"Yueyu, can I ask you this as a friend?"

"...I can't. Even if I wanted to leave, I can't. Before you, that rider-kid already came to me. Give it up."

"Why... will you tell me why?"

"Simple. Do it, and your mind might vanish."

Rain Moon Willow spoke softly, like drizzle on stone. "Your spirit and mine are worlds apart. If we mix them, you'll be a raindrop falling into the sea, gone without a trace."

"I know you want me to borrow your body to descend into this world. If we try, the moment my mind enters you, you might forget who you are."

"It doesn't matter. Yueyu, as long as you remember, my wish won't change," Qianya said, light as a breeze.

"Your wish...?" Yueyu looked at her, puzzled, clouded like a moon behind mist. "If I'm not wrong, your wish is to swear a pact with Qingsheng Tangxue, right?"

"If you lose yourself, do you think you'll still want that then?"

"Of course." Qianya met Yueyu's eyes, steady as a calm lake. "No matter what I become, even if I forget my name, as long as I keep that memory, I'll fall for her."

"Why...?"

"Because she's the first person who's ever been that kind to me..."

"...Is that so."

Yueyu slowly closed her eyes, like night drawing its veil.

If someone had treated me like that, I wouldn't have chosen the cliff's edge either...

"Since that's the case, have it your way. How much of what I leave behind you can keep... that's luck."

The dream dissolved like fog at sunrise.

"What just happened...?" Bewilderment hit first, then joy. Xuewei stared up at a sky dyed deep crimson like spilled wine. Around her, the earth was pocked with craters, all stamped by her fall.

"I... fell down, didn't I?"

The Heavenly Deity Academy still burned in her mind like a brand. Her body had reset to an adult's frame; annoyance pricked like thorns, and she clicked her tongue.

"Played like a fool... Qianya. Brother... you two even teamed up to trick me."

My power's been stolen. Damn it. I can't move...

Jaw tight, Xuewei hammered the ground. Magic boiled under her skin like a scalding river, yet not a drop answered her call. She could only shield herself. Even her necromancy lay sealed in frost. Such crafty hands were far beyond her reach, likely the work of a god.

"Why, Qianya..." Xuewei lifted her face toward the far horizon, toward the darkest stain in the sky, like a bruise.

Days of ferment had ripened the seal. Today was the day to welcome the eldritch god Shimie Moluo Ye'er into the world.

A few days ago, some had tried to stop the rite. It was useless. The descent was a tide rolling in. To stand against it was to row against heaven.

"Awake, Tangxue... It's morning."

"Dreamsound..." Tangxue's eyes opened, weak as a candle in wind. Of course. After the trap snapped, they'd carried her back.

"Did you plan this with them?"

Dreamsound nodded, soft as falling rain. "Mm. I won't help, and I won't hinder. In return, they won't hurt you. And after this ends, they'll take us out of this world."

"I see..."

So I don't even get room to lie my way out. It's just because I'm too weak...

"Are you still trying to stand, Tangxue? That's enough. Today's the day the eldritch descends. I'm sorry... If you're going to throw your life away, I'll stop you." Dreamsound's voice was calm, like dusk settling.

"Dreamsound... does Yaya's mom know?"

"She... doesn't know much."

Tangxue's gaze steadied on Dreamsound, clear as a winter lake. "Gods descend by possession. They're concepts without bodies."

"Tangxue...?" Dreamsound stared at her daughter, puzzled. Tangxue was saying things she couldn't grasp, yet the words rang like bells.

"I have to leave..."

"No. Today you stay home and rest." Dreamsound's stance was firm as a barred door in a storm. Tangxue could only sigh inside.

"Sorry, Dreamsound... Mom."

Tangxue bit down. Her eyes cut to the trident hanging outside. At her mental pull, it flowed into a heavy halberd, whirled inside, and tapped Dreamsound into darkness in a single heartbeat.

Phew. I'm getting better at steering this weapon...

She looked down at the halberd in her hands, emotions a tangled forest of vines.

The halberd's psychic hit will only knock Mom Dreamsound out for a moment. I don't have time. I have to run now... as far as I can.

Tangxue dragged herself upright. She didn't even bother changing out of her sleepwear. She smashed through the wall, then slipped through space, warping to an inland peak she'd marked days ago, like a pin on a map.

I have one chance. When that thing starts shifting its mind onto me... I rush into the Ice Palace and seal myself.

"No need to waste breath, Qingsheng Tangxue."

A black-red–haired girl stepped out, waiting like a shadow that had been there forever. Her eyes were deep crimson brushed with ghost-blue, lifeless as winter ashes.

"...If I'm not wrong, you're Xuewei's birth mother, right?"

"More or less. I only gave birth to her. There's nothing else between us," Xuewei's mother said, voice slow as falling snow.

"Sit quiet and wait for the end, Qingsheng Tangxue. This world should've ended long ago." Seeing Tangxue take it without flinching, Xuewei's mother's tone softened like warm rain.

"Those who survive will leave. They'll live another way, in a new world."

"...!"

Tangxue tried to force her body up, but as the abyssal rift spread, the other voice in her skull surged like a war drum.

It was the consciousness of the demon-god, Shimie Moluo Ye'er, a seed planted in her long before she became the hero, Ling Yehan.

"Why struggle? You'll only add thorns to your path. None of this will change..." Xuewei's mother watched Tangxue with helpless puzzlement, her words a last gentle hand.

"Let it go."

"Don't you find yourself... annoying?"

The ice-cold voice came from every direction, like frost creeping on glass. Xuewei's mother felt a chill gaze hook into her. It was Qingsheng Tangxue. Her eyes, two shards of glacier, held a flicker of impatience.

"Awakening happy, are we..." Xuewei's mother murmured.

"What did you say...?"

The voice came again from all sides. Before she could react, cold wrapped her throat like a noose of ice.

A right hand, white as carved ice-jade, clamped her neck and lifted her off the ground.

"Lapdog... I have no interest in you. Get lost."

Xuewei's mother's eyes flew wide. She ground her teeth and tried to look over her shoulder at who held her. She couldn't. Under that crushing pressure, staying intact was already a miracle. The next second, the world flipped. Someone hurled her down into the crimson whirlpool below.

"Ah!!!"