"Good morning. Have you seen everyone you needed to see?"
As the morning sun began to rise, Xin Yu stood on a balcony, gazing out at the still-abandoned city. Beside him, the black-robed figure materialized once more, the face so similar to Xin Yu's, yet much older, coming into view again.
"Yes. It's a shame I still don't know where the priest is or which world he resides in. Otherwise, I would have liked to have another chat with him."
"We'll meet him after this battle. As for who gets to meet him, that will depend on the outcome. By the way, have you had breakfast yet? My own cooking skills aren't great, but it's convenient to buy breakfast now. What do you want?"
"An egg pancake. I remember seeing all sorts of barbecue stalls and egg pancake stands as a child, and I craved them so badly. The memory fragments don't contain the specifics, only that feeling of intense craving. Bring one for me. I'd quite like to know what it tastes like."
Xin Yu thought for a moment, then added.
"Why don't you just get some barbecue too? After all, no matter what, this is likely the last meal for both of us. It's better to go on our way with a full stomach than as a hungry ghost. Besides, your understanding of physical things comes entirely from memory. You ought to experience them for yourself to understand how good it is to be alive."
The Heart-Demon considered this seriously and felt that,唉! he had a point. No matter how you looked at it, this could be their last meal. Being a full ghost was indeed better than being a hungry one.
An hour and a half later, the two were sitting at a dining table. Xin Yu held a steaming hot egg pancake, biting into the lavish creation stuffed with all sorts of things: ham sausage, pork loin, bacon, a chicken cutlet, and even pork floss, lettuce, and shredded potato.
The Heart-Demon, meanwhile, held a fried potato skewer in his left hand and a grilled pork belly skewer in his right, feasting with gusto.
The two chatted idly, talking about what their past self was like, reminiscing about shared memories, and even occasionally laughing at their old, embarrassing moments. It made them seem less like enemies and more like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years, catching up over a meal.
"Speaking of which, you're pretty bold to eat the food I brought. Aren't you afraid I tampered with it?"
"I trust myself. If you tampered with it, it would just add an unpleasant taste to what was originally delicious food. For a foodie like me, that's very hard to accept. So, you wouldn't tamper with it. After all, we respect food."
"You're a glutton, just say you're a glutton. Why dress it up to sound so noble! Haha!"
The two picked up their chilled Cokes. The two cans clinked against each other, and then, in unison, they tilted their heads back and downed the drink in one go. After finishing, both let out a satisfied sigh.
"Coke with barbecue is just the best. No wonder it was the delicacy I craved for a whole childhood."
"Yeah. After growing up and getting busy with work, it was mostly just takeout. A late-night snack was usually just some snacks from the supermarket or instant noodles. Things like barbecue are best enjoyed with a few friends, but I hadn't eaten it in a long time."
"Did I not have any friends? How come I couldn't even find anyone to eat barbecue with?"
"We did, but everyone went their separate ways. You're in the south, I'm in the north; getting together is a hassle. Even on holidays, not everyone gets time off, and we wouldn't necessarily all be in the same place. Besides, nowadays, more and more people prefer to just laze around at home on their days off."
The Heart-Demon then, from who knows where, produced a KFC Family Bucket. He pulled out a piece of Original Recipe chicken and took a huge bite. While chewing on the crispy skin and tender meat, he said with a slightly muffled voice.
"It's been a long time since I've had the taste of KFC, too. This stuff is just too expensive. Normally, you wouldn't really buy it. Maybe as a college student or a recent graduate without a good grasp of spending, you'd indulge occasionally. Once you're older and you see that high price, you realize it could cover several days' worth of meals, and you lose the desire to buy it."
Xin Yu picked up an egg tart and popped it into his mouth.
"Yeah. When we were poor, all we could think about was eating nice things. Once we had money, we ironically became unwilling to spend it, getting all frugal."
Like two competitive eaters, the pair devoured every last bit of the various foods on the table, or rather, they ate every food they had ever craved from their memories.
In the end, only two cans of Coke were left on the table. The food was gone, and the containers had all been cleared away.
The two looked at each other for a moment, then smiled and raised their Cokes. In their original plan, they should have been holding goblets of red wine. That would have created a better atmosphere, or perhaps more class.
But after thinking about it, neither of them really liked the taste of red wine. So in the end, they still held cans of Coke.
"This is the last can. We should have a bit of ceremony," the Heart-Demon said.
"Well then, a toast to our tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow will only belong to one of us."
"In that case, let's toast to an imperfect tomorrow."
"An imperfect tomorrow. Good. Let's toast to an imperfect tomorrow!"
The two smiled and clinked their cans for the last time, then drank their respective Cokes.
After they finished, the atmosphere instantly fell silent.
"Shall we begin?" the Heart-Demon asked.
"Alright. Let's begin."
As soon as the words fell, the two figures vanished. In the next moment, high in the sky above Nagazora, a thunderous boom resounded, and the clouds that had gathered overhead were instantly obliterated.
Xin Yu held a blade in his right hand; the Heart-Demon gripped a sword in his.
Just a few simple clashes of their weapons produced aftershocks that already affected the planet's weather systems.
Therefore, the two flew directly out of the planet. Without a fixed ground, their battle became completely unrestrained. In a flash, the light and heat they generated were enough to vaporize the most durable of alloys.
The two crisscrossed through the cosmos like two streaks of light, like sentient comets colliding with one another.
They passed by the planet Mars, leaving behind a series of deep chasms on its surface.
They crashed directly into the rings of Saturn, setting off a chain of miniature suns that vaporized all matter.
The two streaks of light continued to shoot out of the solar system. The shockwaves from their battle grew larger and larger, gradually beginning to disrupt the gravitational pull of the entire solar system.
Even in the vacuum of space, the booming sound of their weapons clashing could somehow be heard.
Outside the solar system, the two stood opposite each other. There were no wounds on either of them, no hint of fatigue on their faces. For the two of them, what just happened was merely a greeting.
After all, Xin Yu's greatest strength had never been close combat.
And now, the warm-up was over. The true slaughter had just begun.