Lin Nuo pressed the blade closer against her skin, as if finally making the girl in his arms feel a certain urgency.
“We two really are connected at the heart, aren’t we… Young Master Lin Nuo.”
At lastnLin Nuo heard that voice again.
But it didn’t come from the “XÄ«” in front of him, the girl he had taken hostage, who looked frightened at the wrist blade threatening her throat and clung to his arm.
That voice reached his ears from somewhere unknown.
At first, it sounded like a woman’s voice, but as it echoed again, Lin Nuo furrowed his brow tightly.
He couldn’t be mistaken—the voice, belonging to someone whose true form was still hidden, was exactly the same as his own.
“In fact, I prepared two strategies just for you. Want to hear them?”
“….”
Lin Nuo didn’t answer.
Instead, he took the opportunity to glance at Yosena inside the water sphere not far away.
She was still glaring at him, clearly hostile, with no sign she’d noticed the exchange or heard the other voice.
He understood now—the magical energy he’d sensed surrounding him just moments ago was meant to block out sound.
‘So Yosena couldn’t perceive anything unusual… The other party wants to talk to me alone?’
“The first plan, I’ll kill you using her appearance.”
“Let me guess, you must want to tell me that since I’ve got my blade to your throat, you’re already defeated, right?”
“Heh.” The person chuckled, a calculating tone beneath the amusement: “So I’ll have to use the second plan then…”
The hand resting on his arm, which seemed to be soothing him, suddenly pulled at his sleeve with a hidden force.
“…?!”
A flicker of doubt crossed Lin Nuo’s face, but he didn’t have time to let go of her.
She used that secret strength to guide his hand, forcing his wrist blade away from her neck.
“Squelch—”
The sound of flesh splitting at the throat echoed in the suddenly silent chamber, sharp and jarring amid the sudden change.
“Don’t—!!” Yosena burst out of the water sphere, gasping for breath despite her lack of air.
But all she caught was the vacant gaze of the girl collapsing forward, already lifeless, killed by Lin Nuo with the wrist blade that XÄ« had once given him.
It was the corpse of her own beloved Sister XÄ«.
“Did XÄ« ever tell you, she hates most of those who hurt her…”
“If she saw you now—someone who, at the very least, should feel uneasy even if you don’t resent her after being hypnotized by her—”
“Seeing you use the gift she gave you so carefully to kill her in such a cruel, merciless way…!”
That drawling, identical voice to his own, now full of gleeful mockery:
“Between you and the real her…”
“How will that end?”
Lin Nuo instantly swept his gaze around, focusing all his attention, but he couldn’t find the true mastermind.
Suddenly, he noticed—
The smoke from torches burning on the surrounding walls, Yosena bending over the corpse to check for breath, and the blood dripping from his wrist blade onto the floor—all of it was slowing down.
Drip
Drip
Drip
“Crack—”
The granite chamber’s walls seemed to split open, as if torn by an invisible blade.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, the entire chamber began to dissolve like fallen leaves caught in a wild wind, everything vanishing without a trace.
And only then did the real Cellar Chamber appear.
“Splatter—”
Lin Nuo turned toward the sound and saw the girl in the priestess garb pulling a sharp cone-shaped weapon made from white paper out of a magical creature’s body.
A spray of blood splashed onto the hem of her sacred priestess robes, lending her sweet face an added touch of enchantment.
XÄ« also looked at the suddenly revealed corpse that resembled her, her gaze shifting between the slit-throated, lifeless “her” and her real self, while Yosena stared between them with shock and disbelief.
And nearby, Lin Nuo, whose wrist blade—gifted by her—was now unmistakably stained with blood, having clearly killed the “her”.
“Bzzzz—”
“Bzzzz!”
The surrounding scene abruptly faded.
The mermaid Yosena, still hugging the corpse, hadn’t yet reacted.
The water sphere burst, soaking the floor.
The deep green seaweed that had bound Lin Nuo and the chair—
All of it faded rapidly and vanished.
The Cellar Chamber, built of six granite walls, warped and twisted under some unknown magic.
Lin Nuo looked down to find the solid floor beneath his feet had, at some point, changed to cypress decking—the kind used to resist seawater corrosion.
The salty sea air prickled at Lin Nuo’s senses.
He could hear waves pounding against rocks, and the distant roar of some magical creature.
Back in another illusion…
And this time, it seemed he was standing on the deck of a massive ship, already badly damaged from fierce combat.
“Whoosh, whoosh—” The wind whipped Lin Nuo’s clothes.
It drew his gaze to a girl ten paces away, standing opposite him.
She seemed momentarily lost in the scene, the weapon in her hand still dripping blood as if she didn’t care.
That person had brought XÄ« with him into this illusion.
‘Could it be…’
Before Lin Nuo could follow that ominous train of thought or guess at his opponent’s next despicable move—
The voice, using his own tone and a light, mocking air, came from nowhere: “This is the arena I’ve set for you. Only one of you can leave alive.”
“Which of you will be the first to kill the other?”
“The show I’ve been waiting for is finally about to begin…”
‘First of all, XÄ« would never fall into such an obvious trap just because she saw me kill a fake version of her.’
When Lin Nuo saw XÄ« approaching him,he believed this firmly.
“Thud thud thud—”
XÄ« picked up her pace, magical energy gathering as she moved toward his face.
Lin Nuo still believed in her.
That nimble figure leapt at him, and as she brushed past, her hand deftly locked the back of his head and pushed it down with just enough force.
An arrow shot from behind him, missing Lin Nuo’s head by a hair’s breadth—he hadn’t even noticed someone had locked onto him.
In that instant, she had saved him from the attack.
Lin Nuo’s heart pounded as he understood instantly: ‘I was right.’
Twisting around, Lin Nuo saw—
In front of him, besides the slender silhouette of the girl standing in the sea breeze, was a vast sea surface, there were ships approaching, and on their decks stood a host of cultists: clad in ragged fish-scale armor and coarse linen, adorned with evil tokens like infant finger bones and sea monster fangs.
All those cultists fixed their pitch-black eyes on the two of them, each one seething with the venomous hatred reserved for a sworn enemy.
“So, the two of you really won’t turn your blades on each other so easily.”
“What a waste—such a delicious scheme to turn you against each other, all for nothing…”
“Such cheap feelings, forged in lies, deception, and coercion, never even warmed by true confessions—how much of a storm can they weather?”