Yaxiu admitted that he was indeed a bit dazed by passion, putting beauty before loyalty. Hugging the Witch's slender waist, kissing the Sword Princess's soft lips, and enveloped by the warmth of both girls, he practically melted like ice cream. How could he have any spare thought left to fret over his comrades who had just been fighting a bloody battle beside him?
Then again, the Sword Princess was his close comrade too—back when Yaxiu and Sonia had fought and slain fish dragons in the Void Realm, he and Igola had still been prison rivals who couldn't stand the sight of each other. In terms of first come, first served, attending to the Sword Princess first was entirely reasonable; companions who had bathed together, bled together, and served prison time together would just have to take a back seat for a moment.
"They've disappeared."
Daidalos knelt on one knee before Yaxiu. The platinum tailcoat she wore was slightly damaged from battle, yet it could not disguise the innate beauty of the foremost beauty under the stars. In particular, her fanatical gaze bordering on worship radiated an ambiguous, seductive longing to melt herself into him, enough to make anyone, man or woman, fall head over heels in an instant.
"Mr. Bogin and Mr. Harvey quietly left the Woodland Theater, even taking Mr. Harvey's coffin with them. According to traces left behind, they departed on their own, and for now their trail has been lost." Taking Yaxiu's hand, she kissed the back of it. "Shall I mobilize the Four Pillar Cult's forces to find them, Observer Seat?"
If before Sonia and Diya had only harbored murderous intent toward Daidalos because she was a feeler of the Four Pillar Gods, now they began to feel relieved that she was one—otherwise, it would have been hard to find an excuse. Even if Daidalos had once been Sonia's spiritual role model, the moment she unabashedly showed her devoted adoration for Yaxiu, her melodious voice in Sonia's ears turned into the caterwauling of a cat in heat.
However...
"Is that so...?" Yaxiu pulled his hand back and said after a moment's thought, "No need to look for them. They've probably just gone to take care of their own business."
Putting himself in their shoes, Yaxiu understood Igola and Harvey's good intentions. After all, this was his reunion with the Sword Princess and the others; Igola and Harvey crowding in would indeed have felt terribly awkward, carrying a strong sense of "I should be under the car, not in the car."
Harvey in particular would have ruined their tender moment without fail. If Yaxiu was embracing Sonia while Harvey was hugging Alice at the same time, any romantic atmosphere would be destroyed in an instant.
Thinking carefully about it, Igola's thoughtfulness in dragging Harvey away wasn't an abrupt departure at all—it was practically a blessing to humanity, worthy of being ranked among Igola's top ten most touching deeds. Yaxiu silently gave Igola a thumbs-up in his heart. Although the Deceiver was always claiming he wanted to watch Yaxiu suffer in a romantic bloodbath, Yaxiu knew that if he truly ran into romantic dilemmas, the Deceiver would definitely plan and strategize for him, even while looking down on him in disgust.
It wasn't that Harvey was bad, but apart from providing post-mortem mortuary services and a coffin, all he could offer Yaxiu was a Senluo dirge.
Therefore, there was no need to look for them at all. Once they sorted out their own affairs, they would come find him—and might even bring a whole heap of trouble along with them. They were all death-row escapees from Shattered Lake; their very existence meant causing trouble for one another.
Yaxiu had never imagined they would ever truly leave him. The three of them had crossed Shattered Lake, journeyed through the Gospel, and charged through Senluo; even the divine cage of the Divine Masters could not hold them. They were destined to wander the mortal realm as nuisances together.
Much as Yaxiu was reluctant, besides those two, what other candidates did he have for best men? Even if it had to be Harvey, Yaxiu would accept it, because without them, Yaxiu's life up to this point would have been nonexistent.
Compared to them, the azure-haired beauty before him was the critical focus that demanded his attention. He let out a sigh, tightened his grip on the Sword Princess's hand, and asked, "You are the Starry Feeler, Daidalos?"
"Yes, Observer Seat."
"Do you..." Yaxiu said with difficulty, "do you know about the birth of the Fifth Pillar God?"
"I do," Daidalos replied with a smile. "Just moments ago, the Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow informed me that my shadow was deeply honored to serve as the reference image for the Fifth Pillar God. Thanks to your efforts, Observer Seat, my mission has also been fulfilled to perfection."
"Since the mission is already complete, why do you still treat me with such respect?" Yaxiu asked. "I assumed the sole purpose of my existence was to bring about the Fifth Pillar God's birth."
"Because you are the feeler of feelers, the sole chosen of the Pillar Gods," Daidalos said, bowing her head. "You stand above all feelers, the living will of the Pillar Gods walking the mortal world. Though the Fifth Pillar God has ascended her throne, she still requires you to hunt sovereignty of the heart.
"The Princess of Resplendent Fireflies yearns for your longing." Daidalos raised her head to gaze at Yaxiu. Though she still wore men's attire, the bewitching allure in her eyes seemed capable of stirring the deepest cravings in one's heart. "I am willing to serve as her substitute, to be the vessel for your longing until it overflows."
Before Sonia's eyes could fully narrow into slitted pupils, Yaxiu pulled the Sword Princess tightly into his arms and shook his head at Daidalos: "No need. I might still deal with you all in the future, but you are not permitted to bring up such things in front of us again.
"I will provide the longing the Princess of Resplendent Fireflies seeks. Tell the Four Pillar Gods not to bother me."
He paused. "For Rose's sake, I'll pretend your attempt to drive a wedge between us never happened this time. But if there's a next time..."
A sudden chill struck the back of Daidalos's head. The azure, waist-length locks most acclaimed on the foremost beauty under the stars drifted down in tufts, leaving her hair barely reaching her shoulders.
"My good relationship is solely with the Princess of Resplendent Fireflies." Yaxiu nuzzled Sonia's cheek, doing everything he could to give her a sense of security, yet his words carried not a shred of mercy. "You, on the other hand, are expendable."
Under Yaxiu's soothing touch, Sonia's turbulent emotions quickly settled, even giving way to a bit of shyness. After all, having an outsider watch them display affection at such close quarters tickled her youthful, sweet pride.
Strangely enough, being watched by the Witch and Weise didn't bother her in the least, and the Witch felt the same way. It was as if love were a medal: flaunting it before outsiders was mere showing off, but displaying it before a rival was an honor.
There was no reason Daidalos wouldn't know about Sonia and Diya's feelings. Had she spoken to Yaxiu in private, Yaxiu would have chalked it up to her doing her best, but since she insisted on provoking them to their faces, Yaxiu had no choice but to push back with utmost sharpness.
Right now, the Four Pillar Gods and the Princess of Resplendent Fireflies were not in complete alignment. Perhaps Rose would eventually become a true Five Pillar God, but by then, it would also mean Yaxiu and she had parted ways completely; Yaxiu would never become a true feeler on her account.
From the first day he transmigrated and was framed by the Four Pillar Cult into prison, to being captured and sacrificed by Eternal Rest in the Gospel, to being persecuted by the Mercury Trojan in Senluo—far from coexisting peacefully, he and the Four Pillar Gods shared an irreconcilable enmity.
Now the Four Pillar Gods even dared to send a feeler to sow discord, instantly kindling the resentment and fury Yaxiu had harbored over the past year. Fortunately, Daidalos was Rose's original model; otherwise, the very first sword strike Yaxiu delivered upon returning to reality would have been to strike down the Four Pillar Cult.
Moreover, it was plain to see that Rose hadn't caused any emotional backflow into Daidalos. To Yaxiu, Daidalos was a complete and utter stranger, and he felt not the slightest psychological burden in dealing with her.
Daidalos reined in her alluring demeanor and respectfully lowered her shapely head. "Forgive my presumption, Observer Seat, Sword Seat, Witch Seat. Shall we take our leave first? A car is prepared. It is not wise to linger here."
"Let's go." Yaxiu raised no objection, his eyes immediately falling upon a streamlined sports car. Although beside it stood an armored vehicle fitted with hexagonal bulletproof glass, which was both comfortable and safe, he still chose to sit inside the luxuriously trimmed sports car, as if doing so could recapture the lingering afterimage of the Oracle Comet.
Throughout the entire process, he held fast to the Sword Princess's and the Witch's hands, as if the moment he let go, they would vanish.
Sonia sat down and asked, "Really not tempted?"
"Hmm?"
"Daidalos is the foremost beauty under the stars, after all." Sonia cast a sidelong glance at him. "She worships you like a god right now and is willing to devote herself to you body and soul. If you conducted a survey in Fanxing right now asking people to choose between me and Daidalos as a partner, I bet the vast majority would pick Daidalos."
Yaxiu answered without hesitation, "Then I'm in the minority."
"The minority means 'I want them all.'" Sonia rolled her eyes at him. "Just the kind of choice you would make."
"She's merely Fanxing's foremost beauty under the stars," Yaxiu said. "You are my foremost beauty under the stars. In my heart, there's no such multiple-choice question to begin with. You will always be my first choice."
A poke to the small of his back made Yaxiu turn his head, only to see Diya and Weise both wearing "What about me?" expressions. At the same time, Sonia fixed her gaze on him, asking with a sweet smile, "Really? Then among the three of us, am I also your first choice?"
Yaxiu asked in return, "Is this a single-choice question?"
"It can be."
"Does that mean the other choices are wrong?" Diya straddled Yaxiu's lap, going toe-to-toe with Sonia. "Just because someone isn't the first choice, they deserve to be discarded?"
"What do the other choices have to do with me?" Sonia said coldly. "Witch, I'm very grateful that you came all the way from the Gospel to help..."
"I didn't come to help just to earn your gratitude!" Diya retorted anxiously. "When it comes to contributions, without me and my Gospel God, the Four Pillar Cult would never have been able to shatter the sky curtain! Even if we divided him by merit, at least twenty days a month should be mine!"
"You're still not the first choice."
"Do you think you'll always be the first choice?" Diya's words finally caused Sonia's expression to change. "You've only ever interacted in the Void Realm... You've never lived together in daily life. You've been looking at each other through the filter of distance.
"You refuse to compromise in the slightest, you can never stomach the slightest grievance, and that will inevitably leave you bruised and battered! Not everything can go your way... Sometimes you have to make sacrifices... because others haven't given any less than you have."
Sonia gently bit her lower lip, her shoulders trembling faintly. The phantom behind her flickered into view, and the slitted pupils in her ruby eyes were clearly visible. Her aura was so ferocious that she looked ready to turn into a beast capable of destroying everything the next second, yet her expression was as hurt and aggrieved as an abandoned kitten.
"I..."
"I intend never to let go of any of you," Yaxiu said, sliding his fingers between theirs until their hands were tightly clasped, "and I'm prepared to end up bruised and battered.
"However, let's shelve this dispute for today," Yaxiu said with a faint smile. "Because I have something even more important to tell you."
"About the Fifth Pillar God, the Princess of Resplendent Fireflies?" Weise finally spoke. In the argument just now, she had lacked any ground or qualification to interject, nor had she planned to join the battlefield so soon—until she regained her physical body, all she needed to do was look on as the beast and the bronze tore into each other.
"Yes."
Just then, the front door of the car opened, and someone sat down in the driver's seat. "Miss Lena said that you were displeased with her, Observer Seat, so I'll be driving."
Catching sight of golden hair in the rearview mirror, Yaxiu started slightly, then recognized her. "Felix?"
"It's been half a year. So you still remember me, Observer Seat?" the second young miss of the Vosloda clan said calmly.
"Of course I remember. I still remember knocking you unconscious back then, because that night I had originally planned to go on a date with the Sword Princess..." Yaxiu said softly. "Instead, I ended up tumbling into the Country of All Stars.
"There, I met three very important people."
Yaxiu took a deep breath and laid everything bare to his operators: "Their names are Rose, Feili, and Niya."
Chapter 1000