The fierce battle in the Shackling Prison was nearing its end.
By the time Cecilia reappeared on the lowest level, the floor was almost carpeted in mangled Abundance flesh, a crimson path of gore stretching across the prison.
Jing Yuan stood amid heaps of shredded remains, sheathing his blade as the phantom of the Lightning-Lord slowly faded behind him.
As for Jingliu, she stood atop a broken stone pillar, her ice-forged sword dissolving into glittering points of cold light.
And Mingxiao and Zaofu, the two from earlier?
They had probably been humanely exterminated.
Jing Yuan looked mostly fine. His energy expenditure did not seem too severe.
But Jingliu… Cecilia felt that something about her condition was off.
That should not have been the case. Those two half-dead elite mobs should not have pushed Jingliu that far, right?
So Cecilia walked over and asked, "Are you all right?"
Jingliu turned her head, those crimson eyes settling on Cecilia.
Her expression was as cold as ever, but a closer look revealed the hand that had held the sword was trembling faintly.
"…I'm fine," she said.
Cecilia paused.
Though Jingliu insisted she was fine, from Cecilia's perspective this looked exactly like the signs of another descent into mara-struck instability.
It seemed that what had just happened with Yingxing had stirred up memories Jingliu would rather not have touched.
"Master, you—" Jing Yuan had also come over by then.
"I said I'm fine."
But compared to the patience she showed Cecilia, Jingliu seemed to have far less for her disciple.
She turned away, apparently intending to retrieve and put on her blindfold.
Cecilia was quicker.
She grabbed her at once.
The instant their skin met, Cecilia found Jingliu's body shockingly cold—far colder than any normal person's should be, like something just hauled out of an ice cellar.
"You call this fine?"
Jingliu fell silent for a moment before pulling her arm back.
"…I just remembered things I shouldn't have. It'll pass soon."
Naturally, Cecilia was not going to let it go at that.
She bit down on her fingertip, and at once a bead of scarlet welled up at the tip of her finger.
Jingliu clearly understood what that meant.
"You…"
But Cecilia cut her off before she could finish.
"I already told you. Until your condition is cured, you're under my care."
"Why?" Jingliu asked.
Cecilia smiled.
"Because I feel like it."
Hearing that, Jingliu fell silent again.
Because she felt like it.
What a willful answer.
And yet it was precisely that kind of willful answer that left Jingliu speechless.
She remembered that, long, long ago, she too had once had a friend like that—back when she had not yet needed a blindfold.
After a long while, Jingliu slowly raised a hand and took Cecilia's finger, lifting it to her lips.
Then she closed her eyes and sucked.
A sharp little intake of breath escaped Cecilia.
It tickled.
The feeling was strangely like feeding a puppy a reward.
That comparison was perhaps a bit disrespectful to Jingliu, but that was honestly what it felt like to Cecilia at the moment.
And just then, Cecilia felt another gaze descend on her from somewhere impossible to locate.
…!
So Yaoshi had not left after all?
That was right. In Cecilia's senses, the gaze carried a trace of concern, but there was no way to pinpoint its source.
Naturally. Only a Star God could erase their presence so completely that even she could not find them.
[Why wouldn't you accept it?]
A clear, ethereal voice suddenly sounded in Cecilia's mind.
Cecilia: "...Huh?"
[That blessing—I left it specially for you. I even cleaned it for you. Why didn't you want it?]
Only then did Cecilia realize what Yaoshi meant.
Earlier, when Blade's blessing had been stripped away, Yaoshi had indeed tried to pass it on to her. At the time, Cecilia had thought it looked shabby and refused it outright.
Now it seemed…
Yaoshi had apparently added quite a bit of extra "care" into it.
If that was true, then the riot among the Abundance prisoners suddenly made a lot more sense.
[And why are you mistreating your own body?]
This time, Cecilia truly did not know what to say.
She lowered her eyes, looking at her own fingertip, then at Jingliu, who was drinking her blood.
Ah well. After receiving so many favors from Cecilia, Jingliu could only spend the rest of her life working herself to the bone in repayment.
[If something like this happens again, call for me.]
With that final sentence, Yaoshi's gaze vanished.
Though Cecilia could not be completely sure the Star God had truly gone, for now she decided to assume they had.
By then Jingliu had finished.
Her lashes trembled lightly. Then, with great care, she released Cecilia's hand and finally spoke.
"…Thank you."
Honestly, saying thank you was a little cheap. Spending the rest of her life loyally serving Cecilia would have been far more appropriate.
But Cecilia only replied:
"You're welcome."
At that moment, Jing Yuan walked over again.
"Lady Cecilia, I truly owe you for this one." He cupped his hands in a formal salute, his manner utterly sincere.
But Cecilia had no intention of letting him off so easily.
"General Jing Yuan, for the man who runs the Luofu, you seem rather partial when it comes to personal matters."
Jing Yuan paused, then shook his head with a wry smile.
"Lady Cecilia really does see through everything."
He did not bother to hide it.
"I did, in fact, deliberately let those Stellaron Hunters go just now."
Jing Yuan's frankness made Cecilia arch a brow.
"Oh? You're admitting it just like that? Aren't you worried I might use it against you?"
Jing Yuan merely smiled, the expression touched with the calm of someone who had seen too much of the world.
"If you truly meant to hold it over me, you would not have treated my master in front of me just now."
"And besides…" His gaze swept across the prison floor, over the piles of dead Abundance creatures.
"If you had truly wanted to stop them, then with your strength, those Stellaron Hunters would never have escaped."
That was true enough.
The aura Cecilia had revealed earlier—if she had seriously wanted to keep Kafka and the others behind, it would have taken no more than a thought.
But she had not.
"All right, then." Cecilia waved a hand. "Since you've put it that way, I won't bother dancing around the subject."
She looked at Jing Yuan with a half-smile.
"General Jing Yuan, I cured Blade for you, and I stabilized Jingliu for you."
"So tell me—doesn't that mean the Luofu owes me three favors?"
Jing Yuan: "…"
He suddenly found himself regretting how honest he had been a moment ago.
"…Shouldn't that be two favors?" he tried, making one last effort to correct her math.
But Cecilia refused to entertain such nonsense.
"My favors are priceless. If you want to buy more of them, naturally the price goes up."
Well.
Jing Yuan yielded.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
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