"What happened?"
When Lin met Vill-V as she disembarked from the transport plane, she was nonchalantly checking the city layout of Mu. A suitcase containing her magic props sat by her feet. Upon seeing Lin, she couldn't wait to throw her arms open for a hug.
However, Lin nimbly ducked and slipped beneath her arms.
With his arms crossed, he asked calmly.
"Didn't I say? I was fired." Vill-V wasn't particularly depressed; she grinned, picked up her suitcase, and began walking out. "To be precise, I have a long vacation, so I came to Mu to clear my head."
"..."
Lin watched Vill-V back as she entered the Tenth Branch and sighed.
...
"I know you're going to ask what exactly happened." Vill-V sat in the middle of the cafeteria. Her exaggerated gestures drew strange looks from the other diners, but she didn't care in the least. "Actually, the higher-ups weren't satisfied with what I made, so they halted the Divine Key project."
"..."
Vill-V spoke lightly, but the severity of the situation was far greater than her casual tone suggested.
The Divine Key project had been in Fire Moth's planning for several years; it was a project Mei had begun organizing almost as soon as she joined. To have it halted just as it reached its initial phase was significant.
If the first Divine Key had simply failed to meet expectations, it was unlikely they would scrap the entire project.
Thus, only one other possibility remained: what Vill-V had created had far exceeded expectations.
"What do you plan to do next?" Lin didn't press the matter, which made Vill-V quite happy.
"Travel around Mu and perform magic shows everywhere. I've wanted to do this for a long time, and now I finally have the time."
Vill-V quickly finished her meal, then slumped over the table like a sated cat, lazily unwilling to move. "I'll leave the rest to you."
The rest?
Looking at the Vill-V who had closed her eyes and reopened them with a changed demeanor, Lin immediately realized that the "you" she spoke of likely didn't refer to him.
...
"You again."
Sakura raised her blade, the tip pointed at the "person" whose body was entirely hidden behind a cloak resembling a raincoat.
After arriving in Mu, aside from handling the Stargate incident at the Tenth Branch, she had received another separate mission.
She hadn't expected to encounter this fellow here.
She noticed that Grey Serpent seemed slightly different from last time; he gave her a feeling as if... he were another person entirely.
Grey Serpent emitted a raspy, synthetic mechanical voice: "Ms. Sakura, hello. We meet again."
Sakura dared not relax. She had clearly killed Grey Serpent last time. Unlike the encounter with Kalpas, Sakura had only left after being absolutely certain of Grey Serpent's death.
Yet he appeared before her once more. This time, his identity had shifted from the leader of the Human Salvation Society to the President of the Mechanical United Eudaemonism Association.
The tongue-twisting name was just like every other anti-human, anti-social organization—filled from start to finish with distorted, radical dogmas.
"What did you do to me last time?"
"Does a human consider it 'doing something' to blow a breath of air at a gnat flying past their ear?" Grey Serpent closed the heavy book in his hand and spread his palms. "I merely 'blew a breath' at you. As you can see, you have suffered no issues."
"..."
The logic of a madman is incomprehensible to ordinary people. From his second sentence, Sakura gave up on any attempt at dialogue.
If he couldn't be killed once, then she would kill him a second time.
Sshing!
Even the air could not record what had just occurred. No one saw when Sakura appeared behind Grey Serpent; by the time her silhouette solidified, the afterimage standing in his original place was only just beginning to fade.
Grey Serpent belatedly looked at his own chest. Then, with some regret, he raised the book in his hand and looked at its cover.
Two seconds later, his body tilted. A cut so thin it was almost invisible appeared at his neck. In the next second, the book in his hand split in two, pages scattering across the ground, and his head fell off at that very moment.
Click.
Blood flicked, blade sheathed.
Sakura slowly inhaled and exhaled. She walked to Grey Serpent's headless corpse, picked up his head, placed it on his abdomen, and set a small blue flower upon his chest.
At that moment, she felt a gaze watching her from a great distance. But when she looked up, that gaze had vanished.
...
Meanwhile, inside Lin room.
"Don't come any closer."
Lin tried his best to push away Vill-V body, which was leaning in—intentionally or otherwise.
He was now clear that Vill-V primary personality had actually deceived him last time. Her shy nature might be real, but she was also a deceiver who could lie without blinking.
In their previous interaction, she had used her apparent weakness to close the distance between them. She was someone highly adept at psychological manipulation, so this time, Lin pointedly kept his distance.
Vill-V seemed to realize Lin was now wary of her, so she said in her soft, delicate voice, "The other 'me' is resting right now. This is the first time she's been this exhausted since she emerged."
"Hmm... it should be considered a blow."
Lin wasn't sure if Vill-V other personality was the type to be discouraged; she seemed more the type to grow stronger with every setback. But for something she had poured her heart and soul into for years to be rejected, and the entire project halted, any normal person would feel devastated—perhaps even broken.
That is, provided Vill-V was a "normal person."
"Do you switch out?"
"No. Usually, she controls the body; I don't come out." Vill-V shook her head demurely. "Except for that special circumstance last time, this situation is also a first. She truly did receive a significant blow."
Lin nodded and followed the conversation. "So you're going to go on a magic tour around Mu?"
Vill-V tilted her head at him with a somewhat dazed, cute expression. "The talent for magic is also unique to her. In fact, almost all 'talents' belong to her."
"..." Lin could understand that different personalities had different traits, but he hadn't expected this Vill-V to possess no talent at all as the same individual.
"I'm thinking of ways to help her recover quickly. Lin, can you help me?"
"...I can."
"Good. Then let's play a little game." She flashed a pure smile that made it impossible to harbor any ill intent. "First, interlace the fingers of one hand into the gaps of the other, with your fingers pressing against the palms."
Lin followed her lead and mimicked the gesture. She moved a bit closer. "Now, straighten your arms and hold your hands out in front of you. Finally, slowly raise them over your head."
Lin slowly raised his hands above his head. He didn't quite understand what kind of game this was; the posture was a bit uncomfortable. He couldn't move his fingers in this position, and it was difficult to apply force from his wrists.
"Mm, very good."
As soon as she finished the sentence, Vill-V lunged forward. One hand pinned his joined hands against the wall, while a leg pressed firmly between his own.
"..." The captured Lin fell into a long silence.