Imaginary Tree.
The tributary opened up under the lead of Otto Apocalypse remains stable.
From the outside in, it is orderly and bustling, yet serene as water.
The quiet flow of time manifests along the world's trajectory. Bringing the people of the past back to this gradually recovering world of peace, this is the reason this tributary was created.
"The conditions for entering the Imaginary Tree are really harsh."
Void Archives spoke calmly, expression unchanged.
"Perhaps, we could let someone who has already entered carry it forward," Kevin suggested.
"That's indeed a way. Kallen would surely be very happy to take on such a meaningful task." Otto clapped lightly and smiled.
"Don't you want to try a thrilling journey through the ages yourself?" Otto chuckled.
Kevin remained silent. He truly did want to carry out this plan himself.
But in his own eyes, he wasn't the most suitable choice for it.
To others, his will was like eternal, unyielding ice, unmoved by anything.
But he knew himself best. If it were him, there would be issues he could hardly control perfectly.
Emotions were the greatest enemy. For the same reason, Sakura was not a suitable choice either.
As for Su… forget it, he spoke too vaguely, making action difficult.
Thus, the most suitable candidate at the moment was,
"Hua." Kevin slowly spoke the name and continued.
"If she agrees, then she's the best choice for this plan."
"I have no objections. She is indeed the most suitable." Void Archives nodded with a smile.
From any perspective, Fu Hua was the ideal choice. It was almost unimaginable that fifty thousand years ago, that quiet, reserved warrior could become the one everyone now saw as the best candidate.
The personnel was decided.
"Don't you have any thoughts about that Herrscher?" Having dealt with the most important matter, Void Archives glanced sideways at Kevin.
"The Herrscher of Ice? No need to worry." Kevin shook his head slightly, tone dismissive.
The Herrscher of Ice… the mechanism of Honkai couldn't be simply judged as good or bad.
At least in his view, creating a Herrscher of Flames would be far more valuable than creating a Herrscher of Ice.
After all, once the flames of the Herrscher of Flames burned, even he could not stop them much.
As for the Herrscher of Ice, his indifference back when he stood on Coral Island already made his stance clear.
The Herrscher of Ice? Heh.
Void Archives also paid it no mind.
For him, as long as Honkai could be defeated and the underlying logic fulfilled, that was enough.
As for the process, Void Archives never cared about process.
…
...
"So Mom… sacrificed herself like this?"
Kiana's eyes were filled with shock.
Even the Herrscher of the Void in her consciousness-space did not speak at this moment.
During the Second Eruption, Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void, went berserk. Honkai energy spread beyond the plains, and over one hundred thousand civilians were exposed to its radiation.
But under the crimson petals born from Schariac's sacred blood, those hundred thousand who were already corrupted by Honkai energy were spared from becoming casualties of that disaster.
Cecilia Shariac held the line until the very last moment, and with her own life defended the living of this world.
It was moving beyond words. But… if possible, Kiana would rather she hadn't gone through any of that.
"I hadn't planned to talk about such heavy matters with you right now," Siegfried said with a helpless smile.
His calm smile was filled with bitterness and regret. Why couldn't the Kaslana bloodline have turned into the Schariac one instead?
And the reason Siegfried had promised to tell Kiana everything from back then was also because… he couldn't beat her now.
If he still had Judgment of Shamash, maybe he could have escaped from the Herrscher of the Void's power even if he couldn't win.
After all, he had once been a knight who could rival S-rank Valkyries!
Though missing an arm and without Shamash, at most he could probably only stalemate with Rita now.
But he still believed it! At this, the Herrscher of the Void sneered in disdain.
"Otto's no good man. But I don't support you clashing with him head-on. That guy… no one knows what he really is." Siegfried spoke his criticism without holding back.
As a father, he absolutely didn't support Kiana seeking trouble with Otto.
Even if she had reconciled with the Herrscher of the Void and could wield her power.
Back then, Sirin during the Second Eruption was so powerful, and even then she was defeated under a combined siege. With time, Schicksal had only grown stronger.
At the very least, Siegfried admitted he couldn't defeat even the youngest S-rank Valkyrie.
Durandal's performance in her fight with Kevin left Siegfried under no illusions.
"Otto…" Kiana fell silent.
Of course she would take revenge.
But… A smile of Kallen flashed in her mind, and her eyes glimmered faintly.
Otto must be taught a lesson, but before that, bringing Cecilia back was the true priority.
The rest could wait, until after she found her mother.
"I promise you, I won't act rashly against Otto."
Hearing Kiana's reply, Siegfried finally breathed out in relief, smiling with ease.
"Haha, these aren't the burdens you should carry, you're still just a kid."
"Ehh, "
"Really! I was amazing, you know! Don't you remember when I took you hunting Honkai beasts when you were little?"
"That's such old history already."
…
Once more rejecting Kiana's proposal, Siegfried watched her departing figure with a faint, wistful smile.
"Kiana…"
Kiana Kaslana.
There were two girls in this world who bore that name.
He didn't know whether Kiana had ever heard this from others.
"Hahh, why am I overthinking so much? Better to just focus on dinner."
Shaking his not-so-bright head, Siegfried forced a carefree laugh.
Speaking of which, that invitation Einstein gave before, did it still count? Surely Anti-Entropy covered meals, right?
…
Night fell, and the stars resonated together.
Sitting sideways on the balcony, enjoying the cool night breeze brushing her cheeks, Hua asked softly: "Kevin, what is it?"
"About Sakura and the others returning… what do you think?"
"You're asking me to go back?" Fu Hua hesitated, pointing at herself, eyes showing some doubt.
"Yes. We discussed it, and we believe you're the most suitable candidate."
"But didn't you say Su is also there? Why not consider asking Su instead?"
"Su, not very suitable."
Kevin found it hard to imagine Su seriously coming to everyone and bringing them back.
There was another point.
"Su's abilities aren't suited for direct confrontation. Our choice was to bring everyone to the present with the least possible impact. Your abilities are the most fitting."
"Kevin, I'm no longer at my peak. Even if I went back, it would be hard to achieve the desired result."
Fu Hua slightly shook her head. She was very aware that her current body was not suited for large-scale combat.
The combat strength of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers was crystal clear in her mind.
That level of power, with her current strength, once things got serious, she simply wouldn't be able to hold out.
Across from her, Kevin looked at Fu Hua and spoke.
"It's not unsolvable." As a comrade, he knew Fu Hua's condition.
After all, her body's state was one of the reasons why she couldn't fully unleash her abilities.
It was exactly for this reason that MOTH had entrusted Fenghuang Down to Fu Hua.
"If it can be solved, I can give it a try."
Hearing Kevin's words, Fu Hua slightly nodded.
If this problem really could be solved, she felt it was worth attempting.
To personally bring her comrades from that dead end into the present, that would be a form of self-redemption.
...
Godzilla's Dream space.
Godzilla's dreamscape was steadily expanding.
Without countless living beings noticing, it was enveloping reality.
Soon, a lone spacecraft drifted into Godzilla's dream. To be precise, this spacecraft had always been within the scope of Godzilla's dreamscape.
It was just that, due to its small size and Godzilla's lack of attention, only when it entered areas with no energy signatures at all did its energy emission become noticeable.
Inside the empty ship, Miss Memokeeper slowly landed, her steps light as she wandered inside.
"A ship I haven't seen before."
She curiously examined the spacecraft.
Well-traveled as she was, she hadn't seen one like this either.
Suddenly, she caught sight of a familiar emblem.
"MOTH?"
Blinking, Miss Memokeeper tilted her head, carefully confirming the emblem she wasn't mistaken about.
She had seen quite a few MOTH emblems lately, but those were all on Earth.
And now? This was space.
Through Godzilla's dream, she had swiftly completed her journey.
This was truly the best way to travel for a memetic being!
She reaffirmed this once again. The traversal method of the Garden of Recollection was convenient too, but it couldn't compare to this.
Wandering through dreams, slipping through as a meme, this was far too easy.
Freely moving, nothing around her could hinder this endlessly curious Miss Memokeeper.
"So MOTH was already seeking life beyond the universe back then." By the timeline, that would have been fifty thousand years ago.
Fifty thousand years, an unbearably long time.
The Xianzhou people, burdened by excessive memory, would fall into Mara.
Ordinary human brains would burn out.
Even the Garden of Recollection, who embodied themselves as a meme, couldn't confidently say they would endure such an expanse of time.
The power of time, it was invisible, untouchable, yet undeniably real.
On tiptoe, Miss Memokeeper slipped into a room filled with precise instruments.
Cryo-pods were lined up there.
Through the specialized glass, she could see a serene young girl in "slumber."
"Looks a bit like… Griseo?"
Leaning closer, Miss Memokeeper froze slightly.
She recognized the girl in the pod.
Griseo, one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers.
But the last time she'd seen her was through the tributary when Godzilla rescued Rin, and that too it was just a glimpse.
Back then, she was just a cute, lovable little girl. Now… she was a cute, lovable young lady.
Though Miss Memokeeper was still quite young herself, she couldn't hold it back,
"Ah… children grow up."
"Beep, "
"Eh? Eh!? What's going on!?"
The sudden noise startled the Miss Memokeeper, who had been wallowing in her sentimental thoughts.
She instinctively stepped back a few paces, wide-eyed and pure, staring at the cryo-pod as it slowly opened.
Before her eyes, the pod released a hiss, the long-slumbering girl's lashes quivering gently.
The next moment,
"Mmm~~~ we've arrived?" Slowly sitting up, her left hand holding the pod, right hand rubbing her eyes, she softly muttered.
Even after this endless journey, Griseo still held onto a faint hope in her heart.
Cryo-pods didn't open for no reason.
By her sense of the passage of time, it shouldn't yet be the scheduled time for awakening or something had happened. Which meant, had they arrived?
With hope, stars flickered in her eyes as she slowly opened them.
"Hm?" Tilting her head slightly, she found herself facing Miss Memokeeper, puzzled.
Wasn't she supposed to be alone on this ship?
Even with the hood in the way, that innocent gaze still pierced through, meeting Griseo's.
After a pause, Griseo tentatively lifted her hand, softly asking: "Excuse me… are you a good person?"
"I am, I… wait, uhh…" Miss Memokeeper scratched her hair in confusion. She wanted to say she was a good person.
But wasn't it weird to just declare "I'm a good person"?
What kind of good person says that? Yet, if she didn't say it, would the girl think she was a bad person?
Miss Memokeeper didn't know Griseo well, but she did know this child had a pure heart.
Even now, grown up, that purity couldn't be hidden.
Freshly awakened, still a bit dazed, Griseo tilted her head in confusion at the Miss Memokeeper, not understanding her inner struggle.
But… she trusted her instincts.
"Um, has the ship landed on your planet, Miss? May I go take a look?"
Griseo hadn't forgotten her main purpose, and asked.
"Planet?" The question snapped Miss Memokeeper out of her self-doubt.
Her brows twitched. She certainly wasn't wealthy enough to own an entire planet.
Besides,
"The ship hasn't landed on any planet," she explained, instinctively using the tone one would use when talking to a child.
"Really? Then how did you get in, Miss? Did you come in a ship like mine?"
Griseo asked, confused.