Texas surveyed her surroundings, confirming once more that she truly couldn't think of a way to escape. She had no choice but to stand obediently in place and wait for their judgment.
The pair of ears on her head drooped straight down; she felt immense self-reproach for her current inability to do anything. Texas turned back to look at the Lemuen who currently had her back turned. It was this person who had suddenly appeared and attacked Exusiai, leading to their inability to escape and the outcome of a total team wipe.
It was only then that Texas realized the person who had ambushed Exusiai also had a "fluorescent tube" floating above her head. She hadn't expected this to be another Sankta!
Initially, because the two were entangled, Texas thought that halo belonged to Exusiai, assuming she had simply misseen it during the violent struggle. But then she remembered—wasn't Exusiai's halo still in Jeanne's hands? This one could only belong to the opponent.
However, considering Jeanne could easily take off a halo, it wasn't even certain if the person before them was a Sankta. It was possible that other Sankta had already fallen victim to them and had their halos stolen.
"Aaaaaah! Lemuen, is that you? Don't think for a second I don't know it's you just because you're staying quiet! You actually tricked me like this, do you have no shame? If you don't let go right now, I'm going to get angry!"
Exusiai was dazed for a moment, then began shouting at her sister while struggling. Her expression, however, didn't look angry at all; instead, she had become exceptionally happy.
The very second Lemuen grabbed her, Exusiai realized that the person who had suddenly jumped her was actually her own sister. This surprise left her unable to react for a long time. Hadn't she been hospitalized with serious injuries? Even if she was out of danger and had entered a slow recovery phase, it should have been impossible for her to leave the hospital, let alone run all the way to Lungmen!
"You guessed wrong! To actually mistake me for someone else is just too much. You sure caused us a lot of trouble back in Laterano!"
Lemuen didn't let her sister off easily; such an opportunity to bully her was very rare. So, she intentionally lowered her voice, trying to keep up the deception.
"With that voice of yours, it would be a problem if I couldn't tell it was you! Don't think you can trick me just by lowering your voice—I could see through tricks like this when I was three years old."
Listening to the exchange, Texas naturally understood that these two were very well-acquainted. At this moment, she felt like her heart was on a roller coaster; it was simply too stimulating.
But, Lemuen? Texas knew Exusiai's name was Lemuel, so if this "Lemuen" wasn't related to Exusiai, Texas wouldn't believe it.
Sure enough, during Exusiai's violent struggling, the two gradually turned around from their back-facing position. Now, Texas and Croissant could see this Lemuen. Her face was seventy to eighty percent similar to Exusiai's; one could say the two were practically cast from the same mold.
At first glance, the biggest difference was their hair color. Unlike Exusiai's wine-red hair, Lemuen's hair color was significantly paler.
"Eh? Exusiai, is this lady behind you your mom? She looks just like you! But she looks a bit too young for that, doesn't she?"
Seeing the scene of what looked like a "large" and "little" version of Exusiai, Croissant forgot she was supposed to be under control. Her eyes sparkled with light as she inquired with immense curiosity. This was also because she understood this was actually a prank of some sort and that she wasn't in any danger.
In their daily lives, Exusiai liked to pull stunts like this, but due to her lack of strength, she could never handle the two of them, so she had never played a prank this big. Regardless, she and Texas were used to such things.
"What do you mean 'mom'? This is my sister! Haven't I mentioned her to you before?"
Hearing her sister suddenly age a generation in her friend's eyes, Exusiai immediately refuted Croissant's question before her sister could even speak. Exusiai knew her sister very well; she might just immediately play along and demand Exusiai call her "mom" right there...
Exusiai believed that Lemuen was absolutely capable of坑ing her sister like that, and would even bring it up repeatedly for the next several decades, turning it into a dark history Exusiai could never erase.
"Your sister! Didn't you say she was already..."
Jeanne saw that the play couldn't continue anymore, so she simply let go of Croissant. Croissant didn't care about the restraint anymore; instead, she looked at the Lemuen before her in disbelief. She clearly remembered that the reason Exusiai kept searching for Mostima was that Mostima had left Laterano after seriously injuring Exusiai's sister, and Exusiai had things she wanted to ask her.
At the time, seeing Exusiai's expression, they all thought her sister had died from her injuries. But now, this legendary deceased person had been resurrected?
Texas was also quite surprised. Even if the sister hadn't passed away, according to the description, the situation was very severe. How did she look like she had recovered completely?
"What! Back then I meant her injuries were very serious and she was in the hospital. I never said she was dead."
After a series of determined struggles, Exusiai finally managed to escape her sister's embrace. She then explained the situation to her two friends, who had clearly misunderstood her previous words.
After escaping, Exusiai quickly turned back to look at Lemuen. Seeing the perfectly healthy sister from her memories standing before her again, her eyes began to redden slightly. Even the carefree Exusiai had been extremely worried about her sister. Seeing the near-death Lemuen in the hospital back then had been a massive shock.
She had been truly terrified, but the problem was that Laterano officials had kept the details of how her sister was injured strictly confidential. This was also why Exusiai chose to leave Laterano to find Mostima; she wanted to know why her sister was hurt and why Mostima had shot her.
"You... aren't you still in the hospital? Didn't the last letter say you could only just barely get out of bed? It's only been a few months, how did you recover so fast and even run to Lungmen?"
Exusiai tried to keep her tone steady, but her voice still trembled uncontrollably. She hoped this was real, but logic told her it was impossible. When she left Laterano to find Mostima, this person had only just left critical condition. The doctors at the time said recovering to fifty percent of her former self would be a medical miracle.
But now, was the person before her an illusion or reality? Or was this a trap laid by an enemy who knew her well? Exusiai touched Lemuen's arm with some disbelief, wanting to see if those hideous scars still existed, but currently, the arm had only smooth skin.
"To think it would end like this. You should have found a chance to tell us! We could have played along then."
Watching the scene of sisterly affection, Croissant turned to introduce herself to Jeanne, while taking the chance to promote her small business.
"Let's get acquainted then. I'm Croissant from Penguin Logistics. If you ever need to source anything, feel free to come to me!"
Looking at the hand extended toward her, Jeanne dropped her cold expression and smiled. It was a completely different aura from before—a smile like a spring breeze blossomed before her eyes.
"Hello, my name is Jeanne. But this was just a sudden whim between us; we originally just planned to bring you back."
As she spoke, Jeanne shook Croissant's hand and introduced herself.