Black Snake really had it rough.
That was Hoshino's first reaction. She had messed with Black Snake more times than she could count. Black Snake had thought shutting herself away would solve everything, but now even Talulah's own will could overpower hers.
And then, who would have thought someone would set their sights on Black Snake's rank, on her very existence, leaving Black Snake unable to even continue existing?
"This is a bit like identity theft."
Hoshino felt like she understood.
"One person gets tired and is about to die. Then someone else appears and takes their place."
It sounded simple enough, but putting it into practice was difficult. After all, that person was an immortal, a shadow spreading through Ursus's darkest corners. She existed for Ursus's existence, and everything she did was for Ursus.
"So she exists by relying on Ursus?"
Hoshino felt that the theory was internally consistent, but that was all it was.
Hoshino suddenly thought of someone.
An immortal she had once dealt with—the Witch King of Leithanien. A pure-hearted girl took a book from a shelf. A thousand years later, even the trees had grown old, and the girl had become tentacles that existed by clinging to consciousness, choosing people to pass away through, having forgotten who she truly was.
"What use is helping her?"
Hoshino shook her head. "At the beginning, what immortal wasn't a good person?"
Once Shang Boliang had learned all the knowledge there was to learn, she would become like that too. If Hoshino was still alive by then, she might have to intervene again.
What about me, then?
Hoshino suddenly felt a little sad.
She turned her cup in her hand, inexplicably growing irritated. It was all that damned Ursus Emperor's fault, making her think about things she normally could