Furina's pupils widened as she stared blankly at the rapidly approaching large Hydro Phantasm.
"Lady Furina!" The guards closest to her rushed forward, but it was too late.
When the claw was just an inch from Furina's skin, her blue eyes, varying in shade, instantly turned crimson. A powerful killing intent emanated from "Furina" as a red scythe materialized in her hand. Her body shot towards the Hydro Phantasm at an imperceptible speed, and the scythe sliced through its body.
With a single strike, one of the large Hydro Phantasm's arms was severed. "Roar—" it let out a cry of pain. "Furina" didn't stop. Hovering in the air, she turned, a look of disdain on her face, and raised her arm. With a flick of her wrist, the scythe gracefully flew towards the Hydro Phantasm.
In less than a second, the scythe pierced its body. Then, it arced eerily, scraping the ground before passing through its body again, inflicting secondary damage on the poor Hydro Phantasm. After several repetitions, the scythe flew back into "Furina's" hand, and the Hydro Phantasm finally collapsed to the ground, unable to sustain itself.
Without a moment's pause, "Furina" turned and charged into the horde of monsters.
"Let me see, just how strong are you?" 'Furina' took down a monster every second, rampaging through the horde. Now she could use Hydro elements. The scythe glowed with Hydro energy, and blue light flashed continuously within the monster horde, forcing everyone to close their eyes.
"Is... is the other me that powerful? Just now, I thought I was going to die here..." Furina watched in her inner space as Black Furina annihilated the monsters, completely dumbfounded.
Brilliant Hydro elements carved out arcs, which intertwined as the clearing paths overlapped. The thousand-plus monsters were all wiped out by "Furina" within ten minutes.
"Wh-what?" The guide in the team was stunned. She knew the Hydro Archon could clear these monsters, but she never expected the Hydro Archon to be so fierce! "N-no! I have to escape. If this incident is investigated, it'll quickly lead back to me. Damn it, I shouldn't have been so greedy for that Mora."
Just as Furina finished her work, she saw the guide stealthily preparing to flee. She instantly flew over, grabbed him by the neck with one hand, and pressed him down. The man was instantly immobilized.
"Hmm, in such a hurry, where are you off to? Will you tell me willingly, or shall I pry it out of you?" Black Furina's ferocious expression coupled with her threatening tone instantly shattered the guide's psychological defenses, who had intended to stay silent. "I-I'll tell you everything. My superior is a man named Pierre. He gave me 100,000 Mora to lead the team to a place he designated, and he also told me about a shortcut, saying I should escape through it. After it's done, he'll give me another 300,000 Mora."
"Anything else?"
"N-nothing else." The guide was filled with terror, not daring to utter a single lie.
Black Furina saw that he didn't seem to be lying and threw him to a nearby soldier, saying, "Escort him and send him to the Court of Arbitration for trial on a chosen day."
"Yes!"
Black Furina then called Furina's secretary over and instructed, "You lead a team and return to Fontaine City immediately. Order them to arrest and interrogate a man named Pierre. Also, demand that all Fontaine institutions thoroughly investigate for moles. Notify the Gardes to set up an ambush near the homes of several important nobles in advance! Quickly!"
"Yes, Lady Furina." The secretary led a dozen fast-moving team members and returned first.
An inconspicuous team member in the group saw this scene from a distance, secretly thought, "Oh no!" and quietly took a shortcut to leave the cave first.
At this moment, Black Furina was returning control of the body to Furina, and the distance was quite far, so he really did manage to escape.
Furina, who had just regained control, was still somewhat shaken, cold sweat trickling down her face.
She really wanted to thank Black Furina right now, but it was clearly not the time.
"Lady Furina! Lady Furina!"
The shouts for Furina reappeared, but this time, it was not worry, but cheers.
Everyone gathered around Furina, celebrating and thanking the Hydro Archon for leading them through this crisis.
"I told you, Lady Furina is so powerful, how could she not have strength?"
"Yes, yes, thanks to Lady Furina this time, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go home."
Furina, meanwhile, sat upright at the front of the carriage, puffing out her chest and making a very exaggerated face as she shouted to those around her, "Hahahaha, do you see, my people? This is the power of me, Furcalos, the Archon! Cheer! Applaud! You have such a great deity!"
"Lady Furina!"
"Alright, alright, everyone disperse. Clean up the battlefield and prepare to return to Fontaine City."
Everyone dispersed in an orderly fashion.
Furina continued to maintain an elegant posture, sitting at the front of the carriage. Her expression appeared calm, but inwardly, a storm was brewing.
"Th-the other me, thank you. If it weren't for you, I might... have died here... and Fontaine, too..." In her inner space, Furina looked down slightly at Black Furina, a slight sob escaping her lips.
"Eh eh eh, alright, alright, don't cry. I can't stand that." Black Furina took a step back, a hint of disgust on her face.
"Then, can we be friends?" Furina tentatively asked Black Furina. "You know, I bear the responsibility of playing the Hydro Archon, and I can't make friends, otherwise I might reveal my secret. But you're different; you already know my duty, and you share the same body with me. You're the only one I can be friends with..."
"Moreover, I've calmed down and thought carefully over these past three days. You know that I'm a fake Hydro Archon. The me in the mirror is so powerful, she would definitely discover it and then try to come up with other plans, but she hasn't appeared yet, which means Fontaine is still safe. You are truly protecting me and considering Fontaine's matters."
"Also, I want to apologize to you. Back then, I didn't trust you enough, I overlooked you in many things, and my attitude towards you was a bit poor. I'm sorry..."
Furina slowly spoke her true feelings.
"Ha, friends? No, no, who needs that?"
Having just heard the first half of the sentence, Black Furina was overjoyed internally, but her words were as sharp-tongued as ever. It wasn't until the latter half—"You are my only one..."—that the words left Furina's mouth and entered Black Furina's ears, and she froze.
"'You are my only one'... Furina said 'you are my only one'! Ahhh!"
Black Furina, who was about to refuse, immediately lost control and started to go crazy upon hearing these words, not even hearing Furina's subsequent apology.
"Ahem, I forgive you. Then we're friends from now on!"
"Mhm mhm, best friends forever, friends for life!"
Furina's face was full of joy. After all, she was just a young girl; having a friend, and her only friend at that, naturally made her very happy.
Black Furina, usually stern-faced, also showed a slight smile, indicating she was in a very good mood.
However, behind that smiling face, there was a hint of sadness, a sadness no one could discern.
"For life... forever... really? I hope so..."
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
At the same time, in Fontaine City
"My lord, my lord, this is bad! The Hydro Archon suddenly unleashed her power and dealt with all the monsters within ten minutes! Our mole was also caught! And he implicated Pierre!" A man frantically ran to a noble, reporting the incident as quickly as possible.
"What?" All the nobles stood up in surprise, clearly somewhat flustered but still maintaining their composure.
"Go quickly! Go quickly and get rid of that Pierre fellow! Be quick!"
"Yes!" The subordinate rushed off.
"We really underestimated the Hydro Archon; she even managed to quickly catch the mole. Now we can only hope our speed is faster."
However, he didn't know that if this foolish mole hadn't run, they would have had more time.
Meanwhile, the secretary also led the small team back to Fontaine City.
"Now, it's my turn to attack."
...