In the small, ten-square-meter room, amidst the gradually heating and ambiguous air, Fuli blinked his crimson eyes.
"Cousin, do you mean to say you need to cultivate a technique that requires you to maintain constant, unobstructed contact with my cheek and two-thirds of my skin for the entire night to maximize its effects?"
"Yes."
Fu Hua's expression was a little grim, her heart pounding with anxiety.
Firstly, she had never been so intimate with a male before, and the nervousness of about to lose her 'first time' was unsettling. Secondly, the excuse was just too blatant, easily leading to some... less than proper associations.
What if her cousin really misunderstood and started getting handsy in the dead of night, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and even getting bolder, doing things that were beneficial to the relationship between the sexes?
Since she was the one who brought it up, the girl would be too embarrassed to use Inch Force: Heaven Splitter with zero frames of startup.
Of course, the biggest worry was that he would refuse.
Fu Hua was clearer than anyone about her own... hardware.
Other aspects were fine, but that one place...
If she were to be rejected because of that, Celestial Master Phoenix's face would be completely lost today.
"No problem!" Fuli gave a thumbs-up with a look of pure innocence. "My cousin must have her reasons for doing this. I just need to obey!"
"Contact, right?" The boy stripped off his clothes, threw himself onto the bed, opened his arms, and closed his eyes. "Please don't mind my thoughts, feel free to use me as you wish!"
"Ah, this..."
His unconditional trust made Fuli's affection meter with Fu Hua rise again, but his reaction left her at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.
Considering that skin-to-skin contact was necessary to transmit the signal, the girl bit her lower lip, ran to the bathroom, and shyly took off her pure white sweatshirt and matching joggers.
Her fingertips unconsciously traced the pattern on the edge of her underwear. Taking several deep breaths to steady herself, Fu Hua, now clad in nothing but her undergarments, tiptoed out of the bathroom.
"Ex-excuse me..."
The moonlight spilling through the window was like a blade carved from ice silk, slicing through the clouds to land diagonally on the girl's shoulders.
What a peerless, nation-toppling beauty!
Her raven-black hair cascaded down like ink. A pale green, iris-shaped stigmata, which snaked down to her waistline, trembled with each breath. Satin underwear held back the mountains, and her taut waist and abdomen shimmered with a cool light.
Millennia of martial arts training had sculpted Fu Hua's body to the pinnacle of "beauty." Every inch of her muscle and bone seemed to have been tempered by sword qi into the quality of jade, like an immortal statue carved by divine hands from cold jade. This was not the beauty of the flesh, but the supreme aesthetic unique to a celestial being, refined by the frost and snow of ages.
"Th-then, shall we... begin...?"
Yet it was this very celestial being, who should only be admired from a distance, whose misty, limpid autumn eyes were cast down, avoiding the bed. The tips of her ears bloomed a shy crimson, and the clear sound from her throat hitched as she swallowed. The toes of one foot, which she was fiddling with, unconsciously ground against the grout lines of the floor tiles.
Never mind Dr. MEI on the moon; even the AI Prometheus was completely lost in this ultimate display of contrast.
A moment later, Prometheus's inorganic eyes glanced begrudgingly at Fuli, thinking to herself that it was no wonder Hua was still so fixated on him after only traveling together for a short time in the previous cycle.
Unexpectedly, just as the awakened duo on the moon waited for their host's reaction, the sound of soft breathing completely threw them for a loop.
"Hoo... hoo..."
Fuli was asleep.
Sound asleep, dead to the world. He was hugging a pillow, clamping it between his thighs, his whole body curled up like a shrimp.
This time, it wasn't just Dr. MEI and the others; even Fu Hua, when she realized what was happening, was stunned.
Just moments ago, as she was undressing, the girl had imagined countless possible scenarios, from a platonic, gentlemanly interaction to a full-on R-rated scene with three thousand five hundred words omitted.
But the one thing she hadn't expected was for her cousin to fall fast asleep in the few minutes it took her to change her clothes.
Was he exhausted from the day's events?
Or was he pretending to be asleep, planning to give her a surprise?
After a moment's hesitation, Fu Hua stepped forward on her jade-white legs, moving lightly to the bedside.
She crouched down and carefully studied the boy's sleeping face: the ends of his soft, messy black hair were tinged with green, his jade-white face was youthful, and his delicate, refined features had a hint of enchanting beauty, as if capable of reminding anyone of their first love.
Fu Hua recalled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, a book she had read in the literature club. It said that the people of the Far East revered a kind of beauty called mono no aware.
The girl had never understood the concept, but the aura around Fuli now reminded her of pink petals falling from a cherry blossom tree in full bloom in March, only to land in a puddle and be ground into dust.
[T/N: Mono no aware is a Japanese term for the pathos of things, a gentle sadness about the transience of life.]
「What's wrong? Smitten?」
Dr. MEI's wisecrack startled Fu Hua like a clap of thunder. She instinctively covered her mouth and stumbled backward, the back of her head hitting the edge of the windowsill with a thud.
Ignoring the pain, she quickly looked over. The boy on the bed smacked his lips, turned over, and continued to sleep soundly.
The relieved girl stood up again. At that moment, she had a strong premonition: her little cousin had fallen asleep so quickly and so deeply not because he was tired or trying to pull a prank, but simply because he didn't want to make things awkward for her—his cousin, whom he had just met and was about to be intimate with.
"It's not a good habit to be so unguarded when you're away from home."
Fu Hua extended a slender index finger and, with a hint of fondness, gently tapped the boy's forehead.
Little did she know, it was precisely because she was there that Fuli could sleep so peacefully.
The girl lifted the covers and slipped into bed, hugging Fuli from behind.
The friction of her skin against a member of the opposite sex sparked a strange impulse within her. Fu Hua licked her slightly dry lips, inhaling the minty scent from the boy's body, and asked in her mind:
「This should be good enough, right?」
"But your cheeks aren't touching yet, are they? Oh, well." Dr. MEI shrugged under Prometheus's glare. Their communication still relied on the will of the Honkai miss, as she shouldn't play around too much.
The night wind brushed against Fu Hua's skin. She snapped her eyes open to find the endless landscape of the moon spread before her.
"The space we're in is an illusion simulated by the Key of Consciousness. Your body is still on Earth." The small, twin-tailed AI floated in mid-air.
"We don't know how many of your memories were burned away by that Edge of Taixuan during the Second Honkai War, but since you still react to our voices, it means you've retained at least some memories related to the Previous Era." The beautiful woman in shades of crimson pushed up her glasses.
Prometheus spoke calmly, "It doesn't matter if you don't remember. We will now tell you the parts you should know once more."
"Don't forget it again this time, okay?" Dr. MEI said with a smile. "And one more very important thing."
"Although neither of us is the person you remember, there is something we need to convey to you on their behalf."
"It's been a long time, Hua," they said in unison, smiling. "These past five thousand years... you've worked so hard."
Fu Hua suddenly felt her eyes sting.
She tilted her head up, gazing at the countless stars dotting the boundless night.
"Fenghuang Down is convenient, but it's almost too convenient."
To think it could even simulate something as useless as tears.
Late that night, in another room—
Bronya yawned and mumbled, "Project Bunny, lights out."
She then curled her small body under the covers, paying no mind to Kiana on the other side of the bed, who was still on her phone.
Fortunately, the bright screen had no effect on a Kaslana. The little white-haired fuzzball continued to type with gusto:
「—and that's what happened, sis! We're going to explore the legendary tomb of Genghis Khan!」
A reply came quickly.
Stellar Goose: 「The tip of the iceberg already has the combined strength of a near S-rank. Can you handle it? Do you need me to provide support?」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「No need, no need, my useless old man is hiding in the shadows! Besides, with your identity, coming to Shenzhou would definitely cause a diplomatic incident, right? Schicksal's Strongest Valkyrie trespassing into the Taixu Front's sphere of influence... sounds like a war is about to break out!」
Stellar Goose: 「Don't worry, I will submit an application to the relevant departments.」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「Still no need! We can definitely handle it!」
Stellar Goose: 「Are you worried I'll arrest Mr. Siegfried?」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「Hmph, even you would need another twenty thousand years to catch my useless dad.」
Stellar Goose: 「Then is it because you don't want to expose the fact that you secretly told me, an outsider, the details of the mission?」
Kiana, curled up on the bed, puffed out her cheeks.
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「I only told you because you promised you'd keep it a secret! So mad! I'm not talking to you anymore!」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「And you're not an outsider!」
Stellar Goose: 「I won't tell anyone else ≠ I won't go and help.」
Stellar Goose: 「Alright, just kidding.」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「Sis, you've been corrupted by that mean woman Rita! Ugh, don't talk to me for the rest of the day!」
"Heh."
At Schicksal HQ, Bianka, sitting by a hospital bed, let out a soft chuckle.
"Did you hear that, Rita?" she said in a gentle voice to her friend, who was fast asleep on the bed. "Kiana says you're a bad influence on me."
After several busy days, Rita's stigmata integration surgery had finally concluded.
Overall, it had been a success, though not without its harrowing moments. Several life-threatening situations had been overcome thanks to Ella's superb medical skills and the patient's own strong will to live.
She was still in the hospital now, mainly because she needed a period of rest and recovery.
Thus, Otto had issued an order, reassigning all of Durandal's missions to the Immortal Blades and any available members of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, allowing the girl to stay by Rita's side around the clock.
The sudden downtime made Bianka feel uncomfortable, but she wasn't a masochist who went looking for trouble. She quickly devoted herself to taking care of Rita.
She had been teased quite a bit during this time, which was likely the main reason for Kiana's complaint about her sister being mean.
You live and you learn!
Though, any wisdom learned tended to disappear automatically not long after.
You can't take the "goof" out of the goose, after all!
Stellar Goose: 「By the way, Kiana, are you guys planning to go to the Starward Ceremony in half a month?」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「What's that?」
Stellar Goose: 「A festival held by the Taixu Front. The last one was ten years ago. I heard someone even broke out of prison.」
TunaKittyOfTheMoon: 「That sounds so fun! Are you going, sis?」
Bianka looked down at Rita's peaceful sleeping face and typed:
「I probably won't be able to make it. If you guys go, be sure to share some interesting stories with me.」
"Lady Durandal, the Overseer has summoned you."
"One moment, Alvitr."
After replying to her adjutant at the door, Bianka typed: 「Something came up. Talk to you later.」
「Okay! Bye, sis!」
Kiana, lying on her stomach, put down her phone, her fair little feet swinging happily.
She turned her head and met a pair of eyes with dark circles under them.
"Waaah!"
"Go to sleep."
It was Bronya.
Not everyone had the boundless energy of a Kaslana, able to stay up late after hours of intense battle during the day.
The last light in the room soon vanished, and clouds obscured the crescent moon high above.
When it peeked out again, a middle-aged man with white hair tied in a short ponytail was sitting on the rooftop of the hotel.
"Phew—, I'm stuffed, I'm stuffed!"
Siegfried, having eaten his fill, had a toothpick dangling from his lips and a contented look on his face. He'd had to put on an act in front of the kids that afternoon and had nearly starved to death as a result.
Soon, however, the man's expression turned grave as he looked down at the city lights.
There were two things worrying him:
The first was the matter of the lake monsters.
Among the intelligence Fu Hua had gathered was a piece that said, "The great conqueror Genghis Khan's campaign across Eurasia was thwarted because he was intercepted by a white-haired man wielding a greatsword of fire while advancing into West Asia."
Most people believed this to be a historical fabrication, an exaggerated tale mixed with mythological elements.
But Siegfried knew it was true.
Because the one who had intercepted Genghis Khan back then was the Kaslana family head of that era.
The result of their battle was the death of the family head on the spot after unleashing the Might of An-Utu. The heavily wounded Genghis Khan had aborted his advance and returned to the northern deserts to recover. The following year, due to the betrayal of the Western Xia, he led his army on an expedition despite his grave injuries and ultimately died.
From this, one could see just how powerful the great conqueror had been. The Divine Key with the greatest destructive power spoke for itself, and the family head who wielded it back then was a true S-rank knight, yet he had still fallen.
What was even more shocking was Genghis Khan's incredible vitality. "The wounds inflicted by the Judgement of Shamash can only be healed by the Abyss Flower." While this statement was an oversimplification, it vividly described the deadliness of the weapon.
And the result?
In the autumn of 1225, after a seven-year western campaign, Temujin returned to the northern deserts. The next year, despite being sixty-four years old, he insisted on personally leading a punitive expedition against the treacherous Western Xia. It wasn't until 1227 that he fell critically ill, dictated his last will, and passed away.
He had taken a full-powered blast from the Might of An-Utu, fought with such injuries for two years, and led troops in countless battles during that time.
What was he? A humanoid Gundam?
The second thing that worried Siegfried was the Herrscher of the Void inside Kiana.
"Foolish humans."
Ah, right! That's it, that overlapping voice!
"...?"
Wait, that's not right!
Siegfried's eyes shot open. He drew the Judgement of Shamash that never left his side and aimed the barrel at the source of the voice.
...