Xianzhou Luofu. The Exalting Sanctum.
Ornamental rockeries of peculiar stones, trickles of cool water seeping through moss-mottled crevices, a winding wooden corridor wrapping around a half-moon lotus pond.
The wind swept through the bamboo grove. Bronze bird-fright bells hanging from the upturned eaves chimed in harmony with the bamboo deer-chasers by the pond's edge, weaving the sounds of water, stone, and rustling leaves into a clear, tranquil melody that drifted into the time-worn elegance of the surrounding buildings.
"Not having Stelle kick off my blankets feels a little off now. Tch — that's a bad trend."\
In the washroom, Caelus stood before the mirror wearing his Persona Mask. A loli-form shadow Stelle raccoon was perched on the neck of another raccoon Stelle, tiny hand gripping a toothbrush and sweeping it side to side.
Several other raccoon Stelles busied themselves around him — folding hand towels, combing hair, and the like.
Gazing out the window at the soul-soothing scenery, Caelus pressed his palms together, expression humble and devout:
"Thank you, Head Alchemist. Thank you, Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. Thank you, Lord Medicus~!"\
The organization's seed funds left behind by the Head had been entirely handed over to the second-in-command Gin, who'd promptly delivered them all into the Shackling Prison. The startup capital set aside for a future comeback had, in its entirety, found its way into Caelus's pocket.
It was a very considerable sum of gold coins.
The best part was that spending it didn't sting in the slightest. Burning through an organization's budget versus painstakingly grinding for — earning — your own money were two completely different emotional experiences.
It was like a top-tier player rage-quitting and gifting you their fully-loaded account to do whatever you wanted with — versus the collection you'd spent every day grinding brick by brick. Totally different things.
With Gin's generous wave of the hand, he'd gone right ahead and secured an enormous courtyard in the most bustling district of the Exalting Sanctum. Even at their current squad size, they couldn't fill all the rooms.
Come to think of it, he also had Ah Qi to thank for that.
Who knows which Xianzhou person she'd heard it from, but she'd picked up some moving-in feng shui: for the first three nights after relocating, you should sleep in a room that truly belongs to you.
Stelle's personal creed was to trust science and demolish feudal superstition.
But Ah Qi had called it "nailing your luck" — apparently it increased your gacha pull rates for hitting gold, and if you didn't do it, you'd be giving your luck away to someone else.
And then — that girl didn't just avoid coming to find Caelus at night. The moment the hour struck, she dead-bolted her door from the inside and refused to let anyone in.
So for those few days, Caelus had no choice but to cheerfully entertain himself!
Kiana and Bronya used the Potara Earrings to fuse. White-grey long hair like silken tassels cascaded naturally down to the waist; deep blue-violet-pink glassy eyes — Loquiya.
In terms of vibes, somewhere between a youthful Cecilia and a certain trash-tier witch (Irene).
Bronya and Seele used the Potara Earrings to fuse. Calm yet graceful grey-blue mid-length hair, bewitching red eyes — Xiya.
Seele and Kiana used the Potara Earrings to fuse. Hair as fresh and light-blue as a summer seaside, magenta eyes — Qixier.
And then — Kiana, Seele, and Bronya each separately performed fusion summons with Leylah: Leyna, Xila, and Leiniya.
The Potara Earrings truly deserved their six-star rating. Setting aside combat entirely, the ability to multiply your wives according to combinatorial permutations alone qualified them as a divine artifact!
Though they were all technically himself.
Well, not entirely — Little Duck and 'White' Seele's consciousnesses had participated in the fusions too.
The one unfortunate limitation: earring fusions only lasted one hour.
Even if the fused beautiful girl hadn't used any power at all, hadn't expended any stamina, she would still dissolve when the time limit expired.
Caelus was now desperately looking forward to drawing the Dharma Doll fusion from a future off-banner item — the Dance Step fusion's power was inferior to the earrings', but it had no time limit!
Once Moonscar and Bronie joined the pool of fusion candidates down the line, that'd be over a dozen new combinations.
And naturally, Stellaron spirit would have to be part of all the fun stuff like this in the future.
With the full roster running through all the combinations, they could probably do a different lineup every single night for a month straight without repeating.
"Three days! Three whole days! Do you have any idea what those three days were like for me!"\
In the main hall, Stelle had her hands around Caelus's throat and was shaking him like a madwoman, eyes blown wide with fury.
In order to prevent her luck from being siphoned off by Caelus-cub, Stelle had obediently stayed in her room every single day, enduring the shared sensation that bled through from this little gremlin — with absolutely no way to vent.
She was going to burst.
"Hey — you were the one who believed in feudal superstition and refused to leave your room. How is any of that my fault?" Caelus said, switching on the dead-fish stare, expression utterly blank.
"Then why didn't you come to MY room when I told you to?!" Stelle planted her hands on her hips and fired back the accusation.
"You want to steal my luck? You're ten thousand years too early!"\
"..."\
"What an enviable dynamic."\
Haxxor Bunny, padding along the connecting corridor in her rabbit slippers, caught sight of the scene and shook her head with a sigh.
When she'd first learned that the two of them were essentially the same person, she'd been stunned.
After witnessing them sharing a bed at night, the stunned feeling had gradually warped into something closer to horrified. Little Bunny from a small town had never encountered such a novel, open-minded arrangement — her entire worldview on the subject had shattered into pieces.
But once she'd gotten used to it, even an outsider could feel the absolute naturalness and ease between them — something that would make even a model couple who'd been in love for eighteen years and spent a century hand-in-hand burn with envy.
So… was your other self truly the most perfect partner?
"Caelus-sensei, I've finished studying the Matter-Data Conversion Layer Breakthrough and the Reality Interaction Protocol. What's next?" Haxxor Bunny sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking over at her teacher, who was currently being pinned down on the chaise longue in an armlock by Stelle.
"Already done? That fast? Time to test what you've learned — quickly, teleport this one into the pond outside." Caelus lifted the hem of Stelle's light-green hoodie and poked and stroked her perfect waistline with his fingers. A violent ticklish sensation simultaneously bloomed from his own side as he twisted Stelle's arm back into a counter-lock.
"Bronie, don't you dare be an accomplice in this." Stelle's expression shifted instantly.
"You know how it is… Stelle, forgive me." Miss Haxxor Bunny shrugged, pixel blocks materializing at her fingertips.
Caelus was her teacher. Loyalties had to be clear.
Seeing this, Stelle wrenched herself free from Caelus's lock with her monstrous strength, turned on her heel without a word, and bolted. A wise man knows when to pick his battles — she was well aware that Haxxor Bunny had been coerced by Caelus-cub using Aether Editing.
"Heh. A mere Stellaron spirit — one hand is enough to put her down… Sending you the follow-up protocols now." Catching his breath, Caelus forwarded the technical documents, study highlights, and know-how he'd gotten from his foster-son wolf cub Xiao-Bu to Haxxor Bunny.
"Bunny-baby, how are you learning this so fast? Don't tell me you're one of those innate talents."\
Even Silver Wolf had been surprised by 'Caelus's' learning speed — she'd started wondering if this guy was born as some kind of natural-born hacker saint body.
Every time, Silver Wolf would quiz Caelus on several technical questions. She'd previously even assembled the Seated Four Heavenly Kings to hold a proper exam — and he'd gotten perfect scores across the board.
In reality, Caelus had been forwarding all the questions to Haxxor Bunny, then sending Haxxor Bunny's answers back to Silver Wolf. For the exam, he'd simply tossed the link over to Haxxor Bunny and had her hack into it directly.
All in all, it wasn't much different from playing chess with a grandpa in the park while secretly running a chess app on your phone.
The only trick was: whenever Silver Wolf demanded a direct one-on-one duel, just have Seele send her a message to divert her attention.
"The algorithms and logic for Aether Editing aren't that different from network programming. It's just that the part about modifying reality was new territory for me — so naturally I picked it up fast." The street-queen lilt came out of Haxxor Bunny's mouth, thoroughly cool and breezy — the air of someone who found the whole thing trivial, a piece of cake.
"By the way, have you seen Seele?"\
Naturally, when you've just learned a new skill, you have to go show off in front of the girl you like.
"She's over by the pond." Caelus was of course going to create opportunities for Miss Haxxor Bunny and 'himself' — time to cast out some bait!
"Thanks." Haxxor Bunny raised her index and middle fingers in a cool salute, flicking her fringe aside, then stood up and headed toward the inner courtyard.
"Caelus-cub, Caelus-cub!"\
Just as Caelus was scheming about how to reel Haxxor Bunny in like a hooked fish on Seele's end, the shout came from far away and drew closer — Stelle burst back in as though nothing had happened before.
"Did you get Mama's text?" she asked.
"Text?"\
Caelus blinked, then picked up his phone from the table where he'd set it during the earlier scuffle and glanced at it.
"Got it."\
[Unknown: Caelus, come to this location with Stelle. Don't tell anyone else.]
[Coordinates]
[Unknown: — Your faithful Kafka.]
"Then let's go." A thoroughly elated Stelle grabbed Caelus's hand and made to drag him out the door.
"Hold on — what's the rush?" Caelus pulled her back to a stop, and under the grey-haired girl's puzzled gaze, began typing.
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: You say you're Kafka — where's the proof?]
[Unknown: [Kafka selfie.jpg]]
[Unknown: Is that enough?]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: A photo alone is obviously not enough. I could get one of those any time I wanted.]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: [Kafka bath photo.jpg]]
[Unknown: ?]
Kafka stared at the photo Caelus had sent — a woman wrapped in nothing but a towel, one hand gathering her hair — and froze. The person in the photo was unmistakably her; her extraordinary memory allowed her to recall the exact moment it had been taken.
But why did Caelus have a photo of her?
That angle of the shot…
Kafka fell into thought, then fell silent.
"Caelus-cub, where did you get a photo of Mama!?" Stelle spotted the photo and her eyes lit up. She immediately snatched the phone, golden eyes locking onto the dining hall: "You had a treasure like this and didn't share it earlier!"\
"Didn't I just share it with you? I only got it recently… Oh, message coming in."\
[Unknown: What would it take for you to believe I'm Kafka?]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Send a slightly more risqué photo and I'll believe you.]
[Unknown: ...]
The eternal smile that lived at the corner of Kafka's lips paused, ever so slightly.
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Actually, forget it — something too risqué isn't safe to send online. Put on a maid outfit, take a photo, send it over, and I'll believe you're Kafka.]
"Caelus-cub, Good Job!" Stelle shot a thumbs-up, temporarily setting aside the matter of Caelus eating his haul alone.
The other end went quiet for a very long time.
[Unknown: If that's what you two are asking for, then come to these coordinates in person. I'll put it on and let you see for yourselves.]
Kafka had a hobby of collecting coats in everyday life. A maid outfit… wasn't entirely out of the question to try.
Stelle and Caelus exchanged a single solemn look, nodded in unison, and immediately activated high-speed movement.
One behind the other, they dove into the Starskiff that had been purchased as part of the courtyard deal.
March 7th, who was in her room organizing photos, only managed to catch a trailing gust of wind as the Starskiff launched from a standing start and rocketed skyward.
No need to even think about it — this kind of maneuver could only be pulled off by Stelle and Caelus.
"Hey! Where are you two going!?" March 7th rushed to the window and called out after them — but received no reply.
"Stelle-baby, go faster," Caelus said, perched in the co-pilot seat on tiptoes.
"I've got the throttle all the way to the floor! This is the limit of this Starskiff." Stelle shoved the speed regulator even harder, looking every bit as impatient.
"But that's not our limit… Guess it falls to me to step in at the critical moment."\
Caelus raised a finger. A Clow Card appeared between his fingers.
"Wind — I'm counting on you — Spiral Charge Tornado!"
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