After leaving the vibrant Nagazora City, where all things seemed to be thriving, the aerial battleship carrying Fuli and the others quickly entered the airspace above the Pacific Ocean.
This was thanks to the narrow geography of the Far East. If it were a vast country like Shenzhou, they would have definitely been intercepted and questioned by various military regions.
However, thinking about it carefully, the Shenzhou forces wouldn't allow an undeclared foreign warship to roam freely in their airspace either.
Not just Shenzhou; any normal country implements airspace restrictions on aerial units. Proper procedures are required for entry; otherwise, it is considered a provocation or an act of war, depending on the situation.
"It's fine over international waters."
Fuli, enjoying the breeze on the battleship's deck, said, "This place counts as the property of all mankind. As a part of mankind, it's quite reasonable for the few of us to borrow it for a bit."
"Huff, huff, this Young Miss is exhausted!"
The Herrscher of the Void, who had finally caught up with great difficulty, panted heavily.
"Tsk, didn't manage to shake her off."
The future Herrscher of Reason made no attempt to hide her malicious intentions.
The former Herrscher of Thunder kept a cold face. "Did you learn your lesson?"
Well, the concentration of organized humanity just plummeted to a quarter of its original value.
Now the legality of sailing on international waters is gone. Who knows, we might instantly turn into public enemy number one for all mankind.
"I remember it, Mei! I won't make everyone worry anymore!"
The Paramecium, having finally caught her breath, straightened up and suddenly noticed a variable.
"Bro! N! Ya!"
Fuli reacted very quickly, using Instant Movement to shift behind the girl and restrain her just as she was about to charge.
"That's right, Ah-Li, hold me down just like that! Otherwise, I'm going to kill Bronya!"
Kiana, pinned to the floor, hammered the deck viciously. The two mounds of justice on her chest were surprisingly heavy at this moment!
Bronya: Damn retard!
"Allow me to explain."
She said, "The current Bronya is no longer Mother Cocolia's—no longer Cocolia's subordinate."
"Who would believe that!"
Kiana clamored, "Maybe you're acting as a spy or something, like secretly passing information about Mei, this (former) Herrscher, to that blonde vixen!"
"Don't worry."
Fuli gave a thumbs up. "Everyone I take a liking to is worth getting to know!"
(TL Note: The original text uses a pun on 'jiao' which can mean 'to make friends with' or 'intercourse'. Mei's response plays on this.)
"How to know them? [Redacted], [Redacted], or [Redacted]?"
Mei's voice drifted over from afar.
"Mei!!!"
Kiana looked as if the sky had collapsed. She flipped over, straddled Fuli's waist, and started strangling him. "You bad person! Give me back the original innocent and pure Senior Mei!"
"How can you assume this is all my influence! And stop shaking me! Leaving aside the fact that we still hold leverage over Cocolia, Bronya has signed a blank contract. She won't do anything threatening—Wait?!"
Halfway through his sentence, Fuli realized something. "How did you know Mei was the Herrscher of Thunder? Is Theresa's mouth that loose?"
Kiana looked confused. "Auntie's mouth is loose? Ah-Li, how do you know? Have you tried it?"
Is that the main point?
Bronya screamed internally.
This is not the car to kindergarten!
"Also, why would Auntie need to tell me? Didn't so many people see Mei transform into a Herrscher?"
Kiana gestured with her hands. "Like Auntie Himeko, those Valkyries, and wasn't Anti-Entropy's Yuya there too?"
Hearing this, Bronya perked up. Her big grey eyes blinked at Fuli, as if teasing her 'brother': Didn't you say only Theresa knew?
"That's not right?"
The person involved was also very puzzled. "Theoretically speaking, Causality Tampering only fails on units above S-Rank. You are a world apart from S-Rank, so how can you remember it so clearly?"
"Maybe... this Young Miss is special?"
Kiana scratched her head in confusion. In the depths of her azure eyes, a dark golden brilliance seemed to flash by.
The Herrscher of the Void inside her... huh?
Mei, walking over, glanced at her, recalling the world lines the Herrscher of Thunder had seen earlier.
"Forget about that for now."
The girl interrupted the conversation between the three and tossed an object to Fuli.
Fuli caught it and found it was a long sword in its sheath.
"This is?"
"Lord Fuli's precious 'Little March' was completely destroyed in the battle with 'me'."
Mei said with half-lidded eyes, "This is compensation. Read it."
Fuli complied, activating the Third Rated Power of Jizo Mitama.
[Name: Unnamed]
[Grade: C]
[Classification: Weapon / Tachi]
[Effect: A replica forged by Raiden Ryoma using special Honkai crystals mixed with rare minerals. Its prototype is the Emperor Sword Chixiao (Red Firmament), one of the Ten Great Swords of Shenzhou. Tang-style great sword, comes with a scabbard capable of containment.
Unlike ordinary swords that can be easily drawn from the sheath, this weapon tests the wielder's resolve and will. It requires the wielder to possess unwavering will and fearless determination to move forward. If one is indecisive or timid when drawing the sword, only part of the blade can be drawn, or it may not be drawn at all.
It possesses extremely strong destructive power against energy, capable of easily severing Honkai energy spells released by A-Rank Valkyries. It is a Dragon-Slaying Great Sword capable of cutting both matter and energy.]
[Note: The Sword of Tears, abandon when it should be abandoned; The Sword of Cloud-Splitting, establish when it should be established.]
Shing!
Fuli drew the sword. The black blade reflected his clean, handsome face.
The scattered sword energy was tidied up in an instant. The test of will mentioned in the information seemed nonexistent from the start.
"How is it?"
Mei observed the delighted boy, her lips curving into a perfect, cool arc.
She had never doubted from the start whether he could draw this arrogant long sword.
"Pretty good."
Fuli stroked the newly acquired treasure fondly, replying absentmindedly.
Ignoring me?
The girl's expression turned cold. "Compared to your previous Little March?"
Sensing a hint of danger, Fuli hurriedly looked up. "Much stronger than Mikazuki. It's rated C only because the usage conditions are too harsh?"
The Raiden Queen nodded in satisfaction. "That's right. And remember, as long as I'm here, I can forge weapons for you anytime."
The implication was: Someone better be clear in his heart who is more important. Don't get a scrap metal sword and ignore the more important person.
"Okay~"
Fuli, super obedient.
"Even stronger than Mikazuki Munechika?"
Kiana wondered, "That shouldn't be right? For weapons and stuff, shouldn't the older ones be more awesome?"
"Read fewer of your cultivation novels."
Fuli, showing no self-awareness as a cultivation novel author, said, "Technology is always developing. If you throw a tungsten-laced kitchen knife into ancient times, it would be a divine weapon comparable to the Heaven-Reliant Sword or Dragon-Slaying Saber."
He stared at Bronya, thought for a moment, and added, "Relics from the Previous Era don't count; that's considered another 'future'."
The girl, who was just about to defend Project Bunny, nodded gently upon hearing this.
"Oh, never mind that."
Kiana circled Fuli, who was holding the sword, twice, raised a finger, and suggested, "Does this weapon have a name?"
Mei's eyes lit up instantly. "Yes! I just came up with it, it's called Mmph-Mmph-Mmph!"
Fuli, covering the girl's mouth and ignoring her protests, said, "'Dance, Dance, Dance', right? Rejected. Next!"
"Then let this Young Miss do it!"
Kiana bounded over happily. "This Young Miss thinks the sword's name should be Jiangnan (South of the River)!"
"It has a bit of that misty, watery village vibe, quite suitable for me, a native Shenzhou person."
Fuli was intrigued. "But that doesn't sound like a name your brain could come up with. What's the reason?"
The white-haired dumpling said with certainty, "Because Jiangnan is truly Jian (Cheap/Bitchy)!"
(TL Note: Pun. Jiangnan leather factory meme. Also 'Jian' sounds like Sword.)
"Grass (Byat)!"
Bronya, the little shut-in who also knew about this, couldn't help but swear.
"I won't allow you to say that! The Dragon Rajah series was my favorite novel in middle school!"
Fuli immediately put on a stern face, then couldn't help but look 'melancholically' at the horizon. "Pity the author died young. Just after finishing the third book, he went out and got hit by a truck to another world's Far East to French kiss Herzog."
His high-level trolling made Kiana laugh so hard she rocked back and forth. Glancing at the over-the-knee stockings on Mei's thighs, she had a sudden idea. "How about calling it White Silk (Stockings)?"
"Huh?"
"When you fight, you say: 'Look, White Silk!'"
"The opponent will definitely go: 'What? Where?'"
"Opponent: 'Ah!'"
"Then you stab him to death with one sword!"
Kiana described it with gestures, dancing excitedly as she spoke.
Mei and Bronya looked at her with increasing disdain, their eyes treating her like some kind of large, non-combustible white-haired trash.
Fuli couldn't possibly name his new weapon with such a lewd title. He grabbed Kiana's ahoge, which was flailing around in her excitement. "Do you really think everyone is as perverted as you?"
"Ow, ow, ow, don't pull, don't pull!"
The Paramecium, having her vitals grabbed, waved her arms in tears. When the boy let go, she held it painfully and blew on it.
"I meant well, you know. Seeing you in trouble, I helped you solve problems..."
She pouted, feeling a bit aggrieved.
Shenzhou sages once said: Interesting souls are all alike, but good-looking skins are one in a million.
The destructive power of a beautiful white-haired girl was sufficient. Seeing her teary-eyed look, the other three couldn't bear it.
"Think of a serious one."
Fuli said, "If it's serious, we'll use it."
"Then call it Black Swan! Since it's the Zero Series personally forged by Papa Mei based on Chixiao, it's the shadow of the real Chixiao!"
"Shouldn't it be called Yingxiao (Shadow Firmament) then? Whatever, Black Swan it is."
Fuli engraved the weapon's new registration name on the character panel, then clipped it to his waist and struck a pose. "How's the look?"
Kiana grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Aside from being handsome, I can't see anything else!"
"Flattery won't get you anywhere, you know?"
"No raise?"
Kiana stared at Fuli's face, which perfectly suited her tastes, wondering how to find a chance to ask him to be her clothes hanger (model).
What is this dummy plotting now?
Her guilty look made Fuli instinctively feel uneasy, but in the end, he patted her little head and pretended nothing happened.
"Eh?"
Kiana stood frozen in place.
Compared to her carefree exterior, the girl's inner heart was actually delicate and sensitive.
She clearly remembered Fuli's attitude toward Mei and Bronya before. It felt like a man who had been a bachelor for most of his life suddenly got two little girlfriends. If they called him 'Big Brother', he would wish he could give them his life. If he had two feathers on his butt, he would spread them like a peacock for them.
But when facing her, it was a different attitude. A kind of intimacy that seemed close but actually drew a clear bottom line. Like a peerless swordsman keeping his hand on the hilt, not drawing but ready; whenever he sensed their hearts getting too close, he would immediately unleash sword energy to force her back.
It was like that during the night watch, and it was like that with his rotten advice when counseling her on choosing her future.
They were friends, and would only be friends.
Beyond that, don't even think about it.
Now, it was different.
Don't misunderstand; this didn't mean Fuli had opened his heart to Kiana.
In the girl's eyes, the current boy was like a bright moon hanging in the boundless night sky.
He shed moonlight equally, whether on her, Mei, or Bronya.
The discriminatory treatment of the past no longer existed.
If Fuli knew Kiana's thoughts, he would definitely marvel at the exquisitely sensitive heart beneath the girl's foolish exterior.
Before the Great Eruption in Nagazora City, he indeed took great care of Mei and Bronya.
They were close friends in the previous loop, and Fuli owed them lots and lots of favors.
The hardest debt to repay in the world is a favor. Since he had the chance, he naturally wanted to repay them.
Until he learned the truth—learned why they had helped him, a survivor of the Third Eruption, so much in the previous loop.
There was a reason.
Then it's fine.
The current Fuli didn't need to carry the legacy of the past. Instead, he could interact with the girls with a new identity and a more equal attitude.
For Kiana, this was undoubtedly excellent.
Of course, this doesn't mean I already like Ah-Li or anything. But there are three of us, yet only I was being excluded—what was that about? No matter what we do, everyone should start on the same starting line, right? Right, right?
Thinking this, her mood became incredibly cheerful.
"Mei, Mei!"
Hugging her best friend's arm, the cheerful Kiana said coquettishly, "Ah-Li got a new weapon, what about this Young Miss's? Don't keep me in suspense, serve it up quickly!"
"No rush on that. There is a more important matter that hasn't been decided."
"What is it?"
"Our organization's name!"
Miss Raiden Mei, whose naming sense was inherited from the Fourth Hokage, had burning eyes.
"The organization's name... we do need one."
Fuli, at the edge of the deck, reached out his hand, letting a white seagull land on his fingertips to preen its feathers. "We can't go without even a code name. Forget about interacting with other factions later; it's inconvenient even for us to address ourselves."
"Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph!"
This was Miss Mei, whose mouth was once again gagged by the Shadow Trailing ball gag, struggling unwillingly and angrily but uselessly.
Suddenly, a light screen unfolded in the void before them. The World's Number One Cutie, Theresa, waved her hands. "I heard someone asked this Principal to help name the new organization? They really chose the right person!"
"Actually, we didn't."
Fuli glanced sideways. "What's up?"
Mei's reaction was bigger than his.
Breaking free from the boy, she stared at the Spirit-Gathering Ring on Theresa's middle finger, her tone unfriendly. "The dignified Branch Chief of Schicksal's Far East Branch wouldn't embezzle someone else's belongings, right?"
"Indeed, I wouldn't."
Theresa nodded solemnly. "It's just that Susannah said she found this little thing inexplicably familiar. Do you guys have any clues?"
"Ah, ahahaha..."
Fuli and Kiana instantly laughed guiltily, their eyes darting left and right.
Almost forgot, this belongs to Susannah.
"Mei, don't worry about such small things."
He hurriedly said, "Does the Lady Principal have any instructions?"
"Just call me by my name."
Proudly flipping her 'Death Hairstyle' inherited from Otto at Mei, Theresa crossed her arms. "Mainly, I came to back up my foolish niece, lest she gets bullied by you guys in the future without even knowing it due to her low IQ."
"Heh, forgive me for being blunt."
Mei sneered. "Even if we really tricked Kiana, with your esteemed elderly IQ, you wouldn't be able to see through the tricks either."
"True, the tricks of scammers these days are really hard to guard against."
Theresa nodded solemnly. "Fortunately, this Principal holds a slight position within the mega-organization Schicksal, and my personal martial prowess barely ranks in the world. If anything really happens, I can just pick up Judah and smash it."
She smiled slightly, revealing a pair of cute little tiger teeth. "Don't you agree? Miss Raiden Makka Pakka?"
Mei returned an equally refreshing smile. "You can certainly do that. It just so happens that the freshly calibrated Genesis needs a guinea pig—ah, no, an evenly matched collaborator to test its power."
"Hehe~"
"Hehe~"
"Eek!!!"
In the corner of the deck, Fuli, Kiana, and Bronya hugged each other in a sorry state.
"Quick! Get back to the topic of naming the organization!"
"Th-This Young Miss agrees!"
"Bronya +1."
"Ah, that."
Ignoring Mei, whose smile didn't reach her eyes, Theresa said cheerfully, "How about calling it Hyperion?"
Fuli scratched his head. "Hyperion? Isn't that the name of your battleship?"
Hyperion, the translation of the Titan god of light, meaning 'The High-One'. It was also Murata Himeko's exclusive aerial battleship.
Fuli thought the name wasn't bad, but it belonged to someone else after all.
He was a warrior of pure love! He never had a fetish for NTR!
"Oh, my battleship suffered 'a billion points' of damage during the Third Eruption, so it went back to the furnace for repairs."
Theresa waved her small hand. "According to those guys, it seems they are going to do an upgrade and refit or something, and the name will be changed to the corresponding model, Helios."
"What do you guys think?"
Fuli asked for everyone's opinion.
"This Young Miss thinks it's okay!"
Kiana, who usually liked to contradict him, didn't refuse.
She tilted her head in thought. "For some reason, I feel like this name is a bit intimate."
Fuli rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. When the few of us were trapped underwater by the Anti-Entropy army with no way out, Theresa descended from the heavens on the Hyperion to save my dog life from fire and water. Could it not sound intimate?"
Bronya was also thoughtful, because she also inexplicably felt a strong sense of nostalgia from this name.
Back then, she was one of the kidnappers. She shouldn't have had such emotions towards an enemy battleship.
"Then it's decided."
Damn it!!!
Seeing the three agree, no matter how unwilling Mei was, she could only hide the thirty-something new names she had come up with for later use.
Fortunately, she would be in charge of the Hyperion's research in the future. There would be plenty of places needing names, a whole sea of them. She could unleash her full potential then.
As if seeing through the girl's mindset, Fuli immediately added, "By the way, if there are new inventions in the future, we need to discuss the naming too."
"Wind! Obey my command!"
"Mei, it's not that serious, really not! Uwah!"
Watching the boys and girls playing on the deck, a trace of sadness appeared in Theresa's eyes.
If only that child (the real Kiana) was still alive.
Actually, the Principal contacting them so abruptly did originally carry the intention of hinting at K423's identity.
After all, K423 chose to follow the Hyperion instead of staying under her nose. Without St. Freya's supervision, God knows what might happen during this period.
But seeing their happy interactions, the words that reached her lips just couldn't come out.
If I really confessed directly, presumably this newly formed team would fall apart instantly.
Theresa could almost visualize Fuli deleting Kiana's past chat records where she rejected him one by one in front of her face, his eyes empty as he turned to leave, his grief greater than death.
She could also visualize Kiana, who had a considerable fondness for Fuli, having a complete mental breakdown. Kneeling on the ground, murmuring "Sorry, I'm not her," her identity and past all denied, eyes full of despair as tears soaked her collar.
Sigh. Pitiful. Four people and they can't scrape together two pairs of living parents. No one to ache for them when they suffer or feel wronged.
If counting biological parents, they can't even scrape together one complete pair.
Let it be, let it be. Keep it hidden for now, and then find a way to mediate.
Theresa shook her head and looked down at the Spirit-Gathering Ring on her middle finger.
The real Kiana was dead. Even for her sake, she, as the Great Aunt, couldn't let Fuli remain a 'living widower'.
As for K423's side, it was time to find a way to contact Siegfried.
...