Lucimia gave Rexi a spare, crisp rundown about her and Nirael, her voice like a blade drawn in the rain. She laid out her aim like a lantern set in fog.

She said she wouldn’t help Nirael anymore; she’d Devour intel and walk away, like a shadow taking ink from a page. Only intel, no blood, unless the page held nothing she wanted. If it did, she’d swallow Bevi’s special ability like a stone into a well.

Rexi listened, eyes wandering like startled sparrows, and Bevi filled the gaps like rain stitching dust. After a long moment, clarity settled like dew.

“So you were going to take on the Dark Deity? And now you won’t?” Rexi asked, her words bobbing like leaves on a stream.

“Right,” Lucimia nodded, the motion slight as a reed in wind.

She turned to Bevi. “So Nirael’s plan is going to fail? You need… me?” Her glance was a snowflake touching a branch.

“Yeah,” Bevi nodded, his chin dipping like a hinge of old wood. “It’s your call. If you want, you can use your Authority Power to recover your old memories, like pulling a lost scroll from ash. You’d know who you are, and what happened, and maybe that’d give you enough reason and grit to fight the Dark Deity.”

“Mm…” Hearing him, Rexi sank into thought, like a stone in a green pond.

“Old memories… identity… the past…” she murmured, voice wandering like smoke. After a moment she shook her head, a quick breeze through willow leaves. “Forget it. It’s not important. There’s a voice in me that keeps saying, don’t chase yesterday; look at the sky right now.”

Bevi sighed, the sound soft as wind through reeds. “Figures… then we pick the third way…”

“No, no,” Rexi cut in, her hands fluttering like butterflies. “I said I won’t fetch old memories, but I didn’t say I disagree! Honestly, I was thinking the same. Fighting a Dark Deity sounds fun, like drums on a storm-night. Maybe I could even be a hero. But Lucimia says I’m too naive.”

“Uh… you agree?” Bevi blinked, surprise breaking like ice on a river.

“You better think it through. You could die,” he warned, his tone heavy as wet iron.

“Relax. I’m not that easy to kill,” Rexi waved, a grin bright as sun on water.

“This isn’t a joke.”

“I’m not joking.”

“...” Bevi fell silent, his mouth locking like a closed gate. Since she’d chosen, he wouldn’t push; his restraint lay like snow over tracks.

Rexi looked at Lucimia, who’d stood like a quiet pine at the edge. “Lucimia, Devour Bevi’s intel, then go do what you want. The voice in my head says the same: don’t clutch the past, chase the thing your heart points to.” Her smile was a paper kite in a clear sky.

“I’ll go to the Royal Capital on my own, so you don’t have to. Don’t worry. Bevi pressuring you was on him; I won’t,” Rexi said, patting Lucimia’s shoulder like dusting snow.

“You want intel to save your friend, right? I’m with you!”

“Oh,” Lucimia answered, her face blank as winter glass.

With the weight gone, she moved without hesitance. Shadows unrolled from her like ink spilling from a brush, and with a soft whoosh she Devoured Bevi’s intel.

After a steady Devouring, Lucimia read the files on the Time Ability Users, each name opening like a seal on a lacquered box.

It was complete intel—their faces, powers, locations—clear as stars pricked into a night sky.

It was what she needed. Her eyes opened wide like a bird taking flight, and a stray smile crept in like sun between clouds.

“Perfect…”

Bevi and Rexi saw it and knew she’d gotten what she wanted, their relief and dread trading places like tides.

Which meant she wouldn’t help them anymore. Bevi sighed, his chest sinking like a sail in no wind. “Rexi, your Authority Power isn’t for combat. The mouse swarm doesn’t have enough energy. Even if you go, you may not beat Ment.”

“Worse… once Lucimia erased the marks on the swarm, the mice scattered like leaves in a sudden gust. They can’t gather at the Royal Capital in time, and Nirael’s battle strength drops like rain off a cliff.”

Bevi’s view was dark, a storm rolling over low hills.

Rexi’s brave face wobbled like a candle flame. She mumbled and could only say she believed in herself, her voice thin as thread.

Seeing them like that, Lucimia added one more cut, her words sharp as frost. “You missed something. Nirael’s strength will drop further, because I’ll Devour her special ability next.”

She meant Nirael’s time-acceleration.

“...” Bevi sank deeper into silence, as if a stone had claimed his tongue.

Rexi linked the pieces like beads and blurted, “Then you could at least not erase the marks, right? Just a small favor—herd the mice to the Royal Capital. Once they’re there, you Devour right away. I swear I won’t meddle!”

Bevi’s head lifted, hope flickering like a lantern in wind, his eyes fixed on Lucimia.

“Mm…” Lucimia considered, her gaze still as ink. Then she poured cold water on them, her tone a winter stream: “I planted that mark on her myself. Back when we cooperated, she did it so I’d trust her. Which means… I can Devour her special ability now.”

“Ah…” Bevi and Rexi’s hope shattered like thin ice under a heel.

“That’s that. I’m leaving. Your business isn’t mine. Good luck,” Lucimia said, turning to go, her back a lone figure walking out of mist.

“Wait, don’t!” Rexi panicked. She slid into a kneel and hugged Lucimia’s thigh, like a child clinging to a bamboo pole in rain.

“Help us a little, just lead the way! I’m begging you!” Rexi rubbed her cheek against Lucimia’s leg, her plea messy as wet ink.

“Tsk. No,” Lucimia clicked her tongue and pulled her leg back, the motion sharp as a flicked fan.

But Rexi wouldn’t quit. She latched on again, stubborn as burrs on wool.

“Please, please—if you help, I—I can, I can lick your leg!”

Lucimia stared, stunned, her thoughts stalling like a kite snagged in a tree.

How did this girl say that? Then again, with that fake tentacle dream earlier, her words often crashed like waves over a quiet dock.

“You’re insane. I said no,” Lucimia snapped, trying to wrench free, her patience fraying like old rope.

“If you don’t let go, I’ll eat you,” she threatened, her voice a cold blade.

“I…” Rexi flinched, fear pricking like needles, but she didn’t release at once. She whispered, “If you lead us, after it’s done, I’ll grant you any one wish.”

“Hmm? Warm my bed?” Lucimia tossed it out like a joke, a pebble skipping across water.

“Mm… it’s not impossible. You’re so cute. It might be a win for me… oh no, that was the inside voice—I said it out loud!” Rexi stared at Lucimia, panic fluttering like moth wings.

Lucimia’s face darkened, clouds gathering behind her eyes. “No.”

She shook Rexi off and strode for the forest’s edge, her leaving as clean as a sword drawn from its sheath.

“Uh… your blanket…” Rexi pointed at the blanket on the ground, but Lucimia didn’t answer; she slipped from their sight like fog burned off by sun.

Rexi turned to Bevi. “I… did my best…”

Bevi closed his eyes and shook his head, a tired ripple through a pond.

Was Rexi always like this? He hadn’t known. Maybe she liked girls? The thought drifted like a feather.

Setting that aside, he still felt regret, because Lucimia wouldn’t stay, his plan missing a keystone like a bridge without its center stone.

“Lacking energy… and the mouse swarm… what do we do?” he murmured, the question falling like rain on an empty street.