“Where’s the Evil Deity? Why did the World Tree Maiden wake, like dawn cracking the horizon?”

The hands halted. The blue halo around the dial thinned like mist, turning clear. The sealing array dissolved, yet no shadow of the Evil Deity appeared.

There was only the pink‑haired girl, rising from coma like a bud breaking snow.

She opened her eyes slowly, gazing at the girls. Her irises, unlike Ailuna’s, were blood‑red.

Red like a sun about to fall into the earth, red like blood spray across cold stone.

In that gaze lived a thread of madness and a hint of grace; a smear of spite and a breath of calm—two contrary eyes overlapped like twin moons.

“LittleSnow, what’s going on?”

Yue Liuyi looked to the ever‑reliable LittleSnow, only to find the silver‑haired seer’s foresight clouded like a stormed mirror.

“Huh? What is this…”

Yue Dier’s mind raced like wind through pines. On the pink‑haired girl, she sensed two utterly different breaths.

One held the World Tree Maiden’s embrace and healing, like spring rain over roots.

One held the Red Giant Evil God’s frenzy and greed, like a star burning to ash.

The seal had opened, yet no further chaos leaked from the dial’s heart, no fog of corruption spilled.

Which meant—

“A‑Ailuna…”

Canary stood frozen, staring at the girl. Alisa was stunned too, her golden eyes wide like startled falcons.

The air congealed like frost. The pink‑haired girl only smiled, bare white feet stepping on the void, walking down from the dial’s center like a swan on still water.

“Didn’t expect Canary still alive… Huh? Alisa too. A thousand years gone, yet it feels unreal, like a dream that won’t fade.”

Her pink dress stirred without wind, tracing the grace of her figure. She was Ailuna, and yet—she felt entirely different, like a song in a new key.

“You’re not Ailuna. Who are you really?”

Seeing her approach, Tisinate planted herself in front of Ailuna, a wall of willow and steel.

In elven history, two World Tree Maidens never stood at once. This pink‑haired one couldn’t be the true Maiden.

“Call me the Red Giant Evil God. For the last thousand years, that’s the name I acted under.”

“The E‑Evil Deity!?”

The girls tightened their grips, blades and bows humming like taut strings in a winter gale.

Only Dixue thought for a heartbeat, then her eyes lit, like lanterns catching truth.

“Did you use your own body as a vessel to seal the Evil Deity in the end?”

“Yes.”

No ripple in her voice—she nodded as if agreeing to a small errand.

“The Evil Deity’s chaotic energy… is it all inside you now?”

“That’s right. So right now, I am the Evil Deity. The one who commanded those attacks on you—that was me.”

She stopped across from them. Alone, small, yet her aura pressed forward like a blade parting heavy grass.

“Do we… have to fight this Ailuna?”

Yue Liuyi’s doubt came first, like a chill before rain—and it matched everyone’s hearts. Evil Deity and Ailuna had become one. To end the Evil Deity, they would have to face the pink‑haired girl.

“Correct. But… you can’t stop me.”

Even alone, she showed no fear. Her presence weighed down like mountains, burying their breath.

Only Dixue kept her eyes on those red pupils, steady as winter stars—red and green, silver and pink, a wordless exchange across the void.

“You’re the leader of the heroes, aren’t you? You look like you have some skill.”

“You still insist on that?”

“Insist on what?”

“You can’t fool me. You’re not the Evil Deity.”

“Oh? Want me to show you a power only the Evil Deity holds?”

Her smile unfolded, and a nameless pressure spread like a sun’s heat over dry plains.

Facing a burning star, Yue Liuyi felt her skin sting, warm like iron under noon light.

“It is the Evil Deity’s power, but…”

Dixue didn’t move. Her face sank into shadow like a moon in eclipse.

“What are you saying?”

“Even Canary, who stayed with you a thousand years, doesn’t know. With a blind spot like that, how could you be the Evil Deity?”

“W‑What!?”

“You woke just now, didn’t you? Before, your body and mind were steered by the Evil Deity. But now, the World Tree Maiden’s will is in the lead.”

“W‑What do you mean? Canary… stayed with me for a thousand years?”

Panic cut her voice. Those blood‑red eyes scanned the room, flicking to Canary, then to Alisa, like a hawk searching for ground.

“Only Alisa is a heroic spirit. Canary isn’t—she became a Deity’s Chosen of the Evil Deity. Whatever you planned was scrambled by that corruption.”

Dixue shook her head slowly, a long sigh like a wind through old branches.

“Deity’s Chosen!? What is that? Canary, you were supposed to obey me and return to the Elven Capital!”

“I… I… ahhhh!”

Canary collapsed, clutching her head, a cry ripping out like a torn sail.

“Canary!”

“Are you okay?”

Alisa and the girls rushed in like rain on thirsty soil, but their hands couldn’t ease the pain.

“What is going on… Aren’t you heroes here to destroy me? Why are you spouting nonsense!”

Now truly anxious, the pink‑haired girl raised her voice, and the once‑silent dial swelled. Unknown things surged like black tide.

Tentacles rose, and shadow‑forged constructs warped by the Evil Deity crawled like night ivy.

“If you won’t attack, I’ll devour you all!”

Her shout cracked the air. Tentacles writhed, ready to strike like serpents uncoiling.

Dixue only lifted her hand, calm as frost over water.

“Malevolent spirits… begone.”

Silver‑white butterflies bloomed from beneath her feet, wing on wing, a flurry weaving into silver‑white chains like moonlight plaited tight.

The chains cinched the pink‑haired girl at once, binding her small form like a moth pressed in glass.

“Ugh!”

She struggled, then fainted under that power, falling into quiet like a lamp snuffed.

Dixue drew the chains back. Master Gray and Breeze moved by the plan, clasping another Cataclysm Chain around the pink‑haired girl like a second ring of winter.

“Huh? That’s it?”

Dawn Goose frowned, her black hair rippling like ink. She’d pictured a storm of war, a chance to blaze. Instead, Dixue handled it alone and ended the Evil Deity in a breath.

“Mm. It’s done. Everyone, back to the Skyship.”

Dixue said it, but Yue Liuyi noticed—there was no joy on her face, no sunlight after battle.

“LittleSnow…?”

“The Evil Deity… truly sly.”

Dixue stared at the bound pink‑haired girl, fist tight, knuckles white like frost.

…

…

…

What was the truth behind it?

They had won, yet Dixue stayed silent, carrying the unconscious Evil Deity girl into the Skyship’s study like a shadow carrying snow.

She told everyone to keep out, but Yue Liuyi didn’t plan to obey like a leaf in a stream.

It wasn’t for trouble. After living so long with Dixue, she knew when LittleSnow had plans like stars lined up—and when she only pretended to be strong.

Like now. She said no one should enter, but if Yue sneaked in, LittleSnow would be happy inside, like tea warmed by a familiar hand.

“LittleSnow? I’m coming in!”

“Ugh… Little Moon, how’d you slip in!”

Seeing the blue‑haired girl, Dixue lifted her eyes from the book, displeased like a cat swatted, but not truly angry.

“What are you doing, LittleSnow?”

“Reading. Looking for a way…”

Many books lay tossed aside, their spines like fallen tiles. Watching Dixue’s furrowed brows, Yue Liuyi knew—this answer wouldn’t be found on paper.

She sat beside her, resting her shoulder against LittleSnow’s, two reeds leaning in the wind.

“Huh? Little Moon…?”

“That girl isn’t the Evil Deity at all, right? She’s the prior Ailuna, awake with her own mind.”

The pink‑haired girl slept on the study’s sofa, her face pure as Ailuna’s—beautiful, simple, defenseless like a fawn. One look told Yue Liuyi more than pages could.

“Mm… The one who woke inside the seal was truly the World Tree Maiden, not the Evil Deity.”

Dixue shook her head sadly. In her green eyes, the first‑meeting melancholy returned, like dew on cold grass.

“Then the Evil Deity? Did Ailuna destroy it?”

“No. It’s still hiding in her body, trying to use our compassion to slip past judgment, like a fox under a lambskin.”

“To lose against us, it muted its own will. It let the prior Ailuna rise again. The Evil Deity expects that faced with her, we won’t strike hard.”

“Then Ailuna, she…”

“She was suppressed a thousand years, and dead a thousand years in all but name. That silly, kind prior Ailuna may think we’re just heroes following the original plan to destroy the Evil Deity. She doesn’t see that when she sealed it with her body, she was already altered.”

“So that Evil Deity… it’s vile.”

With LittleSnow’s words, Yue Liuyi understood at once, like clouds parting to mountains.

Why the Evil Deity fell so easily under their hands, like ice under sun.

Why Canary believed Ailuna had deceived her, like a song misheard.

Why the heart of the abyss held no servants of chaos, no swarm of mindless thralls.

Thinking back, those attacks by its apostles were probes, like pebbles thrown to test depth. Once it learned we were beyond its strength, it prepared to wake the prior Ailuna’s mind.

Now two paths lay before them like twin roads in fog.

End the Evil Deity completely—and end the kind prior Ailuna with it.

Preserve the prior Ailuna—and preserve the Evil Deity alongside her.

…

Both choices were what Yue Liuyi hated most, like bitter herbs on the tongue.

“Isn’t there a way to split the prior Ailuna from the Evil Deity?”

“A thousand years is a long root.”

Dixue drew Yue Liuyi close, a light hug like silk around the heart. The warmth of her lover softened the hurt in the silver‑haired girl.

“In those thousand years, Ailuna turned chaos into life, like storm into spring. But the Evil Deity also fused with her almost completely. No short‑term method can tear them apart.”

“Then… over a longer time?”

“Probably. We could find it like hunting a river’s source. But the Evil Deity would use that time to do something terrible.”

“Uh…”

Yue Liuyi rubbed her forehead, troubled, like a swallow wary of storm.

By cold logic, the former Ailuna was a spent lantern. Ailuna already held the World Tree steady, so sacrificing the former would let peace and joy settle back in.

Besides, the former Ailuna herself wished to be the blade and the wick—to end it by burning out.

However, this pink‑haired girl wasn’t a name carved into a gravestone; death wasn’t the only line left to her.

A thousand years of sacrifice were enough, like winter finally loosening its grip.

She was no longer the World Tree Maiden; that crown of leaves had slipped from her brow. Yet if the Evil Deity could be parted from Ailuna, the former Ailuna might live as an ordinary elven girl, sharing a small hearth with Canary.

But all of that was only a perhaps, like medicine against a stubborn sickness—no cure is certain, and no death is certain. One day the Evil Deity might seize Ailuna’s body and, with a perverse whim, unleash something twisted—a sudden storm that makes everyone suffer.

So... what should they do, standing at a fork where the road vanishes into fog?

Fate tossed everything into the unknown, like dice thrown into a dark river.

And the girls had to use that unknown as their only lamp,

to choose their fate, like pulling a single thread from the night.