The sea breeze swept past, carrying with it the occasional cry of seagulls circling in the sky, the chill spreading through the air.
Raven shot a sideways glance at Gray Serpent, who stood as motionless as a robot, and frowned slightly.
"Are you sure Cocolia won't betray us?"
"She betrayed Anti-Entropy without hesitation. When the time comes, betraying World Serpent will be just as easy for her."
Though World Serpent had formed an alliance with Cocolia when she first rose to prominence, Raven's instincts as a mercenary screamed at her after several encounters: that sly fox was not to be trusted.
"There are no eternal allies in this world. With enough profit on the table, Cocolia will betray Serpent without a second thought."
Gray Serpent's voice, deep and mechanical, resonated with synthesized calm as the crimson glow of his electronic eye flickered.
"And the reverse is also true. If selling out Cocolia gave us a chance to bring our Lord into this world, we wouldn't hesitate either."
Raven knew that all too well.
Being a mercenary was her true profession—her position as a senior officer of World Serpent was just a side gig.
If someone offered her more than Serpent ever could, she wouldn't think twice about switching sides.
But of course, the price had to be right.
No mercenary worth their salt switched jobs for pocket change.
"Besides," Gray Serpent continued, "she made the mistake of provoking Nagami.
She implanted the Gem of Conquest into the Third Herrscher, Raiden Mei, threw Raiden Ryoma into prison, and even tried to trigger a massive Honkai eruption in Nagazora City."
A low, chilling laugh rumbled from Gray Serpent's throat.
"Our intelligence division has gathered everything on Nagami from childhood to now. After his personality shift, we built a psychological model of him."
"With Raiden Mei and Cocolia's daughter involved, Nagami will never forgive her. With his power, if he wanted her dead, not even Anti-Entropy could protect her."
"The only way she'll stand a chance is to help Serpent free our Lord. That's her one shot at surviving Nagami."
On a personal level, Gray Serpent admired Cocolia—decisive, ruthless, willing to do anything to achieve her goals. But her luck was abysmal.
Who could have predicted someone like Nagami would suddenly appear in this world?
Raven gave a small nod to show agreement, but inwardly she was still chewing on the question: 'Can Kevin Kaslana really stand against Nagami?'
Nagami's overwhelming strength was backed by hard intel.
Kevin's strength, meanwhile, existed only in the stories of Gray Serpent and Jackal.
That was far from convincing.
Still, for the sake of her paycheck—whatever they said was gospel.
"What's taking Cocolia so long? Even opening a door shouldn't take this much time." Raven's golden eyes narrowed as she stared out at the still, silent sea, irritation creeping into her voice.
"If we waste too much time, the job won't get done."
And time, for her, was money. Cocolia was going to owe her overtime pay for this.
Gray Serpent's electronic eye flickered uneasily at her words.
Raven had a point—Cocolia's delay was unusual.
At this stage, betrayal was unlikely… which meant something else must have happened.
Raven parted her lips to complain further—when suddenly, a faint whistling sound reached her ears.
The once-still sea began to churn.
The deep-blue water roared and foamed like boiling broth before spiraling into a massive, eerie whirlpool.
At its center, it was as though an invisible wall had forced the water apart, leaving a vast, hollow cavity.
From within, a tall blonde figure slowly rose.
She wore a dark green military coat draped over her shoulders, the slit of her skirt running high up her thigh to reveal long, pale legs.
"Apologies," she said with a confident smile. "I had to… remove a few of the conservatives. Took a little longer than expected."
Her fair, beautiful face carried the air of someone fully in control—calm, yet undeniably forceful.
"Hmph. Doesn't matter. Let's go."
————————————————————————
"So this is The Deep?"
Space rippled like water, spreading outward in electric arcs before splitting open into a portal laced with crackling lightning patterns.
A black-haired boy and a green-haired girl stepped out side by side.
At the far end of their gaze stretched the deep, dappled ocean, strange deep-sea creatures gliding in and out of the dim light.
And nestled within the abyss stood a massive, transparent barrier enclosing an entire city—its architecture mirroring that of the surface.
From Einstein, Nagami obtained detailed information about The Deep—its geography, layout, Anti-Entropy's research data, and most importantly, the method to activate the Eye of the Abyss.
To Nagami, though, those instructions weren't really necessary.
A single glance with the Alpha Stigma Eyes was enough for him to see through the activation sequence.
Given more time, he could even decipher the underlying principle—how the Eye of the Abyss connected to the Quantum Sea.
When that time came, with his command over spatial powers, he wouldn't even need to travel here.
He'd be able to freely enter and exit the Quantum Sea from anywhere, anytime.
In addition, Dr. Einstein had recently sent fresh intel: The Deep had fallen under Cocolia's control.
Nagami didn't mind.
In fact, it was the perfect chance to settle their old score.
"For modern civilization, this definitely counts as black technology," C.C. muttered, her violet hexagram eyes slowly rotating as she looked around.
A semi-transparent energy dome separated the city from the surrounding seawater, maintaining internal pressure and allowing ordinary people to move freely within.
A flawless self-sustaining system—extracting oxygen directly from seawater and generating basic electricity with ease.
"As expected of something left behind from the Previous Era."
With just a sweep of the Alpha Stigma Eyes, Nagami could roughly analyze the city's technology.
If he spent more time, he could likely break down most of it. But that wasn't necessary.
In the vaults of the Void Archives were Mei's little "crib notes"—records of every piece of technology from the Previous Era.
If not for the need to suppress Honkai energy levels, Otto would have already maxed out the tech tree long ago.
Nagami and C.C. walked slowly down The Deep's streets.
This time, he hadn't brought anyone else.
Even Bronya, who wanted to come, was firmly refused.
Because Nagami wanted to attempt something on his own—traversing with his own power.
Not between entire multiverses—he wasn't at that level yet.
But Honkai and Genshin were both "leaves" on the Imaginary Tree, existing within the same overarching multiverse.
With the Herrscher of the Void's authority and his analysis of the Chat Group's traversal cards, there was a chance he could pull it off.
Those cards, even the admin-exclusive traversal ones, weren't expensive.
It wasn't about saving points.
Nagami just wanted to verify and apply what he'd learned.
If successful, it would mark a huge step forward.
With these eyes of his, he was confident—sooner or later, he'd reach the level where he could cross multiverses by sheer power alone.
The risk wasn't especially high.
But factoring in the Quantum Sea's inherent dangers, it was too much for Bronya, who had only recently become the Herrscher of Reason.
So he hadn't brought her.
But he had brought a spirit.
Arms folded, Nagami glanced sideways at the shadow trailing closely behind him.
There was no escaping Kurumi, after all.
"Fufufu, my dear husband~ I want to see other worlds too.
Besides, if you don't bring me along, I won't be able to absorb time—and that would only slow you down later, wouldn't it?
Or… is my husband worried about my safety?"
Her smile last night had been bewitching, like a temptress born of shadows.
And during certain "activities," she had been… remarkably cooperative.
Kurumi had promised absolute obedience.
And with Nagami losing himself in her charm, he had, in a moment of weakness, agreed.
With her "Connection," Kurumi could use time manipulation anywhere.
Her survival ability was on par with Nagami's own near-infinite revival.
There was no real need to worry about her.
"Oh? What's that?"
At the far end of the street, two figures appeared—one pink, one blue. Each wore an off-shoulder white dress trimmed in their respective colors.
Their pale, rounded shoulders and long, slender legs sheathed in thigh-high stockings drew the eye.
The elder sister wore white stockings, the younger black.
Between hemline and garter was a dangerous "absolute territory," a glimpse of skin designed to ensnare wandering gazes.
The unusual detail: both adorable kids had long Honkai beast tails trailing behind them.
The pink one skipped forward cheerfully, while the blue one followed silently, face expressionless.
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