— — — — — —
After leaving the Watatsuki estate, the group quickly split up and went their separate ways.
On one side, Kaguya Houraisan was finally ready to get down to business.
Back when she'd been sentenced to exile, the so-called pure and noble moonfolk had laughed with such delight. Now? It was their turn to spend a nice, long vacation on the 'filthy Earth' they'd always looked down on.
And tagging along beside her, freshly demoted from "Watatsuki sisters' pet" to "Kaguya's personal pet," was poor Reisen, trailing behind her new master.
Meanwhile, Suika Ibuki and Yuugi Hoshiguma had other plans. They were off to find their old friends—Yukari Yakumo, Yuuka Kazami, and the rest—to share the rare 'Eternal Sake' they'd just stolen from the Watatsuki family stash.
As for Veyron, he'd politely declined the Oni's invitation to join them. Instead, he was curious about one thing: while he'd already seen Kaguya's new palace during last night's 'battle', he hadn't yet visited Eirin Yagokoro's personal quarters here in the Lunar Capital.
And with nothing urgent on his plate, it seemed like the perfect time for a visit.
With a flick of his wrist, he opened a portal and stepped through—emerging in front of a traditional old building hidden deep within a bamboo forest.
"You're not staying to keep the princess company?" Eirin asked as she welcomed him inside.
"She's better off enjoying herself for a while—blowing off steam without me hovering around," Veyron replied casually. "If I stuck too close, she might not let loose the way she needs to. And besides, there's no one left in the Lunar Capital who could possibly threaten her now."
Mid-sentence, his gaze shifted to the figure lying across the tatami mats.
"Did you find anything?" he asked.
It was Tsukuyomi, stretched out motionless.
Yesterday, after Veyron stripped away the concept and divinity of "the moon" from her, Tsukuyomi had immediately fallen unconscious. Eirin had sealed her away in a pocket dimension she carried, and judging by the setup here, she'd started trying to wake her up the moment the victory banquet ended.
"Maybe because she was a god born entirely from the moon?"
Eirin gently brushed Tsukuyomi's hair aside, smoothing her hime cut.
"You completely extracted the concept of 'moon' from her, all that's left now is... an empty shell."
"...Did I go too far?" Veyron scratched his chin, looking a little conflicted. When he'd done it yesterday, he was just following the instinctive pull of his awakened soul—some deep intuition telling him this was the best thing he could do for Kaguya.
"No," Eirin said with a slight shake of her head. "If anything, the way the 'moon' corrupted her essence over time… only by removing it so thoroughly do we even have a chance of bringing the real her back."
She sighed softly. "I just haven't figured out how to wake her up yet."
"Not even with a panacea?" Veyron asked.
"Which one?" Eirin shot back.
She had two kinds on hand: one was the SCP-500 pills Veyron had given her for study—powerful but limited, and still a mystery. The other… was something far more potent. A product of Veyron himself: the Almighty Elixir.
Veyron didn't answer. He just winked at her.
Obviously, he meant the second one.
SCP-500 was incredible, sure—could cure almost anything. But it was still bound by the rules of conventional medicine. It only worked on things that counted as "illness."
The elixir, on the other hand, was in a whole different league.
After Veyron awakened his soul light, it was like reality itself bent to his creativity. The more absurd the idea, the more all-powerful the elixir seemed to become.
"I tried it," Eirin said, shaking her head. "But maybe the batch I had just wasn't pure enough…"
Ever since Veyron's soul light awakened and his life force began rising without limit…
The old batches quickly became outdated.
These days, even a test tube of fresh elixir outclassed a barrel she'd brewed three months ago.
After accepting Veyron's suggestion, Eirin stopped hoarding massive amounts. These days, she only kept enough for short-term use. And honestly? That was more than enough. Veyron dropped by often anyway—he liked striking new poses—and every visit came with a fresh top-up and that satisfying feeling of a well-done thrust.
As for all those hundreds of barrels she used to store? She'd already followed through on their previous agreement and fed them to Inukimi and Hagoromo Gitsune.
...
"Even if you run out, I've still got you covered," Veyron said with a grin, pulling out his trusty time-stop pocket watch.
Every time this happened, he couldn't help but think: "Man, this thing's a masterpiece."
It was originally born from World-2, and though the current version no longer brute-forces time to a halt the way it did in fusion-world World-∞, the function was still absurdly good.
Now, instead of freezing the entire universe, it just granted him and a chosen target unlimited freedom within a crack of time between two instants.
But as far as time-stop experience went?
No difference whatsoever.
Veyron was about to press the time-freeze button as he extended a hand toward Eirin—
Only to have her casually raise a hand in refusal.
Veyron blinked. "Huh?"
"Use her."
Eirin nodded toward the unconscious Tsukuyomi lying on the tatami.
"...Okay, I feel like you've gotten the wrong idea about me somewhere," Veyron said, the corner of his mouth twitching. He understood exactly what she meant by 'use her.'
Using the watch, he pretty much did the same thing as that hentai creep, so…
"Just use her," Eirin repeated, her voice calm but firm.
"I warned her so many times—even before the Lunar Capital was established—that what she was doing carried huge risks. But every time, she waved it off, all smug and confident, saying everything was under control…"
"And look how that turned out."
"Her so-called confidence? It was just blind arrogance. She ignored every red flag and then, when everything blew up in her face, she couldn't even help herself properly."
"If she had told me what she was doing the moment the corruption started, instead of waiting until her very self was about to vanish before trying to create the Moon Princess—maybe things wouldn't have gotten so bad."
"If Kaguya hadn't met you, Veyron, this would've ended with either her, Kaguya, Toyohime, or Yorihime getting sacrificed."
"She created this mess. She can pay the price."
"…Yeah, but still…"
Veyron tried to see it from Eirin's perspective. And okay, fair—now that she had a 'backup plan' in him, all the centuries of resentment she'd bottled up toward Tsukuyomi were starting to pour out.
Still… it felt a little harsh.
"She does look exactly like Kaguya, though. Are you really okay doing this to her?" he asked, trying one last time.
"If you were in my place, would you let it slide?" Eirin shot back.
Veyron didn't hesitate. "Nope."
"Then let's get on with it."
But Eirin wasn't quite done. "If you do it, I'll wear that pervy outfit you've been begging for next time."
Veyron's mouth twitched. Had his moral points really dropped this low? Maybe they were in the negatives now.
He wasn't sure when it all started—maybe back in that tree-born world when he first gave in to lust... or maybe even earlier.
Still, he felt somewhat relieved that no man knew the things he did. Or he'd have new names like— 'Eirin's semen pet', 'loli slave', and even 'Vscum' or 'Cumron'.
---
"...So are you going to at least look away or something?" At this point, Veyron had fully accepted she was serious. He took a deep breath.
"Look away for what? I'll be right here watching the whole thing."
With a wave of her hand, the silver-haired beauty summoned a bamboo chair, which floated gracefully over and settled right beside Tsukuyomi's bedside.
.
.
.
Coreal/Note: Sorry for the delay these past few days. My root canal treatment failed, and with only the front part of the tooth left plus the gum cut open, the pain's been insane fr. I wanted to drop a bunch of chapters so we could finish the moon arc and move on to other worlds, but life happens.