"Wayzz, Shell-ter!"
"Voyage!"
He whispered the incantation, just to ensure that, should the worst happen, he could spatially transfer as quickly as possible.
On the rooftop of that ordinary apartment building, shrouded in night and starlight, an old man with a traditional Chinese jacket and white hair appeared silently.
Master Fu's figure blended into the night like an ancient ghost; he didn't alarm anyone, simply standing quietly at the edge of the rooftop.
His seemingly cloudy eyes, which in reality held a universe of profound wisdom, coldly watched the apartment below, now completely enveloped by violent magical energy. But, this was not enough.
"Sass, Second Chance!"
The ancient snake-shaped bracelet on his wrist, carved from what looked like jade, emitted a faint blue-green glow.
"Second Chance!"
He slid the snake-shaped carving on the bracelet. Time, at this moment, seemed to be held in his palm, and an invisible 'time anchor,' perceptible only to him, was firmly nailed to this very instant!
Now, he possessed the absolute divine authority to glimpse five minutes into the future.
He wanted to see with his own eyes what terrifying abyss this disaster, triggered by a young man's obsessive good intentions, would lead to.
The future glimpsed and erased by [Second Chance]:
In Master Fu's eyes, the world continued to turn normally.
He saw that the Akumatized Person, the young man named "The Evillustrator," after being cornered in the apartment by Ladybug and Cat Noir, revealed a resolute and crazed expression!
He launched an attack with abandon! Waves of purple light, like deadly venomous snakes, raged wildly in that small apartment!
Then, he saw it—just as the two light waves, Condensed the The Evillustrator's entire mental power, were about to irrevocably strike the two heroes, who had nowhere left to dodge:
"Shell-ter!"
A jade-green energy shield, patterned with hexagons, appeared out of thin air, firmly blocking in front of them! That was his own mysterious green Guardian in disguise!
The light waves crashed against the shield!
"Boom—!"
Although the shield successfully fended off the direct impact of the light waves, the powerful force still violently pushed back the jade-green shield, along with the two heroes behind it, and himself, who was desperately maintaining the shield, several steps!
"What?!"
Far away in his lair, Hawk Moth, seeing this scene through the The Evillustrator's eyes, watched his ecstatic and expectant expression instantly turn into extreme disbelief: "Are...are there other miraculous users?!"
And the The Evillustrator in the apartment, after the initial shock, had an even more crazed and obsessive flame burning in his eyes!
Hawk Moth's seductive voice, like the fiercest catalyst, burned wildly in his mind: "Do you see?!"
Everyone is stopping you! They are all afraid! Afraid of you revealing Jaden's true pain deep in his soul!"
"Break it! Break that turtle shell! As long as you break it! You will complete your mission!"
The The Evillustrator looked at the green shield, which, though sturdy, was clearly trembling slightly under his attack, and a cold, crazed smile appeared on his face!
He raised his paintbrush again—this time, he was no longer drawing single energy beams, but bombs!
One by one, bombs with ferocious shapes were quickly outlined under his brush, then detached from the canvas to become solid, like a dense, destructive hail, smashing fiercely towards the already overburdened green shield!
"Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!"
Master Fu gritted his teeth!
He could feel that each explosion was like an invisible, heavy sledgehammer smashing violently against his spirit! He couldn't hold on for much longer!
"Crack—!"
Finally, accompanied by a crisp and desperate sound like shattering glass, the jade-green turtle shell shield, symbolizing absolute protection, completely shattered, turning into a sky full of green energy fragments!
"Oh no!"
Ladybug and Cat Noir's eyes simultaneously showed terror and despair—it was all too late!
Two attacks, already poised and ready, instantly pierced the shattered shield, hitting both of them without suspense!
Time seemed to slow down.
Master Fu watched with his own eyes:
Ladybug's body suddenly stiffened, her blue eyes, which always shone with determination, instantly became hollow and lifeless.
A huge canvas of light unfolded before her, depicting such a sorrowful and lonely painting of a loser—she was still Paris's heroine, but utterly alone.
Her parents looked at her with cold eyes of disappointment and blame: "You messed up again, Marinette."
"We are so disappointed in you." Her friends all turned their backs and walked away: "We don't want to be friends with a loser like you who always holds us back."
Even Jaden, the black-haired young man she silently protected, watched with cold, unfamiliar eyes: "I never liked you."
Abandoned by the whole world, she was the most failed Ladybug.
In the endless, cold despair, the red and black spotted mask on her face slowly dissipated, revealing Marinette's pale face, streaked with tears and full of pain and despair!
"Is...is that Marinette?!"
The The Evillustrator looked at the familiar face on the canvas, exclaiming in disbelief.
"Hahahahaha! Excellent! Excellent!" Hawk Moth let out a triumphant laugh of ecstatic joy, "So it's you, Marinette! I finally know your true identity!"
"Then..." His greedy gaze turned to the other black figure who had been hit, "Now let me see who you are! Cat Noir!"
However, when he clearly saw the scene on the other half of the canvas, his handsome face, filled with ecstatic pride, instantly froze! All the ecstasy faded, replaced by extreme absurdity, and a shock and fear that could tear his soul apart!
On Cat Noir's canvas, there was no battle, no death, only a magnificent, cold, giant cage, like a golden birdcage.
Trapped in the cage was his son—Adrien!
In the image, he, playing the role of the cold, authoritative "father," looked at his imprisoned son with eyes full of disappointment and possessiveness: "You will never do what you want to do!" "You will always be my perfect, obedient model puppet!"
"I will never love you!"
Under the cold, despairing words, the Cat Noir figure on the canvas slowly dissipated, revealing Adrien's young face, filled with utter despondency and endless pain!
"No...no...no!!!!!"
Hawk Moth let out a painful, mournful wail, as if his soul was being torn apart!
"Sass! Second Chance!"
A flicker of lingering fear, relief, and cold light flashed in Master Fu's eyes! He unhesitatingly slid the snake-shaped bracelet on his wrist!
Time began to flow backward wildly—the shattered green turtle shell shield re-formed, the sky full of purple explosions reversed, and the light waves about to hit the heroes shrank back to the The Evillustrator's brush tip like a movie played in reverse!
Everything returned to five minutes ago, to the exact moment the The Evillustrator had just launched his attack!
"Hoo...hoo..."
Master Fu took several deep breaths; the 'future' that could have overturned everything still left him with lingering fear.
Absolutely! That future absolutely cannot be allowed to happen!
He didn't hesitate: "Stompp! Stomp!"
He uttered the incantation once more!
This time, the "Shell-ter" he summoned was no longer purely physical defense—the jade-green translucent shield was additionally covered with a light full of absolute defensive aura!
This was the ultimate defense, combined with the turtle's "protection" and the ox's "resistance," absolutely impervious to any magical interference!
Attacks whistled in again! But this time, when they hit the green shield, which was enhanced with the power of "resistance"—
"Pfft..."
No explosion! No impact! Those attacks, powerful enough to shake the spirit, silently annihilated and dispersed in an instant, like powerless ordinary snowballs hitting an indestructible steel fortress!
This oppressive scene of "attack ineffective" made the The Evillustrator's eyes show an emotion called "despair" for the first time.
He knew he had lost, completely and utterly.
He suddenly turned around, and under the astonished and puzzled gaze of Ladybug and Cat Noir, he abandoned all thoughts of entanglement, like a desperate gambler who had lost all his bets, and lunged towards the young man peacefully sleeping on the sofa—his only and final "target" tonight!
"Buzz—!"
The huge translucent curtain of light rose again! The The Evillustrator, pulling the unaware young man who had been dragged into a mental nightmare, retreated together into the curtain of light.
The next second, the light flashed and vanished.
The two of them completely disappeared from this small apartment, which was already a mess.
On the other side, in that tranquil massage parlor filled with ancient oriental charm, time seemed to return to its proper slow and peaceful orbit.
Master Fu, the Guardian who had endured a hundred years of trials, with deep fatigue yet utmost solemnity, removed the miraculous items that had shone with dazzling divine light from his body one by one—the ox nose ring representing "resistance," the horse glasses representing "teleportation," the chicken thimble representing "sublimation," and that jade-green snake bracelet representing "second chance."
He treated them like the most precious treasures in the world, carefully placing them back into the ancient gramophone that held countless secrets and hopes.
"Click."
With a slight mechanical click, that power capable of overturning the world was once again deeply sealed away.
After doing all this, his nerves, which had been taut as if facing a formidable enemy, finally relaxed a little.
He turned around, looking at the white spacetime hole suspended in mid-air, filled with unstable energy fluctuations, his voice betraying unconcealed fatigue, yet still maintaining the Guardian's composure: "Bunnyx, now...how are things over there?"
"Master!" The urgent voice of the future girl came from the spacetime hole, full of concern, "How are things on your side?!"
I just felt an extremely powerful temporal reset energy fluctuation!"
"I can still hold on."
Master Fu's lips curved into a weathered yet proud faint smile, "I was once the chosen one, how could I be so vulnerable?"
"Hoo..." Bunnyx's sigh of relief came from the other end of the spacetime hole, "That's great...I'll go back and check!"
After a moment of anxious waiting, Bunnyx's voice was filled with the joy of surviving a catastrophe: "Master! All the spacetime holes are back to normal!"
"That's good."
"Master! Goodbye!"
Accompanied by a farewell full of gratitude and respect, the white spacetime hole connecting the present and the future slowly closed and disappeared, as if it had never appeared.
Wayzz, standing nearby, looked at his master's increasingly pale, wrinkled face in the dim lamplight, his eyes filled with unconcealed worry.
The little turtle kwami asked timidly in a childlike voice: "Master...are you really alright?"
Master Fu was about to reassure him with a dignified smile, as he had just done, when the next second, his aged body, having exhausted its last ounce of strength, suddenly lost its support and collapsed backward like a withered tree drained of life!
"Thud!"
He fell heavily onto the cold, hard floor, motionless.
"Ma...Master?!" Wayzz's eyes instantly filled with terrified tears, and he frantically rushed over, bumping his tiny green head against Master Fu's unresponsive cheek, "Master! Wake up! Don't scare me!"
"...Wayzz..." A faint, hoarse, aged voice, as if on the verge of expiring, drifted out, "...Don't...don't make noise..."
"...I just want to sleep..."
With that, a faint, even snore began. Wayzz looked at his unreliable master, who had fallen into a deep sleep from extreme exhaustion, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and found a comfortable position to lie on his warm chest, closing his tired eyes.
Meanwhile, in the apartment, which was a complete mess as if a typhoon had passed through, Ladybug knelt silently on the cold, messy floor, her body trembling slightly.
His blue eyes, which always sparkled with determination and hope, were now hollow and lifeless, as if covered by thick dust, filled with the despair of self-loathing.
"...It's all my fault..." she murmured repeatedly, her voice weak and broken, "...It's all my fault..."
"...I'm not a qualified miraculous holder at all..."
"...I can't protect anything..."
She had fallen into a mental cage of "failure" that she had built herself, entering a mode of self-aversion.
Cat Noir stood silently behind her, watching her curled, fragile back, his heart also filled with a complex mix of pity and helplessness.
He felt regret and worry for the innocent boy abducted by the Akumatized Person, but he knew even more clearly what needed to be done at this moment.
He slowly squatted down, reaching out a hand to pat her shoulder, trying to comfort her in a light tone: "Hey, Ladybug...don't be like this, it's not your fault..."
But his words were like a stone thrown into a black hole, receiving no response. Ladybug remained motionless, Cat Noir's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, and he could only sigh helplessly, waiting in silence with her for an unknown miracle.
Time ticked by, minute by minute, just as Cat Noir thought the night would end in sorrowful silence—
"Buzz—!"
A strange buzzing sound, like space tearing apart, suddenly rang out, and the semi-transparent canvas of light, which should have disappeared, appeared out of thin air without any warning!
"?!"
Cat Noir's eyes widened abruptly, and he rubbed them in disbelief: "Hey! Ladybug! Look over there!"
He excitedly called out to the red figure beside him, who was immersed in self-loathing, but she still didn't react.
"Jaden! It's Jaden! He's back!" Cat Noir exclaimed in surprise.
The two words "Jaden" seemed to have a magical power, causing the kneeling red figure to tremble violently!
Ladybug slowly raised her pale, tear-stained face, her dim blue eyes looking towards the canvas of light that shimmered with strange radiance—she saw two familiar figures slowly emerging in the light curtain: the The Evillustrator, and the black-haired boy she thought would never return!
At this moment, Jaden was helping the seemingly weak The Evillustrator walk out from the curtain of light.
"...What exactly did you see just now?" Jaden carefully supported him, his tone gentle and concerned.
"...I...I didn't see anything..." The The Evillustrator's voice was weak and hoarse, carrying a trace of unconscious awe.
Of course he saw it, and even personally experienced an epic "illusion" that subverted his worldview and crossed parallel worlds!
The memory fragments of another time and space seen and "painted" by the The Evillustrator
In a mental world made of purple light, he saw a gray, apocalyptic world completely different from the familiar Paris—
Jaden was covered in hideous scars, like a dying beast escaped from a gladiatorial arena, collapsed in a dirty, foul-smelling deserted alley.
Then he saw Marinette from that world—her face devoid of any youthful sunshine, only the ingrained inferiority and numbness.
She was despised by her parents, had no friends, and suffered endless bullying at school.
Already despairing of everything, when she passed by the alley and saw Jaden, who was still frowning in a coma, a faint ripple appeared in the dried-up lake of "kindness" in her heart.
She ultimately saved him.
Subsequent scenes flashed through his mind: from their clumsy communication due to language barriers, to the silent understanding that formed after Jaden mastered the language at an astonishing speed, and then to the supreme ruler of that world—
An Akumatized "Supreme" with the same face as Master Fu, but with eyes full of cold, insane possessiveness, who bestowed upon them the Ladybug and Cat miraculous,
making them hunt down the Goodwill Butterfly who had stolen the Butterfly and peacock miraculous.
The Goodwill Butterfly of that world did not fall into darkness due to his wife's death; instead, he used his awakened kindness to fight against the "Supreme" who ruled the world.
And Jaden, having seen the plot before crossing over, already knew the "Supreme's" conspiracy—the other party put gags on the kwamis to prevent them from speaking, concealed the consequences of overusing their powers, and kept them from knowing all the secrets of the miraculous.
So, Jaden and Marinette, who had developed a twisted attachment to him, had been "slacking off" frantically during their missions.
Until one mission to capture the Goodwill Butterfly, Jaden was teleported to this normal world through a space-time rift opened by the Goodwill Butterfly's last power, and Marinette from the parallel world, in order to follow him, began to frantically hunt down the Goodwill Butterfly, the only one who knew how to travel through time and space... All of this was witnessed by the The Evillustrator, so he decided to help Jaden conceal everything.
"Oh? You couldn't see anything, right?"
Jaden's originally gentle face, full of concern and worry, slowly curved into an extremely brilliant smile that made Nathan feel a little chill.
"Y-yes..." Nathan looked at the familiar smile on his face, which seemed to portend some kind of "disaster" about to descend, and a very bad premonition immediately surged in his heart!
He instinctively wanted to shrink back!
"I...I'm telling you!" He quickly made excuses for himself, "I...I'm an injured person right now! Right! An injured person!"
"An injured person, huh?"
Jaden's smile grew even more "gentle."
"You like being Akumatization, don't you?"
"You like prying into other people's secrets, don't you?"
"Slap!"
A crisp, loud, "loving," and incredibly precise flick to the forehead landed squarely on Nathan's poor forehead, which was still wearing a dark mask!
"Ow—!!!"
A mournful scream, full of grievance and pain, completely inconsistent with his current "cold villain" image, instantly echoed throughout the entire messy apartment!
The next second, the The Evillustrator, who had just been exuding a powerful aura of cold and obsessive determination, was now clutching his head, curled up on the ground like a three-year-old child whose candy had been snatched away, whimpering and rolling around in grievance!
"..."
"..."
In the apartment, Ladybug and Cat Noir were completely petrified.
They stared dumbfounded at the bizarre farce unfolding before them, whose style had changed so abruptly that they were caught off guard.
That powerful Akumatized Person who had just forced them to be utterly helpless, and even forced that "mysterious" miraculous holder to personally intervene... was just KO'd by a simple flick to the forehead?!
In the lair on the other side, Gabriel's handsome face, always bearing a hint of meticulous dignity, also froze.
He was also stunned, just like the two heroes on the scene, completely unable to comprehend everything that was happening before his eyes!
Who was that cold The Evillustrator just now, who had rushed forward for his friend, and was full of obsession and madness, willing to fight the whole world for so-called "kindness"?!
And who was this whimpering brat now, rolling on the ground and acting spoiled because he got a flick to the forehead?!
What confused him even more was—just now! Right at that moment! After that "The Evillustrator" had pulled Jaden into that curtain of light!
The mental link between him and that black butterfly, which had been severed due to distance, broke!
In other words, what exactly happened in that mysterious curtain of light just now?
What kind of soul did that "The Evillustrator" "paint" from that mysterious boy?!
He had no idea! From beginning to end, he was blind! Deaf!
This night, for him, was simply a nightmare full of twists, surprises, and endless humiliation!
First, a reckless, single-minded Akumatized Person who completely ignored his commands appeared!
Then, just when he thought this single-minded person was finally going to do something, he suddenly discovered that the person wasn't reckless at all, but simply disdained him, the "mastermind"!
And then, at the most crucial moment when he was about to reveal the true identities of those two little bugs, a damned mysterious "turtle" suddenly appeared!
And now... this Akumatized Person, who should have been his sharpest "scalpel" for dissecting the enemy's heart, had turned into this useless person who was groveling and rolling on the ground!
He understood, he understood everything.
Damn it! This kid called "The Evillustrator"... wasn't a reckless person at all, damn it!!!
All those obsessive, crazy attitudes he had shown before, of doing anything for his friends... were all! F*cking! Faked!
...After Jaden had "dealt with" Nathan, who was still whimpering and feigning pitifulness on the ground, he slowly turned around and cast his gaze upon the two Parisian Guardians who were still in a state of extreme petrification.
His gaze lingered on the small red figure.
He saw that there were still traces of undried tears at the corners of her eyes.
"Our hero..." His voice instantly became incredibly gentle, filled with reassuring apology, "...seems to have shed tears."
"I'm so sorry," he said to her, giving a gentle, apologetic smile, "for making you...worry."
"No...no! No, no!"
The moment Ladybug heard these words, she leaped completely out of that mental quagmire of self-loathing, like a startled cat whose tail had been stepped on!
Her pale face, which had still been etched with sadness and despair, instantly flushed crimson!
She frantically waved her hands, refuting loudly in an incoherent, flustered tone:
"I...I wasn't worried about you! I...I was just...right!
I was just reflecting! Reflecting on whether I, as a hero, acted too...too rashly just now!
Right! That's it! It definitely wasn't because I was worried about you!"
Cat Noir on the side was utterly dumbfounded.
He witnessed firsthand how his partner, in just three short seconds, seamlessly transitioned from a heartbroken, reclusive "loser" to a vibrant, tsundere "textbook" maiden in love.
This...this speed of changing faces was even faster than his use of Cataclysm!
So...what now?
He didn't want to just stand there foolishly, feeling completely insignificant.
So, he cleared his throat, trying to regain some of his heroic initiative.
"Ahem," he said to Nathan, who was still whimpering on the ground, in a tone of "business-like" authority, "That...the Akumatization item, can you hand it over now?"
Nathan got up from the ground and brushed the dust off himself. He pouted unhappily at Cat Noir, seemingly with a bit of a morning grump, but ultimately obediently pulled out the black paintbrush, which was the Akumatization medium, from his pocket.
"Sigh..." Jaden watched their unoriginal "hero following procedure" act, sighing helplessly.
Then, he turned his head, his gaze falling on the tightly closed apartment door.
"That...the one hiding outside the door," his voice was not loud, but it clearly carried throughout the messy room, "you don't need to hide anymore, do you?...Marc."
"Marc"?!
This name was like a super-powerful bomb of the latest model!
It instantly made Ladybug and Cat Noir on the scene, and Hawk Moth far away in his lair, collectively dumbfounded once again!
There...there was still someone else?!
Under their stunned and puzzled gazes, Jaden slowly walked to the door, then suddenly pulled open the slightly ajar door!
Outside the door, a black-haired, introverted boy was maintaining a perfectly standard (and chuunibyou) secret agent pose, with one hand on the wall and one knee on the ground, ready to rush in to "save the day" at any moment!
His face still held a panicked expression of "What do I do, what do I do, he seems to have discovered me"!
It was Marc!
Without a word, Jaden directly reached out and precisely pinched his soft, elastic earlobe!
"Ah—! Ouch, ouch, ouch!
Jaden! No—!"
Accompanied by a scream full of pleading, Marc was thus dragged in by Jaden, with his ear being pulled, all the way from outside the door!
Then, he mercilessly pressed his head down, making him kneel side-by-side with Nathan, who had a look of schadenfreude, on the relatively clean floor in front of the sofa!
"Quite the showmen, aren't we?" Jaden slowly walked to the sofa and elegantly sat down.
He crossed his legs and scanned his two former good friends, who were bowing their heads and dared not look at him, with a "benevolent" condescending gaze. "You even dared to play with Hawk Moth."
"Tell me," his voice was still gentle, yet carried an unchallengeable, chilling authority, "When did you come up with this 'brilliant' idea?"
That scene… A handsome young man in casual loungewear sat lazily on the sofa, with two trembling, misbehaving "underlings" kneeling before him, and two Parisian superheroes standing beside them, observing.
This… This scene looked exactly like a boss from some underground organization disciplining his two clueless subordinates!
"It… it was my idea!" Nathan, being quite loyal, was the first to raise his hand and take all the responsibility. "Uh… Jaden… I… I was just… trying to help you!"
"Right! Right!" Marc, beside him, nodded frantically like a pecking chick, adding, "After we separated from you, we felt like you were in a really bad mood today… We kept wondering what to do… And then… then we accidentally saw a… black butterfly…"
"We exchanged a glance, and immediately understood each other perfectly!"
"So all those messages I sent in the group later… were also… also discussed by us beforehand!"
The two confessed without hesitation.
Meanwhile, in the lair, Hawk Moth, after hearing their clumsy yet sincere confession, unique to young people, felt as if a silent bomb named "absurdity" had been dropped onto the chaotic and surreal stage.
Gabriel—or rather, Hawk Moth—sat quietly on his magnificent, cold throne. His usually immaculate face was now so dark it seemed to drip with water.
He had heard everything, and understood everything.
So… he, the dignified Hawk Moth!
The sole monarch of Paris's underworld! The dark emperor who struck fear into countless citizens!
Tonight, he was played by two snot-nosed kids who hadn't even fully matured yet?!
From beginning to end! From the black butterfly they deliberately "attracted"!
To the "disobedient" The Evillustrator, full of obsession and madness!
And then to the so-called "resoluteness" of fighting the heroes to "protect" Jaden's secret!
Everything! It was all a damn act?!
And he, like a complete, hopeless idiot!
Was still applauding their "superb" acting!
Was still adding fuel to their so-called "obsessive kindness"!
He was treated as a free, on-call tool-person who could bestow superpowers!
"Crack—!"
A crisp, teeth-grinding sound of shattering echoed in the silent, empty lair.
The magnificent goblet made of the finest Venetian crystal in his hand was crushed by him into a pile of sharp fragments, shimmering with cold light!
Wine, red as blood, slowly dripped through his fingers onto the clean, cold floor, but he felt no pain—because his proud, control-hungry heart was currently being fiercely burned by a cold flame named "humiliation," more unbearable than any physical pain!
He slowly severed the last mental link with the black butterfly, which had completely lost its usefulness… And in the apartment, the dramatic "trial" continued.
Jaden did not show any anger or blame because of their confession; he simply stood up slowly from the sofa.
"…Get up."
His voice was very soft and faint, devoid of any emotion. Nathan and Marc exchanged a bewildered glance, then cautiously climbed up from the cold, hard floor.
Jaden no longer paid attention to them. He turned around and handed the paintbrush to the red figure, who was still in a state of extreme petrification.
"Here," his tone was as if he were just handing over an ordinary ballpoint pen, "Time to follow the procedure, Miss Hero."
"Ah?! Oh! Oh oh!"
Ladybug suddenly snapped back to reality! Her hot face, hidden beneath the mask, made her feel like she was about to spontaneously combust from an overload of shame and happiness!
Was he… was he just disciplining his friends?
That calm, effortless feeling, where he did nothing yet made everyone obedient… Oh my god… How could anyone be so handsome… Wait! No!
Marinette! Calm down! You are Ladybug now! The Guardian of Paris!
You must act like a hero! She frantically gave herself a pep talk in her mind, took a deep breath, and tried to bring her thoughts, which were almost floating in the clouds, back to reality!
She extended her slightly trembling hand, gloved in red and black, and took the paintbrush.
"Crack!"
With a crisp sound, she broke the paintbrush in half without hesitation! A black, ominous-looking butterfly suddenly flew out from the broken pen body!
"You won't escape!"
Ladybug's eyes instantly regained the sharp keenness of a hero! Her yo-yo, like a living red lightning bolt, instantly caught up with the startled butterfly and firmly wrapped it within!
"Got you!"
She retrieved her yo-yo and gently opened the completely purified white cover. A pure white, beautiful butterfly, emitting a soft glow, slowly flew out from the yo-yo.
"Goodbye, little butterfly."
She gave a heartfelt, gentle smile to the pure white figure about to fly away. After doing all this, she raised her yo-yo high again.
"Lucky Charm!"
A peach-colored beam of light, full of creative energy, shot into the sky!
"Plop."
A small, ordinary roll of transparent tape landed in her palm.
Cat Noir, watching the small roll of tape from the side, scratched his head, somewhat puzzled—What could this be for? To stick all the broken furniture back together?
However, Ladybug did not use it; she simply smiled and tossed the small roll of tape high into the air!
"Miraculous Restoration!"
The next second! A brilliant, warm, peach-colored wave of light, full of life and restorative power, burst forth from that small roll of tape like a living tide!
Wherever the wave of light reached!
The broken, overturned, messy furniture quickly returned to its original place as if a movie had been rewound!
The hideous crater smashed into the wall instantly smoothed out! The dirty footprints trampled on the floor instantly vanished!
Even the window that had been "erased" by the The Evillustrator in an extremely bizarre way reappeared perfectly intact in its original position!
The entire apartment, within a few short seconds, returned to its original neat and cozy appearance, as if the intense battle full of chaos and destruction had never happened.
All's well that ends well!
"…"
Nathan looked at the miraculous scene before him in a daze, then uncertainly turned to Marc, who had been silent beside him.
Marc gave him an imperceptible nod, his eyes conveying four big words: Plan, success!
"Ahem."
Cat Noir, watching the absurd farce that had completely ended, finally couldn't help but clear his throat, wanting to reclaim a bit of his last shred of heroic dignity.
"Uh… Although your 'plan' sounds very… um… very creative," he tried to make his tone sound like he was giving a serious post-mortem "lecture," "but using Hawk Moth's power is an extremely dangerous thing!
You absolutely must not do this again in the future! Do you hear me?!"
However, no one paid attention to him. Nathan and Marc were immersed in the immense joy and lingering fear of their "successful plan," while Jaden was looking at the red figure, who was slightly out of breath from using her power, with a focused gaze full of gentle smiles.
Ladybug also felt that burning, gentle gaze. Her hot face, hidden beneath the mask, made her feel like she was almost melting from happiness on the spot.
"Th-that…" She tried to make her voice sound like a calm and reliable hero, "Since… since the matter has been resolved… then… then we'll… we'll take our leave first!"
"Mm," Jaden nodded at her, his smile growing even gentler, "You two worked hard tonight."
"No… not at all!"
Ladybug felt like her heart was about to leap out of her throat!
She dared not look at him again, turned around, and rushed towards the newly repaired window! And Cat Noir, seeing his partner leave, had no choice but to follow!
"Bye… bye!"
Accompanied by a farewell full of panic and shyness, the figures of the two heroes completely disappeared into the deep, vast night… The entire apartment finally returned to its rightful tranquility.
Jaden slowly turned around. His gentle face, always with a faint smile, still bore that refreshing smile.
But Nathan and Marc read from that smile a familiar, chilling sense of "danger" that made them instinctively recoil a step!
"Ji… Jaden…" Nathan's voice held an uncontrollable trembling sob, "We… we were wrong…"
Marc also nodded frantically beside him!
Jaden looked at their adorable, cowering appearance, like two startled quails, and finally couldn't help but let out a long sigh, then smiled—a genuine smile, from the heart, full of helplessness and indulgence.
"Come here."
His voice was very soft and gentle. The two teenagers, still in a state of extreme terror, walked over hesitantly. Jaden extended his hands, one for each, and pulled them both into a tight embrace.
"…Thank you."
He whispered in their ears.
At that moment, Nathan and Marc were stunned. They could feel the warm embrace holding them.
They could feel the true heart of their friend, who always hid himself behind a mask of gentleness and laziness, opening up to them without reservation for the first time.
They succeeded.
Their plan, though full of all sorts of absurd and dangerous surprises, truly succeeded.
They finally broke down that invisible, cold, high wall that separated their friend from the rest of the world.