Chapter 2913: A Pawn's Durability

Excavating, guiding, merging.

One glance at how the Seranas were handling the Three Flowers Converging on the Crown revealed three distinct lines of thought.

All three approaches even shared the same guiding principle: casting aside worldly boundaries and following the thread of the concept itself.

As the one who had proposed that guiding principle, Fu Qian was naturally delighted by the sight.

Even if Serana had simply stopped answering his second question altogether.

'Plenty of ideas, yet there doesn't seem to be much progress... Time is running short.'

Still, for a distinguished academic lead like him, handling a petty trick like silent protest was effortless.

His expression gentle as ever, Fu Qian offered another critique on the spot.

The attitude was commendable, but where were the results?

Graduation was drawing closer and closer—no, wait, the window for the advancement ritual was running out.

'I know... the flowers are fading.'

The effect was immediate. Though every word sounded as heavy as poured concrete, Serana forced herself to answer. Oh? Why couldn't he tell they were fading?

Her final words prompted Fu Qian to look over the tree covered in roses.

They looked just as vibrant and delicate as ever, like briar roses in full bloom.

'I can barely sense the connection anymore.'

Fortunately, he didn't need to ask; Serana went on to explain on her own.

So that was it—fading referred specifically to a shift in her personal perception?

Finding the exact rose that corresponded to her earlier hadn't been purely a matter of logic?

That made sense.

Fu Qian nodded repeatedly as he listened.

If ownership of the dream was gradually changing hands, it naturally meant Serana was being reduced to a guest.

It was completely normal for the depth of her interaction with certain elements here to suffer as a result.

Though talking to him about things like perception was clearly barking up the wrong tree. 'I don't know who you are, and I don't understand what you're after... but could you do me a favor?'

Before Fu Qian could even offer a modest reply, Serana went so far as to make a presumptuous request.

That bold?

Fu Qian wasn't annoyed in the slightest; on the contrary, he found this personal breakthrough of hers deeply amusing.

After being rebuffed earlier, she normally never would have asked for help a second time.

'Sure. What do you need me to do?'

Without even asking what the favor entailed, Fu Qian gestured for her to lay out the plan.

...

'Like I said earlier, my perception is weakening, so I need some stimulation.'

Being overly eager to help could startle people, too. Serana clearly hadn't expected things to go this smoothly.

So much so that even the three figures fluttering near the dome—who had ignored Fu Qian completely since his return—faltered for a brief moment.

'When I give the signal, could you pluck those three flowers again, one by one?' Ultimately, she didn't let formalities hold her back. The Serana speaking to him explained both her reasoning and the plan.

'I see...'

Fu Qian glanced down beneath his feet with an expression of sudden understanding.

She was naturally referring to the three roses representing her on the three vines.

And it wasn't that the roses themselves were precious—otherwise, she probably would have demanded back the three he had made vanish like a magic trick.

What Serana needed was the act of plucking them.

Just as she had explained, she needed stimulation.

Her perception of the rose vines—which were clearly central to everything here—was growing duller by the second.

Like pricking one's own leg with a needle to stay awake, jolting her with unconventional methods while she was straining to find guidance might actually work.

Of course, this rested on one crucial premise: they had already verified earlier that plucking the flowers at random didn't affect the stability of the place, so doing this carried no apparent risk.

'No problem. Let's not waste any time.'

Under Serana's slightly uneasy gaze, Fu Qian not only agreed without hesitation, but even went out of his way to remind her that time was tight. Even in her sluggish mental state, Serana looked as though she wanted to say something, only to hold back—

'And just who is responsible for making time so tight?'

Except she didn't hold it back after all. On the crowded walkway, another Serana let slip a borderline mocking remark.

...

Things really didn't look good.

At a moment when every second counted, Fu Qian obviously wasn't picking on a youngster just out of boredom.

The only reason he kept poking at her nerves was to test this pawn's durability.

In an environment this harsh, even a Blood Clan Demigod was thoroughly expendable, and the clearest sign of that was a mental state going from bad to worse.

Such as the personality fractures caused by having multiple bodies, which he had worried about earlier.

Serana wasn't exactly tactful on a normal day, but right now there was clearly no reason to trade barbs with a villain like him.

Letting that last remark slip served zero positive purpose—all it did was provoke an uninvited villain and risk derailing the cooperation they had just agreed upon.

The Serana speaking with him was well aware of this, which was why she had tried so hard to hold her tongue. Yet at the exact same moment, another one of her had fallen out of step.

It wasn't an extreme outburst, but it was unmistakably a bad omen.

Like muttering to oneself uncontrollably under crushing everyday stress.

The Red Moon wasn't the only one running out of time; this pawn probably wouldn't last much longer either.

'Me, of course.'

Watching the Serana who had realized what "she" had just done freeze up, Fu Qian wasn't angry at all—in fact, he wore a smug, self-satisfied grin.

Basking in that self-satisfaction, he leaped straight down.

'I'll wait for your signal.'

Landing squarely on the platform where he had first plucked the flowers, Fu Qian gestured to the nearest Serana.

...

'The first one.' Reassuringly, it seemed to be just a minor slip-up for now.

After only a moment's hesitation, Serana got right down to business.

Without delay, Fu Qian plucked the rose corresponding to her.

Splat—

Blood sprayed everywhere, though not in front of Fu Qian.

The startling change came from Serana herself.

This time, Fu Qian finally witnessed firsthand how someone became flat and two-dimensional.

As if yanked by some bizarre force, her body twisted and blurred before another Serana collapsed against the stone wall of the Church.

An astonishing volume of blood gushed out during the process, quickly blending into the ubiquitous red all around them.

In the blink of an eye, there was one more flattened Serana on the wall, seemingly quite committed to the merging route.

'The second one.'

The pace was picking up, too; she immediately signaled Fu Qian to continue. Splat, splat—

When Fu Qian did the same as before, two more of her succumbed to the wall at once.

'The third one—'

Unsurprisingly, the interval before the next call was even shorter.

Oh?

Yet the moment Fu Qian snapped the stem this time, not only did even more Seranas flatten into the wall, a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his wrist while he was still holding the flower.

Looking closely, he saw that it was a humanoid shadow.