We’re going to be caught together X﹏X

Xingyue: ‘No, no, no (⋟﹏⋞)’

‘I can’t choose B.’

‘I can’t bet on her stamina with wishful thinking…’

In the end, Xingyue chose A.

“Watch me use my stars… urgh X﹏X”

Xingyue’s fingertips grasped futilely in the air. The star magic that was half-formed dissipated into scattered points of light.

Xingyue had inhaled too much pollen and couldn’t concentrate at all right now.

‘Oh no, is this the end…’

“Tch, don’t underestimate this young lady…”

Xingyue looked up and saw Xisitina in front of her bite her lower lip. The blood that trickled from the corner of her mouth dripped onto the sapphire pendant of her magic staff.

This act instantly restored Xisitina’s senses.

Then she quickly began to charge up a powerful spell.

“Magic: Ice Burst!”

The blue-haired girl roared.

Then, in a flash of cold light, the vines in the entire flower field exploded.

Xingyue: ‘So strong (*ﾟﾛﾟ)!!’

Xisitina had cleared out all the nearby vines with a single spell.

The two of them were successfully freed and fell to the ground.

“Hmph, how dare you bind this young lady.”

Xisitina got up from the ground and dusted herself off, looking composed.

Xingyue: ‘Mmm… since she has such a powerful skill… it probably would have been fine even if I had chosen B just now, right? (◦˙▽˙◦)’

‘Anyway, Xisitina could have dealt with the vines.’

Xingyue thought to herself…

But the Redemption System seemed to have sensed her thoughts.

[Note: If you had chosen B, your kiss would have directly shattered Xisitina’s last line of defense, and then the two of you would have been… together…]

Xingyue: ‘…Huh?’

‘It can be like that? Σ( ° △ °|||)︴’

Xingyue was stunned.

“Oh? There are still some that got away?”

Just then, Xisitina noticed that a few vines had not been destroyed.

So Xisitina reached out her hand, preparing to recall her staff to give these vines the final blow.

However…

“What’s going on?”

Xisitina had her hand outstretched for a long time, but the staff still hadn’t returned.

At that moment, Xisitina realized that her staff, which had fallen to the ground when she fell earlier, was now entangled by a vine, dragging it into the soil.

“Eh eh! My staff!”

Xisitina’s cry was filled with a rare panic.

She quickly cast a spell, releasing several ice shards, but it was too late.

The vine had already escaped.

“Damn it! (╬◣д◢)”

Xisitina looked like she was about to explode.

She came to Xingyue’s side and gripped her hand tightly.

“Eh? Tina?”

“Let’s go, Xingyue. Let’s wipe them all out… and find my staff while we’re at it!”

“Ah… but isn’t it too dangerous without a staff?” Xingyue asked weakly.

“It’s fine. I’ve also practiced staffless casting for a long time. I can still make these monsters pay the price.”
Xisitina’s voice was as cold as ice, and water condensed into sharp ice blades in her bare hands.

“Tina, your staff… is there something special about it?” Xingyue asked with some curiosity.

“It’s not really special. To others, it’s just an ordinary staff, but it’s very important to me. It’s something I absolutely cannot lose…”
Xisitina’s voice trailed off.

And so, the two of them began to clear out the plant monsters in this area.

****

Actually, although they said they were doing it together, in the end, it was mostly Xisitina who was doing all the work.

After all, it was uncertain whether Xingyue’s magic could even kill the monsters, and she would probably run out of mana after just a few hits (sad).

The two of them killed many plant monsters along the way, but they never found the staff.

Just like that, they arrived at the deepest part…

Where a flower bud was located.

“Will it be here?” Xingyue asked.

“There are still two areas we haven’t searched. Let’s go there first,” Xisitina said to Xingyue.

However, just as the two were about to leave…

“Leaving? Where do you think you’re going?”

Xingyue: ‘?!’

Xisitina: ‘?!’

A giant flower bud slowly opened, and a pink-haired, big-sister-type flower demon emerged from within.

The flower demon’s skirt was composed of countless writhing petals, and her face was more delicate than a doll’s, but the evil smile on her face had already revealed her true nature.

“So it was you who killed my children?” the flower demon said with a smile, looking at Xisitina.

“It seems you’re the big boss of this spatial rift. In that case, after I defeat you, this rift should automatically repair itself,” Xisitina said, shielding Xingyue behind her, her ice magic humming in her palm.

“Hide behind me,” Xisitina whispered to Xingyue.

“Hehehehe, what big words,” the flower demon let out an evil laugh.

“But unfortunately, thanks to the sacrifice of my lovely children, I now know perfectly well that you excel at water and ice magic.”

The flower demon said, snapping her fingers.

Then she summoned several vines.

“Therefore, I also know how to counter you.”

With that, all the vines summoned by the flower demon were enchanted with lightning and surrounded the two of them.

Each tendril of the electrified vines was wrapped in crackling lightning, and they lunged towards the two of them.

Xisitina’s water shield sizzled in the lightning. Xisitina gritted her teeth and threw out ice cones, but they were instantly shattered by the vines.

“Damn it! She knows lightning magic counters me…”
Xisitina’s pupils contracted.

“It’s too late to realize that now.”

The flower demon giggled, flicking the electric vines in her hair. The temperature of the entire space suddenly soared.

“I have to go all out…!”

Xisitina gritted her teeth and launched an attack. The ice blades, wrapped in a biting cold, shot through the air, but the moment they touched the flower demon’s skirt, they were shattered into powder by a purple arc of lightning.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I also have a lightning shield,” the flower demon said, lightly tapping the ground with the tip of her foot. More electrified vines appeared, each tendril wrapped in crackling lightning.

“So many vines… ahh!”

The vines under Xisitina’s feet took advantage of her distraction, suddenly shooting out and wrapping around her ankles. Then, an electric shock paralyzed her legs, causing her to lose her balance and be forced to her knees.

The scales of battle tipped rapidly.

Xisitina’s ice blades disintegrated in the lightning, and her fair skin was burned with black marks from the electric current.

“Caught one~” the flower demon chuckled lightly.

Xisitina: “Oh no… yaahhh!”

The next second, the vines tied up Xisitina.

“Tina—ah!”
Xingyue tried to save Xisitina, but was interrupted by the whip of a vine.

“Ugh… it hurts so much X﹏X”

She struggled to get up. The numbing pain from that last blow almost made her faint.

“Hehehe, there’s still one more. Little sister, if you don’t want to suffer, you’d better obediently put your hands behind your back and let this big sister tie you up.”

The flower demon giggled as she approached, the vines weaving a dense cage above their heads.

Just then…

“Run! Xingyue!”

“Go find my staff… We can’t both be caught!”

Xisitina suddenly burst out, using her last bit of magic to form an ice spike to force the flower demon back.

Her voice was filled with an unprecedented urgency, and her blue eyes reflected her plea to Xingyue.

[Time of Decision!]

[A. Run and find Xisitina’s staff!]

[B. Stay and fight the flower demon to save Xisitina!]

[C. Surrender to the flower demon…]

[Note: There is only one correct option. If you choose incorrectly, you will enter the bad ending—”The Flower Demon’s Affection.”]

Xingyue decided…