Sonic Assault

"Alright, everyone, look this way! Pay close attention now! The great magic show is about to begin!"

Purple, yellow, red... dazzling lights, like glowing swords, intersected silently in the dim air, finally converging on Vill-V at center stage.

It was rather ironic, really. This was the second large-scale party Fire Moth had thrown in a single week. Last time, it was to celebrate their victory over a Herrscher; this time, it was to celebrate their victory over themselves.

But it couldn't be helped. People needed some way to forget the pain caused by sacrifice, and indulging a little—with good food, fine wine, captivating performances, and whatever else came after the party—was the simplest and most universally accepted way to do so.

Of course, the banner hanging above the stage couldn't actually say "Indulge!" It read: "Grand Celebration for the Integration of Anti-Entropy into Fire Moth and the Collective Victory Over the Herrscher of Dominance."

However, despite calling it a "collective party," just like many times before, no venue could possibly accommodate nearly 100,000 Fire Moth members all at once. So, the several hundred people present were merely "representatives" in a sense. Most soldiers were given a day off, and they could only watch Vill-V's performance on screen through recordings and broadcasts.

But… there were always exceptions. Some of the younger soldiers always found ways to sneak into the venue.

"Kosma! Over here, over here! Hurry up!"

Carol, holding a somewhat bewildered Hua by one hand, enthusiastically waved with the other, making Kosma look rather awkward.

[So noisy. It's just a few steps, it doesn't matter if you walk slowly or quickly, right? Ugh... well, I need to react a little, Desdemona... hmm!]

The girl beside him suddenly grabbed his hand.

"Let's go! If you don't want Carol to keep nagging you, pick up the pace!"

She'd uncharacteristically taken down her usual high ponytail, styling her golden hair into a more elegant fishtail braid. Her usual shirt-and-skirt uniform had been replaced with a red dress. Her fair and youthful skin needed no makeup, only a light coat of pink lip gloss.

Kosma stared blankly at her profile, his vision seemingly shaking slightly. Then, before he knew it, Desdemona had pulled him away.

"Aww! Look, Kosma's even blushing... Hmm... seeing him like this, he really does look like you from a few years ago, Michael."

"Elysia, I feel like you see everyone as me..."

Michael let her pinch his cheek as she pleased, answering half-unwillingly, half-jokingly.

"Nooo, look, isn't the way Kosma is being dragged around by Desdemona just like you?"

"But Desdemona is very quiet..."

"Miiiichaaeeeel!!!"

Michael instinctively shrank his head, but the pain he'd expected didn't come. She just gently pinched his earlobe.

"Hmm..."

He groaned lightly, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

Then, he turned his head and saw Elysia shaking her head, showing off her ears that looked like they belonged to a legendary elf.

"Well? Do they look good?"

Michael was silent for a moment. He hadn't expected Elysia to choose this path in the end, but… it did look kind of cute?

He slowly raised his hand but hesitated, feeling a little embarrassed. He tried to pull it back.

"Ehh! What are you trying to do?"

Her grip tightened on his wrist, and Elysia grabbed it before he could pull his hand away.

"!"

Michael's pupils trembled slightly –

"I didn't even see her coming!"

But his shock didn't last long, as the girl chuckled and slowly guided his hand...

"Wait, Elysia!"

Michael said he didn't want it, but his hand didn't resist. It wasn't until Elysia guided his fingers to her pointed ear that he pulled his hand back as if he'd been electrocuted.

"Th-there are people watching!"

Michael blinked, subtly masking his excitement. He quickly scanned his surroundings. As two of the three members with the deepest ties between Anti-Entropy and Fire Moth, they naturally drew a lot of attention. Even though Vill-V's magic show was reaching its climax, people couldn't help but focus their gazes on them.

Like Vasak and Lezlun, who were huddled together drinking in silence. One had a tight frown, and the other still wore his signature smile. Seeing Michael looking their way, they both raised their glasses as a silent toast.

"How did those two get together again?"

"Who knows?"

Elysia, taking advantage of Michael's distraction, ate a piece of cake from the table, wiping her mouth just before he turned back.

"..."

Michael pulled a napkin from a nearby dispenser, wiping the cream from Elysia's hamster-like cheeks.

"Wuuu--"

"What's wrong?"

"Wuuu wuuu wuuu!!!"

Michael listened carefully for a while before realizing that the cake was too big and her mouth was so full that she couldn't chew.

"Pfft... Hahaha!"

Michael gently cupped her puffy cheeks and helped her swallow the cake with a gentle massage.

Ten tables away, Kevin looked on with some envy.

Mei, her eyes fixed on Vill-V on stage, seemed lost in thought. Kevin looked at her back, unconsciously wanting to reach out and touch her hair.

But just as his fingers rose, a layer of frost formed on Mei's hair.

"Huh?"

Feeling the chill on the back of her head, Mei turned her head. She saw Kevin had pulled back his hand, hesitating about whether he should move his stool farther away.

"Kevin... you..."

Mei's lips parted slightly.

"Ahaha… I'm fine!"

"Hehe."

Mei laughed, a strange light in her eyes –

"Kevin, I want to tell you some good news. Why don't you guess what it is?"

"Uh..."

Kevin naturally couldn't guess. To avoid freezing Mei, he could only awkwardly keep moving away from her.

"Kevin, don't keep moving back."

Mei suddenly stood up, took two steps forward, and entered the frosty domain.

Her teeth chattered from the cold, but the smile on her lips grew ever more gentle.

"Dr. Mobius's hyper-fusion technology is more mature than mine. They can already do fusion soldier surgeries without any visible side effects. So, I've started a joint project with her. We will find a way, and then your body temperature can return to normal."

Kevin twitched his mouth, lowering his head slightly. Then his mouth twitched again, but he used his face muscles to forcibly suppress it.

In the end, he could no longer suppress his joy and started laughing like a fool, "Heh, heh, heh."

His demands weren't high, never had been.

He just wanted to hold Mei in his arms again.

"Kevin, although I'm happy for you and Mei, I still hope you… could you please move a little farther away from me..."

Kevin dejectedly turned around and saw that his old friend Su's face was completely covered in ice, and two icicles even hung from his eyebrows. The goji berry tea in his hands had frozen into a popsicle.

Of course, that wasn't all. Just like Su, there was an entire table full of people —

Aldemir and Evangeline, huddling together for warmth; Immer, constantly sniffling; Ato, trembling while video-calling his wife and children; and Himeko, hugging her broken Surtr, alone and aloof.

A sudden heat wave came through the air, almost dissipating the coldness Kevin was barely controlling.

The group all looked up to see the strange masked man.

He kicked out a chair for himself and said to Kevin in a bad mood, "Don't look at me like that. I don't mean anything by it. It's just cooler here."

"Sing, sing, sing!"

A cheer suddenly came from the stage. Kevin took two steps back and turned to see the new recruit he had picked up in Attica, being hoisted into the air by the crowd and carried to the stage.

"Congratulations to our lucky audience member, little Kosma! Now you have two choices. Either help me with a magic trick or sing a song. What will it be?"

"Tr..."

Kosma was just about to speak when he saw Vill-V using the Second Divine Key to prepare a mountain of torture devices—guillotines, triangular execution blocks, lampposts…

"...I'll sing a song."

Kosma decisively chose the latter.

Thus, just when Mobius, who had finally finished with her laboratory, taking the opportunity while Mei was "unaware," had added Klein to her lab, and was biting her fingers, scheming about how to get the Fuxi Nuwa sisters into her lab as well, triumphantly walked into the party venue, she was met with Kosma's merciless sonic assault.