Contrasting Emotions

Youlanweise Dust-Calamitous Fire was conceived in an infant incubator. Both her biological parents were ordinary mortals, but because her maternal grandfather was a sorcerer, her mother had received a good education from a young age and was highly cultured. However, her knowledge was broad rather than deep, and she never mastered any field well enough to step into the realm of a sorcerer. Although the Calamitous Fire Temple preserved the family as a basic societal unit, the closer one drew to the divine, the more devout their faith became, leaving less and less room in their hearts for any other emotion. Ordinary mortals at the very bottom, responsible solely for productive labor, were ironically able to nurture genuine familial affection. In contrast, the nuns and knights devoted themselves almost entirely to the divine; their children were largely placed under the unified care of the temple, severing nearly all bonds between parent and child. Even though Weise's mother was an ordinary mortal, her high level of education combined with having a sorcerer father allowed her to smoothly take up the post of a temple nun—essentially the best circumstance an ordinary mortal could attain... That she ever had a child like Weise had nothing to do with love. It was merely that her genes showed a high degree of compatibility with another knight's, so she surrendered her genetic material to let an infant incubator gestate the next generation. From beginning to end, she had never once laid eyes on Weise's biological father. By all rights, it would have been normal for her to feel no affection for Weise whatsoever. Yet from the time Weise gained awareness of the world, she saw her almost every single day. She only ever allowed Weise to address her directly by name: Wei-ou-nei. The tip of the tongue first pressed against the lower palate, moved upward, and on the third beat lightly brushed the teeth—Wei-ou-nei. That was the first word Weise ever learned. The name Youlanweise was also given to her by Wei'ounei. Throughout Weise's childhood, Wei'ounei would occasionally bring her food or take her out to play, but mostly, she introduced her to this world. The knowledge enlightenment of the Silver Lantern Saintess began with a bedtime story every night. Back then, little Weise was not fierce at all; on the contrary, she was rather silly. When other children bullied her, she never spoke up, only hiding in a corner to cry pitifully. But the silliest thing she ever did was when Wei'ounei took her shopping at a commercial center administered by the temple. Wei'ounei picked out a lovely set of children's clothes, and seeing that Weise was already five years old, encouraged her to go into the fitting room alone to change. Yet in less than a minute, Wei'ounei heard crying from inside the fitting room. Going in to look, she found little Weise with the garment pulled over her head in a tangled mess, having tripped herself and fallen to the floor in tears—a display so clumsy that Wei'ounei couldn't help but laugh. As she helped little Weise change, the girl kept sniffling, fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks. "S-sorry... I couldn't find the... the hole..." "Why are you apologizing to me?" Wei'ounei smiled. "Didn't I teach you to find the sleeves first before putting it on? Don't rush so much next time. Just take it slow." "I was scared," little Weise murmured, hanging her head. "I was scared you wouldn't wait for me." Wei'ounei cupped little Weise's cheeks, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes with her thumbs. "If I'm not waiting for you, then no matter how fast you get dressed, I won't be there." Wei'ounei tousled little Weise's hair and said to the bewildered little girl: "If I am waiting for you, then even if night falls, I will still be here." "So don't rush. Take your time. I'll wait for you." Clap! Shing! Clang! In the ruins at the bottom, their movements were as swift as thunder and as fluid as flowing water. Blades sliced the air, fists and claws struck with ferocity, clashing multiple times in a single second like torrential wind and rain colliding with celestial thunder and terrestrial fire. The combat was so fierce that it seemed as if both were bent on putting an end to each other's lives! Yet upon closer inspection, neither of these two Sanctuary Sorcerers had raised their sanctuary. Amid this intense melee, neither had inflicted a single new wound on the other; their movements were coordinated seamlessly. Rather than calling it a performance, it was more like an unconventional form of communication. *He is waiting for me.* Weise caught the longsword in midair, slashing and thrusting downward at will, before Yaxiu seized an opening to grip her wrist—she had practically stuffed the hilt back into his hand of her own accord. *He doesn't even know the truth yet.* Weise stepped into his embrace, her left hand seizing his wrist while her right forearm pressed against his neck. This move was intended to suppress an enemy by applying pressure to the throat, but Weise's right forearm merely rested against Yaxiu's throat. Far from applying pressure, it could even be described as gently nuzzling against him. She opened her eyes wide and stared at Yaxiu, no longer concealing the amusement in her eyes. The corners of her lips curved upward slightly, revealing a triumphant smile. Even though Yaxiu remained expressionless, swinging his sword to counterattack as though facing an enemy, Weise wasn't the least bit angry. She continued playing along with him in this sparring game. *In his eyes, I am still the sinister, treacherous Silver Lantern who has slaughtered countless lives and whose crimes know no bounds. I am still his enemy, with irreconcilable contradictions between us, and his companions are still relentlessly hounding me.* *Yet he is still willing to wait for me.* *He doesn't even know what he is waiting for.* Compared to Yaxiu understanding and supporting her only after learning the truth, this scene brought Weise far more joy. All the grievances and sourness that had welled up earlier were swept clean away, leaving behind only sweet bubbles bursting one after another in her heart, blossoming into a shower of fireworks. Weise knew Yaxiu's character well. While he had nothing to do with noble virtues like righteousness, honesty, or perseverance, he loathed evil from the bottom of his heart—so much so that he was the sort of person whose conscience would ache for ages after committing the slightest bad deed. Only in an enclosed environment like the Divine Fire Trial, under the imminent threat of death from the Square-Round Cicada, had they been able to coexist peacefully. Even then, only when both were on the verge of death would he slightly set aside his grievances and principles to comfort Weise—and even then, what filled his heart had probably been pity and sympathy more than anything else. That was why Weise was so happy. It turned out she was not alone. It turned out someone would still wait for her even after night had fallen. She had never concealed that she was a wicked woman, so what she loved most of all was seeing someone she liked willing to violate his own principles for her sake—even if it was merely out of the bond of having shared life and death together. Weise was now fully satisfied, and no longer wished to stubbornly keep secrets. She knew that as long as she confessed, Yaxiu would definitely stop and listen to her defense; once they found the final piece of the puzzle, Yaxiu would understand her, support her, and perhaps even regret having wronged her. Weise had been a little angry earlier, but now all that anger had vanished. Even so, she was in no hurry. This fight, so much like a game, held a special meaning for her; she wanted to savor this gentleness belonging only to the two of them for just a little longer. Perhaps she was lost in thought, or perhaps her stamina had flagged, but more likely, she had let her guard down—Weise's heel stepped on a pebble, and her balance faltered as she nearly fell. At that exact moment, a chilling sword blade swept across the air, aimed directly at her throat. Yet Weise was not worried in the slightest. She even turned her head to look at Yaxiu, eagerly anticipating whether he would look panicked. Drops of silver blood scattered into the air, frozen in time. Weise spread her wings like a diving bird and retreated rapidly, narrowly evading the blade. Though that sword strike had slowed down at the very end, it had still grazed her throat. Yet Weise did not care about this minor scratch. Stunned, she stared at Yaxiu's expression. She saw Yaxiu biting through his lip, blue veins bulging on the right hand gripping the sword, his face contorted, his eyes brimming with sorrow, fury, and guilt. These discordant negative emotions churned and clashed against one another, forged into a rusty, serrated dagger. Yet Yaxiu had not aimed the dagger at her; instead, he had turned it upon himself, tearing open his own chest, carving through his own flesh, and sawing his own bones to pieces. She was not the only one wounded. She was not the only one in agony. The reason she was so happy was that Yaxiu was willing to violate his principles for her sake. Yet this was also the very source of agony subjecting Yaxiu to a slow, thousand-cut torture. Suddenly, the necromancer's voice drifted down from above amid the rush of wind: "Yaxiu, I'm here to help you!" "Alright." Yaxiu replied with just that single word, then swung his sword once more. Only this time, it held none of the gentleness Weise knew so well.