Dead silence hung around the arena. If someone whispered now, they'd hear it across the battle hall... and what the hell pops into my head in this situation?!
My head spun, brain racing frantically. Right now, Mu Ning Xue hugged me, quietly crying while smiling happily. Her emotions were pure chaos: joy, sadness, pride, shame... and even love. Whoa! I definitely didn't ask for that!
Last thing I needed was my own sister falling for me! Yes, cousin... but we're still close kin! This can't happen! Or can... no, I can do anything, but I just don't want this!
Phew. Imagining it's just familial love eased me hugely. I'd never thought of expanding my harem—damn Totem, I didn't even want this one initially! It just... happened.
True, one cute little Sunshine Bunny's tender hand nudged it along, but she's forgivable. And Jiao Jiao took initiative first... sorta. Won't dwell; might break my brain with their feminine schemes, peak sixth spirit threshold or not. Female logic doesn't counter.
"Little brother, don't leave me like Mom did. I'll get stronger and protect you." – While I was frantically thinking of how to detach this girl from me, she unexpectedly whispered those exciting... and sad words right in my ear.
Involuntarily clenching my fist, I tried to calm down, brushing aside extraneous thoughts. It seems I know what happened to her. My cousin had been suppressing her emotions for too long, and now that she's finally stopped, she's overindulging in them out of habit. I think if I said her current state is like someone who just chewed three Ecstasy pills at once, I wouldn't be wrong.
That's why these sharp mood swings and uncharacteristic behavior. Each subsequent vivid emotion displaces the previous one, plunging the girl into a new state of being. I need to gently pull her out of it before she embarrasses herself... though how much more could she?
As for her mother... eh, I've long decided that the main Mu Clan won't survive, so adding one more line to their list of crimes on the gravestone won't hurt. Still, doing that to a poor woman, let alone letting her wither away right in front of her underage daughter... I'm not capable of such savagery. At least that's reassuring.
I've probed the Murderous Ice Bow with my senses in both of my lives in this world, and I can confidently say the two artifacts are identical. At least, if you ignore the fact that in the previous world, I saw the completed version enhanced with ultra-rare materials.
This one wasn't even a prototype—no. It was a shard. Nevertheless, even such a shard held decent power, fully capable at its peak of striking with the force of a junior Warlord's blow.
And this is just one of many shards of the Ice Bow that the Mu Clan implants in talented ice element mages outside the main family, so they feed it their power and nurture it to its peak. Then, using a special ritual, these shards are ripped from their temporary hosts, destroying their cultivation, severely damaging their souls, and leaving them to wither away quickly until death.
That's exactly what happened to Mu Ning Xue's mother, and they prepared the same fate for her. Fortunately, my cousin's mother was a smart woman and figured out what they were preparing her for in advance, so she somehow removed the control mark from the Ice Bow shard now in Mu Ning Xue's hands. That doesn't mean they can't take this intriguing artifact from her, but doing so without a fight is now practically impossible.
The woman gave her beloved daughter a chance: a chance to fight for her fate, which she herself never had. And I'll make sure she doesn't miss it. After all, she's my little sister. Eh, and not long ago, I didn't want to acknowledge our family ties. Who knew that her sweet "little brother" would catch me so off guard and touch me? Women are truly terrifying creatures.
"Ahem-ahem!" – TuTu coughed loudly, finally breaking the graveyard silence around the arena.
She glared angrily at the Ice Girl in my arms, practically incinerating her with her gaze. After all, my girl understood there was no initiative or hints from my side, which meant only one thing – I was being brazenly seduced! Right in front of her eyes! TuTu's gaze clearly read not just a thirst for violence, but at least a desire to drag the cheeky wallet who dared cling to her guy by the hair.
"Darling, don't get heated. She's my sister and going through a tough time right now. Nothing to worry about—there's nothing between us." – Pulling Mu Ning Xue's hands off my back, I raised mine up, trying to calm TuTu.
The last thing we needed was an enraged plant mage of her level. Especially since she doesn't fully control her new plants yet. But TuTu only frowned harder after my words, then puffed her cheeks and whispered loudly enough for everyone around the arena to hear perfectly.
"You just repeated that line word-for-word from the hentai I watched recently! First you let her touch you, then you'll start visiting her, checking if she's okay. Next you'll let her stay with us for a bit, and a little later, when I come home tired from work one day, you'll be fucking like rabbits on our bed! I'm not letting it get that far! Hear me?! If you're going to hang out and hug her, only under my watch!" – Crossing her arms over her ample chest, TuTu issued her verdict for me and my cousin, while Jiao Jiao was practically rolling on the floor laughing. For those who knew TuTu's fetishes, her words took on a slightly different meaning. Even I allowed myself a slight smile despite the absurdity.
"You're not working. On the contrary, I'm the one staying late at my 'job' to bring an extra 'penny' home." – I looked impassively at my girl, as if telling the people around that my 'job' was clearly tied to my reputation. TuTu, understanding perfectly since she knew the context, calmed down a bit, realizing from my expression that the little sister hadn't charmed me yet, so not all was lost.
"What's hentai?" – Finally lifting her head from my chest with interest, Mu Ning Xue stared curiously at TuTu, who hesitated at the question. Her darting-indignant gaze screamed two questions: "How can you not know that?!" and "How do I explain this?!" Luckily for her, I'd never leave my girl in trouble.
"It's those Japanese cartoons. TuTu here just... hasn't grown up enough for adult films yet, so she sticks to that genre." – Man, in my first world, I'd get beaten for saying that, but here everyone just stared in confusion. Their 'culture' hasn't reached them yet, oh no it hasn't.
"Hey!" – TuTu snorted indignantly, glaring at me. After all, I basically just called her a dumb kid!
As our merry group was about to start another round of verbal ping-pong, the judge finally stirred, clearly slacking on his job.
"The winner of this round is Mingzhu University! Now, with a score of 2:0, they win their exchange with the Imperial University. Let's give them a round of applause!" – The judge lazily tried to hype the crowd, not trying at all. In response came equally feeble claps. Most spectators hadn't recovered from the recent fight and didn't even hear the claps.
Well, whatever—the main thing is I kept my promise to Director Xiao. A more crushing victory would've been hard to pull off. Now I just needed to collect on his promise in time.