Chapter 120 - Please K*ll
After a filling al—and an equally heavy serving of awkward tension from our not-so-heartfelt conversation with the Kaiserin—we regrouped at the wide, chro-trimd front lobby of the KAWAII Headquarters. The Kaiserin, ever the mischievous brat, had already gone ahead to change into her rather questionable disguise: a Samlplatz pizza delivery girl. Agent Feena, ever the ticulous one, tugged the cap low over the Kaiserin’s face, shielding the upper half in shadow.
“There, that should do it,” Feena muttered, adjusting the brim with the finesse of a stylist and the urgency of a field agent. “Keep that hat on, no matter what. The last thing we need is to attract more attention than necessary.”
“Geez, you’re such a worrywart, Big Sis Feena! It'll be fine, trust !” the Kaiserin chirped, flashing a smile so carefree it nearly betrayed her royal aura.
The rest of us—Myrrh, Fei, Neil, and I—managed a collective smile in return. Well, theirs were genuine. Mine, not so much; it was the kind you carve out with clenched teeth and irritation. Myrrh, ever graceful, gave a slight wave as she stepped forward.
“We’ll head out first, Your Excellency,” she said, her tone as courteous as a ribboned letter. “We’ll draw less attention that way.” She offered a respectful bow.
“Sure thing!” the Kaiserin replied with an airy tone. Then she bead at Myrrh. “Oh, and let’s et again soti—maybe after the school year, during the vacation. I’ll invite you to the Royal Tower in Exestia. Be sure to bring your friends... and your goons, too.”
My brows twitched. I leaned slightly and muttered under my breath, “Pretty sure the ‘friends’ are Neil and Fei, and the ‘goon’ is definitely . No thanks, kid.”
Neil and Fei heard that. A chuckle escaped both of them. “Haha.”
“Hey, show so respect!” Myrrh elbowed gently, though the sparkle in her cerulean eyes had sharpened with just a flicker of annoyance. Then, like flipping a switch, she turned to the Kaiserin and smiled with the practiced poise of a diplomat. “It would be an honor, Your Excellency.”
“Great! I’ll make sure to arrange a party—we’ll have lots of fun together!” the Kaiserin chirped, clapping her hands with childlike enthusiasm. “Bye-bye!”
“Bye-bye!” Myrrh replied in a graceful curtsy, her skirt fluttering slightly with the motion. Neil and Fei followed suit, nodding politely as if this bizarre royal farewell were the most normal thing in the world.
Feeling oddly like the spare tire in a polished sports car, I hesitated. Then, with all the enthusiasm of a tired dog being dragged into a bath, I mimicked their farewell gesture—half-hearted and late. Typical.
With that, we turned our backs on the glowing entrance of the KAWAII Headquarters. The neon signage above humd quietly in the night, casting blue and pink hues onto the slick pavent. It was already past nine. My limbs felt like lead, my mind foggy. The day had wrung out like a towel—and the thought of dragging myself to class tomorrow was already making my spine ache.
Fei was the first to speak, breaking the post-Kaiserin silence. “I still can’t believe we t the Kaiserin… like that, huh, Neil?”
“Yeah, it caught off guard too,” Neil admitted, adjusting his glasses. “To see her act so casual—trying to blend in with us commoners? I guess we had her all wrong. Ismail always painted her as a cold, tyrannical ruler… but she’s nothing like that.”
“She’s more like an overenthusiastic theater kid with way too much power,” I muttered.
Fei chuckled, but I kept going, voice low and skeptical.
“I still don’t get her relationship with Agent Feena. I an, she calls Feena Big Sis, but co on—shouldn’t Feena be the actual Kaiserin? She’s older, more responsible… more everything. Did she just give up her title for that smug little brat?”
“Stupid,” Myrrh scoffed, flicking a strand of her hair behind her shoulder like a queen dismissing a peasant’s question. “Kaiserin Grace Arcaliburn and Agent Feena Arcaliburn are cousins. Distant ones. Agent Feena’s not part of the main branch—she’s from a far-off twig of the Arcaliburn family tree.”
As if on cue, the night split open with a sudden flare of light—a blinding streak that shot through the abyssal darkness. A rocket—no, a Fra Unit—launched upward like a cot breaking free from gravity’s leash.
“That must be Agent Feena,” I muttered.
“She’s delivering the Kaiserin back to the Royal Tower,” Fei said, shielding her eyes as she pointed at the ascending fireball. “There they go.”
I turned to Myrrh. Her eyes were fixed on the starbound trail, a soft, content smile tugging at her lips. That expression… it wasn’t smug. Not exactly. Just calm, confident—maybe even proud.
Suspicion blood in my chest.
“The Kaiserin seems to have taken a liking to you, huh, Myrrh?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
She didn’t even flinch. “What can I say?” she replied with a sly tilt of her head. “I’m beautiful, brilliant, and impossibly kind. I’m the perfect WAIFU. Of course she’d be drawn to . That’s just basic skill.”
I cringed. Her arrogance was a force of nature—eternal, unyielding, and sohow annoyingly justified. She really was good enough to back it up, and that made it worse. Everything with her turned into a declaration of victory.
Still smiling, Myrrh t my eyes. “I actually t her once. Face to face. Two weeks ago.”
My brow lifted.
“I was tagging along with Agent Feena,” she continued casually, as if recounting a grocery run. “We were investigating Archonlight Tower in the tropolis. Looking for clues about the Cosmic Tree. That’s when we arranged the eting with the Kaiserin. She’s got the cybernetic expertise needed to maintain the Archonlight Tower’s shield.”
“Wait—this is the first ti I’m hearing about this,” I said, blinking in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell ?”
Myrrh gave a pouty frown, arms crossing in that dramatic way she always did when she wanted to feign innocence. “Well, you were kind of busy ignoring at the ti. So technically, it's your fault you weren't included.”
I sighed, scratching the back of my neck, guilt creeping in like a slow draft. “Okay, okay. I get it. I’m sorry. I’ve already learned my lesson, alright?” My voice dipped into a softer tone. “So… what did you find out?”
Myrrh’s playful deanor dropped. Her eyes beca a little more serious as the weight of the mory returned. “Not much,” she said, voice lower now. “The Kaiserin ntioned that, on that night, she suddenly felt too weak to maintain the Archonlight Tower’s barrier. Right before the Cosmic Tree appeared and engulfed the tower, she saw sothing—an apparition. She said it looked terrifying.”
“An apparition?” Neil echoed, tilting his head. “Was it NTR-related? Did they do sothing to her?”
Myrrh shook her head slowly, the wind brushing her bangs aside. “No. She said it wasn’t human. Sothing alien.”
“A Cosmic Beast,” I muttered under my breath. “Or…”
“…The Cosmic Goddess,” Myrrh whispered, finishing the thought for . Her eyes didn’t leave mine. “The Kaiserin told the voice was feminine… and haunting. Every word echoed—every laugh ricocheted through the entire Royal Tower like a chorus of dread.”
Fei shivered. “T-That gives chills,” she said, hugging her arms. “Just imagining it…”
The air felt colder then. The streetlights above flickered for a split second—whether from the wind or our imaginations, I wasn’t sure. But one thing was certain: whatever the Kaiserin saw that night, it wasn’t just a ghost story. It was a warning.
“Let’s resu this tomorrow,” Myrrh said, hugging her arms as the night breeze swept past us. “It’s already dark and cold—and talking about that kind of stuff now might keep us up all night.”
We all nodded quietly. As much as I enjoyed a good ghost story, my body felt too heavy, too drained to entertain fear.
Eventually, we reached the fork in the road—the quiet junction where the paths to the male and female dormitories split under dim streetlamps. Myrrh and Fei turned to us, giving a soft wave goodbye. Neil and I returned the gesture, then wordlessly headed toward our dorm.
The dormitory was unnervingly still. The kind of silence that felt deliberate, like the walls themselves were holding their breath. Most students were probably holed up in their rooms, or scattered in libraries and cafés, preparing for tomorrow’s lectures and the Final Examinations next week. ? I’d put off studying until the sun ca up. Right now, I just needed to collapse into bed and not think too hard.
Our footsteps echoed faintly through the narrow corridor, each step bouncing against the quiet like a whisper through a crypt. When we reached our doors, Neil suddenly stopped.
“Zaft.”
I turned to him, surprised by the sharp edge in his voice. “What’s up?”
He didn’t answer right away. His eyes searched mine, as if trying to gauge whether I was ready for what he was about to say. Then, with a voice barely above a whisper, he spoke.
“That apparition Myrrh ntioned… I’ve seen her too. Every ti the crimson roots start creeping through my veins—every ti the power tries to overtake —she’s there. Watching. Laughing.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Neil wasn’t exaggerating. His tone held no drama, only a grim truth.
“It was the sa the night I summoned the Cosmic Tree,” he continued. “When I overloaded the Archonlight Tower… tried to take everything for myself. If we’re right—if that thing really is the Cosmic Goddess—then…”
He paused. A strange smile flickered on his lips. It wasn’t sad. It wasn’t afraid. Just… calm. Like a man who had already made peace with sothing unbearable.
“…Then if I ever lose control again—if I ever go haywire and bring another Cosmic Tree into this world—I want you to kill . No hesitation.”
My throat tightened. I wanted to protest. I wanted to tell him it wouldn’t co to that. But I saw the look in his eyes—resolute, almost serene. He wasn’t asking out of fear. He was asking out of love for the people he might hurt.
"If that happens again... Please kill ." Neil repeated.
And suddenly, the dormitory’s silence didn’t feel so empty. It felt like it was listening.
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