"Oh, right. Even if you go to the academy, you’re working weekends for me. No excuses, got it?" The white-haired loli popped up at my elbow and pinched my cheeks.

"Got it…" Annoyance pricked first, then a thought flickered like a lantern. This could be a shortcut to Xuewei. If I can catch her mood, maybe I’ll learn what she thinks of me now…

"Then take this permit and keep it safe. If there’s nothing else, go home. I’ve got someone to cuddle later…"

"Huh?"

"Huh what? Move it!" Yuqiu snarled like a wildcat and shoved me out the door. I hit the hallway with my head still buzzing; I hadn’t even caught what she’d said.

Forget her. Heat pulsed under my skin like coals; I need my little room and a bath, or I’m dead.

Aunt Yuqiu can be shameless and cruel, but she treats her people well. In Starfate City she owns several high-end suites; when things are quiet, she lets staff stay for free. Everything in them gleams, every faucet sings—better than Dreamsound’s place. Compared to my home under the sea, it’s city luxury versus a countryside manor—same stone, different sky.

"Hu—finally, that little brat’s gone…" Yuqiu’s smile spread like ink when she felt a ripple in the air. "Oh? You’re coming?"

"I already sent the thing. If you like her that much, why not give it to her yourself, my dear niece?"

From the shadow, a girl drifted out, hair tinted like twilight haze. Her eyes were blood-red, amber-clear, beautiful enough to still a room. Her face was flawless, but her posture was lazy, a cat refusing to hunt. If anyone who knew her rank saw her like this, their worldview would crack—like finding your idol at home, chugging soda and scratching his toes.

"I can’t show my face right now. And I don’t want her knowing who I am."

"How odd. Not planning to be Queen anymore? Going to run, like your aunt? I’m warning you—without a good excuse, your cute little butt’s doomed today!" The white-haired loli planted herself with a ferocious glare.

"I’m being hunted."

"Ha… who dares hunt you?" Yuqiu started to laugh, then the joke died. Her tone tightened like a drawn bow. "You… broke the seal there?"

"Mm."

"Qianya! Are you insane? Do you know what that means for you, a direct Blood Elf?"

"Of course. I just don’t have a choice."

"You—!" Rage sparked, then cooled. What’s done is done; anger doesn’t rewind a seal.

"And now? You’ve fallen this far…"

"Something like that. I have to find a way to beat that thing. By myself."

"By yourself…" Yuqiu let out a thin, crooked laugh. "That calamity could butcher a small nation. How do you solo that? If I’m right, you can’t touch the Empire anymore. No country will offend the Blood Clan for a runaway queen. People who can single-handedly kill a Vampire King—you can count them on one hand."

"That’s why I came to Starfate City." Qianya poured herself black tea, steam curling like silk, and tasted it slow. "I want help from Ling Yehan. I’ve got some history with him. Or I’ll find his trail, and get his sister to help."

"And that’s what you call ‘depending on yourself’?" Yuqiu’s deadpan landed like a pebble in a pond.

"None of your business."

"This tea’s decent. No wonder you’re the woman who’d toss a whole country just to make desserts."

"Tch. Look who’s talking. If you hadn’t told me you released that Vampire King’s royal line, I’d have thought you ran off to chase a wife. Bleh." Yuqiu stuck out her tongue at Qianya.

"Child."

"You’re the child!"

…

Kasviel is a nation stitched together by faith, its banners inked with prayer. Unlike other god-fearing lands, the whole Empire worships their deity, crown and commoner alike. They don’t know the name; they just call it the Lord—the last god surviving in this world.

They dare say “only god” for a reason. Over six millennia ago, when this plane convulsed, a small clerical country swelled into a vast Empire famed for Judgment. Its rise looked god-touched—within a thousand years they rivaled ancient empires with ten thousand years behind them.

But in recent centuries, the wind’s gone bitter. Birthrates fell like frost. The land’s spiritual density thinned like watered wine. Rebels nested in the dark. Cornered, the royal house chose prayer, nation-wide, begging the Lord to light their road. The king at the time set a festival. Every year, the country prays. The capital readies gifts and offerings.

This year’s rite follows tradition, yet feels different. This time, the god sent a hint.

This year, a divine envoy will come to help. Give it your all and guide it.

So this year’s ceremony matters. The Emperor himself presides.

In Kasviel’s capital, the whole city swelled like a tide under the Sacred Altar. After the Emperor’s solemn proclamation, the bishops began to pray. The yearly festival unfurled.

Everyone begged in one voice—save our nation from decline. Send a savior to this failing world.

Until…

If one day you jump from a sky so deep you can’t see the bottom, what do you do in that instant?

A JoJo diehard would yell, "Za Warudo!"

Please. You’re about to eat dirt.

Me? I’d be screaming:

"Holy—move!"

"Ahhh—get out of the way!"

At that moment, the chief bishop prayed with heartfelt heat, certain the Lord would answer. Suddenly, a call pressed down from above, a weight like a mountain keeping him from moving. He dared a look up and saw an unnamable flying object dropping straight toward him.

"Is that… the divine envoy?!" Joy burst on his face, then curdled to shock, then terror as it drew closer.

"Move!"

Boom!!!

The festival ended with one thunderous crash and the envoy’s dramatic arrival.