Chapter Twenty-Three: Twilight & Starlight
Phantasmal creatures, born from the rumors and legends of people, draw power from humanity’s beliefs and fears.
The priestess of the white spirit, also known as the “Bride of the Fox God,” originated from tales of ancient villages.
In those times, the most beautiful and pure maiden in the village would be offered as a bride to the village protector, ensuring good weather and harvest for the village.
This practice has been passed down through generations.
Even in today’s civilized human society, this ritual has long been discarded by the masses.
Yet, some still believe that there are ignorant people in certain small villages who continue this practice.
The unconscious belief generated by such rumors gives birth to phantasmal creatures.
In the original work of “Star Draw 2,” the “phantasmal creatures” have a more systematic and gameplay-oriented setting.
They are categorized by appearance into “humanoid,” “beast form,” “spiritual,” and “amorphous.”
The white spirit’s priestess, while having a strong tendency towards beast-like appearance, still belongs to the “humanoid” category.
When facing Nagi, she could be considered the worst match-up.
“Master, the ‘gate’ of the domain has opened,” Garuda’s figure descended from the air.
Phantasmal creatures are categorized by rank into “common species,” “royal species,” “crowned species,” “divine species,” and the unique “singular species.”
The feature of the “crowned species” is that they hold some form of authority and can manifest corresponding domain barriers based on it.
The twilight that enveloped the night is precisely the domain of the “false god white spirit.”
In order to prevent Kanade from being involved in this “forced marriage” aimed at herself, Nagi used the time she had just escaped with Kanade to let Garuda open the exit of the domain first.
“Their target is me, Garuda.”
“Do you not need my help?” Garuda asked, her crimson eyes looking towards the two priestesses walking slowly from afar.
“The magic response isn’t strong. I can completely…”
“No, if you intervene, you might provoke their master behind them.” Nagi interrupted the restless Garuda.
—And I do not wish to see you…
Nagi shook her head, burying that thought deep in her heart.
“Hey, hey, are you really planning to present yourself as a priestess to your mother?”
DD-chan emerged from the shadow behind Nagi, transforming into a physical form.
“Well, I’m just going for a visit, it’s fine~”
Nagi laughed it off.
“Don’t worry, Kanade, I will definitely return…”
“Master, that line is…”
“Are you really going to set a flag at a time like this!?” DD-chan couldn’t help but shout.
“By the way, DD-chan, shouldn’t you be on the other side? Why are you suddenly so concerned about me?”
“W-Well, it’s because…”
“Because you finally admitted I’m a beautiful girl?” Nagi revealed a teasing smile.
“Hah!? There’s no way I’d agree to that!”
“Master, you really seem to enjoy this, don’t you?”
“……Ugh! Kill me!”
“……”“…….”
Finally, the two priestesses arrived in front of Nagi and the others, bewildered by the comedic scene.
“Alright, I’m ready, how do we proceed?” Nagi assumed a very cooperative posture.
“……”“……”
“Master, there’s something I’ve been thinking about, and I feel like I should tell you.” Garuda spoke in a serious tone.
“…..Garuda?”
“Becoming a wife at 13 is indeed a legal…”
“Hah!? That’s not it, right!? ”
“No, while you haven’t registered, you will indeed become a true wife in a real sense, okay?”
“!!!”
“To protect the male protagonist, you become someone else’s wife, and you set a flag of ‘I will definitely return to your side’ before leaving…”
Garuda humanely stroked her beak with her wings.
“Master, you’re not saying…”
“Eh? Am I really going to be taken away!?” Nagi crossed her arms and trembled all over.
“This new sensation is—Garuda, can it be—!”
“So, master, please don’t suddenly declare that you’ve awakened some new fetish!?”
“Is this really the time to be joking around!!!”
Nearby, DD-chan couldn’t help but comment on the eccentric pair standing before them.
If Nagi was brought before her mother, the being attached to her would certainly also meet her mother.
If it were discovered that this priestess was a fake, she would be “eaten” by her mother…
In contrast, continuing to stay near what seems to be a carbon-based lifeform is still a better option.
Though it should be a critical moment, for some reason, DD-chan couldn’t feel any tension at all.
At this moment, an unexpected party suddenly interjected into the conversation.
“We have come—” “—to welcome the bridegroom.”
The two priestesses extended their slender arms from their sleeves, resembling the sharp claws of a beast, pointing at Kanade, who was lying on Nagi’s lap.
“……What? Kanade? Isn’t she here to pick me up?”
Nagi tilted her head in confusion.
Why? Why was Kanade being targeted?
Instinctively, Nagi reached into Kanade’s uniform jacket and pulled out an amulet from the inner pocket.
It was a jade-colored charm, but the fox pattern embroidered on it had completely turned black-gray.
This was a “token,” and the holder of a token often receives a response when making a request to the “false god white spirit,” but that response has a limited number of times.
The black-gray fox embroidery served as proof that the wish-fulfilling times had already been exhausted.
The “false god white spirit” is a god who gives and takes, but there are always high prices to pay afterwards.
Nagi recognized this as Aomi Chika’s amulet.
“Why does Chika’s amulet end up on Kanade!?”
Countless possibilities flashed through Nagi’s mind before she sighed helplessly.
“Sure enough, for the gentle Aomi Chika, she would ultimately give the amulet to fallen Kanade!”
Nagi suddenly looked up at the two priestesses dressed in white, gripping the amulet tightly in her palm.
“I should have never left them alone.”
If she had merely been captured and brought before the “false god white spirit,” there might have been a chance to maneuver her way out with her abilities.
But if it was Kanade, there was a possibility she had awakened on the spot.
Thinking of the worst…
“Garuda! Plans have changed. You take Kanade and leave. I’ll handle things here—”
As Nagi spoke, she gently set Kanade down and stood up from the ground.
The two priestesses standing in front of her showed a vigilant stance for the first time, their ghostly eyes under the masks focused intently on Nagi’s slender figure.
“Master, do you really not need my help?” Garuda couldn’t help but ask again.
“If you keep using that power too frequently—”
“Don’t worry, do you really think I would easily lose myself?”
Nagi interrupted Garuda and revealed a faint smile, the starlight in her eyes shining brilliantly in the twilight glow.
“What kind of delicate feminine figure are you putting on here?”
“…….Norazai, norazai, norazai!”
Nagi stood in front of the two priestesses, causing the latter to bend down warily, trying to create enough safe distance.
In the next moment—
Nagi charged towards the two priestesses—
She zipped past them—
Running wildly behind the priestesses—
Making her escape.
In an instant.
Both priestesses and DD-chan were left dumbfounded, unsure how to react.
“Eh? What does this mean?” Attached to Nagi, DD-chan floated behind her, utterly confused by what was unfolding.
Nagi had clearly been saying words suggesting she would sacrifice herself to stay behind, yet she was escaping past the priestesses.
“So, DD-chan really is a slow-witted child~”
“Who is the target of the priestesses?” Nagi turned her head to look at DD-chan.
The starlight in her eyes was flashing wildly.
“Well… of course it’s…..”
“Who are you attached to?”
Nagi’s silver-white starlight shone like a shooting star, falling and gathering in the center of her eyes.
The orange sky behind her was pierced by a silver starlight.
Her pitch-black pupils erupted into silver brilliance in an instant, transforming into sparkling starry eyes.
Centered around this silver star.
Twilight swiftly retreated.
Replaced by countless stars, like jewels scattered across the night sky, illuminating the dark and desolate earth.
“Yuzuki Kanade?”
“Pin pon~ Correct!” “Yuzuki Kanade” revealed a sinister grin.
In the same instant, the two priestesses behind seemed to ignore Kanade, who was right in front of them, and turned towards Nagi.
This time, instead of walking slowly, they transformed into a gust of swift wind rushing towards her.
They seemed intent on ending this farce.
“Yuzuki Kanade” dodged the attack from the priestess behind her by bending down.
At that moment, the priestess brandished her sharp claws like a beast.
Due to Nagi’s evasion, a nearby telephone pole was sliced cleanly in half, the cut surface smooth as a mirror.
“Hey, hey!? Aren’t you here to welcome the bridegroom? Are you trying to murder him!?”
“Regardless—” “—of life or death.”
“Tsk, is this the boundary between the living and the dead? This twilight power is quite convenient!” “Yuzuki Kanade” dodged another falling telephone pole.
Twilight, the moment of yin and yang’s alternation in a day.
It is also regarded as the dividing line between life and death.
At sunset, the vitality of the day gradually fades, while the stillness and deathly aura of night begins to envelop the earth.
In this place, the boundary between the living and the dead becomes blurred.
At this moment, both the living and the dead coexist in the world.
For the “false god white spirit,” it does not care whether the person to be married is alive or dead.
Because they will forever remain suspended in this moment of twilight, always together.
“Ah, it seems the human body is still cumbersome~” “Yuzuki Kanade” said, winking at Garuda in the distance.
The latter’s form changed as she embraced Kanade’s waist, spreading her wings to fly into the sky.
Yet the two priestesses had never taken their gaze off Nagi standing before them.
At this moment, the dazzling starry eyes in “Yuzuki Kanade” radiated an extraordinarily brilliant light, drawing the focus of the entire world.
It symbolized that she was the absolute center of this stage at that moment, the absolute protagonist.
—“Perfectly performed.”
