Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route-Chapter 166: Ahri and Jinx, “Logan Is Mine”

"Descent complete."

After looking over what he'd gained this time, Logan shook his head and let out a sigh.

There wasn't much fox fur left to pluck off Ahri anymore. Unless he could unlock a new stage of favor with her, each round trip wouldn't even add 0.1 to his Soul Strength.

So if he wanted to keep getting stronger, he'd have to meet new Spirit Blossom deities—meet more gods—and start his grand "fleece-the-gods" plan all over again.

And that was… a long road.

He opened his eyes. He'd stayed in the Spirit Blossom realm for about forty minutes; outside, only a few minutes had passed. So Jinx, Akali, and Irelia should all still be in the room.

But the moment Logan looked up, he saw Akali hiding behind Irelia—and Jinx staring in his direction with open curiosity.

"What's wrong?" Logan asked, baffled.

What the hell? It had only been a few minutes. Why were they looking at him like that?

Did these women talk about something insane while he was gone?

As Logan wondered, a voice suddenly sounded right next to him.

"You're back?" the owner of the voice asked.

It was a low woman's voice—magnetic, and strangely complicated. It felt layered, like multiple tones blended smoothly together into one. Not distorted—just… many voices woven into a single sound.

Logan jolted.

With his current Soul Strength, someone shouldn't be able to approach him without a sound. Even if he'd just come out of the Spirit Blossom realm, his guard shouldn't have dropped to this level.

The voice continued, "How long were you in there?"

Logan turned his head and first saw a set of Ionian dragon-spirit ornaments: twin dragon discs coiled behind the woman's head, shining with green light that painted a faintly divine sheen across her black hair.

Her face was small—almost delicate—with a high, sharp bridge to her nose and full lips. She wore heavy makeup; her lashes were a deep green, and beneath black eyeliner were two dark markings like twin strokes on each side.

She watched Logan with naked curiosity, studying him.

"Y—"

Logan recognized her instantly—and it scared him badly enough that he scooted backward on reflex, putting distance between them.

Then he realized that was pointless.

He stared at her and said, "Karma. Why are you here?"

"You really do know who I am." Karma nodded, then said, "You still haven't answered my question. How long did you stay in that world?"

"…"

"About a few dozen minutes," Logan answered honestly.

"How did you do it? Why can you enter? Even we can't do that. Which deity did you meet inside? Who are you working for?" Karma fired off questions one after another.

Jinx blinked at the side.

Ohhh.

Now she finally understood why Logan always went quiet before doing something important—why he'd sit down somewhere like he was spacing out, then the moment he opened his eyes he'd say the problem was solved.

So that wasn't daydreaming.

He was going to another world?

Jinx stared at Logan like a curious kid, dying to know what that world looked like—and whether she could sneak in too.

As for Logan—

When he heard Karma say we, he paused for a second. Then it clicked.

"I should call you Darha… or Karma?"

"Either is fine." Karma's expression stayed calm. "Darha or Karma—both are me. Names are just labels."

She raised a finger and tapped the table lightly, once.

"You still haven't answered my questions. Answer them carefully. And don't try to trick me—I can tell truth from lies."

"Your answer," Karma said evenly, "will decide whether you live or die."

The instant those words fell—

Click.

Jinx, who'd been happily watching the drama, drew her pistol and fired at Karma without hesitation.

Clang!

The bullet slammed into a green curtain of light, got crushed flat in midair, and shattered into dust.

"Jinx, sit down," Logan snapped.

Jinx ignored him and fired again and again—but every bullet froze in the air and crumbled the same way.

Akali grabbed Jinx's arm and shook her head.

"Get off me, damn it!" Jinx spat at Akali, then turned toward Karma to start hurling insults—

And in the next instant, her mouth was simply gone.

Gone. Like it had been erased clean off her face.

Karma had only lifted a hand and flicked it toward her.

Jinx went pale with shock and slapped her hands over her face, panicking.

Logan's gaze turned sharp as he looked at Karma, about to speak—

But Karma pressed down on him with invisible force.

"Sorry," she said, her eyes glowing faintly as motes of light shimmered along her lashes. "I don't have much time. Don't waste it on pointless things. Answer my questions."

"I won't harm her," Karma added. "And you don't need to worry about dying. In the worst case, I'll only seal you."

"Your ability is too unusual. Depending on your answers, I'll decide how to deal with you." The pressure on Logan eased slightly.

Logan let out a breath.

Good. At least Karma hadn't been rewritten into some bloodthirsty maniac.

The way she'd spoken—stern, forceful, but not cruel—made it obvious she was still Karma: gentle, wise, and kind at her core.

And honestly, it made sense. To someone like Karma—a guiding light in the spirit realm—Logan's ability to enter Spirit Blossom whenever he pleased probably looked like someone casually unlocking a sealed vault full of nightmares.

Logan opened his mouth to finally answer—

And suddenly, even more weight slammed onto him.

A harsh gravity pinned him down. Logan coughed and was forced onto the floor, staring up at Karma in confusion.

Seriously—did she want him to talk or not?

But Karma looked just as bewildered.

She had eased the pressure. She was sure of it.

Just as both of them were trying to figure out what the other was doing, an annoyed voice cut into the room.

"Avatar of Ionia's spirit… what are you trying to do?"

A white phantom rose behind Logan's back—an arrogant, snow-white silhouette with a long, sleek body.

A beautiful white fox.

"Ahri?" Logan blurted.

"Spirit Blossom… deity?" Karma said at the same time.

Akali, Jinx, and Irelia didn't say a word.

Two of them couldn't bring themselves to speak—Akali and Irelia's minds had already short-circuited the moment Karma appeared, and they were still dazed.

And Jinx… had only just gotten her mouth erased.

The one who appeared was Ahri.

Her fox-eyes narrowed as she looked down on Karma. Her voice carried haughty authority as she said, cold and clear:

"Logan is mine."

"You want to bully my person—what, you looking for a fight?"

"Don't think being in the spirit realm means I can't touch you. If I feel like it, I can drag every last soul you've gathered over a thousand years straight in here."

"Don't provoke me."

The fox bared her teeth—cute, and vicious.

She sounded dead serious.

Karma inhaled slowly.

Inside her mind, countless voices had already begun to speak to one another.

Through Darha, they were all seeing Ahri. And they all knew exactly who she was.

A soul older than Karma—one of the earliest myths born in Ionia. A deity from the oldest stories.

And now she had appeared… defending a human.

Not just any human.

A Zaunite.

Karma listened to the chorus in her head, then lifted her hand.

The green light vanished.

Jinx's mouth returned.

But Logan was still half-kneeling on the floor, clutching his chest—though it wasn't Karma doing it anymore.

It was Ahri.

Ahri had told him he'd be weakened, but she hadn't mentioned that being possessed would hurt like this.

And Logan had wanted to go deeper into Ionia in a few days to explore—but now he'd been shoved into a weakness period because of this. What a mess.

Logan had a lot he wanted to complain about, but the one thing he wanted to say most was—

Ahri, you saying I'm yours and stepping in for me… I'm genuinely moved.

But could you maybe not do it in front of Jinx?

Logan glanced at Jinx and saw her tilting her head, thinking hard.

Her small face cycled through expressions—conflicted, then bright, then frowning, then thumping her chest like she'd made some brave decision.

Yeah. When Ahri—using a woman's voice—said "Logan is mine," Jinx had desperately wanted to ask: Then what am I? Where do I fit?

But then another thought hit her. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Was she really going to compete with a fox?

That would be childish, right? Who fights an animal over a guy?

Logan understood Jinx too well. He could practically hear her thoughts.

He relaxed, quietly grateful that Ahri had shown up in fox form.

Then—

In the next second, the white phantom behind Logan shifted. Mist curled and reshaped, and the fox became a person.

A woman.

A breathtaking woman appeared behind Logan's back.

Just her face alone crushed everyone else in the room—before you even got to her figure or presence.

Every woman here had her own kind of beauty: Jinx was lively and cute, Akali was sharp and striking, Irelia was poised and regal, Karma carried an otherworldly allure.

But Ahri?

You didn't even need to talk about her aura.

That dazzling, almost impossibly gorgeous face was already enough to overwhelm them all.

With a graceful hand lifted, Ahri bared her metaphorical claws. Her stunning, seductive face wore a fierce, almost petulant expression as she glared at Karma.

And Jinx—who had just convinced herself it was fine, that the "Logan is mine" line didn't matter because the fox was only helping, and she should even be grateful—

Went completely silent.

She stared blankly at Ahri's face.

Then she watched Ahri casually set one hand on Logan's shoulder, squaring off against Karma like she belonged there.

Slowly, Jinx's expression transformed into pure confusion… and anxiety.

"What?"

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