Within the Elysian Realm.
"Eli, you're way too slow! It's already dark outside!"
"Mm, sorry. I accidentally played a little too much. Though… doesn't our Realm not even have night?"
Elias opened his arms and pulled Elysia into a hug. Miss Pink Elf had her cheeks puffed out in displeasure, clearly unhappy that she hadn't seen him for a full nine hours.
Elysia buried her exquisitely beautiful face into Elias' chest and inhaled deeply, replenishing her depleted "Elias energy" like a diver finally reaching the surface for oxygen.
Elias indulgently placed the gifts he had brought before her.
"Hm? Aren't these souvenirs you can only buy at amusement parks? Eli, did you go to an amusement park today? Don't tell me it was with Miss Cecilia?"
"Yeah. But without you by my side, an amusement park is actually more boring than I expected. Still, I found some other fun. Cecilia is amazing at video games. And compared to her future self, she's even more adorably clueless. It was pretty interesting~"
At this very moment, that white-haired saint was inside the luxury hotel within the amusement park. After playing all day, Elias figured she had probably already fallen asleep.
Their favorability hadn't reached the point of sleeping together yet. And Elias hadn't forgotten that at home, there was a pink elf who couldn't even get out of bed and was practically starving for attention.
So once today's date ended, he opened a spatial gate and returned directly to the Elysian Realm.
And found Elysia squatting at the castle gates.
Like a kitten who had finally seen her owner return, she immediately leapt at him and pressed her face against his.
"Tell me about your day, Eli."
"Come on, Ely. I didn't do anything like saving the world today. In fact… my driver's license even got revoked."
"What? That sounds fascinating!"
Elysia's eyes sparkled.
Elias adjusted his posture and lifted her into a princess carry. She naturally looped her arms around his neck, and the two of them quickly fell into intimate closeness.
It had been far too long since they'd seen each other. Both Elias and Elysia were a little "hungry" for one another. With the other right in front of them, how could they possibly resist savoring each other's presence?
Elysia had already wrapped Elias' snowy hair around her neck like a scarf and was trying to braid it into an adorable hairstyle.
Elias claimed he didn't want an adorable hairstyle—but since Elysia wanted to play, he let her.
"My dear Eli, just tell me, won't you? Honestly, I don't want to hear about you saving the world anymore. Every reckless thing you do makes my heart ache terribly."
"What I want to hear is something light and happy. Tell me where you went, what delicious food you ate, and then smile for me. That's all I need."
Elysia cupped his face gently.
All she wished for now was for this person to live an ordinary, happy life. The glory of saving the world… Elias already had far too much of that.
Sometimes, the title of Savior was a heavy shackle. What Elysia loved most was the free and unrestrained Elias—not a blazing sun that burned itself to illuminate the world, but a white-haired boy soaring freely like a bird.
"Alright then. Let me think. Today, I…"
Elias tightened his arms around her and began sharing every memory of the day he had spent with Cecilia.
Driving around, buying clothes, visiting the flower shop, the amusement park…
The smile on Elysia's face gradually stiffened.
(Eh? That sounds several times happier than I imagined. Isn't that already a perfect date? Is Miss Cecilia actually a formidable rival? Wait… how long has it been since I went on a date with Eli? Fifty thousand years? I'm… I'm jealous…)
At that moment, Elysia understood.
She had made a mistake.
It wasn't that she wanted Elias to be happy.
She wanted to be the one who made him happy herself.
"Ah. That expression—someone's jealous."
Elias recognized at a glance that his elf's jealousy jar had overturned. To prevent things from becoming troublesome later, he directly attacked her weakness.
With affection, he replaced that jealousy entirely.
Elysia's cheeks flushed faintly. She felt as though she was being completely handled—but since it felt wonderful, she decided not to mind.
"Eli, let's go on a date tomorrow too!"
"Emmm… tomorrow? Aren't we supposed to wake everyone up tomorrow? And Cecilia only has the time of one hourglass. I want to give her a few more memories."
"Grrr—!"
Elysia puffed up her cheeks and hugged Elias' head tightly, as if trying to drown him in her ample embrace.
(Eli, it's not only lonely vampires who fall ill from solitude. If you don't spend more time with me, Miss Pink Elf will also wither away from loneliness!)
Clinging to him like a sloth, she thought for a moment.
"In that case, I'm joining your date with Miss Cecilia tomorrow!"
"Uh… I certainly don't mind."
Elias blinked. Did he have any reason to refuse? Not even a little. One more person on the date meant double the happiness. He was already looking forward to it.
"Right, let me ask Cecilia."
He took out his terminal and sent Cecilia a message, informing her that one more person would be joining them tomorrow. He had assumed she was already asleep, but she replied instantly with an adorable OK emoji.
Cecilia's original terminal had broken. Before returning, Elias had constructed a new one for her with his authority—and thoughtfully downloaded a pile of games onto it.
Cecilia had been overjoyed to receive her new phone. Staring at the single contact listed inside, she had actually spent two whole hours debating how to send Elias her very first message.
Well… there was no need to hesitate anymore.
"Yay! Then I'd better carefully plan where we're going tomorrow. Let me look up some local information! A long-awaited date must be treated seriously."
"Uh… as long as you're happy, Ely…"
Elias had originally intended to leave the arrangements to Gray Serpent. But seeing Elysia so brimming with enthusiasm, he simply let her have her way.
(Sorry, Miss Cecilia. I won't be holding back. Love is a battlefield, after all. Tomorrow's heroine will be me—Elysia!)
(As for the others… you can stay obediently inside your hibernation pods and enjoy your beauty sleep. Don't even think about coming out to get in my way!)
The pink elf revealed a sly smile.
After that, Elias cooked for her for the first time in a long while, preparing a delicious meal. Then the two of them spent half the night in extremely intimate closeness.
Their bodies carried the Meta-Morph factors of Maheśvara, giving them abnormal metabolism. Even without exercise they maintained beautiful physiques, staying up late never gave them dark circles, their skin improved day by day, and even their hair seemed fluffier.
Still, Elias held back. Otherwise, Elysia would definitely have been unable to get out of bed the next day.
"Eli, give me your wings, okay?"
"Hm? Oh, sure."
"Ah~ so nice. This really is the most comfortable."
Elysia kicked the blanket away with her delicate foot and pulled Elias' six wings over herself like a quilt.
But she wasn't the type to only take. She spread her own wings as well and covered Elias with them.
Using each other's wings as blankets was comfortable—but it required them to stay pressed tightly together.
Neither Elias nor Elysia minded at all. Using each other as body pillows had long since become a habit.
"Eli, it feels like we've returned to the past."
"Yeah… honestly, just falling into eternal sleep like this might not be a bad choice. Um… two-thirds of that was a joke."
"Wait—so one third was serious?!"
Elysia burrowed deeper into his arms, as if she wanted to drown in his embrace.
Listening to Elias' heartbeat and breathing in his scent, the pink elf's lips curled upward unconsciously. She had a feeling that this would be the best sleep she'd had in fifty thousand years.
...
Morning arrived.
Elias gave the girl a light smack on the butt, trying to wake the pink piggy whose drool had already soaked his chest.
Truthfully, he also had the urge to hold this soft, fragrant elf pillow and sleep until the end of time. But in the end, Elias relied on sheer willpower to get up.
Elysia, however, lacked that willpower. After fifty thousand years of lazy freedom, waking up early had become an extremely difficult task for the pink piggy.
"Elysia, wake up. We'll be late for the date. And we still have to wake everyone else before we leave."
"Mmm… anyway, no one else can wake up… let me sleep another fi—"
"Five minutes? And what did you just say?!"
"…Let me sleep another five years."
"Why sleep so long in life? You'll sleep plenty after death!"
"Zzzzz…"
Seeing that she still refused to open her eyes, Elias realized this pink piggy was beyond saving. He simply lifted her out of bed and carried her to the castle bathroom, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and fixing her hair for her.
When Elysia finally regained awareness, she discovered she was already sitting at the castle dining table. A lavish breakfast had been placed before her, and Elias was holding a spoon, feeding her.
"Open up. Ah~"
"Ah~~"
(Ah… so comfortable. I almost forgot how incredibly good Eli is at taking care of people. At this rate I'll become completely useless… but I love being spoiled like this~)
Elysia kept her eyes closed, doing nothing but opening her mouth to eat. Elias even blew on the porridge for her so it wouldn't be too hot.
"Nom nom~ my dear Eli, how could I possibly live without you?"
"I… you know what, never mind."
Elias wiped her mouth with a napkin. Truthfully, he simply hadn't seen her for too long. His body instinctively wanted to spoil this pink elf.
(Actually… maybe that's not a bad idea. I'll spoil Ely so much she can't live without me.)
He glanced at the time. Less than an hour remained before his meeting with Cecilia. So he sped things up and tied Elysia's hair into twin tails.
Then he dragged her along toward the memory domains of the other Flame-Chasers.
The first destination he chose was Mobius. After all, in the original timeline, aside from Elysia, only three of them had yet to be awakened.
However, when Elias arrived at the chamber containing Mobius' Great Hibernation pod and entered the password to end the hibernation—
[Incorrect password. You have two attempts remaining.]
"…Hm? What's going on?"
Elias frowned. He was certain he hadn't mistyped anything. Hands that had knocked the Herrscher of Finality unconscious more than a dozen times surely wouldn't make such a mistake.
Assuming it might somehow be the one-in-a-million chance he made an error, he entered the password again—carefully this time.
The result remained the same.
[Incorrect password. One attempt remaining. Warning: If the next attempt fails, Great Hibernation will automatically lock. You may try again after 240 hours.]
"…Elysia. Do you happen to know something about this?"
"Whistle whistle~ Elysia knows nothing at all."
"…"
The corner of Elias' eye twitched. Looking at the pink elf who was whistling and deliberately looking away, it was obvious who had done this.
But even knowing that, what could he do?
He couldn't bear to hit her, couldn't bear to scold her. At most he could only make her eyes roll back tonight.
He could punish this shameless pink elf all he wanted. But from Elysia's perspective, whether that counted as punishment or reward was highly questionable.
Elysia: "I know I made a mistake, Eli. Hurry up and punish me! Do you need props?"
Elias: "…"
Of course Elysia knew what she had done was a bit underhanded.
But… in the future, the other women would do roughly the same thing.
After more than fifty thousand years of "plastic sisterhood," they all shared the same mindset—fully prepared to accept punishment for their actions.
In other words: three years in prison, but worth it.
Just as Elysia was internally celebrating that her Operation: Exclusive Elias was about to succeed—
"…Fine. One last guess. If it fails, I'll just use erosion."
Looking at the final password attempt, Elias simply closed his eyes and pressed random buttons.
(Wow~ Eli giving up and going reckless is rare. But if this actually works, I'll spend the rest of my life as the bottom. I set a thirty-character password myself—numbers, English letters, Shenzhou characters, and special symbols. Even if Pardofelis came here she couldn't guess it… wait—how is that possible?!)
[Password correct. Hibernation terminated.]
The lid of the Great Hibernation pod slowly opened.
Elysia's eyes widened, her mouth opening wide enough to fit a rice ball.
"How is that possible?! Eli, how did you know the password had thirty characters, including numbers, Shenzhou characters, and special symbols?!"
"Wait—what?! You made it that complicated? Could you even remember that yourself?!"
Elias took a deep breath before continuing.
"Relying on Pardofelis' luck alone would be pretty hard. But… did you forget your own authority?"
"Eh?" Elysia froze.
"Any authority I've once possessed leaves a trace behind, even if I return it. Before entering the password just now, I made a tiny wish using your Authority of Origin." Elias flashed a peace sign.
"Pfft—!!"
Elysia's composure shattered instantly. After all her precautions, she had never expected her own power to betray her.
At this point, even if she wanted to do anything, it was already too late.
Inside the hibernation pod, the emerald eyes of the snake lady slowly opened.
The serpent had awakened.