Chapter 6

Lily clutches the arcade joystick, furiously hammering the buttons as her character, Yaimiko: Queen of Thunder, performs a whirlwind slash. Next to her, Sanguinella’s screen flashes red as her fighter, Vermilion Bloom, goes down with a dramatic crimson explosion.

Lily
Three rounds to one, babyyy~!
Pay up. Loser buys ice cream.

Sanguinella
This machine is biased.
Clearly not optimized for spirit-blood input latency.

Lily
Uh-huh. Cope harder.

Sanguinella smirks, sliding off the stool, and stretches. The arcade buzzes around them, synth-music and neon koi flickering across the walls. They walk back into the plaza, where a few floating stalls glow under dusk's soft embrace.

Lily points at a sakura-dusted ice cream stand.

Lily
Let’s get the glitter peach flavor. You ever had it?

Sanguinella
Glitter what? That sounds like an alchemy accident.

Lily
It is. But it tastes amazing.

They approach the stand, still laughing. Just as Lily goes to order, the air shifts.

It's small — imperceptible to most. But both girls freeze. Every instinct in their mana-hardened bodies screams wrong.

Footsteps echo behind them. Slow. Measured. Familiar.

Voice
Peach, huh? You used to hate peach, Lily.

Lily’s hand subtly lowers to the hilt of her concealed lightblade. Sanguinella’s fingers vanish behind her coat sleeve, shadows pooling near her ankles.

They both turn.

And freeze.

Standing ten feet away in the plaza's center is Astera.

Or... someone identical to him.

Same pink-and-green coat, same sea-glass and pink hair, same starlight green eyes. But the presence is different. Colder. Off. And he’s smiling — not in Astera’s awkward, soft way. But sharp. Measured. Predator-like.

Lily
Astera...?

Sanguinella
No. That’s not him. I’ve trained with the real one. That’s a mask.

The fake Astera tilts his head.

???:
Clever little bloodling.
Though it’s not just a mask.

He raises one hand. A burst of distorted, inverted starlight spirals from his palm — tainted by something unnatural. It twists the air like a blackhole pretending to shine.

???:
You’re both quite the prodigies.
It’ll be fun testing how far your blood and brilliance go... when faced with yourself.

Lily doesn’t wait.

Lily
Run and fight plan delta. Now.

Sanguinella nods. Shadows erupt from beneath her, wrapping around a pillar as she vanishes into them. Lily's wings flare from her back — not fully summoned, just a flicker of her power — and she blinks backwards midair, dodging the first arc of corrupted mana.

The imposter smirks again and begins walking forward, the ground beneath his feet cracking with every step.

???: Let’s begin, shall we?