Benchu Kimoon

Upon hearing Kimoon's blunt refusal, the others were not surprised.

Among the crowd were members of the Benchu royal family, including Benchu Feng Mo, Kikyo, Zui Ai, Ruo Pu, and Yoko, as well as members of the Zi royal family, including Zi Zhao and Shizuru. Also present were Sheryl, whom Kimoon had only met yesterday, and a few other songstresse of the Kingdom of Light. And there, with her familiar pink hair, was Seju.

Kimoon was only surprised by Seju's presence and momentarily ignored the others as she asked, "What is your real name, Bai Seju?"

Ever since Kimoon had learned three years ago that her only close associates, Shizuru and Yoko, were both connected to the royal family, she had suspected that the appearance of Seju would not be simple. Sure enough, she encountered Seju unexpectedly in this place.

"Anything but Benchu," Seju shrugged nonchalantly in response. 

"Except Benchu." Kimoon sighed helplessly in her heart.

While the members of the royal family watched, seemingly unperturbed, they were actually using telepathy to discuss their next steps. Telepathy allowed all members of the Benchu and Zi royal families to connect to the same mental communication network. Each person could broadcast their thoughts within it or choose specific individuals to communicate with. Zi Zhao found Kimoon's rebelliousness intriguing, finding the situation finally becoming interesting. Shizuru, on the other hand, was worried. In the end, they decided to let Yoko continue to explain things to Kimoon.

Yoko continued, "Each songstress who has entered this room has sung in order for us to test the effect of their singing on these otherworldly creatures. These creatures only lose their combat abilities when they hear certain songs, which is why we've gathered you all here."

"For songstress whose songs have a weakening effect on the creatures, we will tell her the secrets of their existence and give her two choices. One is to join our forces, to stay in the Holy City Palace and bravely fight alongside our warriors against the monsters in the future. The other is to have her memory of this encounter erased and to leave as if she had merely met with members of the royal family."

"Of course, I choose the latter," Kimoon thought to herself. Before she could speak, Yoko continued, "But you are different."

"Different songstresse have different abilities to weaken the creatures. Most songstresse can only slow down the creatures within a certain range when they hear their songs. But you can completely immobilize these creatures within a wider range. Currently, only Sheryl and you can do this."

After Yoko finished speaking, she raised her hand to signal. A figure appeared in the air, wearing high-ranking military uniform, and began to report, "Yes, according to reconnaissance reports, all creatures that heard the song just now have stopped their actions. We have also eliminated all the creatures. Additionally, the monster teleportation array has been shut down."

Although Kimoon was unclear about where the creatures came from and how these people tested to reach this conclusion, she realized that she seemed to be in a passive situation.

Only the members of the royal family and many warriors knew how much spiritual power and manpower they had used to prepare for the songstresse tests these past few days. They had spent a lot of time and effort to trap the monsters sent over the past few days in a barrier constructed with spiritual power according to a specific arrangement. To prevent the creatures from breaking through the barrier, spiritual power sorcerers had to constantly replenish the barrier. In this way, the test lasted for as long as the spiritual power barrier was forcibly maintained. Within the barrier, the unique purple crystals with spatial teleportation capabilities unique to the Kingdom of Purple had been arranged in advance. These purple crystals transmitted the songs from the recording studio to the distant barrier. Therefore, everyone could accurately observe the effects of different songs on the creatures and their radiation range.

The figure behind the glass was one of the creatures trapped in the barrier, also just eliminated by the warriors.

"I choose to have my memory erased and then leave," Kimoon replied. Yoko sighed helplessly at her response, looking at Kimoon with pity, and said something that caught Kimoon completely off guard:

"Benchu Kimoon, you have no choice."

Upon hearing this, Kimoon instinctively took a few steps back, as if trying to escape from this unacceptable reality.

Kimoon felt a wave of dizziness, and the people in front of her seemed to be wearing dark masks, murmuring: "Benchu Kimoon, you have no choice."

"Why am I, Benchu Kimoon?" Kimoon's long-standing doubts surged in her heart once again. She locked eyes with Zui Ai in the crowd, feeling that Zui Ai had an obligation to explain everything to her. This time, she didn't want to continue living in ambiguity. She walked towards Zui Ai. She wanted to demand all the answers from Zui Ai.

Zui Ai, who had been watching Kimoon from the beginning, sighed deeply in her heart as she saw Kimoon approaching. She walked up to Kimoon and extended two fingers from her right hand, placing them on Kimoon's forehead.

In an instant, Kimoon felt countless images flooding into her mind. These images were all from Zui Ai's memories.

Kimoon saw herself as a newborn, lying quietly beside her mother, Zui Ai, as one of the twins. Zui Ai, at that time, looked at her two daughters equally and gently, with a tender smile on her face.

Kimoon then saw herself as a baby, placed alone in a magic circle. Beside her, Zui Ai and Kikyo were injecting spiritual power into the magic circle. This spiritual power gradually intertwined around her and flowed into her body. The baby Kimoon cried loudly.

The last thing Kimoon saw was herself lying in a pool of blood on the night of Shizuru's wedding, with only Zui Ai present, seemingly conducting some kind of ceremony. Zui Ai injected spiritual power into the wound on Kimoon's left wrist, and the spiritual power gathered to form a blue-purple phoenix, gradually stitching the wound.

"Others thought this place on my wrist was just an exquisite tattoo, but it turns out it was a curse you placed on me!" Kimoon questioned in her mind. Since that night, Kimoon had endured a period of deep depression, wanting to end her life time and time again. But each time, this blue-purple phoenix would enter Kimoon's heart, crumbling her desire to die and cursing her to "live on."

As Kimoon gradually accepted these facts, her mental strength could no longer bear the infusion of Zui Ai's powerful spiritual power, and her consciousness gradually blurred. At the moment before Kimoon was about to faint, she seemed to hear Zui Ai's inner monologue, as if saying to her:

"I'm sorry, Kimoon. But I have no choice either."