In the vast Galaxy, if there was one faction that loved nothing more than tangling with Knights of Beauty, it was the Masked Fools.
No mystery why — those noble knights were pious to the point of stubbornness, treating the practice of their Beauty faith as an unbreakable creed.
Or, in plainer terms:
Teasing a fool is endless fun!
Right now, Caelus was getting a deep taste of that particular pastime his colleagues so enjoyed.
He straightened his collar, stepped forward in proper knightly fashion, and spoke with theatrical cadence:
"Lord Argenti, I beg the honor of a chivalric contest with you. Should fortune grant me victory, I ask only that you admit — the Beauty Goddess Elysia's loveliness has no equal under heaven!"
Caelus swiped a fingertip across his spatial ring and drew out a faintly glowing digital picture frame.
Crimson particles spread like dye dropped into clear water, Jizo Mitama's corrosive power rippling outward, and an achingly beautiful figure projected itself before them all — Elysia, in her Herrscher of Human form!
The projection ran with the most heart-fluttering animated effect straight out of the game's gacha summon screen.
Caelus's sudden air of elegant, knightly poise sent a chill down March 7th's spine. She shuffled backward in tiny, trembling steps, arms wrapped tight around herself as if trying to shake off a full-body case of goosebumps:
"Caelus, act normal, you're freaking me out... wah!"
Before she could finish, March 7th caught sight of the animated Herrscher of Human projection Caelus had summoned.
A girl who seemed to have drifted straight out of the eternal paradise of some lost fairy tale.
Her long pink hair flowed like silk steeped in stardust; her resplendent divine raiment, pure white at its core, was accented with lavender-pink and gilded gold. Her skirt drifted light as a dream, while translucent crystal blossoms slowly spun and bloomed all around her.
In her lavender-pink eyes, diamond-shaped pupils held an innate divine radiance, yet strangely, that light wove together with human warmth and a boundless love.
But what caught the eye most was her expression.
Her lashes fluttered like butterfly wings, the corners of her mouth curved soft as flowing water, and her lovely eyes arched into pure crescent moons.
That smile felt like the sweetest honey melting straight into the heart, carrying a warmth that could smooth away every shadow.
Sweetness, unrivaled!
"Oh! Yes, yes, exactly!"
Stelle clapped her hands together and jabbed excitedly at the projection, pointing this way and that.
"The Beauty Goddess Elysia should look exactly like this!"
Through the subconscious link she shared with Caelus, plenty of memes had been carved straight into her DNA, but she'd never actually "dreamed" a clear picture of Elysia's face before now. This felt like a sudden revelation.
"That's right! It's her, she's my wife! I'm Ma Bangde!"
Stelle planted her hands on her hips, chest puffed out, and declared it with total conviction.
"Are you kidding me? Just because she's a pretty girl she's automatically your wife? Have some shame!"
March 7th snapped out of her beauty-induced daze, hands on hips, shooting a flat dead-fish stare as she griped.
"And who's Ma Bangde, anyway?"
Still, even as a pretty girl herself, she had to admit — nobody could withstand the smile on that pink-haired girl's face.
Caelus shifted his delivery to match Argenti's, channeling the flowery, old-school romanticism of a bygone era, and intoned with deep feeling:
"'Flawless' — that single word cannot begin to capture her essence. Every dazzling phrase in existence would simply melt away at the hem of her pure white skirt~"
Of course it would, he thought to himself.
That smile alone had emptied out who-knew-how-many Captains' Crystal stockpiles and threadbare wallets!
This Herrscher of Human armor was, without a doubt, the absolute pinnacle of miHoYo's design aesthetics — no contest, then or since!
"..."
Argenti was silent, at first.
A profoundly complicated silence.
Because every word out of that man's mouth was straight out of his own script!
But then his gaze landed on the animated Herrscher of Human projection Caelus had summoned, and he sank into an even deeper silence.
After a long moment, the Knight of Beauty slowly raised a hand, pressed it solemnly to his chest, and spoke, his voice low and thick with genuine admiration:
"What a purely beautiful being!"
He tilted his head back slightly and sang out from the heart:
"The ocean at the end of the galaxy, the sky at the edge of the star rail — oh, creature brimming with charm, she truly gathers unto herself the most beautiful pink in all the world!"
As one of the most devout members of the Knights of Beauty, Argenti of course knew that, in certain corners of the cosmos, Idrila was also reverently known as "En·Derry."
So then — the possibility that the goddess held a third name... wasn't entirely out of the question, was it?
"...Forgive me, I'm not a man skilled with words!"
"?"
March 7th tilted her head, adorably puzzled, a giant question mark practically forming over her.
He calls himself not good with words?
"But, if I may speak plainly."
Argenti seemed almost reluctant to shatter the other man's fantasy, his tone carrying a knight's characteristic tact:
"I hold... certain reservations about the image of the Beauty Goddess you've presented, my lord."
"Oh? And your reasoning?"
Caelus leaned in at once, slinging an arm around Argenti's shoulder plate like old buddies, palm clanging against the cold metal:
"Brother, tell me honestly — have you ever actually laid eyes on Idrila's true face, with your own two eyes?"
"...Regrettably, I have not had the honor of beholding Her true form."
Argenti shook his head lightly.
"Well then!"
Caelus clapped his hands together and narrowed his eyes.
"How can you be so sure the Beauty Goddess doesn't look exactly like this?"
A crisp voice cut in suddenly.
March 7th stood with her hands on her hips, her small face wearing an expression of pure obviousness:
"Caelus, the picture you pulled up is gorgeous, no argument there, drop-dead stunning! But it's clearly just a pretty human girl! Shouldn't an Aeon be something... you know... grander, more unfathomable?"
Whoosh!
Stelle and Caelus's gazes snapped onto March 7th like twin searchlights.
Both pairs of eyes went round as saucers, and March 7th could read the message loud and clear in them: What the—?! When did you sneak in a CPU upgrade?! Ah Qi, why are you backstabbing us at the crucial moment?!
That look made March 7th's face flush — a tangle of embarrassment, anger, and guilt:
"...What's with that look?! I— am I wrong, though?!"
Her voice trailed off, growing smaller.
"Just as Miss March 7th says."
Argenti seemed to come around, as though he'd found firm logical footing.
You're actually buying what Ah Qi says?
Stelle arched an eyebrow.
"No, no, no~"
Caelus wagged a finger:
"Who says an Aeon can't walk the world in human form? Look at [Harmony] Xipe — at the very least, doesn't she look plenty human?"
"And even if every other Aeon lacked a human form, on what grounds could you assume the Beauty Goddess Elysia specifically doesn't have one?!"
Without giving Argenti time to think, Caelus kept firing off words at breakneck speed, his voice laced with a mesmerizing, persuasive force:
"Understand this: a deity presiding over Beauty is, at its core, born from every pure and good thought in the material world, reflected and refined through Resonance in the hearts of countless sentient beings, sublimated into meaning — that is what constitutes the existence of Beauty!"
Caelus pointed at the Herrscher of Human projection and delivered his conclusion with absolute conviction:
"And in this universe, what makes up the majority of sentient life? Humans! So — a goddess embodying Beauty, manifesting in the human form that most perfectly matches the aesthetic of her core believers — that tracks, doesn't it?"
"That... tracks."
Argenti's brow furrowed tight, as though a violent storm of logic were raging deep within his soul.
A few seconds later, his brow relaxed, a light of sudden enlightenment flickering in his eyes, and he nodded gravely:
"I understand now!"
As if one opened meridian had instantly cleared eight more, Argenti reached total enlightenment in a flash, and the look he gave Caelus brimmed with genuine admiration.
"Caelus, your bearing, your words, your courtesy... you have won me over completely."
"It has been my honor to meet you all — through you, I have found proof of the existence of [Beauty] itself."
Argenti bowed once more, executing a textbook knight's salute:
"Pure faith in the Beauty Goddess, humble devotion to the Way of Beauty, compassion for all beings in this world — Miss Stelle, Mister Caelus, you two are, without question, Knights of Beauty among Knights of Beauty!"
"You really do have nothing but kind words rattling around in that head of yours."
Stelle crossed her arms, the corner of her mouth curling into an expression of pure, smug satisfaction.
She felt as though her diamond-brilliant essence of Beauty, hidden away for years, had finally been recognized by a discerning eye!
This knight, she could work with!
"Huh?"
March 7th's pink-blue eyes went wide as bells.
Wait— since when did that logic start limping?
And, are you sure "pure," "humble," and "compassionate" are the words you meant to use for Stelle and Caelus?
You're not being sarcastic, are you?
"I think I just heard someone cracking a joke... was it him?"
Just as Caelus was on the verge of using [Beauty] itself to make Argenti admit the Beauty Goddess Elysia's loveliness had no equal, Haxxor Bunny sauntered over, hands shoved in her tech jacket pockets, wearing a distinctly odd expression.
She'd caught Argenti's praise for Stelle and Caelus.
No wonder the collision happened.
Turns out this guy's blind as a bat!
"Oh! Another beautiful being."
Beautiful... Haxxor Bunny stared at the red-haired knight singing her praises with such heartfelt sincerity, and fell into a frowning silence.
Retracting her earlier statement.
This guy actually has taste!
Eyes like blazing torches!
"Bronie, how's it going? The Express is okay, right?"
March 7th hurried to cut off what promised to be a second wave of Beauty-fueled madness, and asked.
Ever since boarding the Express, Haxxor Bunny had taken on several side jobs beyond just being a passenger — network administrator, system clock calibrator, and more — earning a bit of extra pocket money for it.
Her hands-on repair skills were solid too, practically an all-around tech whiz, and she often lent Himeko a hand.
"That's actually what I came to talk to you about."
She glanced at the miniature holographic projection floating beside her, currently displaying the Express's bizarre external environment readings and scan imagery, her expression turning quite something.
"We've got a big problem, folks."
"Looks like we accidentally blundered our way inside a celestial-class giant lifeform."
She never expected that her very first ride on the Astral Express, tearing through the galaxy, would run into something like this — a celestial-class giant creature, the kind that could swallow Arc City in a single bite.
Tsk tsk, what a thrill.
"Huh?! Wh— what?!"
March 7th's shriek cracked halfway through, all the color draining from her small face, sheer horror written across it.
A giant celestial creature?
Inside it?!
What the hell?!
How could something like this happen out of nowhere?
Caelus's expression froze for an instant too.
He'd been wondering why he hadn't spotted the Swarm: True Sting anywhere nearby — turns out they'd rammed straight into its stomach!
"What about you two? Get anything useful out of him?"
Haxxor Bunny's silver-gray eyes swept over the group, cutting straight to the point: "Did you get any useful intel out of this knight?"
"Uh..."
March 7th choked on her words.
What was she even supposed to say?
Should she just come clean — that ever since they'd met, Stelle and Caelus had been locked in a deep philosophical debate with Argenti over whether the Beauty Goddess was named Idrila or Elysia, and what she was even supposed to look like, on top of a whole lot of nonsense-peddling, without a single word about the actual matter of the collision or the bizarre environment outside?
At a time like this!
It really did come down to relying on Master Dan Heng!
March 7th cried out desperately in her heart.
As if he'd heard her silent plea, Dan Heng's voice rang out right on cue.
He'd just finished talking with Velite, the still-shaken IPC employee.
"Mr. Velite was originally waiting for a traffic jam to clear along his route when an accident struck. His escape pod crashed and he ended up inside some kind of giant 'cave.'"
Dan Heng kept it concise. "The cave was home to a swarm of highly aggressive insectoid creatures that hunted him relentlessly. Mister Argenti stepped in and saved him just in time."
He paused, his tone sinking lower. "I originally assumed it was just an ordinary cave. But taking Bronie's discovery into account, those bugs Mister Velite ran into... start to look a lot less ordinary."
"Those were True Stings."
Argenti added.
"True Sting-Bugs?!"
Dan Heng's expression turned grave.
He knew exactly what horror those three words carried — a swarm tied to [Propagation] Tayzzyronth, a symbol of endless calamity and consumption!
"True Sting-Bugs? What are those, exactly?"
Haxxor Bunny simply hadn't spent enough time in the Galaxy Universe yet — there was still a lot she didn't know.
"So, True Sting-Bugs are, well..."
Stelle cleared her throat.
This was the perfect chance to show off her vast knowledge!
She launched into a little lecture for Haxxor Bunny about "her own" former legion.
"...A super-swarm legion that once swept across the sea of stars, leaving nothing but scorched earth in its wake! An appetite big enough to gnaw through entire planets, shells tough enough to shrug off Death Star cannons, and a breeding rate fast enough to make you question the meaning of life! Oh, and their queen, they say..."
Stelle's lecture kept going, but Haxxor Bunny's expression had already shifted from wary confusion to outright horror, especially once she spotted the red section flagged on the Express's full schematic display.
The damaged section was tiny, the problem minor, easily fixed in no time — but weighing that against the horrors Stelle had just described, she swallowed hard.
"Master Welt and Sister Himeko are running an emergency check on the hull integrity in the power car right now. You'd all better head back to your own rooms and check things over too."
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