[Vol. 8] Chapter 166: The Third Time She Appeared
“Thump, thump~ thump, thump~ thump, thump!”
It felt like she was witnessing something indescribable break free from its restraints. A nerve deep in Violet’s mind was suddenly triggered. Her [Radiance] divinity trembled like never before, humming violently as if it wanted to burst out of her, unleashing a dazzling light strong enough to drive away the darkness.
That burst of radiant divine power almost instantly dyed the silver-blue eyes of the black-haired girl into pure gold. But just then, another force, one made of intertwined black and white light, quietly descended. Like a calming agent poured into a boiling solution, it gently neutralized the chaos.
Miraculously, the rampaging power of [Radiance] began to settle down. The glowing gold in the priestess’ eyes slowly faded as well.
That intense stirring from deep within her soul was soothed by the power of [Reincarnation]. Fully aware of what had just happened, Violet raised an eyebrow, but didn’t act immediately. She continued to silently observe, letting things unfold on their own.
So far, all of these sudden events had been driven purely by the instincts of her two divinities. Violet could’ve forced them to stay quiet. But she had a much stronger feeling.
Instead of suppressing them, letting them react might finally push forward a certain long-standing mystery that had been haunting her since she came to this world.
And sure enough, just a second later, the two orbs of light floated out of her body, ignoring even the time-freezing laws of the [Still Flow of Time], and hovered quietly in front of her.
One was like a blazing sun, radiating endless brilliance, with six ghostly wings extending from either side. A golden orb of light.
The other was a swirling mix of black and white, like flower petals wrapped around a blooming core, elegant and mysterious. A spectral vision of a six-petal flower from the far shore.
Violet instantly recognized what they were.
“[Radiance]... and [Reincarnation].”
Even though she had possessed them for some time, this was the first time she had ever seen her two divinities physically manifest in the real world. Yet after spending so long with them, they didn’t feel unfamiliar to her at all.
But the biggest question was. Why did this strange lunar eclipse trigger a chain reaction that made both the [Blade of Shadow] and [Anchor of Time] activate on their own?
And why, even her two divinities, which had always remained hidden inside her body, were now appearing in the real world as if summoned?
As if guided by instinct, Violet reached out her hand.
Both [Radiance] and [Reincarnation] extended a bridge of glowing light toward her, softly wrapping around her fingertips. Their powers intertwined, and gradually expanded, forming a silhouette within the timeless space of the [Still Flow of Time].
It was a form Violet was not unfamiliar with.
“...You again?”
“Yup, me again~” The girl smiled slightly.
That flawless face, identical to Violet herself, made her frown deeply. In the glow of her two divinities, it felt like she was standing in front of a mirror, looking at another version of herself through the light.
Except for those glowing golden eyes, filled with divine power.
“Wait a minute… if I’m counting right, this is only our third time meeting, right? And the last time was a long while ago… Then why do you talk like we’re old friends? Is this version of me really that friendly and casual?”
“......”
Violet didn’t respond to the other girl’s teasing, meaningless chatter. She simply stared blankly at the golden-eyed girl, separated from her by the glow of the two divine forces, and fell silent for a moment...
Suddenly, she threw a powerful kick straight at the other girl’s face!
"Whoosh!"
The kick came fast and hard, but the golden-eyed girl didn’t dodge at all. Violet’s merciless strike simply passed through her like wind, without causing any harm at all. It was as if the two of them existed in completely different dimensions.
"......"
Even though her kick missed, Violet didn’t lose her balance. She stood firmly on one leg, holding a difficult pose with ease, coldly staring at the golden-eyed girl.
“A time-space afterimage… you don’t belong to this point in time, do you?”
“Who knows~”
“Hmph...”
Violet didn’t seem too surprised by that answer. She stood up straight again, calmly giving the girl another quick once-over.
As she thought, this girl’s state changes every time.
So far, this mysterious girl, who looked almost exactly like Violet except for her eye color, had appeared three times in total.
The first time was in the Demon Mountains. Back then, the girl only showed up in a dream, and her clothing and style were completely different from Violet's, making it easy to tell them apart.
The second time was in the Ancient Spirit Realm, where she appeared through the [Feather of Destruction], and the surroundings turned into an illusion while Violet was fully awake. That time, her clothes had changed to match Violet exactly, wearing the same [Feather Robe Graria].
If the first two appearances weren’t obvious enough, then now, her third time showing up, under the strange lunar eclipse and called by Violet’s two divinities, made everything clear.
The first time was in a dream, the second in an illusion, and now she had entered the [Still Flow of Time] as a temporal afterimage.
This golden-eyed Violet was slowly moving from being an illusion to becoming real. Or in other words.
She was gradually materializing.
And as that process continued, she was becoming more and more like the real Violet, from appearance to clothing, and now even their personalities were almost the same. The way she had spoken just now even made Violet feel, for a moment, like she was staring at her own reflection.
Of course, Violet wasn’t going to tolerate some copycat version of herself developing unchecked, which is why she didn’t hesitate to attack.
Unfortunately, this opponent, while very close to reality, was still just a phantom, a false image that didn’t really exist in the present, but came from some other point in time, either the past or future, crossing time and space in some special way to communicate with her.
If this were just a remote projection or illusion, Violet would’ve seen through it instantly. No fake would be able to bypass the laws of the [Still Flow of Time] so easily.
Since she couldn’t touch her and couldn’t beat her up, Violet rolled her eyes in frustration and gave up for now.
“So what are you here for this time? Gonna talk in riddles again?”
The golden-eyed girl smiled and shook her head. Unlike the previous two times, she didn’t start rambling mysterious nonsense. Instead, she looked up at the sky and pointed at the fully eclipsed moon above.
Then she calmly spoke.
“I didn’t come here looking for you. It was fate that brought us together again. Violet, the time has come. You need to know... the truth.”
“Hey hey, that’s still a riddle!”