Sonia and Niya

Foul and reeking. Murky. Sickening. Soaking in an ocean formed of black blood, her hair matted with the flesh and gore of monsters, Sonia was surrounded by fog so dense she could not see her own hand before her face. She did not know why she was here, but she knew she had to swim forward, advancing along the trail of monster corpses. Not only was it safe, but it would also allow her to catch up to that detestable little chatterbox and settle the score between them. ...Who was that little chatterbox? Yet the moment her thoughts probed just a little deeper into the depths of memory, they were engulfed by an avalanche, a tsunami of resentment. That hatred was like a glacier on the far northern permafrost, piling higher and higher over time until it could no longer bear its own weight. Like a rabid dog loosed from its cage, it was desperate to obliterate all of spring with chilling despair. And yet, immersed in these thoughts, Sonia felt not the slightest discomfort. On the contrary, it was as though she were soaking in a warm spring, cozy and comfortable. Her body felt so light, as if every shackle and burden had been cast aside, and an unimaginable joy welled within her heart—a delight far greater than standing in the center of the world's gaze, a pleasure far superior to towering over all living beings. As it turned out, hatred and joy were never opposites. Because all her anxieties, worries, and melancholy—the answers to every problem she had ever encountered—could be answered with resentment. Why bother thinking? Why bother choosing? If those nobles did not respect her, then slaughter them all. If those men coveted her, then gouge out their eyes. If those strangers hated her, then hunt them down door to door and tear them limb from limb. If the stars did not bend to her will, then overturn the stars. If Jialesi could not tolerate her, then bathe Jialesi in blood. Whoever dared oppose her would die without a burial plot to their name! It should have been this way all along. This was so much easier. This was the life she truly wanted. Why had she lived so exhaustingly before? Because she had kept restraining herself, wrapping chain after chain around her own body—what nonsense about morals, what nonsense about laws... It was, it was practically just like that cowardly, groveling mother of hers... Towering fury surged from the sea of her heart, but this time Sonia did not suppress herself. She let the flames rage unchecked. As the fire burned through the glacier of resentment and a grim, chilling slaughter settled over the earth, Sonia felt as if she had abandoned all suffering, floating upward as light as a balloon. From the very beginning, there had never been any chains. Daidalos, that sly vixen flirting and clinging to him—dead. Felix, that thieving cat who dared share two gems with him—dead as well. Silver Lantern, consider yourself lucky to have died early. To dare hurt him and violate him... that was something only I am allowed to do! Annan, and all those other women she did not even know—kill them all! And finally, Yaxiu. And the Witch. [○｀Д′○] You two... you two, I'm going to... I'm going to— ┭┮﹏┭┮ *Waaaah...* Why... why did her best friend and the person she liked most in the world both have to make her so angry... *Splash.* As if two ropes had suddenly wrapped around her, Sonia's thoughts plummeted, dragged downward until she struck water with a sharp slap and crashed against the ground. "Sword Princess! Sword Princess!" The Paw-Stretching Sword Saint coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth and slowly opened her eyes. She saw the Witch in her youthful form anxiously holding her, while the massive phantom of a Bronze Dragon drew its metallic wings inward to shield them. Cradling Sonia in her arms, Diya had directly used a 'Reverse Time' sorcery spirit on her. Pressing a hand against the village girl's cheek to gauge her body temperature, she stared closely into Sonia's pupils. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine." Sonia wiped away the traces of blood at the corner of her mouth and looked around, greeted by an appalling sight: the surrounding buildings had all been leveled by the shockwave, and the Four Pillar God sorcerers were strewn about among the ruins, buried and battered, their lives hanging in the balance. As for the tens of thousands of Four-Wing phantoms nearby, they had already vanished into thin air, utterly obliterated. In the distance, the outermost wall of the bastion had collapsed, but the second wall had coalesced into another starlight barrier, still steadfastly guarding that severed silver wing. Sonia gradually recalled what had just happened. Under the combined onslaught of the Four-Winged phantasm army and their infiltrator sorcerers, the starlight barrier had finally been pushed to its breaking point. Yet the instant the barrier shattered, a silent explosion swept across the land along with starlight. The starlight barrier possessed a deathrattle effect. Even sorcerers with Sanctuaries like Sonia had been utterly powerless against it. Though termed an explosion, it was more like a splashing ripple in space-time; the entire world had warped in an instant, and even light curved along the ripples. Sonia vaguely remembered reading about this phenomenon in a spatial sorcery treatise—something about a gravitational field. Ultimately, a Sanctuary was merely a form of spatial sorcery. Against such ripples of space-time, the Sanctuary itself suffered no harm at all, but the sorcerers inside were all grievously wounded by the bizarre gravitational forces the ripples produced. "Are you really all right?" Diya reached out and wiped away the tear glistening at the corner of Sonia's eye. "You're crying from the pain." "No... these were from a dream." "You were only out for a dozen seconds or so, and you had a dream?" The Witch helped her to her feet. "What kind of dream?" "Nothing much. It felt like I dreamed of the Knowledge Sea." Sonia cast a glance at the thin mist around them. "Probably the environment's influence." She flew over and pulled Daidalos out of the rubble. Although the foremost beauty under the stars was no longer elegant and poised—a trickle of blood trailing from her lips, her clothes shredded, covered in wounds and dust—none of it could conceal the innate allure rooted in her very bones, a charm that stirred instinctive pity in whoever laid eyes on her. "Can you treat her?" "I'm not wasting a Reverse Time spirit on her." Diya flicked water-threads from her fingertips, and Daidalos's superficial injuries rapidly knit together. The Chaos Diva regained consciousness and signaled Diya to stop. Her slender fingers swept across her own body, and every spot her touch brushed chimed with melodious sound—every note under heaven, from piano and guitar to bird calls and howling winds, as though Daidalos's body were a comprehensive instrument of all melodies. After finishing a short tune played upon herself, Daidalos was completely restored. Wasting no time, she issued brisk, decisive orders: "Witch Seat, you possess prophecy miracles. Gather everyone together as quickly as possible, and I will cast a healing miracle over them all at once!" The Sword Princess and the Witch were well aware that their authority was largely borrowed. Sonia went without saying, and while Diya had extensive experience as an empress by profession, she was still a newcomer here; without the Gospel's assistance, she would have been unable to make effective decisions. Though Daidalos usually indulged them, whenever the Chaos Diva turned serious, both of them knew to follow her lead. As they dug out the other Four Pillar God sorcerers, Sonia saw new Four-Wing phantoms emerging from the white mist. The Church bastion's retaliatory burst had cleared the field in an instant, but against the endless tide of Four-Wing phantoms, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket—a futile attempt to prolong their dying gasps... The Paw-Stretching Sword Saint suddenly realized something and turned to look at the distant bastion, muttering, "There are two layers of walls left. Our assault just now lasted nearly an hour, which means the Church can hold out for another two hours at most..." "Or rather, we have less than two hours left." The Witch lifted Catastrophe Messenger Claire and said, "The Divine Lord of Stars is far better prepared than we are. If the Church can only hold out for three hours, that means the Divine Lord will definitely assimilate the angel's virtual wing within three hours." "Time is running out for us." Sonia exhaled a breath tinged with the scent of blood, then suddenly asked, "Is Yaxiu fighting a bloody battle right now, too?" "If something this abnormal is happening inside the Country of All Stars," Diya said, "he'll throw caution to the wind, without a doubt." "He must guess that we're trying to save him. Could he really just stay obediently in a safe place to protect himself?" "It's precisely because he can guess it that he'll definitely take the risk." Diya dug out Trozan as well. "Back in the Gospel, he saved me, I saved him, and then he came right back to save me... It drove me crazy." "Haven't you gotten used to it yet, Sword Princess?" The Witch tilted her head with a smile. "We just have bad luck, falling for such a troublesome fellow." Sonia froze for a moment, then let out a helpless smile and murmured: "Yeah. Bad luck indeed." Once they had gathered all the Four Pillar God sorcerers, Daidalos cleared her throat, and a clear, heavenly voice rang out across the battlefield. *"Petals of white roses bloom one by one, and memories of the past slowly awaken..."* *"This tranquil night of blossoming flowers is about to be stained with sweet and painful hues..."* The moment she began to sing, Diya was utterly entranced, murmuring, "To have such power even singing a cappella... That's way too beautiful!" She could not help taking the Sword Princess's arm and saying, "No wonder you worship her as an idol. If she were in the Gospel, she'd definitely—" At that moment, the Empress noticed the odd look on the village girl's face and asked, "What's wrong? Doesn't it sound good?" "No, it's wonderful. That's the theme song to *A Blade Errant Through Ages*." Sonia shook her head. "It's just that... I think I suddenly know how to use the Extinction Resentful Blazing Dragon." The Witch blinked. "Huh?" Sonia slowly rose into the air, gazing at the bastion ahead that was once again besieged by the Four-Wing phantoms, and raised her longsword high with both hands. The twin sword insignia on the back of her right hand flared with a purplish-red glow. *Boom!* A burst of chaotic purple aura erupted from her, rapidly taking the form of a gigantic feline silhouette beneath her. As if providing background music for the Sword Seat, the Chaos Diva's song grew even clearer and brighter, faintly drowning out the cacophony of slaughter from the Four-Wing phantoms. *"With an encounter out of nowhere, destiny was forever transformed."* *"Your smile melted my frozen soul, like glowing clouds embracing the night."* *"Even if the light of the setting sun claims this fleeting moment, our silhouettes will gradually merge as one."* The Extinction Resentful Blazing Dragon had fully formed. Sonia stood atop its head, and the surging energy coalescing on her blade was no longer the crimson of slaughter, but a chaotic, purplish-red steeped in resentment. *"...Just like intertwined destinies, held countless times and lost countless times."* *"Yet one day we will meet."* *"As the sky yearns for the earth, as flowers await the rain."* *"And as the night secretly longs for tomorrow."* *"Our two hearts shall unite tonight."* The purplish-red energy suddenly converged, as though two colors had blended together into absolute perfection—no longer murky, leaving only pure radiance. Though the purplish-red of resentment remained, it could not overshadow the other brilliant light shining from within. *"When the petals of the white rose wither one by one,"* *"Perhaps they will be dyed in the gentle colors of the dawn."* With a soundless roar from the Extinction Resentful Blazing Dragon, an enormous purplish-red sword-light swept across the bastion—one that even the starlight barrier could not withstand! When several dozen points of light on the barrier suddenly went dark, the Four Pillar Cult sorcerers realized that the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess had successfully struck down the Church sorcerers right through the starlight barrier! In the distance, several fireballs suddenly shot into the sky like fireworks; it was likely Surge, another anti-Starlight faction, cheering on the Four Pillar Cult. When Sonia returned to the ruins, Diya asked, "Is the Extinction Resentful Blazing Dragon's guardian spirit ability turning your attacks into soul attacks that ignore defenses?" "Your summary is more accurate than what I felt myself," Sonia said. "Though there's a gentler way to put it, too." She reached out to stroke the fearsome head of the dragon behind her, speaking calmly yet with utter conviction: "Even if an infinite distance divides us in reality, our souls are still within arm's reach of one another." Diya blinked. She sensed that the Sword Princess was somewhat different now. If Sonia had previously been turning into a fanatic unable to control her negative emotions, then now she was... a fanatic who could control them? Was it the guardian spirit's influence, or had she... grown? Watching the Paw-Stretching Sword Saint stand in majestic poise, accepting the awe of the crowd, the Witch thought to herself that this woman was growing more mature and charismatic by the day. She really wished Sonia would quickly realize she had no chance, so she would stop getting in the way of Yaxiu becoming the Prince Consort of Gospel. ... ... In the murky white fog and black sea, a red-haired girl covered in blood and filth shook her head. She looked around in bewilderment, seeing nothing at all, of course. Smearing monster remains across her body, she continued forward along the trail of corpses into the depths of the white fog. She had never been able to find an opportunity before, but this time Yaxiu was finally out. She had to seize this chance to settle the score with him. Still... The red-haired girl looked down at her hands, which had swum for an entire hour without tiring. "Could it be that I'm a swimming genius?"