"Well, I guess it's time for you all to return to your worlds."
As soon as he said it, Aegis felt Yue tremble slightly in his lap.
He looked down. She didn't say it out loud, but she didn't want to leave.
"Mr. Aegis, could we... do this again sometime?"
"Sure," he replied, looking at Jin-Ah. "You can all come back here another day. This won't be the last time."
Jin-Ah lit up like someone had just given her ice cream.
"Really?! That would be awesome!"
But before anyone else could speak, Jasmine frowned.
"This princess doesn't want to. I'm not interested in wasting time in a place like this again."
Aegis tilted his head slightly toward her. Jasmine shivered again at that mocking smile.
"Really? You're going to pass up the chance to grow stronger? Or are you afraid of facing the unknown and the new? If that's the case, you're no different from those old cultivators who act like they know everything, when in reality, they're blind and ignorant, trapped in their own egos, unable to see beyond the limits of their tiny minds."
"Tsk… I don't care about that."
"You sure?"
"Shut up! And wipe that stupid grin off your face. It creeps this princess out." Jasmine turned her head with annoyance.
"C'mon, Jasmine! Even Mr. Aegis gave us the green light to meet at his castle again. What are you so worried about? Seriously! Wouldn't a secret gathering be super exciting?" Jin-Ah encouraged her quickly. To her, Jasmine just needed a bit of pressure at the right moment.
In Jin-Ah's eyes, Jasmine was the kind of person anyone would call a tsundere. It was obvious that while she really did want to join, her pride wouldn't let her admit it.
That said, she came up with a small plan in her head. She wasn't going to give up until this little tsundere girl admitted her true feelings.
"..." She shot a look at Aegis, silently asking him to play along.
Aegis pretended to sigh.
"Well, too bad. I guess next time only Jin-Ah will be invited. You can stay in your world, Jasmine."
"Eh?" Jasmine looked at him suspiciously.
"Yeah, well… I don't like pressuring others. That would make you uncomfortable, right?" Aegis continued, ignoring her. Then he glanced sideways at Jin-Ah and winked.
Jin-Ah instantly understood it was her turn. She put on an exaggerated sad face and said:
"What a shame... I thought we were getting along. I really thought we were friends."
Jasmine frowned. She looked at Aegis, then at Jin-Ah. It was obvious they were acting… but still, she couldn't deny it stung a little.
"Tsk… Fine, fine. This princess will grace you with her presence! But I'm not doing it for you, got it? I just don't want to look like the bad guy here."
"Yay! I knew you'd say yes!" Jin-Ah gave a big thumbs-up with a wide grin.
"Idiots."
Once Jin-Ah and Aegis had successfully captured the tsundere girl, he turned to the vampire quietly sitting in his lap.
"And you, Yue?"
She just rested her cheek against his chest and softly said:
"Mm... I want to come back too..."
Aegis nodded and gently patted her head.
With that decided, the three of them began discussing when they'd meet again.
"How about in a week?" Jin-Ah suggested.
"Fine by me."
"Mm... okay..."
"Wait, how will we meet? Are we going to have a signal or something?" Jin-Ah brought up an important point.
At that moment, Aegis stepped in:
"That won't work. Time in your worlds is desynchronized. One hour in your world, Jin-Ah, equals ten years in Jasmine's, and five hours in Yue's."
"Eh...?" Jin-Ah's mouth dropped open. "So Jasmine would age way faster than me!"
Jasmine looked at her with a neutral expression.
"Are you saying this princess will grow old while you're just having lunch?"
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!"
"And for your information, this princess can't age."
"Isn't that worse?! You'll be stuck in that tiny body forever!"
"You..."
"Mm... I feel like I'm being attacked..."
While the three of them argued, Aegis rose from the throne without another word.
"Eh?"
They all looked at him as he walked to the center of the hall.
A pillar of light descended on him from the ceiling. The space around him warped, and in the middle of that distortion, two golden threads appeared, floating in the air.
Each one was connected to a pastel-colored bubble floating in the white vastness outside the castle. One was pale pink, the other soft blue.
They were fragile, like soap bubbles, but each contained an entire universe.
Normally, only Aegis could see those threads. But now, everyone present could see them.
"..."
"What... is that?"
"I didn't pay attention when we arrived, but are those the worlds?"
"No."
While Jin-Ah had no idea what was happening, Jasmine seemed to understand—more or less. However, Yue interrupted calmly, not taking her eyes off Aegis.
"Mm... It's something more like a whole universe."
The tiny vampire seemed to understand something the others didn't. And after a moment, she added:
"He's manipulating... the space and time of those universes..."
"Eh?" Jin-Ah blinked.
"You can tell?" Jasmine asked, tilting her head.
"...Seems like it..."
Yue was Aegis's Emanator. Even though she had only met him recently, she was already connected to him. She couldn't understand everything, but she could more or less grasp what he was doing.
In front of them, Aegis raised his hand and touched both threads.
At that moment, the entire castle reacted.
A pulse of energy rippled through the air, as if space itself stretched and adjusted its shape. The bubbles vibrated softly, and the threads began to throb like veins.
"Whoa…" Jin-Ah hugged herself.
The air felt weird.
After a few seconds, everything stabilized. The bubbles stopped trembling. The threads stopped throbbing.
The castle returned to its usual calm.
Then Aegis turned on his heels toward them.
"Done. Now there won't be any problems meeting up every week. One hour will be one hour for all of us."
"Mr. Aegis, you did that just by touching those things?" Jin-Ah looked at him with her mouth slightly open.
"More or less," Aegis shrugged and changed the subject. "I'll set Mondays as our official meeting day."
"Mondays? This princess is fine with that."
It took Jasmine a few seconds to come back to herself. She had been so shocked to see someone casually manipulate time and space. Her small heart was beating faster than usual. This was the kind of power she longed to obtain.
"Perfect." Jin-Ah had realized that worrying about something she didn't understand wouldn't get her anywhere, so she flashed a huge smile. "Fixed schedule!"
But right after, her face froze.
"Ah! Wait, wait… No! No way! I was summoned in the middle of class!"
She brought both hands to her head like the sky was falling.
"What am I supposed to say when I go back? 'Hi, teacher, I got taken to a god's castle for a bit'? They won't believe me! They'll send me straight to counseling!"
Aegis let out an amused laugh.
"No need to worry. Time in your world completely stops when you come here."
Jin-Ah looked at him for a second and then sighed, shoulders dropping.
"What am I even supposed to say to that? 'As expected of Mr. Aegis'?"
It wasn't Aegis who answered. It was Yue, who looked oddly proud of Aegis.
"Well, thanks," she said, glancing at Yue and then Jasmine. "See you Monday, girls!"
Her body began to fade with soft sparkles, until she disappeared from the hall completely.
'Wow, she's really lively once she gets used to it…' Aegis was quite amazed by how easily Jin-Ah expressed her emotions.
In fact, he used to be the same way, millions of years ago.
Once Jin-Ah was gone, Aegis looked over at Jasmine, who seemed restless. Her brow was furrowed, as if she wanted to leave immediately.
"You want to go back, don't you?"
"Of course. This princess doesn't have time to sit around doing nothing," Jasmine replied impatiently. "Take me back."
Aegis watched her silently for a few seconds. He had already read that novel. He knew what was coming.
"If you want to obtain the Heretic God's legacy, you'll have to pay a price."
Jasmine clenched her fists.
"You told me before this princess would end up dead, right? Then I'm not afraid. I'll pay any price. Even my life, if it means I can avenge my brother."
Aegis shrugged.
"At the end of the day, you won't use that power," he said calmly. "But another. And you'll give it to them yourself."
"What…?"
"So I thought your efforts were in vain."
Because that very day would be the moment she lost her freedom.
"Wait! What do you mean I'll…?"
But she didn't finish the sentence.
At that moment, her body vanished just like Jin-Ah's, and the hall fell silent once again.
×××
Jasmine opened her eyes.
The grayish world around her slowly began to fill with color. The air began to flow again, and her body could move once more.
She had returned to the exact point she was at before being summoned to Aegis's castle.
She floated in the sky, but didn't move. Her expression was complicated.
"…"
To manipulate space and time so easily… even freezing the Primordial Chaos Dimension without alerting anyone. That wasn't something just anyone could do.
More than a powerful human… that guy seemed like a god. A real one.
Besides, he knew too much. As if he could see the future. Or like he had already lived through everything.
And not to mention, that man knew her real name, her goals, her past, and maybe even her future…
Jasmine bit her lower lip.
"That guy…"
He had told her she wouldn't use the legacy. That she'd give it to someone else. What was he talking about? Her, giving something like that to someone else?
"Ha! This princess isn't crazy."
She let out an annoyed huff.
"Stupid Aegis!"
Cursing him in her mind, she extended her power and resumed her flight, leaving a whirlwind of wind behind her.
×××
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