The Skyship slipped back into its old calm, like a lake after a storm.

Once the ambush pricked its senses, the hidden defense web flared awake, helping the girls sweep away the last threats like dust in a gust.

With drones buzzing like wasps, Zaocun and Ji Wan held the Skyship’s kitchen, keeping precious stores safe from chaotic taint, like lanterns shielded from soot.

Lia reached the hall in time, stopping Nalitte from burning herself with a forbidden art, and with Dawn Goose at her flank, cut down the invading fallen elf Iyamo in the parlor like a rotten branch.

Whew... a scare without a wound, like thunder that never split the tree.

Yue Liuyi let out a long breath; she didn’t know what storms waited next, but this wave of raiders had ebbed like a receding tide.

Captured the Canary, eight foes down! But… Wan Han slipped away like a fish through reeds. Totally Dawn Goose’s fault!

Eh?! Why blame me—I’m not the leak in the hull!

You smashed the Skyship, Dawn Goose—without that crack, they wouldn’t have slipped in like night fog!

Dixue glared at the wrecked interior; though the foes were dead, blood smears and chaotic corrosion clung like mold, turning the once gilt Skyship into a haunted house.

Uh...

Dixue sis, don’t be mad! It was all Ailuna’s mess, so let Ailuna clean it up, like sweeping her own fallen petals!

Ailuna glanced enviously at Zaocun and Ji Wan, already picturing herself in a maid outfit, like a cherry blossom dressing for spring.

Lady Ailuna, small chores like these, I’ll handle them, like trimming branches after rain.

No way! Tisinate sis barely healed; don’t toss her back into the wind.

It’s fine. As Elven Queen, such scars are dew on leaves, gone by sunrise.

But this time, Ailuna did the uncommon—she didn’t obey Tisinate, a reed standing against the stream.

N-no! I won’t let sis work again, not while the wound still whispers like winter.

Eh…? Lady Ailuna, are you… worrying about me, like a lamp guarding the night?

O-of course! It was so close, like a cliff edge under mist.

Ailuna drew a shaky breath, tears rising like flood tide. “I almost lost you forever… so this time, let me lend my strength.”

Alright then… but I’ll guard Ailuna’s side, like a hawk over a fledgling.

Seeing Ailuna so resolute, Tisinate let the argument drift away like smoke.

...

The Skyship kept gliding deeper into the Naraku Abyss, like a swan sliding into twilight.

When it comes to purifying chaotic corrosion, the World Tree Maidens are deft as gardeners before dawn.

Ailuna simply darted back and forth, and the floor’s chaotic blight fizzled clean, like frost melting under sunlight.

(She wanted to roll across the floor for speed, but Tisinate stopped her, sharp as a blade.)

Breeze also worked in the engine room; with the Maidens’ blessing, the Skyship’s exhaust washed away most of the black smoke outside, like rain cleaning the night.

The Canary told them the Naraku Abyss wasn’t always pure black; once it was like the Rainbow Sanctuary—birdsong, blossoms, sunlight, and clean air, a meadow under spring.

But the sealing array on the Evil Deity was flawed, letting chaos creep like ivy. The Canary’s hatred for Ailuna let it spread unchecked, until the Abyss turned into this night sea.

Why did the previous Ailuna bully the Canary like that, like wind harrying a caged bird?

Maybe… there’s a hidden truth we don’t know, like stones under a river’s skin.

Yue Liuyi only shook her head at Ailuna, like a willow refusing more rain.

Times shift; people change; the world keeps its face while hearts trade masks.

The old truth was buried in the dust of history with that World Tree Maiden’s passing. Yet Yue Liuyi felt misread steps somewhere, like footprints smudged by rain.

Like when she faced LittleSnow while wearing a boy’s name, maybe Ailuna had a secret she couldn’t speak, or an irresistible force bent the course, like wind pushing a kite astray.

Facing such unknowns, why feed malice? Better meet them with the best mind, like opening windows to dawn.

At least, guessing kindly about a cruel person costs little; but doubting a kind one with the worst heart is a thorn Yue Liuyi can’t accept.

Yue Liuyi clenched her fist. Her small palm held a power she had never dared to imagine, like thunder bottled in jade.

It was star-born magic, like a meteor shower of moon and starlight, able to erase a small city in a breath.

But she knew this power wasn’t for casual use. Crushing a person might be easy; abuse would make her like Wan Han—a Murder Fiend lurking in shadow, like a wolf in a cave.

True judgment needs careful weighing, like scales steady in still air.

Many things aren’t what they seem—no pure black, no pure white, more like mist shading the hills.

This universe holds countless civilizations, and with them countless laws and morals. What’s wrong to some is right to others, like two moons over one sea.

(Being a World Tree Maiden is a vine-tangle… but thankfully, LittleSnow stands beside me like a lighthouse.)

Yue Liuyi blinked and looked at LittleSnow at the helm, a swan steering through fog.

Eh? Little Yue, got something? Want to snuggle your sis, like a kitten curling by the hearth?

Even steering the ship, Dixue felt the blue-haired girl’s gaze like a warm ray.

Eh?! O-of course not! LittleSnow, just steer. Why keep staring at me like the moon chasing one cloud?

Because Little Yue is cute! And there’s nothing on this road worth noting—the path is calm like glass water.

Still, you can’t just stare at me all the time, like a crane at its own reflection!

Hehe… Eh? What’s that?

While they chatted, something drifted toward the Skyship, slow as a leaf on a black river.

With no reference in the void, a lone shape, the eye couldn’t judge its size, like a star without constellations.

But gauges and the magic scanner whispered numbers: not large, about two meters long, like a fallen trunk.

Butterfly Snow President, chaotic life-sign ahead, like ripples in tar!

Chaotic life? That drifting thing, like a lump in pitch?

Yes.

Uh… got it. Ready to fire—wait, like a blade paused mid-fall!

Dixue’s gaze was hawk-sharp; a heartbeat before the order, the silver-haired girl recognized the shape, like a face in mist.

W-Wan Han?!

...

...

With a telescoping arm, they reeled Wan Han in from the Naraku Abyss like a fish from black water.

Or rather… they laid Wan Han’s corpse inside a glass casket, like winter sealing a flower.

Eyes shut, Wan Han lay still. Outside the glass, Dixue held Yue Liuyi’s small hand; Ailuna hid behind Tisinate like a fawn behind an oak.

I-is he dead, like a candle gone cold?

Careful. He might explode. Wan Han’s powers are strange, like coils under sand.

Tisinate stroked Ailuna’s head, stopping the pink-haired girl from stepping closer, like a hand holding back tide.

Wan Han’s corpse was eerily dead, like a puppet with its strings burned.

Aside from a single slash in his back, his body held no other cuts, like snow unmarred save one footprint.

The killer’s hand was keen—looked like a one-strike kill, clean as lightning.

But who could kill a man this hard to corner, like netting a storm?

Is this really that Wan Han, like a mask over a face?

For a moment, even Yue Liuyi couldn’t believe it. She cast a probe on the corpse, like a lantern searching reeds.

No doubt—it was him, and utterly dead. Plant cells, animal cells, all were breaking apart, like a failed culture dish collapsing to ash.

Wan Han’s soul flickered, almost gone, like a firefly at dawn.

Sisters! He really seems dead! A-and! He… seems to be saying something, like a whisper under water!

Ailuna had probed too, but as a World Tree Maiden she could speak with souls—an innate gift, like roots talking through soil.

Eh? Ailuna can talk to Wan Han, like wind across chimes?

Yes! He’s saying… ugh… “snuffed out…” like a wick drowned.

With Ailuna’s cry, Yue Liuyi’s probe lost the soul’s trace entirely; when a soul vanishes, it’s final—no art brings it back, like a river gone to desert.

Looks like… he’s truly dead, like frost over a grave.

Ailuna-chan, what did Wan Han say at the end, like a last bell?

Mm… his soul was unwilling, like a tethered beast. He said “deception”… but couldn’t finish.

Ailuna lowered her head; in the end she still couldn’t catch his last words, like rain swallowing syllables.

Deception?

Yeah. In the end, he only said that single word—“deception,” like a thorn left behind.

What does it mean, like fog over a path?

Dixue frowned, studying Wan Han’s body like a scribe reading an old scar.

She’d expected another fierce clash with him, like steel on storm, but he had died just like this.

Who killed this man, like a hunter in night?

Dixue hesitated, and an answer rose, clear as a shadow on snow.

(The Evil Deity…?) like a chill through bone.

She doubted it, yet in the Naraku Abyss only the Evil Deity seemed to have such reach, like a hand spanning night.

(But why does something feel off, like a note out of tune?)

Even with the answer on her doorstep, Dixue still felt a misstep, like grit in the gears.

(Wan Han shouldn’t be dead. As a puppet, he still had use. Without pawns, how would the Evil Deity face our strike, like a chessboard with no pieces?)

The silver-haired girl couldn’t find the answer and stood there, troubled, like a pine rooted in wind.