Sonia looked at Yaxiu from the corner of her eye, returning the warm light in her gaze to the setting sun. Her radiant ruby-like eyes made no attempt to conceal a certain pure emotion.
Yaxiu blinked, but before he could react, the door chime behind them rang again.
"What a coincidence, you're both here?"
With a snap, the oak door was pushed open. The Witch practically glided inside, closing the distance in quick strides as she walked over to their side and asked, "Are these illusory-real materials that good? Why are both of you here?"
Even as she spoke, Diya's eyes stayed glued to the bag beside Sonia. Seeing that Diya had suddenly changed into a combat outfit of a similar style yet cuter and more enchantingly devilish, Sonia naturally understood everything in a flash and gave Yaxiu a languid, knowing glare.
Oh no.
This was precisely what Yaxiu had worried about most. If they had both gotten swimsuits or both gotten normal clothes, it wouldn't have mattered. But as luck would have it, the Witch had received a normal combat outfit while the Sword Princess had gotten a swimsuit. The gap between utilitarian function and sexual function was so vast that if the Sword Princess hadn't spoken harshly just now, Yaxiu might have already caved in sheepish embarrassment.
He would have been better off only giving a gift to the Witch!
Then the Sword Princess would have only been angry at most, unlike now where her look carried a hint of disdain.
Besides, if there had still been a slight chance of seeing the Sword Princess in a swimsuit earlier, now that the Witch had appeared wearing her new outfit, the Sword Princess—who cared about her image above all else—would never wear it no matter what.
At this point, he could only tell the truth. Yaxiu said, "I got two outfits from an encounter this time. As long as you change into them in the Void Realm according to the designs, you'll gain blessing buffs. My dark red trench coat is actually one too, but these clothes are exclusively custom-tailored; only you two can use them, and they won't have any effect if anyone else wears them."
Yaxiu's subtext was an attempt to explain why he gave the Witch a normal combat outfit while giving the Sword Princess a swimsuit: he had no control over it either. Diya twirled around smugly to show off her new outfit, then asked curiously, "Sword Princess, what outfit did the Watcher give you?"
Sonia turned her head away. "Ask him."
"Custom clothes aren't all designed for combat," Yaxiu racked his brains to explain. "The Sword Princess's outfit just isn't quite suited for everyday wear, but it has specific scenarios where it's useful... Ah, we're out of time! We need to hurry and pick our illusory-real materials. Let's go, let's go!"
The three of them left the café, each choosing a direction to continue exploring.
As Yaxiu walked along, pondering whether his gift-giving had been unfairly biased, the back of his head suddenly came under attack. Instinctively raising his Sanctuary to defend himself, he turned around and discovered he had been hit by a milk candy. Looking up, he saw the Sword Princess walking normally in the distance, seemingly not the culprit.
Except it would be a miracle if the culprit wasn't her.
Yaxiu picked up the milk candy and hurled it back with force. The candy traced an arc across the warm light, and just as it was about to hit the back of the Sword Princess's head, threads of water suddenly rippled across her body, and her right hand whipped back to snatch the candy out of the air.
Casting Water Moon while in motion—she's developed her miracle to a whole new level... Wait, did she really need to use a miracle to defend against that?!
The President of the Paw-Stretching Club turned to face Yaxiu. Leisurely peeling open the wrapper, she gently bit into the milk candy with her pearly white teeth, her pink tongue curling lightly to sweep the candy into her mouth. Seeming to savor the sweet creaminess of the candy, she narrowed her eyes and silently mouthed at Yaxiu from a distance:
You owe me.
With that, she melted into the crowd to continue searching for illusory-real materials.
Yaxiu scratched his head. How had giving a perfectly fine gift turned into him owing the Sword Princess an outfit...? The swimsuit could actually take effect worn underneath anyway... Where was the reason in this?
Yet even with a phantom debt conjured out of thin air, and even having missed a rare opportunity to see her swim, the cult leader felt no gloom whatsoever. On the contrary, his mood grew buoyant, and humming a tune Harvey had once played, he continued his search.
Nobody noticed that on a nearby rooftop, Weise had quietly watched it all unfold.
She looked first at the departing Yaxiu, but in the end, her gaze settled on the distant Sword Princess.
Back in the night market of Black Robe Town, when she had impersonated the Mercury Trojan to test Yaxiu, she had reached a conclusion: Yaxiu's "reality" was not an ability he could control at will, but resembled an erratic stress response—much like a cat going on a hunger strike in unfamiliar surroundings.
Recalling earlier events, Weise had realized that Yaxiu's transformation had stemmed from her killing Crow Extinction, which was why she had used the mind sorcerer's life and death to probe Yaxiu's reaction.
If Yaxiu had truly reverted to his "real" self under such a threat, Weise would have initiated god-hosting on the spot to break through the Kaleidoscope's restraints, using the mind sorcerer's blood as paint to brush Yaxiu with the colors of reality.
Unfortunately, Yaxiu had held back. Perhaps only by witnessing death could he awaken from the illusion to his immortal reality.
Weise had actually considered whether she should find an opportunity to kill everyone else. Although difficult, it was not impossible. Her reluctance to make a major move back in the food factory town had merely been to avoid alerting the Cult of Transcendence ahead of time.
However, she soon realized there was still a flaw in her slaughter plan: the Sword Princess and the Witch.
If the Yaxiu living inside the illusion was a pet cat, then the real him was a stray. To turn a house cat into a stray, the best method was naturally to leave him homeless.
Weise could eliminate the companions by his side, and she longed intensely to kill the Sword Princess and the Witch. At the mere thought of Yaxiu losing his sanity, awakening his reality, and torturing her in every conceivable manner he could imagine, Weise trembled with uncontrollable excitement, itching to dye Yaxiu's vision red with the Sword Princess's blood.
The problem was that neither the Sword Princess nor the Witch was in Senluo.
Unless Weise could master a miracle capable of utterly annihilating a sorcerer's soul right inside the Void Realm, she couldn't threaten the two of them at all.
As long as the two of them didn't die, Yaxiu would remain like a balloon tethered by a string, lost in the vanity of the illusion.
Though they had not spent much time together, Weise clearly sensed that Yaxiu, the Sword Princess, and the Witch treated the Void Realm as a "secret home" where they could take refuge.
Free from spatial distance, bound by shared interests, reuniting every night, and detached from real-world relationships where they could freely reveal their true selves... As long as he had this sanctuary, Yaxiu could never truly become homeless.
Therefore.
Changes in interpersonal relationships within the Void Realm would provoke an even greater reaction from Yaxiu.
If in reality he could seek someone out anytime and anywhere to clear up a misunderstanding, in the Void Realm, the infinite spatial distance and limited time together meant that even the tiniest rift would accumulate into a massive chasm.
And precisely for this reason, their romantic dynamics had remained stalled in their current state. Even an outsider like Weise could see that Yaxiu and the Sword Princess harbored feelings for each other, and that the Witch adored Yaxiu intensely, though Yaxiu did not yet have boundary-crossing feelings for the Witch.
Yet why had none of the three—Yaxiu, the Sword Princess, or the Witch—made a move, taken the initiative, or staked a claim? Yaxiu aside, both the Witch and the Sword Princess possessed bold, proactive personalities. Why were they holding back as well?
Because they all feared changes in their relationship.
The status of "more than friends, less than lovers" was not only their comfort zone, but also their safety zone. Even if a conflict erupted between them, it would at most be a "disagreement between friends"; the likelihood of patching things up was very high, and at worst, they could simply start over.
Lovers were different. The closer a relationship became, the more it tested the effort of both parties. If either side slacked off even slightly, they would find that in the past, they had merely been indulging in an illusion.
If friendship was tempered steel forged through a thousand strikes, then romance was a fragile bubble. The latter could gleam with blissful colors, but it was far more fragile, unable to withstand bursting.
Moreover, this was not a two-person squad, but a four-person team, and there might be newcomers in the future. Whoever took a step forward meant everyone else had to make concessions for them. After all, an illicit romance between a boss and a coworker bred suspicion far too easily—and worse still, another coworker was coveting the boss as well. When that happened, the team might tear itself apart.
Conversely, as long as that step wasn't taken and everyone stayed in this comfortable state, it guaranteed that nothing would spoil.
Perhaps it would take Yaxiu meeting one of the operators in reality to break the stalemate. Until then, everyone would tread carefully to preserve the team's atmosphere, safeguarding this shared haven, this shared home.
Having analyzed this far, Weise naturally understood what she needed to do next.
—She would change the team's dynamics, distort the team's atmosphere, and fast-forward their relationships.
Originally, she had considered creating a crisis for the Sword Princess to see if it would trigger Yaxiu's transformation. However, death in the Void Realm was far too trivial; though Yaxiu might worry in the moment, he wouldn't be truly anxious. Thus, Weise had abandoned that option.
Then how could she upend the team's atmosphere?
Offer herself up to seduce Yaxiu, forcing the Sword Princess into jealousy and the Witch into distress?
She wouldn't mind if it worked, but she had no emotional foundation with Yaxiu; it would be a miracle if he fell for it. Furthermore, she would draw the hostility of the Sword Princess and the Witch, which ran entirely counter to her long-standing modus operandi—Weise never allowed targets of value to dislike her.
Therefore, she could never participate directly in this romantic game; instead, she had to become someone indispensable to everyone.
Since Yaxiu and the others were afraid to step lightly into an intimate relationship, she could offer a little assistance.
She would help the Sword Princess confess her feelings.
She would create opportunities for the Witch.
The best outcome would naturally be the Sword Princess and the Witch fighting each other, making Yaxiu realize the Void Realm was no longer a sanctuary he could escape to. A slightly worse outcome would be Yaxiu choosing one of them while the other bowed out. The worst outcome would be a happy ending where all three reached a new peak in their bonds rather than drifting apart, truly becoming a family.
Yet even the worst outcome was acceptable to Weise.
No matter how intense the feelings, they could not withstand the dilution of time. Just as fairy tales never depicted the story after the prince and princess married, the bonds Yaxiu and the others built upon the Void Realm would inevitably face trials so long as they could not break free from the illusion.
What was more, neither the Sword Princess nor the Witch was known for being magnanimous.
Even taking a step back—even if Yaxiu truly had the finesse to win them both over—Weise would at most miss out on a perfect ally, yet she would gain the team's friendship in return and become someone Yaxiu and the others trusted. Besides, she took great pleasure in turning other people's lives into a chaotic mess; it was one of the few amusements she had within this illusion.
Having made up her mind, Weise quickly descended into an alley. Feigning a chance encounter around the corner, she greeted the Sword Princess with a smile: "I saw the Witch changed into a new outfit just now."
"It was a gift from the Watcher."
"Then where's your gift?"
Sonia glanced at her and said, "I don't have a gift. The Watcher is closer with the Witch."
"Is that so?" Weise looked startled. "Could I have misunderstood?"
"Misunderstood what?"
"Nothing, I just... I thought..." Weise lowered her head, looking slightly embarrassed as she mumbled, "I thought the two of you were lovers."
Sonia blinked. "No, we're companions exploring the Void Realm together."
Although her denial was firm, she made no effort to conceal the lightness in her tone.
"Though I've never been in love," Weise said with a soft chuckle, "the way you treat the Watcher and the look in your eyes don't seem like how you'd treat an ordinary companion at all."
"I've just known him since the Sea of Knowledge, so we're a bit more familiar, that's all."
"Oh?" This time, the curiosity in Weise's voice was genuine. "Could you tell me about your experiences in the Sea of Knowledge? I swam across the Sea of Knowledge all by myself—the vast white sea, the perilous knowledge creatures, swimming alone through the waves. Back then, I often wondered how wonderful it would be if someone were with me... Since your relationship is so good, your memories of the Sea of Knowledge must not be cold and pale like mine, but filled with the warmth of supporting each other, right?"
Scratched right where it itched, Sonia couldn't resist at all. After a moment of reserved hesitation, she couldn't help saying, "Back then, we had a boat..."
Chapter 562