“Master. You can show up. I know that you are watching us.”

Toy Zoemi spoke up, not looking up to the heavens like Cherro – speaking to the unachievable perfection of the closest being their world had to a god – but rather looking down, to the height at which proud but timid nine-years platinum girl would stand.

“…I am sorry that I made you do that… m protector…”

And just as if she was summoned by the call, a little platinum-haired girl appeared behind the remains of Cherro, speaking up in a fearful voice, unable to look up at her savior, too focused on the ripped flesh.𝓞𝗏𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

To change that, the bear-like beast stepped over Cherro and approached the presence.

As it did, the remains of its claws and its fully functional fangs retracted and its form changed into that of a giant teddy bear.

Its eyes remained lifeless, but now they looked almost cute.

Despite being over four times larger than the platinum-haired girl, the creature was not threatening at all.

“Zoemi…! The real you…! You finally fully woke up to return to me!”

Presence breathed out and trembled, before looking up at the toy’s face and crying with happiness.

“I did return… sorry for making you wait, master.”

The toy apologized, spreading its arms.

“…!”

Barely holding herself back from bawling her eyes out, presence jumped up into the toy Zoemi’s arms.

“Master, I realized something… and as much as I hate to say it, I did so because of what the filth that harmed you had said to me… and your words just confirmed my theory…”

“Hmm…?”

As the little girl was hugging her beloved toy, reunited after countless failed timelines and literal eons past, the toy spoke in a sad voice, causing the girl to look up at it in confusion.

“What do you mean…? What did you realize…?”

She asked, tilting her head adorably, making a sweet clueless expression while being at total peace.

“I am holding you hostage.”

“Eh…?”

Toy Zoemi said, but instead of clearing things out it only made things harder for the presence to understand.

“Master, through all this time, all those timelines, you were waiting for me to save you. All because you believed that only I can do that.”

The toy spoke in a gentle tone, trying to make its master realize the answer on her own.

“And I was right. You did save me!”

The platinum-haired girl cheered out and hugged the toy Zoemi closer, stuffing her face in its fluffy body composed of the softest, silkiest darkness.

“No. But I will save you. Because I realized, that what I need to do as a protector, is not to shield you from the world and the hateful filth that harmed you but to show you the path. What you need to truly be saved is to grow and…”

*THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK*

“Z-Zoemi…?”

The toy declared, gently patting the head of the murdered princess, where suddenly it flinched and froze in place, causing the little girl to gasp, with the feeling of dread slipping into her heart.

*thump*

“Z-Zoemi!”

As the toy fell to its knees, putting the platinum-haired girl down, she cried out in panic, as she started to back off, staring in disbelief into its lifeless eyes.

*haaaaaaa*

“!!!”

The next moment the darkness composing its body dispersed, revealing the black-haired boy hidden within.

*thump*

…and when the boy’s body fell face forward to the feet of the platinum-haired girl, the next thing to notice was three jet-black daggers sticking out of his back – the dagger attached with fine jet-black chains to the top of the wrist of a…

“I… I did it…! I DID IT! I KILLED ZOEMI! AHAHAHAHA~! My little princess~! I realized how much you loved that toy – so I killed it and took over all of its power and mana~! Isn’t that smart?”

Cherro whose body got healed up to a perfect condition cheered out, crawling back up to his feet and jerking his right hand, tugging on the chains to retract the dagger.

“See? I did it for you! Although I changed the way it looked because honestly, it was ridiculous and got on my nerves.”

Cherro declared with a beaming smile plastered over his face as he spread his arms and caused the jet-black darkness to burst forward, locking himself in heroic black armor.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Presence’s eyes widened and she straight up started running – not even adding herself with mana, she just bolted it from the spot, running away like a scared animal that encountered a predator.

Only after a few moments did she have some clearance and disappeared into a flash of light leaving the beach where she no longer had her beloved protector to save her.

“Aww, isn’t she cute? She can’t handle the weight of my love for her~ But at least now…”

Cherro snickered watching the platinum-haired girl disappear without pursuing her and put out his right hand.

For just a second, a tin shadowy clock appeared on his palm before disappearing as he didn’t allow the spell to completely form.

“I definitely need to thank father for coming up with such an amazing spell… also… wow… the world sure looks different through the eyes of a shadow magician.”

Cherro breathed out, clapping his hands together before looking around with a satisfied expression.

“Everything that has mana has a unique shadow… so curious…”

The young man made his helmet disappear, reviling that his hair and eyes turned back to black, and nodded to himself before smiling at the body sprawled on the ground.

He approached the fallen black-haired boy and grabbed him by the hair again, lifting his head up to have a good look at his face.

“Mhmm~ That’s what I wanted to see. Shadowless and dead. Not even a speck of mana left with that broken body of yours.”

Cherro giggled with satisfaction before turning around and taking a look at the scenery.

His previous actions cause the ocean to flood the beach but now that the water had the time to settle down and receded, an inconspicuous elevation in the terrain was damaged by it, revealing the remains of some old shipwreck, with rotting plants taken over by the roots of grass and other weeds.

“Pfft…! Isn’t that perfect? I was just thinking about what to do with this trash and a trash dump presented itself for me~! After all, heroes… DON’T LITTER!”

*WHOOOSH* *WHAM*

Cherro laughed out loud, and stood up, pulling the black-haired boy with him, before throwing Zoemi away – sending him flying and crashing into the shipwreck.

“At least your decomposing body will nurture the local nature.”

Cherro nodded to himself with satisfaction before looking back towards the direction where the presence was running off moments before vanishing.

“Wait for me a little bit longer, my lovely little princess, the next time we’ll see each other I will be the king. I will not make you wait long, I’ll just go grab my crown.”

The young man called out looking in the distance, standing still for a few more moments as if expecting to get some words of encouragement from the girl who was no longer anywhere near the place.

“Aww, she’s so shy, just as I always wanted her to be~”

Cherro added with a rather creepy voice while a soft blush showed up on his cheeks, moments before the young man disappeared in the flash of the golden light.