"Hey!"
In the dim grotto, Kevin hung up the communication and looked up at the girl three steps away.
The girl’s thin lips pressed into a straight line. Her gaze towards Kevin was full of wariness.
"I have a na. It’s not Hey."
Hearing Kevin’s cold and calm address, the girl showed no intention of ekly accepting it.
"But you never told your na either."
"..." The girl tilted her head. If she wasn’t mistaken... that seed to be true.
The man before her had a strange attitude. Not exactly arrogant, but describing him as disdainful wouldn’t be wrong either.
If any of her other senior sisters were here, they would surely fight him again, hoping to avenge their previous sha. But this girl was different from the others; she wouldn’t be provoked by his attitude, nor did she want a pointless battle.
Besides... she really couldn’t beat him. In terms of pure sword form, the man was naturally no match for her. But his internal energy was seamlessly integrated. As they fought, she sohow inexplicably lost. She had only felt such a vast difference in strength before from the man nad Michael.
However, what this person just said seed to be the truth—she indeed hadn’t stated her na. According to the jianghu (martial world) rules, that was sowhat impolite.
But it didn’t matter; making ands now wasn’t too late: "My na is Ling Shuang. The Ling from ’Frost touches snow, fur and body wither’; the Shuang from ’Frost touches snow, fur and body wither’."
After reciting the rather lifeless introductory line, feeling sothing was missing, she blinked rapidly and added before Kevin could speak: "Sixth disciple under the Immortal Celestial Chi Yuan of Mount Taixuan—Cheng Ling Shuang, please offer guidance."
"...Heh!" Kevin sneered. He planted the greatsword, almost purely composed of flas, beside his foot and took two steps forward, closing the distance until he was barely an inch from Ling Shuang.
"Give it to ?"
"Huh?" Ling Shuang looked up at the expressionless man, then down at the hand extended before her. She was speechless for a mont until he finished his sentence: "Your sword. Give it to ."
"No!" Ling Shuang rolled her eyes, took half a step back, and clutched the Xuanyuan Sword, personally given to her by her Master, to her chest.
The Xuanyuan Sword was heavy and blunt, only changing according to the wielder’s heart after comprehending sword intent. The girl, having not yet comprehended sword intent, held the sword tightly without fear of hurting herself.
More than that, she feared losing this weapon. Not for the mundane reason that the Xuanyuan Sword was a true ancient divine weapon capable of cutting iron like mud, but simply because it was a gift personally given by her Master.
She had one before, but unfortunately, it shattered in yesterday’s battle—speaking of which, it felt strange. If not for rembering this, she herself would find it hard to believe that the mont determining the fate of the next few decades happened just yesterday.
And the Xuanyuan Sword she now held had an even more special aning. Although it looked no different from other Xuanyuan Swords, perhaps it wasn’t different at all, but this one was the personal sword her Master had always wielded. She cherished it dearly; how could she casually show it to a stranger?
Even if it ant potentially angering him. She had made up her mind. It wasn’t that she was overconfident; if they really fought, she truly couldn’t beat the man before her. But relying on the Taixuan Sword Ki, dodging and escaping were still possible.
Besides, although their previous exchange was rely exploratory, each move of the Taixuan Sword Ki carried a divine essence. Her Master must have noticed the situation here already...
Swish— Ling Shuang only saw a rough black line flash before her. The next mont, her arms were empty. The Xuanyuan Sword was now in the man’s hands, yet she remained completely unhard.
"This..." Such a vast difference in strength, such precise control of force—Ling Shuang only reacted instinctively, taking half a step back after her weapon was taken.
"As expected... it’s this one..." Kevin looked at the Key of Domination in his hand and sighed. "I never thought your Master would let soone else use this sword."
"What do you an... You know my Master too?"
"Of course. We were once comrades-in-arms." Kevin offered the hilt of the Key of Domination. The girl frowned and snatched it back.
"This sword holds special aning for your Master."
"Mm, but it doesn’t look different from other Xuanyuan Swords." Ling Shuang took the sword back, first adopting an air of indifference. She casually twirled the sword, then smoothly slung it onto her back.
"Xuanyuan Sword, huh? So that’s what you call it." Kevin nodded slightly, continuing Ling Shuang’s thought: "It indeed isn’t different from other Keys of... Xuanyuan Swords, because what you call the Xuanyuan Sword is fundantally a mass-produced weapon. It’s just that this particular one is special. Its specialty doesn’t lie in having different abilities from other Xuanyuan Swords, but in its essence... Look below the guard of this sword. Isn’t there a string of characters?"
"Hmm?" Ling Shuang held the longsword upside down. Sure enough, below the guard, she saw a series of indecipherable carvings. "This... looks like crawling bugs. What does it an?"
"L10-001. It’s a serial number. You don’t need to understand its aning. Just know that the ’Xuanyuan Sword’ you hold is the first Xuanyuan Sword ever made in the world, and..."
"And?" Kevin’s tone was unhurried, carrying an irresistible allure. Even knowing the man’s stance was unclear, possibly even hostile, Ling Shuang couldn’t help but feel curious about what he said.
"And, the core of this sword, the gem you see at the guard, was taken from the body of your Master’s first friend in this life. So it holds extrely special aning for your Master. The fact that she’s willing to let you use this sword ans that as a disciple, you must surely et her expectations."
Whatever Kevin said after that reached Ling Shuang’s ears sounding sowhat distant. "It was taken from the body of your Master’s first friend in this life." She wasn’t sure about the truth of Kevin’s other words, but this sentence, at the very least, perfectly matched what Michael said yesterday:
"Your Master’s first-ever friend succumbed to deviation. Died right in front of her. Her severed hand flew into Hua’s arms, and her decapitated head’s eyes stared fixedly at your Master as it fell."
"You don’t seem particularly puzzled." Kevin’s voice pulled Ling Shuang back to reality. "Is it because soone ntioned sothing similar to you? Let guess. It definitely wasn’t your Master herself. It was a man, with long silver-gray hair, unfathomably strong, wasn’t it?"
"You—" Ling Shuang didn’t know the grudges between these individuals. Startled, she instinctively tried to be vague, but her current attitude already revealed everything.
"You’ve t that man, yes or no?" Kevin took another step forward, his chest almost pressing against Ling Shuang’s face.
A wave of cold air followed his steps, instantly freezing the mucus in Ling Shuang’s nose upon contact. Then, a faint killing intent emanated from Kevin, though not directed at any specific target present.
Yes, killing intent. The misunderstanding and resentnt accumulated over fifty thousand years finally coalesced into tangible murderous intent—
Isn’t he Finality? Only by killing him can humanity move towards a true future. And only by killing him can the remnants of the previous century complete this fifty-thousand-year-delayed vengeance.
He stepped forward, then again, and again. Ling Shuang retreated frantically, but he relentlessly pressed close, as if the girl before him was Michael...
"Alright, that’s enough!" Kevin snapped back to reality. Dozens of pinkish-white feathers floated around him, separating him from the girl before him.
Chaotic footsteps sounded from all directions. In the dimness, he could only see six figures forming a circle, along with the girl in front, surrounding him in the center.
"Firstly, Hua, you should understand that after that incident, ntal attacks are ineffective against ." Kevin sighed and shook his head, casually waving his hand. The Fenghuang Down feathers were swept away instantly.
Regaining clarity, he might have indeed realized his earlier actions were sowhat excessive, but he wouldn’t repent, let alone apologize.
Clang! The greatsword, leaping with flas, was gripped in his hand, seemingly unconcerned about being burned. The suddenly surging flas illuminated the surroundings brightly, naturally including Hua and her other six disciples.
"Kevin, you sought out just for a fight?" Hua shielded Ling Shuang behind her. Her wide sleeves moved without wind, soon emitting crackling sounds.
"Hua, what is your relationship with Michael now?"
"?" Unfortunately, they were face-to-face; otherwise, Hua would have definitely typed out a question mark to express her confusion.
"Kevin, what exactly are you trying to say? If you want a fight, I’ll oblige, but wait until I’ve dealt with the Honkai Beast in Australia."
"No..." Kevin opened his mouth, took a deep breath. He knew his emotions might have been overly agitated just now, but no matter what, he just couldn’t remain calm. Even his body temperature of negative thirty degrees Celsius couldn’t freeze the naless fury burning in his heart.
But where did this anger co from? Kevin asked himself. I’s matter, the previous civilization’s matter, certainly played a part, but was that all?
No, it wasn’t. These things had been a nightmare weighing on his heart for the past fifty thousand years, true. He resented Michael for it, also true.
But to say he hated Michael because of this, wanted to kill Michael because of this—absolutely impossible. Because Michael was his "family," his comrade-in-arms. He didn’t understand why Michael did what he did back then, but he believed there must have been a reason, that he must have had his own thoughts, that there must have been reasons compelling him to act that way...
Besides, he originally thought Michael had killed the other Fla-Chasers. Now it seed perhaps not; Hua was alive, Mobius might be alive too. This already proved there were many things about what happened back then that he didn’t know. Perhaps everyone was fine, perhaps I was still alive too. He couldn’t deny this possibility. Because he also knew, just as Su said, Michael certainly loved Elysia, but he absolutely didn’t believe Michael was the kind of person who could kill all his comrades, even destroy the entire world, for Elysia’s sake.
If he were that kind of person, Elysia wouldn’t have disappeared in the first place.
So... so he always believed Michael had his own difficulties, that perhaps he too was constrained... But it didn’t matter. He was willing to spend fifty thousand years shouldering the weight of a civilization, winning a future for a group of humans completely unrelated to him. Naturally, he was also willing to wait the sa amount of ti for an explanation from Michael.
He rely wanted an explanation.
No, he didn’t even need an explanation. He just needed Michael to tell him he couldn’t help himself. That was all.
But no, he ultimately didn’t get that "couldn’t help himself."
Fifty thousand years of waiting, exchanged finally for a challenge to another fight, for a careless tone, for unrepentant arrogance...
"...Traitor..."
"What?" Hua seed to hear Kevin say sothing, but even with her hearing, she could only catch a muffled word.
"Michael, he’s a traitor!" When Kevin squeezed this sentence out from between his teeth, Hua’s aura also grew heavy by two points: "What exactly are you trying to say?"
Kevin bit his lower lip tightly. A tallic taste spread in his mouth. Sticky liquid seeped from where his teeth pierced the skin, instantly freezing due to his body temperature.
His mind was in utter chaos right now. Continuing like this wouldn’t clarify anything.
"Forget it. I’ll just let you hear his original words directly, then decide." He raised his hand. The seven disciples imdiately adopted defensive stances, but Hua waved her hand, signaling them not to be agitated.
And Kevin simply redialed Su’s communication. That was all.
"Wait, original words... what does that an?"
"Literal aning. You definitely don’t know, right? The voice ssage he left five thousand years ago. Listen to this, then decide what happens next."
...
"Hiss—Hiss—" The surrounding air was cold, damp, and viscous. Dim light mingled with a trace of erald green, making one shiver involuntarily.
"Hiss—Hiss—" In the pervasive gloom, sounds resembling a snake flicking its tongue occasionally echoed, sending chills down one’s spine, feeling as if countless tentacles would shoot out the next mont, binding one and dragging them into the darkness.
But Michael simply stood motionless. His eyelashes did tremble twice, but fear was definitely not the reason. All that remained was helplessness.
"Alright, how long are you going to keep playing?"
"Heehee! Doesn’t that Felis creature always call Sis Mobius? Occasionally pretending to be a snake feels quite nice." Green fluorescent lights flickered on, adding a minuscule amount of brightness to the entire laboratory.
Mobius leaned back lazily in the chair before the operating table. The only two differences from Michael’s mory were that Klein wasn’t beside her, and the table was no longer piled high with docunts.
"Felis? Shouldn’t you be saying ’that little cat’?"
Mobius’s facial muscles twitched sharply. The light flickered along with it. "What? Is there a problem with occasionally changing the address?"
"No." That being said, however...
Although Pardofelis always introduced herself by saying, "You can call Pardo, or Felis, whatever you like, anything goes," in Michael’s mory, it seed everyone tacitly called her Pardo, or so other nickna, from beginning to end. Only one person would call her Felis...
Of course, it was also possible Michael’s mory was simply too cluttered, and she, like the sole point of light in the night sky, was so dazzling that he unconsciously associated that na exclusively with her.
But it didn’t matter anyway. Regardless, that was all in the past.
Let the past remain in the past.
Let it remain here, in this Elysian Realm that carried all the beautiful mories of the past.
"How did things go in Australia?" Michael took a step forward, the tip of his foot landing on the solid floor. Though he triggered no chanism, an extrely sharp white moonlight flashed to his left.
"Hmph... Well hidden." Michael tapped the ground lightly with his toe, his center of gravity not shifting forward despite the step. Sakura’s blade grazed past his nose. As she tried to transition into a horizontal slash (yoko ichimonji), Michael had already clamped down on her sword hand’s wrist with his tiger’s mouth grip.
"To hide so effectively in an environnt with almost no cover, Sakura, you’ve surpassed your fifty-thousand-year-ago self."
"Nn." Sakura grunted, suddenly releasing her grip. The long sword fell due to gravity, the blade striking her upward-pointing toe and rebounding into her left hand.
But she didn’t press the attack relentlessly. Michael also released his grip at the perfect mont.
After all, there was no need for a life-or-death battle between them.
"These many years, it’s been hard on you two. From now on, large-scale external activities won’t be necessary..." Michael looked at Sakura, his tone unconsciously relaxing sowhat. "In the future, spend more ti with Rin in the Realm."
"Is that so..." Sakura’s eyelids lifted slightly. She suppressed the excitent in her heart, soon becoming hesitant again: "But... do you really not need us to do anything more?"
"Pretty much... Actually, there wasn’t much we needed to do in the first place. , I’m actually not much different from Finality itself..." Just a tumor parasitizing the fringes of imaginary space, wanting to make the world better, but instead making everything worse... Forget it.
Seeing Michael start spouting incomprehensible things again, Sakura turned her head, looking pleadingly towards Mobius, but the latter only slowly and firmly shook her head.
"Anyway, regardless of whether I need you to do anything in the future. At the very least, thank you for being willing to believe in these fifty thousand years, willing to help with so things... After all, I did betray you all back then..."
"Have you said enough!" Mobius interrupted him roughly without turning her head.
She pushed herself up with both arms, jumped off the chair, and slowly walked up to the stunned Michael. In front of Sakura, she slapped Michael hard across the face.
Smack—
"Put away your self-pity. I know exactly what you’re thinking! I don’t know about Sakura, but at least for , the reason I chose to believe you has nothing to do with what I think you want to do! It’s just... just because you are Michael. That’s the only reason, understand?"
"I..."
"So, trying to leave here again, shouldering everything alone... just like you and that woman did fifty thousand years ago... Not a chance!"
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