Chapter 99: The Battle
Akhe was truly back.
It took a long time for Xiang Er to fully accept this reality.
They were inseparable, their world reduced to the confines of the old apartment, lost in each other’s embrace, oblivious to everything else.
Every night, before going to sleep, Xiang Er would hold Akhe’s tentacle and ask, her voice filled with a lingering anxiety:
“You won’t… disappear again, will you?”
Akhe would gently caress her cheek with a tentacle, her voice soft and reassuring:
“No, I won’t leave again, you can sleep soundly.”
Sometimes, Xiang Er would wake up in the middle of the night, a sudden jolt, her hand clutching the tentacle, her voice filled with fear:
“Are you sure… there won’t be any more… battles with your kind?”
Akhe’s gaze, steady and unwavering, her tentacles gently enveloping Xiang Er, would reply:
“Yes, I’m sure.”
And Xiang Er would finally fall asleep, a deep, peaceful sleep, waking up to the sight of Akhe’s face.
Akhe would hold her close, her hand caressing Xiang Er’s cheek, her lips pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead:
“You’re awake? My Little Ears, did you sleep well?”
In those first moments of wakefulness, Xiang Er would feel like it was all a dream, a beautiful illusion, but… even if it was a dream, she would gladly remain lost within it.
Because, real or not, she never wanted to return to that world without Akhe.
She never wanted to lose Akhe again.
Akhe’s disappearance and return, of course, had raised many questions, the authorities eager to know what had happened, but no one dared disturb them in their old apartment.
The compound was now under heavy guard, a fortress protected by the nation’s most elite investigators, patrols every half hour.
An Yue was still their liaison, delivering food, flowers, and other necessities, always leaving promptly after dropping them off, as instructed by Akhe.
Akhe didn’t want anyone to intrude on their world, they just wanted to be together, to heal, to lick each other’s wounds, to make up for lost time.
It was several days later that Xiang Er finally noticed… that Akhe seemed to be injured.
She had never seen Akhe’s true form completely, but she remembered Akhe’s domain, the giant eyeball in the sky.
But now, one day, at Xiang Er’s insistence, Akhe reluctantly pulled her into her domain. Xiang Er looked up, but the sky above… was empty.
“Where’s your eye?”
Xiang Er imagined all sorts of horrific scenarios.
“I left it beyond the Milky Way, as a warning to any… outsiders, this is my territory now, no one else is allowed to interfere.”
Akhe’s voice was calm, her explanation prepared, but Xiang Er felt a sense of unease.
In the endless expanse of yellow sand and black rivers, Xiang Er didn’t know where Akhe’s true form was, where to even look. She called out to the empty sky:
“Really? Are you sure? Are you… injured? Are you hiding it from me because you don’t want me to worry?”
The eternally twilight sky remained empty, not a single cloud. Akhe didn’t answer.
Xiang Er understood. She squatted down, scooped up a handful of black slime, small eyeballs swirling within it.
She picked out a few and looked at them, but the eyeballs turned away, avoiding her gaze.
Xiang Er’s voice was low, but her words carried weight:
“So… how badly are you injured?”
The next instant, the scene shifted, and she was back in the real world, Akhe, in her human form, before her.
Akhe pulled her onto the sofa, embraced her, gently patting her back, and said:
“It’s not that bad, I just… almost lost, I wouldn’t have won without you.”
Akhe, her dark eyes filled with tenderness, looked at Xiang Er and told her everything.
Akhe had warned the other Evil God by the river, but it had been aggressive, approaching relentlessly, until Akhe had been forced to leave the planet, meeting It at the edge of the solar system. It had been hostile, unwilling to negotiate, its only intention to devour Akhe and absorb Its power.
“That’s how we survive, devouring each other is… common, but I thought… perhaps, like humans, we could resolve it peacefully, I suppose I was naive.”
Akhe sighed.
They had fought, a battle that spanned galaxies, a long and brutal fight, and Akhe, having lost the initial advantage, had almost been defeated.
In a dimension beyond human comprehension, Akhe and the other Evil God clashed, both sides suffering heavy losses, and Akhe had been losing.
But then…
Xiang Er had discovered the protective layer Akhe had left on her, and she had started frantically absorbing monsters.
And that protective layer, it was a part of Akhe’s true form, still connected to It, across light-years.
The energy absorbed by the protective layer was transferred to Akhe’s true form, a constant stream of power, fueling her fight.
“So… you won that battle for me.”
Akhe took Xiang Er’s hand, her lips pressing a gentle kiss against her skin, her eyes glistening, a proud smile on her lips.
Xiang Er, her heart pounding, finally found her voice:
“So you won? If I had known, I would have eaten more…”
Akhe’s grip tightened on Xiang Er’s hand, her voice urgent:
“You were already at your limit! I could feel it, through the slime, your body was failing, I was so worried!”
Xiang Er looked at her and smiled:
“I actually… helped? I thought it was all in my head… then why… why did your heart shatter?”
Akhe said:
“Because… my true form was… destroyed. This… this is a new body, constructed from the remaining fragments. My true form… is gone. If it weren’t for you, for the energy you provided, I might not have even been able to… create this new body…”
Xiang Er covered Akhe’s lips with her hand:
“Don’t… don’t say any more.”
She didn’t want to hear it.
Akhe’s lips, pressed against Xiang Er’s hand, didn’t move, her gaze fixed on Xiang Er’s, as if a thousand words remained unspoken.
The things she had glossed over, the near-death experience, the long and brutal battle, she had downplayed it all, not wanting to upset Xiang Er.
But she also knew, how could she not be upset?
Xiang Er’s tears fell onto Akhe’s lips, her voice soft:
“As long as… your soul remains, that’s enough.”
She understood now, she hadn’t fallen in love with the “Shen Yuhe” facade, nor with the Evil God Akhe, not with the tentacles or the slime. What she had loved, all along, was that complex, vibrant soul, the unseen, intangible, yet unique and captivating… soul.
They shared a tender kiss, devoid of lust, holding each other close on the sofa, their fingers playing with each other’s hair, their bodies. Akhe then said:
“But don’t worry, I’ve absorbed the… other one, it will take some time to… digest, but I’ll regain my full power eventually.”
Xiang Er asked:
“What abilities have you lost?”
Akhe frowned slightly, as if considering the question:
“How to put it… all my abilities have been… downgraded, for example, I can’t hear your thoughts anymore, unless you shout very loudly in your mind.”
Xiang Er hadn’t expected this, and she immediately thought a series of things, then, seeing Akhe’s unchanged expression, realized that it was true.
She pouted slightly:
“I don’t know… I used to think it was annoying that you could read my mind, but now I think it’s… inconvenient.”
Akhe gently nudged her nose with a finger, smiling:
“Weren’t you always complaining about your lack of privacy?”
Xiang Er leaned closer and kissed Akhe’s cheek, like a child savoring ice cream, a deliberate “mmm” sound:
“You’re still a jerk.”
Akhe laughed and returned the kiss:
“Okay, okay, I’m a jerk…”
After a while, Akhe went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, but neither of them wanting to be apart, even for the short distance between the living room and the kitchen, Xiang Er wrapped a tentacle around her waist, her arms around Akhe’s neck, her legs around Akhe’s waist, like a koala clinging to a tree, as they cooked together.
After dinner, Akhe opened the refrigerator to get some yogurt, and Xiang Er saw, inside, a glowing egg, radiating a soft light.
Xiang Er gasped:
“The small eyeball! It’s glowing! I knew it would be okay when you came back!”
Akhe’s eyes crinkled into smiling crescents:
“You know, it’s… a manifestation of my love for you, as long as I exist, it will always exist.”
Xiang Er, staring at the egg in the refrigerator, her eyes suddenly filling with tears, grabbed Akhe’s tentacle and wiped her eyes:
“It’s all your fault, it’s all your fault… I watched it… die in my arms, do you know how devastated I was…”
Dozens of black and red tentacles reached out, wiping away her tears, patting her back, massaging her shoulders, Akhe’s voice filled with sadness:
“I know, I’ve always known. Every moment after I left, I could feel it, all your pain… I’m sorry, Little Ears, I made you suffer.”
She sat down beside Xiang Er, her gaze sincere, and apologized.
Xiang Er looked at her, she knew it wasn’t really Akhe’s fault, but… she still felt a pang of hurt and resentment. Before, without Akhe, she had endured everything, but now, with Akhe, she couldn’t bear even the slightest discomfort, she felt like she was being childish.
But… she wanted to be childish, to be vulnerable in front of the one she loved, to feel the comfort and reassurance of being cherished and protected.
Xiang Er, pretending to still be angry, asked:
“Is that all? Just an apology?”
Akhe looked at her, seeing that she had stopped crying, her eyes darting around, and she understood, leaning closer, her voice soft:
“Then, my master, your loyal servant awaits your punishment.”
She knelt down and kissed Xiang Er’s foot.
Xiang Er instinctively pulled her foot away, but Akhe held her ankle, and she couldn’t escape, the tingling sensation on her skin, like ants crawling, impossible to ignore.
Akhe’s voice, soft and seductive, whispered:
“So… have you decided how to punish me, my dear master?”
Xiang Er:
“…”
This creature… after that battle, her flirting skills had leveled up! Had that even been a real battle?!
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