Chapter 352: The Battle Between Ex-Wife and Fiancée!
"But in my perfect ending, there's no place for you."
Black Keke sat atop a dragon head. Hearing Jiang Si's voice, her previously cheerful expression instantly fell apart.
"Why?! I'm your sister too!"
"If you're willing to give your reincarnation ability to my Keke..."
"What do you mean 'my Keke'? That's way too distant, way too distant!"
Black Keke grabbed the dragon horn and shook it wildly. "I'm a sister too, I'm a sister too! I'm our family's Keke!"
The other dragon head leaned over and bumped Black Keke with its skull. "Alright, stop whining here. That will only annoy Big Brother more. If you behave obediently like me, Big Brother might accept you as his sister."
Black Keke immediately quieted and eyed that dragon head. "What's going on, bro? How can this head talk on its own?"
"Heh heh, didn't expect that, huh? Hearing my name gives you a little fright. I'm Big Brother's first general, Little Black Dragon. It's too tiring for Big Brother to control all three heads alone, so Little Black Dragon helps take the load!"
With that, it flashed a grin, looking perfectly healthy.
Black Keke stared for a long moment, feeling like the left eye of that head was looking at her while the right eye watched the other head, giving off a distinctly dim-witted vibe. She turned to the third dragon head. That head wore a somewhat helpless smile. "Hello, Black Keke of Reincarnation. I am the Emperor of the Curse Realm."
"I..." She wanted to swear, but Black Keke immediately remembered Jiang Si scolding her earlier not to use dirty words, so she hurriedly corrected herself. "Oh my heavens, bro, how did you run off with the boss of the Curse Realm? She's the trickiest End of All Things..."
"Is that so?"
"Even if only once, she was the trickiest. You're the kind of legendary poop that even the End Beast and the World Tree wouldn't get near!" Black Keke blurted. "To everyone else, golden curses look like a cesspit..."
Seeing the Emperor's expression grow awkward and hurt, the Little Black Dragon head wrapped itself around the Emperor's neck and licked her cheek lightly. "Mom, don't listen to her. Mom isn't poop!"
"Jiang Keke."
At Jiang Si's displeased full-name call, Black Keke immediately shrank her head. "I was just using a metaphor, metaphor."
Then she felt a little indignant—what was with everyone looking at her that way? Curiosity surfaced.
"So what's your relationship with Big Brother?"
"Master and servant."
Holy crap.
Though she didn't say it aloud, Black Keke couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Calling the Emperor a servant and letting the other say it so casually—bro, what are you turning people into?
She'd dealt with the Curse Realm many times and had numerous dealings with the Emperor. That person's arrogance was no less than the Prince's. Or rather, among that group of boys born low and given small power but lacking real strength, who wasn't unbearably arrogant? Black Keke had many bad memories. It was exhausting to interact with them, and the Emperor had tormented her often—hence her habit of likening the golden curse to excrement; after all, the Emperor once made her clean toilets!
Now, seeing this once imperious ruler honestly admit to being Jiang Si's servant left Black Keke shocked and secretly delighted.
"I'm Big Brother's little sister. If you're Big Brother's servant, then you're my servant too! Emperor, I order you to kowtow to me right now!"
"Sorry, I am loyal only to Jiang Si."
The Emperor replied calmly. "If you want me to obey your order, you must have Jiang Si say it."
Black Keke immediately cuddled the dragon horn and begged, "Bro, bro, make her kowtow to me..."
"Get lost."
"I don't even know how many times I kowtowed to her before. Why can't she kowtow back this time?"
"None of my business."
Black Keke's teeth ground in frustration. She gnawed her gums and glared fiercely at the Emperor. "No matter what, Big Brother won't like you, and he certainly won't marry you, Emperor."
Little Black Dragon cried out, "Why not? Emperor Mama is great, perfect to be Big Brother's wife!"
"Because I disagree!"
The Emperor only smiled faintly. "Don't worry. I'm already dead, so I have no such qualification."
"Ting, so that means if you had a body, you'd snatch Big Brother away?"
"After all, if you like something you take it. That's always been my way," the Emperor said matter-of-factly. "But now? This isn't bad either."
Black Keke, seething at seeing the woman she hated occupy invincible ground, flopped down. "I'm going to tattle to Mom and Dad so they'll kick you out! You're a bad woman who'll ruin Big Brother..."
The three argued and bickered, but Jiang Si's actions never stopped. He charged forward down the corridor, smashing through branches. Earlier Black Keke had let the branches entangle and sink into memories; if Jiang Si hadn't reached in and grabbed her, even her soul might have been dragged away.
As he barreled forward, the golden curse aura on Jiang Si naturally made every branch avoid him.
To the World Tree, polluted magic—especially golden polluted magic—seemed indeed similar to excrement.
No, for the trees, feces is nourishment; calling it poop wasn't accurate. Vomit? Right? No, the Curse Realm itself hangs on the World Tree—it should be something produced internally, urea?
He thought, coming up with even grosser possibilities. But Jiang Si was, after all, a mature adult—he wouldn't blurt such things like Black Keke. Some truths shouldn't be said out loud.
"Actually, I can hear it, you know, inner voices..."
The Emperor couldn't help but hear things like that.
"Ah, by the way, Emperor, have you ever interacted with the Prince?"
At Black Keke's question, the Emperor looked puzzled. "Why ask suddenly? I am not particularly close with the Prince."
"Oh, I just remembered your old grudges and was curious how you'd get along this life."
The Emperor grew curious too. "Our old grudges? The Mirror Kingdom and my Curse Realm didn't have much conflict, and for a long time we cooperated."
"Oh, that's hard to say. But from what I know, you two had quite a few clashes. Most of the time the reason the Curse Realm couldn't become the End of All Things was because the Mirror Kingdom took it down."
"Humph."
The Emperor sneered. "Although I don't want to praise my rotten nation, the Mirror Kingdom's strength isn't enough to destroy the Curse Realm."
"That's hard to tell." Black Keke regained the upper hand, wearing a knowing expression. "Anyway, your relationship has never been good. I'm curious whether having Big Brother in the middle would make it any better?"
The Emperor considered. She didn't feel much for the Prince. The Mirror Kingdom's later cooperation with the Curse Realm wasn't really her doing. When the Emperor cooperated, the Mirror Queen had still been Itaen's mother. Her interactions with the Prince were mostly about watching how the Prince and Jiang Si got along.
At first there had been some competition—both being rulers, nobody wanted to lose to the Prince, especially given age and standing: she was much older. No one wants to lose to a junior. But later on she felt more pity. Both were girls. And because the Emperor was closer to Jiang Si, she knew Jiang Si never truly took the Prince's marriage seriously. Jiang Si's treatment of the Prince, though not malicious, was manipulative—playing along with the Prince's wishes.
But the Prince's girlish feelings were ruined by Jiang Si. Even the Emperor felt unfairness and pity for her.
Still, she was Jiang Si's servant, a soul serving him; she had no right to lecture her master. From beginning to end, the Emperor watched and kept quiet, avoiding interfering with Jiang Si, hoping he would forget her existence. That way she could better learn Jiang Si's habits and preferences, think what she could do for him.
So when Black Keke asked about the Emperor and the Prince, the Emperor felt puzzled. What sort of relationship was there? Friends who had never even met?
"To be honest, your attributes overlap a bit. If you want Big Brother's attention, you need your own distinctiveness. You're both monarchs—kinda hard to tell apart, not very competitive, Miss Emperor..."
Still, it wouldn't be competition in truth. She had no standing to compete. If there were true rivals, she cared more about Bingtang and Lu Ya...
"Wait, you don't mean the Prince is your real rival, do you? Isn't your rival actually Lu Ya or someone?"
Black Keke shook her head. "Tsk, so arrogant. Ordinary girls aren't even on your radar..."
Hearing someone voice her thought surprised the Emperor a bit, but it didn't matter much to her. Little Black Dragon piped up, "What do you mean arrogant? Emperor is my mother and Big Brother is my father. They're a perfect match. Don't be wrong!"
Little Black Dragon waved a massive hand, exuding dominance. "They're the challengers!"
The Emperor smiled through mixed emotions. Hearing her child speak for her made her realize how valuable having a child could be. You don't need to lower your face to get many things—you've got a child to do it for you. How wonderful.
For the first time in years, the Emperor felt that genuinely.
Black Keke pouted, unconvinced. "You mean even Lu Ya isn't as good?"
"Lu Ya Mama is important too," Little Black Dragon said matter-of-factly, "but what matters most is distance. Right now Emperor Mama has fused with Big Dad and is ahead by so many ranks. That gap is an abyss to other mamas!"
"How many mamas do you even have..."
Black Keke sulked. "Anyway, I don't accept this sister-in-law."
Little Black Dragon didn't care. "Fine. We don't accept you as sister either. Jiang Si's only sister is our Keke."
"What! I'm Jiang Si's sister too. Who are you to deny it!"
"We don't accept it. We don't accept it."
"I'm fighting you..."
Watching Black Keke wrestle with one dragon head, the Emperor stood by to mediate. Jiang Si couldn't help scratching his head with a dragon claw, dumbfounded. One child is noisy enough. Two children colliding is maddening.
Soon, those noises were automatically filtered out because, as they neared the Magic Kingdom, the surrounding branches turned into a transparent fluid. For some reason, the Magic Kingdom felt increasingly distant.
"We can't go any further."
A voice said that faintly.
Black Keke quieted from arguing with Little Black Dragon and craned her head upward.
"Mother?"
Before Keke and Jiang Si could identify clearly, the Emperor suddenly warned in a low serious voice, "Careful!"
The transparent fluid instantly enveloped them.
Jiang Si's pupils constricted. His golden curse power spread—but when it touched that transparent fluid it also turned into transparent fluid. Then it began to corrode his own body.
"What is that..."
When the Golden Calamity Dragon King was completely swallowed by the transparent fluid and the golden curse faded and dissolved into transparency, everyone's consciousness blurred, even separating from their bodies!
Only Black Keke whispered in disbelief, "Material soulization."
New World, East China Beihai.
The Prince watched the dark upheaval gradually subside.
One by one, the Heart Image Remnants were forced back into the world's depths and sealed by Shion. The world, which had been on the verge of collapse, was forcibly reconstituted by Shion. She couldn't help a cold sneer.
"What a bunch of clinging fools. Trying to destroy the New World to resurrect their old world—do they even qualify as Magical Girls?"
[Chat: Quite moving. It seems our monarch also possesses the magical girl bearing. We almost destroyed the New World to restore the old kingdom...]
"Does that make any difference? I'm not a Magical Girl. I have the right to do this—whereas they, Magical Girls, should sacrifice everything for their so-called love and hope. They have only that one road..."
[Admiration: No matter how many blows and betrayals, the monarch's eternal pride is comforting and admirable. Your inexplicable self-respect and arrogance are the reasons you reign.]
"Your tone doesn't sound very complimentary."
[Defense: Maybe Jiang Si's voice itself is snarky. Suggest replacing it...]
The Prince shut off the chatty system. Sitting in an independent mirror space, she watched Azure Cloud Sect disciples and the Disaster Control Bureau's Magical Girls scurrying due to the dark upheaval, and watched the chaotic, teetering New World. It felt as if a single step from her could topple everything.
"Thank you for remaining idle here," she murmured, propping her chin on one hand and tilting her head toward a pale ice-blue figure that had appeared. "Didn't anyone tell you a formal audience with the Mirror Queen needs a petition? You don't even knock. Didn't Shion teach you basic court etiquette? Or are you all savages who can't learn palace manners?"
"Forcing the Sect Master into court etiquette is a bit harsh. Normally, greetings are handled by me. Truly powerful people shouldn't be bound by such tedious rules, right?"
"I don't see how you're qualified to greet on Shion's behalf." The Prince crossed her legs. Her pale blue stockings rubbed against the throne. "So what do you want? The Mirror Kingdom doesn't welcome you."
"You once said I have Mirror Kingdom blood. I thought you'd be glad to see me."
"Hah. You're so infatuated with that guy, you can't be recruited, right?"
"Likewise."
They held back from saying anything too vicious, not wanting to appear spiteful. The Prince's pupils lowered toward the standing pale-blue Magical Girl, unimpressed by her lofty pose. That girl's composure made the Prince feel a flare of frustration. Such a temperament is what allowed her to stay near Jiang Si for so long—no one could shake her. Even if Jiang Si toyed with that ice-blue girl, the Prince could imagine the girl would scold and then forgive him, tolerating his trampling of her feelings. The Prince could never do that.
"Is that all you came to say?"
"No."
Bingtang spoke sincerely and bowed to the Mirror Queen. "I only came to thank you. My Keke sister—thank you for taking care of her."
"Huh?" The Prince nearly rose from her throne. This throne wasn't the Mirror Kingdom's original throne, but one she had made to resemble it. She stood, one foot on the seat; the stocking almost slipped on the torn throne, a rip exposing her smooth calf. She instinctively hooked her hand behind the ripped stocking. "What nonsense are you spouting? 'Your sister'? Do you think Keke calls you sister?"
"Keke and I are close."
"Don't flatter yourself. Ever since Keke lost her name, the first person she found was me. Clearly, Keke is closer to me and trusts me more. Stay out of it."
"So I'm thankful, Your Mirror Majesty," Bingtang said with a hollow smile. "When Keke had a hard time, you gave her some support. Jiang Si can go too far sometimes, and as subordinates we can't oppose the Sect Master's wishes. Keke suffered lately—thanks to you for making things easier for her."
"Flattering yourself," the Prince sneered. "Keke personally called me sister. You're far from that."
"Jiang Si told Keke to call me sister."
The Prince stiffened.
System sighed, [Major failure: Keke is merely a conduit; the key is Jiang Si's attitude—completely lost...]
"Shut up!"
Itaen, the Prince, kicked the nearby system mirror and didn't care that her stocking slipped off. She haughtily glanced at the Azure Cloud disciples outside and at Shion being flanked.
"If there's nothing else, go. I have nothing to say to you."
"Azure Cloud Sect always welcomes you."
"I'm not a Magical Girl."
"You can be a servant."
"Scram."
Bingtang laughed, tucking a strand of hair, "Just joking. If you'd like to come to Azure Cloud Sect, we'll reserve you an honorary Great Elder seat. Azure Cloud Sect recognizes your ability. Sect Master doesn't dislike you."
The Prince snorted and didn't answer. Only after they left did she hiss in fury, "Jiang Si owes me. He owes me everything—he even lets his subordinates swagger at me. When he returns, he'll apologize properly. If he doesn't, he'll face my revenge and wrath, to make him know the Mirror Kingdom still has the power to overturn the world!"
[Reminder: Mirror Queen, currently all Mirror Kingdom forces are on the Void Mirror...]
"The Void Mirror has my backdoor. It will belong to me eventually. I'm just temporarily lending it to Jiang Si. That's another debt he owes me. He owes me so much. He bullies me into being easy to deal with, takes advantage of me, then runs away. It's infuriating. He even dumped his sister on me to look after. What does he take me for?"
Itaen's anger grew as past grievances and bitterness erupted. "I won't give in this time. He must apologize—apologize properly and make reparations, or I won't forgive him! I'll make him regret it, make him—"
The system suddenly interrupted: [Regret: Your objective may be unachievable, Your Majesty.]
"Heh. Don't think I'm the same as before. I'm serious this time. I'm settling the score, making him admit he can't bully Itaen any longer!"
[Rebuttal: That's not what I meant, Your Majesty. I meant—you may no longer be able to see Mr. Jiang Si.]
The Prince sneered. "Impossible. He's Jiang Si."
[Bad news: The Void Mirror and Mr. Jiang Si melted together while en route to the Magic Kingdom...]
The mirror displayed three-headed Golden Calamity Dragon King dissolving in the transparent fluid.
They vanished without a trace.
The independent mirror space sank into long silence.
After a long time, the Prince painfully turned her head. Her stiff face was full of bewilderment and a subtle contortion of emotion. "What?"
Meanwhile, in Beihai.
Magical Girl Shion also suddenly, before everyone's eyes, completely melted and disappeared.
The Heart Image Remnants that had been suppressed and silent surged out together again!