Just as Toyohime's perception was about to penetrate deep into Shin's very flesh, Yachiyo moved from the shadows.
She did not invoke her authority of "Eternity." Instead, drawing on the near-transcendent beauty that was the physical manifestation of her divine nature, she activated her charm — planting a faint, imperceptible mental suggestion in the Watatsuki sisters' minds, too subtle to trigger their awareness.
[There is no variable here.]
It wasn't a killing move. But it made Toyohime's typically rigorous focus blur by one almost undetectable degree.
Though this had been part of Shin and Yachiyo's contingency plan all along, actually watching Toyohime's concentration drift from sharp to unfocused, Shin could only think one thing: Kaguya's underhanded scheming had truly no limits.
No wonder Melusine had fallen for it. Now it all made sense.
"Does Toyohime suspect that I have been tainted by too much of the mortal world's impurity, and that this is why you examine me so closely?"
"Kaguya" let a trace of melancholy show on her face, perfectly timed.
"Very well. If Your Highnesses do not trust me, you are free to inspect as you please."
Toyohime opened her eyes. Looking at that face — a face whose beauty made even her feel self-conscious — the faint suspicion in her mind quietly dissolved under Yachiyo's suggestion.
"… I was the impolite one, Kaguyahime."
"I have completed the inspection. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yorihime — take her."
The whole exchange had been outwardly casual, yet the covert clash between divine powers had been nothing less than a direct collision of deities. The group chat friends who had been watching were chattering amongst themselves.
[Moon Princess]: Watatsuki no Toyohime: I'm going to check your credentials — credentials: clear!
[Moon Princess]: Hmph. Even other women can't help bowing before me. Is there anyone in the group chat who is immune to my charms~?
Kaguya had already stopped distinguishing herself from Yachiyo, flexibly straddling both identities at once.
[Lord of the Lands Between]: It is understandable that the knight Lady Morgan trusted fell to the charm — that is divine-tier mental interference, comparable only to the Law my son Miquella commands after crossing the divine threshold.
[Definitely Not a God]: This power… it is reminiscent of that desire-tumour I once grievously wounded. Could it be spreading its corruption to other worlds as well…
[Definitely Not a God]: No, that can't be right — though I do not know if it is my imagination, but I feel that Lady Yachiyo's tier is actually higher. She may even be capable of corrupting that tumour in reverse.
The shattered-consciousness girl-queen could hardly believe her own assessment. She was not unacquainted with The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter — why was she comparing a character from a mortal legend to something the entire universe had gestated?
But instinct was instinct. Something told her that this young bamboo-girl's ceiling was not below that thing's — not now, perhaps, but not forever either.
The group chat continued. In reality, the five-coloured clouds were rising again. With Watatsuki no Toyohime connecting the mountain-pulse of Mount Fuji to the Sea of the Moon, "Kaguya" was borne away from the land of Japan.
Toyohime's power was "mountains and seas."
Not literally a single mountain and a single sea — she could manipulate any concept of "mountain" and "sea," connecting them to one another.
Such as now: connecting the spiritual vein of "Mount Fuji" to the "Sea of the Moon."
In The Dream Chronicles of the Moon, she could even connect the "quantum sea" and achieve essentially unlimited "imagined manifestation."
Shin kept himself still, maintaining the outward calm, and after piecing together the broad shape of this world's information landscape, had only one thought: yes, this is what a B+++ mission looks like. This is life.
If Yachiyo hadn't been scheduled for pickup today, he absolutely would have played it safe, lying low for fifteen days until the support window arrived before attempting anything.
The space around him began to rotate, light and shadow fracturing into disconnected pieces.
Shin held the [Soul Synchrony] state and looked out through the edge of the clouds, toward the depths of the universe.
In what should have been empty black vacuum, he saw something deeply unsettling.
Countless translucent souls — innumerable as a plague of moths throwing themselves at a flame — were slamming against the transparent barrier encasing the Moon's orbit.
From the energy signatures alone, Shin was almost instantly certain: Junko's power. Each soul radiated an "impurity" that made Shin's own soul recoil.
"Sister, her strikes are getting more frequent."
Watatsuki no Yorihime watched the souls shattering against the barrier — their impurity purified out of them on impact — and a flicker of disgust crossed her eyes.
It was rather like someone standing outside your front door endlessly hurling buckets of filth at it — and the filth occasionally seeping through the cracks.
"What can be done about it. If not for this, why would the personage have exiled Kaguyahime in the first place, only to turn around and summon her back…"
"And we can be grateful that the barrier is Teacher's legacy — it is absolutely unbreachable from the outside. Otherwise…"
Toyohime trailed off with a sigh, something unspoken beneath her words.
Unbreachable from the outside.
So… what about from within?
A thought crystallised in Shin's mind. He wasn't going to go easy on them out of sympathy — he could tell the difference between who was close and who was not.
The people living on the Lunar Capital were people. But so were the people on Earth.
The five-coloured clouds finally pierced through the heavy barrier and entered the Lunar Capital's airspace.
Gone was the dust of the mortal world. Everywhere the eye could reach: white jade palaces, and beneath the eternal unchanging moonlight, a silver river flowing quietly.
When the clouds descended onto the white jade plaza in front of the central palace, over a hundred elite Lunar emissaries were already arrayed in formation, waiting.
"We welcome the return of Kaguyahime to her rightful place!"
The emissaries called out in unison, their voices carrying a note of bureaucratic indifference underneath.
For reasons he couldn't quite name, Shin always felt that "rightful place" had a certain quality to it — like being summoned to sit on one of those particular porcelain thrones.
Yorihime's tone softened slightly:
"Alright. Go on inside."
"The personage is waiting in the palace. The life ahead may be solitary, but if there is anything you require, we will do our best to accommodate…"
But she hadn't finished speaking.
Something unexpected happened.
The "Kaguya" who had been so composed and compliant, with those quietly downcast eyes — her lips curved, all at once, into a smile.
"My apologies, everyone."
"Kaguya's" voice restored itself to a young man's.
"Enough pleasantries. Melusine — no. Albion. Come out."
"You — ?!"
The Watatsuki sisters' expressions changed. Before they could react, in an instant they were hit again — by Yachiyo's charm transmitted through Shin as a [Soul Synchrony] conduit from across the Earth-Moon distance — planting another suggestion directly into their minds!
With the result that their thoughts blurred, their reactions slowed by half a beat.
"BOOM——!!!"
From Shin's spine, a dragon's roar that had been silent for too long erupted in an instant!
Right there before the entire assembly — a slender, silver-haired, dragon-winged figure burst free from within him!
The Last Dragon was finally unleashed!
She grew taller, expanded, swelled — with every dragon's cry, the entire Lunar Capital trembled within the sound of that name — Albion (Britain)!
Silver divine light shot into the sky, blotting out the Lunar Capital's eternal pale moonlight.
When the light faded, a dragon of a thousand metres in length, every inch of its body gleaming with a metallic mercury sheen, stood proud on the white jade plaza.
Fairy Knight Lancelot — True Name released!
"Extermination operation, formally commencing."
"Target — destroy the Lunar Capital's barrier core!"
Now returned to his own form, the young man stood atop the great dragon's brow, facing that enormous moon, and sent one final group livestream message:
[Spreading Witch Factors (temp account)]: Everyone, I've made it to the Lunar Capital! Talk later!
[Spreading Witch Factors (temp account)]: @Moon Princess — could you fill me in on what to watch out for? You've been here long enough — you should know everyone's weak points like the back of your hand.
[Moon Princess]: …
[Moon Princess]: Shin, I respect you. Come here, let me tell you something…
Chaos — formally ignited!
To be continued…
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