Although Elysia agreed that settling things with Fallen Elysia had to be kept between them, when it came to how to do it, she found herself in a bit of a predicament.
Should they use force?
The thought instinctively popped into Miss Pink Elf's head—she could feel that, even though this was a dream, she could still use the powers of the Herrscher of Origin.
As if sensing her thoughts, Fallen Elysia chuckled.
"Hmm~ Thinking of settling this with violence? That's not very Elysia-like, is it?"
"Of course, if you really want to go that route, I personally don't object. After all—you're definitely no match for me. It's just that doing it that way would be rather unchallenging, and besides... Qiao probably wouldn't want to see that happen, right?"
"Hmph... You're certainly confident. What makes you so sure you'll be the winner?"
"Naturally. Because... I'm strong."
"Strong enough to stand by Qiao's side—unlike a useless original." The girl's smiling words instantly made Elysia grit her teeth in anger—without a doubt, Fallen Elysia was deliberately pushing Miss Pink Elf's buttons, and hitting the mark every time.
The furious Miss Elysia almost wanted to whip out her Crystal Bow and shoot this detestable, bad Elysia.
But she stopped herself.
After all, in a way, Fallen Elysia was right—no matter what, naughty Jiang Qiao certainly wouldn't want to see them fight. Besides... looking at the confident, smiling Fallen Elysia staring back at her, Miss Elysia, who normally considered herself the original and was confident in her strength, felt an inexplicable lack of certainty.
If she lost, it would be incredibly embarrassing... Moreover, if she lost, naughty Jiang Qiao would really be snatched away by this bad version of herself! Because it was herself, even though she had fallen, Elysia could still guess some aspects of her personality.
The current her was definitely extremely, extremely 'vicious'!
And the thought of naughty Jiang Qiao being taken by this somewhat lewd version of herself... made Elysia's blood pressure soar—dealing with other girls was already enough, but being bullied by her own shadow... Dame! Absolutely dame!
That kind of thing can't happen!
Losing to other girls could be explained away as carelessness, but if she couldn't even win against herself, wouldn't that make Elysia seem truly useless?
Miss Elysia, fiercely resisting that terrifying future, stared daggers at Fallen Elysia, filled with the determination to win.
"Nice look in your eyes."
"So, have you figured out how you're going to deal with me?"
The alluring fairy asked casually, her tone light and nonchalant, as if she didn't care about this competition at all—as if she was certain that no matter the contest, Elysia couldn't possibly defeat her.
Elysia, seeing this, fumed—So confident? A mere shadow, acting like she's already won against me, the original Elysia!
The enraged Miss Pink Elf racked her brains, trying to figure out what kind of competition could teach this bad Elysia a lesson and win back naughty Jiang Qiao.
After a moment, inspiration struck, and a smile spread across her lips.
"Mm, looks like you have an idea."
"So, what are you planning?"
Fallen Elysia watched the somewhat excited Elysia with interest, asking this question.
The latter flashed a winning smile, pointing at Fallen Elysia and declaring loudly:
"Simple."
"Since this is a 'war' between Elysias, it must be decided between Elysias."
"Therefore—"
"Let's compete on the theme of 'Elysia' to determine who's superior!"
Hearing this answer, Fallen Elysia paused.
Then, she burst out laughing.
"Are you serious?"
"You know what I am, right?"
"Of course."
"But what does that matter?"
"Or are you scared? Afraid to compete with me?" Elysia employed a goading tactic.
"Because you're just my shadow~"
"Hmm... You really dare to say that."
It had to be said, Miss Elysia seemed to have an extraordinary talent for hitting her own sore spots—although the current Fallen Elysia didn't care much about it anymore, hearing the original Elysia bring it up so blatantly made her feel a flash of nameless anger.
"Alright, since you want to hand him over to me, I have no reason to refuse." Fallen Elysia raised her hand. "As you wish, we'll compete on 'Elysia'!"
Although neither had objections to the 'topic,' and both were confident, it was obvious—how exactly to compete over 'Elysia' was clearly going to be tricky.
After all, with just the two of them, there were no set standards.
For that, they clearly needed a judge.
"So that's the situation. Sorry... for troubling you again."
Having explained everything, Fallen Elysia gently stroked Jiang Qiao's cheek with a helpless, soft smile. He twitched the corner of his mouth.
He found the conflict between the Elysias, especially one centered around himself, extremely difficult to handle—after all, it was impossible to choose sides.
If this could be resolved this way, that would be for the best.
Fallen Elysia looked at Elysia, chuckling softly.
"This part of Qiao will be temporarily stored with you~ Remember, it's only temporary~"
"Later, I'll personally come to take him back."
With those words, the alluring fairy vanished.
Only Jiang Qiao and Elysia remained in the dream courtyard.
"Hmph... That girl!"
The latter huffed, clenching her pink fists, but relaxed upon seeing Jiang Qiao.
Remembering something, she complained with dissatisfaction:
"And you... Naughty Jiang Qiao! You were right here beside me, why didn't you say anything!"
She thought it was just a dream, but—it was actually the real naughty Jiang Qiao!
"I initially wanted to handle this myself... But, as you saw, this matter is rather troublesome."
"So, I could only leave a part of my consciousness with you."
"I thought, even in a dream, with this part of 'me' by your side, you wouldn't feel lonely."
His straightforward words made Elysia pause, her cheeks flushing slightly. She then muttered under her breath:
"...Who asked you to stay... Talking like I'd be lonely without you..."
"Eden and the others are here too, you know...! Hmph..."
"Forget it."
"I'll let you off this time!"
"Who asked the enemy this time to be myself... Honestly, I have to handle these things personally."
Regarding Elysia's rambling, Jiang Qiao reached out and asked:
"Need my help?"
"I can give you her details. Of course, you can also ask me about her situation."
If she could get the inside scoop on Fallen Elysia from him, then this catfight between Elysias would surely be an easy win, right?
Elysia was tempted.
But...
"Did she ask you about my situation?"
"No. And she isn't monitoring this dreamscape. Right now, control of this dreamscape lies with you."
"Hmph, if that's the case, then I don't need it!" Elysia huffed, speaking with firm conviction.
That bad version of herself didn't cheat. If she cheated, wouldn't that make her a laughingstock?
Since it's a 'war' between Elysias, she would win fair and square—yes, that's the composure the real Elysia should have!
Besides, when she proposed this topic, she already knew she would win.
Competing on 'Elysia'? Hmph, Elysia hasn't been idle either!
She's merely a shadow from fifty thousand years later—this victory was predetermined from the start.
Jiang Qiao was naturally pleased with Elysia's attitude.
However, sensing the somewhat 'bad' situation in reality, he looked at the girl before him, whose cheeks were pink yet she seemed oblivious. He hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself. After struggling for a long time, he finally asked:
"Will you win?"
"I will!"
Elysia was supremely confident.
—So, how exactly does one defeat Fallen Elysia in a competition of 'Elysia'?
The clever Miss Pink Elf's answer was:
—Do nothing!
That's right. For the agreed-upon seven-day limit, Elysia did absolutely nothing.
Well, that wasn't entirely accurate.
More accurately—her actions followed her previous trajectory almost exactly, with hardly any changes.
Day one, make Jiang Qiao hang out with her.
Day two, make Jiang Qiao hang out with her.
It was practically a loop.
Of course, during this time, Miss Elysia wasn't entirely without 'special' thoughts towards a certain Mr. Jiang—after all, unlike before, in this dream, she could do whatever she wanted.
But...
Whenever she tried to initiate such scenarios, various things would always happen—Elysia just thought they were accidents... Although it wasn't like she never succeeded, but...
Closing your eyes and then opening them to find it's over clearly doesn't count as success, right?
To this, Jiang Qiao's explanation was:
"People can't mentally conjure things they haven't actually experienced."
Although this dream was incredibly real and could achieve many things impossible in reality, it couldn't change its fundamental nature as a dream.
Even with part of his consciousness beside Elysia, if Elysia hadn't actually done that kind of thing with him in reality, it was impossible to automatically fill in those details.
As for spiritual communion, that wasn't an issue for him—if Elysia desired it, Jiang Qiao wouldn't mind opening up that aspect.
However—
"That kind of thing is not allowed~"
Fallen Elysia's smiling voice would echo in her ear.
And then, extinguish that possibility.
After all, setting aside the fact that Qiao was only temporarily left there by her.
Tampering with Mr. Jiang Qiao, the judge, during the 'competition' is completely against the rules, right?
Miss Elysia clearly didn't want to lose on a technicality, so although she was unhappy, she abandoned the idea—plus, for some reason, she didn't have any such inclinations herself... Instead, whenever those moments arose, her mind felt empty, wanting to do nothing. So, influenced by various factors, Miss Pink Elf successfully achieved the feat of doing nothing during the 'catfight' period.
Of course, there were minor incidents during this time.
For example... the bedsheets would mysteriously get wet, and her legs would occasionally feel numb and weak. Miss Elysia was convinced this was all the doing of that bad version of herself.
As for the motive? Obviously, to embarrass her in front of naughty Jiang Qiao! To lower her Elysia score.
What a despicable, unscrupulous bad woman!
Miss Pink Elf harbored significant 'malice' towards her other self.
She had already planned it out—after winning, she would do all the awful things that bad Elysia did to her, right back to her, making that bad fairy experience her feelings too, making her wet the bed until her legs cramped!
Fortunately, because the general control of this dreamscape was in her hands.
As long as she promptly refreshed the state of items in the dream every morning, she could ensure that the bad woman's nasty tricks wouldn't embarrass her.
As for her legs feeling weak and numb, that was clearly even less of a problem.
A short rest would fix it!
But she wasn't sure if it was her imagination, Elysia always felt that when she made excuses to rest, naughty Jiang Qiao's expression became somewhat subtle and complex.
Hmm... Must be her imagination?
Not dwelling on it, she continued living her days as usual—
The seventh day arrived as scheduled.
She appeared.
"As promised, I've come to collect the Qiao who belongs to me~"
"Hmm~ But, the naughty Jiang Qiao right now is mine," Elysia responded with a sweet smile.
Fallen Elysia laughed and retorted:
"As far as I know, you haven't done anything these past seven days, right?"
"If you wanted to surrender, you could have just given up from the start. For the sake of you being the original, I could have been a little lenient~"
"The loser is you."
"If you don't believe me, you can ask naughty Jiang Qiao."
"?"
Fallen Elysia paused, then looked at Jiang Qiao with disbelief, asking confusedly:
"...You think she's more 'Elysia'?"
"You are both Elysia."
"But..."
Before Jiang Qiao could finish, Elysia spoke up with a sweet smile:
"There is a difference, after all."
"My other self~ While we are both Elysia, have you forgotten the most fundamental difference between us?"
"The one who first met naughty Jiang Qiao—that was me."