This was also the first ti Lightchaser had used her divine talent word. The moonlight inside the crown drained away completely.
The clock hands inside the arena seed to be swept by sunlight. A dazzling wave of light passed over every player’s vision.
Even though everyone present stood close to the level of gods, their sight was still blurred by that flash.
When the light faded, the spot where BS Rita had been standing now held soone else.
A loose white robe hung from the figure. It was so loose it almost looked disheveled. Pale blue runic patterns were embroidered across the fabric.
A sapphire belt, as wide as a palm, wrapped around the waist.
The robe fluttered in the wind, almost lifting away with every gust.
A pair of long, pale fingers held a white staff.
The staff touched the ground lightly. The blue gem at its tip glowed faintly.
Her skin was unnaturally pale.
Her long hair was deep blue, strands glowing softly under the brilliance of the Star Sea.
A vine, white as jade, held her hair in place like a crown.
Its end extended across her face and blood into a blue flower that covered her left eye completely.
Her visible right eye shone with a jewel-like brilliance. A cold sapphire blue gaze calmly observed Lightchaser and every nearby player.
Quiet. Vast. Mysterious.
Her hair color, eye color, even her presence had changed dramatically.
But everyone recognized the face.
BS Rita.
Yet every person present knew this was not BS Rita.
They shared a similar calm and refined deanor.
But this "BS Rita" carried sothing different.
A faint emptiness hidden deep within her.
BS Rita never had that.
Even when BS Rita beca cold during the Demon Ga in Quiet Mountain, her eyes never held this hollow feeling.
This was the aura of a wanderer.
Soone without a ho. Without a people.
Like a drifting ship with no harbor to return to.
Lightchaser did not attack imdiately.
"You’re not Rita."
The woman did not answer right away. She continued studying the surroundings, her brows slightly furrowed as she analyzed the information.
After a mont, a faint smile rippled through that sapphire eye.
When she spoke, it was in the language of Binast.
"But you’re still Lightchaser."
Lightchaser disliked the tone. It sounded far too familiar.
The way this woman looked at her was similar to how her student did.
But this was not her student.
Lightchaser had little patience.
She spun the dagger between her fingers and cut straight to the point.
"So who are you?"
"Lania Kaia Wildfire. Dawn Wildfire. Undead Wildfire. People call many things," she replied pleasantly.
"But I prefer when people simply call Wildfire."
After answering, she began examining the arena.
She did not seem convinced this Lightchaser was the one she knew either.
She walked a few steps, tapping the staff against the ground in a casual rhythm, like soone strolling through a busy street before pausing to rest.
Occasionally she glanced down at the clock arena beneath her feet.
Only then did people realize sothing strange.
No matter the angle, no one could see her left eye.
Her answer had already sent shockwaves through the players.
Everyone rembered the phrase about pruning extra tilines.
Was this Wildfire another tiline’s version of BS Rita?
"Teacher, your turn to answer ," Wildfire said.
Even though this Lightchaser did not belong to her tiline, her voice still carried warmth and respect.
"Which world does the Rita here belong to?"
She asked with certainty.
Clearly she already knew about alternate tilines.
"BS," Lightchaser answered. "She’s the Adjudicator of BS."
"BS..."
Wildfire murmured the na softly.
"My teacher was right. A BS Rita really can exist."
Apparently that answered everything she wanted to know about the past.
She did not ask about BS Rita’s history.
One of the most interesting things about the Star Sea was that a player’s life story could often be read directly from their title.
Just like no one here asked the stupid question of how she could possibly be Dawn Wildfire.
Wildfire seed in a very good mood now.
She turned back to the present.
"Which of you temporarily disrupted the tiline?" she asked Lightchaser.
"Did teacher do sothing just now?"
Lightchaser did not like this question and answer pattern where she obediently explained everything.
Even though the woman in front of her was polite and far better behaved than her own student.
But since it involved her student, she still answered.
"I used an ability to help her awaken her divine talent word."
"Divine talent word," Wildfire repeated calmly.
"I’ve heard of that. But my teacher says I haven’t reached the point where I can awaken one yet."
Lightchaser laughed.
The smile clearly carried irritation.
"It seems no matter which tiline you co from, you have the sa hobby of collecting teachers."
"Good thing there’s no equipnt limit for teachers."
"Let’s hear it. Which one is yours? Deceitful Bloom again?"
"Yes," Wildfire nodded with a smile.
"But that wasn’t said by Teacher Deceitful Bloom."
"It was Teacher Foolishness."
A cold voice drifted down from the stands.
Dawn Cicada spoke.
Anyone could hear the faint frustration hidden in her tone.
"The vine you have. Did Deceitful Bloom give you that too?"
Wildfire’s brow tightened slightly.
She looked up at Dawn Cicada.
Her voice remained slow, but the temperature dropped noticeably.
There was even a hint of command in it.
"When speaking of Teacher Deceitful Bloom," she said calmly, "your tone should be more respectful."
The mont those words left her mouth, the arena fell silent.
It felt as though soone had cast a massive silence spell.
Every player stared at Wildfire like she was so kind of rare creature.
Wildfire blinked.
...?
anwhile.
Demon Tavern.
Deceitful Bloom set down his glass and patted Foolishness on the shoulder.
Foolishness responded by patting Deceitful Bloom’s arm.
They looked at each other.
Everything was understood without words.
"I want that one," Deceitful Bloom said.
" too," Foolishness replied.
"Maybe we should stop the other one from coming back."
"I think that’s reasonable."
"What exactly happened in that tiline? How did we end up living such a good life there?"
"No idea," Foolishness said calmly.
"But clearly it wasn’t our fault."
Hearthsmoke could not take it anymore.
"You two should reflect on yourselves."
"No matter the tiline, she still ends up getting you both wrapped around her finger."
"That vine and that gemstone eye were definitely things you two forced onto her."
"It must have been within the rules," Deceitful Bloom said calmly.
"Yes," Foolishness agreed.
Nearby, Boiling Orange nudged Ashveil.
"So what’s the vine on that Wildfire called?"
Ashveil, the walking Vineborne encyclopedia, imdiately explained.
"Sir Callia."
"A flower that can grow in any environnt or climate."
"The only requirent is that the gardener must occasionally look at it. Express affection for it. Show that it is needed."
"Otherwise it cannot root itself anywhere. It will drift endlessly."
"That sounds weak," Boiling Orange said.
"You know what I an. Caring about soone else’s attention and affection and all that."
"No," Ashveil replied, pointing at the white vine in the screen that ford Wildfire’s crown.
"So Vineborne consider this a form of taming."
"As long as you constantly show it your need, keep watching it, and invest a great deal of care into it..."
"It will beco the most precious flower in your garden."
"Because if you ever neglect it even slightly, it will uproot itself overnight and drift away on the wind."
"And when it leaves, it even plays a piece of music behind it."
"It’s extrely dramatic."
"And it only blooms when it genuinely returns soone’s affection."
"If it senses that the love isn’t real, it wilts imdiately and runs away that very night."
"In short..."
"Sir Callia is every bit as rare as Flower of Deceit."
User Comments
0 comments from readers