Xuefei couldn’t move her body at all. It felt as though some presence within the barrier had bound her tight, like a pair of invisible giant hands clamping down on her frame, not even permitting the simplest twitch or struggle. If this kept up, who knew what those countless squid tentacles her daughter had summoned might do to her.
“Darling, I surrender! Dispel the barrier—I’ll grant your wish!”
Xuefei shouted at the top of her lungs.
But no one answered.
The crimson moon hung on the horizon like a massive, unblinking eye, staring down at her. A flicker of unease stirred in Xuefei’s chest. This barrier was far more complex than it seemed.
One of the squid tentacles coiled around her immobilized waist, wrapping around it several times. The rest surged toward her in an endless wave, a perilous tide of dark purple.
At last, the Evil Dragon plummeted from the sky, landing atop the tentacles. Only then did Xuefei realize the creature bore no scales at all—its body was pitch-black, little more than a shadow.
That shadow shrank gradually, taking on a humanoid shape: Tilly’s form.
Tilly advanced along the tentacles. They brushed gently against Xuefei’s cheek, their touch startlingly real. Xuefei called to her daughter, but Tilly acted as if she couldn’t hear a thing, ignoring her completely.
“Tilly, what are you trying to do?”
A little dragon’s eyes should have been far clearer, more innocent.
Yet the Tilly before her resembled a corpse brought to life, radiating an unnatural chill. As she drew near, Xuefei finally saw that her daughter was utterly naked, save for small scales clinging to the appropriate spots on her young body.
At a glance, Tilly was quite beautiful. It wasn’t as though Xuefei harbored any untoward thoughts toward her own child—she simply felt a swell of pride at having brought such a lovely being into the world.
That warmth faded quickly.
Tilly leaped straight into Xuefei’s arms, clutching the tentacle-wrapped body tight. With her tiny hands and mouth, she frantically sought out that familiar pair of warm comforts, pausing only when she reached Xuefei’s chest.
“Tilly, you… Mommy surrenders! Dispel the barrier right now!”
Tilly paid her no mind. Instead, she hooked her fingers into the collar of Xuefei’s dress, clearly intent on ripping it open for intimate contact with her beloved “motherly love.”
Something was definitely wrong here!
“Tilly? Tilly, can you hear me?”
Rip—rip. The fabric tore with a sharp protest, as if objecting to such savage handling. Resistance was futile before the Evil Dragon. Tilly was only a few months old, yet her strength surpassed that of most humans.
“Stop it—now!”
Her pleas fell on deaf ears.
The tentacles only constricted tighter.
In a moment of desperation, Xuefei wrenched one hand free from their grasp, pressing her index and middle fingers together.
At least her mouth still worked.
“Dispel…”
What Xuefei hadn’t told Leia was that she could wield certain Light Envoy skills herself.
The trick lay in storing unabsorbed Light Envoy magic, then releasing it through precise methods. She might well be the first in history to master such magic. Regrettable as it was, Xuefei intended to use it now—to break free before Tilly could drain her dry.
A golden light flickered at her fingertips. The clashing, repulsive forces sent a dull ache through her hand.
Crack—!
The tentacles shattered. Xuefei plummeted from the sky.
Under normal circumstances, she could have landed gracefully even from the upper atmosphere. But with her body so unresponsive, she crashed awkwardly to the ground instead.
Her “landing” hit like a cannonball. The mild impact loosened her enough for basic movement, though she still couldn’t pinpoint what was trying to seize control of her soul.
“Could it be…”
Xuefei’s eyes locked once more with the crimson full moon.
“Woo woo awoo—!”
Spotting her mother’s escape, Tilly flew into a rage tinged with sorrow. She let out a furious roar, reverting to her Evil Dragon form and melting into the night.
The soul-binding slowed Xuefei’s movements, but she soon broke into a calm smile.
Vast tentacles erupted from the ruins of the blackened buildings, writhing like a horde of snarling monsters fused into one—like Tilly’s petulant complaint at being denied her mother’s sweet milk. Xuefei couldn’t help wondering if she’d been skimping on her daily feedings.
As the earth beneath her feet began to heave and crack, she spoke with composure:
“Then there’s only one final solution left.”
“Don’t complain that Mommy’s bullying you, Little Tilly.”
Xuefei let out a hot breath.
A pure white portal yawned open behind her, blazing with blinding light.
“Tilly, there’s more than one way to defeat a barrier besides smashing it outright.”
“That’s using a barrier to clash against another barrier. In that case, your barriers will cancel each other out, rendering both useless… It’s like a tug-of-war; unless there’s a massive gap in strength, neither side’s barrier will have any effect.”
Xuefei explained in a gentle tone, continuing her patient lecture:
“It’s incredibly draining on your stamina, so don’t get reckless unless it’s a dire situation. But today, Tilly went too far. Mommy isn’t some toy you can mess around with, so don’t pick up bad habits from Mama Leia!”
The white hole grew larger, morphing from a vortex into a towering tornado. Then, the entire crimson night sky was gradually devoured by white—like ink spreading across paper, only in reverse.
“‘Nameless’”
A nameless barrier held no meaning, no true existence.
It had been conjured solely to nullify the opponent’s barrier—a hasty creation that barely qualified as one. Xuefei had pierced its structure through the “Alres Mirror,” uncovering this swift and efficient way to dismantle it.
Born of “nonexistence” and “meaninglessness,” yet forged with the purpose of shattering the foe’s barrier—which lent it purpose—it manifested as pure, unadulterated white.
The tentacles and the monster vanished as the barrier dissolved.
The white consumed everything faster and faster until the entire barrier became an endless expanse of white.
~~~
“Aren’t you bullying the child a bit too much?”
Afterward, Leia cradled the unconscious Tilly and asked. Xuefei immediately raised her little fist in protest.
“How could I possibly be bullying her!”
Far from it—those familiar tentacles and deranged mutterings had been dead set on swallowing her alive. If she hadn’t fought back with everything she had at the last second, her own daughter might have devoured her whole.
On top of that, Little Tilly had even torn at her clothes!
“Leia, don’t jump to conclusions. I was the one who nearly got ravaged by those tentacles. Look at my clothes!”
Xuefei pulled open her chest for Leia to see.
But her clothes were perfectly intact, showing no trace of damage whatsoever.
“Huh?”
“I see, Xuefei. So eager to offer up your precious treasures to the Evil Dragon?” Leia licked her lips, her gaze lingering on the pair of magnificent peaks swaying enticingly before her.
“Then I’ll gladly accept them.”
