Lucimia watched Rexi, one thought echoing like a bell in a cavern.

Strange.

Too strange.

This girl named Rexi wasn’t an ordinary adventurer, not a fallen leaf but a coiled spring.

Lucimia remembered the heartbeat before her Ice Lance struck. Rexi kept saying she was scared or surrendering, yet her tone danced like a cat batting yarn. She spoke like they were playing a game, sunrise behind thin cloud. She seemed sure Lucimia wouldn’t truly hurt her, as if friendship were a given and strangers needed no armor. Is that how an adventurer survives? No. Not in any wildwood.

Later, Lucimia did kill her. True terror cracked Rexi’s face like ice on a pond. But after Lucimia used Reversion, those eyes didn’t slide back to mischief. They kept the frost of fear.

What does that mean? It means she kept her memories, untouched by the river of time.

How do you keep memories from being swept by Reversion? Two ways. One is an Authority Power. The other is a power on Reversion’s tier, above a Blessing yet below an Authority Power.

Among Authority Powers, Devouring, Deception, Purification, and Exemption are ones Lucimia knew could anchor memory against the tide.

So the girl’s resistance had two likely roots. Either Rexi held an Authority Power or a special ability, maybe a new Authority Power that shields memory like a stone in a stream. Or she was a believer of the Purification Church, carrying a holy relic of the Purification Deity like a lantern in fog.

But Lucimia had just checked. Rexi wore nothing, and no trace of the Purification Deity’s touch glimmered on her. That leaves one path.

She said she was strong. Was that finger snap that toppled the horse her doing, a tripwire of air? Was my spell failing also her hand, like snuffing a candle?

What is her Authority Power? “Nullification”? Or something like “Cancel an ongoing action,” cut clean as a knife through silk?

Lucimia decided to keep a blade of caution between them, thin and bright.

She walked to a flatter patch inside the cave, the air still as a held breath. She swept the ground with a quick spell, like wind over sand. She pulled a blanket from her Storage Ring, tossed it down, and sat to rest.

All the while, Rexi stood frozen, sweat beading like rain on leaves as she stared at Lucimia.

Fine. Lucimia was sure now. The girl remembered being killed a moment ago, a thorn under the skin. She looked like the kind who wears her heart on her face, emotions inked like calligraphy.

That only made it stranger. Lucimia smiled at Rexi, warmth like a candle hiding a pin. She patted the empty spot across the blanket.

“Want to chat with me?”

“Uh…” Rexi wavered, thoughts whirling like autumn leaves. Then she feigned a flustered flail. “I almost forgot! I left water boiling at home! The mana crystal won’t stop, it’ll keep heating! So, I’ll just go!”

She took a step toward the cave mouth, light as a startled deer.

Lucimia coughed twice, soft but sharp as pebbles in a stream. Rexi had to stop.

“Aren’t you being hunted?” Lucimia smiled like a crescent blade. “Won’t going home get you caught?”

“Uh… my home isn’t in the city! It’s out in the wild!” Rexi pivoted quick, a fish slipping a net.

“Built of wood?”

“Mm… yeah!” She almost said “cave,” then chose “wood,” easier to burn like tinder.

“Oh, then it’s probably too late. If it burns, it’s ash already. Why not keep me company awhile?”

“Eh…” Rexi understood. Lucimia didn’t plan to let her leave, a door swinging shut without a sound. She hadn’t expected such a cute girl to be this frightening, a smile on the edge of a blade.

“Why won’t you let me go…” Rexi gave a bitter smile, wilted like wet paper. “Is… is it because I pinched your cheek before? How about… you pinch mine back?”

“Sure,” Lucimia answered, crisp as a snapped twig.

“Then it’s settled. You pinch me, and you let me go.”

Lucimia only smiled. She patted the blanket again, fingers tapping like raindrops.

Rexi crept closer, heart drumming like a trapped bird. She pressed her knees together and sat gingerly on the blanket.

Lucimia reached out at once and pinched her cheeks.

“!” Rexi jolted like a cat splashed with water. Instinct said fight. Memory of the girl’s horror said don’t. She held still and let Lucimia knead her face like dough.

Feeling that soft, delicate skin, Lucimia confirmed a suspicion. The girl’s station wasn’t low. In this world, skin that smooth is born in mansions or polished in great academies by powerful mages. Common folk don’t carry silk for skin.

“All right.”

“Great, I’m leaving!” Rexi started to rise, but Lucimia blocked her like a branch across a path.

“Why not chat?”

“Didn’t you say that if I let you pinch me, I could go?!”

“I never agreed to that. I only agreed to you letting me pinch you back. After that, I smiled and patted the blanket. I invited you to chat. You came over. You agreed.” Lucimia’s smile turned smug, a fox tail flicking in moonlight.

“You!” Rexi stared, eyes wide like lanterns. She couldn’t believe the poison in such a sweet face.

“I—I’m warning you! I’m really strong! Don’t push me!”

It was the second time Lucimia had heard that, a thundercloud with no rain yet. Curiosity sparked. What card would Rexi play?

She thought, then teased with a lilt. “If you’re that strong, can you beat a Dark Deity?”

Rexi huffed, chin tilting like a proud swan. “A Dark Deity? I can kill one with a finger.”

“That strong?” Lucimia stared, surprise bright as a struck match.

“Hmph, of course. My power’s beyond your imagination.” Rexi’s nose nearly pointed at the stars.

“Since a finger can slay a Dark Deity, fight me.” Lucimia stood, smiling like frost under sunlight.

Rexi’s pupils tightened. Her body locked like a statue catching a shadow.

Truth be told, saying that was bold. From another angle, she’d told Rexi she was a Dark Deity, a spark that could start bad fires. Yet it felt fair, a wager on a clean table.

She had been puzzled. Her current form oozed eldritch strangeness—three eyes, a tail, markings like thorns on her face. Yet Rexi called her cute, not frightening, like seeing a tiger as a tabby. The way she died under Lucimia’s hand, too. After the first spike of fear, Rexi slipped back into banter. Even after hearing Lucimia’s name, she didn’t flinch. By rights, the bounty posters should be everywhere already, fluttering like crows.

So she wasn’t truly afraid of Dark Deities, not like ordinary humans who shiver before night. Add her special ability, maybe even an Authority Power, and the picture darkened.

With a sigh like wind through pines, Rexi lowered her head. Her voice went limp, a flag in rain. “I surrender. Do what you want. Chat it is…”