Gu Chu's body exploded in Shu's hand, turning into specks of fluorescent light. Shu quickly reached out and grabbed the core, which was already covered in cracks.
When he opened his hand again, Shu's expression finally showed the astonishment Gu Chu had wanted to see, but unfortunately, he couldn't see it.
The grayish-white core had turned into a pile of fine fragments, now lying quietly in Shu's palm.
No power remained in these fragments, but Shu could feel a restraining aura in this pile of debris, a transformation on a higher level than eclosion.
As for eclosion, Gu Chu might have felt some clues from himself, and Gu Chu himself had already reached that critical point, so the breakthrough seemed natural.
And this higher level of restraint...
Shedding... the moment he caught Gu Chu's fist, or even earlier... Gu Chu had stepped onto this never-before-seen path.
He had shattered his own theory, climbed over the clouds at the moment of his demise, and caught a glimpse of the summit.
He had shattered his own power. As a Herrscher, he would never have survived, but if he hadn't done so, he would never have been able to break through that celestial barrier.
But Shu wouldn't give him the chance to be reborn from the ashes.
The hand holding the fragments gently tightened. Shu lowered his eyes, raised his hand to condense a small box, and put the core fragments in it.
His path and Gu Chu's were actually repetitive. There could only be one person at the summit. If there was no crisis in the world, Shu might have given way, but Shu also had to reach the summit, so anyone who tried to climb the summit would be shot down by him.
Gu Chu was not the first, nor would he be the last to be shot down.
The ravaged vision began to dissipate, and Shu returned to space.
Looking at the dark, deep space, Shu suddenly felt a sense of unease and fear.
Who knew if a new enemy would appear there?
Suppressing the extremely subtle fear in his heart, Shu turned around and rushed towards the Earth.
On the ground, the rain had stopped.
Everyone looked at their intact bodies in surprise, then embraced and wept.
Only Bianka was restless. She was holding Stan, who had returned to his "original" form, in her arms, and her escape routes were all blocked by a group of people.
"Uh... Senior Theresa?" Looking at Theresa standing in front of her with her arms crossed and a dead-fish-eye expression, Bianka swallowed a mouthful of saliva and greeted her in a low voice.
"Mm," Theresa replied coldly, then continued to stare at Bianka, making her hair stand on end.
"Wow, Aunt has become so fierce now?" Kiana, who was at the side, widened her eyes and looked at the posturing Theresa, saying with some amazement.
"It's exactly the same as when she caught Kiana skipping class," Mei smiled. She could understand what state Theresa was in now.
But... Durandal... at first glance, she really looks like Kiana. It's just that her temperament is a bit different. She seems to have a bit more... composure than Kiana?
"I'm sorry..." Bianka, who didn't know what to say, decided to admit her mistake first.
Theresa's eyebrows raised. "Don't apologize yet. You're not running anymore?"
Kiana and the others: "?"
"What running?" Mei was confused.
"Running from what?" Kiana didn't hear clearly.
"Running with what?" Bronya's outrageous words attracted the attention of the other two.
Bianka's head hung even lower. She already knew her mistake.
Before, she had taken herself too seriously, always trying to bear everything herself. Because the world at that time was only left with pain, she thought of escaping from others...
The result was that when she was alone, she was almost crushed and swallowed by those hardships and pains. Her own strength was still too small.
And now, due to that unknown power, and the bond that connected her with everyone, she finally understood that she was not alone, and that letting others share some of her burden was not an irresponsible act.
But understanding was one thing, what should she do now?
Bianka was very flustered, but she didn't know what to do. She could only try her best to look humble and receptive.
And in Theresa's eyes, Bianka was just putting on a straight face. She didn't even know what a humble and receptive expression looked like.
Sigh, forget it... Theresa gave up her posture in frustration.
Why was she getting worked up over a child who was less than three months old since she first opened her eyes?
...This three-month-old child won't cry, right?
Theresa waved her hand behind her in a headache, then moved away from Bianka's front.
A few steps of distance was crossed by Rita in one step. She almost jumped in front of Bianka, opened her arms, and hugged Bianka tightly in her arms.
"Welcome back, Lady Bianka."
This was the first time Bianka had seen Rita so out of sorts. She could feel the strength in Rita's arms, but she was a little at a loss.
Should she hug her back? But she was still holding Stan in her hands...
As soon as Bianka thought so, a series of gasps came from the side.
"Wow!"
"They have such a good relationship."
"It's yuri... mmmph..."
"It's yuri... what? Big Sister Bronya, Seele didn't hear clearly..."
"Yeah, yeah, Liliya, do you know?"
"Stupid Rosalia, it's..."
"Ahem!"
"Ah, I'm being threatened by Sin Mal..."
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"Shut up, or I'll kill you!"
Bianka felt a little strange, but the next moment, Rita had already sprung back from her, resuming her gentle and elegant appearance.
Bianka didn't know what to do, so Bianka decided to continue apologizing.
Hey, apologizing is really useful.
"I'm sorry."
Rita smiled and nodded at Bianka, then raised her hand and pointed a finger at Bianka. "No next time, okay?"
Bianka felt that Rita's desire for control was a bit strong.
Siegfried moved his regained arm and walked over with the members of the Snow Wolf Squad.
The moment Kiana and Siegfried saw each other, they almost raised their hands at the same time.
"Yo! Good daughter!"/"Yo! Old dad!"
Then the two high-fived each other in Bronya's surprised eyes. Then Kiana passed the already open-armed Siegfried and hugged Cecilia.
"Mom!"
Siegfried's expression immediately became very hurt, and he muttered, "Why is Mom 'Mom,' but Dad is 'Old Dad'? Am I old?"
"Mom, old dad says you're old too," Kiana raised her head and complained, earning a horrified look from Siegfried.
Cecilia just smiled and gently patted Kiana's back.
Bianka looked at Kiana and Cecilia hugging each other, and Siegfried lingering by their side, and suddenly felt a stuffy feeling in her heart.
"Mom, let me tell you, I'm super strong now!" Kiana was like a spoiled child, quickly telling Cecilia and Siegfried everything, wanting to tell them everything she had encountered.
Siegfried and Cecilia were happy to listen to Kiana's experiences, but this time, Siegfried interrupted Kiana.
"Daughter, can I discuss something with you?" Siegfried stretched out his hand and naturally put it on Kiana's.
Kiana understood and left Cecilia's embrace, hooking up with Siegfried.
"Old dad, what bad thing have you done again?" Kiana lowered her voice and said to Siegfried in a low voice.
"What are you talking about!" Siegfried's righteous refutation made Kiana a little stunned, but soon, Siegfried told her what it was.
"Do you want a younger sister?" Siegfried asked Kiana very seriously.
Kiana's brain overloaded with a boom. She immediately looked at Cecilia's stomach.
It didn't look like it was bulging? Could it be that she was newly pregnant? Then how could they know it was a younger sister?
"Aiya, it's not your mom," Siegfried knew at a glance that Kiana had misunderstood, and immediately waved his hand to deny it.
Kiana's eyes became even more horrified. She pushed away Siegfried's hand on her shoulder and pointed at Siegfried to scold him, "Old dad, you actually—"
You actually cheated on Mom with another...
"We plan to adopt that child as your younger sister. Are you willing?" Siegfried quickly spoke, cutting off the words that were about to come out of Kiana's mouth.
She knew that her old dad would not be that kind of person!
Kiana breathed a sigh of relief, then followed Siegfried's finger to look, and her relaxed expression immediately wrinkled again.
That's... Bianka?
Shouldn't that be her older sister?
No... right... no no... right right...
Whatever, it's not a bad thing anyway. I'll agree first and then talk!
Kiana's brain was really overloaded this time, but this state was soon interrupted by a figure descending from the sky.
The figure landed without any buffer, and crashed straight down beside Kiana and the others.
The others were relatively far from Kiana and the others. Although their attention was attracted by the commotion, they could only see a cloud of dust being kicked up.
Siegfried and the others looked nervously at the landing point, only to see a humanoid figure lying motionless in a sandpit.
Shu looked at the sky with lifeless eyes, his limbs numb as if they weren't his own. His body didn't want to move at all. He imagined himself as a dying salted fish.
Kiana's head first entered his field of vision. Shu reflexively rolled over quickly, and quickly curled up like a hamster seeing the light.
"Shu?" Kiana called out in confusion, and Shu trembled in response.
"I'm sorry!" The straightforward apology made the others who had gathered around confused.
But Kiana and the other two immediately realized what was going on.
"Shu, you're in that state again, right?" Mei tried to ask Shu, but the tightly curled up Shu just quickly apologized again.
"Is he always like this?" Siegfried also glanced at him, then asked Kiana with some confusion.
Kiana shook her head. "How could that be? Shu is usually a bit quiet, but he's definitely not like this!"
Siegfried nodded, then took out his phone and handed it to Kiana.
Kiana smoothly took the phone, then took two pictures of Shu, and then stepped into the sandpit and quickly pulled Shu up from the ground.
At this time, the dust just dissipated, and everyone saw Shu standing on the sandbar.
That's Shu! Who among those present hadn't seen the first live broadcast of the Fire Moths?
The value of being able to defeat a Herrscher alone was even greater after they had experienced a Herrscher disaster!
A burst of cheers erupted in the desert. In everyone's eyes, Shu just stood there, enduring everyone's cheers with a blank expression.
In everyone's eyes, Shu didn't care about these cheers, but only Kiana, Mei, and a few others knew that Shu had just crashed.
There were too many people around. Shu didn't know which crack in the ground to crawl into to avoid everyone.
"This is a small side effect of his power..." Mei explained to the members of the Snow Wolf Squad. "We'd better go back quickly."
After getting closer, Theresa also understood Shu's state.
Although she didn't know why Shu, who had always been cheerful in the past, had become like this, it didn't stop her from understanding the situation.
"How do we go back?" Theresa asked in a low voice. The cheers around them and Shu's strange state made her hair stand on end. "Can your ship still fly?"
"It will take some time for the Noah's Ark to restart," Bronya shook her head regretfully. "But everyone can get on the ship to avoid it for a while."
The few of them finally breathed a sigh of relief. Kiana reached out and grabbed Shu, pulling him to run onto the ship quickly. Siegfried frowned, sensing that something was wrong.
"Hey! You haven't told me if you agree or not!!" Siegfried quickly realized what was wrong and shouted at Kiana's back.
"Of course I agree!!" Kiana turned her head and shouted back, then she waved at Bianka. "Big sister!"
Siegfried: "?"
Isn't it younger sister?
Bianka: "?"
What did she call me?
Mei and Bronya looked at each other, and Theresa sighed helplessly and facepalmed.
They had seen the plot, so of course they knew what was going on.
But there was nothing to say now. It was more important to get on the ship first.
Shu didn't know when he would recover. After the last vision, he had been in this state for a long time. They didn't know about this time...
The few of them followed Kiana and Shu onto the ship. The people from the City of Sighs also began to return to the city one after another.
The Fire Moths would take over this "leaderless" city, and would probably take everyone back to ARC City, but that would take some time.
As for now, the few of them planned to return to the city first after the Noah's Ark recovered its power. They still had to report their experiences and gains along the way.
About a few hours later, Shu was still huddled in a corner, but he was much better than at the beginning.
Mei was sitting next to Shu, and Bronya was holding the steering wheel, controlling the Noah's Ark to slowly float up from the ground.
And Kiana was standing at the bow of the ship, letting out an excited shout at the front.
"Going home!!"
(End of Volume VIII: The day we are family)