By early morning the next day, clamor rose outside like surf battering a cliff.

Drowsy warmth ebbed, and Yue Liuyi blinked awake like a pond clearing after rain.

Beside her, something small and velvety trembled like a warm dumpling in her arms, soft as cloud-moss.

“Eh…?” Her murmur fluttered like a moth in the dark.

“Ailuna wants to be pushed too…” The sleep-slurred whisper drifted like petals on a breeze.

The plush little thing was Ailuna, of course, the pink-haired girl curled like a cat, arms and legs looped tight, adorable as a bud about to bloom.

But the other silver-haired girl had slipped away like dew at sunrise.

On the bed, LittleSnow’s pajamas and underwear lay scattered like fallen blossoms, sweet with girlish scent, and it was clear Dixue had left in a hurry without her usual neatness.

“Have we… reached the Rainbow Sanctuary?” The question rose like a kite tugged by wind.

The room felt strange, the air swollen with magic like mist turned to tide; on most days mana was a stream, but now it was an endless sea.

It felt… like the World Tree’s secret grounds, ancient and deep as roots under mountains.

Not waking Ailuna, Yue Liuyi tucked the sheet over her like a leaf covering a nest, then dressed, her motions gentle as snowlight.

That lovely wedding dress had a hidden zipper, sly as a fox—Dixue had tucked it under the lining and never said a word.

“Mm, a simple little dress is more normal. Let’s keep the wedding gown safe, like a song in a box.” Her tone was soft as mist.

She slipped into a frilly little dress, and with a few strokes before the mirror like ripples smoothing, a very cute blue-haired girl stood ready.

“Right, where did LittleSnow go? And what was that sound?” Her curiosity rose like a lark.

She pushed the door—one push, and a cascade of noise poured in like a river bursting its banks.

Boom!

Rat-tat-tat!!

“Meow, meow, meow?” She blurted a Zaocun-like mewl, startled as a kitten; the Lily Chamber’s soundproofing had been a cocoon too thick.

Outside, battle-noise filled the air like a summer storm—cannon thundered, drums rolled, and smoke coiled like snakes through the wind.

“What’s going on?” Her breath hitched like a leaf caught in gusts.

She ran to the windowsill like a swallow to its perch, and saw around the Forest Fortress a flood of uniformed soldiers swarming like ants, sealing the tree-built bastion tight as a jar.

There were thousands, a field of faces, yet every one was the same—height, build, features, all stamped like coins from one die.

They looked like clones carved from a single block of ice.

Weird or not, the shells were real as hailstones; explosions flowered on magic branches, and the ground shivered like an earthquake under roots.

“What is happening?” The words fell like pebbles in a well.

“Big Sister Yue…” The voice behind her rang like a bell through leaves.

“You okay, Big Sister Yue!” Another voice chimed like a silver chime.

Yue Liuyi turned, and Breeze, in a jade-green dress, approached with Zaocun, steps light as reeds.

“Morning, Breeze, Zaocun. What… is all this?” Her gaze flicked like a bird’s.

“Zaocun just woke up too and doesn’t know…” Her ears twitched like soft flags.

“Dixue said… the monsters of the Rainbow Sanctuary launched an attack on us.” Her words fell steady as rain.

“Monsters?” The word tasted like iron.

“Mm…” Breeze nodded slowly, face calm as still water. “They… aren’t human… because inside them… I can’t find any life’s breath.” Her tone was flat as a mask.

She meant the soldiers, and no life-scent meant no souls, empty as husks.

“Then… are those weapons too?” The thought curled like smoke.

Yue Liuyi looked out again, and the soldiers’ volley faded like ebbing tide; the Forest Fortress’s counterstrike began like drums returning.

“All units, charge!” The familiar voice rose from the Pumpkin House like a trumpet, and Maria’s lifted hand cut the air like a banner.

The main force was the Withered Wardens, those deadwood guardians they had once struggled against like girls against a gale.

Three meters tall, they shrugged off bullets like rain on bark, and their reach was vast—one great palm could twist a torso in half like wringing wet cloth.

They surged straight from the earth and smashed the enemy’s line like roots cracking stone.

Bones bent, blood sprayed like red rain; yet no brain burst out, and their heads looked like props, empty of any brain-like weave.

As the line teetered like a fence in wind, a steel-bodied tank rolled in, a beast of iron on tracks.

No insignia, no model—tanks had been obsolete in Inner Ring civilization for a thousand years, but here in the Rainbow Sanctuary, where electronics died like birds in frost, it was still a terror.

The Withered Wardens’ coils could not hurt it, and its treads ground over trees, pushing forward like a glacier carving a path.

More chilling still, the puppet-like soldiers halted as one, reached for small vials, and drank in perfect unison like clockwork swallows.

“Th-this is…” Her breath snagged like thread.

“A stimulant?” The guess snapped like a twig.

Before their eyes, the soldiers changed shape like clouds boiling—guns clattered down, skin went black as charcoal, and their already hollow features rotted, melting like wax.

Corpse-spots bloomed on their bodies, spreading like mold across damp walls.

“Eh…? That’s…” Her voice shrank like a candle flame.

“Zombies!” cried the catfolk girl, the word sharp as a claw; these were the bulked-up kind you saw in films, all brawn and hunger.

Turned into zombies, they raved and charged the Forest Fortress like wolves loosed from a pen, their muscle-power beyond human and deep in the beast’s den.

…

“Little Yue, where are you!” A far-off call rang like a silver bell, and Dixue’s voice leapt the distance like a spark.

“LittleSnow, I’m here!” Her reply flashed like a flag.

“Great!” Dixue ran over, silver hair streaming like moonlight, and when she saw Yue safe, she breathed out long like wind through pines.

“Everyone okay?” Her eyes swept like swallows.

“We’re fine. It’s still safe here,” Yue answered, voice steady as a lantern.

“Good! Little Yue, stay with Breeze and Zaocun, and keep Ailuna in the room. The enemy’s launched a general attack, and outside’s a blade-edge.” Her warning cut like frost.

“Then what about you, LittleSnow?” The worry pressed like a stone.

“I’m going to recruit some new units. The Withered Wardens alone can’t dam this flood.” Her gaze was firm as ironwood.

“I want to go too! I can’t let you shoulder everything again!” Her guilt surged like a tide; after all, it was because of her that everyone came to the Rainbow Sanctuary.

“Little Yue wants to come?” Dixue’s smile curved like a crescent.

“LittleSnow, what is it? Is recruiting dangerous?” The question fluttered like a moth to flame.

“Not really dangerous… But if you stayed here, you could play board games. Four is enough to clack mahjong tiles like rain.” Her tease winked like starlight.

“Now isn’t the time!” Yue’s refusal landed like a stamp.

…

So Yue Liuyi followed Dixue’s steps to another magic tree, feet quick as deer.

The Forest Fortress was a city-state of trees linked by magic trees, each with a purpose like organs in a living body.

The Lily Chamber where Little Yue and LittleSnow lived was meant for lodging, with fruit that shone like lanterns and clean water sweet as spring.

The tree Dixue headed for was a key one, unlike the others, its trunk riddled with many hollows like a hive—these were the hatching chambers of many kinds of life.

Inside, nest-like cradles spread everywhere like constellations, each holding an egg; the eggs came in all colors and sizes, some cool as stone, some warm as bread, all brimming with magic like wells.

“Mm… the eggs in this hollow should be ripe! The magic tree’s reserves… should be enough for five times!” Her count was crisp as beads sliding.

“F-five times…?” Yue tilted her head like a sparrow.

“The number of egg-smashes! Little Yue, the Forest Fortress’s incubator gives us five charges for the hammer. Use it to crack eggs, and out come matching magical creatures!” Her smile sparkled like frost.

“S-smash eggs?!” The words popped like corn.

“Mm! And this isn’t a normal hammer, but a Miracle Hammer infused with life-force! It costs diamonds to use! We can’t do a ten-pull now, but five pulls is still on the table!” Her cheer bounced like a drum.

“Don’t make it sound like some cash-grab mobile game!” Yue’s protest puffed like steam.

“Hehe~ we need a bit of hype!” Dixue’s giggle chimed like beads.

…

After a moment, Yue Liuyi took the hammer from Dixue; it wasn’t ordinary at all, gleaming gold like sunrise, and even in her hand it reeked of pay-to-win like perfume.

“Did the previous Ailuna love games so much she built the Forest Fortress like this…” She sighed, words drifting like a small cloud.

“Little Yue, I’ll count one-two-three, and we smash together.” Dixue’s eyes brightened like stars.

“Mm!” Yue nodded, firm as a sprout.

She raised the hammer and brought it down on a delicate egg, careful as tapping a door.

Her strength was small; it was more a knock than a smash, a gentle touch like rain.

The egg kissed the hammer and cracked, and dazzling light poured out like dawn flooding a valley.

Huh? What’s that… A shadow of an animal stirred inside the glow like a koi in a pond.

A rare creature, maybe!? Expectation swelled like a tide; unknowns were always thrilling as thunder.

Maybe she’d pull an SSR in a single stroke.

At last…

What appeared before the girl was…