Hate Me, Witch!

Night had fallen.

The once blood-red evening glow had completely faded, replaced by an inky, oppressive night sky.

On the cliffside, Xia Ya had stripped himself bare, wringing out his waterlogged clothes piece by piece.

“The Grandet Sea’s reputation is well-earned.”

“Turns out, rescuing a damsel in distress is a real skill. If I hadn’t prepared a life vest in advance, I might’ve ended up like Jack Dawson in Titanic.”

“Sigh, if only I had a Water-type summoned beast that knew Surf…”

Sensing the lingering gaze of his beastmaster, the little golden snub-nosed monkey let out a disgruntled squeak.

Seriously? First, you guide me down the space-time evolution path, and now you're looking elsewhere? What, wildflowers are better than the ones at home now?

Beastmasters are all the same—big, unfaithful jerks!

Though… if that had happened, what would my evolved species name even be?

Water Monkey?

Something about that doesn’t sound quite right.

…

“Ying~”

Silver’s call interrupted the interaction between Xia Ya and Shiny.

“Knew it. That old geezer Norton definitely wasn’t up to anything good.”

Receiving the message Silver sent through their Soul Pact, Xia Ya frowned slightly and turned to the side.

Not far from him, the girl named Sylvia lay quietly in deep slumber, her eyes closed.

Her chestnut hair was damp from the seawater, clinging to one side of her face, but it did nothing to diminish her beauty.

No matter how critical one’s eye, she was undeniably a girl who could stir compassion at first sight.

That is—

If you ignored the pitch-black shadow behind her, radiating an indescribable, tainted aura.

The shadow had no physical form, yet it was slowly corroding everything around it.

Even from several meters away, just laying eyes on that formless darkness filled Xia Ya with an unbearable sense of oppression, making it hard to breathe.

Even more terrifying was the sudden, unprovoked whisper that echoed in his mind.

Madness, despair, corruption, rage—

A flood of negative emotions surged into his consciousness alongside the murmurs.

If he had to sum up the chaotic voices, they’d be something like:

"A crazed rogue sharpens his blade at night, while the imperial star wavers and Mars rises high."

"The heavens create all things to nourish man, yet man repays the heavens with nothing but greed."

Even with the considerable mental fortitude of a Second-Ring Beastmaster, Xia Ya had to exert significant effort to suppress the overwhelming negativity.

“The Twilight Evil God’s Half-Body.”

His expression grew heavier.

Norton’s cryptic hints had been frustratingly vague, but Xia Ya had an advantage—

He came from five hundred years in the future.

He was a Heaven’s Eye Player, someone who already knew the fate of the Cangting Principality.

So after spending some time gathering information in the capital, verifying the details, he had pieced the truth together.

Sixteen years ago, the Cangting Principality had suffered a catastrophic calamity—the descent of an Evil God.

The deity known as Twilight had descended, and the disaster that followed nearly turned half of the principality into a wasteland.

In the end, at a terrible cost, the Grand Duke of Cangting and several allied powerhouses from neighboring nations managed to suppress the god’s incarnated form.

But even then—

Even a mere incarnation of the Evil God was beyond the power of Titled and Legendary Beastmasters to destroy.

Despite their immense sacrifices, they had only managed to barely seal it away.

Most of Twilight’s power had been locked beneath the grand defensive array within the Grand Ducal Family’s domain.

Yet, for some reason, a small fragment of its power had remained—

Within the newly born, only daughter of the Grand Duke—Sylvia.

To the general populace, who didn’t understand the truth—

And with Sylvia’s occasional outbursts of uncontrollable Evil God power—

It didn’t take much for certain manipulative figures to twist the narrative.

The girl, who was actually a victim, became known as the incarnation of the Twilight Evil God, a harbinger of disaster.

Hatred, resentment, and every conceivable negative sentiment were all projected onto her.

That was the root cause of Sylvia’s current predicament—

Despised, rejected, and abandoned.

From the moment of her birth—

She had drawn the short straw and been cast into the role of a Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.

The only difference was—

That Seventh Hokage had fought to clear his name and earn the village’s recognition.

But according to the fate Xia Ya knew—

The future Argent Witch, founder of the White Chalk Tower, never got that chance.

…

The thought flashed through Xia Ya’s mind, but he quickly refocused.

His attention returned to the sleeping Sylvia.

From a certain perspective—

This was the hardest part of his Phase Three Beginner Quest.

The entity lurking within Sylvia—madness, corruption, and sheer pollution—

Was only a fragment split off from the half-body of the Evil God’s descent.

And even this fragment had been bound by multiple layers of seals—

Placed by the Grand Duke of Cangting himself at the cost of his entire life’s effort.

A seal created by a Titled Beastmaster wasn’t so easily broken.

All of Sylvia’s prior outbursts had only been small leaks of Evil God power—

Taking advantage of moments when her will wavered to seep through the cracks of the seal and affect the world.

Compared to Twilight in its full form—

These fragments were a mere drop in the ocean.

Even so—

With its sheer rank, even a fraction of its aura could level half a district or warp a dozen people into mindless flesh masses who did nothing but praise Twilight.

Of course, Xia Ya had gathered intelligence in advance.

Since Sylvia’s outburst was a foreseeable event, there was no way he’d come unprepared.

And as the saying goes—

Every force has its counter.

Even if it was the remnant aura of a false god, since it had no roots, no guidance, and no will to command it—

It was far from being truly unstoppable.

A small bottle appeared in Xia Ya’s palm.

He popped off the cap and downed its contents in one gulp.

【You have consumed a Temporary Mental Enhancement Potion (Produced in Alchemist City).】

【For the next 30 seconds, your mental strength will be enhanced, and your summoned beast’s mental abilities will be amplified.】

【After 30 seconds, you will enter a "Mental Fatigue" state lasting 30 minutes.】

Lines of system notifications flashed across his interface, but Xia Ya ignored them.

“To control a Tailed Beast—”

“Nothing beats using Illusion Arts as a counter.”

The next moment—

In the eyes of Xia Ya and Silver—

A silver moon silently emerged, spinning and expanding.

Then—

Bit by bit, the moon’s reflection seeped into reality.