Due to the differences between worlds, Houraiji Kyuusyou and the others couldn't jump from the Bubble Universe to the true Sea of Quanta.
But that was an issue with the world's rules; what did it have to do with the Sea of Quanta?
Houraiji Kyuusyou and the others felt as if their bodies were instantly hollowed out, their souls separating from their flesh, their thoughts leaping frantically between countless dimensions.
In the Sea of Quanta, Ryn was still teleporting, jumping back to Seele's side. A distance of several dozen astronomical units still required some time for the current Ryn to traverse.
And during the time Ryn was jumping, Seele had already finished absorbing the initial energy from the Sea of Quanta and adapted to this power.
When she opened her eyes, Houraiji Kyuusyou and the others had just arrived in the Sea of Quanta from the Bubble Universe, appearing before her.
Seele raised a hand, preparing to greet the suddenly-appeared Houraiji Kyuusyou, Kiana, and the others...
But then, Houraiji Kyuusyou and her group suddenly knelt in rows before Seele, vomiting incessantly, creating a series of rainbow bridges.
"..."
Seele silently crouched down and started drawing circles on the ground.
"Seele... don't blame yourself, this has nothing to do with you... Bleurgh—"
Bronya, having just finished vomiting, saw Seele's distress and stood up to comfort her. But before she could say more than a few words, the nausea surged up again, and she resumed throwing up.
"Uh... Do you need Seele's help?"
Seele ran back and forth between Bronya and Kiana's group, wringing her hands, unable to think of any way to help them.
The voice of the great will of the Sea of Quanta echoed in everyone's minds.
「This is the discomfort caused by the space-time jump. Let them rest for a while, and they'll be fine.」
"This voice... is it the Sea?" Seele instantly recognized the Sea's voice and began to look around, trying to find it.
「Yes, it's me. Long time no see, Seele.」
"Long time no see, Sea."
「Let's have a chat. It seems we've never really talked together, have we?」
"Mm, okay."
The great will of the Sea of Quanta enveloped Seele, taking her to another dimension to chat about everyday things. Although most of the time it was Seele talking and the Sea listening.
The Sea was always paying attention to everything Seele did in the Sea of Quanta, but now, listening to Seele recount it herself, the Sea found it quite interesting.
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When Ryn spent over ten minutes jumping back from dozens of astronomical units away, he didn't see Seele or the Sea. Instead, he saw the quartet, completely drained from vomiting, looking half-dead.
"What happened? I should have left plenty of things in the black hole world, right? How did you all end up so weak?
I can understand Kiana and Mei... lonely and restless, you played too hard."
Ryn glanced at Kiana and Mei, who were lying together hand-in-hand, determined to die together. He then stepped over Bronya and helped up Houraiji Kyuusyou from behind her.
"How are you? The aura of space-time on you is very strong... What happened?"
"Ahem, ahem..."
Houraiji Kyuusyou's face was slack, her eyes barely able to stay open. When Ryn pulled her up, she leaned directly against him. Weakly, she said to Ryn:
"Some unknown entity claiming to be your mother-in-law pulled us to this place... She didn't give us any time to prepare and just threw us across countless dimensional spaces. I felt like I was going to be stretched into noodles by the different dimensional forces..."
"Ah, this..."
Ryn scratched his head awkwardly. Well, he suddenly understood why the Sea of Quanta wanted to smack him.
"Where's Seele? Why don't I see her?"
"She was taken away by that unknown entity..."
"Alright then, it's fine."
With Seele taken away by the Sea of Quanta, there wasn't much Ryn could do.
He just had to wait for the Sea of Quanta and Seele to return.
He hoped, probably, maybe, that the Sea of Quanta wouldn't pull some cliché soap opera plot, keeping Seele from him and forcing him to overcome eighty-one trials, defeat some big boss, and finally reach the Sea of Quanta to take Seele away in some ridiculous scenario...
「Good idea. I might try that next time.」
The Sea of Quanta said with a chuckle as it returned from another dimension with Seele.
Upon her return, Seele happily skipped over and hugged Ryn, clinging to him affectionately.
The Sea looked on helplessly. It had just given Seele so much advice, like: a girl should be more reserved; if a boy gets her too easily, he won't cherish her.
Especially someone like Ryn who falls for every girl he meets...
And now, the moment she saw Ryn, all that advice was thrown out the window.
Two cheap children. The Sea of Quanta turned its head to look at Houraiji Kyuusyou and nodded in satisfaction.
「Not bad. Although it's partly due to you possessing some Authority of space, to be able to stand after such a forced traversal is quite impressive.」
"Thank you for your praise, but I'd rather not have such an experience again..."
「Hahaha, this is a good thing! After this experience, your adaptability to space-time will improve. Your ability to manipulate time and space and resist temporal attacks will be greatly enhanced.
At the very least, you won't be like in the predestined future, where you crossed over to wage war in the Honkai universe only to be caught off guard and beaten back because you couldn't acclimate.」
"?" Houraiji Kyuusyou's eyes lit up instantly. It seemed she had heard something incredible.
"'Predestined future,' 'Honkai universe'... What are those?!"
「*shrugs* The future is yours to guess.」
The great will of the Sea of Quanta didn't offer any explanation. Those who get it, get it. Those who don't, well, they don't. After all, the future has countless possibilities. Who knows which path everyone will take to reach the end?
「Alright, that's enough idle chat. Now for the main business.」
Houraiji Kyuusyou helped up Bronya and Kiana, and Kiana supported Mei. The girls leaned on each other, propping each other up to stand straight.
Ryn and Seele also stopped their chatting and playing, standing hand-in-hand to listen to what the Sea had to say.
「Houraiji Kyuusyou, Kiana Kaslana, Bronya Zaychik, Raiden Mei. Welcome to my world—the Sea of Quanta. But all happy journeys must come to an end. Now, I must send you back to your universe to continue your epic of resistance.」
"Another world... So that's how it is. No wonder it always felt like there were restrictions everywhere..."
The same thought surfaced in the minds of the four girls, but they quickly recovered from their surprise.
However, Houraiji Kyuusyou first handed Kiana over to Bronya, then quickly ran to Ryn's side, standing before Ryn and Seele with a cheerful smile.
"Brother Ryn, Seele, I'm leaving!"
Seele gave a sweet smile and said gently:
"Goodbye, Houraiji Kyuusyou! You're welcome to visit us again next time!"
"Yeah, take care on your way. Don't try to be a hero. If you run into anything you can't handle, go find Janna or call out to me. We'll help you."