202. The Contract
"Have the Fire Moth really stooped so low as to imprison such a young child?" Vill-V scoffed.
The blue-haired girl, who looked to be only about twelve years old, was imprisoned in the 'Deepest Place'.
This was a prison even Vill-V couldn't escape from (a big lie).
"Hello, is there anything I can help you with?" Aponia asked softly.
She gently stroked Griseo's head, seemingly to soothe her.
Aponia's voice seemed to possess a unique magic, making one instinctively trust her.
"Um...Mommy Aponia, what's wrong?" Griseo seemed to have been woken up.
Her gaze fell on Vill-V, her head tilted, a strange light flickering in her eyes.
"A colorful big sister... um, no, a big brother?" A few questions flashed through Griseo's little head.
Why was this person so colorful, and why were there two completely different individuals within her?
"Its older sister," Aponia explained patiently.
"Um, no, it's older sister and older brother," Griseo corrected Aponia's mistake.
"Hmm?" A hint of doubt flashed in Aponia's eyes as well.
"You can see him?!" Vill-V's expression was somewhat excited. She gripped the separating railing, her eyes sparkling with a strange light.
"You mean older brother? Yes, I can see him. Just like you, sister, he's colorful and so pretty." Griseo nodded.
"Ling, did you hear that? She can see you!" Vill-V shouted to herself.
"?!" Aponia seemed to have heard an unexpected name.
"Miss, may I ask who you were talking to just now?" Aponia's indifferent expression vanished, replaced by an anxiety.
"Ling, my younger brother," Vill-V said casually.
Countless people had asked her this question before, and she had always answered the same way.
Anyway, no one would believe it.
"Excuse me, is this the 'Ling' of 'Feather'? And does he look like this...?"
Aponia flipped to a page in the sketchbook beside her.
Vill-V seemed to realize something and immediately took the sketchbook to look at it.
And on it was a portrait exactly like the 'Ling' in her spiritual world.
"This...how is this possible?! How do you know what he looks like?!" Vill-V's face was full of disbelief.
Ling died at birth, and his consciousness remained in Vill-V's body. How could anyone have seen Ling!
"Ling, what's going on?" Vill-V immediately asked him for help.
[You should ask this person in front of you. I have no recollection of her, and I don't know what's going on either.] Ling blinked.
Vill-V had never encountered anyone who could see Ling in all her years of life, and today two of them had appeared at once.
Even stranger, one of them seemed to know him?
"Miss Vill-V, please calm down. I want to see him, may I?" Aponia's eyes held a pleading look.
"You know me?" Vill-V raised an eyebrow; she hadn't introduced herself.
"The Grand Mechanic of the Fire Moth, of course, I know you," Aponia casually offered an excuse.
"That's a flawless excuse, but you've been locked up here; you're probably not a security detail." Vill-V instinctively wanted to refuse.
Because she had a premonition that the woman before her wanted to steal her Ling!
Aponia didn't answer, but her eyes turned blood red.
A dozen seconds later, a guard came and opened the cell door for her.
"I voluntarily entered this cell," Aponia explained.
"The reason?"
"To atone for my sins," Aponia explained.
The guard beside her nodded, agreeing with Aponia.
The Fire Moth had no intention of imprisoning Aponia; she came here of her own accord.
Most importantly... this place couldn't hold her at all.
She could control the guards to release her whenever she wanted.
Aponia felt right at home here...
"You're a psychic-sensory MANTIS warrior, aren't you?" Vill-V asked.
"Yes," Aponia nodded.
"Perfect, help me test if you can see him." Vill-V took a deep breath.
She knew this wasn't the time to act rashly. Even though she had a premonition that the woman before her seemed to have ill intentions, she wanted to try to see if she could truly make Ling exist in this world.
"Thank you, Miss Vill-V." Aponia breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn't want to be violent towards Vill-V, especially not in front of Griseo.
As the Fire Moth's most powerful psychic-sensory MANTIS warrior, currently, no human could withstand her mental power.
Even Kevin couldn't.
Aponia connected her spirit with Vill-V's.
Griseo, standing nearby, looked at Aponia's mother with suspicion. She felt that Aponia's mother's complexion had darkened after hearing that name.
Hmm, and a bit more yellowish.
When Aponia opened her eyes, she saw several Vill-Vs watching her cautiously.
This was Vill-V's spiritual world; if Aponia caused trouble here, it would be dangerous.
Aponia's gaze automatically swept past the Vill-Vs, locking onto Ling.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ling," Ling emphasized that it was their first meeting, scrutinizing Aponia to make sure he had never seen her before.
"It really is... Ling, little Ling." Aponia placed her hand on her chest, her heart pounding wildly as if it would leap out of her chest.
Both Ling and Vill-V sensed something was amiss under such intense gazes.
The "Id" immediately stepped in front of Ling, clinging tightly to his arm, as if asserting its dominance.
Its voluptuous figure, no less impressive than Aponia's, pressed against Ling's arm.
The greatest crisis in Vill-V's history—Aponia!
This person has feelings for Ling!
"I don't think I've seen you before?" Ling pressed.
"Sorry, I lost my composure." Aponia tried to remain calm.
"Tell me how you know me." Ling lightly tapped the slightly jealous Velvet, speaking to Aponia.
"Hmph... how should I explain? Let's start with the Honkai Beast I fused with, 'Mitra.'"
Mitra is a mental-type butterfly-shaped Honkai Beast, possessing the purest and most powerful mental power ever recorded.
It is also one of the few mental-type Judgment-class Honkai Beasts.
It can almost be considered a god in the mental realm; even the Herrscher of Sentience cannot contend with Aponia, who has successfully fused with Mitra.
"Miss Vill-V, you should have already created the second Divine Key—the Cosmic Juggernaut Inverted Horizons, right?" Aponia asked softly.
"Of course, that's no secret within the Fire Moth." Vill-V nodded.
"Then it should be easy to understand. Beyond the main world, there are countless parallel worlds, their number exceeding the sands of the Ganges, hence Su's Varuka Project."
"You mean you have the power to observe parallel worlds? Without the Cosmic Juggernaut Inverted Horizons?" Vill-V's eyes widened slightly, somewhat incredulous.
"Of course, I don't have that ability, and neither does Mitra, but besides its spiritual power, Mitra possesses a hidden power."
"That power is called 'Contract.'"
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