“Is it over?”

“Yeah. The power core and the processing hub got smashed—like lanterns blown out in a storm. We’re clear.”

Dixue nodded and stepped forward, her shadow like a cold blade on steel. The two Mechanical Mantis lay as twisted scrap, harmless as dead leaves to the girls now.

“Wow! You’re really amazing. Looks like Little Illusion didn’t secretly drug you, bag you, and make you headliners. That restraint was a wise move!”

Purple Illusion bounced to the mangled mantis, her smile bright as neon in drizzle.

“Eek!!!”

“Oh? Sounds like this little girl needs big sis to train her—like shaping clay with warm hands.”

Dixue’s gaze slid over and turned to frost. The chill bit like winter air.

“Uu… w-wait! Sorry, silver-haired big sis. Little Illusion misspoke… p-please don’t look at me with eyes sharp as icicles…”

The violet-haired girl flinched back a step, like a sparrow spooked from a branch.

“Not the time to joke, okay? If LittleSnow really gets mad, she’ll snatch you up—like wind grabbing a kite.”

Yue Liuyi soothed her with a voice soft as warm tea; she knew Purple Illusion was only teasing.

But—

The pause hit like a raindrop on hot iron. Yue Liuyi didn’t expect the violet-haired girl to answer like this:

“No, Little Illusion wasn’t joking! What I did was a demo of seductive-sub teaching. If Sister Liuyi keeps it up, the silver-haired sis will turn very dom, and then you two can find happiness.”

“I am not a seductive sub!!!”

“What are you even saying—aaah!!!”

No wonder she ran a maid café. With one line, the two girls were spun like leaves caught in a playful gust.

…

…

With the Mechanical Mantis handled, the girls retraced their steps, like following a thread back through dusk-lit streets.

“You two are really strong. Little Illusion and the Three Bros spent tons of effort on a mantis, but you wiped them in one breath—like candles in wind! If you won’t be headliners, you could be bodyguards… starting salary ten thousand each!”

Purple Illusion’s intent glimmered like a net thrown wide; she still wanted these two in her camp.

The pay was high enough to make Yue Liuyi’s heart wobble like a kite in updraft. But Yue Dier—princess of the Night Clan—couldn’t be bought with small coins tossed like pebbles.

“Ten thousand’s too small. If you want me and Little Yue, it’ll cost you the entire Capital Alliance.”

“The entire Capital Alliance…?”

“For Dreamwood Star, the Capital Alliance is essential—like pillars to a hall. But at the same time, they gnaw like termites. If you’ll help us seize the Capital Alliance’s reins, we’ll crush Mechanical Mantis like stepping on dry twigs. Easy.”

“Eh? That’s totally not equivalent! And Little Illusion already said it!! The Capital Alliance is one of Little Illusion’s big clients. How could I lay hands on my guests?”

Her mouth pouted, a crescent of dusk.

“But the Capital Alliance has started to threaten your business—like vines strangling a wall! Little Yue, those mantis usually live deep in the underground tunnels, right?”

“Eh? Y-yes!”

Last time underground, Yue Liuyi reached the Mechanical Tree’s great hollow and only then got swarmed by mantis like iron locusts.

This time they showed up in surface-level subway tunnels—depths apart by at least a few hundred meters, like sea floor to shoreline.

“For the mantis to go on the offensive like this, it looks like a chain reaction from yesterday.”

Dixue’s reasoning fell precise as snow on slate. “Like ants when rain drums their hill, insects protect their nests. Yesterday’s explosion likely shook the earth, and the Mechanical Mantis mistook it for an attack—so they mobilized.”

She never mentioned the Mechanical World Tree—she kept that card close like a moon hidden by cloud, probing Purple Illusion’s reaction.

“That line of thought… Little Illusion did consider it. But there’s no solid proof to link the events. Little Illusion doesn’t want to anger the Capital Alliance.”

“But you know this: the money you make rides the balance of power—like a boat between two tides.”

“Eh…?”

The violet-haired girl glanced up at the silver-haired beauty—beauty like frost-lit crystal.

People say the prettier the girl, the more dangerous—like roses hiding thorns.

Is the silver-haired one like that too? She knows my core secret…

“The Council and the Capital stand in stalemate—two mountains facing off. That’s why you can work the middle ground, doing what neither side can touch. But if the Capital Alliance grows too strong, they’ll fold your café into their hive. No doubt.”

As a Night Clan princess, Yue Dier knew many disciplines like constellations on a clear night—and she saw straight through Purple Illusion’s deepest worry.

“Uu! So what? Only Little Illusion can train girls and boys like sculpting silk and steel! I swear, if capital dares seize my café, Q2 revenue will drop by fifty percent!”

Purple Illusion snapped back, her defiance sparking like flint.

“That’s true—for café services. But the Capital Alliance can use your café to seed more industries, like foot spa arcades and bathhouse chains. They’ll exploit Dreamwood Star’s girls to build a grey empire—smog on the skyline.”

“Eh, eh!?”

“That’s why it’s urgent. Only me and this blue-haired girl can stop the danger, like rain before wildfire.”

“W-why… how can you two stop all that?”

“Because…”

Dixue’s face turned to ice-white calm; she tugged Yue Liuyi closer, a comet drawn to moon.

“Ah—LittleSnow, don’t yank me like that! You’re making me lose face, like a cat carried by the scruff!”

“Eh…? Little Yue, sorry. How about this?”

Before Yue Liuyi could protest, her world went light as feathers. LittleSnow’s hand circled her waist and thigh, and—like a princess in a fairy-tale—she was lifted into a full carry.

“Wah! LittleSnow, you’re getting way too bold!”

“Don’t fight me, Little Yue. Be good and lie in big sis’s arms—like drifting on willow shade.”

Yue Liuyi wriggled like a fish in net, but nothing worked. Dixue held her in a shameless princess carry, and in public no less. LittleSnow’s fingers—long and smooth as bamboo shoots—wandered and teased through the thin dress, tracing every inch of Yue Liuyi’s skin like brushstrokes on silk.

“Uu—L-LittleSnow, you’re awful!”

“If Little Yue keeps resisting, big sis will cover your mouth too—like a quieting hand over a chirp.”

“Uu… uu…”

Purple Illusion watched, baffled, like a moth circling a lantern—and then the strange thing happened.

A surge of mana flooded the space, pouring in like a tide under a full moon.

“Eh? Th-this magical flux… so strong! Stronger than the Three Bros and Little Illusion by so much…”

Her eyes went wide; she stepped back like a sparrow dodging a hawk.

In a heartbeat, the power blooming from the silver-haired girl vaulted past Master-class, even beyond the exalted tiers, straight into Legendary—force that writes its own myths like thunder carving valleys.

“Exactly. I and my Little Yue carry power deep as winter seas. With it, we can stand against the Capital Alliance.”

“Uu! How are you two this strong!!! (sdl, wsl!!!)”

“So—leave the shadows and join the light. When the new park in the Winterwood District rises, we’ll reserve you a prime spot, bright as sunrise.”

Yue Dier said it while holding Yue Liuyi close, her embrace firm as a vow.