A beautiful girl who transmigrates into a Herrscher of the Void is treated like an elf and conquered

After delivering this highly persuasive invitation, which reflected her personal beliefs, Chinatsu slightly turned her head to glance at Shido, who looked tense beside her. Her tone was slightly teasing, yet she clearly handed over the choice:

"Of course, there is another option—this seemingly adolescent, hormone-fueled idiot and the organization behind him seem to have a different set of theories. Yoshino, Yoshina, you can also choose to talk to him first and hear what he has to say."

"I'll wait until you make your decision before I come back."

Chinatsu's figure disappeared as the portal closed, and the suffocating oppressive feeling in the ruins dissipated. Shido finally let out a long sigh of relief, his tense nerves relaxing slightly.

He was so scared his heart almost jumped out of his chest, fearing that Yoshino would be persuaded by Chinatsu's powerful and vengeful declaration in that situation and join "Anti-Entropy" on the spot.

(Fortunately... Yoshino is more docile than I imagined...) Shido thought to himself, and couldn't help but feel even more pity for this timid spirit.

As if to confirm his idea, Yoshino cautiously raised her head, her azure eyes looking at Shido, and said in a soft but clear voice:

“Um… Mr. Shido… I, I’m not really interested in what that lady was talking about, ‘anti-entropy’…”

She gently hugged Yoshina in her arms and whispered the reason:

“I… don’t like fighting… and I don’t want to see anyone get hurt… so…”

Hearing these words, Shido felt even more sorry for Yoshino because of her kindness. However, this kindness, which completely avoids conflict and is unwilling to see the perpetrator get hurt, seems so fragile in the face of this cruel reality, carrying an almost sorrowful compassion.

He straightened his expression and prepared to explain Ratatoskr's philosophy and the "sealing" plan to Yoshino, offering her another path.

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Kotori's urgent voice came through the earpiece, trying to stop him:

"Shido! Wait! It's too early to bring up the concept of 'sealing' right now! She's not completely off guard yet; we need to build trust and goodwill first! Stick to the plan—go on a date with her first!"

"A...a date?!" Shido almost bit his tongue in this messy environment after a fierce battle?

"That's right! It's a date!"

Kotori's tone left no room for argument, "This is the fastest way to close the distance and get her to lower her guard! Invite her now!"

Shido looked at Yoshino, who was timidly staring at him, and the rabbit puppet in her hand that was also "looking" at him, and his face couldn't help but feel hot.

He forced himself to swallow back the plan he was about to explain, and instead forced a natural smile as he extended an invitation to Yoshino:

"Um... as for other plans and such, it might indeed be a bit early to talk about them now..."

He scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed, and said, "If it's alright... Yoshino, Yoshino, now... please go on a date with me?"

To Shido's surprise, Yoshina did not show any shyness or refusal upon hearing the invitation; instead, she seemed even more excited!

The tiny hands controlling the puppet clapped incessantly (as if applauding), and loudly proclaimed in its uniquely comical tone:

"Hehe~! Not bad! You can't judge a book by its cover. I didn't expect you to be so bold as to invite me directly~! Hmph, of course it's OK~! In fact, it's rare to meet someone who understands Yoshina's humor and can talk to her properly, so it's Yoshina who wants to ask you to play with us~!"

After saying that, Yoshina let out a cheerful laugh, and the tense atmosphere caused by Chinatsu's appearance completely eased.

Thus, in this department store, which had just experienced a spacequake and fierce fighting and was like an apocalyptic ruin, a strange "date" began.

Shido and Yoshino, the "recluse" who mainly communicates with "Yoshino", walk together into the department store's interior areas that are still intact and may still retain some traces of its former prosperity.

For Shido, this is a "strategy" that must be successful to ensure the survival of the spirits; for Yoshino, this may be a rare opportunity to communicate peacefully with people (albeit through Yoshina) and experience the outside world; and for the lively Yoshina, this is probably just a fun adventure game with new friends.

Three different thoughts, on this dilapidated stage, intertwine to create a wondrous prologue.

Chapter 218 One of them...

Stepping into the relatively well-preserved interior of the department store, although it was still covered in a layer of dust and some shelves had collapsed, one could still vaguely see traces of its former prosperity.

The mannequins in the clothing section wore outdated clothes, the dolls in the toy section poked their heads out of boxes, and the notebooks in the stationery section were scattered all over the floor... This space, which had survived the disaster, had now become a peculiar dating spot.

Yoshina seemed unusually excited, as if she was full of curiosity about everything.

"Wow! Shido! Look at that!" Yoshina commanded in her sharp, comical voice, pointing to a display stand with an exaggerated hat hanging on it.

"That hat is so interesting! Doesn't it look like something you'd see in a circus?" Shido looked in the direction it was pointing and saw a wide-brimmed hat decorated with huge feathers and glittering sequins. It was out of place in the ruins, yet it carried a tenacious air of trying to hold onto joy.

“Yes, it’s gorgeous.” Shido nodded in agreement, stepped forward, carefully removed the hat from the mannequin’s tilted head, and gently brushed away the dust.

He hesitated for a moment, and instead of handing it directly to Yoshino, he handed it to the puppet that Yoshino was controlling.

Yoshino immediately "took" it with her puppet hand, then deftly turned it around and tried to put it on Yoshino's head.

Yoshino flinched slightly, but didn't object, letting the exaggerated hat gently fall onto her blue curly hair. The hat was a bit too big for her, almost covering half her face, revealing only her small chin and slightly reddened lips.

"How about it? Yoshino, it suits you perfectly, doesn't it~!" Yoshino swayed proudly.

Yoshino didn't speak, but Shido could sense a subtle, curious glint in her sapphire-like eyes beneath the brim of her hat. She nodded gently.

They continued walking and came to the toy section. A huge teddy bear dressed in a lace dress lay overturned in the middle of the aisle. Yoshina was immediately drawn to it.

"Ah! It's Mr. Bear! Did it fall down? Poor thing~" Yoshina commanded, "Shido, quickly help it!"

Shido stepped forward and carefully lifted the teddy bear, which was almost as tall as him, and placed it against a sturdy shelf.

The teddy bear's憨厚 (honest and simple) expression looked somewhat comical against the dust. "Great! Mr. Bear is saved!"

Yoshina cheered excitedly, then suddenly lowered her voice and spoke to Shido in a mysterious tone.

"Shido, did you know? Yoshino actually really likes these big, furry creatures~ She's just too shy to say it!"

"Yoshino!" A faint, embarrassed protest came from under the brim of the hat. This was the first time she had directly responded to Yoshino's words.

Shido couldn't help but laugh: "Really? That's a cute hobby."

Next, they passed a music box display case. Most of the music boxes were damaged, but a small one, inlaid with seashells, had simply been shaken to the ground and seemed to still be working.

Shido picked it up and gently wound it up a few times.

Ding-dong-dong—a crisp, ethereal, yet slightly off-key melody flowed through the silent ruins, an ancient, unknown nursery rhyme.

The moment the music started, Shido noticed that Yoshino, who was wearing a hat, paused slightly.

She quietly raised her hand and pushed the brim of her hat up a little, revealing her clear blue eyes as she listened quietly and attentively to the simple yet incomplete melody.

Her eyes shone with a pure, almost nostalgic, gentle light, as if the music had touched a soft corner deep within her heart.

Even Yoshina, who had been chattering incessantly, fell silent for a moment.

(...She really is a very gentle, yet very lonely child.) Looking at Yoshino like this, Shido's protective instincts and determination to help her grew even stronger.

When the music stopped, Yoshino seemed to snap out of her daze, realizing that Shido was watching her. She immediately pulled her hat brim down again and hid back in the shadows.

"Ahem!" Shido coughed lightly, breaking the brief silence and interrupting Yoshino's awkwardness.

"Speaking of which, how can a date be without a gift? Let me help you pick one out."

He pointed to a glass display case not far away, which displayed some jewelry that, though dusty, still shone brightly.

"Huh?" Yoshino looked up from under her hat brim and looked at Shido with some surprise.

Shido walked over. The counter was shattered. He carefully avoided the glass and took out a simple star pendant necklace inlaid with blue rhinestones.

That blue color reminded him of Yoshino's eyes.

"This... is for you, Yoshino." This time, he didn't go through Yoshino, but spoke directly to the girl under the hat and handed her the necklace.

Yoshino's body visibly stiffened for a moment. She didn't immediately take it, but instead peeked through the gap in the brim of her hat at the blue star shimmering in the dim light in Shido's hand, and then looked at Shido's sincere eyes.

Several seconds later, a slightly trembling little hand slowly emerged from under the cloak and carefully, as if touching something fragile, took the necklace from Shido's hand.

She clutched the necklace tightly in her hand, pressed it against her heart, and spoke to Shido directly for the first time in an almost inaudible voice:

"...Thank...thank you..." The voice was soft, but incredibly clear.

"Oh my gosh! Yoshino actually thanked me! Shido, you really know how to do things!" Yoshino immediately teased loudly, and the atmosphere became relaxed again.

This peculiar date, conducted amidst ruins and dominated by hand puppets, seems to be slowly prying open that frozen, shy heart in an unexpected way.

Shido knew that this was only the first step, but it was undoubtedly a promising beginning.

The next step is to continue this "date" until she can completely trust him and is willing to listen to the future of "sealing" and "coexistence".

Chapter 219 Acting?

Just as Yoshino and Shido's "ruins date" was getting into the swing of things, the blue-haired girl under the exaggerated hat seemed to be opening up a little.

On the other side, beside Chiin, who lay unconscious in the charred ruins, a spatial portal with unstable purple lightning flickering at its edges silently opened again.

A-Quan stepped out, arms crossed, her silver hair fluttering in the breeze, her golden eyes filled with obvious displeasure and a hint of anger at being forcibly brought back.

Looking down at the charred and seemingly unconscious Chiin on the ground, he lightly kicked Chiin's shin. He said in a disdainful tone:

"Hey, you weakling, how much longer are you going to lie there pretending to be dead? Possessing me is tiring too, you know? The electric shocks were controlled; they'll only numb you for a little while. Don't play dumb with me~☆"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the "charred corpse" on the ground suddenly moved. Qianyuan used his arms to support himself on the ground and struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily.

He patted off non-existent dust from his body, and his face showed no trace of the pain he had felt while unconscious. Instead, he forced a pained yet mischievous smile:

"Ugh... what a brutal wake-up service."

He rubbed his still slightly numb neck and looked at A-Quan, "But, regarding the scene I asked you to act in, you... you've done everything you were supposed to do, right?"

A-Quan rolled her eyes dramatically, pointed irritably at the charred, obviously ruined earpiece on Chiin's ear, and replied curtly:

"Which boring headset? It's been electrocuted to scrap metal long ago. This space has been completely sealed off by me. Don't even think about letting a sound, let alone a wisp of spiritual energy, escape. So what?"

She took a step closer, her golden eyes sharply fixed on the seemingly innocent (but feigned) Chiin:

"What exactly are you trying to do? Going to all this trouble, even enduring electroconvulsive therapy, just to hastily bring me down from my quiet cultivation spot on the moon to put on a show, and even now you've granted me access to my Heavenly Judgment Core... What are you trying to do? What kind of scheme are you plotting? ~☆"

Chiin's playful expression subsided somewhat, but her tone still carried a hint of cynicism: "Of course, I had to come down and save the day~ Oh dear... as you can see, due to some 'terrible' reasons, the original script has gone quite awry."

"I have no choice but to personally intervene and use some 'drastic' methods to forcefully push the progress forward and minimize the subsequent 'losses.' Hahaha..." He chuckled dryly a few times.

"Don't give me that!" A-Quan interrupted his dry laugh without any politeness, his eyes filled with "I'd be a fool to believe you," and grabbed the other man's collar, lifting him up directly. "Your excuse won't fool me. I don't believe you're just using this high-sounding reason of 'revising the script'."

"Do you think I'm some naive and innocent fool? Or that blue-haired little brat who's blinded by his date? I don't believe your nonsense! You definitely have ulterior motives!"

When A-Quan directly exposed him, the smile on Qian Yuan's face gradually faded. He remained silent for a moment, and his eyes became serious, even showing a seriousness that he had never shown before.

“That is partly true,” he admitted, his voice lowering.

“There have indeed been some… problems that I need to fix as soon as possible. However, I can’t take direct action right now, so I had no choice but to call you here.”

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the spatial blockade set up by Izumi, looking in the direction where Shido and Yoshino were, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

“Some ‘deviations’, if not corrected in time, may develop into ‘costs’ that none of us can afford in the future.”

He looked at A-Quan again, his eyes filled with a hint of pleading and an undeniable determination: "And you, A-Quan, are the only 'actor' I can trust right now, and the only one capable of creating this 'necessary accident'."

A-Quan stared at Qian Yuan for a few seconds, seemingly trying to find more hidden information in his eyes, but in the end he just spat, let go of his collar, and let him fall back to the ground.

She bent down, placing her hands on her knees, her golden eyes, filled with unprecedented seriousness, almost touching Chiin's face, as she warned, word by word:

“Listen, weak good. Next time—if there is a next time, you dare to devise such a stupid plan that requires you to hurt yourself to execute it…”

Her voice was low, carrying a chilling coldness and an undeniable threat:

"I absolutely will not agree! And I will absolutely, positively make you regret ever having that nerve that thinks such wild thoughts! Do you understand?!"

Chiin was taken aback by her sudden assertiveness, then raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, forcing a reassuring smile on her face:

"Yes, yes, I understand. This was a special case, and it won't happen again. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will definitely cherish my life from now on."

Ah Quan then straightened up, gave a cold snort, and let him go for the time being.

Chiin rubbed his neck, which felt a little uncomfortable, and continued:

"Now that we're back, let's not go back to the moon to practice swordsmanship against rocks for the time being. The flow of time in the imaginary space is controllable, and the environment is quiet enough, making it a better place."

He paused, his tone becoming serious and even somewhat stern, "Moreover, until you can master the Taixu Sword Qi, truly learn to control your power, and overcome that easily triggered mentality, I will not grant you full access to the 'Heavenly Judgment Core' again."

"I will retain the most basic permissions to maintain fundamental capabilities. This is for your own good, and for the good of everyone."

Ah Quan pouted, his face clearly showing reluctance, but surprisingly he didn't refute, he just turned his head and snorted:

"Hmph~ I know. You're so nagging."

She also understood that the incident at the night market and the electric shock just now proved that she still had problems with controlling her strength.

She said no more, and raised her hand to create a spatial rift beside her, its edges shimmering with unstable purple light—an entrance to the imaginary space.

She turned back and glared at Senin again, as if to say, "You better watch out," before turning and stepping into that bizarre and surreal void. The rift closed and disappeared.

Looking at the spot where Ah Quan disappeared, Dean Qian sighed deeply, his face showing a complex expression of exhaustion and relief.

"Ugh, really... they're all such a handful..." he muttered to himself, brushing off the dust and scorch marks from his clothes, and struggling to stand up completely.

Just then, his keen hearing caught the sound of hurried footsteps in the distance, and a familiar, worried female voice calling Shido's name.

He looked up and saw a girl with long, dark hair and amethyst-like eyes rushing anxiously toward him from the end of the passage—it was Tohka.