Listen While Reading: Unshakable Resolve-----

  He could still remember it as if it happened yesterday.

  Eve was so many years ago.

  “Mama… Mamaaaa!”

  A child g, lost in a world he couldn’t uand.

  “Big sis?! Where are you!”

  Walking across the ruins of a, fallen civilizations.

  Lost in a world of darkness and twisted colors.

  “Where is everyone…”

  He kept g as he walked through this desote, lonely nd.

  There was no life, not even moo chase him.

  Only loneliness.

  The blinding light that swallowed everything.

  And her mother and sister, whose Spiritual Energy created a cra spad time, which sent him here before they were to be ed.

  He alone was the only survivor.

  “Mom… Big sis… Auntie…”

  He fell to his knees, g stantly.

  He was lost and alone.

  Everyone oh died.

  “No… No…!”

  He was only six years old; what could he even do?

  His powers were underdeveloped; he had no time to let them blossom.

  And now everything… everyone…

  “Why won’t you st already? Su annoying brat!”

  However, a voice.

  A woman.

  The voice’s eyes widened as he gnced behind him.

  He hadn’t noticed it, but he ended up walking into a strange pce.

  It was as if dozens of ruins had been mixed together, ed around spiderwebs.

  There, he heard her voice.

  “H-Huh? Is there someohere? Hello?”

  He slowly stood up, carrying his long fluffy tail around, which was all nasty, covered with dirt.

  He scratched his face, trying to his little tears as he sniffed a peculiar st.

  As he ran towards this …

  “Don’t get any clet away! You’re too small for me to eve! Scram little brat!”

  She was aggressive and very rude…

  But the boy didn’t have ao go either way.

  “I-I ’t…”

  “What? Why?!”

  “I don’t have ao go… Everyone, mom and big sis… my aunties… Sniff, everyone… Buaaahhh!”

  The boy started g so loudly she lost her temper.

  “So annoying! Ugh! Silence him!”

  Suddenly, from the , several araoids emerged, members of the Spider Tribe from the Primal World who had been mutated to fit their goddess powers within them.

  They became her servants and obeyed her words, rushing to “silehe boy by c him in spiderwebs and then carrying him inside.

  “So warm…”

  He ended up falling asleep while being ihat spiderweb co and then being dragged inside.

  Eventually he yawned after waking up.

  “Ah, I slept so much…”

  With a single wave of his little hands, he tore through the spiderweb and easily freed himself.

  “Eh? Where am I? It’s so dark…”

  FLASH!

  With a mere thought, a very bright sphere of light materialized, illuminating everything.

  “Uwaah!”

  “Sht!”

  “Eek!”

  “Run! The light… it’s the same light as hers!”

  The Araoids who were about to have him for dinner ran away instantly after seeing the boy’s light.

  “Huh? Everyone?”

  As the boy wandered around, he found a rge, regal room with a big bed and several mirrors, clothes, and more.

  “Hello? Is someohere?”

  As he opehe door, someone was sitting over a wooden chair, trimming her long hair and then grooming it.

  He could still remember even now the first time he saw her when he was so young.

  Her beauty, her long silky hair, her shiny exoskeleton, her bright red eyes…

  And her hair of both dominance… and motherliness.

  “Hm? Ah! Why are you here?! H-How did they let you in?!”

  As she screamed, she jumped away from her chair and started climbing the ceiling like a spider, moving her spider-like legs attached to her back.

  “Wow, you’re like a spider!”

  “I AM A SPIDER! SHAAAH!”

  She hissed at him and tried to intimidate him, but the boy was unamused…

  In fact, there was little that could even harm him.

  Her aura of poison should have already killed him, but he was fine.

  “Ugh… What’s wrong with this damn kid? Who are you?! If it wasn’t because that damn woman weakened me so much, I could have…!”

  “I-I have o go… you… we bee friends?”

  “What? Don’t you know who I am? I am Maliate! I am the Queen of ingness! I feast on terrible evil! I was born from…”

  However, interrupting her speech, the loud sound of the boy’s stomach echoed.

  “Uhh… I’m hungry…”

  The woman clicked her tongue.

  “A-And why should I care?! Get away from hereeee!”

  She tried to throw him away, but the boy only started g.

  Anything she threw at him was just deflected, and his clothes moved on their own to protect him too.

  “W-What with those clothes he’s wearing?!”

  To make things worse, a strange gold and bck sword would sometimes appear out of nowhere, floating around him and proteg him from harm.

  “H-He’s dangerous! What is he?!”

  Eventually, because she couldn’t throw him away… the only thing she could do is…

  Take care of the child!

  “Hmm! These are yummy! What are they?”

  The boy ate white-colored mochi-like buns, filling his stomach with them.

  “They’re made out of my spiderweb… It tains nutrients and is the only food I offer you, brat.”

  “They’re yummy, like mochi! Thank you, auntie!”

  “Don’t call me Auntie! I am not your aunt! I am your mother’s foe!”

  “Uh, mom was your foe?”

  "Yes, she sliced my soul! That damn… I HATE HER!”

  “But mommy said that mom… she sacrificed herself… for us.”

  “e again?”

  “She’s…”

  “She’s dead?!”

  “Um… I think…. I think so."

  “Oh!”

  Then she smiled maliciously; he could still remember her celebrating it.

  “Hahaha! Good! I’m happy for that! Finally- Ah, wait a sed, did all of Earth get wiped out?”

  “Um… Uh-huh…”

  “Is there even a way for me to return to my world now?! Uwaaaagghh! I’m stuck here with this brat?!”

  The womaormented for seven days and seven nights…

  However, at the eight days, she had rapidly begun to adapt to her new life.

  She made him his own room, which he had to always ; she was obsessed with liness.

  “ your room already! It’s all nasty!”

  “O-Okay!”

  She taught him how to hunt the mutant monster left behind in the ruih for their meat.

  “e on, we’re going hunting; you ’t just eat my spiderweb.”

  “Sure!”

  She taught him how to cook food.

  “That’s not how you eat, you stupid brat… e here, let me show you!”

  “T-Thanks…”

  She taught him about hygiene and made tless clothes for him.

  “Hah, you’re so hopeless! Are these the only clothes you wear? You’re definitely going to take a bath! I don’t accept stinky brats in my domain!”

  “Where do I even take a bath?”

  And she also showed him how hopeless she felt sometimes.

  “At the end, it seems you’re the only perso… such irony. Am I really going to tinue babysitting my enemy’s kid? This is… such torture… I guess she had the st ugh at the end, huh?”

  “But I enjoy being with you, auntie…”

  “Y-You… Tch, fet it…”

  And when she realized that he was her st hope, she decided to help him grow stronger.

  “We’re going to start training! I ’t have you being a weakling your entire life! Your mother was… incredibly powerful, and it seems you’ve ied her powers. I’m going to make sure you eventually surpass her… Because that is the only way you’ll be able to avenge your family, you hear me?”

  “Y-Yes! I’ll do my best!”

  “Good! First, I’ll teach you the Arts of Malice, kehehehe!”

  “Eh?”

  However, even then, she was still very grumpy.

  “No! That’s not how you do it! Stop it! Yoing to break the Domain! Uuggh, you’re so dumb!”

  “I-I’m doing my best…”

  And he also grew close to her; he always wao be by her side because it made him feel not lonely anymore.

  “Why are you sleeping in my bed again?! I already made your own bed! Go away!”

  “But I like hugging auntie… I sleep fine. And I don’t wake up sleepy the m.”

  “Hah… Y-You’re so hopeless…”

  “I love auntie!”

  tless memories of them together, of her raising him, slowly mellowing down. She was so cold and aggressive, but over time, she became such a tender mother, always g for him.

  Until the very end…

  “The st trace of Bing Xue! Where are you hiding him?! I need him! I must DEVOUR HIM!”

  “You’ll have him… over my dead body!”

  The Heaven’s Will found them, and she fought against this titanic foe, knowing full well she couldn’t win.

  She allowed him to escape, sacrifig herself.

  Or more like, she forced him to escape.

  “No… AUNTIE! AUNTIEEEE!”

  Space around him twisted as she bined her domains and twisted them, breaking spad time apart, sending him far, far away.

  The st thing he saw were her g eyes and a smile.

  “Take care, brat.”

  “NOOOOO!!!”

  Even now, as he freed himself from the Araoids spiderwebs, he found himself g.

  Despite being s, so intimidating, and everything else…

  He was such a crybaby; she always made fun of that.

  “You… Just who are you?”

  And now he found her again.

  She was right there…

  As he was transported to her room, she gred at him with her cold eyes.

  “I might be… a nobody for yht now,” he muttered. “But in my time… iimeline where I came from, you… you were my everything.”

  “E-Eh?!” She suddenly felt her heart beating faster out of nowhere. “W-What nonsense are you talking about?! Are you seriously trying to flirt with me?!”

  “Your soul was wounded, right?” he asked, suddenly summoning a golden elixir from his hands. “This is a Soul Elixir I crafted years ago to heal you; it was useless because… because where I came from, you had already died. Please drink it; it’ll heal your soul pletely.”

  “Why… Why are you doing this?!” she asked. “Nobody had ever… I don’t uand! You said aimeline?! Is this why I… I feel such a strange, disgusting e with you?”

  “Maybe,” the man smiled sorrowfully. “Please take this…”

  She stole it from his hands with her cws, iing the elixir and then drinking it.

  “Hm?!”

  FLUOSH!

  Instantly, her wounded soul was healed and even reinforced, as she felt a powerful divinity surging from her body.

  “T-This is…?!”

  “It worked; I’m gd…”

  “Y-You helped me for no reason… This makes… no sense…”

  “There’s a reason; I already expined you… You were—no, you still are… You’re my everything.”

  “…”

  She blushed as he stood up and looked at her eyes; he was much taller than her, charming, with such bright, beautiful eyes.

  “I want to repay you for all your kindness…”

  “T-That’s…! G-Get away from me! Respect my personal space, hey!”

  She gently pushed him away, walking towards her mirror. He noticed she was still blushing, and she felt her heart beating so fast for no reason…

  “This is se… What kind of teique are you using to make me feel all these straions?!”

  “I haven’t used anything… I’ve only told you what I feel.”

  “…”

  She gnced back at him once more, theed her gaze.

  “If you want to stay here so badly… T-There’s another room downstairs.” She said timidly, pointing into the distance.

  “I see… Thank you,” he smiled, nodding.

  She followed him as he walked downstairs.

  “If you’re truly pnning to… live here, then yoing to adhere to many of my rules, alright?! First rule is…!”

  “liness and hygiene, I know. I’ll make sure to keep my room .”

  “How did you know?! Ah, whatever, the sed rule is…!”

  “No noises; I know you are sensitive to loud noises.”

  “Huh? T-That’s right! And the third rule is…”

  “That I shouldn’t touch your things, I know. I won’t do that either.”

  He smiled back at her.

  “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  “J-Just follow those rules…”

  She sighed, walking back to her room.

  As he ehe cramped room, he looked around and then sighed, feeling a strange sense of nostalgia.

  “This time for sure… I’ll protect you too.”

  -----

  Pach