Uwah, Baby Bird is super angry!
Watching Robin's slender back leaving resolutely, Fuli, relieved that he didn't need to act personally, let out a sigh of relief.
Being able to maintain rationality and choose the safest method even when consumed by anger—this trait is something some possess naturally, while others learn through tempered experience.
In Fuli's view—well, he didn't know if Robin belonged to the former or the latter.
But no matter what, he owed her a favor.
This wasn't the sparsely populated Sky Frontier; this was the demonic capital, Sapphire, one of the four municipalities of Shenzhou, an international metropolis second only to Yingtian Prefecture.
Once Fuli unleashed his full power here, the resulting Honkai energy fluctuations would definitely alert the Taixu Front.
At that time, Situ Qinghong and her gang would enthusiastically "invite" him back to Yingtian Prefecture to live a shameless, happy life with Cousin Hua.
The Celestial of Mount Taixu is the Heavenly Consort. The Heavenly Consort must be with the Heavenly Emperor, give birth to ten suns first, then twelve moons.
Thinking about it is actually a little exciting.
Cough, back to the main topic.
Robin clenched her fists tightly, striding towards the enemy. The pristine white sneakers she specifically changed into before coming stepped into the puddles on the concrete, splashing muddy water.
Invisible musical notes solidified around her, acting like a transparent barrier isolating the cold rain and air, remaining even as she stood between the fake Makoto and Ei.
"Oh my, oh my, finally couldn't hold back from stepping in? Miss Dazzling Superstar..."
Seemingly aware of this scene beforehand, a naive and innocent curve rose on Inazuma Makoto's lips.
"Ouch! Look at that glare! Even if I just reported you and the young man to the police uncle for daytime lewdness in the car, you don't need to be so angry, right?"
She spread her hands harmlessly. "Look, I didn't expose that you two have been following my stupid sister. I even let you watch the touching scene of the sisterly reunion in its entirety, didn't I? Not thanking me is one thing, but why look like you want to eat me alive?"
"Shut up! You villain profaning the dead!"
Not even greeting the imposter's mother (insulting her), Baby Bird was just too well-bred; even her cursing was so itch-less.
"And stop swindling people with that face. Show your true form!"
The silver long-stemmed microphone in her hand suddenly lit up. The secret ritual of phantom sound turned into waves that dispelled demons and ghosts, brushing over Inazuma Makoto's body. Like washing with clear water, it cleansed away that layer of false skin.
Black hair reaching her waist like a waterfall was tied into playful twin tails. A flawless, fair face wore a joyful smile. A petite and delicate figure, absolutely no taller than 1.5 meters, with fair and tender legs that looked like they could pinch out water.
Wearing a classic cherry blossom pattern Japanese yukata, barefoot in high geta clogs, with small bells on her ankles making clear sounds. No matter how you looked at it, she was a naive, pitiable, and pure little girl who aroused protective instincts (and beastly desires).
Robin was not deceived by the other party's harmless appearance. Her gaze locked onto the half-white, half-red fox mask with a faint smile on the side of her face.
Her tone was slightly cold: "Floridian."
"Ding ding! Correct answer..."
The girl bowed and raised her arms, performing an exaggerated curtsy in the pouring rain. "My name is Sparkle~ Nice to meet you, please take care of me, bad-tempered Chicken Wing Girl..."
Her voice was sweet and cloying, but carried a bone-chilling malice.
Floridian?
Fuli, observing from a distance, had a thought.
Floridians, fully known as "Florida doesn't raise idle people," essentially mocked the residents of Florida, USA, for being huge trouble-makers. For example, a man breaking into a house just to shave a cat into a Mediterranean hairstyle; someone smearing peanut butter on their hands to attack an unlucky neighbor allergic to nuts; a woman stuffing a Christmas tree into her dao (vagina?) trying to take it from a store, etc.
But unbeknownst to when, such a group actually popped up on the Honkai side.
Relying on various unique abilities, these maverick "Elation" followers created chaos and caused trouble everywhere as they pleased. Moreover, most of the time they managed to escape scot-free, landing on the blacklists of major organizations in no time.
After all, you can't reason with a madman, nor can you predict if a group of madmen will blow up a bubble universe just because their morning coffee was too hot.
And the symbol of the Floridians—or rather, the Masked Fools faction among them—was the mask.
The moment she confirmed Sparkle's identity, Robin realized there was no need to communicate further.
"Silence, resonate!"
A command containing powerful mental impact suddenly erupted with her clear shout!
This was a Mantra. Pre-setting one or several words, when the caster speaks this word, it delivers a shock based on the difference in mental strength between the user and the target. The shock time could range from an instant to most of a day.
"Hoya!"
Sparkle's mental strength was obviously extremely strong, or she carried rare items to resist control.
Even so, the moment of being hard-controlled was enough for Robin to take her to another open space far from the cemetery as a battlefield.
Leaving Ei sitting lost in the muddy water, as if drained of all strength, staring blankly at her sister's tombstone.
"Looks like there's no need to dig anymore."
Fuli's voice sounded in her ear.
He bent down to pick up the dropped shovel and opened a large umbrella to shield her from the cold rain.
Seeing that Ei still didn't react, he reached out and gently lifted her up. While patting the mud off her, he said, "Of course, you can continue digging if you want, but personally, I think it's better not to disturb the peace of the dead casually."
Two consecutive acts of kindness finally allowed the introverted girl to regain a shred of rationality from the huge shock.
She bit her lower lip, still silent, but her body trembled slightly.
Ei didn't speak, but Fuli had something to say.
"When did you awaken? The Chrysos Heirs."
Chrysos Heirs, god-children walking among humans.
Possessing traits corresponding to a certain deity in mythology, golden divine blood flowing in their bodies, capable of wielding divine power like a true godhead.
Compared to Tribbie, who had long completed the great feat of god-slaying and thoroughly usurped the Janus divine authority fire seed, the newly awakened Ei was undoubtedly very weak.
Even so, the pet dog influenced by her could still detect Fuli in his Presence Concealment state.
Considering this, there was a high probability that the deity corresponding to the girl was among the top tier, possibly a supreme main god or king of a pantheon in mythology.
And most crucially, from Sparkle's malicious words just now, it could be known that her sister was also a newly awakened Chrysos Heirs.
Yet she was drained of her golden blood by Sparkle and died on a rainy night just like this one.
—Wait! That's not right!
A flash of inspiration struck Fuli's mind, keenly capturing a sense of incongruity.
If Sparkle really killed Makoto, why would she go to such great lengths to disguise herself as the victim and walk around, instead of conveniently disposing of Ei, the sister who also awakened the Golden Blood?
Because it's interesting?
Killing the whole family but specifically leaving a child behind to play a cheerful game of raising an avenger?
Taking it a step further, actively disguising as an oblivious passerby to raise the child, watching the other party rely on her more and more in the process, and then revealing the truth on her eighteenth birthday to admire her incredibly twisted expression?
Okay, from a Floridian's perspective, that is indeed quite interesting.
But the problem is, while these Elation followers are crazy, there is an unwritten rule within their organization: they will never repeat a trick someone else has already played.
Is eating someone else's leftovers interesting? True believers of Elation disdain doing such rotten things!
And how should I put it?
The remarks of that little brat named Sparkle just now were indeed hateful enough to make one's teeth itch, using every mockery possible, fearing she wouldn't draw enough aggro.
However, from beginning to end, she never claimed that she was the one who killed Inazuma Makoto.
This is a typical narrative trick, using a performance full of madness to mobilize the audience's emotions, thereby blurring the boundary between reality and illusion.
The result was indeed successful. Robin, who possessed super high fame on both the reality and Honkai sides, was directly lured away, leaving behind Fuli, who appeared harmless after disguise, and Inazuma Ei in place.
Looking at it this way—
Buzz!
The Plasma Kagehide at his waist emitted a low hum. Fuli immediately grasped the hilt.
Setsuna Blade · Cold River Reflecting the Moon!
Mental power spread rapidly from him like an invisible tide. A precise 3D map was constructed in his mind.
All energy, spirit, and soul fluctuations within a radius of several hundred meters were like stones thrown into water, stirring up clear ripples.
"Ugh!"
Almost simultaneously, Ei, who had just barely calmed down, changed her expression drastically. A cold and malice-filled resonance originating from deep within her bloodline made her shudder all over.
"He... he's coming! He's here! He's here!"
Clutching her ample chest tightly with her newly cleaned small hands, feeling the dark fluctuations identical to her memories, the girl gritted her teeth and looked towards the ten o'clock direction, her voice changing tune due to fear.
"I know."
Fuli's voice was unusually calm, his gaze piercing like a blade into the depths of the tombstone-filled cemetery.
On the 3D perception map constructed by Cold River Reflecting the Moon, a soul fluctuation emitting an aura of decay and malice was spreading like ink dropped into clear water.
Under the pouring rain curtain, at the end of the tombstone group, a tall figure wearing a wide bamboo hat stood quietly.
The hat was pulled very low, shadows covering most of his face, only revealing a rugged male jawline.
A pair of eyes, however, were dyed pitch black, leaving only two crimson points of light bypassing Fuli, greedily locking onto the girl hiding behind him, like a wolf pack about to start a hunt.
"Oh, oh, oh, I wondered who it was. Isn't this the famous Lord Beelzebub?"
Perception locking onto the tall figure under the hat, Fuli slowly drew his long blade.
The moment the sharp blade was unsheathed, the surrounding rain seemed frozen by invisible cold air.
They know each other?
Ei was stunned. Clutching her violently beating heart, she instinctively wanted to move away from Fuli.
Her small hand was suddenly grabbed by him, with an unquestionable protective meaning, to prevent her from being too far away and meeting with an accident.
"Relax. If I have to name people I hate enough to grind my teeth, the Dominator and those son-of-a-bitch offspring come first; next is this piece of trash in front of me."
When meeting Kallen for the first time in the virtual space, Fuli recognized at a glance that she was suffering from the Blood Boil Curse.
This curse would brand a full 108 kinds of torture deep into the victim's soul, making the blessed one taste every kind clearly starting from the mildest torture.
During this process, the curse would endow the victim with powerful self-healing abilities, ensuring they would never truly die before experiencing the final judgment.
It was mentioned then that the reason Fuli could recognize it was precisely because in the Previous Loop, he had also been hit by this despairing curse that made one unable to live or die.
It was only thanks to Rita killing the caster in advance that he was pulled back from the line of death—and incidentally locked in the basement to be played with fiercely, which could be counted as unforgettable in another sense.
And the person who cursed Fuli was precisely this tall bamboo hat man in front of him, who looked like no good news—the Chrysos Heirs corresponding to Baal, the first of the 72 demons of Solomon.
"Lord of the Flies" (Beelzebub) was one of the nicknames of the other party on the Honkai side in the previous loop. As for his true name, Fuli didn't want to remember, nor did he bother to.
In the previous loop, this guy was only one god-slaying away from completing the final sublimation, and his strength was top-tier even among Critical-grades.
It's just a pity he ran into Rita.
The maid in 2017 was undoubtedly an S-rank, and with the enhancement of the Argent Knight: Artemis, dealing with him was naturally a piece of cake.
But now, shortly after usurping the Golden Blood in Inazuma Makoto's body, that was another matter.
Yes, usurping.
Combining past intelligence, the context of this event was basically presented in Fuli's mind:
More than ten days ago, the Inazuma sisters awakened as Chrysos Heirs driven by some factor;
This bastard Beelzebub followed closely like a hyena smelling blood. First, he killed one of them and usurped the Golden Blood in her body through some shady means, transforming himself into the Chrysos Heirs corresponding to the Demon God Baal;
As for why he didn't kill the other one, perhaps the stimulated Ei erupted with powerful strength to force him back;
During this period, Sparkle appeared. This female brat Masked Fool, for some unknown purpose, disguised herself as the deceased Makoto and moved around;
Ei was astonished by her sister's resurrection, but knew nothing about the Honkai side and her own changes. Coupled with her introverted personality, she could only stay put in huge fear and confusion;
Beelzebub, having finished absorption, naturally wanted to kill Ei to obtain complete power, but was wary of Sparkle, this mysterious and unfathomable existence. So he lurked in the dark to observe, waiting for an opportunity.
According to the development of the previous loop, without external intervention, he undoubtedly succeeded in the end.
Fuli had previously used the Clockwork Trick to test Sparkle, and the feedback was that the Emo-Dial could be started normally. This showed that the female brat's hard power was below his. Once Beelzebub figured out the details, what would happen next was self-evident.
However, this time.
"Do you want to use my hand to get rid of him? That Masked Fool named Sparkle."
Deliberately using an exaggerated performance to anger Robin and lure her away from the battlefield, leaving the seemingly harmless self and the mentally collapsed Ei.
This was equivalent to placing a defenseless feast in front of Beelzebub. Seizing the opportunity, he would inevitably show himself.
"Although it's quite annoying to be used."
Fuli slowly raised the Plasma Kagehide in his hand. The humming blade drew a cold light in the rain curtain, pointing straight at the tall figure wearing the bamboo hat.
"But, I'll do it."
I'm going to use the Rebirth Advantage to ruthlessly explode and kill you, you smelly idiot who just got power not long ago and hasn't made a name for yourself on the Honkai side yet!
Just... how should I put it?
Director Hu Tao's follow is indeed toxic. When I get back, I'll make Kiana cancel that broken VTuber account!
Glancing at Ei who lost her sister out of the corner of his eye, Fuli thought.
Truly hard to hold back laughter. If I hadn't come, this plot development would really be "Second Tombstone Half Price".