As she watched the two splashes quickly disappear on the ocean surface, Eden suddenly remembered something.
"Ah," she murmured to herself. "How unfortunate. I forgot to tell them that reinforcements are on their way."
"Reinforcements?"
Dystopia, whose psychic burden had skyrocketed the moment Fuli left, looked utterly stunned. "All contact with the outside world has been completely severed by this thing! Where the hell would reinforcements come from?!"
The girl was certain someone would eventually notice the Sea God's existence, but Point Nemo's reputation as the "Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility" was no joke. It would take a significant amount of time for any secondary disasters to be noticed by the outside world.
And yet, judging by Eden's calm, certain tone, the "reinforcements" she mentioned were not the kind they had to passively wait for.
"Please focus on the enemy's assault, Miss Executive."
The singer offered no further explanation, simply closing her eyes once more.
Her beautiful song, resonating with the very world, flowed out again, waging a silent yet fierce war against the ancient, raging will that permeated the heavens.
Beside her, however, the pointed, elf-like tips of Castorice's ears twitched almost imperceptibly. Her expression grew thoughtful.
Meanwhile, inside the descending shuttle, Raven activated her Honkai energy to evaporate the seawater from her tight leather suit.
She was about to habitually complain about Fuli not waiting for her, but the memory of that silent, ice-cold sword flash and the boy's utterly emotionless crimson eyes immediately resurfaced.
Her survival instinct instantly crushed any and all complaints. Wisely choosing to follow her gut, she hugged her knees and squatted in a corner, waiting to arrive at the legendary underwater city.
Soon, however, she felt something long, about as thick as a forearm, poking her rather shapely, leather-clad posterior.
Glancing over, she saw that it was the crystalline blue energy forming the shuttle's inner wall, which Fuli's will had shamelessly shaped into a groping hand.
This, she could not tolerate!
Yes, Miss Raven's tight, raven-feather leather suit practically oozed sex appeal, and yes, her profession as a mercenary straddled the line between life, death, and the grey areas of morality. But that absolutely did not mean this little brat with off-the-charts power could take advantage of her in such a vulgar manner!
If you've got the guts, take me on for real!
She was about to open her mouth and unleash her fury when she noticed the boy across from her was shooting her a meaningful look.
Raven's emotional intelligence was high. She followed his gaze and immediately noticed the overly quiet atmosphere, and the lonely, downcast expression on Hyacine's face in the corner.
It made sense.
According to her ancestor's journal, the Sea God had defeated the Eye of Dawn and Dusk and become the new ruler of the Sky Kingdom.
The problem was, since the "Eye" was the Divine Key Key of Radiant Skies, not even the Lord of the Spiraling Abyss—the wielder of the divine authority over the ocean—should have been able to truly defeat a planetary regulation device painstakingly crafted by the Previous Era's greatest scientists.
The more likely scenario was that there had been a traitor within the Sky Kingdom, leading to the defeat of the Divine Key's wielder.
The reason was easy to guess. The Children of the Sky were the descendants of a group of Pioneers who had survived the Previous Era and awakened 50,000 years later.
And all of these so-called descendants were born from the several hundred young women into whom Dr. MEI had injected Stigmata genes.
To properly maintain the Key of Radiant Skies, they would have naturally selected for those with an affinity for the sky and wind—the Stigmata of the 4th Herrscher.
The wind-aspected genes flowing through their veins would cause them to naturally yearn for the sky and for freedom. Yet, in order to suppress the Wind Herrscher's Companion Beast, their kingdom was forced into the sunless depths of the sea, imprisoning them for generations in a magnificent underwater cage.
Forced to live in eternal darkness, violently suppressing the deepest desires of their bloodline... how was that any different from being imprisoned for life?
At this thought, Raven coughed lightly and adjusted her posture, letting her long, leather-clad legs stretch out more casually.
Following Fuli's cue, she prepared to crack a few of her signature, low-brow mercenary jokes to lighten the heavy mood and earn herself a favor.
However, before she could speak, Hyacine, who had been looking down, lifted her head.
The girl's face did not hold the expected despondency or deep sorrow. Her clear eyes, usually brimming with warm light, were a little less bright than usual, but they were still crystal clear.
"Li-bao, Mi-bao, and Miss Raven," she began, a small, proud smile on her face, "according to my calculations, we're currently at a depth of about three thousand meters."
Her gradient-pink twin-drills bounced cheerfully. "At this depth, the water pressure is equivalent to having a 300-kilogram girl standing on every square centimeter of our skin!"
"A 300-kilo 'girl'? You might as well just say I'm being stood on by an entire pig farm," Fuli retorted reflexively, the worry in his heart dissipating.
Clearly, their team's Hyacine was not the type to wallow in self-pity.
"Woah! 300 kilos?! That sounds terrifying!"
Mimi, floating on Fuli's shoulder, put on a perfectly coordinated look of terror, her pink fur puffing up slightly. "And we're not even halfway down, right? The pressure below must be even greater!"
In her mascot-level combat form, the little creature was particularly sensitive to such overwhelming physical threats.
"So make sure you hold on tight to me later," Fuli said, intentionally putting on a stern, kid-scaring tone. "If you fall out of the protective field, Mimi will instantly turn into Mimi-paste!"
"No, she won't! Stop trying to scare me, Little Li!"
The little creature planted her paws on her hips, trying her best to look fierce but succeeding only in looking adorable.
"The Sky Kingdom is a Previous Era ruin! Their technology was amazing! Their kingdom must have some kind of super-shield or force field that can push back the water and maintain a normal atmosphere! You don't expect Hyacine's ancestors to have lived like fish, do you?"
"What if their shield relied on the power of the Celestial Fresco itself?"
Fuli said mischievously. "Don't forget, the core authority of the Herrscher of Wind is the manipulation of Ideal Fluid. By extension, that means control over all fluids—and seawater is a fluid."
In other words, as a planetary system capable of controlling the entire global atmosphere, the Key of Radiant Skies naturally encompassed the key elements of both wind and water.
Mimi's star-shaped pupils widened. "Huh? Then why wasn't she called the Herrscher of Feng Shui?"
"That title sounds a bit too much like a superstitious charlatan," Raven commented. "Gives you the feeling she's about to whip out a turtle shell or a compass and ask if you want your fortune told."
"Because Ideal Fluid is just that damn good," Fuli replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It has no viscosity, is incompressible, conducts no heat, and is perfectly sharp and smooth. In theory, it can destroy any physical object or structure... If it weren't for the equally bullshit existence of Honkai energy, which can use its semi-metaphysical properties to brute-force a neutralization, the Herrscher of Wind could basically strut sideways across the universe with that alone."
Hoooo-hohohohoho!
(That was a Queen's laugh.)
To this day, the wind-aspected Setsuna Blade: Suffering Yaksha remained Fuli's favorite opening move. He used it in every battle, and it had been instrumental in bullying those hundred-odd City Gods back in China.
Yes, it was exceptionally good at torturing low-level mobs.
"Damn it..."
Raven muttered under her breath, a flash of lingering fear and frustration in her eyes.
She had just personally experienced being sent flying by Ideal Fluid. The memory of being launched hundreds of meters, her body aching all over, was still fresh.
When she noticed Fuli's gaze shifting toward her, she quickly changed her expression, plastering on a sweet, fawning smile and even throwing him a sultry, mature wink, perfectly embodying the principle of "a true hero knows when to bend the knee."
To be fair, setting aside her gradual slide into the role of a gag character, Ms. Ciora's figure possessed an undeniably aggressive sexual tension.
Countless functional leather straps crisscrossed her slender, powerful waist and long, straight legs, simultaneously acting as a restraint while emphasizing her fluid, explosive curves.
Every breath she took caused the exaggerated arc of her full bust to rise and fall beneath her tight corset. The faint sound of friction, intertwined with her husky, magnetic breathing, created a dangerous, alluring, and almost sinful rhythm.
If they were to ever engage in the great harmony of life, God only knows how loudly she would moan.
Speaking of maturity, however, Fuli was suddenly reminded of something else that had been bothering him.
He snatched Mimi off his head and held her in front of his face.
"You said before that when Eden was just starting out, before she was famous, you were already a loyal fan?"
"That's right! Eden is my best friend! We've known each other for a long, long time!"
Mimi smiled smugly, her fluffy tail wagging happily.
Then, her tone shifted, becoming soft and teasing.
"What's wrong? Are you jealous? Hmph, don't worry! Little Li will always, always, always be Great-Auntie's most treasured baby!"
She even reached out a little paw, attempting to pat the boy's cheek reassuringly.
"I'm not jealous," Fuli rolled his eyes, but didn't dodge her touch. "I was just thinking, isn't Eden much older than you? When she debuted, weren't you just a little kid?"
Eden was from the same generation as Cocolia; the two had even been close friends.
It was Eden's financial support that had allowed Cocolia to gain a foothold in Anti-Entropy.
It was only after Cocolia began to change that they drifted apart, something Bronya had mentioned before.
But his Great-Auntie, before she'd shrunk, looked to be about the same age as him. How did they meet?
"Huhu!"
Mimi didn't answer directly, instead doing a proud little spin in mid-air.
"That's because—"
She deliberately drew out her words. "—I'm Little Li's 'Little Great-Auntie'!"
"Stop changing the subject. Be serious."
"I'm not! This year, I'm actually—Eep!" The little creature quickly clamped her paws over her mouth, shaking her tiny fists angrily. "Little Li, you're a bad guy! Asking a pretty girl her age!"
"What did I do?"
The boy was genuinely confused.
Age, seniority...
Wait a minute.
An absurd yet strangely plausible theory flashed through Fuli's mind.
"Was the family group chat telling the truth? Were you really picked up by Great-Grandpa in Antarctica?!"
According to his grandfather's generation, his Little Great-Auntie, despite her ridiculously high seniority, had been a baby found by his great-grandfather during an expedition to Vostok Station in Antarctica's Sector-51.
The expedition team had encountered some bizarre prehistoric lifeform. At their most desperate moment, the infant Great-Auntie had been released from a glacier, and a strange light emanating from her had saved them all.
The year was 1950, even before the first recorded Great Honkai Eruption in Berlin.
Until now, everyone, including Fuli, had assumed this story—first mentioned way back in Volume 1, Chapter 13—was just a creative excuse for the old man's wandering eye.
After all, the old man was in ridiculously good shape, still able to practice Tai Chi and Baguazhang at eighty. With physical prowess comparable to Joseph Joestar, it wasn't a stretch to imagine him doing something similar (like having an affair and a secret child).
So you're telling me that fairy tale was actually true?!
"Then your age?"
"My growth cycle is a little different from a normal person's!"
Mimi shrugged. "After Little An (Fuli's great-grandfather) secretly brought me back from Antarctica, it took me a very, very long time to grow into the beautiful girl Little Li knew! Hehe, isn't that amazing?"
Which was why her name was "Fu Xilian," not sharing the family name "Fu" like everyone else.
"I see."
Fuli understood now. But then another thought struck him, and he fell silent.
Seeing this, Mimi couldn't help but feel a little smug. "Hmph! What's wrong? Now that you know we're not related by blood, are you having some... unhealthy thoughts about me? Well, your Great-Auntie isn't entirely opposed—Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
"It's a good thing you grow so slowly! Otherwise, when you failed to activate the Star Drive for the first time, you wouldn't have just shrunk from sixteen to twelve, would you?!"
Fuli shouted, his fingers drilling into her temples.
Remember? When Cyrene failed her first attempt to use the power of the Radiant Star Drive, she suffered a terrifying temporal backlash, regressing from a sixteen-year-old girl to a twelve-year-old.
At the time, Fuli had thought it was just a regression of a few years. But now, realizing his Great-Auntie's growth cycle was far longer than a normal human's... if she hadn't had that natural resistance, would she have regressed into an infant? Or been completely consumed by the river of time and erased from existence?
The thought sent a cold hand clutching at Fuli's heart, a powerful wave of suffocation washing over him.
Ever since his contact with the "Abundance · Yaoshi"—the fusion of Miyuki and Yuno—his once-vague dreams had become clearer.
One of them was of his Great-Auntie dying during the Third Honkai Eruption, and making him forget her before she passed.
"Little Li, listen to me."
The beautiful, flower-like pink-haired girl held the grievously wounded boy tightly in her arms, her tears falling onto his cheeks.
She lowered her head and, with the finality of a farewell, gently kissed his forehead, leaving behind a whisper as gentle as a curse. "Forget me, and live on..."
"Waaaaah! Little Li! Great-Auntie knows she was wrong! Let go, my face is getting squished!"
The pleading voice in his ear once again pulled Fuli back from his daze.
He blinked, his vision clearing to see the pink puppy in his hands, her face squished out of shape, looking at him pitifully.
Fuli's eyes blurred for a moment. He suddenly pulled Mimi's tiny body into a tight hug.
"It's a promise."
The boy's voice was muffled by her fur, but carried an unprecedented seriousness. "This time, everyone is coming home safe. Not a single one of us gets left behind."
Mimi was initially confused by his sudden gravity, but she soon patted his back gently. "Okay!"
Fuli looked over at Hyacine, who had been quietly watching them. "You and Little Ica too."
"All of us, together!"
A radiant smile bloomed on the girl's face.
Fuli nodded, refocusing his attention on piloting the shuttle.
The crystalline blue vessel, like a phantom in the deep sea, continued its descent into the darkness—a darkness temporarily calmed by Eden's power, yet still bottomless and profound.
Raven, in the corner: ???
Hey, buddy, what about me?
In that touching, heartfelt promise about everyone coming home safe, did you maybe... forget someone?
"Oh, right. And you."
As if sensing the resentful glare that was practically boring a hole in the back of his head, Fuli added in a completely nonchalant tone,
"You seem to have heard some things you shouldn't have. But don't worry. After this is all over, I'll use the Star-Field Hegemon's Mind-Wipe to make you forget everything."
"What kind of ridiculously terrible name is that?!" Little Island Bomber Raven shrieked.
"Or I could fabricate a false memory for you? I'm pretty good at that."
"Are you the God of Memories now?!"
"Just kidding."
Translator's Note: "Cao Cao's New Book" is a meme referencing a lost historical text, now used online to mean "a complete fabrication" or "I'm lying."