Xia Mi's memories weren't all that complicated.
After all, her human persona was a fabricated one, with only a dozen or so years of life experience. Most of it was pretty ordinary, blending in with regular humans. But two parts stood out:
First, her time at Shilan High School in Fuzhou, where she tried to get close to "Odin."
Second, her connection to Cassell College.
As Uchiha Hikari had suspected, Xia Mi was currently a second-year student at Peking University's affiliated high school. She'd already passed Cassell College's "independent recruitment" process and was set to transfer to their preparatory program as an "A-rank hybrid" after the semester ended. After a year of training, she'd move on to Cassell's main campus in Chicago.
But…
Jörmungandr was a different story.
To Hikari, the Dragon King's memories were like a massive iceberg. What floated above the surface was just a fraction, while the bulk lay hidden beneath, bound by invisible chains and sealed in the depths of a frozen abyss. Diving into those depths might uncover ancient dragon secrets, maybe even from the primordial era, but it could also freeze Hikari's consciousness, causing irreparable damage.
To play it safe, Hikari stayed at the "surface," skimming only the top layer of the iceberg's memories.
Hmm… it looked like the last time Xia Mi and Fenrir had awakened.
The time was roughly the late Ming Dynasty.
The setting was a dim underground palace.
Dressed in ornate, ancient robes, "Xia Mi" stood with a cold expression, back-to-back with a burly warrior on a stone platform. Both looked like they were at their limit. The air was thick with white mercury vapor, and a crimson-tinted mercury river flowed nearby, littered with hundreds of floating corpses.
The warrior's face was unfamiliar, but his goofy demeanor screamed Fenrir in human form.
Meanwhile, a flood of shadowy figures was charging into the palace.
"…The Governor's orders: no survivors!"
"Kill!"
…
"This must be around the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, right? Probably leading up to the Wanggongchang Explosion of 1626?" Hikari mused, piecing together the timeline.
Suddenly, the memory flickered.
Hikari quickly pulled her consciousness back and opened her eyes slightly. Sitting across from her, Xia Mi shot up, alert, scanning their surroundings.
"What's wrong?" Hikari asked.
"…"
Xia Mi frowned, hands braced against the ground like a wary cat. She looked around carefully before sitting back down. "Nothing… just felt like someone was spying on us from somewhere. Do you have any other visitors here?"
"?"
She caught on that fast?
These Dragon King-level beings were sharp, no doubt about it.
But it didn't matter. Hikari had already planted her mental seal. She could dig into the rest of those memories later, once her Sharingan's power grew stronger.
Keeping her expression neutral, Hikari shrugged. "Probably just some lingering thoughts from a previous visitor. No big deal."
With a wave of her hand, she summoned a tea set, rolling up her sleeves and gracefully pouring two cups of tea. She slid one across to Xia Mi. "So, wanna share some stories about you and your brother?"
After a brief silence, Xia Mi began to talk.
She recounted "Xia Mi's" experiences, which Hikari had already skimmed through using her Yasaka no Magatama technique, so none of it was new.
When Xia Mi finished, she fixed Hikari with a curious stare. "So, Your Majesty, the White King… when did you wake up?"
"Me? Around the same time as you, I guess. About a decade or so ago," Hikari said casually. "For the past ten thousand years, I was just a spirit, drifting in a haze at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean's abyss. Then a sunken ship woke me up—something called the Lenin, I think. Here, take a look."
With another wave, Hikari projected a memory in the air: "Black Swan Harbor.avi."
She'd gone over this memory from Masamune Tachibana countless times, knowing every detail by heart. With a bit of editing, she crafted a narrative: "Herzog tried to steal the White King's authority, accidentally sank the Lenin into the God's Tomb, and sacrificed dragon embryos to revive me, the White King."
The story was almost entirely true, except for one fabricated detail: the thing revived in the God's Tomb wasn't the White King's "Holy Relic" but her.
And that one lie was nearly impossible to disprove.
If you really thought about it, Hikari's experiences back in the Warring States period weren't all that different from the White King's—just less tragic and with a shorter nap.
After watching the "CG," Xia Mi's doubts softened further, her gaze now tinged with sympathy.
"…Even someone as great as you has been through such hardship," she said softly. "It really is the fate of the forsaken."
Xia Mi took a deep breath, her expression turning serious. "So, how should I address you, Your Majesty?"
"Whatever you want," Hikari said, stretching lazily. "The age of dragons is over. We old relics don't need to keep harping on the past. You can just treat me like a pureblood human. Honestly, I prefer the name Uchiha Hikari over White King."
"'Hikari,' huh…" Xia Mi nodded. "Got it."
After swapping their "tragic backstories," the air between them grew noticeably warmer. They weren't exactly "friends"—pureblood dragons didn't believe in that sort of thing—but Xia Mi might be an exception. After all, this "strongest second-generation" dragon was famously all bark and no bite when it came to her softer side.
"…"
Xia Mi sipped her tea slowly, then, after a moment's hesitation, spoke softly. "Hikari… Big Sis, since you woke up this time, have you sensed anything… unusual?"
"Huh?"
"Ever since I woke up, I've had this feeling," Xia Mi said. "Like something's pulling the strings behind the scenes. First me and Fenrir, then 'Odin'… you might not know him, but he's the King of Sky and Wind, one of our brothers. And now you, the White King… There's never been a time in history when so many Dragon Kings woke up and were active at once. Maybe… He's coming back."
"You mean… the Black King?" Hikari asked.
"Shh!" Xia Mi made a quick hushing gesture, glancing nervously to either side. "Don't say His name out loud. He might sense it…"
"No worries. I'm the White King. I'm not scared," Hikari said with a light laugh, though her eyes glinted with something curious.
She couldn't help but wonder: Xia Mi had spent so much time at Shilan High School. Had she really not noticed anything off about Lu Mingfei? Or maybe she had noticed but had her memories wiped by Lu Mingze…
On the other side, Xia Mi spoke tentatively. "With this storm brewing, how about we make a pact, Big Sis Hikari? A blood oath, to fight side by side until death?"