Chương 55: Chapter 54: KILL AND KISS

CHAPTER 54 KILL AND KISS —∞— The Meiyao in front of him abruptly cut off her attack, jumping to the side and spinning to face the opposite edge of the pocket. Where another Meiyao was standing, surrounded by a bright, almost-blinding green glow, just like the Meiyao closer to him. Jieyuan felt his heart seize. He squinted at this new Meiyao, trying to peer through the radiance around her. And he saw it. Robes and armor.

Actual robes and armor, instead of the blurry, vague color-shapes wrapped around the first Meiyao. And though the new Meiyao wasn't holding a weapon, she had a sheath by her waist. She also had something furry on her shoulders, but he couldn't tell what it was. He sent his soulsenses toward her, and found a sixth-shade mantle around her. And at the center of it, the spherical form of a soul. And as for its song… Meiyao's. A perfect match. Jieyuan drew a sharp breath. No two ways about it.

It was Meiyao he was looking at now, beyond a shadow of a doubt. The real one.

"You're here," Jieyuan said, the words just slipping out of his mouth. He gathered himself the very next moment, and though he didn't look away from Meiyao, he made sure to keep the impostor off to the left in his sight. The fake Meiyao—who had to be some Orangerealm beast, a shape-shifting one, a mimic-type—was unmoving. She just stood there, glaring at the real Meiyao. Further off to the side, just at the edge of his vision, he could see that Daojue and the tiger were still busy fighting each other.

"Jieyuan," Meiyao said. Her voice was soft, but it carried clearly across the clearing, through the noises—growls, rapid steps, dull thumps —of Daojue's fight with the tiger. All she said was a word, his name, but the amount of emotion she'd packed into it was almost tangible. Jieyuan could see her wide eyes through the bright green glow cloaking her, and how they were fixed on him, staring right back. But then she shook her head.

"No," she said, and he wasn't sure whether that was meant for him or herself. Both, maybe.

"Not the time." She turned away from him, rounding on the fake Meiyao, who was now hunched over, tensed like a cornered animal. Fittingly, the look Meiyao gave the impostor—eyes narrowed, teeth bared in a vicious smile—was very much that of a predator.

"We have a little rotter to kill first." Jieyuan still wasn't sure what was going on. But he'd already put some of the pieces together. Meiyao and the mimic beast had met before. Not just that, it looked like Meiyao had been pursuing it. Meiyao. A sixth-step Redsoul, hunting down an Orangerealm beast. Jieyuan hadn't thought he could want Meiyao even more than he already did. He'd just been proven wrong. He grinned. He couldn't help it. Laughter bubbled up from his chest and he let it out, loud and clear.

He felt as high as the Heavens right now. Energy surged through him, burning away his aches and exhaustion. There were a thousand words he wanted to say. But for now, he made do with just three.

"You got it." Not-Meiyao growled. Her—or rather, its —growl was cut short as Meiyao blurred into motion. There was a flash of green: Meiyao rushing toward the fake. The mimic beast didn't budge from its spot. Jieyuan had barely taken a step forward when Meiyao reached the pretender. The mimic beast swept its arm forward, hands like claws—only for Meiyao to sidestep the attack with contemptuous ease, and slam her fist into its stomach. The fake Meiyao doubled over.

But then, at just about the moment of impact, it lunged forward—Meiyao's fist still connected with its stomach—and swiped at Meiyao again. Meiyao broke away, avoiding the attack, and then immediately reengaged. Only a heartbeat had passed since Meiyao's initial charge. The two moved so fast Jieyuan had only barely managed to keep track. I can't join in, Jieyuan realized. Meiyao and the mimic were too fast. The mimic was moving even faster than before, and Meiyao was matching its speed.

That shouldn't have been possible. There was something else that shouldn't have been possible, either: Meiyao had successfully harmed the mimic with her punch. The gap in their Laws wouldn't have allowed that, not unless Meiyao was using Divine Nature Resonance on some Orangerealm beast or plant. Only, she didn't look any different. He could ponder that later, though; what mattered right now was that if he got in there—if he tried to fight by Meiyao's side—he'd just be getting in her way.

It'd been a while now since he'd last had Maeva take over. He'd been doing his best to avoid relying on her like that, to make it through on his own merit, even if she was technically part of him. But needs must. He swallowed his pride. Maeva, do you think—"They're too fast," Maeva cut in. She'd retreated together with him when Meiyao had engaged the mimic, and was observing the fights beside him.

"I could risk it, but… I might do more harm than good. Even if I went in on my own, it likely wouldn't have much effect." His first two ideas, shot down on the spot. Jieyuan scowled. But that was all right. He still had other cards to play. He might have even been tempted to use Fatebloom Incarnation, but he'd used Fatebloom Renewal recently and didn't have enough Heartblood for it.

Jieyuan made to sheath his saber—he wouldn't be any good at close-range, anyway, so might as well free up both hands for throwing—when he suddenly stopped, considering the weapon he was holding. It was an Orangerealm blade. Meiyao was a saber artist. She was probably only taking the mimic on in unarmed combat because she only had Redrealm weapons on her. Jieyuan focused back on the fight, considering his options. But … Jieyuan glanced back up at the fight.

Meiyao and the mimic were still at it, and it didn't seem like Meiyao had been hit yet, while the mimic had already taken quite a few blows. It didn't look like Meiyao needed the saber. And there'd be risks to throwing it. It might distract Meiyao, and in a fight paced this fast, even the slightest lapse could be deadly. Jieyuan didn't sheathe the saber. But he didn't throw it, either. Instead he kept it in his right hand, and with his left hand drew a throwing dagger.

He kept a close eye on the fight, trying to get a good feel for its rhythm, so he could time his throw properly—be it the saber to Meiyao, or the blade at the mimic. As Jieyuan took in the fight, he realized that there was a third component to it. The furry thing he'd seen on Meiyao's shoulders earlier wasn't there anymore. It was now on the ground, and moving. Moving even faster than Meiyao and the mimic, so fast he hadn't noticed it before.

A barely visible streak of white and green, zipping around, coming at the mimic again and again. Attacking it. Another beast? Jieyuan couldn't think of anything else it could be, unless Meiyao had managed to unlock some other power. The thing didn't register to his soulsenses, so it wasn't Redrealm. It was moving extremely fast, but not to the point he shouldn't be able to pick up on it.

It obviously wasn't some mundane creature, and since it hadn't just obliterated the mimic beast already, it couldn't be Yellowrealm or higher. So it had to be some Orangerealm beast. A tiny one. And one that was on their side, somehow. Did Meiyao tame it? It shouldn't have been possible, but this was Meiyao. Orangerealm beast or not, though, the furry little thing didn't seem to be making much of a difference. Its attacks barely seemed to inconvenience the mimic beast.

That would've been fine, if Meiyao were winning anyway. But, as Jieyuan was starting to realize, that wasn't quite the case. He watched with narrowed eyes, his hand itching to make the throw. But though he saw some openings here and there, they came and went too quickly. Right now, he was just about stuck analyzing the fight. And the conclusions he was coming to weren't all that promising. As far as he could tell, the mimic had the edge in strength and speed.

Not a huge one, though, and Meiyao was clearly more skilled than it was, which should've more than made up for it. But it didn't. The mimic seemed to have little concern for its own body. Either that, or it was much tougher than Meiyao. The result? The mimic had yet to land a single hit on Meiyao. Meiyao, on the other hand, had landed several. But that didn't matter, when none of them had had any effect. Jieyuan watched as Meiyao lashed out with her leg like a whip, slamming into the fake one's side.

If Meiyao was as strong as she was fast right now, the blow should've been strong enough to crush even a tenth-step Redrealm's ribs. The mimic took the blow and didn't so much as budge from the spot, not showing the slightest sign it'd been hit. Rather, it tried to make a grab at the leg that had kicked it. Meiyao only barely managed to pull back in time. Meiyao's next move, as the mimic overreached, was to punch it in the face.

The blow struck home, and the mimic's head snapped back, blood spurting from what Jieyuan was sure was a broken, if not crushed, nose. Meiyao stepped in closer to connect another punch, but then the mimic snapped its head right back, avoided Meiyao's next attack, and lunged at her again. It didn't seem to be bleeding anymore, and it was moving too fast for Jieyuan to get a look at its face, so Jieyuan couldn't tell how much damage was done. What he could tell was that it didn't seem affected in the slightest.

Worse, Jieyuan was fairly sure they had an even bigger problem than the mimic's durability on their hands. Just like when he'd been facing it, the mimic was gradually improving. It'd already been hard to tell back then, and now that it had ramped up its speed, it was even harder. But he could still tell. The mimic was getting better, more skilled, as the fight went on. The last pieces of the puzzle came together in his head. Earlier, the mimic, posing as Meiyao, had seemed to know him. Him and Daojue.

Or at least it had had an idea of who they were and their relation to Meiyao, even if a grossly oversimplified one. It had even spoken a few times. And its fighting style was like Meiyao's, just a great deal rougher and wilder. It wasn't just Meiyao's appearance and bloodgifts it'd copied. It'd copied Meiyao's body. All of it. Including her brain. If Jieyuan had been apprehensive before, now he was well and fully alarmed. And the more he thought on it, the bigger and deeper the pit in his stomach became.

If he was right, then the mimic wasn't actually improving. It was just acclimating itself to a human's brain. To Meiyao' s brain. Meiyao was probably the first human the mimic beast ever met, the first human it'd ever taken the form of, and it seemed like it was still familiarizing itself with the transformation. But familiarity was a product of time, and that was exactly what this ongoing stalemate was buying it. Time. Golden. Just golden. They couldn't let this go on.

The mimic was clearly still in the process of adaptation, still getting the hang of Meiyao's brain, of a human's intellect, but it could already hold its own against Meiyao because of its durability. Assuming he was right about the situation, and the mimic managed to draw out the fight long enough to fully adapt to Meiyao's brain? Jieyuan glanced down at his right hand, at the Orangerealm saber he was holding. Before, he'd thought Meiyao wouldn't need it. But now he had a better grasp on the situation.

Getting it to Meiyao would be risky. Risky and tricky. But it'd be even riskier to let things run their course. Meiyao fought far better with a saber than without, and though the mimic seemed borderline immune to blunt damage, chances were it wouldn't fare as well against cuts. Maeva, get in position. Maeva broke away from him, rushing over to where Meiyao and the mimic were fighting. She stopped a few feet away from the mimic's back.

Meiyao and the mimic weren't staying put as they fought, but they weren't moving all that much either. Maeva moved along with them, keeping out of the fight but close enough to act when he'd need her to. If Meiyao or the mimic noticed the two disembodied chroma gauntlets holding Orangerealm blades hovering nearby, neither gave any indication of it. Jieyuan didn't bother waiting for the right moment. That was what he'd been doing so far, and it hadn't gotten him anywhere.

"Meiyao, catch!" Both Meiyao and the mimic looked over. Meiyao had just avoided one of the mimic beast's lunges and had been in the midst of striking back at it. Jieyuan hurled the saber toward Meiyao like a javelin. At the same time, he threw a blade at the mimic with his other hand. There was a flurry of movement. Meiyao broke off, kicking off the ground, making to catch the saber. Maeva let loose both of her blades at the mimic. Jieyuan had thought the mimic would take the opportunity to attack Meiyao.

That was why he'd also thrown a blade at it, and what Maeva was there for—to distract it. That wasn't what happened. The mimic didn't attack. Instead, just like Meiyao, it lunged for the saber. The mimic barely had to twist its body as it dodged all three projectiles. And then it reached the saber—just before Meiyao did, snatching it out of the air. Meiyao slammed into the fake, tried to grab the saber and wrench it out of its hands. And she might have succeeded, if the mimic had tried to strike her back.

But it didn't. Again, it defied expectations. It ignored Meiyao entirely—her punch to its face included—and twisted around, throwing its arms forward. Launching the saber away, out of the pocket and into the denser mists beyond. That, Jieyuan decided, did not go as planned. The saber gone, Meiyao and the mimic resumed fighting, business as usual. Like what happened with the saber just now was just a brief, unimportant interlude.

The only real difference was that Meiyao's attacks seemed the slightest bit more frantic—but the mimic had been improving all this while, and Meiyao's redoubled efforts weren't having any more of an effect. Maeva, visible only to him, returned to his side.

"What now?" she asked. Her hands were already moving, grabbing two more throwing knives. What now? That was the question, wasn't it? Jieyuan frowned, thinking. Things didn't seem to have changed, not for the better or for the worse. But that wasn't true, not exactly. Meiyao might not have gotten the saber, but he'd learned one thing from his failed attempt to get it to her. The mimic had ignored everything else when he threw the saber.

Its main priority had been to ensure Meiyao wouldn't get her hands on the weapon. It hadn't even tried to use the saber on Meiyao, just immediately thrown it out of the pocket, out of reach. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Why? Obviously, because it considered the saber a threat. But in what sense? It could be because it knew how much better Meiyao would've been if she had it.

It had Meiyao's memories, so it'd know she wasn't fighting to her full ability right now, unarmed. That she might as well be handicapped, without a weapon. It might be afraid the saber would give Meiyao enough of an edge to break the impasse. Or … Jieyuan watched as Meiyao delivered yet another punch that went summarily ignored. It could be that the problem was Meiyao literally getting an edge. As in, a means to cut it. The mimic seemed to be just about impervious to Meiyao's punches and kicks—to her blunt attacks.

Maybe blades would pose an actual danger to it. It could be both, too. The edge the saber would give Meiyao, figuratively and literally. Jieyuan felt that idea had a ring of truth to it. So, then, what now? Jieyuan glanced at Maeva, still waiting for further instructions. He drew two scale blades. If he was right, and at least part of the problem lay with blades, then he could try to get one to Meiyao again. It wouldn't be a saber; he was fresh out of those.

But he had plenty of Orangerealm knives and daggers to go around. The mimic would try to stop it, though. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He'd know how it'd react, and he could plan around that, use it to his advantage. But he still didn't know for a fact that he was right about the mimic's weakness, and he wasn't sure how much time they'd have left for him to try new things; how much time they had left before the mimic grew good enough to overpower Meiyao. He needed something better, then.

A faster solution, and a definitive one. And while he wouldn't be of much help to Meiyao right now, there was someone else in the clearing. Someone who could help where he couldn't, as much as it pained him to admit. Daojue. Jieyuan glanced over at the other side of the clearing. Daojue and the tiger were still fighting. Daojue was flitting from close range to middle range, stabbing and cutting, while the huge cat kept lunging at him, biting and swiping. The tiger had taken some damage.

One of its eyes was closed shut, an angry red line cutting across its broad, flat face. Many other bleeding cuts—small and large—littered its body, darkening its fur. But Daojue wasn't that much better off. Jieyuan eyed the deep, bloody gash on Daojue's chest, reaching down to his ribs. Jieyuan couldn't tell how bad it was, not with all the blood over it, but it didn't look pretty. It also didn't make sense. The last time Daojue had been wounded like that was when they fought a pair of Orangerealm beasts.

There was always a risk of a bad match-up when fighting an unknown beast, even a Redrealm one. Always a risk that it'd have a particularly tricky or nasty power. But it'd been weeks since he and Daojue had last come across a Redrealm beast that could put up a good fight against one of them by itself. Barely a few seconds later, Jieyuan realized just what the problem was. Daojue's speed. He and Daojue had just come out of a brutal fight with that pack of borderline immortal wolves.

Also, much like him, Daojue hadn't had any proper rest in a long while. It wouldn't be surprising if Daojue were a little slower than usual. But Daojue wasn't just a little slower. He was moving barely half as fast as his usual speed. Even the wound he'd taken wouldn't explain that. This was Daojue. The tiger could've cut him down to the bone, and Daojue would've still shrugged it off, no problem. This had to be some sort of spiritskill at play. A weakening or slowing effect.

Whatever it was, it was a problem that needed dealing with, so that they could address the much bigger problem at hand: the mimic. Jieyuan thought through his options. He didn't want to leave his position in case the situation between Meiyao and the mimic abruptly changed. He could have Maeva help, but there was no telling how long it'd take, or if the tiger had some other spiritskill that might complicate things further. And Jieyuan needed to wrap things up fast, even if it meant his chroma reserves taking a hit.

Maeva knew what he had in mind even without him telling her. She moved behind him, sheathing the blades she was holding, before moving the chroma she'd wrapped around her hands back into his soul. See you soon, he thought at her. Then he cut off the command powering her. But he didn't let go of the bondskill itself. Keeping Absolute Will Command in the forefront of his mind, he focused on the tiger. A connection snapped into place between him and the beast. He barely had to wait before the right moment came.

The tiger lunged at Daojue. Daojue charged at it. And as they were about to reach each other, Jieyuan commanded, " Freeze." The surge of resistance Jieyuan felt in response almost broke the command the moment it took hold. Jieyuan felt his body lock up as all of his focus went into sustaining the command, into breaking the resistance. Chroma started to rapidly vanish from his soul. And though the tiger didn't freeze up on the spot, it faltered, stumbling forward.

Daojue didn't waste the opportunity, driving Gleaming End straight at the tiger's head. The tiger tried to jerk its body to the side, but the command had left it barely capable of moving. Gleaming End sank into the tiger's forehead. The spearhead disappeared fully into the tiger's head, smoothly, effortlessly. The beast died on the spot. The command bond snapped, and Jieyuan's control over his body returned. Jieyuan took a shuddering breath.

Just those few moments holding the command had tired him out more than his fight with the wolves earlier. A more subtle command might have cost less willpower and chroma, but time was of the essence right now. It'd worked, and that was what mattered. Business as usual, Daojue pulled Gleaming End out of the tiger's body just as smoothly as it'd driven it in. That done, he turned around, leaving the beast to crumble behind him. Dark violet eyes met Jieyuan's from across the pocket, just for a moment.

Then Daojue shifted his focus to Meiyao and the mimic. Daojue didn't disappoint. He stared at the fight for maybe three seconds—taking it in, assessing the situation—before he acted. Surging forward, it took Daojue barely an instant to cross the clearing over to where Meiyao and the mimic were fighting. And then he was there, throwing himself into the fray. Daojue's very first attack caught the mimic on the side, cutting past its green not-robes and into its side.

The mimic rounded on Daojue, and Meiyao took the opening; but instead of punching, she made a grab for its neck. The mimic jerked back, managing to avoid Meiyao's hand, but Daojue followed up with another attack, and landed another deep cut, this time across one of its legs. And then, for the first time since the start of the fight, the mimic beast retreated, jumping back. But Meiyao and Daojue were hot on its heels, pressing the advantage.

Daojue charged at it from the front, while Meiyao circled it to attack from behind, cutting off its escape. It took barely moments before Daojue managed to get another hit in. And then another. And another. Just like Jieyuan had thought, Daojue was fast enough to hold his own against the mimic. Not as fast as Meiyao or the beast, but fast enough. Their movements set the viridian mist around them turning and twisting, like a storm was brewing in the middle of the pocket.

The glowing forms of Meiyao and the mimic, shining much brighter than the mist; and Daojue, cast in their glow, weaving in and out as he attacked. It was like a dance. Meiyao and Daojue fighting in sync, coordinating the way only consummate martial artists could. And then there was the mimic, still wearing Meiyao's form, stuck between them, fighting for its life with everything it had. The little furry shape was still there too, dashing in and out, moving back and forth between Meiyao and the mimic.

Jieyuan steadied himself, having already recovered some from his use of that command earlier. He felt that itch again, that burn, stronger than ever. The need to just get in there, in the thick of it, to fight alongside Meiyao and Daojue. But he'd just be getting in the way. But he refused to do nothing; Jieyuan drew a second pair of throwing knives and waited for an opportunity to present himself. Meiyao and Daojue seemed to have matters well in hand. The cuts started piling up.

The mimic was entirely on the defensive, taking hit after hit. Slashes and stabs. Daojue was merciless, and Meiyao took a more supportive role, making opportunities for Daojue to attack. About a minute passed. Daojue kept landing more and more attacks. But even though the mimic was still reduced to just defending and dodging—and not very successfully at that— it wasn't going down.

"Heavens damn it," Jieyuan murmured, his eyes widening as the realization hit. Daojue's attacks with Gleaming End weren't having much more of an effect than Meiyao's blunt ones. It didn't matter whether they were cuts or stabs. The mimic bled, but it wasn't slowed in any way by the damage it took, and the blood flow always vanished within moments. Jieyuan wasn't sure what it was, if its regeneration rate was just too fast, or if it was just shifting the damage away somehow.

Whatever it was, the mimic was holding its own, even against Meiyao and Daojue together. Already its movements were much tighter, more controlled. And it'd been almost a minute since the last time it'd tried one of its feral lunges or swipes. It's the same rotting deadlock situation all over again. Jieyuan pushed himself, racking his brain for a solution. He'd thought that bringing Daojue in would be enough, but he'd just been proven wrong. Despite himself, Jieyuan felt some excitement bubble up inside him.

The situation was bad and had just gotten worse, yes. But that also meant he still had a part to play in it. That he could still stand to make a difference. In fact, it was up to him to make a difference. He considered his earlier idea of trying to get a dagger to Meiyao. With Daojue there to keep the mimic busy, it'd be much easier to pull it off. But before Jieyuan went through with it—or thought up some other plan—he realized something else.

The mimic was still paying much more attention to Daojue's attacks than Meiyao's. It took all of Meiyao's kicks and punches without issue, but it always made an effort to dodge Daojue's attacks with Gleaming End, even though they seemed no more effective than Meiyao's when they landed. The mimic beast was wary of Gleaming End, just like it'd been of the Orangerealm saber earlier. That was clear as day. But at the same time, it seemed to be immune to both cuts and stabs. Something wasn't adding up.

Jieyuan barely had to think on it before the answer came to him. He almost shouted it out, but then he caught himself, swallowing down the words. Keeping half his attention on the fight, he jumped from one thought to the next, trying to decide on his next move, on the best course of action. There was an opportunity here. He was sure of it. He just needed to find it. Find it and grasp it. And he had to be smart about it. The mimic's weakness was no big mystery. It was obvious, really, in light of the facts.

Jieyuan wouldn't be surprised at all if Meiyao and Daojue had already figured it out. Chances were that they just hadn't acted on it yet because they hadn't had the opportunity to do something about it. He watched as Meiyao and Daojue kept up their relentless offensive. The mimic stood in the center, between them, moving frantically as it fended off both the attacks coming at it from opposite directions. Meiyao had already stopped kicking and punching altogether.

Daojue being there opened up other possibilities, and she clearly knew it. Now her efforts went toward trying to restrain her impostor, to grab onto it and hold it in place for Daojue to attack. So far Meiyao hadn't had much success with her new approach. But while the mimic could ignore Meiyao's direct attacks, it certainly didn't seem keen on letting her get her hands on it. Which meant that with Meiyao's change in tactics, it was forced to react to both Meiyao's and Daojue's moves, not just Daojue's.

Jieyuan nodded to himself. Now that he knew just what the winning condition was, his assessment of the fight had changed again. The mimic was holding on, but only barely. All it'd take was for Daojue or Meiyao—or, more specifically, Daojue, because a blade would be needed to pull it off—to get the right sort of hit in, and that'd be the end of it. But there was no guarantee that Daojue would land that killing blow any time soon.

And time was the name of the game here, because their odds were getting only lower by the second, with how the mimic was improving. There was something else, too. The more he watched, the less certain Jieyuan became that Meiyao and Daojue had figured out the mimic's weakness. Unlike him, the two of them were in the thick of it, living instant to instant. They didn't have the outsider's perspective like he did, or the luxury of time to consider the facts. The slightest mistake could be fatal.

So Jieyuan did need to tell them, even if only to be sure. And he would. But he'd do it in his own time. Because a plan was already coming together in his head, and it'd all come down to timing. Whether Meiyao and Daojue already knew or not what they had to do, they'd need an opening. Jieyuan would see one delivered to them on a golden platter. He spent a few moments more ironing out the details in his head.

Those were moments the mimic spent improving, closing the skill gap between itself and Meiyao and Daojue, but Jieyuan would only get one chance, so he'd need to make it count. And then he had it. The full sequence of events he needed to make a reality, sorted out in his head. It wasn't perfect; far from it. It'd depend on not just Meiyao and Daojue playing along, but also the mimic acting as planned.

But Jieyuan felt like he had a good enough read on the situation, and he didn't think he'd be coming up with anything better. So now all that was left to do was put it into practice." See Maeva," Jieyuan commanded. Maeva appeared right by his side in a flash of white and yellow. Without being prompted she moved behind him, pulled chroma from his soul to reform her gauntlets, and he passed to her the throwing knives he'd been holding. You know what to do? Jieyuan thought at her.

"Leave it to me," she said, before rushing off to the other end of the clearing. Reaching Meiyao, Daojue, and the mimic, Maeva didn't join in, but instead kept running, only coming to a stop once she was past them, at the edge of the pocket. Left behind, Jieyuan drew one of the heftier, longer snake-scale daggers. He'd sent Maeva over as a precaution. If he got it right—if he got lucky—then he wouldn't even need her. But just because Jieyuan liked to gamble didn't mean he liked to leave things up to chance.

In fact, it was precisely because he liked to gamble that he knew better than that. After all, a good gambler made their own luck. Just as Daojue and Meiyao launched their coordinated attack—Meiyao reaching for the beast from behind while Daojue charged from the front with Gleaming End—Jieyuan made his move. Gripping the throwing blade in one hand and the dagger in the other, Jieyuan shouted, "YOU NEED TO CUT OFF ITS HEAD!" Neither Daojue nor Meiyao seemed to hear his shout. They didn't pause for even a moment.

The mimic was a different story; the creature twisted to the side. From across the clearing, Jieyuan saw its gaze flick to him. Their eyes locked. It was Meiyao's face, beneath that green aura. Meiyao's green eyes, staring straight into his own, wide and feral. And despite everything, even knowing full well that it wasn't really Meiyao he was looking at, Jieyuan felt a touch of… something. Something sharp and sour and sad. Guilt or maybe pity or maybe even something else altogether.

But he pushed it down, crushed it without mercy. He'd readily admit he was a fool for Meiyao. That did not extend to creatures wearing Meiyao's face. Daojue came in the next moment, sweeping Gleaming End out in front of him, targeting the mimic's neck. Jieyuan wasn't sure if Daojue had intended that from the start, or if his words had made him change course. The mimic looked away from him Jieyuan back at Daojue before whipping its head back at the last moment.

Gleaming End passed just inches off its face, cutting empty air. But that moment of distraction gave Meiyao the opportunity she needed, and for the first time she managed to grab onto its arm. Daojue capitalized on it, breaking off his previous attack to swing Gleaming End down at the mimic again. All of Jieyuan's attention, at that very moment, was on the mimic—and what it'd do next. His arms were drawn back, ready for the throw. This could be it, but if it wasn't…

Held in place by Meiyao, the mimic tried to pull away, but Daojue came at it again with Gleaming End. So it did the only thing it could in that moment. It kicked at Meiyao, throwing off her balance, and then threw itself to the side, putting its arm in the way of Daojue's attack. Gleaming End cleanly sliced through the limb, severing it. Freed up, the mimic immediately disengaged.

And as Meiyao let go of the dismembered arm and made for it again, and Daojue reoriented his spear for a third follow-up strike, the mimic turned around and broke into a run. Dashing away. Toward the edge of the pocket. Which was exactly what Jieyuan had been hoping it would do. Counting on it, even. So even though he hadn't been sure it'd work, he'd been ready for it. The mimic had been running from Meiyao before this all began. Meiyao had been hunting it down.

Jieyuan wasn't sure of the specifics, but that much had been clear. And what he took from that was that the mimic knew how to run; that it knew that sometimes you just had to cut your losses and get out of there. Jieyuan also knew that the mimic beast was intelligent enough to speak. To speak, and to understand words. So now that it knew that they knew the way to kill it, Jieyuan had bet that it wouldn't be sticking around. His shout had been meant for the mimic as much as for Meiyao and Daojue.

Jieyuan threw both weapons in his hands.

"CATCH!" Maeva, who'd been waiting for the mimic to make a break for it, moved in. And she came at it from the front. Jieyuan saw Maeva rush to meet it, swinging both her blades at its neck. What it saw should be two flying blades trying to behead it. The mimic beast ducked under the attack, but at that moment the knife Jieyuan had thrown came close, flying toward its feet. Jieyuan's aim hadn't been perfect; it'd have been impossible to predict its moves and calculate the throw without Fatebloom Instinct.

But it was close enough; the mimic swerved to the side to avoid the blade—only to align with Gleaming End's trajectory as Daojue reached it, stabbing the spear at its neck. Again it only just managed to react, ducking low. That was three attacks—Maeva's, his, and Daojue's—all dodged back-to-back. And then Meiyao surged from behind Daojue, in her hand the dagger Jieyuan had launched together with the blade the mimic had just avoided. He'd thrown both weapons at the same time, but at different targets.

One at the fake Meiyao. And the other at the real one. Two blades, two throws, two targets—and two very different purposes. Both of which had just been served. Meiyao swung the dagger at the mimic's crouched form. Gleaming End was still cutting through the air where the mimic's head had just been when Meiyao's dagger swept through where its neck actually was. The mimic had managed to avoid the first three attacks. The fourth found its mark. The dagger's blade burrowed into the fake Meiyao's neck.

It didn't go all the way, but it cut in deep. The mimic froze, hands reaching for its throat. But before it could do anything, Meiyao moved back while Daojue swept Gleaming End down and from the side, cleaving the mimic's head from its body. There was a burst of red, a shower of blood that Meiyao and Daojue just barely avoided, while the head was thrown into the air, carried off by the impact. The severed head was still spinning through the air when it began to shimmer and warp.

By the time it hit the ground and disappeared into the undergrowth, Jieyuan caught a final glimpse of an angular, canine face covered in dark green fur. The headless body also transformed, its human shape collapsing into something furred and inhuman as it crumpled to the earth. Meiyao stood tall over the creature's body, her back to him. The green aura around her pulsed once, then faded completely. She stood motionless for a long moment, staring down at what remained of the thing that had worn her face.

Then she straightened and turned around. Their eyes met. Jieyuan's fire blazed inside him, singing sweet and loud with the thrill of victory. But as he looked into Meiyao's eyes—his black against her green—another fire surged, stronger and richer than the first. It consumed him like wildfire, burning away every thought, every worry, every sensation until nothing remained but him and Meiyao and the fire burning in him. He was moving before he realized it, the distance between them vanishing in heartbeats.

Meiyao rushed forward at the same moment. They met halfway. And in the brief instant before they reached each other, inches apart, Jieyuan saw it. The fire burning in her eyes, more than a match for his own. Though she didn't have her aura anymore, she was still radiant, her green eyes brighter than the stars. And then his arms were wrapping around her, pulling her in. And hers were wrapping around him, pulling him in. And then he was kissing her, and she was kissing him.