On either side of the corridor, tall portraits and mirrors reflected one another, interspersed with luxurious obsidian inlays. Meandering, swirling golden patterns flickered in and out of view amidst the dimness like lurking creatures of the Demon Realm.
“Tamisha, let’s stop by the Headmaster’s Office first. You can place your order there, and by the time we reach the Demon King’s Bestowed Restaurant, the food might already be ready.”
Whenever the dim, yellow candlelight flickered past, the golden patterns stirred as if startled, glinting with an alluring brilliance in the dark.
The woven patterns of demonic flora on the carpet also seemed to come alive in the faint light, constantly shifting shapes and quietly swallowing every footstep.
“Can I order anything?”
“Of course.”
The voices of the two demons echoed through the nighttime hallways of Purgatory Corridors Academy.
Lanqi had stayed in the central energy chamber far longer than anticipated before setting out.
Although he had asked Lissandra to give Hyperion and Xigelei a heads-up, the two of them were probably still wondering why he had not returned yet.
Heading back to the Headmaster’s Office would allow him to use communication magic to contact the headmaster’s secretary, Lissandra, while letting Tamisha order food ahead of time—killing two birds with one stone.
“I want to order, too,” Talia told Lanqi. At the same time, silver-white motes of light coalesced in the corridor, and she assumed the appearance of Caliera.
If they ran into Hyperion and Xigelei later, she would have no chance to show herself.
Neither of them knew that Caliera was currently this guy’s natal summoned entity.
Besides, she intended to use a knife and fork herself at the Demon King’s Bestowed Restaurant.
“Be my guest,” Lanqi said politely and respectfully to Talia.
“There’s no need to be so deferential. Just treat me as you would Caliera, all right? Nominally speaking, I’m not your master right now,” Talia said to him telepathically. She could never quite tell what was going on in Lanqi’s head whenever he became exceptionally enthusiastic about taking her out to eat.
“…”
Lanqi frowned and pondered for a good while.
In his memory, he had never even imagined what having dinner with Caliera would look like.
“Well? Isn’t your master amazing? I can play multiple ideal types of women all by myself,” Talia leaned in, smiling and bragging to him.
“Please, spare me the talk of acting, Master. Just thinking about acting alongside you makes my skull throb with phantom pain,” Lanqi walked forward helplessly, complaining to Talia.
The crown of his head still seemed to remember the sting of Talia’s high heels.
“I heard from Iphatia that Abigail is actually preparing *Holy War Romance II - Half-Demon Girl Arc*. If she decides to invite the acclaimed original cast, I’ll probably be playing opposite you again,” Talia said, keeping pace beside Lanqi.
She admitted that the success of that day’s stage play had been almost entirely Lanqi’s doing, but she would never make the same mistake twice. She was now very confident she could portray the story’s second female lead, the half-demon girl, brilliantly.
As the hidden childhood friend whom the Demon Viceroy had met once in his youth, the half-demon girl was gentle and kind, with a touch of youthful innocence—all in all, very much like Hyperion.
Talia had lived with Hyperion every day before, so of course she knew how to capture Hyperion’s aura.
“A sequel? I almost lost half my life finishing the first one.”
Lanqi held Tamisha’s hand with one arm and clutched his head with the other.
If push came to shove, he could barely tolerate acting with Hyperion, but if he had to act with Talia again, he would rather jump off a cliff.
“Hmph. I guarantee that if you gave me the chance to dress up as Hyperion, you wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. You’re just prejudiced,” Talia retorted with a scoff upon hearing Lanqi’s thoughts.
Lanqi’s preconceived notion of her was simply too entrenched.
The two bantered silently in their minds, glancing at each other from time to time, leaving Tamisha looking up in confusion, unable to tell what they were communicating about.
Night fell, draping over the top floor of Purgatory Corridors Academy.
Only the occasional gust of wind drifted through the quiet school corridors.
The clock had already ticked past nine-fifteen.
Footsteps echoed outside the corridor leading to the Headmaster’s Office.
The heavy oak doors were pushed open, and a wave of warmth instantly filled the air. Yellow lamplight spilled across the dark brown wooden floors, while Demon Realm furnace briquettes crackled quietly in the marble fireplace. Lanqi returned to the Headmaster’s Office with Tamisha and Caliera.
At the far end of the office, the broad pool’s surface shimmered with a soft blue glow under the illumination, resembling a pristine sapphire.
“Huh? You two are in the Headmaster’s Office?”
Lanqi’s startled gaze shifted toward the two figures leaning against the sofa, locking onto Hyperion and Xigelei.
Hyperion and Xigelei were chatting and laughing, sipping mixed drinks from Purgatory City Pasqual.
Both of their hair was still slightly damp, and towels rested beside the sofa. It seemed that after frolicking in the office’s pool for the evening, they had taken a dip in the tub in the adjoining bathroom, changed clothes, dried their hair in the lounge area, and were now sipping alcohol to warm themselves up.
“Wait, what do you think the Headmaster’s Office is?!” Lanqi asked in shock.
It was the first time he had ever seen students throw a pool party in the Headmaster’s Office and then treat it like a bar.
It was truly an eye-opener for him as the headmaster.
Without even thinking, it was obvious that Xigelei had dragged Hyperion into fooling around.
Catching sight of the room’s master returning, the giggling pair on the sofa immediately set down their glasses like children caught red-handed, snapping straight to attention and pouting nervously as they waited for the headmaster to speak.
“First, explain to me why there’s a swimming pool in the Headmaster’s Office,” Talia poked Lanqi and asked.
“Uh, I think I was the one who built it,” Lanqi suddenly realized, scratching his head.
“…”
Hyperion swallowed her urge to complain.
She felt that everything was absurd, yet had no idea where to even begin.
Tamisha looked between them with innocent, bewildered eyes.
She had little concept of what a school was.
When she first arrived and rushed through exams every day with Hyperion, she had thought school was a terribly solemn place.
Now, it seemed more like an amusement park.
It mostly depended on whom she followed.
Suddenly, Hyperion noticed the tiny figure standing between Lanqi and Caliera.
“…?”
Hyperion rubbed her eyes, then grabbed Xigelei’s hand and shook it in disbelief.
Was she hallucinating?
Why did it feel like Lanqi and Tata had a child together?
“Do you mean that child?” Xigelei let Hyperion shake her hand. “I see her. What about it?” she asked Hyperion, confused.
“D-don’t you think she…” Hyperion stopped halfway through her sentence.
Xigelei did not know Tata, so she would not think along those lines.
This gray-haired little girl was simply as adorable as a miniature Tata.
Wait, why did she automatically assume that if Tata were pregnant, the child would definitely be Lanqi’s? Her aunt and Lanqi were entirely innocent and proper with each other.
Hyperion snapped back to reality from her confusion.
“She’s Tamisha,” Lanqi said feebly, seeming to read Hyperion’s overly obvious expression.
“Phew—”
Hyperion clutched her chest and let out a huge sigh of relief.
She had actually worried that Talia and Lanqi were going to give her a little sister.
Thinking carefully, it made no sense anyway.
She must have been having too many strange dreams lately after watching that nationally screened stage play in the Creti Empire.
Not to mention, Talia was not even in this Shadow World.
“Tamisha, is that what you really look like?”
Hyperion’s confusion vanished in an instant.
She hurried over from the sofa, crouched in front of Tamisha, and gazed at her.
Hyperion wanted to hug Tamisha, but did not dare, fearing Tamisha would reject her with disgust as usual.
“Am I ugly?” Tamisha looked directly at Hyperion and asked.
She was actually quite fond of Hyperion; Hyperion just could not tell.
She rarely appeared in this form before other demons.
Tamisha had always felt weary of her appearance and refused to look at her own face. In the dark night, no one had ever missed her.
Judging by Melogas’s words, she must be an ugly child whom other demons despised, so it was only natural that her parents had abandoned her.
“How could that be? If even you aren't pretty, then there are no good-looking demons left,” Hyperion shook her head vigorously in surprise.
“Mm, a budding beauty. You must have inherited your parents’ bloodline to be so pretty,” Xigelei evaluated from a distance with her arms crossed.
If no parents wanted such a child, she would gladly take her home and raise her as her own daughter.
“My parents?” Tamisha pointed at her own face in bewilderment.
“Your father, the Mist Lord, was quite handsome, and your mother, the True Night Lord, was a breathtaking beauty. To them, you were undoubtedly their greatest masterpiece, and the continuation of their lives upon which they placed high hopes,” Lanqi crouched down and said, looking into Tamisha’s eyes.
“Really?”
Tamisha could hardly believe it.
This completely overturned her past perceptions.
“Yes,” Lanqi replied firmly, gazing at her.
His look showed that he understood her pain, stood right before her, and truly loved her without the slightest pretense.
“All right, then,” Tamisha muttered, lowering her head.
Looking at the reflection of her face in the floor tiles, she held back her tears.
Pouting, she had never imagined she would ever hear such words.
“Tamisha, don’t cry, don’t cry!”
Flustered, Hyperion grabbed a tissue and dabbed around Tamisha’s eyes.
Yet that only made Tamisha’s tears fall faster.
Hyperion immediately cast a pleading look toward the others.
“I think…” Xigelei rested her chin on her hand, pondering.
In her view, one ought to train a child’s self-reliance in such situations, so leaving the child alone was the best approach.
However, her direct retainer, Gloria, had told her never to raise a child that way in the future. While the child would indeed grow up strong, they might not feel close to their mother anymore.
“No, no, no, you don’t think,” Lanqi read Xigelei’s gaze.
Another one who had no clue how to raise a child. Raising a child was not about training a wolf warrior.
*Aren’t you much the same?* Talia chided Lanqi telepathically, exasperated, as she took out a handkerchief and gently patted the corners of Tamisha’s eyes.
She remembered Lanqi’s special training for his classmates back at Ikerite Academy vividly. A perfectly normal team battle had scared even her away halfway through.
*I’ve always taken great care of children. Sometimes adults encounter difficult problems and genuinely yearn for the power to overcome them, so that was the only way I could help,* Lanqi explained to Talia through their mental link. *Though looking back now, I suppose I went a bit too far…*
Lanqi recalled and gradually admitted.
*To think you actually realized it, my Lanlan.* Talia had never expected Lanqi to possess self-awareness.
She could hardly tell whether these past two years had been growth or regression for Lanqi.
With his thought process drawing ever closer to that of a normal human, Lanqi was like a god of love who had shed his divine mantle and relinquished his divine power. It was hard to say whether he had gained or lost something in the process.
“Things seem as affectionate as people, and people as affectionate as things. Realized only after the fact, our earliest perceptions are taken away by time and experience, like a clean, silent hand brushing them aside,” Lanqi lowered his gaze and sighed with an easy smile.
*True.* Talia did not deny it as she listened to Lanqi’s thoughts.
The time spent with Lanqi had changed her considerably as well.
With Talia holding and soothing her, Tamisha gradually stopped sobbing.
“Thank goodness.”
Seeing a competent woman caring for the child, Hyperion stepped aside, sighed with relief, and handed Tamisha back to Caliera’s care.
“Tamisha, shall we go eat together? After dinner, you can sleep, and tomorrow morning I’ll take you out for delicious pastries,” Talia asked, stroking Tamisha’s head with a touch of sheepishness.
Tamisha had seen through her Caliera disguise long ago, so running around dressed like Caliera probably seemed ridiculous to her.
“Mm,” Tamisha nodded, agreeing softly.
The warmth, softness, and faint floral fragrance of a mature woman enveloped her completely, making her feel it vividly.
This was an embrace she had rarely experienced since birth.
Seeing Tamisha’s well-behaved look, Hyperion felt completely at ease.
It really had to be Caliera.
In the entire Demon Realm, only she had that motherly warmth.
“As they say, good wine needs no bush. Children know quality when they see it. You’re truly capable, Mama Tata,” Lanqi praised wholeheartedly.
At his words, Talia snapped her head up and glared at Lanqi, her cheeks flushing slightly.
*Are you a child too?! Why do you insist on teasing me every single day?!* Talia balled her fists in embarrassment and fury, demanding through their mental link.
Lanqi was choked by Talia’s question.
Both fell into an awkward silence.
They realized that whether Lanqi answered yes or no, Talia’s question made their ongoing dynamic seem bizarre. They could be master and disciple, friends, or companions, but they would never be mother and son.
The clock ticked on.
Tamisha also gradually cheered up, ready to head to the Demon King’s Bestowed Restaurant for the dinner she had been anticipating all day.
Lanqi looked at Hyperion, then at Xigelei.
Neither of them yet knew the true state of this Shadow World as revealed by the Mirror of Tiberius.
The Shadow World’s quest objectives had already shifted subtly:
[Quest Objective 1: Read the letter from old friend Caliera; travel to Demon Realm Purgatory City Pasqual & protect the tiny spark left behind by Caliera; comprehend the Mirror of Tiberius; write an ending for the Blood Moon Ruined World era. (Completed)]
[Quest Objective 2: Understand the state of mind of Lanclos of the Black Sun: 49.32%. (Completed)]
[Quest Objective 3: All challengers must survive until the 21-day time limit expires. Remaining time: 5 days, 02 hours, 04 minutes.]
Even if they simply waited for the Shadow World to conclude, there would be no natural disaster penalty.
However, the outcome of the Blood Moon Ruined World era remained a tragic one.
To bring it to a true close, Lanqi would have to replay the best possible ending Lanclos could have achieved during the Blood Moon Ruined World in the Undying Eternal Damnation Finale Shadow World using his true body.
Tonight’s brief gathering was likely one of the few moments of peaceful dining and respite in the waning days of this Shadow World.
They still had their final work to do.
“You go ahead to the Demon King’s Bestowed Restaurant. I have something to discuss with Xigelei,” Lanqi said to Hyperion and the others.
“Uh,” Hyperion hesitated.
She seemed to understand something. Lanqi was in work mode, and he intended to assign Xigelei a task.
Hyperion also glanced at the Shadow World’s information, becoming even more certain.
Xigelei would likely be leaving Purgatory Corridors Academy ahead of time.
Once this Blood Moon Ruined World Shadow World finally ended, it meant she would never see Xigelei again.
“Sister, we will meet again. I promise,” Xigelei walked over, took Hyperion’s hand, and said.
She understood that Hyperion was not yet ready to part with her.
If not for knowing that she and Hyperion could meet again in the mortal realm, Sigrid would also have felt reluctant and unable to accept such an abrupt farewell.
“Xigelei…”
Hyperion looked at Xigelei, tears glistening in her amber eyes.
She did not understand why Xigelei could be so certain, but she wanted to believe her from the bottom of her heart.
Yet the reality was that in the years to come, she would never see her sister again.
They were passengers belonging to different eras, destined never to live together as a family forever.
“Sister, if you really can’t bear to part with me, could you say something about how much you love me? That way, when I’m all alone and missing you, I can listen to your voice,” Xigelei took out a sound-recording orb and asked Hyperion.
“Of course,” Hyperion nodded immediately, not even wondering when Xigelei had prepared such a recording device. “Xigelei, I love you the most!”
She hugged Xigelei tightly, pouring out the surging feelings that threatened to overflow from her heart.
“I love you too!”
Satisfied, Xigelei recorded Hyperion’s voice, slipped the orb into her bodice, and embraced Hyperion with all her might. The two clung together like magnets, refusing to part as they scampered around the Headmaster’s Office in each other’s arms.
“Don’t run into the water, you two,” Talia frowned slightly, watching the two girls turn into abnormal creatures.
The energy of young girls was simply too boundless. If they were in the mortal realm, they would probably fool around in Ikerite until eleven at night before heading home.
Yet what held Talia’s attention was not their overly energetic antics, but the sound-recording orb Xigelei had briefly produced.
Xigelei’s sound-recording orb carried the distinct craftsmanship of the mortal realm’s era, resembling an item converted from a utility magic card rather than a relic of the Blood Moon Ruined World.
Then again, Talia thought, Xigelei spent plenty of time around Lanqi, so it was hardly surprising that she possessed some knowledge and items that did not belong to this era.
Chapter 795