"Ah, it's you."
Acheron, the Edge of Existence, gazed at Lumina with dawning realization, her eyes glowing crimson like the Yellow Springs.
"The moment my attack struck Aventurine, I sensed a sudden, immensely powerful force shielding him. At first, I assumed it was someone from the Family or the IPC protecting him. I never imagined it would be you."
"Am I really that surprising?" Lumina asked, her curiosity piqued by Acheron's words.
From any perspective, it would have been far more unexpected if someone other than Lumina had saved Aventurine.
"No, I'm just surprised it was you. I'm not surprised by your actions," Acheron replied, shaking her head. She continued, "Aventurine's goal was to use me to prove that true death doesn't exist within Penacony's Dream."
"With your insight and power, you must have seen through his scheme. That's why, when he was saved, you didn't immediately come to mind."
"Now that I think about it, you probably saved him purely to indulge your own twisted sense of amusement."
Although Acheron and Lumina hadn't known each other long, Lumina's self-introduction and her behavior toward Black Swan made it clear she was a woman of extreme individuality.
"Hey, Little Lumina, she's calling you wicked!" Herta leaned close to Lumina, their shoulders nearly touching. Hearing Acheron's words, Herta nudged Lumina with her elbow, helpfully translating.
"Is she praising me?" Lumina retaliated with an elbow jab of her own.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone like you, who freezes in your tracks at the sight of a beautiful girl, would take anything a pretty girl says as a compliment," Herta replied in a tone dripping with sarcastic agreement.
As for Lumina's guiding principle? It was hardly a mystery: Beautiful girls reign supreme above all else.
Our Lumina is just like that.
Herta rolled her eyes inwardly, speechless. To put Lumina's behavior in modern internet slang, it could be summed up in two words:
Sea King.
(Spy- Essentially slang calling her a fuckboy/player)
Whether this "Sea King" would capsize, and when, Herta couldn't say.
But even if she didn't know, Herta would be absolutely thrilled if Lumina's ship ever truly went down in the future.
At that moment, she would descend like a goddess, banishing all the "sea water" one by one, resolving every crisis caused by Lumina's shipwreck.
Then Lumina would finally be utterly devoted, navigating solely in the "Herta" sea...
And Lumina would willingly call her "Big Sister Herta."
"The two of you have such a lovely relationship," Acheron said, her eyes, shadowed by Nihility, flickering with envy as she watched Lumina and Herta interact.
In that distant past, in those memories already dissolved into Nihility, Acheron had once had a companion like Lumina, one with whom she could laugh and share joyful moments.
"Yes, my relationship with my dear little sister Herta is exceptionally close," Lumina replied with a smile, emphasizing the words "my dear little sister Herta."
"Heh," Herta shot Lumina a speechless glare before stepping forward. "At our first meeting, Self-Annihilator of Nihility, I am Herta."
"Acheron, just an ordinary Traveler."
Herta: ?
Hearing Acheron's self-introduction, Herta glared at Lumina, her irritation palpable.
This kind of pretentious self-introduction? No need to even think about it—Lumina must have taught her.
Sensing Herta's gaze, Lumina feigned innocence, touching her cheek and sighing dramatically. "Little Herta, I know I'm breathtakingly beautiful, and it's only natural to be captivated by my beauty. But staring like that still makes me blush."
Lumina's face flushed slightly as she squirmed bashfully, acting like a coy maiden.
"You should hurry and join the Cosmos Star Auditions," Herta snapped. "With acting like that, you'd definitely stand out—even without your looks."
If Lumina were to participate in the Cosmos Star Auditions, even setting aside her acting skills and social status, her unparalleled beauty—a rare sight even in the Cosmos over hundreds of Amber Eras—would likely catapult her to cosmic superstardom within just a few years.
That's why, when Herta made that remark, she specifically emphasized: "Setting aside your looks and social status, let's focus solely on your acting."
"Sorry, Little Herta, but I can't just 'set aside' my looks," Lumina replied, pulling out a mirror to admire herself with her usual narcissism.
"Indeed, you can't," Herta nodded, rarely agreeing with Lumina.
"Now that the formalities are done, we should be going." After her brief vanity session, Lumina put away the mirror and turned her gaze to Acheron. "I've already removed the Harmony sigil from Aventurine. As for whether he can still find his way to True Penacony, that depends entirely on whether the master of the Memory Zone Meme is willing to let him off the hook."
Hearing this, Acheron nodded, her voice utterly flat. "The master of that Memory Zone Meme likely wants to make the Sweet Dream even more chaotic."
"Therefore, they probably won't refuse Aventurine's request."
Though drawing her blade allowed Acheron to recall fragments of her past, her emotions had been reduced to pure nothingness, leaving her incapable of feeling any emotional fluctuations.
This left Acheron in a state of utter indifference toward everything.
But... there was still one exception.
"Let's go." Knowing Acheron's detached state and with Herta by her side, Lumina didn't linger. She waved goodbye.
"Mm," Acheron replied flatly, a fleeting flicker of hesitation—an emotion her current state shouldn't permit—crossing her brow.
"See you."
Herta nodded curtly in acknowledgment.
Satisfied with Acheron's response, Lumina immediately took Herta's small hand and vanished from the spot in an instant, pulling the girl along with her.
"Wait... wait..."
Having seemingly made up her mind, Acheron hurriedly raised her hand, intending to say something.
But she was too late. Before Acheron could voice her decision, Lumina and Herta had already vanished.
"..."
"It's pointless. Nothing matters anymore."
"Everything will return to Nihility..."
Acheron's crimson eyes faded back to their usual calm. She gazed up at the dark void before her, muttering a few words under her breath.