When it comes to brainwashing or hypnosis, most people imagine some slick smartphone app, capable of bending even the iciest empress or the sharpest-tongued schemer into a drooling, tongue-lolling mess with a single glance at the screen.
From there, the story spirals into scenes best left undescribed.
For Luo You, however, things worked differently.
With a single tap on her opponent’s forehead, a verdant glow bloomed like a seed taking root, etching an intricate, symmetrical pattern across their brow.
The moment the design was complete, the snowman’s arms fell limp, its eyes glazing over into a vacant, hollow stare.
Hypnosis is complete.
Thanks to the crimson authority coursing through her, Luo You’s perception pierced the veil of worldly truths with razor-sharp clarity.
She assessed the snowman and deemed it incapable of any deception or cunning.
It was nothing more than a puppet now, a fool bound to obey her commands.
“From now on, you answer whatever I ask.”
“Yes…” came the hollow reply.
“What is the Third Relic?”
The snowman’s mouth parted, hesitating for half a second before responding.
“I don’t know exactly what it is, but the power you’re wielding right now—that’s the power of the Third Relic.”
Was it referring to the divine particles?
Luo You pressed further.
“What’s the origin of the Third Relic? If it’s the third, does that mean there’s a first, second, or even a fourth?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how can you be so certain that the power I’m using belongs to the Third Relic?”
“Because I once encountered someone in the Boundary Sea who radiated a presence like yours. Later, I learned from others that it was the power of the Third Relic.”
“The Boundary Sea!”
Luo You’s pupils dilated slightly.
That endless realm of mystery, a place teeming with both unimaginable wonders and catastrophic dangers.
It was said to contain the essence of all creation, yet no one could venture deep within and return unscathed.
Exploration was limited to its fringes, a cautious dance along the edges of the unknown.
And in that boundless, enigmatic expanse, there was someone like her?
“Tell me more about this person.”
“They were clad in white armor, radiating a brilliance so intense that even the infinite waves of the Boundary Sea couldn’t dim it. I only passed near them and retreated from afar.”
Luo You’s brow furrowed.
A figure so formidable that even a Light-Seizing dimensional beast would shy away?
Just how powerful could they be?
Then again, she wasn’t entirely convinced the snowman before her was even at the Light-Seizing level.
It didn’t look the part, and besides, the true Light-Seizing beast was supposed to be sealed within the Boundary Sea, not standing here in front of her.
“Tell me about yourself. And what did you mean when you said Light-Seizing dimensional beasts are ‘defective products’ on the path of evolution?”
“I…” the snowman began, but another voice cut through the icy silence.
“Let me answer that one.”
From behind a door beneath the ice, another figure emerged, stepping into the light to face Luo You directly.
Luo You wasn’t surprised.
She tilted her head and said, “Well, if it isn’t Little Tangerine.”
It was none other than the enigmatic blogger who’d been streaming outdoors moments ago before vanishing without a trace—Little Tangerine.
“More precisely, I’m a magical girl. Litia, to be exact. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time, Ellera.”
Litia’s gaze was layered with complexity, as though tangled in some unspoken history.
“I’m pretty sure I haven’t slept with you,” Luo You quipped.
Her mind raced, double-checking her memories.
No, she hadn’t crossed paths with Litia before, let alone shared a bed with her.
Unless… the Litia standing before her was in her untransformed state.
Some magical girls looked drastically different before and after their transformations, making it entirely possible to miss the connection.
But the name Litia… it was starting to ring a bell.
Litia, once ranked seventh among the Ten Seats, known to the world as the Tolerant Saint.
She’d perished four years ago in the crusade against the Nine Abyss Sea.
Right!
That was it!
Luo You had slept with this magical girl!
But that was a decade ago, back when Litia was far from the strength of the Ten Seats.
It had been a fleeting encounter, one that left little impression on Luo You.
“It seems you’ve remembered,” Litia said with a wistful smile.
“So, what are you now?”
Luo You didn’t mince words.
“Lingering regrets keep you from passing on? Oh, I get it—are you another magical widow, here to drag me down with you in some tragic love-suicide?”
“Widow?”
Litia’s lips parted slightly, a flicker of melancholy crossing her eyes.
“I’m only here because of the residual Boundary Sea essence in this place. I can’t explain the details—it involves the zeroth-tier magic cast by the Magic Alliance that day.”
Luo You’s expression grew solemn.
Zeroth-tier magic.
The equivalent of a nuclear warhead in human society, the Magic Alliance’s ultimate deterrent.
Even someone like Luo You, with all her power, would flee at the mere hint of it.
That kind of force was woven into the very fabric of existence, far beyond what any individual could hope to withstand.
But that only made Luo You more determined to use Litia as a key to unraveling this mystery.
Zeroth-tier magic was a weapon of annihilation, and without understanding it, she’d never rest easy.
Who knew if those vengeful magical girls stalking her drew their confidence from this very power?
“Don’t even think about it,” Litia said, reading her thoughts.
“I won’t tell you. And you can’t force it out of me—I don’t even have a physical body anymore.”
“I wouldn’t resort to brute force,” Luo You said candidly.
She wasn’t some irredeemable villain.
If Litia was already dead—and they’d shared a moment in the past—she wouldn’t stoop to coercion.
But that didn’t mean she’d play soft forever.
There were lines she wouldn’t cross, but persuasion was fair game.
“Tell me, Litia,” Luo You said with a sly grin, “you’re not like those other magical girls, are you? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me after all this time.”
“…Maybe,” Litia admitted, her tone pensive, as though death had stripped away all pretense.
“I didn’t expect you to linger in my thoughts for so long after I died.”
She paused, her voice softening.
“I became a magical girl because dimensional beasts slaughtered my family. You were the first person I ever… got that close to. Maybe there’s a part of my heart that’s always been yours.”
“Well, that’s… awfully blunt,” Luo You said, caught off guard by the directness.
A confession from a magical girl she’d once bedded?
That was a new kind of strange.
Unlike those vengeful magical widows, Litia had a certain… grace.
No wonder they called her the Tolerant Saint, Luo You thought.
But she couldn’t afford to get sentimental.
She needed answers—answers that would put her mind at ease.
“Look, I’m being hunted by a pack of magical girls I’ve… been with,” she admitted.
“Serves you right!”
Litia shot back.
“Fair enough,” Luo You conceded.
“I’m not afraid of them, but if they’ve got zeroth-tier magic up their sleeves, I might have to get serious. And if it comes to that, there’ll be casualties.”
“Impossible,” Litia said, shaking her head.
“Zeroth-tier magic isn’t something you can just use without paying a price. The Magic Alliance would never allow it—it’d upset the balance with the Otherkin organizations.”
She continued, “Instead of plotting how to fight them, why not give them some closure?”
“Closure?”
Luo You scoffed.
“What’s there to close? I slept with them, sure, but by magical girl standards, they’re lucky to be alive at all!”
She gestured at the snowman.
“Speaking of, what’s the deal with this thing?”
Litia gently touched the snowman’s head.
“It’s… well, you could call it the ‘crystallized essence’ of that Light-Seizing dimensional beast. It’s not wrong to say Light-Seizing beasts are defective. You know dimensional beasts are mindless before reaching the King-tier, right?”
“Yeah,” Luo You said, leaning in.
“King-tier beasts gain a sliver of intelligence, and Dragon-tier ones are nearly human in their cunning.”
“Exactly,” Litia said, her voice taking on a weight.
“But Light-Seizing beasts? They’re no different from the lesser ones—just beasts. Except… far too powerful.”
She paused, her eyes distant.
“I’ve seen one with my own eyes, felt it with my own body. It’s a walking calamity, something humanity can’t hope to face at this stage.”
Luo You glanced at the snowman.
If that was true, wasn’t this thing a catastrophic threat?
But there was something else nagging at her, something she needed to clarify.
“So, Dragon-tier beasts reach the peak of intelligence, but Light-Seizing ones… regress?”
She directed the question at the snowman, whose eyes were beginning to regain their spark as the hypnosis faded.
“It’s not my choice,” it said.
“In the Boundary Sea, I grow stronger whether I want to or not. It’s beyond my control.”
Luo You’s breath caught.
If word of this got out, it would spark panic across the world.
As long as you were in the Boundary Sea, you’d grow stronger just by existing, even against your will, until you crossed into Light-Seizing territory?
That was as absurd as ascending to godhood by breathing ten thousand times.
Even system-granted power-ups weren’t this outrageous.
“Is this unique to you, or do all creatures in the Boundary Sea face this?”
Luo You asked.
“I don’t know,” the snowman replied.
“The Boundary Sea is too vast. I’ve never met another like me at the Light-Seizing level.”
Luo You’s mind clicked.
It wasn’t just this creature—it was likely all dimensional beasts.
The Boundary Sea was so immense, yet these creatures risked everything to cross its threshold into the human world.
Were they fleeing the Sea to avoid the self-destructive path to Light-Seizing power?
“I didn’t know there was such a place in the vast Boundary Sea,” the snowman continued.
“I followed my instincts and ended up here. Then your people hunted me, sealed my body back in the Boundary Sea, and I… broke free.”
“Broke free from your own body, reborn with new intelligence, starting over,” Luo You mused.
She studied the snowman, its blood-red hair fading to a silvery white like fresh snow.
“Alright, let’s kill it.”
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Litia darted forward, blocking her path.
“You’re misunderstanding!”
“This is the Light-Seizing beast that killed you, isn’t it? Why protect it? Killing it would be my way of avenging you.”
“No!”
Litia exclaimed.
“I guided you here because I wanted to entrust it to you!”
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