That afternoon, in the prosperous streets of the "City of Blazing Flames," a 5-digit Outer Gate in Little Garden's East Side.
"Can you really catch your prey with such crude bait?"
Inside a cold drink shop, a white-haired loli wearing sunglasses sipped her milk tea, pouting jealously as she watched Su Mo strolling through the streets with Black Rabbit. "You're not putting out any information, just taking Black Rabbit on a date like this. Is that really enough to attract the Demon King's attack?"
"Putting aside whether a 5-digit Demon King would even dare to attack a child who isn't alone, even if he did, Black Rabbit isn't the type of kid to have psychological issues, is she? Can she really handle the responsibility of being the bait?"
Although everyone had subconsciously looked at Black Rabbit at first—after all, among the lolis surrounding Su Mo, only the bunny-eared girl's actual age matched her appearance.
The others, even the mentally young Archdemon of the Azure Flames, Veles, had actually lived for at least several hundred years. By all accounts, Black Rabbit seemed to be the most suitable candidate.
But Shiroyasha never imagined that with such a clear objective, Su Mo's designated plan would be so crude.
For such an important trial, he had prepared nothing, not even basic intelligence gathering.
He just took Black Rabbit out for a walk on the spot. Even she, who knew Su Mo's true power, couldn't help but doubt if this would actually work.
"This is just too unreliable! Is this really a strategy Su Mo would come up with?" Recalling Su Mo's usually meticulous style, Shiroyasha couldn't help but question Canary, who was sitting beside her.
"That's a good point!" Hearing Shiroyasha's doubts, Kurma—whose emotions came and went as quickly as the wind and who held no grudges—also nodded in agreement, completely forgetting the injustice of being inexplicably dragged into a fight by Shiroyasha that very morning.
"Even little Kurma knows that you only set out bait when you're sure the prey is nearby. But Little Garden is so huge, who can be sure that 'Demon King of Confusion' will even appear here?"
"Without knowing the prey's whereabouts, any kind of bait is meaningless, right?"
Their doubts were well-founded. By all appearances, Su Mo's plan this time was far too lax, unlike his usual style.
However, faced with their confusion, Canary, who knew Su Mo's intentions, simply shook her head and smiled. "No need to worry! Since Lord Su Mo requires the Demon King of Confusion as a sacrifice, that Demon King will inevitably appear!"
"Why do you say that?" Kurma asked, her curiosity piqued. "Could it be that Su Mo has already calculated the Demon King's whereabouts and is deliberately waiting for him here?"
Although the whereabouts of a being related to the Earth Celestial Spirit were hard to find, if it was Su Mo, he might just be able to do it.
"It's not that complicated," Canary shook her head and said mysteriously. "If I had to give a reason, it's that he has the Mandate of Heaven. Whatever is advantageous to Lord Su Mo is bound to happen, just like how you and the Great Sage came to visit."
Here, she paused and looked at Shiroyasha meaningfully. "Besides, the bait this time is extremely attractive. With the Demon King of Confusion's Divinity, if he's anywhere nearby, he'll definitely be drawn in!"
"Definitely be drawn in?" Hearing this, Shiroyasha was slightly surprised. She glanced at Black Rabbit, who was happily squatting by a stall with Su Mo, trying to catch goldfish.
She scratched her head, confused. "No way? I've looked into the Demon King of Confusion's Divinity before. The targets of his Host Master authority are supposed to be the 'losing dog' types—childish in personality, frequently suffering setbacks, too afraid of failure to make a move, and regretting their own weakness but never daring to take a risk. But Black Rabbit is pretty cheerful, isn't she?"
Although she could be timid at times and wore her heart on her sleeve, making her seem easy to bully, Black Rabbit was actually very mentally healthy.
She cried when she was sad and laughed when she was happy; her spirit was far from being broken.
The targets the Demon King of Confusion liked to spirit away were children who had been crushed by external pressure, causing them to waste their lives and achieve nothing.
The lively and cute Black Rabbit was clearly not in that category.
Hearing Shiroyasha's incredibly clear analysis, Canary showed a slightly surprised expression.
It wasn't that she was surprised Shiroyasha could make such an accurate analysis—the girl was quite reliable when she was serious.
Rather, she was surprised that Shiroyasha had analyzed it to this point and still hadn't seen the truth.
"Lady Shiroyasha is right," Canary nodded, agreeing with her. Then, after a few seconds of hesitation, she said in a very tactful tone, "But... is it possible that the bait for this operation isn't actually Black Rabbit?"
"Eh? Not Black Rabbit? Then who could it be?" Shiroyasha froze and put down her milk tea. Thinking back carefully, it seemed Su Mo had never actually said that Black Rabbit was the bait this time.
But besides her, who else fit the criteria?
"Childish at heart, and a 'losing dog' who's suffered setbacks..." Muttering these conditions, Shiroyasha looked around, her gaze scrutinizing.
"It's definitely not me! Little Kurma isn't childish at all! And I'm not a 'losing dog'!" the silver-haired loli puffed out her chest proudly, full of confidence.
"...It's definitely not you," Shiroyasha shook her head.
Of course, she didn't believe Kurma's self-assessment; in her eyes, Kurma was ridiculously childish.
But she wouldn't be the bait either, because an idiot like her wouldn't even know if she was a "losing dog" unless she was bluntly rejected to her face. And with Su Mo's personality, he wouldn't do that to a child.
As for the others, there were corresponding reasons to rule them out, whether it was Canary, Sun Wukong, Veles, or the Leticia sisters. They met one of the two conditions at most: childish or "losing dog."
And so Shiroyasha was confused. "Canary, I've looked around, and there's no one who fits the criteria!"
"..." Canary stared at her fixedly, saying nothing.
"Hm? What is it? Did I miss someone?" Shiroyasha tilted her head, her tone a little rushed, sensing that something was wrong.
"..." Canary continued to watch her gently, saying nothing more.
THUMP!
Shiroyasha's heart skipped a beat. Canary's gentle gaze subconsciously reminded her of the pity in Lamia's expression earlier.
"N-No way..." She opened her mouth, finally realizing a certain possibility.
When you know for a fact there's an idiot in the room, but you can't find them... chances are, that idiot is you.
"N-No, impossible! How could it be!" Shiroyasha forced a smile and shook her head. "I'm not childish at all, and I'm not a 'losing dog'! No matter how you look at it, it can't be me! Absolutely not!"
Seeing Shiroyasha shake her head so firmly, Kurma couldn't help but smugly show off a famous quote she had learned from somewhere. "You're the one who has no right to say that!"
Shiroyasha slammed her hand on the table and shot up. Kurma was the one who was always shouting about how she wasn't childish.
As for herself, she was just a little willful, nowhere near as childish as Kurma.
Even if she was, it had nothing to do with being a "losing dog."
After all—
"In Little Garden, I'm the one who's known Su Mo the longest! Even if the Leticia sisters got ahead temporarily, that was just an accident! If it wasn't for that idiot Kurma, I wouldn't have fallen behind Veles either..." Shiroyasha muttered stubbornly. But the more she spoke, the more she remembered the details from that morning.
Thinking back, that morning Athena, the Leticia sisters, and Veles had all said they were too full to eat breakfast. Wasn't there something suspicious about that? She had asked the Inari God subordinates in charge of logistics at Arcadia, and they hadn't arranged any early snacks.
And, at the end of the day, wasn't it a bit pathetic that she, the person who should have been closest to Su Mo, was now reduced to competing with Veles?
Thinking back carefully, it wasn't that she hadn't had opportunities to succeed first; it was just that she had chickened out every single time. Looking at it that way, could it be that she really was a "losing dog"?
Just as Shiroyasha was plunged into self-doubt, a strange Divinity expanded over the bustling street.
The flow of time around them slowed by a thousand-fold in an instant, turning the world into a nearly static black and white.
Only a Demon King, cloaked in a chaotic mantle, walked toward the strange loli in sunglasses who was emitting a strong "losing dog" aura.
"Heh heh heh... so this is the stench of a 'losing dog,' is it? I could smell it from a thousand leagues away!" The Demon King of Confusion grinned like a classic villain, ready to extend his demonic claws toward the prey before him.
Although his opponent's Divinity was at the 4-digit level, she was still just a failed child. An immature opponent like this could never escape him, no matter how strong she was.
Just as he was thinking this—
VMMMM—
The atmosphere vibrated, space whined, and the world began to crumble.
In an instant, the childish, white-haired "losing dog" before him unleashed an unparalleled, terrifying aura, one that even made Little Garden itself cry out in alarm.
A 3-digit being might be able to do the same, but they could never have such a horrifying pressure.
In other words, his opponent was actually a 2-digit being?!
"It's a trap!" The Demon King of Confusion reacted instantly, immediately activating his Gift to accelerate his own time, trying to escape.
With his unique Gift, by using "wasted time" to speed up time, not even the Strongest Species could necessarily catch him.
This was the reason he had never been vanquished.
Of course, this trick wouldn't work against a 3-digit being going all out, and he never expected it to.
After all, by common sense, a 3-digit being couldn't come down to the lower world without limiting their Divinity by descending as a human. Clearly, what was happening now was not following common sense, so he decided to flee on the spot.
Before he fled, the only complaint that surfaced in his mind was not that someone had deliberately used themselves as bait to trick him, nor that his opponent was disregarding the safety of Little Garden and the rules of the pantheons by revealing such excessive Divinity in the lower world.
It was his fate as a Demon King to be vanquished; those were not reasons to complain.
His one and only, and greatest, complaint was directed at Shiroyasha herself.
"DAMN IT! WHY IS THERE A 2-DIGIT CLASS 'LOSING DOG'?!?!" the Demon King of Confusion roared in fury.
Was this reasonable? Of course not. What was even more unreasonable was the coronal flame that, upon hearing his words, suddenly became even more violent.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A 'LOSING DOG'?!"
Along with the roar of the Sun Celestial Spirit—
BOOM!
The radiance of the corona swept through the City of Blazing Flames.
If Su Mo hadn't intervened to block it, it would have nearly burned everything in its path to ashes.
As for the Demon King of Confusion, he barely survived thanks to Su Mo's protection. Before he could say anything, he was dominated by Athena's Host Master authority, becoming a complete stepping stone.
On this day, Shiroyasha had a major mental breakdown.
On this day, Athena completed her trial, officially ascending to the rank of Earth Celestial Spirit.