"Move out!"

Dixue, sharp as a drawn blade, gave the command at the Forest Fortress. Her voice cracked like a banner in the dawn wind.

Her silver hair caught the morning light, scattering sparks like frost in sunlight.

A silver-white ship eased out of the silent Forest Fortress, like a swan breaking the mist.

Everything was set; from this moment, the girls began their hunt for the Evil Deity, like a bowstring finally let loose.

Yue Liuyi stood by the Skyship’s tall window, watching the Forest Fortress recede like a gray island in a sea of fog.

Their reflections slid through the glass into her eyes, like ripples catching light. The Skyship’s lounge hadn’t felt this lively in ages.

Except for Maria and Lingwei tending the patients, and the two princesses of Dragon Heaven staying back, nearly everyone had deployed like migratory birds taking wing.

Dawn Goose sat in the shade, polishing her pitch-black longsword; she was a clump of deep violet shadow. Those who knew her knew that calm was a mask, like a lake hiding a storm.

When this girl strikes, she doesn’t stop until the goal is carved clean, like an arrow that refuses to fall short.

Not far away, San Hua Zhi, in a plain black kimono, sat quietly in the galley. Her hands rolled fresh rice into nori, block by block, like white snow tucked into sea-green leaves. Sushi was born for the road, a soldier’s meal you could carry, still delicious without flame.

Though she hailed from the Sakura Realm, San Hua Zhi learned this sushi craft from Dawn Goose. Once a blood priestess living beside a sea of scarlet, she had scorned such simple skills, had no time to learn. After life calmed, the kimono girl fell into the quiet joy of cooking, like a stream slipping back into its bed.

Lia and the others bustled, tidying and hauling, like swallows stitching a nest. For Nalite and Lia, the Skyship wasn’t new, so the girls quickly took their posts—reinforce and hold the weak sections.

The Elven Forest battle had battered the Skyship. Some repairs were done, but many blind spots in surveillance remained, needing eyes to stand watch, like lanterns set along a foggy road.

"All systems nominal. Safe winds to you all!"

Maria’s voice flowed from the mic, warm as tea. The Rainbow Sanctuary scrambled electronics, gutting her combat ability, so since arriving she had stepped to the rear, no longer fighting in person.

Not marching with her friends gnawed at her, a thin ache; but guarding the Forest Fortress mattered, like anchoring a bridge. Maria had to keep the retreat stable; otherwise, even if they seized the Evil Deity, they couldn’t ferry it to space.

"Butterfly Snow President, Sister Liuyi! You got this!"

Zero Wei stayed too. Since reaching the Rainbow Sanctuary, the white-haired catfolk girl had turned off her fluff-ball mode, but that didn’t stop her careful hands from tending the wounded. Bernice, Xia Jiajun, Qin Hui—all recovered under Lingwei’s care.

"Do your best! And come back safe, okay!"

Yue Liuyi waved at the friends on the Forest Fortress, watching those familiar figures drift away like lanterns on a river.

...

The Skyship cut through the air, heading for the heart of the Rainbow Sanctuary, like a gull arrowing toward the sun.

Inside the Sanctuary, nothing can fly too high. The border currents shear and toss; hulls get chewed with needless scars, like bark scraped by storm.

So the Skyship skimmed just above the ridgelines. Ahead, milky fog walled the view, a blank white canvas where shapes refused to form.

"Butterfly Snow President, I lost to you last time. But I have faith in the Silverwing Elves’ combat skill. When needed, we’ll act on our own judgment."

Perhaps leaning on her crown, Tisinate didn’t bend to Dixue’s command. As the ship cleared the Forest Fortress, she went to the control room to find Dixue, her steps clicking like beads on a string.

"All right... act as you wish."

"Huh?"

The Elven Queen blinked, surprised at how cleanly Dixue agreed, like a blade with no drag.

"Just don’t make a mess of it."

Dixue only nodded, friendly as a spring breeze. Smart as she was, Yue Dier knew Tisinate’s reckless edge hid a careful leader, like steel wrapped in silk.

As a leader, you can’t let a flash of emotion muddy judgment. Dixue believed Tisinate had that discipline. Facing the Red Giant Evil God, Tisinate would obey Dixue’s orders, keeping the compass steady in storm.

After all, few races have more experience fighting chaos-beasts than the Night Clan. And Ailuna’s safety was at stake; Tisinate wouldn’t gamble, like a mother guarding the hearth.

"This time... we have to store proper records, not repeat the fog of before."

In the cockpit sat a gray-haired girl. Melancholy pooled in her pale violet eyes as she stared outside, her gaze melting into the thick fog like ink into water.

This girl was "Gray," burdened with many thoughts, like a kite snagged in branches.

A thousand years ago, the elves faced chaos invasion too. For reasons unknown, records didn’t survive; the single file Dixue found at the Forest Fortress is all the elves preserved, like one leaf left from a burned forest.

"I don’t know how dangerous the Evil Deity is... if only I could ask someone."

The worry drifted like smoke.

Thousands died to the Evil Deity a millennium ago. Now, how many lives must buy peace? The thought pressed like winter on her chest.

It left the gray-haired girl sunless inside; joy wouldn’t rise, like a bird with wet wings.

"Are you looking for me?"

"Eh!?"

Gray’s eyes flew wide as a smiling blonde girl slowly floated into view, like sunlight slipping through cloud.

"Who are you!? Trying to steal Ailuna!?"

Tisinate noticed the sudden figure too. Losing Ailuna once had filled the Elven Queen with guilt; she met any possible intruder with hard-edged hostility, like thorns rising on a rose.

But when she saw the long pointed elf ears, the graceful wooden longbow, hair gold as the sun, and that exquisite face, even cautious Tisinate froze, like a stream suddenly iced.

"Y-you’re..."

"So you’re the current Elven Queen? Meeting a UR-tier ancestor, and treating her like this—how rude."

Alisa shook her head, "disappointed," and didn’t even walk—she drifted right up to Tisinate, like a petal on wind.

"Th-the Sun Guardian? Lady Alisa!? H-how can this be..."

Tisinate gaped. Alisa had been summoned by Lia long ago, but she’d stayed hidden, watching the elven juniors from shadow. This face-to-face was the first, like moonlight stepping out of clouds.

"Because the new Recognizer of the Light Fortress is really capable, I came back."

Alisa looked Tisinate over, head to toe and back, like a merchant weighing silk. After a moment, she shook her head, a little displeased.

"Sheer clothes, black stockings, vivid lipstick... Has the Elven Queen’s taste really sunk this low?"

"Uh...?"

Tisinate flinched back a step. Queen though she was, she still took elders’ scoldings to heart, like a student with palms upturned.

"Looks like elven aesthetics have been backsliding year by year. Back then, my little Canary wore the day like a spirited queen, and the night like a cute loli. Her taste was sky-high."

"Little Canary...? Do you mean—the Elven Queen of those days, Lady Canary!?"

"Of course~"

Facing the shocked junior, Alisa nodded, satisfied. "Every time Ailuna bullied her, she came to me to complain, hmm..."

Alisa shook her head and sighed, discouraged. "But I couldn’t help her. Once Lady Ailuna learned Little Canary came to me to have an affair, she bullied her even more... Ah, those two are impossible..."

Tisinate froze.

At Alisa’s accidental revelation, the Elven Queen swallowed hard, deciding to bury this secret forever, like a stone dropped into a deep well.

Whether it was the Elven Queen Canary from a thousand years back, or the hero Alisa raised into statue, both were the greatest, most honored figures of the Elven Kingdom. Their efforts held the chaos-beasts at bay, like pillars holding up the sky.

These elders are now spiritual pillars. Because of them, elves fight to this day, not bowing even under outsiders’ warships and cannon, like bamboo bending yet unbroken.

But the girl’s revelation...

This was a full-blown love triangle, tangled as ivy!

And it involved the World Tree Maiden’s affair, cheating, teasing—a knotted triangle!

If that got out, forget defeating chaos—elves would turn chaotic first, like a flock thrown into a storm.

"Oh?"

Seeing Tisinate’s layered expression, Alisa finally sensed something amiss, like a note off-key.

"Uh... right! Anyway, Little Canary had stellar taste! As the Elven Queen now, learn to dress properly and set a correct example for the elves!"

"Y-yes! B-but... Senior Alisa, this outfit is exactly what Lady Ailuna expects... What should I do?"

"Huh? Ailuna?"

"Not the former one. She’s the World Tree Maiden reborn after the war. Lady Ailuna is 752 now."

"Oh... got it. I happen to have a question for Lady Ailuna—take me to her."

"Okay!"

Though she ruled other elves with one word, right now Tisinate was like a little girl, not daring to defy Alisa at all, like a twig before a gale.

But...

"Eh!? Where’s Ailuna!? She was right outside—did someone steal her!?"

Tisinate looked left and right, but Ailuna’s figure was gone, like mist swallowed by mist.

"Out the door, third game room on the left! Ailuna just got called to play mahjong by Zaocun."

"M-mahjong?"

"Mm... Remember to knock first. It’s the World Tree Maiden special venue."

Yue Dier, having watched the whole "elven civil commotion," spoke lightly, like a cat stretching in sunlight.