Holding a wedding in the Starry Country's largest Starry Night Church, taking eternal vows presided over by Daidalos as the witness, receiving the blessings of everyone—which included not only Sonia's friends and family, but also everyone in Yaxiu's circle of acquaintances, even Feili and Niya.
The bedroom after the wedding was a place Yaxiu could never have imagined: an open-air room perched on a cliff. Outside lay a lake with rolling waves, and below was a bottomless abyss; yet one had to admit that when the starlight cascading from the night sky showered every inch of the room, it truly carried the ethereal charm of a fairy tale.
Yaxiu carried Sonia bridal-style into the room, gently setting her down by the edge of the bed. Throughout the entire process, Sonia remained motionless, keeping her head lowered to hide her expression beneath the veil like a skittish little cat, save that her hand in its white lace glove held onto Yaxiu's without letting go.
Yet looking at the young woman in her wedding dress, Yaxiu felt a complex tangle of sweetness and melancholy. It wasn't that he was unhappy, but rather that this was not a wedding in reality, but one inside Sonia's realm of consciousness. If he had to describe it, it was like a genie granting three wishes, only for the wisher to ask what they would have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow.
He had once wondered what lay at the deepest depths of Sonia's soul's desires: was it becoming an invincible sword sorcerer under heaven, becoming a noble wielding supreme power across the world, or pursuing immortality? Even if her ambition wasn't so grand, shouldn't she at least harbor modest aspirations like becoming the most beloved songstress or film star across the six countries?
It was just that Yaxiu had forgotten one thing.
Sonia was not the Witch who had leapt from a high tower, nor was she the Silver Lantern shouldering a world-ending mission, much less a demigod wandering for a thousand years. Even though she had joined the Four Pillar Cult over the past half year and defected from the Stars, at heart she remained an ordinary young woman with a touch of vanity.
Power was important, as was authority; though she craved them, she also feared failing to grasp them. Therefore, what she wanted most of all was merely that small, certain happiness.
Free from impurities like strength, knowledge, or status, the Sword Princess's dream was pure almost to the point of transparency. She simply wanted a simple romance with Yaxiu: dating, dancing, getting married, doing all the things couples do.
Of course, that did not mean Sonia was truly so easy to satisfy. If this still didn't qualify her to summon a god, Yaxiu was dead certain a honeymoon awaited him next. She was that kind of girl—insatiable, ever pursuing greater beauty—only deep in her heart, every beautiful thing she pursued was tied to Yaxiu.
Yaxiu knelt on one knee before her and took her ring-adorned hand. The design of the wedding ring was precisely the matching couple's ring he had given her. He kissed it lightly, looked at Sonia, and said, "Be it Hell or Heaven, we shall never part."
At this moment, Yaxiu finally abandoned all thoughts of shutting the Sword Princess out. Her entire life revolved around you; her heart and thoughts were only of you; you were the brightest splash of color in her world. Without you, she couldn't even find a dance partner—how could you bear to let her world fade to gray again?
Not knowing how much time had passed, a soft "mm" finally emerged from beneath the veil.
Yaxiu sat down beside her. Seeing how the girl had shed her usual lively, spirited demeanor to act so gentle and demure, he felt an unexpected trace of nervousness himself. He carefully helped remove her veil. Touching her snow-white shoulders, Yaxiu clearly felt the body in his arms tremble; it turned out she was even more nervous than he was.
Sonia finally lifted her head. Under the gentle starlight, her lovely face was more radiant than the constellations. Her limpid eyes brimmed with intoxicating charm, and even her blood-red hair seemed all the more enchanting.
When Yaxiu wrapped his arms around her waist, Sonia shuddered and stammered, "C-Could we..."
"Hm?"
"Could we... turn off the lights?"
Yaxiu paused, glancing up at the starry sky. This was an open-air room illuminated entirely by starlight; where were there any lights?
Though snuffing out the starry sky directly wasn't impossible, still...
"No," Yaxiu said with a smile. "I want to keep looking at you."
Sonia let out a tiny, aggrieved hum like the buzz of a mosquito, covering her cheeks with both hands, and muttered pitifully, "You're bullying me."
Thump!
Yaxiu felt as if his heart had been struck with a hammer, his very soul melting like ice cream. He caught Sonia's hands; these slender hands capable of gripping a longsword and slaughtering their way across an entire nation were parted by him now with feeble helplessness.
Sonia chose to resist to the end, turning her head away and squeezing her eyes shut. So Yaxiu kissed her from her neck all the way to her lips, and then to the corner of her eye. The tickling sensation made Sonia open her eyes, looking at Yaxiu with a pouting, aggrieved gaze. "You just love bullying me."
"I'm going to bully you for a lifetime," Yaxiu said, winking as he made a second eternal promise.
Snap!
A massive white wing suddenly spread from Sonia's back. With a gentle wrap, it enveloped the two of them, leaving not a single seam for light to pass through. Soon, however, a second white wing emerged from within, intertwining with the first. Feather upon feather tangled and melded together, blending into a seamless whole, turning into a pair of wings that soared above the starry sky.
*
Ruby Mountain.
Weixi's voice echoed like the depths of an abyss: "Soul lock all living beings, enslave destiny!"
A spectral-blue figure emerged beneath Weixi's soul body. It was clad in heavy armor forged of chains, but its true form was a mass of spectral-blue fire. Behind it burned five barbed flame tails, and long hair of eerie flame drifted in the wind, both eerie and magnificent. Yet when it drew a chain from the void, the souls of all observers began to tremble!
God Soul Lock!
The Hell Weise bore suddenly underwent a violent silvering, her ethereal voice transmitting along the light to every corner of the Void Realm: "Evernight Silver Lantern, renew the future!"
Countless streams of light condensed in Weise's left hand, gradually taking the form of an exquisitely patterned silver tome. Holding the silver lantern in her right hand and the silver tome in her left, the five wings behind her blazed fiercely. Countless characters revolved in endless cycles around her, and the expanding authority could even penetrate Hell!
God Silver Lantern!
Diya's hair color suddenly shifted into five distinct hues, five voices chiming in unison: "Fairy tale time, depict fantasy!"
The colors of the Witch's hair twisted and turned in endless cycles, mixing beneath her soul body to form a tiny figure with pink-gold hair. Dressed in a colorful dress and clutching a drawing board in both hands, its face was covered in smudges of oil paint, and even its five pink-gold tails were stained in a chaotic mess of colors.
God Fairy Tale!
Finally came Sonia's melodious, heavenly voice, almost like a song: "Beneath the starry sky, twin wings shatter the lake."
With a light flick of her finger, she slashed out a Blood Moon Shattered Lake. The ripples of Sword Qi suddenly collapsed into a sphere wrapped in a pair of wings. As the wings unfurled, a figure wearing a black veil and a black evening gown appeared in the Void Realm. White wings, black gown—it resembled both a fallen angel and a demon carving a bloody path out of Hell.
It reached out, drawing a pitch-black greatsword from the void. With a casual swing, the Ruby Mountain below shattered into countless fragments!
God Shattered Lake!
After summoning their gods and upgrading their gods, the four operators were in no rush to explore their gods' characteristics. Instead, they all looked toward Yaxiu in the center. Finding Yaxiu staring with solemn gravity at the Fifth Hell, they too pulled back their gazes, and someone remarked breezily:
"Then let's take care of the Fifth Hell first."
"Mm."
"Mm."
"Mm."
Chapter 1013