedchamber. So I invited these four to greet you.”

“?!”

“Don’t underestimate them. In the sapphic scene, they rank like Alice and Natasha in the fighter world.” Her words struck like chalk lines on a blackboard.

“???”

“Each has a signature trick. Each excels. Their drive and patience shock whole arenas. Their secret weapons… will surprise you.”

“The Church calls them ‘the Four Queens.’ I wonder if you’ve heard the name.” The title landed like a stamp on hot wax.

They were magical beings. Their stamina ran like rivers into the sea. Yet Yekase didn’t plan to reveal the true identities of Beelzebub and the others.

“So it’s those four wanted women? You even roped them in? Then the rumors among the upper crust are true—you’re overthrowing the Church!”

Artemis tried to hurl fresh curses, but tallest Beelzebub and smallest Mostima already pressed in. She struggled. Her new body hadn’t found its strength; her wrists were caught and pinned to the wall like birds in a net.

While the Four Queens set hands and set traps, Yekase watched the farce she herself had directed. She didn’t smile. The silence tasted like iron.

“Mysidia’s Great Library. I’ve wanted to enter for years. The gate guards said tourists only get the lowest shelves. Locals get half again, still books as common as market fish.”

“…”

“A library that doesn’t let people in. A hoard of books no one may read. You high magi treat knowledge like treasure, locked and watched. What does that buy you?”

“Renown no commoner will ever touch. Power no low magus can grasp. You…”

She finally smiled, and the smile was cold enough to freeze a river. Artemis shivered like a leaf under dew.

“You are the ones we resist. In Huaxia or in Europe, it never changes.”

“You… you crave power too! You can twist flesh at will. Is that power meant to be public? How is Infinite Power any different from magic? How are you different from us?”

“The difference is—”

Yekase stood from the stool. She approached Artemis. She held out her hand.

A machine lay quietly in her palm, still as a sleeping bird.

A portable rune printer.

“I will make it public. Infinite Power is a power for all humanity. A power meant to bring happiness to every person. A Huaxia child left in the mountain villages, unable to afford school. A lofty Archmagus in Mysidia. Both should get a chance to enjoy everything Infinite Power’s progress brings.”

Artemis accepted the printer with wary fingers. At this point, nothing could get worse. Her hope was a candle in noon light.

Yekase lifted Nightlight Torch. The door swung. She let strands of Sorcery stream in like wind through reeds.

“Try it.”

“…‘Milkweed,’ ‘Flowing Water,’ ‘Blood’s Exultation,’ Belka-style.”

A triangular base plate formed on the floor, crisp as cut glass. Runes poured in. The array became a healing sigil. But lacking follow-up Sorcery, it faded like breath on a mirror.

“…”

“Convenient, right? My short-term goal is to put this in the hands of every person from Mysidia and Ivalice. Then spread it across Europe. Then the world.”

Rune printing had been demoed at Huaxia’s Alchemy Association. The response vanished like a stone into deep water. The old guard likely crushed it under velvet.

Now wasn’t then.

Now Yekase had comrades, the Slackfish Cult, her workshop, a whole class of students, Ivalice’s backing… and soon, Mysidia. Her circle burned like campfires across a dark plain.

She truly had the power to push the world forward.

Framed by the night outside the door, she spread her arms. She gave Artemis a bright smile, warm as sunrise on jade.

“The future we’re painting—will you join us?”

“No. Send me back.”

…

She refused!

Such a stubborn old man.

Jiang Bailu snorted a laugh, a bubble in still water.

“Damn it. You’re forcing my hand. Beelzebub, go.”

Yekase, flushed and furious, flicked her small hand. The Four Queens started stripping off Artemis’s mage robe, silk torn like cloud.

“I rebuilt this body so its Sorcery throughput is near zero. Even if you slip home, who will believe you’re Endymion? Even secrets only you know will brand you a spy. They’ll execute you, neat as a ledger line.”

“—!”

“You’ll need the title ‘Endymion’s familiar’ to reasonably know city-state secrets, to temporarily hold your old authority… and use that authority to help us push the Arcadia Academy project. Speaking of, we still haven’t named the academy. Burns is here anyway. The three founders can discuss it on the spot.”

“Who would help you! Damn it, get away!”

Her luxurious mage robe hit the floor like fallen banners. She kept her tongue sharp. Her body trembled like a plucked string.

“Then see you tomorrow.”

The stone door slammed shut, heavy as a tomb lid.

…

…

Jiang Bailu glanced back at the chamber, worry flickering like a moth. “Doctor, are you really going that far? What if our reputation turns into permanent hatred?”

“No. It’s just a nudge. A shadow on the wall. Mainly to make her feel her new body and identity.”

Yekase blinked slyly. “I use any means. But not that. She’s an Archmagus, revered in Mysidia by tens of thousands. Overnight, she lost status and power… someone that proud can’t swallow that drop from the cliff. I don’t need to harm her. This level of ‘reminder’ is enough.”

“And then?”

“Then she’ll see working with us is good. Drop the noble posture, and the deals look profitable to her too.”

“…Back in the Organization, did you also moonlight as a business negotiator?”

Yekase laughed and winced. “This isn’t business! Don’t underestimate business. This is pure carrot and stick.”

“Being able to dress up carrot and stick so grandly is a skill…”

“I’ve moved her with feeling. I’ve reasoned with logic. What’s left? Only carrot and stick. Or I run year-long ideological counseling?” Yekase spread both hands like a bird loosing snow.

Jiang Bailu couldn’t help a smile. Then asked, “That body mod—how?”

“Flash Energy projects outward but can only reshape heavy metals. Mind Energy reshapes organics but stays inside. Bridge the two, and voilà. It’s tiring. I’m going to sleep.”

Yekase waved. She opened a portal, a ring of light like a moon halo, and stepped back onto the Ambition Divine Ship.

“Mom! I’m back!”

“Well now, daughter, how’re you free today?” XiaoLei came out wiping her hands, the cloth dark with kitchen rain.

“Things are wrapped for now!”

With Jiang Bailu watching, Yekase flew into her mother’s arms. XiaoLei caught her steady, spun her twice, joy like lanterns.

“We set up a floating archipelago at ten thousand meters over Europe. We’ll recruit some wild magi, slide the Ambition Divine Ship in among them, hang lower. Easier for you all to see the scenery…”

“All good. All good.” Her voice was warm as soup.

Rice Rice sprinted out, clambered up XiaoLei’s pant leg like a squirrel, and perched on Yekase’s shoulder.

“Always slacking at home! I’m drowning over here. Can’t you turn into me and take half?”

“Mee-ow?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t understand!”

Liu RuoYuan followed Rice Rice out, her steps light as paper.

She saw Jiang Bailu frozen by the portal’s edge, unsure as a deer at a river. “What’re you staring at? Come sit.”

“Uh, I shouldn’t go in, right? I’m not…”

I’m not her girlfriend… but the words wouldn’t cross the bridge.

Lu Yao came out behind Liu RuoYuan, like a second moon on a thin night.

“Why are you living up there like it’s nothing?!”

“Is there a problem?”

“Uh…”

Is it not a problem? Maybe I’m the problem? Jiang Bailu tumbled into deep self-doubt, thoughts spinning like leaves in wind.