"Hya."
Fuli's voice, amidst the howling storm, was unnervingly calm.
He turned his head to the petite, pale-faced girl beside him. "In the journals your ancestor left behind... did she ever describe what the sea god that invaded the Sky Kingdom actually looked like?"
"There was no detailed description..."
Hyacine tried her best to recall, her gradient-pink hair plastered to her face by the frantic sea wind.
"Oh. Good."
Fuli nodded, turning his gaze back to the colossal, watery silhouette that grew clearer with every passing second. His tone was so even it sounded almost distant. "In the future, if you ever write a memoir, you can describe your first meeting with the sea god like this."
"That day, I saw the legendary sea god. It was not a monster with a fish's tail or tentacles, nor was it a deity riding the colossal waves. It was... the ocean itself. An ocean with an average depth of 4,000 meters, a surface area of approximately 22.7 million square kilometers, a body roughly the size of the entire North American continent... and it was alive."
"..."
The air itself seemed to freeze solid, leaving only the deafening roar of the churning sea and the soul-crushing pressure radiating from the slowly materializing titan.
"This is truly..."
This time, even the confident, easy smile on Eden's face completely vanished, replaced by a profound solemnity and a sliver of shock.
Question: How could a single, individual entity be so vast that every observer on Earth would simply mistake it for a macroscopic natural phenomenon?
First, its sheer volume had to be so immense that no conventional perspective could ever grasp its full silhouette, making it impossible to distinguish the individual from its environmental background.
Second, it had to be so powerful that even in a deep, prolonged slumber, the mere boundary of its body could permanently alter the ecology of an entire ocean.
Like an invisible, colossal wall, it naturally blocked the nutrient-rich currents from the surrounding continents, single-handedly creating the famous oceanic desert known as Point Nemo.
"So this is... the Sea God..."
Everyone could now clearly feel a vast magnetic field blanketing the entire region, pulling this corner of the world into its own independent domain.
And the gradually forming water giant? It was nothing more than an insignificant, microscopic scale on the surface of the whole.
Even having personally witnessed the mind-boggling existence of a Living Planet, the sheer, direct scale and pure, overwhelming pressure of a Living Ocean made Castorice's breath catch in her throat, her mind reeling.
Hyacine's thoughts were in utter chaos. The line from her ancestor's journal—"The Sea God commands the ocean and the water"—was now materializing before her in the most direct, cognition-shattering way imaginable.
So... she meant it literally.
"What the hell is that thing?! A living ocean spirit?! It's so old it's become a natural phenomenon?! You've got to be fucking kidding me!"
Her pupils reflecting the reality-defying spectacle, Raven's jaw nearly hit the deck.
She had every right to panic. As previously mentioned, with Fuli's own power combined with the pure-offense Overlord's Bar, he could easily annihilate an entire province. Hell, he could probably wipe out a dwarf planet—a "third-class planet" in Nine-Phases' terminology—without much issue.
But that was in the Sea of Quanta, where the spatial structure was relatively fragile and the rules could be bent.
In the Real World, against an enemy the size of an entire ocean... even if it just stood there and let them attack, they couldn't hope to inflict any real, lasting damage.
And most critically, thanks to Dystopia's simple, brutish act of yanking on its home... it was now pissed off.
Although the colossal shadow had yet to fully form distinct facial features or limbs, the icy, furious will of the entire ocean crashing down upon them was a tangible pressure weighing on everyone's heart.
"Gray Serpent! Gray Serpent! Hello? Hello?!"
Raven instinctively tried to connect to World Serpent's encrypted comms channel to request backup—or at least send intel—only to find that all signals, whether Honkai energy-based or standard electromagnetic waves, were being completely nullified by the life-field blanketing the sky.
Meanwhile, the culprit herself, Dystopia, now clearly understood the gravity of the situation.
She decisively abandoned her attempt to drag up the Sky Kingdom. Her pale green telekinetic power formed layer upon layer of precise, hardened defensive fields around her body. Her usual flamboyant, devil-may-care attitude was completely replaced by grim determination. She was ready for a desperate, life-or-death battle.
"Bit off more than you could chew, huh?"
Yet, in the midst of this suffocating, tense standoff, a man's voice—laced with distinct mockery and coldness—suddenly cut through the air.
His left hand resting casually on the hilt of Evernight, Fuli spoke with feigned nonchalance. "Judging from your arrogant-then-suddenly-scared-shitless expressions, it's clear World Serpent's intel was just as fucked up as ours. You definitely had no idea the Sea God was this big."
"Even now, are you still planning to hide what you know? Are you going to drag all of us down into this massive pit you dug with your own recklessness?"
Beneath his black, choppy bangs, his eyes were sharp as blades. "While there's still time, share everything you know."
"Hey! This isn't the time for—"
Seeing the boy was still spouting snark, Raven began to protest anxiously.
She was equally pissed at Dystopia for going rogue, but Fuli was right—they had both been royally screwed by bad intel.
However, before Raven could finish her sentence...
With no warning, so fast that no one even saw him draw his sword, a terrifying slash wreathed in Ideal Fluid erupted at a speed that transcended visual perception.
Raven's pupils contracted. On pure instinct, she threw the Seven Thunders of Retribution in front of her.
BANG—!
The slash slammed into the Divine Key. Raven let out a muffled grunt. As if she'd been hit head-on by a freight train, she and her hastily constructed defenses were sent flying back hundreds of meters, carving a long white trench across the ocean surface before she managed to stabilize herself, her arm still trembling.
But that was the least of their worries. What truly sent a deathly chill down the spines of the World Serpent duo was what happened next.
"..."
Dystopia stiffly lowered her head.
She saw her bright orange ponytail... and watched as the very end of it was cleanly severed.
Her meticulously tied hair, now freed from its bond, floated helplessly in the sea breeze for a moment before falling away, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.
And the supreme telekinetic shield covering her entire body—a shield that could easily block a full-power strike from a conventional S-Rank—had simply not existed in the face of that slash.
"Divine Departure..."
Dystopia muttered the name of the technique in a daze, her voice laced with an imperceptible tremor.
As one of the few who had witnessed the Third Honkai Eruption from start to finish, Misteln was well aware of Fuli's ultimate assassination technique, which specialized in bypassing all forms of energy shields.
As a high-ranking executive of World Serpent, and on good terms with Hare, Dystopia had naturally shared in this critical intelligence.
But it was precisely because she knew what it was that she now felt a bone-deep, piercing cold.
The intel files explicitly stated that Divine Departure could only be used for close-range attacks, wreathed around a weapon.
That was its greatest limitation. Anyone who knew that had a much better chance of dealing with it.
So when the hell could he use it as a ranged attack?!
When did he break that limit?!
The girl couldn't help but feel a surge of terror. For fighters like them, who relied heavily on various force fields, psychic shields, and energy barriers for both offense and defense, Divine Departure was the Sword of Damocles hanging directly over their heads.
If Fuli's blade had been aimed not at her hair, but at her neck, her heart, or her head... that single strike, empowered by both Divine Departure and Ideal Fluid, could have genuinely sent her to the afterlife on the spot.
"You—"
The girl glared at Fuli, her eyes filled with a mixture of shock, fury, apprehension, and a lingering trace of fear.
She glanced at the disheveled Raven stabilizing herself in the distance and was about to say something.
"Shut up."
The boy's voice wasn't loud, but it was absolute.
Sensing the danger, Dystopia instinctively fell silent.
"The two of you... either you're screaming your heads off or doing whatever the hell you want. Did you really think I was some kind, gentle, pushover idiot?"
Fuli's expression was icy. The pure-blooded draconic might of a true sovereign erupted from him, shaking the very heavens.
"Hya's been in a bad mood lately, so I've been intentionally acting like a goofy idiot to cheer her up. I was trying to be nice to you two so I didn't upset her more, and you actually thought you could walk all over me?"
Thanks to inheriting his mother's bizarrely high affinity stat, Fuli usually appeared to be nothing more than a handsome, easygoing, and utterly non-threatening sunny boy.
Combined with his personality—which was anything but showy—many people who interacted with him briefly tended to forget what kind of absolute monster he was at his core.
In World Serpent's most recent threat assessment files, the name "Fuli" was listed at the absolute highest threat level, on par with Durandal.
If Durandal were standing here right now, even if Raven was holding a Divine Key with its Zeroth Power unlocked, would an enemy faction member dare to point and scream at her face?
She'd rip every last feather off you! She'd smash your villa and your private island to dust!
Of course, this disarming charisma wasn't entirely a bad thing. At the very least, it made it difficult for people to truly see him as a mortal enemy.
Just like Dystopia—even knowing he possessed Divine Departure, a sword art that was her perfect counter, she had still acted completely nonchalantly and dismissively just moments ago.
But now, Fuli was genuinely pissed off.
His side was carefully, cautiously advancing the plot, taking into account the events of the previous timeline, striving to achieve the True Ending without any regrets.
And these two?
The moment they showed up, they started running their mouths, taunting and acting superior. Then, on a whim, they decided to try and rip an ancient city from the bottom of the ocean.
"I'll repeat myself one last time. Hand over all the intel World Serpent has on the Sky Kingdom."
The final warning before judgment echoed in everyone's ears. Fuli slowly raised Evernight, invisible Ideal Fluid coiling around it.
"Otherwise, I don't mind getting rid of two hostile units who will God-knows-what other trouble you'll cause, and then finding the answers myself—either by asking that giant blob of water, or by taking my time searching the ruins at the bottom of the sea."
Four afterimage-blades slowly materialized beside him: Overlord's Bar, Lethe Ward, Divine Departure, Avici's Hell... and upon the edge of each blade, the radiant light of the Setsuna Blade pulsed.
I was playing the game just fine, and you had to go and snatch the keyboard?
Then don't blame me for smashing you over the head with the monitor!
So what if she was S-Rank? So what if they had the Seven Thunders?
At the end of the day, the fundamental reason Fuli dared to participate in this obviously high-risk "Saving Private Ica" mission was this: when it came to a fight, he was absolutely certain he was stronger than anyone else present!
"..."
The icy killing intent instantly lodged all of Raven's anger and words in her throat. It finally dawned on her just what kind of monster this sixteen-year-old boy truly was.
Nagazora, Far East: Frontally killed the Herrscher of Thunder during the Third Eruption.
Schicksal's Virtual Space: Burned three Divine Keys to obliterate the Celestial Mainframe.
London, Britain: Effortlessly outsmarted the strongest A-Ranker wielding a fragment of the Lance of Finality.
Kanas Lake, China: Beheaded the God-King Tengri, who had usurped the remains of Genghis Khan.
Wardance Preliminaries: Overpowered the above-A-Rank Hundred-Forge and the Sword Saint in a one-versus-two battle in front of everyone.
Living Planet Battle: Single-handedly cut down Hoolay, the strongest War Chief of the Borisin, who had been resurrected even stronger than before.
On top of that was a laundry list of achievements that were terrifying just to hear about: publicly executing the Lord of the Flies, the Sundial Incident, single-handedly challenging every City God in China...
And all of that... was just in the last seven months. From March 26th of this year—the day he officially stepped into the Honkai world—to now.
Since his debut, he had never been defeated.
"Your Excellency..."
Castorice gazed at the boy's tall, straight back, her eyes shining with a strange light.
It wasn't fear. It was a mixture of inexplicable pride, absolute trust, and an indescribable flutter in her heart.
Eden's expression was one of keen interest, which then deepened into a more profound scrutiny, as if she were re-evaluating this young successor from scratch.
Mimi puffed out her little cheeks and covered her mouth with both paws, terrified she might accidentally make a sound and ruin the overwhelming atmosphere Little Li had created.
A proper elder never lets her family lose face in front of outsiders!
As for Hyacine—
"Hya's been in a bad mood lately, so I've been intentionally acting like a goofy idiot..."
"Hya's been in a bad mood lately, so I've been intentionally acting like a goofy idiot..."
To reiterate, our temporary-therapist-turned-broken-record may look petite and cute, but she was by no means a thoughtless, lovesick fangirl.
Unfortunately, the sheer destructive power of that one sentence was so immense that it had blown her mind to pieces. It felt like fireworks were exploding in her brain, and she was completely unable to process anything else.
This time, faced with Fuli's cold, murderous intent—an intent that made it clear he would kill them both before dealing with the Sea God—the World Serpent duo exchanged a rapid glance.
"We'll talk! We'll talk!"
Dystopia threw her hands up in the air, decisively choosing to surrender.
"But first, I need to make one thing clear! Our intel might not be 100% accurate either!" she added hastily, as if afraid a single misstep would bring Divine Departure down on her head.
"I know."
Fuli's expression softened slightly, but the sword-shadows and killing intent around him did not dissipate.
No matter how impulsive these two were, they wouldn't have come all this way just to awaken a natural phenomenon the size of North America for fun.
"Good!"
The girl breathed a sigh of relief and cut to the chase. "Our primary objective here is to retrieve the core component of the 4th Divine Key, the Celestial Fresco, which is slumbering in the ancient city at the bottom of the sea."
"Once we combine the Celestial Fresco with the satellite shell currently in near-Earth orbit, the complete Planetary Control will be ours to command, free from Schicksal's keycodes!"
The Key of Clearing Skies: Planetary Control. A planetary regulation system created by the Previous Era to ensure the continuation of the human race. It typically orbited the Earth, absorbing ambient energy as a power source, constantly collecting data and running calculations.
With sufficient energy, Planetary Control could use its collected data to predict environmental changes like weather patterns, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
When necessary, it could use its internal systems to modify global climate and geography to achieve a desired result, though such an operation took time.
Schicksal had even used it to offer a high-priced VIP custom weather service, which was how Cain Peppian of Sundial City had been able to summon a super typhoon to sweep across China's southeastern coast.
Faced with the increasingly tense global situation, and with their Lord yet to return, acquiring a weapon of mass destruction that could influence the global climate and serve as a strategic deterrent was a massive boon for World Serpent.
"As for the Children of the Sky, they are actually the descendants of a group of Pioneers who survived the Previous Era and awakened in this one," Dystopia's tone shifted as she looked at Hyacine, who was still blushing but now listening intently. "They were chosen to be the clan responsible for wielding and maintaining the Key of Clearing Skies, which is why their home was called the Kingdom in the Sky."
Fuli recalled the description in Hyacine's ancestor's journal: The Sea God commands the oceans and water, while the Eye of Dawn and Dusk commands the sky and wind.
The counterpart to a Sea God the size of a continent was the 4th Divine Key, capable of controlling the entire global atmosphere. It was a fitting match.
After all, an orbital satellite really did look like an eye hanging in the heavens.
Hyacine asked urgently, "Then why did they build their kingdom at the bottom of the sea? And why was the Divine Key split in two?"
"To maintain a seal! To maintain the seal on the Companion Beast of the Previous Era's Herrscher of Wind!"
Dystopia hesitated for a moment before finally telling the truth. "And our other important objective, after successfully retrieving the Celestial Fresco, is to enter the depths of the seal and completely annihilate the monster imprisoned within!"
The air fell strangely silent.
Fuli blinked. The coldness and killing intent on his face faded, replaced by a look of sheer bewilderment, like a man who'd just been told, "I took off my pants and this is all you're showing me?"
That's it?
He felt a faint sense of disappointment, like the first time he found out the final boss of Ophaal 3.2 was just another Aeon of Finality.
A Herrscher's Companion Beast? How strong could it possibly be?
We have one of those at home! he thought, glancing at the draconic bracelet permanently coiled around Mei's wrist.