Adina didn’t give her the chance. "Don’t send things to the temple anymore. Since things between us have come to this, it’s best we both go our separate ways in peace. In the future, if anyone from your family line awakens a Dark Element affinity, I won’t give them special treatment, nor will I deliberately suppress them."
"Let’s stay out of each other’s way."
"That’s all I have to say. I’m leaving now."
"Mother, this is the last time I will call you that." Adina’s expression hardened. "Since you chose Lilith over me in the past, then you should continue to choose her, always."
"As for me, I’m choosing to walk away before you get another chance to choose. I will no longer yearn for your conditional motherly love. This is how it will be from now on. We will never meet again."
"Don’t tell me how regretful you are. I won’t listen. You... and your family can just keep living your lives. Just act as if I never existed."
After saying her piece, Adina glanced at Davidson. "Let’s go."
Davidson gave a slight nod. "Let’s go. Didn’t you say we’re going on a You Li? We should start packing when we get back. Where should our first stop be?"
As the two of them walked out of the front hall, Catherine suddenly let out a wail. "My daughter..."
Lilith bit her lip. Seeing Catherine’s devastated expression, she hesitated for a moment before rushing out after them.
"Adina!"
Adina turned to look and saw Lilith, dressed in a white robe, chasing after them. She was a little out of breath, and Adina found her appearance much less grating than it used to be.
"What is it?" Adina stopped in her tracks. Her feelings toward Lilith were complicated. At the end of the day, she didn’t hate her, even though Lilith was the cause of so many of her past misfortunes.
"The way you just... spoke to Mother... she’s heartbroken." Lilith finally forced the words out.
"Then she needs you, her precious, favored daughter, to comfort her and take good care of her." Adina said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "You’re allowed to feel sorry for her, but you have no right to demand anyone else do the same."
"If I pity her, who is there to pity me?"
Adina continued, "You and Catherine are so much alike. You both expect others to make sacrifices and compromises for you. But why should they? Why should I ever look back at the people who’ve hurt me?"
"I will only distance myself from them, keep moving forward, and never, ever look back."
Adina hesitated. "Your... your health... is it okay? I’m sorry. I never imagined that a simple prank back then would cause you so much harm."
Lilith had never seen Adina cough like that before, and it had truly frightened her. As she got older and looked back, she realized just how vicious she had once been.
"It’s not fatal," Adina said, straightening up. "I told you before, we’re even. Perhaps we were born to be on opposing sides. We’ll never be able to face each other in peace."
"We’ve been on completely different paths for a long time now. From now on, we’ll only drift further apart. Our lives will no longer intersect." Adina took a deep breath, trying to suppress the tickle in her throat.
"I’ll say it again: live a good life with your family. As for me, just pretend I never existed. That is the greatest kindness I can offer you."
Adina felt she had finally settled her karma with Dumont and Catherine. After returning to the temple to recuperate for a few days, she, along with Tan You, Amelia, Davidson, and the Holy Beasts, set out on their You Li.
As for the sorrow of Dumont, Catherine, and the others, she would never again pay it any mind.
Some wounds, once inflicted, cannot be erased just because the perpetrator offers a few soft words of regret. A debt of life and death can only be repaid in kind.
After roaming the Western Fantasy World for over a thousand years, Tan You had visited nearly every corner of the continent. In the end, it was mostly just Tan You traveling with an avatar of the Dark God. After all, Adina had her own cultivation to focus on; how could she possibly have time to run all over the place with Tan You?
Unfettered by a physical body, Tan You could go anywhere in the world. She swam through the silent, treacherous depths of the sea with the sirens, composed songs for the Siren Queen, and even started a talent show for their kind.
Eventually, the sirens’ talent show became famous across the continent, drawing countless travelers to watch each time it was held.
She witnessed the birth of new Elves in their forests and took inventory of the treasure in a Giant Dragon’s hoard. She even paid a few visits to the Divine Hall of Light.
But because she was under the protection of the world’s consciousness, even the God of Light was powerless against her.
The early stages of this mission had been difficult, to be sure. But after she turned twenty-two, Tan You’s only purpose for staying was to have as much fun as possible.
And in between all the fun, she also taught the youngsters math. Math was a required course for every new acolyte in the temple. Only those who truly had no aptitude for it were allowed to switch to other subjects, like potion-making or alchemy.
However, there was an accepted rule in the temple: potions, alchemy, and even Magic Power cultivation all had to take a backseat to mathematics.
***
"Host, we’re finally back!" the Beauty System exclaimed before Tan You could even ask to finalize the mission. Its tail was wagging like a pinwheel; the little system was clearly relieved to be back in a world free of threats.
After all, the little system had been far too weak in that world; any random Divine being could have snuffed it out. If the world’s consciousness hadn’t been protecting Tan You, who knows if the little system would even exist today.
Tan You also breathed a sigh of relief. She was, of course, happy to return to her own reality. In that other world, she had been able to achieve a near-immortal existence through her connection to Adina.
But Tan You still cherished this place. Even though everything here was so ordinary, this was where her roots were, and she had people here she cared about.
"Finalize the mission. How many Energy Points do you get for an intermediate mission?" Tan You had heard the little system say that the Energy Points earned from an intermediate mission were basically double the usual, and hers was a hell-mode mission on top of that. ’So how many points will I get? It’d better be a hefty amount, or it won’t live up to the "hell mode" name.’
Soon, an electronic voice rang out. "Congratulations, Host, on completing your first intermediate mission. Mission evaluation... BZZT... Evaluation results unknown... System error..."
Tan You raised an eyebrow. ’Results unknown? Does that mean I did a good job or a bad one?’ She felt she ought to have done well. After all, Adina was still alive, and Tan You had shattered the thousand-year-long conflict between light and dark on the Western Fantasy Continent. How many people from the dark-aligned factions had she saved in the process?
Glancing at the dazed-looking puppy, Tan You knew the system had frozen. ’Well, fine,’ she thought. ’I won’t press for a result.’ She figured the main system was probably having a headache right now, trying to figure out how on earth to score this mission.