After they felled the Evil Deity’s apostle, the Skyship drifted like a lone gull over a windless sea of ink.

No attacks came, no enemies stirred, not even a landmark rose like a cairn in fog.

The Naraku Abyss yawned like a lightless well, and only the map pulsed like a distant lantern to prove they moved at all.

Half an hour slid by like sand through a glass, and at the horizon’s rim, something new glimmered like frost on stone.

“LittleSnow, did we reach the center?” Yue Liuyi’s voice trembled like a plucked string in a quiet hall.

“Not yet, this should be…” LittleSnow’s reply hung like mist before dawn.

The Skyship eased closer like a hunter boat nosing reeds, and the distant cubes gleamed like ice blocks against black water.

Up close, the “crystals” turned into cages, each one a cold coffin floating like a starless shard.

Inside the cages lay corpses like fallen scarecrows in winter fields, all of them undead husks caught mid-sin.

The sight outside the hull struck Yue Liuyi like a chill blade, rows of crystals drifting like graves under a midnight tide.

Some trapped figures wore layered armor like iron shells, some were orcs hefting massive cleavers like butcher moons.

A dwarf under a meter floated like a knotted root, and an elf in a violet cloak lay like a withered petal.

Some bodies were ruined beyond memory like bark stripped from a tree, while others looked lifelike, like sleepers under snow.

Hundreds of crystals held hundreds of dead like a silent constellation, all staggered around the Skyship like a haunted ring.

It was eerie as wind through temple chimes, enough to chill bone, especially in a place untrodden for centuries like a sealed tomb.

“LittleSnow, what’s going on here?” Yue Liuyi’s worry spilled like water from a chipped cup.

“Mm… let me check!” LittleSnow’s silver hair flashed like moonlight, and she raised the Skyship’s scope like a falcon’s eye.

“These are very sturdy magic crystal cages, like mountain quartz, but they’re still… different,” she murmured like rain on slate.

“What’s different about them…” Yue Liuyi’s doubt curled like smoke in a cold room.

“Usually, magic crystal doesn’t decay with time, like rock against wind, but many here are badly damaged like cracked glass.”

“Maybe the flaw was there from the start, like a crooked beam in a house?” Yue Liuyi’s guess fell like a pebble in a well.

“Mm.” Dixue nodded, her gaze tracing runes like ant trails. “The sigils are too simple, like rushed brushstrokes.”

“Whoever made these cages lacked power or time, like a scribe at sunset,” Dixue added, voice low as mossy stone.

“Oh? That means the Evil Deity likely forged them, like a spider spinning traps, and those inside were the heroes who tried to seal it…”

“Mm…” The thought lingered like thunder beyond the ridge.

“That’s not it!” A bright girl’s voice cut in like a bell, sharp against silence from behind them.

Yue Liuyi turned, and a blonde girl with a wooden bow stepped from air like a dawn shape surfacing from mist.

It was Alisa, a witness of the War of Chaos a thousand years ago, like an old banner lifted anew.

“Miss Alisa?” Yue Liuyi’s greeting rose like a swallow from the eaves.

“Lady Yue Liuyi, calling this lot ‘warriors’ stains the word like soot on silk,” Alisa said, eyes cold as winter stars.

“Eh? Then they’re…” Yue Liuyi’s breath hitched like a snagged kite.

“Traitors,” Alisa spat the word like a bitter seed, disdain hard as flint.

“T‑traitors?” The term rattled like beads in a jar.

“Yes. They took the Evil Deity’s lure like moths to flame, became slaves to Chaos like oxen under a yoke.”

“They lost reason and turned blades on their own, like wolves in sheepfolds, spreading terror across the world like wildfire.”

“There are really people like that?” The thought chilled like a draft through cracked paper windows.

“Mm… Little Moon, there are,” Dixue said, her voice soft as falling ash, her eyes shadowed like storm water.

“Those enslaved by the Evil Deity are often worse than Chaos beasts, like vipers hiding under fallen leaves.”

“They lurk in society’s dark, use religion as a banner like a false lantern, to spread rot like mold on grain,” Dixue explained.

“Because they wear masks like festival paint, people don’t guard against them at first, like city gates left ajar.”

“You’re right,” Alisa growled, veins taut like bowstrings as she stared at the cages like a hawk eyeing carrion.

“Many were nobles in silk and gold, like peacocks on thrones, who bowed out of fear like reeds in wind.”

“They fled duty and submitted without a fight, like dogs to the whip,” Alisa said, voice iron-hard as a bell clapper.

“The human king, Lajins. The beastfolk Grand Shaman, Kuerle. The elf north-garrison captain, Iyamo—each one a fallen pillar like rot in a beam.”

“Without their betrayal, the Chaos incursion wouldn’t have spread so fast, like fire dashing through dry reeds,” she finished.

“Ugh.” Her litany struck Yue Liuyi like sleet, and a nameless ache welled up like a bruise.

It felt like history replayed on a warped mirror, flashes cutting through her mind like lightning through cloud.

A blade from behind, cold as a snake; a drugged drink passed across, sweet as poisoned nectar.

A smile worn like a mask, sharp as a hidden hook; a vow discarded in mud, heavy as a drowned stone.

“Little Moon, are you okay?” Yue Dier noticed at once, her concern blooming like warmth by a brazier.

She pulled Yue Liuyi into her arms like gathering fallen leaves, patting her back light as drifting snow.

“I’m… I’m fine,” Yue Liuyi said, shaking her head like a tired flower in wind.

Her dazed look stung Dixue’s heart like a thorn, making pity rise like a tide.

“Seems Little Moon’s exhausted; go rest a bit, like a bird to a nest?” Dixue coaxed, voice soft as velvet.

“I’m okay…” Yue Liuyi tried to steady herself like a reed in rain.

“It’s fine, the big sisters will handle—wait—” Dixue’s words halted like a step at a cliff.

“Help! Help!!!!” A young scream tore the corridor like a white tear in night silk.

It was shock-struck and ghost-bright, like someone seeing a shadow at noon.

“What happened?” The question leapt like a spark onto dry straw.

“That sounds like Emily!?” The name rang like a silver bell in a crowded market.

The plea barely faded like ripples on a pond, when another sound slammed closer like thunder under the eaves.

Boom! The bridge door kicked inward like a ram, smoke curling in like storm fog.

“Enemy attack?” The words snapped like a banner in sudden wind.

“Little Moon, don’t leave my side!” The warning wrapped her like a cloak in rain.

A huge silhouette loomed through smoke like a mountain bear, three meters tall with crimson eyes like coals.

Wild hair bristled like a thicket, and sharp fangs gleamed like frost, the shape filling the doorway like a boulder.

The one who shattered the bridge door was a massive orc, but its life was gone like a spent ember.

Its skin was bluish-gray with red blotches like rot on fruit, and its left arm showed naked bone like winter branches.

It roared, and corpse-stench rushed in like a sewered gust, foul as swamp gas under heat.

“LittleSnow!” Yue Liuyi cried, fear beating like wings in her chest.

“Break!” Dixue answered, her magic blooming like a silver spear through fog.

Across from her, Alisa drew her bow like a crescent moon, loosing light like a golden comet.

Gold and silver flares crossed like twin meteors, driving straight for the undead orc’s vitals like knives for the knot.

The corpse-orc tried to strike back like a cornered boar, but their aim was too sharp, like frost on a blade.

Riiip—its head and chest burst like gourds under hammer, and the brute toppled like a felled tree.

Magic fire ate the body like hungry moths, leaving ash drifting like gray snow that wouldn’t rise again.

Alisa ran in and crouched like a hunter at spoor, eyes scanning the ruin like ink over a scroll.

“I know this orc! It’s the beastfolk shaman, Kuerle!” Her voice cut like a whistle through sleet.

“Then that means…” The implication rose like smoke toward rafters.

“Butterfly Snow President, Lady Liuyi!” Master Gray’s voice crackled from the instruments like a hawk’s cry in wind.

“Some bodies inside the crystal cages just vanished like candles snuffed, and scanners show heavy spatial magic ripples like stones in a lake!”

“Got it!” Dixue lifted her bow from her back like a winter branch, and gripped Yue Liuyi’s hand like warm silk.

“LittleSnow, what do we do…” Yue Liuyi asked, steadiness gathering like dew on grass.

“Stay on guard,” Dixue said, calm as a still pond. “The enemy has boarded the Skyship like wolves into the fold.”

“Mm!” The answer landed like a nod of steel.

The enslaved stepped in through teleport light like ghosts crossing thresholds.

The apostle raised blades again like storm banners unfurled, and old fear spread like night swallowing the land.