"Let me pat Xiao Yue’s head~"

Today’s Dixue clung to Yue Liuyi’s hand, poking the blue-haired girl like a mischievous kitten batting yarn.

"If you keep bullying me, I’ll turn back into a boy!"

"Eek! Xiao Yue, don’t—hmm? Fine~ if you want to transform, go ahead."

"Huh? LittleSnow isn’t scared? I really will change."

"Mm-hmm. You’re in a frilly dress, and there’s no menswear here. If you force it, be ready to be called a weirdo by everyone~"

"Ugh!!"

Despair pooled like cold water in Yue Liuyi’s chest as she met Dixue’s sugary smile, a silver net pulling tight. Any resistance felt pre-read, like footprints already set in sand.

"Hug my Xiao Yue tight~ That shy look—soft and cute like fresh snow~"

"We’re about to see everyone—don’t do this!!!!"

From that quick exchange, a heavy calm settled; Yue Liuyi now knew what happened while she was out cold.

Her Star-Moon Meteor Shower was a storm, sweeping away undead like leaves in a gale. But the enemy leader, Wan Han, didn’t fall then—he was wounded and tried to flee.

It was a wide-area tempest, not a single lightning strike. The fatal blow to Wan Han came from—

A silver-haired girl hurried toward them, hair like moonlit silk.

Compared to Dixue’s silver, hers leaned milky white, smooth and flowing like water. Her presence was poised, beauty cut from frost and jade.

She was the Elven Queen of the Elven Kingdom, a pioneer of the new age—Tisinate.

"Dixue, have you seen Ailuna? Did the enemy snatch her again?!"

"Nope. She’s been eating cake with Breeze the whole time!"

"Uh..."

She nodded to Dixue, a brief thank-you like a leaf-tip tap, then rushed off like a swift.

Yes—on the battlefield, the one who ended Wan Han with a single sword was the Elven Queen, Tisinate.

To destroy the Red Giant Evil God, and to open a passage linking the Rainbow Sanctuary and the New Land, the Queen finished talks with humans. Then she entered the Rainbow Sanctuary like a star crossing a river.

She didn’t come alone. With her came elites of the Elven Kingdom—the Silverwing Elves, winged guardians of the World Tree, shining like dawn.

"Heh, my juniors don’t disappoint. They’ve grown well," whispered Alisa from the shadows, satisfaction glowing like embers.

What Alisa didn’t know: these Silverwing Elves were tempered in blood-sea battles. Twenty years ago, the first war against humans; two months ago, the second war led by Tisinate. Modern war carved skill into them like wind etching rock.

According to plan, they only needed to open a space wormhole and let the Skyship reach the Rainbow Sanctuary. But a tunnel wide enough for a starship eats energy like a glacier drinks sun.

Conservative estimate: months of stored power in magic trees. Good news—the world holds three World Tree Maidens gathered on this planet, three green hearts beating in chorus.

This might be the best chance in a thousand years for the New Land. A spell that would exhaust one maiden could be shared like rainfall, leaving no scar on their bodies.

And in the Forest Fortress, peak powers gathered like constellations. Three big shots from the Rangers Lodge. Three little dragon girls from Dragon Heaven. Plus two meowing catgirls, tails swaying like grass.

So many girls—you could open a zoo and fill it with starlight.

"This time... we can settle things for Ailuna once and for all, right?"

Yue Liuyi looked down the Forest Fortress’s galleries, shadows of friends lining the corridors like swaying bamboo. Confidence warmed her chest like morning sun.

"Don’t relax, Xiao Yue. Our goal isn’t just to burn out the chaos spawn. We must secure the Eternal Tear."

"Huh? The Eternal Tear..."

"Without it, your homeland will be in deep trouble, like a drought without rain..."

"Mm..."

Following Dixue’s light steps, the two girls reached the heart of the Forest Fortress—the first hall they’d ever visited, a familiar clearing in stone.

Fruits still hung from the ceiling like lanterns. Green sunlight spilled across tables carved from watermelon, a garden set indoors, dazzling.

It was just as lovely. Only the central round pool had grown a ring wider, and a crowd gathered around it, voices murmuring like a brook.

Most wore white lab coats, palms full of instruments Yue Liuyi couldn’t read, an elven research bloom rippling white.

Among them, she spotted a familiar figure, a silhouette like a gray willow.

"Gr–Grandmaster Gray...?"

"Oh? Lady Liuyi, Princess Dixue. Long time no see."

A faint smile bridged the melancholy on the gray-haired girl’s face, like sun peeking through rain.

"Long time no see! Master Gray, you’re here in the Rainbow Sanctuary too?"

Excitement fluttered in Yue Liuyi’s chest like sparrows; back at Linyun Academy, Master Gray had likely seen through both Yue Liuyi and Yue Dier’s identities, but held her tongue like a closed fan.

"I heard the Royal Tech Department needed help, so I came... and also..."

She paused, words catching like silk on a branch, and looked aside.

"Hm?"

Yue Liuyi glanced over. A black-haired little girl in a lab coat came into view, small as a sapling.

Branch in one hand, glass vial in the other, she bent by the pool and murmured like a spell-worked ripple:

"Turned blue yet...? Looks like the Rainbow Sanctuary’s mana field is at least 300 dpi. To shield magic from electrons, we need 500 dpi resistance or more. But then the wormhole’s diameter gets limited..."

"Huh? Is that Xiao Hei?"

"Yes. My little sister, Xiao Hei. I’m deeply grateful, Princess Dixue, Lady Liuyi—for giving her a chance to be a person again, like new rain on dry soil..."

"No need to thank me! It wasn’t mainly me—Ailuna was the one who forgave her. And Xiao Hei’s still small; she should be taught, not punished, like a sapling given sun."

"Thank you. Honestly, Xiao Hei turning out that way... I bear some of that weight."

Master Gray led them to a side table. As her story unfolded like a scroll, Yue Liuyi learned more about Xiao Hei.

Turns out, that black-haired “little” girl was already several decades old, a long spring.

For elves, she was still a child. Elven lifespan is three to four times that of humans; only around sixty do bodies ripen into adulthood, like fruit at last.

So elves have a long childhood, time to learn and drift with their joys like clouds.

Most elves love magic or growing things—helping in flower fields, or watching the forest breathe.

Xiao Hei, from tiny days, was obsessed with machines, a gaze like gears turning.

She made little electronic dogs and cats, mixing tech and tinkering into odd creatures, working day and night like a lamp that wouldn’t go out.

To humans, that’s normal. To elves, it’s strange, a metal bird in a green wood.

And unlucky—war erupted then, a storm with iron rain. Faced with warship cannons, elves were stunned and beaten, losing many. Most came to hate large machines like a thorn in the heart.

That aversion hasn’t faded much. So, besides her sister, Xiao Hei had no close friends, and couldn’t buy decent parts—no nuts, no bolts, just wishes.

Loneliness fanned her love for machines like wind feeding a flame.

Materials ran dry, so the black-haired girl turned her eyes to the sky. Outsiders’ weapons and warships became ore and circuits in her mind, stars to pluck.

She often slipped out, heading to dangerous battlefields to scavenge advanced circuits and essential parts, a magpie under thunderclouds.

It was deadly dangerous!

Even seasoned elf warriors clean battlefields in teams, careful as ants crossing a stream. Xiao Hei then was unarmed and small, a leaf in a gale.

Her parents forbade it. When pleading failed, they locked her at home like a bird in a cage.

Tears didn’t help. When no one watched, she ran away, a shadow sliding through a fence.

She never came back.

"..."

"So that’s how it was..."

Listening, Yue Liuyi sighed, a leaf drifting down inside her.

To love something and not be understood—that’s the bitterest ache, like winter in the bones.

Xiao Hei grew up at the wrong time, a flower opening in frost.

Now, the Elven Forest still bars human heavy machines, but science and mechanics are majors across their academies, seeds planted in many gardens.

If she lived in this age, Xiao Hei could research in daylight, maybe find kindred friends, sparks in the same night.

"Mm... war is cruel like fire; it breeds tragedies."

"But ending it in peace—like rain after drought—is wonderful!"

"That’s all thanks to Xiao Yue! The Xiao Yue body pillow was too cute. Without that, the elves wouldn’t have yielded."

"Don’t bring that up!! A World Tree Maiden turned into a pillow—of course elves would like it!!"

Thinking of it, Yue Liuyi flushed, heat blooming like cherry. The image of many elven girls hugging her made her feel toppled by a crowd, a pillow under a storm.

"Hehe~ By the way... want to return to the Skyship with me? To capture the Evil Deity, we need to refit the Skyship, hammer and star."

"Huh? We can go back?"

"Yeah. A wormhole for people is open. It’s just..."

"What’s wrong?"

"Dawn Goose already went through. I’m afraid she’ll break the ship again—like a goose in a glasshouse."

"She won’t break it again, right?"

"Not sure. I’ve got a bad feeling, like thunder with no cloud."

Dixue tapped her forehead, troubled—one small cloud smudging the sun.