Every Heliobus sealed inside the Creation Furnace was a fragment of the great Heliobus Ignamar. Nine out of ten of them had inherited Ignamar's obsession and come to Fyxestroll Garden with one burning purpose: to Make Heliobus Great Again.
But Huiyan's great entrepreneurial venture had collapsed halfway through — seduced by the darkness, the whole lot of them, boss and underlings alike, had been dragged straight into the pit.
Of the Heliobus that had fused with DanteMon, nearly half had dissolved along with it. The remaining half, tainted by the darkness, were flash-frozen by Yue'er's single arrow into blocks of Six-Phased Ice.
The Ten-Lords Commission quietly scrapped their plan to deploy a Form-Binding Warding Array.
There was no need to mobilize a small army and burn resources building a giant prison for a few hundred captives. The Heliobus still loose in the outside world could each be given their own deluxe private Yue-Hiding Gourd suite — no problem at all.
"With that settled, we leave these wicked creatures in your two capable hands."
The underworld officials and armored guards of the Ten-Lords Commission carried the Six-Phased Ice blocks retrieved from all across Fyxestroll Garden — each block with a Heliobus sealed inside.
"Don't worry, we'll take great care of them!"
Caelus thumped his chest with solemn conviction.
Behind him, the ice blocks containing the Heliobus had already been stacked into a small mountain.
"This one looks pretty good… this one's a bit pudgy… this one's got a bad face…"
Stelle stood before the mountain of ice. Each time an underworld official walked past, she'd dart over and rap the block with her knuckle.
"Why are you knocking on each one? Setting aside their figures — can these things even have a 'face'?"
Haxxor Bunny was cradling an ice block the size of a basketball, curiously peering at the pale-green spirit-flame flickering within. Puzzled by Stelle's odd behavior, she glanced up.
"I saw someone pick watermelons like this once," Stelle said, pressing one hand to her chin. "As for the face — it's all about that gut feeling, that eye-contact spark."
Not that it mattered what she said — the way Stelle looked right now was identical to a seasoned old farmer sitting in front of a bumper-harvest melon field. Except these were Heliobus. Not watermelons.
Haxxor Bunny spotted a crystalline, college-student-grade vacuousness in Stelle's eyes and shook her head in resigned despair.
Thwack thwack~!
Stelle took a block of Six-Phased Ice from one of the officials and held up the fat, round Heliobus inside to show Haxxor Bunny:
"Take this one, for instance. Just look at it — clearly a hard-working type. Pure pack-mule face. Born with a sacred beast-of-burden constitution if I've ever seen one!"
"Huh?"
Haxxor Bunny tilted her head, eyes going full blank-cat (ΦωΦ).
Stelle balanced the ice block on her fingertip and set it spinning. She raised her arm, rolling the block from her right hand up to her shoulder, launching it over to her left shoulder — then, with a perfectly executed Iron Mountain Lean from the Kun-Style Susan's Six Forms, passed it across to Caelus-cub.
"We're planning to open a BBQ stall afterward and make some spending money."
Caelus, with the equally impeccable form of someone catching a basketball Kun-army style, caught the block and set it down on the ice table Yue'er had conjured from Six-Phased Ice.
"Right now the Star Rail BBQ Shack only has two employees. I figure that's not going to cut it — we'll need to recruit some more talented professionals with specialized skills to join the team."
He took a careful look at the Heliobus inside the block. Spirit-flame was abundant; it looked like it could burn for a long time.
Caelus produced the Jizo Mitama, raised it high, and brought it down in a savage chop.
"The hell are you chopping my melon for?!"
Stelle erupted.
"Didn't you just throw it to him?" Haxxor Bunny's expression turned complicated.
"Oh — right! Never mind then."
Stelle went back to picking out good 'melons.' Before walking off, she didn't forget to holler back: "Slaughtering Heliobus~! Slaughtering Heliobus~!"
"..."
Haxxor Bunny's expression cycled through several changes, thoroughly speechless.
This girl's mental state was simply too beautiful.
Genuinely abstract.
Speaking of abstract — when her own Sensei went abstract, now that was truly beautiful!
Haxxor Bunny had been browsing the Luofu network and stumbled across those previously viral videos: the live-action scripture of 'I want to be Miss Jingliu's dog~!', and the video of Sensei proposing to Stelle with a trash can.
All things considered, both gray-haired ones were each uniquely talented in their own way.
"Bronie, you're not doing anything — come over here and practice your Aether Editing," Caelus called out.
The ice surface was a little slippery; his earlier chop had skidded sideways.
"How do I practice?"
Haxxor Bunny walked over to the ice table, though her gaze kept drifting toward the direction of the adjacent courtyard, where she could vaguely make out a sweep of deep-blue hair:
"Also — Seele. Is she alright?"
When the one-hour fusion time limit was reached, Yue'er had split back into March 7th and Seele. The thing was, Haxxor Bunny had noticed that both of their complexions looked a bit off — an unnatural flush blooming across their snow-white cheeks.
March 7th had shot Caelus a bashful, mock-furious glare, then pulled Seele away to the side courtyard.
"Teleport the Heliobus inside out through the ice, or teleport the ice layer away separately."
Caelus patted the ice 'melon' and followed Haxxor Bunny's gaze toward the neighboring courtyard. He smiled cheerfully:
"She's fine. They're probably in there exchanging notes on the topic of magical girls."
With the contract with Ruby signed during the fusion state, both Seele and March 7th had access to the magical Ruby after splitting apart.
"So that means Seele can become a magical girl from now on too?"
Now that got Haxxor Bunny wide awake!
Using Aether Editing to alter spatial coordinates and teleport the Heliobus spirit-flame out of the ice block, Haxxor Bunny's eyes sparkled as she began happily imagining just how adorable Seele would look as a magical girl.
She might not quite rival Yue'er on the cuteness scale, but Seele was Seele!
"That's right."
Caelus raised the Jizo Mitama. The Heliobus — its core laced with faint dark spirit-flame — tried to bolt, but was immediately pounded back by Moonscar, who was busy training her Taixu Sword Intent.
The Jizo Mitama pierced through the pale-green spirit-flame. Crimson particles spread outward, beginning to erode the darkness within. The scarlet feathers woven into the braid at the back of Moonscar's head flickered with a red glow.
Through the Inner World's custom treatment package, it was possible to wash away the darkness tainting a consciousness — but only up to a point. Past a certain threshold, the subject could only be used as ingredient material for snacks.
These ones that could be saved were precious assets for the Star Rail crew — future employees of the BBQ Shack, a renewable source of charcoal fuel.
As for what was happening with Seele and March 7th over in the other courtyard — it was naturally not as simple as just swapping magical-girl notes.
"Aaaargh! Infuriating! Infuriating! WHY?!"
In the adjacent courtyard, March 7th was pacing back and forth non-stop. Her pretty face was beet-red, and she was yanking at her own hair in near-hysteria, her brain trembling slightly.
Last time, fusing with Stelle to become March Stelle and then sending herself to Caelus's bed to do that sort of thing — fine, that was one thing. After all, Stelle was Caelus, and the relationship between those two was genuinely hard to judge by normal moral standards.
But this time she had clearly fused with Seele — gentle, docile, understanding Seele — and Yue'er was perfectly lovely too. So why, why had she still gone and actively pushed forward?!
Yue'er's memories surfaced involuntarily in her mind, and the wine-red flush on March 7th's face simply refused to recede.
Sure, it wasn't the first time she'd been taken advantage of by Caelus, and just recently he'd stolen a kiss from her too — but this situation was completely different.
Inside that dazzling space woven from butterfly wings, butterflies flitting everywhere, prismatic light dancing, and that atmosphere… March 7th had been utterly helpless against that sort of princess-maiden romance.
It had been like a fairy tale made real.
If it had only been a kiss, she might have still managed to keep her composure. But what Yue'er and Caelus had done wasn't only a romantic French kiss — there was also… the sensation of warmth covering her chest made March 7th's heart pound furiously, a fire burning against her sternum.
Fingers moving slow and sure, plucking soft and low — light glide, slow press, brush, and tease.
March 7th had absolutely no doubt: if there had been more time, if the location had been right — in the end, what unfolded would very likely have mirrored what happened last time.
No — not 'very likely.' Definitely.
Yue'er had whispered something to Caelus just before she split apart.
"Next time, give the earrings to March 7th and Seele on a starlit, moonlit night, okay~ Brother Caelus~!"
As one of the fusion components, how could March 7th not know exactly what Yue'er was scheming?
No. No. She couldn't fuse with Seele again.
Hmm, but wasn't that a bit inappropriate?
Would Seele think she found her repulsive?
Then she'd just have to watch the timing — no fusing in a bedroom at night!
Yes. Settled. That's the plan!
Hands on her hips, March 7th gave a firm, decisive nod.
"Master~ Master~! It's not quite our first meeting, but under these circumstances, allow me to introduce myself once more — I am the wand of love and justice, the star of Ruby."
The little wand wriggled this way and that, its six small wings performing a humanized curtsy, though its tone was thoroughly indecent.
"Master, are you thinking about things with the Big Master?"
Compared to March 7th, who was using her clever little brain to overthink everything, 'White' Seele was decidedly less conflicted.
After all, she had been set up by Seele multiple times — waking up in the body's background to find herself with her legs in an M-shape, lying in front of Brother Caelus, spread open…
Wuwuwuwu!
The sound of a kettle coming to a boil.
Just from barely recalling the imagery of those moments, visible white steam began rising from above the head of 'White' Seele — who had fully transformed into Steam-Princess mode.
"N-no, it's not — Seele…"
'White' Seele shrank her little head down into her shoulders.
"Oh my oh my — don't tell me Master has already captured the Big Master? My, you really can't judge a book by its cover~"
Ruby's tone was utterly theatrical. It floated in front of Seele and mimicked a chin-in-hand pose with its wings.
"C-captured what…"
The receding flush crawled back up her cheeks all over again. 'White' Seele flustered and averted her gaze.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about~ Love is such a beautiful thing~ A magical girl needs a bone-deep, soul-scorching romance~ Master, listen to me — go find the Big Master at night, and then… and then after that…"
The explicit and scandalous words made 'White' Seele's eyes go full swirl-spiral from sheer mortification.
"Hm, though it is quite adorable — in terms of personality, she's still a step below the previous Master."
Watching Seele nearly faint from embarrassment after just a few sentences, Ruby gave its wand-body a helpless little wave.
In its eyes, Yue'er — formed from the three-way fusion of March 7th, 'White' Seele, and Caelus's Seele — was the most perfect magical girl imaginable: spirited, adorable, lively, romantic, resilient, and powerful!
No — this wouldn't do. She absolutely had to have a word with the Big Master and figure out a way to get Yue'er to appear more often.
"Ah, I got the dimensional parameters wrong."
Lost in daydreams of what Seele would look like as a magical girl, Haxxor Bunny had spaced out mid-Aether Edit.
"Where did you teleport it to?" Caelus asked, staring at the now-empty ice block.
"Uh… I don't know either."
Haxxor Bunny tugged at her hood with a slightly sheepish expression. "Ahem. Sorry."
"Whatever. That one can consider itself unlucky."
Caelus waved it off.
That particular Heliobus had a pretty dense concentration of darkness in it anyway — purifying it would have been a real pain.
Just as Caelus was about to go back to scouting for employee candidates, Guinaifen and Sushang — Little Pillow — came running in through the moon-arch gate of the courtyard.
"Little Gui, what happened to you — you look like you've been dragged through a coal pit?"
"Pah, pah, pah — don't even ask."
Spitting out two mouthfuls of sand, Guinaifen puffed out her cheeks and blew a gust of air that lifted the stray hairs hanging over her forehead: "Me and Shangshang had the worst luck — after we picked up an ice block, the Heliobus inside broke through the seal, and the chase was on."
One brawl. Two tumbles.
"Stockings are completely ruined, skirt's mostly burned off too… ugh, right now I feel exactly like that Xianzhou traditional street food, 'Donkey Rolls in Dirt.'"
"I genuinely have never heard a girl compare herself to a donkey before… I've got spare clothes of Stelle's here, do you want to borrow them?"
"Can I?"
Guinaifen brushed her hair back into place, lighting up with surprise.
"Take whatever you want," Stelle said with perfect magnanimity.
Caelus fished a set of clothes out of his spatial ring and tossed them to Guinaifen.
"Hehe, thank you, Sensei~"
Clutching the clothes, Guinaifen flashed Caelus the kind of dopey grin you catch after hanging around a lovable idiot too long. But when she tore open the packaging and pulled the outfit out — the smile on her face slowly, slowly froze solid.
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