“So what?”
Yue Wange’s ring behind her began to gather magic power again.
“Even if she did those things, it doesn’t change the fact that she once worked for the Divine Summon Order. For the sake of order and justice, such an evil person should be eliminated!”
“The former Saintess of the Divine Summon Order, the evil Blood Moon Witch… do you have to protect her like this? You should know better than anyone what kind of villain she is, Eternal Star. After all, you’ve interacted with her the most. Someone like her should—”
“…What do you mean by ‘someone like her’?”
Xiaoxi’s voice was low. She subconsciously interrupted Yue Wange.
The lines that were supposed to be just acting now sounded extremely harsh, piercing her eardrums.
Yue Wange was also a bit stunned. Was Xiaoxi really that good at acting? Her anger right now didn’t seem fake. Or to put it bluntly… Xiaoxi seemed a bit too into it.
“Why does everyone think the Blood Moon Witch must be a dark-hearted villain who does all kinds of evil? Why does everyone think she’s a threat that needs to be eliminated? Just because she was forced to serve the Divine Summon Order, does that mean she deserves to die?”
“Yes! I did fight the Blood Moon Witch many times during the Chaos, so I know very well that even when she was controlled by the Divine Summon Order, she never did anything truly heinous! She never actually hurt anyone!”
“She didn’t want to do those things either! She was also a victim controlled by the Divine Summon Order! She suffered pain and torment in the Divine Summon Order that ordinary people can’t imagine! Not just her—every monster controlled by the Divine Summon Order was the same!”
Xiaoxi grew more and more agitated.
Scenes of Ye Xinglan these past days flashed through her mind one after another: the online rumors about the Blood Moon Witch, the attitude of the Six Seats toward Xinglan, and just now in the live house, when Xinglan seriously said to her, “Even if everyone else hates me, it doesn’t matter. As long as Xiaoxi likes me, that’s enough.”
“Because I’ve interacted with her the most, I know better than anyone that Xinglan is not some villain. She’s just a girl who wants to live an ordinary life! She gets jealous, throws little tantrums, but she also cares about others. She has flaws and strengths, her own hobbies and things she hates…”
“Because I’ve interacted with her the most… because I’ve always been by her side… that’s why I know better than anyone that Xinglan is a girl worth loving! So… so…”
At that moment, Xiaoxi inexplicably remembered when the Six Seats had asked her in Summersea City, “Why do you love Ye Xinglan?”
In truth, just like Ye Xinglan, she had also thought of those ordinary days they had spent together, the things they had done.
Of course she could think of the reasons Xinglan had thought of.
But Xiaoxi wouldn’t rattle off reasons like Xinglan did, saying things like “She’s really cute, her hands are very soft, she makes great food.” She always felt those reasons weren’t weighty enough.
So at that time, Xiaoxi did seriously fall into that question—yes, why did she love Ye Xinglan?
Come to think of it, wasn’t her dream after retirement to live an ordinary, normal life?
But if she thought about it carefully, ever since Xinglan barged into her life… hmm, it seemed her life had been getting further and further away from the word “ordinary.”
Thinking that way, wouldn’t her life be better if she didn’t have the rich girl?
Bits and pieces of time spent with Ye Xinglan flashed through her mind: her rushing up excitedly every day when she came home, her clinging to her arm and acting spoiled, her always being by her side. If she didn’t have the rich girl…
‘Huh?’
And in that instant, Xiaoxi suddenly realized that she couldn’t give a single, precise reason for loving Ye Xinglan, but she would never doubt her love for Ye Xinglan, because—
“…That’s why I love Xinglan. Because I can no longer bear a life without Xinglan. Because I’ve already… can’t be without her.”
Xiaoxi spoke softly, her voice suddenly weakening.
Although the volume wasn’t enough for the people in the livestream to hear her last sentence, Ye Xinglan, who was being protected behind her, did not miss that muttering-like whisper.
Ye Xinglan’s eyes suddenly widened. She stared blankly at Xiaoxi’s back… So that was it. That was how it was, huh?
Ye Xinglan hadn’t expected to hear that from Xiaoxi at such a time.
She instantly realized that this was the answer she had been agonizing over, the one she had been afraid to hear from Xiaoxi just now.
She suddenly chuckled softly—right, how could she doubt whether Xiaoxi really loved her? Even if she had no sense of security, even if Xiaoxi was the Eternal Star, she shouldn’t have doubted that.
She really… was just an idiot.
Xiaoxi’s voice faded away. Yue Wange made no further moves.
The entire Tower of Commandments fell into a strange silence, as if frozen in place.
But the livestream room at that moment was like an explosion.
The number of viewers reached an unprecedented height, and the comments were scrolling so fast they nearly flew.
“What’s going on? Why is the Eternal Star defending the Blood Moon Witch? Aren’t they sworn enemies?”
“I think the fact that they’re sworn enemies makes that explanation more credible, right? Even an enemy is willing to speak up for her. And I think what the Eternal Star said is very believable.”
“It was a rumor anyway. The Association already debunked it a few days ago. Plus, there were people who visited the church that day who posted clarification videos. They just didn’t get much attention. I feel like people still prefer to believe conspiracy theories.”
“Looking at it this way, I almost feel a bit sorry for the Blood Moon Witch. Thinking about it, being pressured and controlled by a psychopathic organization like the Divine Summon Order must have been awful…”
“Wait, did I hear that wrong?! Did the Eternal Star just say the Blood Moon Witch’s real name? It sounds like they’re pretty close?”
“Awesome! Did the Eternal Star just say she’s always been by the Blood Moon Witch’s side? No wonder the Eternal Star retired right after the Chaos. I think there’s something going on between them!”
“Ugh, this feels weird. I understand why the Balance Scale would do this, but it still doesn’t feel right…”
“Me too! Even though the Balance Scale didn’t really do anything wrong, I just can’t bring myself to like her.”
“Wait, what did Eternal Star mumble at the end? Did anyone catch that?”
“Whoosh…”
Yue Wange let out a long sigh of relief. Several golden lights aimed at Xiaoxi again.
“You’ve been blinded by the Blood Moon Witch, Eternal Star. There’s no point in trying to convince you. You can’t stop me. I must eliminate that tumor called the Blood Moon Witch!”
About time. Next, she just needed to knock down the Eternal Star, then when she went to deal with the Blood Moon Witch, she would be “coincidentally” intercepted by the timely arriving Silverflame Dragon Princess, and this act would be over.
Sharp golden light struck Xiaoxi with a force that was more sound than fury, “hitting” her hard.
Xiaoxi’s body shuddered violently, as if she were in extreme pain. Blood sprayed from her mouth.
Even Yue Wange felt she could barely keep up with the act… Wait, was Miss Xiaoxi really that good at acting? Was this what a veteran performer was like? Not only was the performance realistic, but she could even spit blood? That was too convincing!
But just as Yue Wange planned to step past Xiaoxi to “take care of” the Blood Moon Witch, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
Xiaoxi’s body went limp and collapsed… This wasn’t acting. Xiaoxi was really hurt!
“Xi… A Xing! Are you okay?”
Realizing something was wrong, Ye Xinglan forgot about acting and rushed over to support Xiaoxi. But Xiaoxi had already fallen unconscious.
Her magic power had become restless, and a violent torrent of magic began to sweep through the entire Tower of Commandments.
Mana Overrun? Yue Wange was slightly taken aback. This situation wasn’t unfamiliar to her.
If a Magic Girl’s training wasn’t done properly, it could cause the magic circuits to become disordered and lead to Mana Overrun.
It was like in wuxia novels where practicing too intensely leads to damaged meridians and going berserk.
But the problem was that this kind of situation mostly only occurred with low-level Magic Girls who weren’t yet familiar with using magic power.
How could a veteran S-Class Magic Girl like Xiaoxi suddenly have a Mana Overrun?
Yue Wange suddenly sensed a familiar aura in that violent torrent of magic.
She instantly realized something, but because of the act, she couldn’t directly help. She had to lower her voice.
“The core! The Tower of Commandments’s core is still on her!”
The panicked Ye Xinglan immediately thought of this as well.
She quickly pulled out the box from Xiaoxi’s arms—sure enough, the box that had been storing the Meteorite Fragment was now restless as if it had a mind of its own.
Even through the box, she could feel the Fragment’s activity.
Ye Xinglan threw the box far away. She lifted Xiaoxi’s clothes.
On the area where the box had been in contact, a large patch of pure golden veins had appeared, and they seemed to be slowly spreading!
Yue Wange’s eyes widened in disbelief. This was the phenomenon of “Star Eclipse”!
Although the Star Eclipse on her own body was like some kind of Magic Power Contamination, a mix of gold and black veins, the veins on Xiaoxi were as pure as flowing liquid gold.
But Yue Wange couldn’t be mistaken.
However… how could this be? Even if the Meteorite Fragment could cause a Star Eclipse in Magic Girls, that would only happen after close contact for a period of time.
Xiaoxi had only carried the box containing the sealed Fragment for less than half an hour!
But there was no time to think about the reason now.