Living in society, a person must always have a bit of acting skill. This skill isn't about imitating others, but about learning to conceal one's emotions.
Life isn't always smooth sailing. Having to maintain interpersonal relationships when you're in a bad mood is the most unpleasant thing. At such times, you must use acting skills to disguise your emotions.
As a strong person, Li Mo could choose not to disguise or conceal his emotions. But in front of Koyanskaya, he was concealing his emotions. An "ambiguous" emotion.
Presumably, Koyanskaya sensed this emotion. Although she is a rabbit, not a fox, she is, after all, a Beast of Humanity born in imitation of Tamamo-no-Mae, sharing similar traits with a fox. Sensing that ambiguous attitude, she made such a flirtatious gesture.
It was like a temptation.
Li Mo shook his head. Of course, he enjoyed the flying kiss from Koyanskaya. As a man, how could he refuse a flying kiss from a woman like Koyanskaya?
However, Li Mo would not be flustered by it. After all, he is already a married man.
The last time he returned to the Demon Slayer world, while staying at the Butterfly Mansion, there were already people proposing marriage. Over time, Shinobu and the others had come to accept the relationship between the four of them, to the point that Li Mo sometimes felt he was the outsider.
He could talk about it more after going back.
Stepping out of the workshop, Li Mo examined the bounded field within. It seemed further modification was needed. He couldn't just let Koyanskaya come and go so freely—she didn't have the memories of the Holy Grail War now.
That brief encounter was enough for Li Mo to sense the connection. Since the Command Spells were once the means connecting his contract with Koyanskaya, that "bond" was clearly perceived.
She was indeed her. Koyanskaya was Koyanskaya.
"The sun is really blinding today. Its brightness is even higher than the Bifrost's."
The sun of the Scandinavian Lostbelt is the bound, sealed physical body of Surtr. That was the final act of the Great God for this Lostbelt. If... no accidents occurred, then Surtr would be sealed there forever.
But everyone understands that any seal will eventually fail. How can theoretical things withstand the miracles brought by the passage of time?
Ophelia was that accident.
But... it doesn't matter. Scathach-Skadi's idea was definitely to seal Surtr away forever. No... she must have believed Surtr would be imprisoned there forever, gradually forgetting his existence over the long years. But he couldn't think that way, because he needed to kill that final King of Giants.
The blueprint for the decisive battle's magecraft was prepared. How could Li Mo allow Surtr to remain sealed?
Li Mo looked north. Even though Skadi used ice crystals to conceal its form, making it unobservable both optically and magically, as a close retainer to Her Majesty, as one of the two people Scathach-Skadi trusted most...
He knew the Fantasy Tree was there.
That was his target.
Withdrawing his gaze, Li Mo organized the gains from the previous days. Since that last meeting with Skadi, Li Mo had not communicated with Her Majesty again. Because everything that needed to be said had been discussed; they had reached a consensus.
Skadi agreed to Li Mo's plan, but on the condition that the continuation of the Lostbelt was fully guaranteed. After all, the Fantasy Tree had a backdoor.
Skillfully exploiting Skadi's mindset, where the Lostbelt's survival was paramount, Li Mo successfully won her over. This was also achieved thanks to the trust accumulated over the better part of a year with Skadi.
All the requirements Skadi had previously proposed, he had satisfied. With existing examples before him, copying them was as easy as turning over his hand.
His concept for replacing the Fantasy Tree was also simple: the Bifrost. The current Bifrost, spanning the entire Lostbelt, converted the remnants of Surtr's power left in the land. In the past, those raging flame mountains were a symbol of Skadi's helplessness, but now they were a symbol of hope.
Surtr's flames were converted into Skadi's energy. With this ebb and flow, the land would return to its original state. Humanity's future was bright.
—And here came the curious part. The reason a Lostbelt is a Lostbelt is because it was pruned by the Human Order. And the reason it was pruned is that the Lostbelt had reached a dead end, with no future.
So, when a Lostbelt regains a future, will this process be reversed?
"Probably not."
Li Mo, with his hands behind his back, walked towards the castle.
Destruction is always easier than creation. The various changes in the world are not like reversible chemical reactions, easily returning to the past.
Uncharacteristically, he began to think: after dealing with Surtr, how should he handle the Chaldea party? Surrender with hands raised, like in the original story?
Li Mo looked at the Bifrost in the sky. That was his painstaking effort, his brainchild.
To simply hand it over? That wasn't Li Mo's style.
To stand against Chaldea?
His thoughts grew tangled, but Li Mo quickly severed that line of thinking.
That was too distant. Chaldea was still struggling in the Russian Lostbelt, facing the Lostbelt King, Ivan the Terrible. There was still time before they reached the Scandinavian Lostbelt.
By the time that happened, the issues of the Scandinavian Lostbelt would likely be settled, right?
Li Mo entered the castle, unimpeded along the way. During the journey, he encountered the commander-type Valkyrie, the three sisters Thrud. After exchanging nods with the three sisters, he once again entered the great hall where Scathach-Skadi resided.
The last god of Scandinavia, Scathach-Skadi, stood there eternally. As the Mother of Scandinavia, she rarely left this hall. After the new Bifrost was constructed across the sky of Scandinavia, she would never leave this place again.
"Are you prepared?"
Skadi had not forgotten their previous conversation. The Fantasy Tree, as the key to the continuation of the Scandinavian Lostbelt, actually hid an exploitable backdoor. Over the past few days, using the Primordial Runes taught by the Great God, she conducted a remote investigation of the Fantasy Tree and discovered that her connection to it could be severed.
—Ophelia could do this. Undoubtedly, this discovery made Skadi lean more towards Li Mo.
Li Mo said, "I am prepared, Your Majesty. My idea is to use the Bifrost as the cornerstone to stabilize the world."
He elaborated on his method: imbuing the Bifrost with the function of a cornerstone. Once activated, it could temporarily replace the Fantasy Tree in stabilizing the entire Lostbelt. After the "Star Anchor" was successfully forged, this function of the Bifrost could be deactivated. However... due to its inherent nature, the Bifrost could not sustain this function for too long; it could only be used as a temporary emergency measure.
Skadi listened carefully to Li Mo's words. She said, "My dear child. Is your goal merely to forge the 'Spear of the Chief God'?"