Volume 6, Chapter 64 – Naughty Little Sister, Time for a Lesson

The black mist of Robusta Wildwood canyon was torn open by a streak of silver light.

There stood Miss Ailiya, one hand on her hip, blocking Weiya’s path. The resignation in her cherry-colored eyes had faded, replaced by a cool edge. She looked at her sister — eyes gone crimson under the influence of something else — and spoke with a trace of disappointment that was barely perceptible, yet laced with an authority that brooked no argument:

“This naughty? Elder Sister is upset now~”

“Elder Sister Ailiya…”

At the faint displeasure in Ailiya’s voice, Weiya’s body gave an instinctive shudder. Confusion flickered through those crimson eyes, and she even involuntarily stepped back twice.

Because — compared to Bai Lianyue, who had spent the better part of the last ten years either asleep or perpetually scatterbrained, it was Ailiya who had done most of the actual raising of the two little ones, Miya and Weiya. The care and authority of a lifetime had long since been carved into Weiya’s subconscious. Even under the erosion of Corruption, that fear rooted in blood and soul had not entirely dissolved. Her attack faltered half a second on instinct, and the black curse power surging around her wavered into mild disorder.

When Elder Sister Ailiya was upset… the consequences were serious.

—”What are you afraid of?! You aren’t the same little girl you used to be!!”—

Seeing the flicker of emotion cross Weiya’s expression, Valerdis’s venomous whisper instantly rang through her mind. The blood vessels in that crimson eyeball writhed furiously.

—”She’s the very one who stole your beloved Mommy away from you! She’s the villain! Only by getting rid of her will your Mommy come back to you. There is nothing to fear. The one standing before you… is no longer your sister. She is a vile woman who tried to tear your family apart…”—

Forced down by that domineering will, the confusion in Weiya’s eyes rapidly drained away, replaced by cold killing intent and a deeply unsettling obsession.

“Elder Sister Ailiya… bad… bad person. Stole Mommy… bad person.”

Before the words had even finished —

Weiya thrust her hand upward. Black curse power and corrupting energy coiled together in a frenzy around her. Countless blood-colored briars studded with barbs tore up from the earth like coiled venomous serpents, carrying a sharp screech as they tore through the air and crashed toward Ailiya in an overwhelming wave. The surface of each briar was coated in viscous dark-red fluid that reeked of corrosion — wherever they passed, even the air let out a sizzling hiss as it burned.

“Goodness.”

Faced with her sister’s attack, Ailiya let out a resigned sigh, and her figure moved like a silver butterfly through forest branches — light and fluid. Rather than meeting the force head-on, she threaded her way through the dense blood-colored briars with precise, exquisite footwork. The hem of her silver-white combat uniform floated in the air; each turn, each leap landed with exact timing to clear the strikes, even borrowing the briars’ momentum to adjust her stance. The whole thing looked less like combat and more like an elegant, sweeping dance.

Rеаԁ oո ΚαtRеadіոɡСаfе

“You’re actually trying to kill me… Weiya, Elder Sister is very sad.”

Ailiya looked toward her sister with an expression of deep sorrow.

But even as she spoke, a cold and flat voice resounded in her mind.

—”Don’t bother playing the sentimental card. The brat can’t hear you.”—

—”You’re Ailiya, aren’t you — the girl Bai Lianyue took in. How foolish of you to walk straight into this. How very obliging.”—

—”Mid-tier Divine Departure Realm at your age, that’s not bad. Shame it won’t do you any good. Die quietly and I’ll at least make it quick — hahaha!”—

Valerdis’s contemptuous taunts came one after another into Ailiya’s mind.

He did have the standing for that arrogance. Though he had only just broken through the seal and his power had not fully recovered, as the primordial source of the Terran Malevolence, his curse power tier vastly exceeded any ordinary Divine Departure Realm cultivator.

It would take a little more time — he would need to absorb more curse power and stabilize it before reaching the evil god tier — but in his current state, dealing with a mid-tier Divine Departure Realm Divine-Graced Maiden?

That was obviously effortless.

Besides —

After being reborn after so long, he needed someone to warm up on anyway! Hahaha!

“It seems my little sister’s mind has been taken over by you. What a headache.”

Even as she kept evading Weiya’s attacks, Ailiya murmured softly to herself.

And at those words, something subtly strange flickered through Valerdis’s blood-colored eyes.

Reаⅾ on ΚαtRеаⅾiոɡCаfе

…Hm?

What’s this?

She knows her sister’s body and will are under my control — and she isn’t even startled?

Any normal human’s reaction should be to demand to know what I am.

But she…

Seems to have not even a trace of that impulse.

—”This one is a little off…”—

Valerdis’s eyes narrowed slightly, gravity creeping into his expression.

Instinct told him —

The woman in front of him was a bit dangerous.

She needed to die quickly.

Valerdis settled on this within moments. The next instant, the blood-colored briars pressed their assault even harder, and the Corrupted Beasts under his dominion surged forward as well.

Faced with the onslaught, Ailiya had no choice but to fall back step by step.

Until finally —

After kicking away one Corrupted Beast that lunged at her — Ailiya’s expression, rarely, settled into something cold.

“It seems… reclaiming her consciousness on her own is out of the question. If this drags on any further and Lianyue finds out… she’ll be devastated. There’s nothing for it.”

Rеаⅾ oո КаtReaⅾіոɡСafe

A quiet exhale. Then Ailiya snapped her fingers.

From the satchel on her back, a fluffy, wholly innocent-looking rabbit plushie climbed out and settled onto Ailiya’s shoulder.

???

Hm?

What is that thing?

A peculiar look crossed Valerdis’s eyes as he stared at the rabbit plushie.

But before he could make sense of it —

A surge of powerful Augury Force erupted from the rabbit plushie.

“Wh — what is that thing?!”

The next instant —

Under Valerdis’s stunned gaze —

Silver light enveloped Ailiya like a tide. The form of the rabbit plushie — Luolin — gradually dissolved into countless golden motes of light that merged into Ailiya’s body. As the motes fused, the purifying light mist around Ailiya exploded outward. It was no longer the soft gentle glow from before — it blazed like a noon sun, scattering great swaths of black mist, and even the traces of corruption on the ground below vanished in an instant.

When the light faded, Ailiya was clad in a divine ceremonial gown.

It was a magnificent dress of silver-white with gilded patterns throughout.

The layered skirts cascaded like a blooming sacred lotus, each layer embroidered with intricate ancient runes that glimmered with faint golden light, radiating a sacred and awe-inspiring presence.

Rеаd оո КаtRеаԁіոgСаfе

A gold sash cinched at the waist, set with a deep-blue gemstone at its center.

The dress’s pauldrons were sculpted in the shape of angel wings — the white feather detailing exquisitely lifelike, the edges adorned with fine scattered particles of golden light that trembled softly with each of Ailiya’s breaths. Behind her spread a pair of semi-translucent silver wings of light, golden patterns streaming across their surface — with each beat, showers of light scattered down, and wherever the motes landed they bloomed into small holy flowers that drove back the surrounding corruption.

Ailiya’s silver hair was gathered up by a golden hair ribbon, two small sapphires dangling from its ends, swaying gently with her movement.

One lock of silver hair at the front transformed in that moment to gold.

And in the girl’s cherry-colored eyes, a faint golden light began to glow. A shield of gold encircled her, ancient runes cycling continuously across its surface, emanating a pressure that made the heart seize.

—”MAGICAL GIRL!! TRANSFORMATION COMPLETE!!”—

The rabbit-ear earrings at Ailiya’s lobes announced this with undisguised smugness.

Satisfaction made thoroughly manifest.

Listening to Luolin’s proclamation and looking down at herself in this gown, Ailiya couldn’t help but twitch an eyebrow.

“I’m starting to understand why your previous contractor hated transforming. The embarrassment alone is extraordinary… I have to ask, you really just love magical girls that much?”

“Ehehe~”

“…Fine. As long as it works.”

One more resigned sigh — and then Ailiya fixed a cool gaze on Weiya’s darkened expression.

—”Naughty little sister… I think it’s time for a lesson.”—