“Huh...?”

Yue Liuyi’s mouth fell open, her surprise blooming like a startled lotus. What could scare a World Tree Maiden, a guardian whose roots touched the whole sky?

Ailuna scratched her head, fog in her eyes like morning mist. “An en-enemy? Mm... but Ailuna doesn’t remember having any enemies...”

The silver-haired girl hesitated, a quiet pause like snow before dawn. She squeezed the World Tree Maiden’s hands, warmth flowing like spring into frost. “Little Yue, do you still remember my homeland?”

“Eh? LittleSnow’s homeland? Night City, right... like a colossal starship drifting through the seas of heaven.”

“Mm. But what I mean is... the Night Clan’s homeworld that was destroyed.”

“Eh!? The Night Clan homeworld?”

Yue Liuyi glanced at the silver-haired girl’s chest, blush rising like cherry petals on a breeze. When LittleSnow spoke of these things back then, it felt different—soft warmth that still lingered like sunlight on skin.

“Eeeeh... Little Yue, what indecent thoughts are you having?”

“Ah! N-no!”

“Honestly! Little Yue, you’re so lewd.”

Dixue looped an arm around Yue Liuyi, drawing her in like a tide claiming the shore. She gripped Liuyi’s waist, mock-anger sparking like flicked embers. “If you’re that naughty, I’m holding you like this while we talk. Otherwise your eyes keep wandering, and that’s weird.”

“Uu...”

“Back to the point.” Dixue watched Yue’s shyness with a satisfied smile, like a cat guarding cream. “The one that destroyed the Night Clan homeworld wasn’t the Night Clan, nor any creature of this planet... It was something civilization fears like winter fears fire—the chaos creatures.”

“Ch-chaos creatures!?”

Yue Liuyi flinched, a deer startled by rustling grass. Yet cradled in Dixue’s arms, her trembling sank like a pebble into warm water.

“Ch-chaos creatures!”

Ailuna jolted too, then blinked with dazed cuteness, like a sparrow lost in snow. “Th-then... what are chaos creatures...?”

“Ailuna’s never met them, so it’s hard to know. I’ll start from the roots, and explain.”

...

Life-force bursts from the cosmic origin like a dawn tide, then spreads outward like rivers seeking seas.

Closer to that origin, inner-ring civilizations bloom lush—magic and life abundant like orchards in rain. Farther out, middle and outer rings thin, their wells shallow, their growth stunted like grass in drought.

And beyond the outer rings, there are reaches where life-force never falls—night so deep no lantern of culture can lift it.

If life-force is order, growth, and continuity, that far dark is hunger, ruin, and death, a storm without horizon.

Chaos creatures are everything born in that shadow. Records are scarce, because their making defies the common weave, like knots tied with smoke.

Ordinary beings at least want to live; they’re threads in the tapestry of life. Yet many chaos creatures lack even the instinct to survive, wind with no seed to carry.

Others crave life-force like wolves crave blood. When the Tides of Life wane, they invade the middle and outer rings like locusts in a dry year—plague, slaughter, disorder trailing behind them like dust after a comet. Civilizations fall. Species vanish. Worlds crack, their ecologies warped like forests struck by black frost.

To a World Tree Maiden, they’re the storm to her roots—the greatest threat.

“Eh!?”

Ailuna pressed a hand to her chest, shock fluttering like a trapped bird. As a World Tree Maiden, she never hated humans or elves; every life was nature’s child, washed by seasons like stones in a river.

But the chaos creatures were different. Even the sketch of them raised a primal dislike, a scent of natural enemy on the wind.

“Then... how do we fight them?”

“Different chaos creatures, different wounds. But the worst for every civilization is their radiation. Small fry, okay. Lord-class, or Evil Deity-class, are nightmares. Even dead, their remains poison a world’s life-force like ink spilled in a well.”

“Uu... that’s terrifying.”

The pink-haired girl frowned, tension drawn taut like a bowstring.

“So LittleSnow means... our enemy is a chaos creature?”

Yue Liuyi had heard ghost-stories of them in anime and games—paper tigers by lamplight. In reality, she’d never stood before that shadow.

“Yes. In this Rainbow Sanctuary... a terrifying chaos creature is likely sealed in that field of shadow.”

“Then the purpose of the Rainbow Fortresses is...”

“I think... the Rainbow Fortresses were built to keep that chaos sealed.”

“You’re right. That’s our duty.”

A voice slid in, like wind through leaves.

“Eh!? Who’s speaking?”

“Lady Ailuna... you’ve finally returned.”

“A little fairy!?”

They turned. The source showed itself—black-winged and small, the lazy sprite who’d been sprawled on petals now drifting closer like dusk moths.

“Our aim has always been to stop destruction from spreading. Lady Ailuna rallied the fae and yokai of the Rainbow Sanctuary. Together, we raised twelve Rainbow Fortresses, like prisms set against storm.”

“Eh...? I didn’t build those. Eh...? Must be... the previous me?”

Ailuna fumbled for words, her confusion a fog that the fairy seemed used to.

“Lady Ailuna, you’re newly born as a World Tree Maiden. The previous Lady Ailuna sealed the chaos creature, and soon after, died—spent like a candle burned to the last drop.”

“D-died...?”

“Yes. This place consumed too much of her power, like ice claiming even fire.”

“So... so great.”

Praising “herself” felt awkward, yet Ailuna’s heart bowed like a willow in wind, respect flowing toward the last World Tree Maiden.

“To bind that monster, we sacrificed much. Many have forgotten, like footprints lost to rain. But...”

The black-winged fairy froze mid-flight; her eyes fixed on Ailuna, heavy with old weather. “But let the past be past. I only hope that one day, Lady Ailuna will lead us to erase that monster completely.”

“Erase it...”

Ailuna echoed the words, thoughts rippling like rings in a pond.

Yue Liuyi studied the fairy and asked, her gaze a calm moon over dark water: “Your wings... did they turn black because of that chaos creature?”

“Eh...? You... how do you know!?”

The fairy peered at Yue Liuyi, surprise circling like swallows. She’d thought the blue-haired girl was just an adventurer—but perhaps not.

“I might be a World Tree Maiden from another planet. Mm. Please tell me—does the chaos creature influence people’s minds?”

“Another planet’s... World Tree Maiden? Forgive me... It’s been so long, I can’t feel life-force anymore, like music gone mute.”

She shook her head, then answered Yue Liuyi. “Its freedom and strength are sealed, like thunder buried under mountains. But it still whispers—mind-voices that lure people to fall. It turns them into puppets.”

“Puppets?”

“Yes. It directs puppets to make more puppets, then drives them to attack the fortresses like waves battering reefs.”

“I see.”

Yue Liuyi nodded, thoughts aligning like stars into a constellation. Now she understood why LittleSnow’s tone had weighed like storm.

Ailuna’s oppression sprouted from the lands of chaos.

And the slaughter there wasn’t just greed’s fever; chaos creatures fanned the flames, wind on ember.

The Rainbow Fortresses exist to dam that tide, so its stain won’t drown this world’s living.

Adventurers seek wealth, yes. But first, their offerings strengthen the seals—holding back the chaos like ropes around a cracking gate.

So... if we want to end it all...

Then we must...

“LittleSnow! Should we head to the heart of the Rainbow Sanctuary and destroy that chaos creature?”

Resolve rose in Yue Liuyi, sharp and bright like a drawn blade.

“Eh! Little Yue, that’s a chaos creature! That’s on par with creepy uncles and gropers! If we fail, it craves life-force. It’ll lock you in a dark cell, siphoning your essence every day!”

“Eh!? That scary!?”

Her resolve met reality like a kite meeting thunder.

“Mm! And then Dixue might be taken hostage too—forced to make you do all kinds of weird things! If a World Tree Maiden falls into a chaos creature’s hands, the whole planet’s doomed.”

Dixue’s worry held weight like iron under silk. A World Tree Maiden isn’t just a fighter; she’s roots and rain, seed and shelter.

Sending her to battle is like swinging a diamond blade—powerful, but painfully wasteful.

Worse, Lord-class and Evil Deity-class chaos creatures spread deeper corruption after death—perhaps that’s why the previous Ailuna sealed it in the Rainbow Sanctuary.

“Uu...”

Yue Liuyi hesitated, her heart fluttering like a leaf between winds.

Yet Dixue doted on Liuyi, and she knew this too: without destroying the chaos creature, the Eternal Tear would remain a mirage over salt flats.

Besides, Dixue was the elder sister. Facing Little Yue, how could she say no?

“Mm... but if Little Yue begs and acts cute to Dixue... then destroying a chaos creature isn’t impossible.”

“Eh!? Beg and act cute!?”

“Mm-hmm! Like hugging me tight and saying, ‘Elder Sister’s amazing! I love Dixue most!’ That kind of thing.”

“That’s so embarrassing! And why does saving the world require me to be cute!?”

“Eh? Little Yue doesn’t know? When a World Tree Maiden meets an enemy too hard to beat, she saves the world by selling moe.”

“...”