The scene slid back through mist to the Forest Fortress, back to Yue Liuyi.

...

Yue Liuyi sat with Dixue and Ailuna, pages rustling like autumn leaves as they combed the library records.

With two World Tree Maidens present, finding the seed felt easy, as if roots whispered directions under the soil.

They fed a magnetic chain, awakened the environmental-art flower’s DNA, and breathed a hint of life into it; the bud flared like dawn and bloomed...

“This is...?”

Before them, a blazing projection roared to life—an all-flame being, its body and head burning in savage tongues like a firestorm.

No measure marked its size, yet its aura and rolling fire-clouds said it towered hundreds of meters high.

“LittleSnow, what is that!”

“Mm... this should be the chaos creature that invaded this planet, right?” Her words hung like ash in the air.

“So a chaos creature looks like this...” The thought flickered like a star set on fire.

“By its color, it’s one of the Red Giant Evil God kind. Its body is pure flame, wildly unstable; even a stray strand could erupt violently like tinder in a gale.”

The silver-haired girl studied the illusion-flower’s vision, then matched it against her grimoire, moonlight eyes on ink, and made her call.

“Red Giant Evil God?”

“Yes. When a star nears its end, its core contracts and the outer layers swell. A Red Giant Evil God is born from that moment. Its power is devouring; to life, it’s terrifying, a dusk-born maw.”

“Oh...” The word fell like a pebble into a dark pool.

“Ailuna, do you recall anything else about this chaos creature?” Her tone softened like rain on moss.

“Sorry... nothing more...” Her gaze dropped like a wilted petal.

Ailuna searched the fog of memory, yet it was the previous World Tree Maiden who had acted; chasing those memories felt like grasping mist behind glass.

“It’s fine if you don’t remember. Don’t apologize...” Dixue stroked Ailuna’s and LittleMoon’s heads, voice gentle as warm wind. “If we face the Red Giant Evil God, Ailuna and LittleMoon, don’t act. Leave it to me.”

“Huh!? LittleSnow, are you planning something dangerous again!” Fear spiked her words like a pricked finger.

“No. I’ll watch my own safety—I won’t make LittleMoon worry. It’s just—one force counters another. Flame is forest’s bane, and twisted life force bites hard into a World Tree Maiden, like frost on sap.”

“Then how... do we fight this chaos creature? Without the Stellar Moon Compass, I can’t pin it down for LittleSnow.” Her voice wavered like a reed in wind.

“We don’t need to fight it head-on. We just have to unify the twelve Rainbow Fortresses!” Her plan gleamed like weaving twelve colors into one bowstring.

“Huh!? LittleSnow, what do you mean?” The question curled like smoke.

“The previous Ailuna who sealed the chaos creature was a little genius...” Her smile swooped like a spring swallow.

In the projection’s lower right, symbols scrolled like tiny stars; Yue Liuyi couldn’t read them. Dixue said, “The previous World Tree Maiden not only sealed the Red Giant Evil God inside the Rainbow Sanctuary. She also used its vast internal energy to build a magic reaction furnace. The furnace keeps shaving down the deity’s power and converts it into pure mana, a mill that grinds fire into light.”

“N-no wonder... Rainbow Valley and the Rainbow Sanctuary are so saturated with magic. Is that why?” Her relief flowed like a river after rain.

“Yes. The twelve Rainbow Fortresses are the key to the seal, and they run on the furnace’s power. The design ensures that as long as the chaos creature lives, the Rainbow Fortresses never truly run dry—gears that drink firelight.”

“But if so... why did Ailuna get tainted by the chaos aura?” The question fell like cold dew on stone.

“Ugh! The previous Ailuna designed it so well. It must be because I’m useless!” Her words curled like smoke from a damp wick.

“No. Don’t belittle yourself, Ailuna. Some fortress seals must’ve been broken, or fallen into the Red Giant Evil God’s grip—cracks creeping through ice.”

“Are there issues? Which ones...” Her voice frayed like old silk.

“The Black Fortress... and the Gray Fortress.” The names dropped like stones into a deep well.

The black little sprite who’d been watching finally spoke, her voice flicking like a raven’s wing.

She dragged out a seed with her tiny body, set it in a flowerpot—whoosh—the map of the Rainbow Sanctuary bloomed before the girls like ink unfurling on water.

“For over a century, the Black Fortress’s seal thinned, birthing specters and slaughter. And the Gray Fortress... has loosened lately too.” Her words shivered like tattered wards in a storm.

“Mm. After nearly a thousand years, problems are natural. We just need to reseal them, and it’ll be fine.” Calm settled like hands patching old bark.

“It’s not a matter of time!!” Anger cracked like thunder.

Suddenly, the black sprite darted to Dixue’s face and snapped, a spark flying at tinder: “You don’t know how terrible it is! You don’t know what the Red Giant Evil God did! Even if you seal it now... the seal will break later! Only total annihilation works! Erase it completely!”

She spoke through gritted teeth, words like arrows on fire. Yue Liuyi had never seen the peace-loving sprites wear anger, thorns rising on soft moss.

But...

Facing that fury, Dixue spoke calmly, voice smooth as water over stone.

“No, I know.”

“W-what...” Shock trembled like a leaf in wind.

The silver-haired girl’s crisp answer stunned the black sprite, a bell freezing mid-ring.

“I know what it did. My homeland... was invaded by a chaos creature too.” Pain rose like smoke from embers.

“Your homeland...?” The question fell soft as snow.

“The Red Giant Evil God’s power is to devour and to burn. It burns what it can’t absorb until nothing remains, and devours what it can, turning it into its own strength—a furnace with a bottomless throat.”

...

The black sprite froze before Dixue, even forgetting to beat her wings, still as a soot-stained petal.

“So... you want to save the companions it swallowed, right? In the sealing war a thousand years ago, sprites and elves must’ve sacrificed much to guard their home.” Her words laid like candles in a shrine.

“H-how did you know...” Her voice cracked like thin ice.

“I secretly called Tisinate...” A whisper slipped through a silver mirror like moonlight in a well.

Dixue lifted her little mirror and showed it to the sprite. “I admire all you’ve done, and I understand your heart. If my LittleMoon were swallowed, I’d risk everything to save her too... much less after a wait of a thousand years!” The vow glinted like steel under silk.

...

“But... though the Red Giant Evil God isn’t a red giant. The energy inside it equals thousands of nukes, at least. If we mishandle it, not just your friends— even the outside world could turn to wasteland, a storm scouring dry grass.”

The sprite fell silent, quiet like ash settling.

She understood everything Dixue said, truth heavy as rain.

She’d kept watch in the library for a thousand years, a lantern in a sea of night.

The black sprite had leafed through every scroll, pages beating like wings.

In truth, she already knew it all, answers etched like grooves in stone.

Though she knew it was impossible, hope clung like frost to a blade.

She still chased that lone possibility, a firefly in fog.

Once, there were seven of them—seven lights in a ring.

Born in the Rainbow flower fields, they were closer than anyone, petals on one stem.

In spring, they’d wander the flower fields together, comparing whose gathered nectar tasted best, laughter like bees in bloom.

In summer, they’d lie in the cool shade, savoring sunlight brushing the meadow, heat shimmering like silk.

In autumn, they’d pick fruit and hold a grand feast, baskets glowing like ember leaves.

In winter, they’d pile snow into thick white castles and play at being princesses, breath puffing like little clouds.

But now, only she and LittlePink remained—two embers in a cold hearth.

...

The sprite went blank, and the look on her face made Yue Liuyi ache, pain squeezing like a hand around the heart.

“LittleSnow... do we really have no way to destroy the chaos creature?” Hope flickered like a candle in wind.

“Of course we have a way!” The answer blazed like sunrise over frost.

“Huh?” Eyes widened like twin moons.

“Come on! I never said we wouldn’t destroy it. I already said—only by destroying the chaos creature can we find the Eternal Tear LittleMoon needs!” Resolve rang like a clear bell across stone.

“Then... after we kill the Red Giant Evil God, what about the chaotic energy inside it?” Worry rustled like dry reeds.

“Don’t destroy it inside the Rainbow Sanctuary!” The warning snapped like a hand catching a sleeve.

“Huh? Then... where...? The New Land? Wouldn’t that be even riskier...” Questions fluttered like sparrows startled from a hedge.

“In space! Once we suppress the deity, we’ll haul it into the cosmos, then finish it—cast it into the cold river of stars.”

“What!?” Shock cracked like ice underfoot.

Yue Liuyi, Ailuna, and the black sprite all wore the same stunned look, three faces lit like a sudden lightning flash.

...