"Wh-what the... wh-what the hell is this?!"

Her chanting interrupted, Maya covered her mouth and broke into a fit of coughing.

A burning sensation spread through her mouth like she had swallowed fire. She could barely breathe or control her expression. Maya wondered if someone had stuffed her mouth with ghost peppers.

In that moment the Guiding Saint who was about to launch her final attack suddenly froze in place writhing in pain while countless Alliance members watched in confusion.

"What's wrong with the Holy Maiden?" This question popped into everyone's mind at the same time.

As the burning sensation spread, Maya's entire body began feeling strange. First came an intense tickling feeling attacking her sides, the soles of her feet, and her armpits. She had an overwhelming urge to burst out laughing and her whole body started twitching.

Maya unconsciously scratched at herself trying to stop the weird sensation.

Unfortunately it did not help but made things worse. Then a sour feeling washed over her like she was soaking in acid making it unbearable.

And she absolutely hated sour things.

But that was not all.

Even stranger was how the burning sensation on Maya's body intensified. It felt like waves of heat surging from inside her making her skin turn red. Sweat poured down like rain and her temperature shot up. The feeling left her confused.

The strange itching and heat in her lower body made her face burn red and her golden eyes tremble.

Under the assault of powerful primal instincts, Maya's eyes grew unfocused and her mind started to feel hazy.

"What... what?"

"What is... h-happening to me?!"

These sudden body changes left her shocked and confused. Since the battle began this was the only thing Maya had not expected.

Obviously this was not Yumo's doing.

Someone is interfering with me from outside? Who could it be?

Maya lifted her flushed face and stared hard toward the distance where the Sky Nation sub-world was located.

---

Several seconds before Maya felt these bodily changes, inside a cave in Sky Nation, Pierre was running deeper into the cave panting and frantic. As he ran, he called out to his sister for help.

"Sis! We need to help Mom! she really c-can't beat that woman!"

For once Pierre's voice was filled with anxiety and worry.

Watching his mother being pushed into a defensive position through the earring projection, Pierre was burning with anxiety. Unable to watch anymore he ignored Youlan's earlier instructions and rushed into the cave.

But the moment he reached Youlan's area, Pierre froze in his tracks.

His anxious face suddenly turned completely dumbfounded with huge question marks practically floating above his head.

"Huh? sis, you... no wait, what the hell are you two doing?"

Inside the huge cave bloodied thorns surrounded everything turning the place into a bloody thorn garden. The two familiar figures Pipi was looking for were in the center of this garden. However the condition of these two especially the silver-haired girl was completely beyond Pipi's expectations.

In the center of the garden, Youlan sat on the ground with Mengxi lying across her lap.

What the hell? They're doing lap pillows?

Damn, Mom is in serious danger! They said they were preparing tactics but they're just messing around here? This is fucking ridiculous! ...Huh?

Pipi was about to start cursing but when he noticed Mengxi's condition his brows immediately furrowed.

Under Pipi's confused gaze, the beautiful silver-haired girl's face was flushed red from intense emotions or some kind of stimulation like a ripe apple. Sweat dripped from Mengxi's forehead, and her breathing was rapid and unsteady with each breath seeming painful. Her light purple eyes were filled with a dazed look and veins bulged on her forehead showing her agitation and pain... and pleasure?

Huh?

Additionally, Mengxi's lips were covered with ghost peppers from the Ancita continent. These were terrifying things that could send a Lv7 to the afterlife with just one bite. The stimulation from these peppers seemed unbearable for the silver-haired girl as she kept trying to swallow but only felt her throat burning more. This pain kept coming in waves making her face twist and tremble.

Of course there was not just pepper on Mengxi's lips but also some sour liquid that even Pipi found disgusting. Clearly her suffering was not just from the peppers but also from this sour stuff.

"What the hell?" Pipi's eye twitched involuntarily.

But that was not all that left him dumbfounded. Looking at the blood thorns moving around Mengxi, he became more confused.

The blood thorns kept reaching toward Mengxi.

At first Pipi thought his sadistic big sister was up to her old tricks, planning to take revenge on the Guiding Saint's daughter after seeing her mother being bullied. But after seeing what the blood thorns were doing Pierre was stunned. These thorns were not whipping Mengxi's body but instead wrapping around her body. After tearing off her outer clothes they were attacking sensitive areas like the soles of her feet, her armpits, her waist, and the back of her neck?

Making Mengxi hold back laughter?

Meanwhile Youlan watched the girl with her fascinating expressions who looked like she was about to break. A barely noticeable smile appeared on Youlan's face as if she was enjoying and satisfied by Mengxi's suffering.

"..."

Taking in this scene, Pierre suddenly felt his brain stopped. Not the brightest to begin with, he completely failed to understand what his sister and Mengxi were doing.

What is this? Peppers? Sour stuff? And tickling too while stimulating sensitive body parts?

"What time do you think it is?! Why are you not helping Mom?! What the hell are you two doing here?!" Pierre grabbed his head and let out a hysterical roar.

However.

"Stop making noise and be quiet. Sister and Mengxi are helping Mother right now."

The words had barely reached his ears when a terrifying karate chop landed on Pierre's head making him yelp in pain and turn to see Kalina behind him.

"K-Kal?" Though he wanted to complain to his sister, Pierre was clearly more interested in what Kalina had just said.

"Helping? This is helping Mom?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you kidding me?!"

Pierre's head was full of question marks, and he looked at Kalina with complete disbelief.

"Do not joke about this kind of thing."

"Who's joking with you, idiot?"

Dropping her respectful attitude Kalina glared at her brother impatiently. Then she turned thoughtfully to look at the thorn garden where Youlan and Mengxi was inside.

"This is the Night Thorn Garden, Sister Youlan's skill."

"Skill?! This thing is her skill?"

"Yes."

"Th-then what exactly are they doing?"

"One of the Night Garden's abilities is Fate Connection. Everything experienced by someone consumed by the garden gets transferred to a related person. The stronger the relationship between them the greater the effect."

"Y-you mean...?"

"Yes."

Kalina nodded slightly as a chilling revenge-filled smile slowly spread across her beautiful face.

"That's right we are not torturing Mengxi... we are torturing that damn Guiding Saint!"