In a slightly dim room, three people were gathered around a door lying flat, which seemed to be cast from gold. The floor was covered with sparkling azure crystals, whose reflected light bathed the ground in a blue glow.
The previously open windows were now covered by brown curtains, with only an occasional ray of sunlight peeking through the gaps when a gentle breeze blew. The gloomy scene, the golden door... it was as if some cult was performing a shady ritual...
"Hey~ Master...." Liv sat on the floor around the 'Gate of Vows', her long, slender legs drawing one's gaze.
"What is it?" Li Xuan withdrew his gaze from the 'Gate of Vows' and asked, puzzled.
"Uh... Master, why are you kneeling on the floor?" Liv covered her mouth, her clear eyes looking curiously at Li Xuan's formal kneeling posture.
"Mah~" Li Xuan was a bit embarrassed. He scratched his cheek and said with a straight face, "Actually... this is metaphysics."
"Metaphysics?" Yae Sakura, at the side, was intrigued by this new word coming from Li Xuan's mouth, her azure eyes fixed on him.
"Yeah... I heard it from someone..." Li Xuan said, a little sheepishly. "...I heard that kneeling when you draw for things increases the chances of getting what you want..."
Back in his original world, a mobile game made by 'Daddy NetEase' was all the rage among high school students... Li Xuan remembered it was called 'Onmyoji' or something. Although he never played it, many of his classmates and friends did. It was around that time he heard about his roommate kneeling to do a gacha pull and getting some... SSR?! on the first try. In short, it was something amazing that made many other students green with envy.
So, ever since then... he often heard people say... that kneeling for gacha pulls makes it easier to get good drops... This was called metaphysics. Although Li Xuan didn't really get it... it sounded profound, even if he didn't understand it.
"Heavens, please... one pull, one soul!" Li Xuan said with great piety as he knelt. He hoped this 'metaphysics' would help him pull more Divine Weapons...
"Let's begin!" Li Xuan said, psyching himself up. He reached out and placed all the Honkai Crystals he had painstakingly collected during this time into the mirror at the center of the Gate of Vows, watching as the 'Gate of Vows' continuously devoured the 2800 crystals.
'Come on...' To get a better view, Li Xuan directly activated the dormant Golden Eye in his right eye, staring intently at the 'Gate of Vows' on the floor.
'For the sake of me kneeling... give me a Divine Weapon!' Li Xuan thought silently.
"Is this really going to work? I don't think it's very reliable..." the black fox next to Yae Sakura said, looking doubtfully at the kneeling Li Xuan.
"Huh?..." Yae Sakura tilted her head in confusion, looking at the suddenly-speaking Higokumaru with a cute, clueless expression.
"BZZZ!~" As the last crystal was devoured by the Gate of Vows, the golden gate began to vibrate. The intricate carved patterns on the door slowly lit up...
"Golden light, golden light, golden light...." Li Xuan chanted.
The next moment... the wish began... a flash of golden light erupted from the golden Gate of Vows!
A dazzling, miraculous golden pillar of light shot up, piercing through the room's ceiling and into the sky. A pressure that came from the soul appeared once again...
It was nearing dusk in Nagazora City, and the sky was already dimming... Night was about to fall. Yet at this moment... a golden pillar of light suddenly shot up from the ground, like a mythical pillar holding up the heavens, connecting the earth and sky.
...........
"Phew~" Dressed in a black and white nun's habit, Principal Theresa signed her name on the last document with the small hand holding her fountain pen, then collapsed onto the desk like a salted fish, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Finally done signing..."
"Yes, Principal..." Standing ramrod straight beside Theresa, Adjutant Yuudachi respectfully handed her a cup of milk tea.
"Sip~" Lifting the delicate white teacup, Theresa took a gentle sip of the fragrant milk tea. "Ah~ my whole body is warming up~" Theresa said softly with her eyes closed. That's why one should drink milk tea in autumn... Theresa thought.
"By the way..." Theresa turned to Yuudachi. "The child who was seriously injured in Nagazora City last time should be recovered by now, right?"
"Yes, she is!" At the mention of her partner, Yuudachi's usually serious face broke into a gentle smile. "Sasha is almost fully recovered..."
"Good. Adjutant Yuudachi, remember to spend more time with that child.." Theresa felt relieved.
"By the way..." Theresa suddenly changed the subject. "It's been almost three months since the Honkai energy outbreak in Nagazora City, hasn't it?"
"Yes, Principal... to be precise, it's been three months and three days." Yuudachi took out her phone and glanced at it.
"Is that so?...." Theresa turned her head to look in the direction of Nagazora City, but outside the window, there was only the 'rustling' sound of leaves fluttering.
"Then... the evolution of the Second Honkai War is about to arrive, isn't it?"
"Beep beep!!" The computer in front of Theresa suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen and saw it was a video call from that bombshell, Murata Himeko.
"Hello? Himeko? Payday is tomorrow..." Theresa said directly. Calling at this time probably meant Himeko was out of money again...
"What the hell? I still have money!" Himeko said, momentarily stunned. "Quick, look at the satellite footage of Nagazora City!"
"Hmm?..." Theresa was confused, but she opened the satellite footage video anyway.
In the video... a golden pillar of light had appeared in the sky above Nagazora City, connecting heaven and earth...
"A Herrscher?!" Theresa's eyes widened, and her cherry-like mouth fell open, revealing two rows of pearly teeth.
.............
Meanwhile, in Nagazora City, Li Xuan was on the verge of tears of joy as he looked at the golden pillar of light before him... Metaphysics can save the unlucky! It really works! The appearance of a golden pillar of light meant a 'Divine Weapon' nine times out of ten...
"It's so beautiful~" Yae Sakura's azure eyes stared at the pillar radiating golden light. This was the first time she had personally witnessed the golden glow of a Divine Weapon being wished for. The light felt as warm as the winter sun.
"Such intense pressure...." Unlike the less sensitive Yae Sakura, Higokumaru could keenly feel the suffocating pressure within the golden pillar of light, as if facing an emperor.
"..." Li Xuan smiled and reached directly into the not-yet-fully-dissipated golden pillar, grasping the unknown 'Divine Weapon' within.
"This is?..." A burst of information suddenly exploded in his mind.
"The name is... 'Queen's Wrath'?" The object in his hand felt soft to the touch.
(End of Chapter)