Her gaze continued downward, landing on her slightly underdeveloped right breast, where a striking red, flower-like mark stood out.
Yes, underdeveloped. One glance was enough to confirm the stark contrast between her figure and those of Robin and Firefly. She could physically feel the difference too; her shoulders felt lighter, and the pressure had eased considerably.
Lost in thought, she instinctively placed her left hand on her chest, giving it a gentle pinch as she murmured, "Hmm, definitely smaller."
This movement drew her attention to the intricate red cords crisscrossing her left hand, converging into a knot at her middle finger. Most conspicuous were her crimson fingernails and the small bell dangling from her wrist.
Continuing downward, she noticed a corset cinching her waist. A goldfish-shaped pendant adorned the front, while a large decorative knot, also bearing a bell, hung at the back.
The garment resembled a yukata from the Sakura Nation, often featured in festival scenes in anime from her previous life.
However, a proper yukata should cover the entire body, shouldn't it? Sparkle's version left both legs completely exposed.
Below her waist, her thighs were plump and rounded, as smooth and creamy as freshly unearthed lotus roots. Several red cords crisscrossed her right thigh, converging into a small knot at the side.
It wasn't exactly a thigh ring, but the design closely resembled one.
Beneath her slender, straight calves, she wore minimalist "shoes" consisting only of soles, leaving her adorable feet completely exposed. Each of her ten dainty toes was adorned with red nail polish, resembling candied hawthorns on a skewer—a sight so tempting it almost made her mouth water (not really).
How were these soles secured to her feet? Red cords extended from the soles, threading through the gap between her big and second toes, wrapping several times around her pale ankles, and finally tying into two charming knots on either side of her lower legs. These knots served both as decoration and functional fasteners.
A bell dangled from the ankle knot on her left leg. She lifted her calf and gently shook it, producing a clear, crisp chime.
That made a total of four bells on her entire outfit.
Although she had no idea what purpose these bells served, her first thought was, "Trying to sneak around while jingling like this? I'd be discovered instantly!"
Finally, her gaze settled on her feet. She wondered, "What were these sandals called again?" She couldn't quite remember, but she was fairly certain they were common in the Sakura Nation.
In her previous life, she remembered a tense scene from an old wartime drama. A spy had hidden among civilians, and the officer in charge ordered everyone to line up for inspection. One subtle detail—a unique foot structure—was what gave the spy away.
"So if something like that happened now," she muttered, wiggling her toes thoughtfully, "wouldn't my feet immediately give me away?" She could clearly feel the smooth red cord resting between her toes, the detail oddly conspicuous.
The cord wasn't rough at all; it was surprisingly smooth. "This must be a high-quality cord," she thought.
But truthfully, even without checking her feet, any normal person would instantly recognize Sparkle as a Sakura Nation person. After all, when designing this character for the Star Rail game, the primary elements were:
'Japanese style,' 'festivals,' 'goldfish,' 'fireworks,' and so on.
If that wasn't immediately obvious, wouldn't it mean the character design had failed?
After thoroughly scrutinizing his current appearance from every angle, he turned to the more practical matter of his third identity's abilities.
In stark contrast to Firefly, Sparkle was not a character suited for direct combat. However, her lack of proficiency in frontal warfare did not imply weakness.
Her abilities could be broadly categorized as illusion, disguise, and clones.
The illusion ability was straightforward: with a mere glance, Sparkle could plunge someone into a hallucination, similar to the Martyr's second ability. Alternatively, it could be compared to Tsukuyomi from the Mangekyō Sharingan or Kyōka Suigetsu from Bleach.
Unlike direct combat abilities, where quantitative comparisons are easy (e.g., breaking ten stones is clearly stronger than breaking one), illusions are harder to gauge. Their effectiveness likely depended more on the target's resistance to illusions than on the inherent strength of the ability itself.
Regardless, it was certain that Sparkle's illusion abilities were formidable, though quantifying their precise strength remained difficult.
As for "disguise," the explanation was simple: it was the ability to transform into another person.
This wasn't a physical transformation, but a deceptive illusion—likely an advanced application of her illusion ability. Sparkle could transform into anyone she desired, appearing indistinguishable from the real person to others.
For example, she could transform into SAM, but her actual height was much shorter. If someone tried to touch SAM's helmet at that moment, their hand would pass right through Sparkle's head, right?
Yet, in that person's perception, their hand would genuinely touch SAM's helmet, and they would feel the cold, metallic texture on their fingertips.
By deceiving all five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch, and even taste—and feeding someone entirely false information, how could anyone possibly see through this perfect disguise?
In essence, "Disguise" was a persistent, self-applied illusion that distorted the perceptions of everyone around her.
The final Clone ability originated from the fox mask atop Sparkle's head, red on the left and white on the right. Despite its singular appearance, she could likely replicate it a thousand times if she wished.
Each mask could transform into a Clone, and every Clone possessed the aforementioned abilities of illusion and disguise.
Imagine this: you're in a city surrounded by neighbors, fellow bus riders, and colleagues—a diverse tapestry of individuals. Then, one day, they all stand before you, uttering the same words in unison before simultaneously removing their masks.
What Truman Show madness is this?
The mere thought of it is chilling. If Sparkle truly wanted to, she could easily drive someone to a mental breakdown.
She could gradually replace everyone in the target's life, completely controlling their world. Through a series of carefully orchestrated "coincidences," she could make all those they cherished abandon them. Subjected to relentless tragedy and pain, their collapse would be inevitable.
However, Sparkle, the version controlled by Mu heng, would never resort to such depravity. In fact, upon realizing this ability, her first thought was, "Could I make a whole movie by myself?"
All the actors, director, and script were her own creation.
Beyond that, if she so desired, infiltrating the upper echelons of any nation would be a simple matter, requiring only a little time.
"It feels like the Herrscher of Domination from Honkai 3rd," she mused.
Of course, everything mentioned above represented Sparkle's full potential. Having just acquired this identity, her first priority was to swiftly master these abilities.
But how could she practice and learn them?
"Hmm..." She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, shifted her weight slightly to the right, and rhythmically lifted and lowered her left foot, creating a faint tap-tap sound.
Moments later, when she opened her eyes and glanced at the shattered glass before her, the reflection no longer showed the twin-tailed girl from before. Instead, it revealed a young woman with long, shallow blue hair and two pairs of white feathered wings sprouting from behind her ears.
Looking down at herself, she saw that her attire had also transformed into Robin's signature ornate white dress. From every angle, she appeared to be Robin herself.
Hmm... In a way, it really was Robin herself. But could impersonating oneself even count as a disguise?
In the blink of an eye, the Robin from moments ago transformed into another girl with silver-gray hair. Firefly's voice rang out, "This ability isn't as difficult as I thought."
But the next instant, she dispelled the disguise. After all, disguising herself as herself felt utterly bizarre!
It was like two bank robbers deciding to swap disguises—A disguising as B, and B disguising as A. Then, with their "perfect disguises" in place, they set off. Wouldn't that be utterly ridiculous?
"But if that's the case..." Sparkle suddenly realized something. She stared at the glass before her, time slipping by. Even as her delicate brows furrowed in frustration, she couldn't manage it.
She was trying to disguise herself as she had looked in her previous life, but her attempt ended in failure.
It wasn't that Sparkle's ability couldn't create male disguises. If she wanted, she could even use illusions to wrap herself in a disguise and become a stone. The reason for her failure was... she simply couldn't remember what she had looked like in her previous life.
To successfully disguise herself as someone, Sparkle needed a clear and detailed understanding of their appearance. Otherwise, she risked creating an unsettling "pseudo-human" that would trigger the uncanny valley effect.
She still vividly remembered the faces of her parents, relatives, and close friends from her previous life, but her own image had faded into a hazy memory.
This was perfectly normal. She wasn't a narcissist who spent hours admiring herself in the mirror. In fact, most people probably felt a sense of familiar estrangement when they saw their own photographs.
"This..." The realization left her with complicated feelings. She could transform into anyone, but she couldn't revert to her original self.
However, she quickly shook it off. Returning home was already a long shot anyway, so whether she could disguise herself as her former self made little difference.
Next, she began experimenting with her other abilities. For illusions, Sparkle scanned her surroundings. Despite being in the densely populated Sakura Nation, she couldn't spot a single person. This was an extremely rare occurrence.
But then she remembered that everyone in the city had just emerged from the Dimensional Rift, and White Eagle had declared war on Sakura Nation. It would be stranger if people were still wandering the streets at a time like this.
Sparkle glanced up at the small Dimensional Rift that had just vanished into the sky. As an Outsider who had been in the city for quite some time, she found it odd that no officials from the Sakura Nation had arrived yet, a stark contrast to the swift responses from the Dragon Nation and the European Union in similar situations.
"It seems the city's security system is truly paralyzed," she murmured, removing the fox mask from her forehead. "In that case... Clone Ability..."
As she spoke, masks materialized out of thin air, swirling around her. Each mask was unique: some were pure white, others entirely red, some seemed to smile, others to weep.
With a flick of her wrist, the masks drifted away from her, gradually transforming into individual Sparkles. The once-empty street instantly bustled with activity as nearly a dozen identical young girls stood there.
"Wow, this is way cooler than looking in a mirror!" Sparkle exclaimed, walking toward the nearest clone and pinching its adorable cheek.
Soft and delightfully squishy—the texture was amazing.
These clones were solid creations materialized from the mask's ability. However, after using it, Sparkle realized they lacked consciousness.
It wasn't a matter of splitting her mind into fragments, nor was it like Naruto's shadow clones, where each clone was a complete self that shared memories upon dissipating.
Instead, all these clones were essentially just puppets. Right now, they stood motionless with vacant eyes, like life-sized, hyper-realistic dolls.
As Sparkle extended her index finger and gently hooked it, the clone before her suddenly came to life. Its eyes sparkled, and its expression became vividly animated.
The clone covered its left eye with one hand, a pained expression twisting its face as it staggered back two steps. It muttered hoarsely, "Ah... I can't hold it back any longer! The power of the Evil King's True Eye is about to overwhelm me!"
Even as it spoke, wisps of dark qi began to swirl around the clone's body, as if something truly wanted to burst forth.
She really is a troublemaker at heart, Sparkle thought. Setting aside everything else, this ability itself is just too amusing, too "fun."
She doubted she could ever perform such embarrassing actions or spout such chuunii lines herself. But controlling a puppet like this felt like being back online—hidden behind the safety of the screen, nothing felt shameful.