Crimson Tresses
"A rugged life needs no justification." ----------------------- Ironman Liu Zhenhan declared.
Gazing at the colossal sword-wielding titan statues flanking the Nalun Strait, their peaks piercing the clouds, Liu Zhenhan swallowed the curses trembling on his lips. Even now, he clung to a sliver of hope toward the deities of this world.
Helen had explained these mountainous carvings were relics from the ancient God-Demon Wars. Liu maintained cautious reverence toward these deities, silently praying for divine intervention.
Beyond the Nalun Strait, the Andean trade winds grew sharper. Though the Aegean Continent's shoreline now etched the horizon, Helen's condition deteriorated daily - she could no longer swallow Guo Guo's frost-condensed water, nor even utter "Li Cha".
At nightfall, the acid-spitting osprey grew increasingly agitated, swooping erratically while emitting piercing cries.
Liu's heart clenched like a vise.
"Helen..." Liu offered a clamshell pot of melted snow, desperately trying to hydrate the fading vixen.
With great effort, Helen opened eyes that unexpectedly gleamed with strange vitality. She weakly shook her head at the water.
Liu tilted his face upward to contain his grief. Ripples appeared in the snowmelt, as if touched by falling raindrops.
"Li Cha..." Helen rasped his name with desert-dry finality, her parched body straining.
"Drink first!" Liu wiped his eyes, carefully tilting the shell toward her cracked lips. Golden droplets slipped silently onto the raft.
"Sing... for me... Li Cha... I can't... speak long..." Helen gazed at him with tender frailty.
An unearthly glow flushed Helen's pallid cheeks. Her eyes shimmered like sunlit waves, recalling their first meeting. The crimson scarf made from Liu's bloodstained sock fluttered feebly in her hair, a fading banner of youth.
The night wind howled around the glowing pearl as waves solidified like molten metal.
Witnessing Helen's final resurgence, Liu's chest swelled with indescribable anguish. The vast sea and starry sky mirrored countless memories of their time together.
"Wolf-tooth moon...
My beauty fades...
I drain the storm from my cup...
Who overturned the cabinet of past lives...
Stirring dusty regrets...
The mantra of fate...
Through countless cycles...
Your knitted brows...
Tears cannot restore lost beauty...
Though history turns to ash...
My love persists...
Glories flow like eastern rivers...
I take but one ladle to quench love's thirst...
Loving only your butterfly incarnation...
Your blood-crimson hair...
Beautifies farewell's sorrow...
Whose heart did my incense move?...
Summoning the moon...
To purify memories...
Perfect love under moonlight...
Your blood-crimson hair...
Scatters tear-storms...
For whom does my waiting age me?...
Mortal realms drunk on time's wine...
I carve eternity's monument with no regrets..."
Liu's resonant voice merged with lapping waves, the final notes lingering. Even the agitated osprey stilled to preen, while Guo Guo stared unblinkingly.
Helen remained entranced, her sea-blue eyes reflecting endless longing.
For love, for life, for her beloved man.
The song's last vibration still hummed through salt-laden air when golden light pierced Helen's chest. Luminous tendrils coiled around the raft, penetrating Guo Guo and the osprey before burrowing into Liu's heart. Under the pearl's glow, their entwined forms shimmered within a cocoon of golden vines.
Time lost meaning until Helen's eyelids fluttered open. "What song was that, Li Cha?"
"『Hair Like Blood』. Your crimson locks left indelible marks in my soul's deepest chambers." Bitter irony tinged Liu's voice.
"Your own creation?" Helen marveled. "Even human bards couldn't compose such beauty. My Li Cha proves his divine gift!"
"Enough!" Liu crushed her against his chest, hot tears salting her hair.
"By Campos!" Helen gasped. "Your improvised ballad carried 『Soulchain Hymn』 effects!"
Liu jerked upright. As a prospective War Priest, he knew Soulchain Hymn - a high-tier spell allowing life-force sharing among four warriors. Only senior Sceptre Priests could wield such magic.
"Impossible..." His enhanced physiology now felt leaden, confirming the mystical connection. Helen's color returned as vitality flowed through their bond.
"Divine miracle!" Helen breathed. Though weakened, her recovery defied all natural laws.
"Before Nalun's statues, I vowed eternal devotion to any god saving you," Liu declared. "Now I'm Campos' true believer!"
"Blasphemer!" Helen recoiled. "How dare a Soulsinger doubt our deity?"
"Have you ever truly seen..." Liu's question died unspoken. His identities collided - pig-headed Battlesinger, cursed summoner, accidental hymn-composer - creating cognitive dissonance.
Their philosophical debate dissolved as crystalline harp notes pierced the night. A feminine voice oscillated between angelic purity and siren's temptation, its wordless melody ensnaring their senses.
The pearl's radiance parted sea mists, revealing a black reef crowned by aquatic royalty. The mermaid's golden scales outshone her crystal crown, milk-pale skin glowing against midnight waters. Rosebud lips curved as azure eyes - deeper than ocean trenches - measured her prey.
"Li Cha," Helen whispered through chattering teeth. "We've crossed paths with a Nereid princess - Western Sea royalty."
Liu hefted his shark-blooded bamboo spear. Salt crust cracked from his coiled muscles. "Let them come. I'll teach fish-nobility terrestrial manners."
Helen stared at her transformed lover. The jester had vanished, replaced by a warrior whose gaze could pierce dragonhide.