Lily and Liyan exchanged a glance of confusion. As their Holy Maiden's personal maids, they knew every song in her extensive repertoire, but this particular melody was one they had never heard before.
What was even stranger was that the song sounded deliberately out of tune, and they could not make sense of its structure. Even her battle songs, which were often chaotic, still possessed a discernible rhythm and purpose. This did not.
However, when they looked at Leyvi, they saw that he appeared completely entranced, seemingly enjoying the bizarre performance. This only deepened their confusion, as the song was certainly not something they could find pleasant.
Since their Holy Maiden had taken direct action, the two maids retreated to observe from a distance, careful not to disturb the process. They watched with intense curiosity to see the outcome of this unusual casting.
The Pink Enchantress Rose continued her spell. To any outsider, the song sounded disjointed and unpleasant, but to the intended target, it was crafted to be a heavenly, captivating melody.
Step by step, she glided closer to the entranced Leyvi. The nearer she came, the more blissful his expression seemed to become. Yet, to Lily and Liyan's ears, the song grew even more dissonant and strange.
When Leyvi and Rose finally stood face to face, a soft, radiant pink light emanated from the Pink Enchantress, enveloping both of them in a cocoon that shielded them from the maids' view. At that exact moment, the song ceased, leaving the area in sudden, heavy silence.
The two maids looked at each other again, utterly bewildered. Neither had any idea what had just transpired within that luminous shell.
Inside the glow, the bewitching beauty scrutinized the man before her, her eyes filled with a profound and bitter regret. The final step, the creation of the life bond, was all that remained. But it was now too late to cancel the spell. She had already poured her own life essence into forging the special love imprint, a process that could not be reversed.
Unlike a normal spiritual imprint, which resides in a being's Sea of Consciousness and allows for direct control, the special love imprint was fundamentally different. It would assimilate perfectly with the target's body and become an inseparable part of their Sea of Consciousness, effectively rewriting their deepest affections to make the caster the person they loved most in the world.
"Sigh... I have done it. I activated the spell while I was angry. Why am I so impulsive?" the Pink Enchantress Rose lamented, her voice a low murmur of bitter regret. "I never would have thought being called ugly could make me that furious. If he were at least handsome, that would be some small consolation, but this country bumpkin has only an average appearance, and I do not even know who he is. It is over. My lifelong plan is ruined."
She dwelt on her impulsive action, a sharp contrast to the careful strategies of the other Holy Maidens. They had all selected extraordinary men of power and renown to be their life-bound love slaves, and here she was, irrevocably tied to a nobody.
Her enchanting eyes, now hard and cold, focused on Leyvi's motionless form. Hatred simmered within their pink depths.
"Since you have ruined my life, I will do the same to you," she whispered, the words laced with venom. "You will be helplessly, hopelessly in love with me, yet you will never gain my affection. You will watch me be with another man and suffer the exquisite torture of unrequited love. You will do everything in your power to vie for my attention, but in the end, all you will see is my virginity taken by someone else. Fufufu. I will make sure you watch every moment with your own two eyes."
She laid out her cruel design clearly, savoring the future suffering she intended to inflict.
Meanwhile, deep within Leyvi's Sea of Consciousness, he heard every poisonous word. The spell's enchanting song had initially woven him into a series of sweet, paralyzing illusions, beautiful fabricated lives spent with the bewitching beauty. But eventually, his will had clawed its way through the false paradise. He became fully aware of the real world the moment the pink radiance had enveloped them.
Yet, for a reason he could not fathom, only his mind was awake. His body remained a useless, unresponsive statue. No matter how he strained, he could not command a single muscle to twitch. He figured this paralysis was another effect of the ominous pink energy. With no other option, he was forced to wait, a captive audience to her monologue.
And he heard it all.
What the heck, you crazy girl! Leyvi's mental avatar raged within his inner world. What did I even do to you? I only called you an ugly bitch! You got so mad you are willing to go this far? You want me to watch you? You must be dreaming! I do not even want to see you naked! Who do you think you are?
He had never felt such pure, undiluted anger toward a woman before. How could he not be furious? This irrational creature was attempting to hijack his entire life, to condemn him to a fate worse than death, a cuckold by magical compulsion, all over a single petty insult. It was utterly, infuriatingly unreasonable!
After the Pink Enchantress Rose had said enough to vent her frustration, detailing her humiliating plans for Leyvi, she finally proceeded with the final step: the life bond.
She stepped forward, locked her arms around Leyvi's neck, and brought her pink lips closer to his.
Oi, oi! What are you doing, you crazy bitch? Go away! I do not want your stinky lips! Do you even know what consent is? What the heck! Stop! NOOOOOO! My lip's purity!
Leyvi could only watch helplessly as the insane pink beauty took his manly lips without consent.
Just you wait, crazy girl! I will report this to Anda and see how you handle her panda wrath! Uh... wait a minute. Anda would not side with this crazy girl... right? No, no, no. This girl is wicked. She planned all those things to humiliate me, so there is no way she would pass Anda's test. Oi! How long are you going to kiss me? Dammit! When can I move my body?
Leyvi deeply regretted that he had not escaped just a little earlier. He was not sure what would happen to him now. Even though he felt certain he would never fall in love with someone like her, the mere possibility made his skin crawl. Who would ever want to love a crazy bitch like this?
While Leyvi's consciousness railed against the situation, the pink radiance enveloping them outside began to shrink, drawn steadily into Leyvi's body. When the last of the glow vanished, Lily and Liyan were shocked to see their Holy Maiden locked in a kiss with the country bumpkin. Their eyes went wide.
What was going on? Their Holy Maiden would never be this intimate with a man. The most she was usually willing to do was make brief skin contact with a target to activate her strongest illusion technique, and she would wash the spot immediately afterward. But here she was, voluntarily kissing someone?
Lily and Liyan exchanged a knowing glance and nodded. This was clearly something they needed to forget and never speak of again. To mention it would only invite their mistress's wrath.
Back within Leyvi's Sea of Consciousness, as he was still complaining about the endless, unwanted kiss, he suddenly noticed a strange, pink mist seeping into his mental space.
What? What is that mist? Is this that crazy girl's doing?
A few moments later, more and more of the pink vapor drifted in, gathering to fill a small, distinct spot within the vast expanse of his consciousness.
Leyvi willed it, and his avatar appeared beside the strange pink mist, where he could see it even more clearly. The mist was composed of countless, minute glowing dots.
"This! This looks familiar!" he thought, realization dawning. "Aren't these the same kinds of dots I saw when Dastan was merging his Sea of Consciousness with his core? Damn! I understand now what this crazy girl is trying to do!"
The terrifying nature of her method became crystal clear to him.
"Hmph, it is a good thing I am strong against illusions and woke up early," he mused with a surge of grim satisfaction. "Otherwise, these dots would have merged with my Sea of Consciousness while I was unconscious, becoming a part of my memory and my very self."
Now that he understood the mechanism, he knew exactly how to counter it. The Sea of Consciousness was his sovereign domain. Unless invaded by a far stronger consciousness, he was its absolute master here.
"GET LOST!"
His command, a roar of pure will, reverberated throughout the vast mental space. From the deepest depths of his consciousness, a hidden object flashed once, a pulse of light that swept through the entire expanse.
When the wave of light passed over the pink mist, something incredible happened. The invasive glow shimmered and transformed, turning from pink to a brilliant, pure gold before it was violently expelled, forced out of Leyvi's Sea of Consciousness entirely.
Outside, in the physical world, the Pink Enchantress Rose, still locked in her unwilling kiss with Leyvi, suddenly jerked. Her eyes flew open as a burst of that same golden radiance erupted from Leyvi and entered her own body before she could even react.
What? My spell failed! Oh no! What just happened?
She released Leyvi as if burned and stumbled backward, collapsing to the ground with her mind in frantic, disbelieving turmoil.