"Cough, cough." Climbing up from the ground, Kurumi Tokisaki stared at the petite girl who had landed before her with a solemn expression, her elegant brows knitting tightly. This person gave her an extremely dangerous feeling.
"Karyusai Setsugetsuka's 'Moon,' Yaya, has arrived! Yaya is Chu Lian's Yaya, Yaya is the Yaya who likes Chu Lian, Yaya is the Yaya who loves Chu Lian, and Yaya is the Yaya who will absolutely never let you hurt Chu Lian!" The petite girl planted her hands on her hips and solemnly made her declaration, only to be interrupted when Chu Lian brought a fist down on her head.
"Yaya, now isn't the time to talk about who belongs to whom. Deal with her for me, or she'll be a huge pain." Standing behind her, Chu Lian pointed at Kurumi Tokisaki, who had already gotten back to her feet and was watching them with a strange expression.
"Got it. Yaya... Yaya will deal with her right now!" Holding her head, Yaya answered aggrievedly, then stepped forward and instantly vanished from where she stood.
Kurumi Tokisaki's eye widened. Before she could react, Yaya kicked her into the air, then kicked her back down toward the ground. Before she could even make contact with it, Yaya struck her skyward again.
From Chu Lian's perspective, she could barely see Yaya at all. All she could see was Kurumi Tokisaki's figure in her ornate dress being tossed back and forth through the sky as though she were being ruthlessly toyed with.
Yaya just needs to make sure she doesn't go too far. Chu Lian held her forehead. Although she was perfectly happy to see an opponent treated like this, she also knew that these attacks could not truly cause Kurumi much harm. They would only make her angry.
"That's enough!" When her body was sent flying into the sky once again, Kurumi suddenly shouted. Her body froze in midair, and behind her, Zafkiel, which had previously vanished, appeared once more, blasting everything around her away.
The bangs covering her left eye were also blown aside, revealing the golden clock face within it to Chu Lian and Yaya. Chu Lian knew that Kurumi was activating Zafkiel's power.
"Be careful!" Chu Lian had no way to explain everything right now, so she could only warn Yaya to be careful. Kurumi Tokisaki activating her strongest ability was no laughing matter.
"Yaya isn't afraid of any attack!" Unfortunately, because Yaya herself possessed the trait that an Unbreakable Machine-Doll couldn't get pregnant... Cough, cough, couldn't be injured, she simply wasn't afraid of anyone's attacks.
To harm her, one would need destructive power surpassing Heaven Rank. Otherwise, it was basically impossible. That was why she wasn't afraid of this woman at all. Hmph. I can't let this woman get close to Chu Lian. Otherwise, she'll definitely try to steal Chu Lian from me!
"This is troublesome." Seeing that Yaya had no intention of dodging, Chu Lian could do nothing about it. She could only remain vigilant herself.
"Aleph." A bullet was fired, striking the Kurumi Tokisaki clone that had appeared behind Chu Lian. Its speed instantly soared, and it began circling Chu Lian wildly while firing at her.
"Bet." Another bullet was fired and struck Chu Lian, causing her movements to slow down.
"Chu Lian!" Yaya had originally been standing to the side, waiting to see how this woman intended to fight her. She had not expected Kurumi to attack Chu Lian directly, and she immediately became furious.
But after looking at Chu Lian, who was struggling to defend against the suddenly accelerated clone's attacks, then at Kurumi Tokisaki herself, Yaya had no idea which one she should attack.
"Yaya, don't worry about me. Attack her." How could Chu Lian not understand what Yaya was thinking? Although her body was nowhere near as absurdly indestructible as Yaya's, her Undying Body was more than enough to withstand this level of damage. So she told Yaya to stop Kurumi Tokisaki and prevent her from continuing to shoot her.
"Then be careful, Chu Lian!" The moment Yaya heard her say that, she immediately charged toward Kurumi Tokisaki, who was hovering in midair.
Unfortunately, Kurumi had already fired an Aleph into herself before that. Her speed was now not much slower than Yaya's, so for the moment, Yaya could not catch up with her and could only grow increasingly anxious.
After chasing her for a while and still failing to catch up, Yaya became angry. "Don't think Yaya can't catch you!" As she spoke, she landed on the ground, placed both fists beside her waist, gathered strength in her lower body, and widened her eyes. "Blow—Roar—Rushing Impact, Shadow of the Quince Sword!"
The instant she spoke those words, her figure vanished from where she stood. A large hole abruptly appeared in the waist of Kurumi Tokisaki, who had been hovering in the air while warily awaiting her attack. Yet no pain appeared on Kurumi's face. She merely turned to glance at Yaya before her body fell to the ground, dead.
"Yaya killed you!" Delighted that she had defeated such a powerful enemy, Yaya turned around, only to witness something that left her utterly astonished.
The Kurumi Tokisaki clone that had originally been circling Chu Lian suddenly stopped in midair. Behind her, Zafkiel appeared, and just like the person Yaya had killed moments ago, she seemed completely unharmed.
"It's useless. She has countless clones. As long as the time stored within those clones hasn't been exhausted, she can swap places with them whenever she wants. Even if you kill her, she'll revive again the next second." Slightly out of breath, Chu Lian stood in place and explained Kurumi Tokisaki's ability to Yaya.
"My, my. What a troublesome opponent. I didn't expect you two to be this powerful. Even now, I still haven't managed to kill you." Kurumi Tokisaki frowned. She had already consumed a considerable amount of time and did not want to waste any more. If this continued, the job would no longer be worth the cost.
Besides, she had sealed off this place for quite a while. The other side must have noticed something by now and would surely be coming, wouldn't they? If Li Mingxue—one of the five people explicitly marked in the intelligence as absolutely not to be provoked—showed up, Kurumi would be in serious trouble.
"In that case, until next time." She no longer wanted to fight. She had already wasted her best opportunity. Continuing to drag things out would accomplish nothing, so retreating now was the better choice.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be next time. Soon enough, we'll be seeing each other every day." Hearing her words, Chu Lian suddenly revealed a strange smile. She had stood there and allowed Kurumi to attack her all this time not because she was stupid, but because she had finally found what she needed.
"Spacetime Imprisonment, activate!" Chu Lian tore apart the scroll in her hand. A transparent space instantly expanded outward, directly shattering Kurumi Tokisaki's barrier and enclosing all three of them within it.
This isolated spacetime was only ten meters across, and when first activated, its imprisonment lasted only three seconds. But that was enough. More than enough. After all, this was a disposable scroll she had exchanged for using the five thousand Dream Points she had only recently managed to save up. It had better be effective.
"Grab her!" The instant Chu Lian spoke, Yaya appeared behind Kurumi and spread her arms around the girl's excessively slender waist. Chu Lian rushed over at the same time, pulled a peculiar rope out of her storage space, and bound Kurumi with it.
"What are you doing?" Kurumi could not activate any of her abilities. Her physical attributes were not particularly strong even by Earth Rank standards, so how could she possibly contend with Yaya, whose physical attributes were exceptional even at Heaven Rank, and Chu Lian, whose attributes were basically at the upper reaches of Earth Rank?
All she could do was shout. She had no way to break free and could only let Chu Lian tie her up.
The isolated space shattered, and Kurumi's barrier vanished along with it. Yet before the people on the bridge could see what had happened, the group had already disappeared without a trace.
Sitting on Suicune's back, Chu Lian instructed it to travel through places with as few people as possible. Meanwhile, she held the thoroughly bound Kurumi Tokisaki in her arms. Seeing that Kurumi had stopped struggling and was instead looking at her with an intrigued expression, Chu Lian asked softly, "What? Given up struggling?"
"Struggling is pointless. I don't even know where that rope of yours came from. Once you tied me up with it, I became completely unable to move. I really did lose this time. I never expected someone like..." As she spoke, Kurumi glanced at Yaya, who was puffing out her cheeks and glaring at them, then continued, "someone so violent and tiny to be beside you. Her physical abilities are far too powerful. I basically have no way to deal with her. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lost."
"You were only captured before you could bring out your true combat strength. You happened to encounter someone who countered you perfectly. I suppose fate itself decided you'd be caught by me." Chu Lian sounded rather pleased as she listened.
"You know I came here to kill you, so why haven't you killed me? I can swap places with my clones, but I imagine you should have some way to locate the space where my clones are stored and kill them all." Kurumi Tokisaki was somewhat curious. Weren't enemies supposed to be killed? Why had Chu Lian only restrained her instead of wiping her out completely and eliminating any future threat?
Chu Lian smiled noncommittally upon hearing her question. "Why would I kill you? I've never thought about killing such a cute girl. Besides, I still want to know who sent you to kill me. As far as I remember, I shouldn't have offended anyone, right?"
Before Kurumi Tokisaki could answer, Yaya spoke up. "Chu Lian, she tried to kill you, so just kill her. Keeping her alive is too dangerous." Yaya had been standing beside them with her lips pursed, staring at Chu Lian intimately holding Kurumi while she herself had to watch Nan Xi and make sure she did not fall off. The difference in treatment made her extremely unhappy!
"Good girl, don't be jealous. I'm dealing with something important right now. If I can get an answer from her, we'll be much safer in the future." Chu Lian reached out and stroked Yaya's little head, coaxing her as though she were a child.
The tactic worked perfectly. Yaya narrowed her eyes and began enjoying Chu Lian's touch. Although it only lasted for a short while, she was still delighted.
"Hmph, Chu Lian, if she dares move around again, Yaya will carry her personally." Of course, when it came to fighting for affection, Yaya had absolutely no intention of backing down. She still cherished her grand ambition of becoming Chu Lian's one and only.
"I have no interest in stealing her from you." Hearing Yaya's words, Kurumi Tokisaki tilted her head and denied it.
"Hmph. Yaya doesn't believe you at all. You'll definitely cling to Chu Lian in the future, so love rivals need to be eliminated immediately!" Yaya snorted, clearly refusing to believe her.
"Fine. Believe whatever you want. My goal was to kill her. Now I failed to kill her and ended up a prisoner instead, so there's nothing else for me to say." Kurumi Tokisaki was helpless. Why would she think I'd fall for a woman? Especially a woman who was originally my enemy.
"All right, stop arguing, both of you. We're home. I need to deal with a few things first." Caught between them and forced to listen to their bickering, Chu Lian was equally helpless. When she saw her home just ahead, she immediately told them to stop.
"Hmph." Yaya obediently fell silent, while Kurumi Tokisaki simply closed her eyes. She was contemplating what fate awaited her...