She quickly devoured her food, moving with that exact same speed Celis used to have. The sight instantly brought Celis back to mind, and unbidden, a name floated into Shintia's thoughts.
"Chelya."
She tilted her head, looking as though she didn't quite understand.
"Who's Selia?"
"Chelya. I'm giving you a name."
Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared into Shintia's face, before responding with a warm, sweet smile.
Chelya fell silent, her face flushing crimson with sudden shyness as she quickly looked away.
Shintia let out a soft laugh. To be honest, Chelya felt genuinely happy, even though she just kept right on eating.
Moments later, Shintia stood outside the front door, waving goodbye to Chelya as she headed off to school. Chelya waved back shyly.
With that, Shintia walked off to leave for her own day.
Chelya stepped back inside and closed the door.
Day after day passed, and Shintia and Chelya lived together almost like biological sisters—though it was only temporary, restricted by the fact that Shintia had to return to school every evening for acting practice.
Meanwhile, Shintia's daily routine continued to be plagued by the nuisance and disgust of Risky, who stubbornly kept trying to win her over as his partner. No matter how many times he tried, not a single attempt ever succeeded.
It only ever served to thoroughly irritate Shintia.
Hella and Mitha went about their daily lives as usual with nothing particularly extraordinary happening, aside from sharing stories during lunch breaks.
Sharing similar feelings and personalities, their warmth and ease around each other drew them closer with each passing day.
Perhaps, would they eventually end up sharing the same feelings?
However, the major focus over the past few days had been Celis Von D'e, now known far and wide as the Butterfly Witch. He pursued his revenge indiscriminately, targeting anyone and everyone connected or related to Robert Pattinson.
Family members, relatives, acquaintances, close friends, and even Robert's own child were slain. Celis harbored no hesitation or mercy for the guilty, driven by a self-absorbed personality that cared nothing for anyone else.
Blood after blood—each time the Sumitsu blade finished stabbing or slashing a target, they died permanently, failing to revive even though they should have been resurrected due to unfulfilled bonds of destiny and Vows.
Instead, what they didn't realize was that the Sumitsu blade severed destiny and Vow bonds entirely, making return from the dead impossible.
Celis remained entirely ignorant of his blade's true nature, keeping himself in the dark about the real truth.
Yet with every victim, Celis forced out vital information bit by bit, gathering personal details about Robert and the reasons behind the assassination of Celis's parents.
Until the moment arrived for his final target: an office colleague of his father's who was also a close friend of Robert's...
The man collapsed to the floor right before Celis, the Sumitsu blade dripping with fresh blood as Celis shook the crimson liquid off the edge.
Behind Celis stood a woman and a teenage boy, lying dead in pools of their own blood—the wife and child of Robert's associate.
A terrifying pressure beyond the comprehension of ordinary human reason, a mix of dark and deep blue auras, poured out of Celis's body, enveloping the entire estate—a space roughly the size of a third of a traditional Demang arena.
The man's body shook violently and uncontrollably as a flood of cold sweat drenched him head to toe.
He was completely helpless now, his body frozen by an intense, paralyzing terror that bordered on madness.
Celis stared down with a deadly seriousness, his gaze as sharp as a razor slicing through flesh whenever their eyes met.
"Now, tell me what Robert's issue with my father was."
The man forced his mouth open little by little. A tiny, strained voice escaped, but Celis couldn't make it out.
"Speak properly."
Celis didn't hesitate to snap at him, devoid of any empathy for a man he despised. That coercion finally forced words past the man's lips, despite his terror.
"I-I-I-I-I... I just heard... that Robert wanted the Sumitsu sword. That lightweight katana, practically weightless, was what made Robert obsessed with it."
"Just that?"
"Your own father once said that Sumitsu was originally crafted from aerogel, known as the lightest material in existence, which made your dad shape it like a regular sword that couldn't actually be used. But after the Slander Disaster incident, your father modified it into a katana so light it felt weightless."
"So just that is why Robert wanted it?"
"N-n-n-no... during the modification process, Deru used concept manipulation magic to directly manifest the concept of a katana blade, bringing it into the reality you're using right now."
Recalling past events, Hella's story and this old man's account contradicted each other slightly. Hella claimed the Sumitsu blade originated from Japan, while this man insisted it was created by Deru—Celis's own father.
Celis doubted the claim, but it was an intriguing piece of information to store away. Even if there was a grain of truth to it, Celis still remained skeptical, writing it off as an impossibility.
"So Sumitsu was originally a sword made from clouds? And thanks to concept manipulation, my dad materialized it into a katana shape?"
"Y-y-yes... Indirectly, Deru sacrificed his Conceptual power just to give Sumitsu its physical form. So, Sumitsu is a manifested weapon. What caught Robert's attention was its absurd, unreasonable ability."
"What ability?"
"Unlike ordinary weapons, Sumitsu is known as a conceptual weapon, used to deny the existence of concepts themselves, making it uniquely suited to destroy any concept whatsoever."
Celis didn't fully grasp what the man was talking about, but gradually, Celis's aura began to recede on its own, signaling a drop in his anger—though the lingering pressure remained even without the active aura.
"Explain in more detail. I want to know."
"Y-y-y-ye-yes... It's impossible for anyone using any form of defense—physical, mental, or magical—to survive, because their very concept of defense is erased the moment they are cut by Sumitsu. Because fundamentally, its purpose is to deny concepts as a whole."
"To deny concepts for what purpose?"
"You know how your father always was—he perpetually rejected existing concepts to indulge his own ego. He could even slash through the concept of defying destiny and breaking vows made to Calumny."
Hearing that, the questions finally answered themselves in Celis's mind, explaining why every person he killed with the Sumitsu sword died permanently and couldn't be resurrected.
Now, Celis understood the exact reason why Robert Pattinson desired his Sumitsu sword so desperately.
"Is that so..."
"Y-y-yes... So please, spare me..."
Celis had actually sensed someone's presence for quite some time thanks to his butterfly instincts capable of tracking within a four-meter radius, and this was the perfect moment to reveal it—and grant his "mercy."
"Yeah, I should thank you, Uncle Udin. And you guys... you're awfully eager lately, always interrupting my final steps."
Fariz, Zinia, and Radiz revealed themselves, standing solidly in front of the victim's wife and child.
"You cause people to die every single day, Celis. What is your actual goal here?"
Radiz demanded to know the purpose behind everything that had transpired over the past few days.
Celis tilted his head slightly, fixing his gaze on Radiz's face.
"You don't need to know anything about me. Just take care of the rest."
He shifted his gaze back to Udin.
"Since I'm in a good mood today, I won't kill you. Thanks for the chat."
Celis dissolved into a swarm of blue butterflies, scattering in all directions. The event flashed past and vanished in a split second.
In other words, he fled...
Radiz's mental state was heavily battered by the ordeal. Over fifty people had already fallen victim to Celis's campaign of revenge and information-gathering.
Fariz and Zinia carefully lifted the bodies of the two victims, which vanished into thin air the moment they touched them.
Radiz gently touched Udin's shoulder with a look of deep pity.
"We're sorry we're late, sir."
With a hollow, vacant stare, Udin murmured in response to Radiz.
"Just leave it be. I'd rather go join my family."
Spontaneously, Radiz pulled Udin into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry... We're so, so sorry..."
Tears streamed heavily down Udin's face as he broke down sobbing—to him, this immortality felt like a cruel curse meant for someone too weak to bear the weight of destiny.
"....."
Until the night of June 11, 2023, when Shintia and the other participants finally took the stage to perform their theatrical drama.