I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 367

Chapter 367: Even the Place Where We Got Lost Is Incredibly Gentle

“Long, long ago, I dreamed of the past of countless eras.”

With a single slash, a horrifyingly huge crack split the ground beneath her feet. A girl in a black dress, Xiao Mo, slowly floated down from the sky, her long hair fluttering continuously under the influence of gravity and air resistance.

“Our world is very, very old, old enough to have given birth to countless myths and love stories. After reaching a certain level of magic proficiency, I inadvertently glimpsed those distant legends.”

Descending from mid-air to the ground, Xiao Mo’s small feet, wrapped in black stockings and little leather shoes, lightly touched the ground.

With a soft “click,” she stepped onto the shattered rocks beneath her feet. She gently raised her right hand, creating a beautiful butterfly shimmering with electric arcs using lightning magic.

“I examined those legends and the deeds of heroes, and among them were fairy tales similar to ours.”

“A knight saved a fallen princess, but the knight did not share the same lifespan as the princess. He passed away early, and the princess fought for thousands of years for him, becoming a Valkyrie renowned in the divine realm, and eventually revived the knight. However, when they met again… there was already a deep chasm and estrangement between them.”

With a wave of her hand, she released the lightning butterfly into the air. Xiao Mo looked at me and continued, “Because the princess knew too much. She had traversed heaven, descended into the underworld, and slain dragons. Many events had played out countless times in her life, and her heart had become as hard as stone. So, when the knight, only a few hundred years old, was revived, aside from the initial joy, it was difficult for the princess to resonate with the young knight anymore.”

“The princess found being with the knight increasingly dull because, in her tens of thousands of years of life, she had encountered countless men similar to the knight. The knight, on the other hand, thought the princess knew everything and that he could never truly connect with her.”

“The final result was… the princess abandoned the knight and vanished into the mortal world. The knight found a woman of similar age and spent a lifetime together.”

Watching the lightning butterfly fly higher and higher, gradually disappearing into the dark clouds overhead, Xiao Mo revealed a smile that was somewhere between regret and helplessness.

“Stories like this one about the princess and the knight have happened many, many times where we come from. Most of the plots are quite similar.”

Under the gloomy sky, I controlled the magic circle to descend to the ground. Carrying a small backpack, I jumped off the magic circle. After a few seconds of silence, I said, “So, Xiao Mo, you used this method to seal away most of your memories and powers just to meet me?”

I had more or less guessed it was something like that.

The Xiao Mo before me, though she claimed to be a “clone,” was indeed a clone of the main body in a strict sense, but this clone was different from the traditional concept.

Because Xiao Mo had some ability to control time and had seen those past events and understood those myths, she knew that stories like the “knight and the princess” would ultimately end in tragedy.

If you think about it from another perspective, it’s clear. Forget about the age gap of hundreds or thousands of years—just a gap of twenty or ten years is an insurmountable gulf for humans.

For example, I used to be a man close to thirty. If you go back ten years, I was twenty, or maybe eighteen. At that time, most girls were in their senior year of high school or already in college. When I was a kid, I watched cartoons like “Digimon,” “Sailor Moon Street,” and “Duck Detective.”

Eighteen-year-old girls might have watched “Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit: Legend of Seven Swordsmen” in their childhood. When I was young, my relatives and elders could only travel by motorcycle and made calls using pagers. When those eighteen-year-old girls were young, their elders could already drive small cars and had portable mobile phones.

Thirty-something men are enthusiastic about computers and prefer computer games, while today’s teenagers prefer mobile phones and mobile games. Just from hobbies and growing-up experiences, there’s little common ground.

If ten years can make such a difference, what about twenty years, thirty years?

Thirty years ago, in the early ’90s, computers hadn’t yet become common. Having a TV at home was considered a sign of a well-off family. People from that era mostly played outdoor games during their childhood, which means they had even fewer common topics with us.

Moreover, people back then were likely more “superstitious” compared to us now.

For example, they would choose an auspicious day to move into a new house, name their children according to Feng Shui principles, have a fortune teller calculate the child’s birth characters, consult the lunar calendar daily before going out, and ensure that furniture arrangements followed specific guidelines. To today’s kids, all of this seems “unscientific.”

That’s how it was after just a few decades. If Xiao Mo hadn’t taken any measures when she came to Earth, the age difference between us would be thousands of years…

So, she sealed most of her memories and abilities on Earth, fixing them under the concept of “death.”

Xiao Mo’s approach was actually quite clever.

She retained some useful experiences, handed over most of her memories and abilities to her “main body,” and allowed the main body to embody the concept of “Death” on Earth. This way, she essentially achieved a “rebirth,” becoming interested in the world again, her mindset becoming younger. She spent a few years on Earth in a somewhat naive manner, occasionally observing me. This created some common ground between us.

When I met Xiao Mo’s “clone,” I didn’t find her boring because she knew everything. The main body, being Grim Reaper, could protect me from dying in this world as I might in another.

As for the Demon King, if I remember correctly, it was Xiao Mo who led the “allied forces” to defeat and seal him. Then, with just the power of her clone, she defeated the sealed Demon King. That’s probably how it went.

It all made perfect sense in hindsight, but as the author, I was constantly full of doubts…

There were no deceitful plots, no grandiose mythological tales, and none of the complicated situations found in most isekai novels—just a straightforward, passionate story of justice. The hero died, and the demon princess, raised by the hero, took up his banner, led the allied forces to defeat the Demon King.

Meanwhile, the hero’s soul wandered in the void for thousands of years before being reincarnated on Earth. Worried about the hero, the demon princess had to come to Earth, become the Death of this world, and then return in a clone form to slay the weakened Demon King…

However, if Xiao Mo and the hero’s story were told in another world, it might be sung as: “The demon girl, to avenge the fallen hero, single-handedly defeated the evil Demon King, bringing peace to the world,” right? If an editor asked me to write such a novel, they would also want it written this way.

After all, no matter how you look at it… everyone uniting, mobilizing the entire allied force to defeat the Demon King, with Xiao Mo delivering the final blow, isn’t nearly as thrilling as Xiao Mo turning dark, becoming an incredibly powerful demon Valkyrie, and defeating the Demon King alone. If it were a popular online novel, perhaps this “demon Valkyrie” would also need some “invincible” or “pretending to be weak to deceive others” traits.

“I… I’m actually, always very scared.”

Standing before a fissure in the earth that continuously spewed smoke and rubble, Xiao Mo lowered her head.

“I fear that our story……will also end up like that. All along……I’ve felt like I’ve been wandering in an eternal maze, and the only light is you……I’ve found you, but I’m truly afraid that once I’ve found you……this light will completely disappear.”

“Once, I was alone… chased by demons to the ends of the world. I heard the sound of an underground river, hiding in the hot underground for a very, very long time. I was so scared back then… not just scared of being found by them, but more scared that… all my efforts would never lead to the future I wanted…”

“Actually, on the first day I came here, I went to find you, but I… I was…?”

Before Xiao Mo could finish her sentence, I had already walked up to her and gently embraced the girl who was clearly much taller than me but now seemed incredibly small and fragile.

“I’m here for you!”

“Huh?”

Xiao Mo, in my arms, lifted her head slightly. “Nuo’er?”

“I’m right here!”

I patted the shoulder of the girl in my arms. “Xiao Mo, this seems to be the first time you’ve shown me such a vulnerable side…”

Is it because seeing this vast grassland and underground river reminded you of those times? Being chased by the demon army alone, forced to hide underground, surrounded by the sound of rushing water, with the rumbling footsteps and noise of the demons overhead.

The young Xiao Mo could only curl up and hold her breath to avoid being discovered… Those memories must have left a deep impression on you, right?

A deep impression… that even becoming a deity here, no forbidden spell could erase from your mind.

“This isn’t vulnerability.”

After a moment of silence, Xiao Mo mumbled, “I’m just stating a very serious matter. Combinations like ours have appeared many times in other worlds, and almost all of them couldn’t escape a similar fate…”

“Fate? I don’t care about that. I only know that I’ve caught someone now, and I’m holding on tightly.”

I tightened my grip, even feeling the “thump, thump” of Xiao Mo’s heartbeat.

“I don’t know about others, but at least you and I… Didn’t we already confess to each other? Aren’t we a couple?”

“Mm…”

“Then stop overthinking.”

I let go of my hand and rubbed my face against Xiao Mo’s face. Then I kissed her.

“Actually, I’m really glad that Xiao Mo can talk to me about these things. It means Xiao Mo truly considers me her best friend.”

In “Clannad“, it’s said that the only places you can cry are on your father’s shoulder and in the bathroom. But since I grew up without parents, to me, the only places you can cry are on the shoulder of a lover or a true friend.

“Alright, stop crying.”

I reached out to wipe the tears from the girl’s eyes. “This isn’t like you at all. The usually tsundere Yin Xiamo, who only knows how to bully me, doesn’t look like this little girl at all…”

“Hmph.”

Xiao Mo’s face turned slightly red at my words, and she turned her head away.

“Don’t overthink it. I’m just… trying to move you, little kitten, and make you fall for me. This is all… just an act.”

“Well, I take it seriously.”

I gave her a small kiss on the cheek. “Anyway, I’m not going to leave you like the knight in those mythological stories. I’m still waiting to awaken my fourth form and master my magic to pin you down.”

“You wouldn’t beat me even then.”

“Wait and see.”

“Nuo’er, your water magic doesn’t have much offensive power. I suggest you try being cute. Maybe that will have a better chance of defeating me… Ow! Why did you suddenly bite me?”

“If water magic doesn’t work, I’ll use physical attacks. I’ll find a way. Big magic skill: Bite!”

“Ouch… ouch, that hurts. When did your fangs get so sharp…?”

“Bite…”

“Let go…”

“……”

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