Chapter 241: Heaven and Earth Be My Witness!
"If I don't pay an equivalent price, how can I get you to take the bait?"
Rekka stood in the center of the dimly lit room, conversing with that eerie, shifting aggregate of pure cosmic energy. Tossing away his authority and divine power meant absolutely nothing to him; he could simply snap his fingers and regain them later.
"Bold enough, crazy enough, and always good for a laugh..." The entity's voice echoed from everywhere at once.
"You dog, you're never going to stop being a dog," Rekka said, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.
If Aha was playing dumb, the Aeon of Elation definitely had other chaotic designs in motion.
"What do you want?" Aha's floating, theatrical mask twitched slightly, leaking a distorted, echoing laugh.
"I want to know what's going on with the Voracity."
"The Voracity? Oh-ho~" Aha's mask spun, suddenly deeply intrigued. "You're actually interested in this?"
"Answer me. What is the Voracity doing appearing within the Path of Elation, and why?"
Aha let out a booming, cascading burst of laughter that rattled the walls. "Do you like listening to stories, little anomaly?"
"I won't listen to anything long and tedious. Just summarize it."
"That won't do! You can't skip the plot. Skipping the plot is skipping life itself!" The Lord of Elation laughed heartily, a sound like shattering glass, before He casually tossed a heavy, leather-bound book straight at Rekka.
"Whimper~ Whimper!"
Aha's erratic movements stiffened for a microscopic fraction of a second.
Immediately after, the towering figure of the Lord of Elation vanished from the room without a trace, leaving only the faint scent of ozone.
The heavy metal door hissed open, and the people outside, who had been inexplicably locked out, finally tumbled into the room.
"Where's Aha?!" Stelle demanded, her golden eyes scanning the empty corners, her baseball bat already gripped tightly in both hands.
"Gone, gone—by the way, I heard someone barking just now," Rekka noted, casually catching the book Aha had thrown.
"That was me imitating a puppy," Sparkle chimed in, stepping out from behind Stelle and spreading her hands with an exaggerated sigh. "Oh dear, everyone was locked outside just now and couldn't get in to save you, so I could only think of this brilliant method~"
"Method? Barking?" Stelle lowered her bat, her deadpan expression morphing into genuine bewilderment. "Is there any necessary connection between the two?"
"Yeah! I heard from a friend at The Tavern that Aha is actually terrified of dogs," Sparkle said, flashing a wide, mischievous grin.
"But when you were outside just now, it didn't sound like you were imitating a dog at all," Stelle pointed out flatly.
"Really? Maybe my imitation just wasn't very good?" Sparkle twirled a lock of her dark hair, feigning innocence.
"...Oh." Stelle accepted this logic with a slow nod. "But I haven't heard the Conductor mention Aha being bitten by a dog while on the Astral Express."
Stelle muttered to herself, rubbing her chin in deep thought. Although the idea of an all-powerful Aeon being afraid of stray puppies sounded utterly ridiculous and completely undignified, if the protagonist of the story was Aha... it suddenly felt entirely reasonable.
Sparkle's crimson gaze flicked over to Rekka. It lingered for a fleeting second on the mysterious book in his hand, then she smoothly looked away, whistling softly as if nothing had happened.
"Well, the show's over! Lady Sparkle is going to take a nap. Goodnight, everyone~" With a dramatic twirl, the Masked Fool skipped out of the room.
Rekka quietly tucked the book under his arm.
"...Are you okay?" Stelle asked, her gaze lingering on him.
"I'm perfectly fine."
"If there's no problem, then get some rest," she advised, giving him a small pat on the shoulder before turning to leave.
Once the room was empty and quiet again, Rekka sat at the head of his bed, the mattress sinking slightly under his weight. He flipped open the heavy cover of the book.
The story was titled, [Do Gods Cry for Time??].
[In an era before the moon had risen, a hundred-headed serpent once roamed the earth. Its venom corroded the ground and seeped along the horizon into the night sky.]
'A hundred-headed serpent? What kind of cosmic horror is that? An ultra-deluxe Plus version of Yamata no Orochi?' Rekka mused, turning the page.
[The Kingdom of Stars sent its bravest knights, vowing to subjugate this harmful magical beast. The Moon Knight severed its heads with a crescent blade, and the Beeswax Knight melted its body. The knights performed their respective duties, finally cutting off the last immortal head.]
[But who would have thought that the serpent's remains would refuse to die? Its venomous fangs pierced the knights' armor and pierced the moon.]
Rekka paused, his mind connecting the dots. 'The wound on the top of the Illusory Moon's head... Is this a metaphor for that?'
[The wounded Moon Knight fell into a state of madness from then on. Under the moonlight, the person became increasingly frenzied. Many doctors were invited, but none could cure the moon's chronic illness.]
The short story abruptly ended there. The following pages were entirely blank, save for a small note indicating it was to be continued.
However, no matter how he analyzed it, this story felt like something Aha had just randomly hallucinated on the spot to fool him.
Melting. What melted? Beeswax? The moon? What were those things supposed to represent in the cosmic hierarchy?
Deciding he wasn't going to get any answers staring at blank paper, Rekka pushed open his bedroom door.
He immediately looked down to find Sparkle squatting right outside his threshold. She was holding a brightly colored feather cat-teaser she had acquired from who-knows-where, swishing it back and forth across the floorboards. The moment she heard the door creak, she snapped her head up. A clear, unmistakable flash of disappointment crossed her delicate face.
"What? It's not a cat after all," she pouted, dropping the toy.
"Why are you still here? Also, I'm still on the Path of Elation today. I'm not someone who randomly changes Paths and physical forms just because I temporarily lose a bit of power."
"Huh? —What you said makes me so sad!" Sparkle huffed, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks. "...Whatever. I'm going to go play with the little gray-hair. How boring."
She stuck her tongue out at him and skipped down the corridor.
Rekka made his way to the parlor car, dropping onto the plush sofa and slumping down until he resembled a boneless slime.
"Captain, I want to sit too!"
Before he could even get comfortable, Rozaliya bounded over and plopped herself down directly onto Rekka's left leg. A second later, Liliya mirrored her sister's movements, quietly taking a seat on his right leg.
"Captain, we've encountered a super difficult problem," Rozaliya announced, her tail swishing aggressively.
Down the hall, Sparkle, who hadn't gone far at all, instantly pricked up her ears. She possessed super elongated ears when it came to gossip.
"We were defeated by an internet celebrity streamer!" Rozaliya whined, throwing her hands in the air.
"That's right, that's right!" Liliya nodded solemnly.
"And it was a very mean streamer!"
"How mean?" Rekka yawned, resting his head back against the cushions.
"That streamer has twin tails, a very bratty attitude, uses a sickeningly high-pitched voice, and is also very short—"
'Twin tails, bratty, high-pitched voice, and very short.'
"Why do I feel like you two are heavily hinting at someone specific?" Rekka's lips twitched in amusement.
"Exactly! Are you two little brats secretly pointing fingers at me?!"
Sparkle strode back into the parlor car in a single, dramatic step, pointing an accusing finger at the Olenyeva twins. In reality, she had only pretended to leave; she had been marching in place just outside the doorframe the entire time, waiting for the perfect moment to slip back in.
"The person we saw shouldn't be the same as Sparkle," Liliya said, her deadpan voice cutting through the tension.
"Mhm, mhm." Rozaliya nodded vigorously. "After all, there's no way Sparkle could ever have that many fans! And she definitely wouldn't have that much entertainment value!"
Sparkle froze, a visible look of utter betrayal washing over her features.
"My strongest impression of Sparkle is..." Liliya continued mercilessly, "every time she tries to prank the Captain, she gets pranked back and can only cry like an incompetent wife."
"Hey, hey, hey! How can you two talk like that! Too much, this is way too much!"
Sparkle shrieked, her face flushing red. She was so agitated by their brutal honesty that she started hopping around the parlor car like an angry grasshopper.
"Let me see which streamer it is," Rekka said, ignoring the hopping Fool.
"Mhm, mhm! It's this streamer!"
As soon as Rozaliya tapped the screen to open the livestream, a voice that was incredibly high-pitched and clearly forced blasted through the speakers.
"Family members in front of the screen~! Tell me, will I win?"
In the livestream frame, a petite, white-haired girl with twin tails was winking aggressively at the camera.
"Isn't this you?" Rekka pointed at the streamer's avatar in the bottom right corner of the screen, then looked up at Sparkle.
"Are you suggesting that I can be here and also be streaming over there at the exact same time?" Sparkle blinked, crossing her arms defensively.
"Well, that's not for certain. Maybe it's a recorded broadcast; it's not like it requires much technical skill."
"Heaven and earth be my witness, I can't even stand listening to that kind of forced voice myself!" Sparkle quickly clarified, huffing with her hands on her hips, looking genuinely offended.
"Then who is this 'Huo Huahua'?" Rekka asked, reading the username on the screen.
"How should I know?" Sparkle rolled her eyes. "My virtual account name is Hanami."
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