I'll Wait for You

“Of course, I don’t mean that I won’t save you or that I don’t love you anymore. I’ll still save you and get you out of the Country of All Stars, and I’ll still have you in my heart.” Sonia said, “I just don’t want to make you my only one.” “Yeah.” “Maybe you don’t know, but paramour culture is actually very popular among the Astral nobility. Many nobles might be married on the surface, but in secret, they fool around with other ladies. We could take a leaf out of their book. In the future, once you and the Witch become a couple, I won’t disturb you two. But whenever I want to or you want to, we can meet up in secret for an affair. How about that?” “Yeah.” “But you also have to be mentally prepared for the fact that I might fall for someone else,” Sonia said earnestly. “No chains can hold a sorcerer, and naturally, no chains can hold me, a dignified legendary sword sorcerer—not even you. I am the master of my own life. I won’t become your woman, but you can be my man.” “Yeah.” “Don’t worry, even if I come to like someone else, our relationship as lovers definitely won’t be affected. I realized a long time ago that a Void Realm party like ours has to rely on emotions as a bond; otherwise, the secret could never be kept. Getting entangled with each other was only a matter of time. Even if it’s just to strengthen our mutual trust, we’ll have to meet frequently in private,” she said with high-spirited enthusiasm. “Yeah.” “Still, since you’ll be the Witch’s boyfriend, I won’t be able to go on proper dates with you. But when I’m on dates with someone else, you can tail behind us. During the intervals when I slip away to the restroom, we can hug and kiss and do the things couples do.” “Yeah.” “And the partners at our future weddings won’t be each other either. Yours will be the Witch, while mine is still up in the air. But on the day of your wedding, I’ll wear a wedding dress to meet you secretly, and on the day of mine, you must wear a tuxedo to meet me in secret too. We’ll passionately embrace where nobody can see, betraying our spouses together, okay?” “Yeah.” “And, and when we go on our honeymoons, we can sneak out too, just like newlyweds, and do… do…” At this point, Sonia was already weeping so hard that her voice broke and tears flooded her face, yet she still stared stubbornly at Yaxiu. Yaxiu pulled her tightly into his arms, letting her tears soak his clothes, as if cradling a kitten abandoned in the pouring rain. “Don’t say any more.” “I will! I want to say it!” Sonia clamped her teeth hard onto Yaxiu’s shoulder, sobbing, “I want you to spend the rest of your life in regret… *sob sob*…” The silver feathers suddenly paused. The silver radiance blanketing the mountain range like a curtain lifted as though being slowly pulled back. A pale silver halo emanated from Sonia’s body, and she began to drift upward as if drawn by an irresistible gravitational pull. Needless to say, the time had arrived. Yaxiu’s prayer had not been in vain; Sonia was about to be pulled back to the real world, rather than remaining trapped with them in the cage of the Country of All Stars. With no time to wipe away the tear stains and snot from her face, Sonia panicked as she stared at the halo around herself. Yaxiu helped wipe her face and said, “Don’t trust the Four Pillar Cult, and protect yourself well. Don’t enter the Country of All Stars, and don’t force yourself. If things can’t be helped, just give up on me. It’s not like there are no ways of resurrection in this world. Once you become a demigod in the future, it might be possible to go down to Hell and retrieve my soul, you know?” “(。>︿<)_θ” “Send my regards to the Witch, and tell her to protect herself first too.” “(。>︿<)_θ” “If you really can’t accept it, then hate me,” Yaxiu said with a smile. “Blaming everything on me will make things a lot easier for you.” “Don’t make me the first choice of your life. What I love is the Sword Princess who flies wing to wing with me across the Knowledge Sea. We are independent of each other; it’s never a case of one of us unable to live without the other. That’s why we can be the best comrades-in-arms.” “(。>︿<)_θ” The more Yaxiu wiped, the harder Sonia cried. Watching the halo grow denser and brighter, she suddenly wiped her face haphazardly, wrapped her arms around Yaxiu’s neck, and kissed him directly on the mouth. There was no technique, only pure emotion. Four lips smeared with tears and blood pressed tightly together. “No.” “I don’t want that!” Forehead against forehead, tip of nose touching tip of nose, Sonia drew a deep breath and said with a choked sob, “I still want to date you, marry you, and spend honeymoons with you! Forget about underground lovers, forget about comrades-in-arms! We must be an open, honest couple, hugging whenever we want to hug and kissing whenever we want to kiss, doing everything that couples do!” Yaxiu offered a helpless smile. “Yeah.” “I don’t care if you like the Witch or anyone else! I like you, so you can only be mine! I am the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess, a legendary sword sorcerer, the Enemy of the Stars! Whoever dares get in my way, I’ll cut them down!” “Yes, yes, yes. I submit beneath the Sword Princess’s blade.” “So you have to wait for me. Wait for me to save you.” Sonia sniffled. “Then you must make up for that perfect date, and then we’ll be the most perfect, wonderful couple, and then, and then…” Yaxiu cupped her tear-streaked face and gently nodded. “I’ll wait for you.” Amidst the drifting feathers and parting light, the Observer and the Sword Princess embraced and kissed. * * * “Sword Princess! Wake up!” Sonia opened her eyes and found herself held in Daidalos’s arms, with Diya’s concerned little face right before her. They were flying at high speed. “Are you all right?” “I…” Sonia wanted to pull away from Daidalos’s embrace, but being held by the foremost beauty under the starry sky was so comfortable that she simply gave up. “I should be fine. What happened?” “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?!” Diya complained. “You entered the light pillar and went completely unresponsive! You didn’t come out for ages, and we were worried to death! The song maiden even claimed she couldn’t sense your position—this feeler song maiden is totally useless!” “The Prime Angel is an existence on the same level as the Four Pillar Gods, so it’s only normal that my feeler abilities would fail,” Daidalos argued back. “Besides, I told you it was useless, yet you still insisted on having me keep singing until my voice went completely hoarse.” Trozan chimed in from the side, “We didn’t dare enter the light pillar rashly, as the phantom army outside was still unleashing a wild bombardment. It was only after the light pillar vanished that we seized the opportunity to pull you out, Sword Seat. Right now, those sorcerer phantoms that failed to enter the pillar and were left behind in reality are hunting down living sorcerers, so we have no choice but to retreat.” Sonia looked around and saw that the Four Pillar Cult sorcerers were all in flight, retreating, with several of them constantly launching attacks toward the rear. Through the thin white mist, she could vaguely make out dozens of sorcerer phantoms snapping close at their heels. “You promised you’d just go and come right back, but you ended up taking so long,” Diya huffed. “A whole crowd of us had to wipe your ass, Sword Seat.” Only then did Sonia remember that since she had been gone for so long, the Witch must have been worried sick. Full of apology, she said, “I’m sorry for making you all worry.” “Who was worried about you?” The Little Empress knitted her brows and pouted. “If you died, that’d be great—Yaxiu and I wouldn’t have to fret anymore.” Just then, Daidalos said, “Although the scale of the phantom army shrank considerably as the pillar grew narrower, it was still extremely difficult to rescue you. It was the Witch Seat who forcibly summoned her guardian spirit to freeze time in the area, and then personally pulled you out.” Sonia started. She suddenly grabbed Diya’s right hand and noticed that on the back of Diya’s hand, the golden clock imprint that had been pristine just a moment ago now bore a crack across its face. Diya looked a little self-conscious. Pulling her hand back, she said, “It’s nothing serious. The Bronze Dragon just needs to rest for a bit longer.” Pausing, she added, “I just didn’t want Yaxiu to be sad, and besides…” “You really are my best friend.” Sonia felt very strange tonight; her tear ducts seemed unusually active, and she felt like crying out of emotional overwhelm at the drop of a hat. She broke away from Daidalos, unfurled her wings, and flew over to embrace the white-haired girl. As Diya squirmed in irritation, Sonia whispered into her ear, “I saw Yaxiu.” “What?!” The Witch’s voice rang out in a full five-part chorus, and her hair instantly shifted into a chaotic swirl of colors. “Really,” Sonia said. “He asked me to send you his regards, and he was very worried that traveling across nations with Lisi and the sisters would be too exhausting for you.” “Not at all!” Lisi suddenly popped out. “It’s way happier than being cooped up in Gospel’s imperial palace all day! And there are so many friends here—I really like Daidalos and Felix!” “Also, he asked me to tell the Witch,” Sonia said softly, “ ‘I like the Black and White Witch, Lisdia.’ ” The Witch blinked, staring at the Sword Princess with a complicated expression. “Even though I understand what that means, coming out of your mouth, it feels like you’re confessing to me… Whatever. When he comes back, I’ll make him say it to me every single morning when I wake up.” “He also said,” Sonia continued with utter solemnity, “ ‘My affection for the Witch is merely that of a father for a daughter; only the Sword Princess is my true love.’ ” “Too fake.” Diya debunked it in an instant. “From beginning to end, he only ever wanted to treat Lisi as a younger sister. It was just Lisi who insisted on calling him daddy.” “The latter part was true, though!” “Liar Sonia.” Diya stuck out her tongue and made a face. “Still, since you saw Yaxiu, does that mean you went to the Country of All Stars? Was it because of the angel’s wings? But your physical body was right here, so in what state did you meet him?” Diya had deduced roughly what had happened from just a few words. Sonia was about to answer when she suddenly froze in place, nearly colliding with Daidalos behind her. “What’s wrong?” The others looked at Sonia in confusion, only to discover that the Sword Seat’s expression was exceedingly bizarre—a mixture of grievance and helplessness, like someone who had suffered a massive loss but couldn't even find anyone to retaliate against. * * * Huh? The moment Yaxiu felt the tip of a tongue lick his lips, he realized something was wrong. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of crimson pupils that were both familiar and alien. By now, the red-haired girl no longer bore any escaping halo. Held stiffly in Yaxiu’s embrace, she had merely licked the softness pressed against her lips out of subconscious instinct, as if newly awakened from a dream. Sonia was already gone. The one left behind was, naturally, Niya—who utterly detested Yaxiu. Yaxiu raised both hands and cautiously stepped backward. “I can explain. Calm down.” Yet Niya still stared at him blankly, as if his lips had been smeared with poison that had addled the wits of Jiashi’s number one wanted criminal. She touched her lips, seeming to reminisce about the warmth from moments before. The next second, Yaxiu knew disaster was imminent—because she pinched her own cheek. “I’m not dreaming?” she muttered, waking as if from a reverie. Yaxiu couldn’t resist retorting, “Would you dream of kissing me?” *Thump!* Even though Yaxiu saw it coming, his heavily injured body was incapable of reacting in time, and Niya kicked him flat to the ground. The red-haired girl drew her blade, her face flushing so red it seemed about to drip blood. Biting her lower lip in overwhelming shame and fury, she almost burst into tears as she screamed, “I’m gonna kill you, you little trumpet—!” *Boom!* It wasn’t an earthquake, but a spatial tremor. The silver feathers suddenly froze, and the entire world slowed down, as though someone had hit a 0.1x playback button just to get a crystal-clear look at this historic moment. A gargantuan wave of silver light washed down from the mountain peak like a tsunami. Yaxiu instantly threw himself over the fallen Niya, shielding her beneath him and covering her eyes. “Don’t look!” Although Yaxiu didn’t know what had unfolded on the mountaintop, the light pillar on the Sword Princess’s side had vanished, which meant that the Divine Lord of Stars had finished feeding. That meant… The first angel hunt had come to an end.