The next morning. The sky was a washed-out, clear cyan, its edges faintly tinged with golden-red.
In preparation to welcome the legendary Singer of the Century, the entire Memory Battleship crew woke up incredibly early.
Mimi, in particular, was darting all over the deck like a tiny, furry pinball. Her bushy tail wagged wildly, her star-shaped pupils sparkled with intense anticipation, and she kept leaning over the railing to stare out at the horizon.
Yes, back in Nagazora City, the Great-Auntie had secretly asked Fuli to buy tickets to the Far East stop of Eden's global concert tour, using it as an excuse to provide the regressor with some initial start-up funds.
But as mentioned later, her actual core motivation was to surprise her best friend by showing up to her concert—which was why she did it entirely in secret.
As for how the two of them met? That was a long time ago. Back then, Eden was just an aspiring street singer with a dream and an old guitar, playing alone in a rainy subway tunnel, completely ignored by the world.
Pedestrians hurried past, no one stopping to listen.
The only ones who stayed until the very end were Cyrene and four stray cats sitting on the stairs. They offered her the only applause they had, a cat treat, and half a dead mouse.
Hearing this highly vivid, picturesque story of the past, Castorice—who was a massive cat-lover—felt deeply moved. She even secretly began planning to adopt a few furry companions once this tournament was over.
Hearing this textbook death-flag statement, Fuli's eyelids twitched violently, his heart filled with unease.
As a regressor, his impression of the name "Eden" was incredibly simple and superficial: A global superstar. The Singer of the Century. The absolute embodiment of art and beauty.
Was there a problem with that?
At first glance, no, there wasn't.
To the vast majority of the world, that was exactly who Eden was.
But the problem was this: Fuli's entry point into the Honkai side of the world in his previous life was in late 2014, when he successfully reached Curbstone Island in the South Sea and received the Peerless Nine Turns from Cousin Hua (he didn't know she was a Fenghuang Down feather at the time).
From that moment until he was impaled by the Greatsword of Flaming Edge in the Theater of Domination in 2017... throughout those two-plus years filled with constant crisis and opportunity... Fuli had literally never heard a single piece of news regarding Eden's activities in the Honkai world!
If she were truly just an ordinary person, that wouldn't be an issue at all.
But Hyacine explicitly said Eden was an S-Rank!
An S-Rank powerhouse! Even in the late stages of the war, when Sequence Herrschers were dropping like flies, an S-Rank was a highly significant strategic deterrent!
How could a powerhouse of that caliber completely vanish without leaving a single ripple during a critical period when Honkai incidents were occurring with increasing frequency, and all major factions were fighting openly and covertly?!
Combine that with the fact that, in the previous timeline, Hyacine had also encountered Little Ica's critical illness. Being completely isolated and helpless, seeking support from the Alliance would have been the most logical choice.
Was it possible that, in the previous timeline... Eden had also responded to the distress call?
And then, the two of them ended up completely wiping inside this "ancient kingdom ruin"?
Did that make sense?
No, that absolutely didn't make sense!
I thought we were dealing with the equivalent of ancient villagers fighting with sticks!
It's like telling someone they're getting anesthesia for a surgery, and then explaining that the "anesthesia" is primarily composed of silicates, and it's applied by smashing it directly into the patient's skull.
Do you think I don't know what a fucking brick is?!
"Your Excellency...?"
"The situation is fucked! Run, Hyacine, run!"
Lost in the sheer absurdity of his own deductions, Fuli blurted out his internal alarm out loud.
The deck plunged into a brief silence.
"Pfft!"
Castorice, who had just called out to him, was the first to lose it. She hastily covered her mouth with her hands.
But her beautiful, pale purple eyes had already curved into crescents, and her smooth shoulders trembled slightly as she desperately tried to hold back her laughter. "R-Run, Hyacine, run—Pfft! Y-Your Excellency's deadpan jokes are as uniquely charming as ever."
Fuli: "..."
Mimi: "..."
I am losing my mind, family.
"Is this what the ancients meant by 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'? No matter what you say, to the one who cherishes you, it always possesses a unique charm."
Right in the middle of this slightly awkward yet heartwarming moment, an elegant, silky-smooth female voice—rich and full-bodied as vintage wine—echoed clearly in everyone's ears.
The group turned toward the source. A graceful, wine-red silhouette was naturally standing in the very center of the deck.
Fuli's eyes narrowed. Because the omniscient domain of Divine Mirror consumed too much energy, he had been keeping the older version, Cold River Reflects the Moon, active during this time.
Within the 3D-mapped perception range of this technique, the movements, energy, spirit, and even soul fluctuations of others would ripple back to him like stones dropping into a calm lake.
Yet, even so... before Eden spoke—no, even right now—Fuli's senses were screaming at him that the deck in front of him was completely, utterly empty.
She had so perfectly blended into the rhythm of the surrounding morning light and sea breeze that she could easily be mistaken for nature itself.
I knew it. There isn't a single S-Rank in this world who isn't an absolute monster, he thought to himself.
Unbidden, the fanatical, desperately-craving-S-Ranks face of a certain perverted Death Knight flashed through his mind.
Oh, right. Except for that degenerate Einmaid, the boy amended with sheer disgust, completely ignoring the fact that it was his continuous string of actions that had forcefully warped a once-noble, elegant European Duchess—the dream girl of countless young nobles—into the absolute degenerate she was today.
"Eden! My dear Eden! You finally made it!"
In stark contrast to Fuli's intense vigilance, Mimi let out a passionate, overjoyed cheer.
Like a cannonball fired from a barrel, the little creature launched herself straight at the wine-red figure, diving headfirst into a soft embrace that was at least an E-cup. Her fluffy little head rubbed back and forth, and she let out a deeply contented 'purr-purr' sound.
"Ely—Ah, right now, I suppose I should call you 'Mimi', correct?"
Eden didn't seem surprised in the slightest, a genuine, radiant smile blooming on her face.
"What an adorable little pink puppy you are. Hehe~"
She cradled the little creature lovingly in her arms, using her other hand to gently boop her best friend's wet little nose.
"Don't call me a pink puppy!"
Mimi puffed out her cheeks. I haven't even lived down the 'pink mammal' meme yet!
But when Eden began gently scratching under her chin and behind her ears, the little creature immediately squeezed her eyes shut in pure bliss. She floated happily around Eden, her bushy tail wagging so fast it looked like a propeller.
"Miss Eden! Thank you so much for coming! Truly, thank you so, so much!"
Hyacine stepped forward and bowed a full ninety degrees, her voice trembling with excitement and profound gratitude.
"Since it is a sincere request from a fellow comrade, how could I possibly stand by and do nothing?"
The singer's gaze fell upon the girl and the sickly little Pegasus in her arms, her gentle smile tinged with pity. "Furthermore, the one making the request is such an adorable little dawn-blossom."
"Miss Eden..."
Faced with such direct, elegant praise, Hyacine shyly lowered her head, the tip of her shoe unconsciously tapping against the deck.
"Gu!"
Watching one of his teammates getting flawlessly pampered and the other getting completely dazzled by praise, the completely ignored Little Li felt a massive wave of sour jealousy.
Fortunately, the highly attentive, angelic Castorice had been keeping half her attention on her Excellency the entire time.
Seeing his reaction, she took a deep breath. Her cheeks flushed a light red, but she gathered her courage, reached out her cold, soft little hand, and tentatively wrapped it around the boy's pinky finger dangling by his side.
Fuli was instantly overjoyed. He flipped his hand over, completely enveloping her slightly cool hand in his palm. Then, wrapping his arm around her waist, he pulled the girl fully into his embrace, drawing a tiny gasp of surprise from her.
"Hmph! My Cassie is the best after all! So gentle, considerate, and understanding!"
He rested his chin on the top of Castorice's faintly sweet-smelling hair, intentionally raising his voice just enough to be heard. "Unlike some people, who completely forget their old flames the moment a new one shows up!"
"Y-Your Excellency?"
The girl's pale purple eyes clouded over with a moist, shy mist. Her long eyelashes fluttered rapidly, but she didn't actually put any real effort into struggling.
Wait! What an unexpected bonus!
"Li-bao?!"
Hyacine instantly snapped out of her starstruck daze. For a moment, she was completely flustered, having absolutely no idea how to pacify her petty, attention-seeking Captain.
"Oh my, oh my~"
Floating near Eden's shoulder, Mimi covered her mouth with her tiny paws, a mischievous glint flashing in her star-shaped pupils. "Little Li is already sixteen years old. He's practically a grown man! Why does he still need to be coaxed like a little baby?"
"Why can't a sixteen-year-old be a baby?!" Fuli retorted self-righteously. "I haven't even had my birthday yet! Strictly speaking, if I went to the police station to get an ID card, I'd still need a guardian to sign off for me!"
(Though, to be fair, none of his guardians were actually around.)
"Mhm, mhm. Noted."
Mimi pulled out a massive ledger and a quill pen from God-knows-where, aggressively scribbling on the pages. "Little Li strongly implies he is still a baby who desperately needs love and gifts. He specifically desires companionship for his upcoming birthday, and demands a massive cake and surprise presents~"
"I didn't imply any of that!" the accused immediately denied.
"As a side note, Little Li's birthday is December 7th, the exact same day as Kiana's!" Mimi completely ignored him, continuing her cheerful documentation. "I remember that detail very clearly~♪"
"I only celebrate the lunar calendar birthday!"
"Understood! Gifts for both the solar and lunar calendar birthdays! Great-Auntie guarantees she will arrange everything perfectly and give Little Li an unforgettable coming-of-age ceremony~"
"Tch!"
Fuli admitted total defeat.
As expected, Mi-bao is the only one who can truly handle Li-bao, Hyacine thought, unable to stop a giggle from slipping out.
Catching sight of Eden—who had been watching the entire exchange with a gentle, amused smile—Hyacine remembered why they were here. She quickly adjusted her expression and repeated her earnest request. "Miss Eden, if it is possible, regarding the location of the Sky Kingdom..."
"I understand, my lovely and strong Miss Sky. We shall begin at once."
Without any hesitation, Eden walked gracefully to the very edge of the deck.
She tilted her head up slightly, gazing out at the point where the deep blue sea met the clear sky.
She raised her arm, her slender, jade-like fingers naturally unfurling.
"LA..."
Her red lips parted slightly. A rhythmic syllable flowed flawlessly from her throat.
Like a stone tossed into perfectly still water, or like the baseline pitch struck by the most masterful of musicians tuning their instrument... an invisible, intangible, yet undeniably real wave of energy radiated outward gently, yet with absolute certainty.
The drifting clouds in the sky seemed to be guided by an invisible conductor's baton. The wind sweeping across the ocean hummed with a resonance akin to a grand pipe organ.
The profound depths of the ocean rippled outward in perfectly synchronized rings. Even the morning light seemed to scatter more brilliantly at this exact moment.
This was Resonance—the tuning ability to synchronize one's sound with the inherent frequencies of the world itself, thereby interfering with external energy, the environment, and even certain underlying laws of reality.
In this world, there existed a very small number of incredibly gifted individuals born with this exact power to tune the myriad phenomena.
By which, we mean Robin.
Eden was not one of them.
She was not born with this gift. In fact, for a large part of her life, she had no contact with the Honkai side of the world whatsoever.
She was simply a singer. An artist who sang purely from her soul, constantly striving to use her voice to answer her own heart, and to answer the expectations of her audience.
Through countless days and nights of practice, and countless moments of blooming radiantly upon the stage... she unknowingly breached a certain boundary.
When Eden shattered those shackles, the world answered her. Sound itself actively embraced her, to an unprecedented, unimaginable degree.
And right now, what Eden was doing was using herself as a tuning fork. Using her voice as the medium, she induced a complete resonance between the sky and the sea.
She was listening. Listening to every drop of seawater, to every whisper of the wind, searching for discordant noise. For hidden echoes. For anomalous structures that did not belong to the natural order of the world.
The crew of the airship unconsciously held their breath, completely mesmerized by the a cappella that pierced straight to the depths of their souls.
About half an hour later, the world-enveloping resonance faded away like an ebbing tide.
Eden slowly lowered her arm and opened her gilded eyes.
She turned around and, looking at the group who were still entirely spellbound by the lingering echoes of her song, offered them a highly reassuring smile.
"My apologies for the wait, everyone. I have located the exact ruins of the Sky Kingdom."
Hyacine was the first to snap out of the musical trance. A massive wave of joy surged through her heart. "Really?! Where is it?!"
Eden gestured for them to join her at the edge of the deck. She pointed straight ahead, toward the ink-blue ocean that looked deep enough to swallow everything in existence.
"Right here."
Her voice was clear and absolute.
"Huh?"
Fuli and the others stared blankly.
"I am not entirely sure how Miss Hyacine's ancestor described it in her journals," the singer said evenly. "But according to the resonance perception I just established, the truth is this—approximately 160 nautical miles southeast of our current location, sitting at the bottom of an oceanic trench 6,300 meters deep... there is an artificial architectural complex. Its structure is largely intact, and its total area is comparable to a modern mid-sized metropolis."
The average depth of Point Nemo was around 4,000 meters, roughly similar to the rest of the Pacific Ocean.
However, since this area was located near an active geological fault line between two continental tectonic plates, the existence of deep, unnamed trenches wasn't surprising.
But the real issue was—
"The bottom of the ocean?!"
The members of Memory Battleship stared at each other in utter disbelief.
Yes, Hyacine had warned them from the very start that her ancestor's journals couldn't be fully trusted due to severe mental decline in her later years.
But since it was literally called the "Kingdom in the Sky," the absolute origin point of the Sky Descendants... everyone subconsciously assumed that, even if it were hidden, it had to be located in some sky-bound dimension! Like above the clouds, inside a specialized world bubble, or perhaps on a hidden floating island!
And now Eden was telling them that the so-called "Kingdom in the Sky" was sitting 6,300 meters below sea level, inside a pitch-black trench where the water pressure was high enough to crush a human into a meat patty?!
Then why the hell are you calling it the Kingdom in the Sky?! Why don't you just call it Atlantis?!
"Maybe the final battle between the Sun-Thunder Knight Ceneus and the Lord of the Spiraling Abyss was so apocalyptic that they quite literally shot the entire kingdom out of the sky?" Castorice attempted to hypothesize. "And then the kingdom plummeted into the ocean, sank to the bottom, and after thousands of years of geological shifts, it eventually settled inside a deep-sea trench?"
"Highly unlikely."
Eden immediately rejected the theory. "Even if we assume the Sky Kingdom's structural hardness, durability, and defensive shielding far exceeded modern materials and that it operated as a single, perfectly unified entity... falling from the stratosphere directly onto the ocean surface would create an impact devastating enough to shatter a structure of that size into countless pieces. It is absolutely impossible for its main structure to remain as startlingly intact as I am currently sensing, lying peacefully on the ocean floor for thousands of years."
"Perhaps we can explain it through the actions of the Sun-Thunder Knight herself?" Castorice proposed another idea. "For example, when she fell into her long slumber, she unconsciously released a massive surge of energy, forming a permanent force field that completely enveloped the kingdom's ruins, protecting it from the extreme water pressure and the erosion of time?"
"That is a distinct possibility."
This time, Eden didn't deny it. A look of approval appeared on her face, seemingly quite satisfied with the young girl's mental agility.
"Regardless, standing around guessing won't get us anywhere. If we want to completely eradicate the source of Little Ica's illness, our only option is to go down there and see it with our own eyes."
A slumbering S-Rank Demigods. A bizarre kingdom submerged in the deep sea yet named after the sky...
A deeply excited, eager smile spread across Fuli's face. He patted the hull of the heavily modified Type-59 cruiser sitting on the deck. "It's a good thing this beauty of mine is a land, sea, and air tri-phibian vehicle! We can move freely even under extreme deep-sea pressure."
He had owned this tank for so long. He had driven it on land, flown it through the sky... and now, he finally got to take it deep-sea diving!
Not to mention the famous blade Evernight. Because it was originally forged from a killer whale plushie, the power it could unleash underwater was significantly higher than on land! He never expected he'd actually get a chance to use it in its optimal environment.
As for any potential lethal dangers?
Fuli glanced at his character status panel out of the corner of his eye. The Counter-Current Strike, fully charged and capable of summoning every single Galaxy Ranger in existence, was glowing brightly in his inventory.
"It seems you are quite the thoroughly prepared little explorer."
Eden crossed her arms, her gaze sweeping over him as if she were evaluating a highly creative, unique piece of art.
"Hmph! Who do you think raised him?!"
Mimi floated up to rest on top of Fuli's head. Placing her tiny paws on her hips, she puffed out her little chest, looking incredibly proud of her "cub."
But who could have anticipated... that right as the group was preparing to board the cruiser and begin their deep-sea descent... a sharp, fiercely authoritative shout echoed from the high heavens:
"Diving into the deep sea?! There is no need for that!"
A blazing, meteor-like orange silhouette tore through the cloud layer at jaw-dropping speed, plummeting straight toward the sea zone where their airship was floating.
The terrifying speed of her descent caused the air friction to generate such intense heat that the surrounding atmosphere began to ionize. Yet, the figure cloaked in fire completely ignored it.
"Hey! Hey, hey! Slow down, my dear Princess!"
Another, highly exasperated female voice followed closely behind. Crisp, grey short hair, and a curvaceous figure wrapped tightly in a raven-feather leather suit. It was none other than an old acquaintance—Little Island Bomber Raven.
And the identity of the aggressive, fiery figure leading the charge was immediately obvious.
Also a Grand Executive of the World Serpent. A girl currently heavily addicted to a certain popular superhero anime, who had on a whim crowned herself with the exact same title as the supreme Esper from the show.
The orange-haired girl, "The Tornado of Terror"—Dystopia.
Wanna see me preemptively pop my ultimate?