E/c Azalea.

What a strange code name.

Y/n pondered over the alias she'd been given upon successfully infiltrating Sanctus Medicus or whatever the hell the organization was called.

After "fighting" the Cloud Knight, her and Caelus escorted Side Character 27891 somewhere safe under the guise of disposing of his body. He thanked them both and headed off to report his findings, but not before giving y/n a bright smile.

Y/n wasn't sure why he'd smiled at her so happily, but she appreciated the gesture.

She sure hoped this wouldn't come back to bite her in the 🍑.

After intercepting a package with Caelus, pretending to be lovey dovey with him after sensing that some of those cult freaks were watching them, they returned to the spot where y/n had *not* killed a man and found that somebody new was waiting.

"Mauve Moon, these are the reliable disciples I mentioned to you. Gray Peony, and his wife E/c Azalea." Green Hibiscus introduced them as y/n gave the newcomer a scowl, hugging onto Caelus' arm, "Gray Peony, E/c Azalea, this is Mauve Moon. The head of our operations in Exalting Sanctum."

'So they're not just active here, huh?' y/n thought with a frown.

"It seems the two of you have some impressive skills in your arsenal." Mauve Moon hummed.

Caelus smiled, "You're too kind, sir."

Y/n narrowed her eyes at him, "You look weak."

...

"Aha... you must be e/c Azalea." Mauve Moon said with a slightly wavering smile, "Green Hibiscus told me of your incredible fighting ability and your unwavering love for your husband!"

"If I were unable to fight, how would I put homewreckers in their place?" y/n inquired before smiling, "Mauve Moon, was it? Despite how weak you look, I can tell you know a thing or two about martial arts."

"Oh my! She's just as sharp as you said!" Mauve Moon exclaimed, "The two of you seem like a pair whos got it all figured out! What exactly is it that brings you to the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus?"

"I want to become even stronger." Caelus replied, "And my wife doesn't like the idea of us parting when we die; she wants to stay together for all of eternity."

Mauve Moon chuckled, "Quite the interesting pair. Two different reasons that ultimately require the same path. It's good to desire power, Grey Peony, I do as well. There was a time where I believed that hard work and determination were enough to achieve that... but I've realized that it's not that simple."

Oh great, another long 🍑 paragraph.

"During my many years as a Cloud Knight, I realized something... an individual's strength is limited."
the man continued, "So, I abandoned my mortal body, and became a faithful servant of Merciful Medicus. Here, take this prescription. Through this medicine, you will become like me. You be able to break the shackles that the Devilish Archer Author has used to chain your soul. You will gain unbridled power and freedom."

Y/n looked down at the prescriptions handed to her and Caelus, reading carefully and with a small frown.

Did she want to know what this was?

"The disciple responsible for creating medicinal pellets heard of your exploits. They prepared the prescription for you two personally." Mauve Moon yammered on, "Some of the ingredients can be purchased at an apothecary, but others will require you to come up with your own solution. Given your strength, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Of course." y/n's hand twitched, "No problem."

'Wait a second, y/n, we aren't out of the woods yet.' Caelus thought frantically, "Do you mind if we ask some questions?"

"Of course!" Mauve Moon exclaimed.

As Caelus began to ask question, clearly trying to probe more information out of him, y/n noticed something. Something was off... but what was it?

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but there was a time where I once worked alongside those devils...'I trained in spear techniques for almost a century and nearly became a Cloud Knight instructor." the weird man was saying as y/n tried to figure out what was amiss, "However, I was trapped in a weak mortal shell. I was unable to surpass the final barrier that separated me from the martial arts geniuses, and the incredible power people like the Divine Foresight's Shadow held."

Y/n blinked, 'What a nickname...'

"Fortunately, the Draught of Draconic Surge, the prescription you and your wife have been given, rescued me. Once I took it, I became more powerful than any mortal could ever dream of!" Mauve Moon declared, "Now, everything has changed. Zhixin and his pitiful spearmanship are no more. All that remains is a loyal disciple of Merciful Medicus."

The h/c haired woman paused before turning her head to give the man a look of surprise, "Zhixin?"

That was the name of the undercover Cloud Knight Caelus told her they needed to look for, right?

"Wait. You recognize me?" Mauve Moon questioned, "Where do you know me from? Your face changed when you heard my name..."

Oh boy...

Y/n sniffed once. Then again. That smell...

"M-Mauve Moon, sir, we have a problem...! I suspect that these people may be the agents who have been looking for you-!" Green Hibiscus began only to be grabbed by the throat and slammed against the ground head first.

Mauve Moon, the other lady there, and Caelus all gawked as the man instantly fell unconscious and was left twitching on the ground as whatever 🐂💩 medicine he took tried and failed to kick in.

"Cover's blown, Caelus. Did the Seat of Divine Foresight want them dead or alive?" y/n questioned, zeroing on on Mauve Moon who looked rather distraught at the sight of her.

"Uh... I don't remember." Caelus lied, "Up to you."

"Alright, just make sure I don't get thrown in jail for this." y/n sighed as she got up, preparing to face the other two disciples there.

"You... you-! I knew I recognized your face and that irritating voice!" Mauve Moon sputtered, "Damn it, you're supposed to be dead! Why are you back?"

"You know me?" y/n inquired.

"How could I not?!" Mauve Moon spat, "You filthy genius, you detestable demon! You're supposed to be dead!"

Y/n frowned, "You clearly know me, but I feel like all this hateful speech is coming from a place of jealousy rather than something actually meaningful."

"Still looking down on me, are you?!"

"The hell? I don't even know who you are!"

Mauve Moon was taken aback, standing there with a look of shock, "You... what do you mean you don't know who I am? You really are just as much of an ignorant little demon brat!"

The h/c haired woman scowled, "The 🚚?"

"No respect for your seniors, no respect for anyone! You were blessed with so much power yet all you wanted to do was laze around!" Mauve Moon began to rant.

"That's it, I'm tired of this dude." y/n sighed, "If you're so angry, talk with your fist! All your yapping is making me tired!"

"Disrespectful brat! I ought to teach you some manners!"

Caelus wasn't too surprised when y/n backhanded the man and sent him to the ground in one hit. He wasn't super surprised when the lady still standing raised her hands in surrender with a, "Don't hurt me!"

"Ugh... what is it with weirdos and throwing around mean words like this." y/n mumbled before giving Caelus a sad look, "I'm not a brat!"

"Mm..."

"Choose your next words carefully."

"Oh yes, definitely not a brat."

The sound of mumbling reached the duo's ears and y/n tensed when that smell from before reached her nose. A filthy smell, she'd smelled it before.

She looked down back at Mauve Moon who was on the ground, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he laid there mumbling random 💩.

"I'll kill you." he was mumbling, "I don't care how powerful you are, how great your spearmanship has become, or how much of a genius you are. Things are different now, I'll kill you."

And then... gold.

The same gold y/n had seen in that dream back at the hotel on Jarilo-VI, the same gold on the leaves Dan Heng helped remove from her back every now and then, the same gold on those mara-struck she'd killed.

Y/n shielded Caelus right as a spear emerged from the blinding heap of gold, piercing right through the arm she used to shield herself and right into the damned eye she just healed.

"🚚!" y/n cursed as her vision immediately went red in one eye, bringing up a hand to cover the injury as she stumbled back into Caelus.

"Y/n! Are you alright?" he demanded and y/n waved him off, albeit a little clumsily as she was recovering from the shock of literally having one of her eyes plucked out.

"Don't worry about me." she snapped, ignoring the trembling in the arm that'd literally just had its forearm blown off. She decided not to look for wherever it'd flown off to, focusing on the monstrosity that was once Mauve Moon.

Covered in branches which sprouted leaves of gold, body twitching and moving rather erratically as the transformation finished, and glowing red eyes zeroing in on her.

"Disrespectful brat...!" the creature screamed as the spear in its grasp began to spark, lifting it to strike.

Y/n basically kicked Caelus out of the way and shouted a, "Handle the other two! I've got this!"

Caelus opened his mouth to protest but the monstrous Mauve Moon charged with a, "DON'T LOOK AWAY FROM ME!"

"Damn, you're weird!" y/n managed to say right before the mara-struck cult member rammed into her, sweeping her off her feet and hurling her right through a wall.

There was crash, another crash, a loud boom, followed by screaming from whoever witnessed y/n go flying.

Mauve Moon took a massive leap and disappeared out of Caelus' line of sight, probably off to wherever he'd flung y/n.

He began to hurry after her but lurched back right before a bladed arm could lip his head right off. It was that woman, now mara-struck, "I won't allow you to get in Mauve Moon's way!"

"♀🐶! I thought you surrendered!" Caelus complained as he whipped out his bat, "Stay still so I can make this clean, okay? Y/n's going to kill me if she has the clean blood out of the laundry again!"

A distance away, y/n was slowly picking herself up out of the wreckage of what was once a restaurant.

She gave her arm a glance, frowning at her missing forearm, before looking up right as Mauve Moon was descending.

Her face fell.

"You've gotta be 💩ting me."

The mara-struck cult member landed square on y/n's belly, knocking the air out of her and causing a shockwave to blow through the area and send both people and debris flying.

Y/n blacked out for a brief second and she was gasping for air when she came back to her senses, straining to prevent Mauve Moon from stabbing her in the neck with that damned spear.

She was just barely keeping it away from her throat with her one available hand since the other kinda got blown off, and she was resisting the urge to itch her back. So itchy...!

"I was relieved when we were told that you were left on that planet alone, and overjoyed when you were never found after they returned to look for you." Mauve Moon sneered, "But I was never quite satisfied."

He pressed down harder and she definitely felt a rib crack. The pain made her choke a little, and it got a little more difficult to push the spear back.

"Now, knowing that I get to kill you myself," the mara-struck's red eyes seem to blaze with delight, "I feel pure joy! To finally get to kill the Divine Foresight's Shadow myself-! Merciful Medicus surely is great!"

"What 🐂💩 are you going on about...?" y/n demanded, "Who even is this Shadow person?!"

Mauve Moon paused.
"Ah... it seems as though you truly don' remember a thing. Amnesia, perhaps? How unbecoming. Perhaps if you weren't a fool who blindly followed that Devilish Archer's ideals, you could be blessed by Merciful Medicus as well."

The tip of the spear perished y/n's throat and panic jolted through her. Something fell nearby and the area was instantly engulfed in flames, separating the two of them from the bystanders nearby.

"It's no fun killing you when you don't remember anything. You're incredibly pathetic compared to how you used to be as well." Mauve Moon lamented before sighing, "No matter. Just that look of despair on your face is good enough for me."

Was y/n really going to die like this?

Her hand finally slipped, blood is very slippery you know, and the spear plunged right into her damn throat. The ♀🐶 electrocuted her too, and the last thing she felt was blinding pain.

Then burning.

Burning. Burning. Burning.

. 　。　　⋆　　•　 　ﾟ　　。 .　.　.　。 .　。
⋆　　　。　　 ⋆。　 ඞ 。　 . • .  .   ⁎ 。　. 　。　.　　⋆. 　　。 .　 .　　 .  ⋆.   。.   ⁎ 。•　 　ﾟ　　。

Y/n had died before.

She was alone when she died, surrounded by the enemy, and laying on the ground with her face to the sky.

The sky was pretty.

Stars... so many countless stars.

As she was dying she wondered how Jing Yuan was doing. She promised him she wouldn't croak and die. She promised that she was fine and could continue being a Cloud Knight.

She didn't want to die.

She wanted to go home.

She wanted to laugh at Jing Yuan and say, "See? I told you I'd be just fine!" and everything would be okay.

Y/n wanted to return to the Yaoqing for that rematch and customized bow she'd been promised.

But she didn't.

She died. Then, there was a burning sensation in her veins. All of a sudden she was up again, fighting.

Fighting to return home.

A couple weeks of fighting later, she died again.

It hurt. So, so much.

The medicine she'd only just come to know the effects of no longer had an effect. The mara-struck can only revive once, you know?

But the pain... it was agonizing.

So much so she became stricken with mara a second time. Then a third when she died again. Then a fourth.

It happened more times than she could count.

In that moment, as Mauve Moon killed her, the pain brought back each of those painful memories all at once. Such agonizing pain, layered one over the other, had the same product as before.

An Undying Demon who had no other intent than to hunt down and eliminate her prey. This time, unfortunately for Mauve Moon, he was being hunted.

Compared to the two others times he'd fought y/n, this was far different. The first, he was fighting an audacious young Cloud Knight who thought he was a joke. She'd won.

The second, she was a well-respected Cloud Knight who had made a name for herself on the Luofu and the Yaoqing. She won again, even if it was just a sparring exercise.

Now, this third time, it was the real thing.

Mauve Moon was certain he'd win at first, but now that the second phase had begun... he wasn't so sure.

All her injuries had healed in an instant, and she was up and moving again. Quick, blinking fast, like light streaking across the sky. Just as he'd remembered.

A blur of shifting tones of light, then a flash followed by blinding pain as y/n struck him with her own spear that was seemingly picked up from a Cloud Knight who'd abandoned it to help bystanders get away instead.

Mauve Moon knew wa scans next, parrying with his own thunder spear as that shadow of hers attempted to strike as well.

"I know all your tricks, brat! Don't think you can defeat me as easily now!" Mauve Moon exclaimed, grabbing the edge of the spear, "I've been reborn!"

Y/n's brows raised right as she was flung in the air by the cultist, Mauve Moon leaping after her. As she was in the air, she took a moment just to watch her surroundings.

Huh. Pretty.

She twisted her body mid air to avoid being stabbed by Mauve Moon, glimmering light which shone the colors of the rainbow. It was a rather serene sight, a huge contrast to the way the woman slammed her knee into the cultist's face and sent him hurtling towards the earth below.

He slammed into the ground harshly while she landed lightly, raising her hand and gesturing for the cultist to come.

"Tsk..." despite his irritation, Mauve Moon was wary.

He remained seated, not moving.
Y/n didn't make a move either.

"If you'd like a hint, I could give you one." y/n offered. Mauve Moon didn't like her tone.

It was calm, even. No sign of the madness induced mara which had brought her back from the brink of death yet again.

"Audacious little...!"

"Keep an eye on the shadows."

Y/n was right there in front of him, spear back in her hand and poised to slice the cultist in half. He lurched out of the way, gaze unconsciously moving towards her shadow where a second figure emerged from it.

He looked back up and there the shadow was, slashing at him with a pole arm that just barely grazed his face.

Mauve Moon hardly had time to react as y/n came at him again, this time without a weapon in hand. Only her fist.

An opening. There was a perfect opening!

One strike and Mauve Moon could kill her.

But his body wouldn't move under her gaze, an immense pressure weighing him down and daring him to move an inch. It was suffocating, this feeling that he stare gave him.

The feeling of inevitable death.

The mara-struck cultist gasped and was struck in the face with y/n's fist, a sickening crunch followed by pain being all he could sense before he was flung away.

He didn't got far, y/n grabbing him by his foot and slamming him into he ground. The cultist was in a bit of a daze but snapped right out of it when y/n stabbed his own spear into his knee. Ouch.

He didn't see the shadow this time, but he sure as hell felt the aftermath as spears made of that same shifting light which followed the woman were plunged into his other knee and both of his elbows.

He'd been pinned.

Despite his predicament, Mauve Moon was in hysterics, "Mara-struck! You of all people have become stricken with mara! Not so much of a genius now, huh?"

Y/n was quiet for a moment, silent and unmoving. Rather odd for someone who had gone mad.

"Quiet." she finally stated, "You're annoying."

Mauve Moon paused, "Huh."

"Painful... everything I remember from that period of time is so painful..." y/n mumbled, "It's taking everything I have just to keep focused, y'know? What a bother... so much work."

Mauve Moon wasn't sure what to think.
How about the obvious?
'She's still upset about effort even after going mad?'
Ah, yes, the obvious.

Y/n inhaled deeply, then exhaled.

"💩, breathing doesn't help either." she stared down at the cultist with an expression which lacked malice or rage. Slightly unfocused, but still aware.

Thoughtful, wondering, curious.

"Misery loves company, y'know?" y/n hummed as another spear of light materialized into her newly healed hand, "Since you're so devastated over your pitiful spearmanship, how about I teach you a thing or two?"

"I— you cocky little—!" The cultist cut off with a scream when stamped a foot right down into his chest. Not onto. Into. That was not a typo.

"Quiet. Your voice is irritating." y/n mumbled, "Quit screaming too, you're making my ears bleed."

Well you're making the bystanders' eyes bleed. If you're going to torture him, do it where people can't see! Have come courtesy, lady!

By the time Caelus arrived, y/n was seated in a corner while the mess that was the still mara-stricken yet barely alive Mauve Moon twitched and shivered on the ground. Ew... like a roach...

Caelus looked at the cultist, around at the burning chaos which was being taken care of, then back to y/n still huddled in