"...Huh...?" Hearing the girl's question, Ryn's motion of taking a large bite of meat froze mid-air.
Then, as if to deceive himself, he tried to put the meat back where it came from, but the spot he had cut it from had already regenerated.
In the end, Ryn stood there at a loss, so embarrassed he wanted to dig a hole through the Earth.
What do you do when you get caught red-handed eating someone else's flesh? Waiting online, it's urgent.
"Go ahead and eat, I don't mind." The girl sat down beside Ryn, cupping her face with her hands and looking at him like a curious child.
"Outlander, you are not of this world, but you carry Kiana's power within you. I am very curious, who are you?"
"Since you've asked with such sincerity, I shall graciously tell you. To prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect the peace of the world. I am the great savior who travels through all worlds—Ryn!" Ryn placed his left hand on his forehead, his right hand behind his back, and struck a cool side pose.
The girl softly repeated Ryn's name a few times, then couldn't help but retort, "Ryn is also? What a strange name, as strange as you are."
"Not 'Ryn is also', just Ryn."
"Oh... then why didn't you just say your name was Ryn?"
"When you're out and about, you have to make your own image. Isn't it cooler to add a little extra flair?"
"I see..." The girl nodded thoughtfully, then awkwardly imitated Ryn's pose, striking a cool stance.
"Since you've asked with such sincerity, I shall graciously tell you. To prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect the peace of the world. I am the great savior who travels through all worlds—Janna is also!"
"Cool!" Ryn gave Janna's imitation a thumbs-up, then suddenly froze. "What did you say your... name was...?"
"Janna. Don't you like it? You can call me 'Cthulhu' or 'Old God' like those people from the past used to, or... perhaps you prefer the title 'Herrscher of the Ocean'?"
Janna blinked her big eyes, not understanding why Ryn froze upon hearing her name. She was very fond of the name Kiana had given her.
Ryn looked at the meat in his hand, then at the giant stingray behind him... Janna and Herrscher of the Ocean... Oh my god, isn't this the planet-class Honkai Beast that Stigmata Kiana said was on par with Finality in terms of combat power?
"Big Sis, have some meat." Ryn held the meat with both hands and respectfully offered it to Janna.
"What a strange fellow. Humans are still so much fun!" Janna said with a smile as she pushed the meat Ryn offered back to him. "I told you, I don't eat myself. You can have it, Ryn."
Ryn sat to the side, gnawing on the meat while thinking. Janna's existence meant he was still in the wrong world. He had specifically searched for and filtered for worlds with Kiana, Mei, and Kika, so how could he still have ended up in the wrong one...
While Ryn was lost in thought, Janna beside him began to sing.
"I stare at the space through the starlight, up above the earth so high~
I divide the sea and wait my guest with prosy wind~"
Ryn lay gently on the seabed, listening to Janna's song. Although Janna's voice was ethereal and beautiful, the song gave Ryn a sense of pressure and divinity...
When the song ended, Janna closed her eyes and did not continue to sing, just sitting there quietly.
"Incarnation. A song written by my followers. Humans are so wondrous, aren't they? They've never even seen me, yet they can write lyrics that fit me so well..."
"Fit you...? It seems Janna has a very, very long story."
"Yes, want to hear it?"
"I'm sorry, if I had the time, I would definitely become your most devoted listener. But I have more important things to do right now. I'm looking for the way home. Janna, do you know where Kiana, the Herrscher of Finality, is?"
If the Herrscher of Finality could bring him to that world, then there was no reason she couldn't send him back in again. Perhaps fate had arranged for him to come to this world just to find her.
Janna turned her head, opened her eyes, and looked at Ryn for a long time. Then she closed her eyes again, as if reminiscing about the past...
Finally, Janna slowly spoke.
"She's dead. I killed her."
"What?!" Ryn stood up in shock, looking at Janna in disbelief. "This, this, this is not what I was told..."
Didn't they say Janna loved Kiana very much? How could she have killed Kiana? Oh no, is Janna a yandere? No, no, that's not right. If God Kiana is gone, how can I get home?
Even worse, isn't God Kiana still waiting to be saved? How can she be gone?
Janna also stood up, standing face to face with Ryn.
"If you want to see her, then go see her."
*Voom—*
The flow of the seawater changed, and its temperature shifted in an instant. The Janna in front of Ryn opened her eyes. They were no longer the sky blue they were before, but a hideous blood-red. At the same time, her clothes and hair changed. Her white ceremonial robe turned into tattered red clothes that barely covered her body. Her blue-purple hair turned black-purple.
"We are born from nothingness, and to nothingness we shall return."
Janna's body floated up and then merged into the giant red stingray. No, it should be said she returned to her main body...
*Swoosh—*
For the first time, Ryn saw the stingray's eye. It wasn't that the stingray was too big and the eye too far for Ryn to see... it was that... these thousands of kilometers were all within the range of her eye...
The stingray opened its hideous, blood-filled maw and swallowed Ryn along with countless tons of seawater.
——————————————
Janna returned to her main body, sinking into its depths... in front of a terminal.
"Long time no see. Is that child doing well?"
"Terminal processing. Do not approach." The artificial intelligence of Alaya, Mana, appeared before Janna, stopping her from getting closer.
"What a cold and heartless thing you are, living inside my body yet being so resistant to me. What an ungrateful fellow~" Janna ignored Mana's warning and walked right up to the terminal.
Mana once again blocked Janna's path, preventing her from touching the terminal.
"Final warning. We are in a symbiotic relationship. The agreement is still in effect. You have no room to object."
"Sigh, you're so annoying. If it weren't for my promise to that child, there wouldn't be so much trouble," Janna said with a helpless shrug, turning to leave.
"The person I just sent in wants to see the one who's hiding and escaping from reality. You should send him over."
"Please wait... Is it this creature named Ryn? Wait, Penglaiji Ryn... Who is this?" Mana searched for the Ryn that Janna had sent in and unexpectedly discovered an existence that shouldn't be there.
"Janna, who is Penglaiji Ryn! She should not exist in the course of this civilization."
"Who knows~ It's not like I'm the one who created her~