"You're angry."
The eternally furious man, usually so arrogant and unbridled, now quietly cradled the body of a pink-haired girl with a single ponytail, staring in silence at the ruins before him.
The God broke this heavy silence by addressing the man.
"No! I am not!"
"Heh, so you are angry."
The God shrugged with indifference.
"When we first met, your first question was whether a Herrscher could be resurrected by altering history."
"I gave you the answer: No, because they are the anchors that stabilize history."
"Furthermore, the Herrschers have their own unique way of resurrection."
The God looked at the man, who refused to speak, patted the dust off the nearby ruins, and sat down casually.
"And yet you still refuse to give up. You are still holding this child, unwilling to let go."
"This is her younger sister!"
"I know."
"Her only blood-related family member!"
"I understand."
"This is the only reason she joined Fire Moth!"
"I am aware."
The furious roars were met with the God's ice-cold, calm responses. To the others nearby, the young God seemed utterly ruthless at this moment...
However, the man, who was anything but dull, heard another meaning hidden in the girl's words...
[I have heard your plea, I have understood your wish... And a God—will naturally respond to His believer.]
-
"Rin!"
A woman's startled cry once again broke the silence.
A woman with pink hair and peculiar fox ears rushed in, her figure instantly familiar to Kallen Kaslana.
"Yae Sakura?!"
Seeing the Sakura before her, who looked exactly like the friend she knew, the Saintess couldn't help but cry out in surprise. However, Sakura didn't even notice the woman who had called her name; her eyes were fixed anxiously on the girl in Kalpas's arms.
"Rin, what's wrong? Rin! Say something!"
The sword-wielding warrior took the girl's already cold body from her companion, calling out desperately, trying in vain to awaken the consciousness that was no longer there.
"Lord of the Army, what about that Herrscher?"
Seemingly having confirmed something, Kalpas looked back at the God before him.
"The Herrscher of Corruption? She's been stuffed into that Black Box your Doctor Mei made."
"Of course, I gave her a promise, a promise about her and her family."
"And now, it's time to depart. For us, this time is but a fleeting moment... but for her, it is fifty thousand years of darkness. We shouldn't keep the little one waiting too long."
"Remember to bring everything. Don't leave anything behind."
The golden spear tapped lightly on the ground, and before the rest of Fire Moth could arrive, everyone in the ruins vanished into a white light.
-
"Boss Kevin, did you feel that? Sister Sakura...?"
The conflict with the past had drawn to a close without anyone knowing, and the changes it brought could only be sensed by a handful of people.
Pardofelis and Kevin walked through the corridors of Anti-Entropy. The cat girl was confused by the sudden, inexplicable memories, while Kevin looked as if he understood everything, yet also seemed to have a slight headache.
"Sakura is here, just like you..."
"Eh? Boss Kevin, does that mean we'll be able to see Sister Sakura soon!"
"Yes, Felis, you can think of it that way, but..."
Kevin paused, wearing a pained expression as if he couldn't believe he had to come along too.
"But?"
The cat girl tilted her head in confusion.
"Kalpas came along too."
"Uh... Brother... Brother Kalpas?"
Pardofelis was caught in a dilemma. On one hand, there was the fluffy fire-wielder, and on the other, the Beast-Ear Alliance...
"This is really a tough choice..."
-
In the World Serpent's vault, Gray Serpent gazed at the box that had once contained the Third Divine Key. The item within was now gone without a trace.
"Welcome back, Miss Sakura."
-
"If you don't mind, could you give me an explanation, Kalpas?"
Sakura, who had been pulled fifty thousand years into the future in a complete daze, glared fiercely at Kalpas. She still seemed to be struggling to grasp the situation.
Meanwhile, Snow Apocalypse, one of the masterminds behind this, was dragging Kallen Kaslana, who had been idling by for ages, to begin her pilgrimage to the holy land.
As for the remains of her sister Rin, the young woman Kalpas called the God of War had instructed them to be left alone. She promised to return shortly with something that would truly resurrect her.
"Hey, you! You two black-haired shorties from Mobius's Lab! You're the ones who'll explain!"
The man, who was not good at articulating his thoughts, decisively entrusted the burden of explanation to the two unlucky Shenzhou Team members standing nearby while the other mastermind was out.
"Uh, about that... Miss Sakura, please calm down."
Cangxuan, who had just been thrown into the line of fire, wiped away a cold sweat.
"I am very calm, Miss Cangxuan. Please, just tell me what's going on."
The pink-haired MANTIS gripped the Ice Ephemeralis and Seven Thunders of Retribution hanging at her waist, desperately trying to convince herself to stay calm. She absolutely had to stay calm.
Cangxuan and Nuwa broke out in a cold sweat as they watched Sakura's unconscious fidgeting.
"So, let me explain... Barring any surprises, we are now fifty thousand years in the future. The Previous Era was destroyed by the Herrscher of Finality, and we are seeing a new civilization. We just came out of that golden-haired God's Divine Realm through an Imaginary Gate opened by some lunatic down there."
"And according to that God, whose name we still don't know... according to the original history, we were all supposed to die at some point in the past."
"Whether it's you, Miss Sakura, or Brother Kalpas, or us, it sounds unbelievable, right? But this is indeed the most reasonable explanation we have at the moment."
"Fifty thousand years in the future?!"
Sakura wore an expression of utter disbelief.
"Wait, there seems to be a computer in this room... Hmm, the operation method is pretty much the same as in our era. Let's search online to see if there's anything useful."
Nuwa, seeing Miss Sakura's reluctance to believe, offered her suggestion.
"What exactly should we search for?"
"Search for Shenzhou's mythology! Back then, we used myths and legends to teach knowledge to the people of that time. If this really is the modern era of this civilization, there should be many legends adapted from the stories of us and Fu Hua."
-
Meanwhile, in another corner of the world...
"This is Schicksal's St. Freya Academy—"
After being tormented by Kallen the whole way, Snow, looking like she had given up on life, and her two little underlings finally breathed a sigh of relief...
"So, right here, I will explain to you, the venerable Ms. Kallen Kaslana, just what your Great Inventor has been doing for you during the five hundred years after your 'death'..."
In Nagazora City, a certain man who was looking at the harvest of this trip with satisfaction suddenly let out a violent sneeze—