"Huh?" Kiana took the pen, letting out a puzzled sound.
Shu just smiled at Kiana, then let out a long sigh, turning around with a sense of relief, as if having put down a heavy burden.
The moment he turned, Shu removed his glasses with one hand, his white trench coat swirling as he moved. That silent flame abruptly flared within the room.
Shu's expression instantly shifted from gentle warmth to unquestionable seriousness.
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
With a wave of Shu's hand, a faint, iridescent light materialized on his body, instantly drying the residual moisture on him.
The three replica Xuanyuan Swords leaning against the corner, silent for so long, finally answered his call, hovering around him.
Simultaneously, Kiana and the others noticed the same iridescent glow appearing on their own bodies.
These were all the protective measures Shu had applied to himself upon entering the mist. Now, he directly drained one-tenth of his [Hope] reserves to bestow the exact same protection upon the three girls.
This one-tenth of [Hope] was stored separately within each of them. Even if Shu severed the [Wish] connection, this pre-stored [Hope] could maintain the protection for a very long time.
"Shu, are there enemies?" Mei asked alertly, noticing Shu's sudden shift to seriousness.
"It's the Herrscher." Three simple words instantly put the girls on maximum alert.
"Herrscher?" Bronya exclaimed. "What authority? Where is the main body? Manifestation form..."
"Do not touch any water source, including puddles on the ground or mist in the air..." Shu answered rapidly. At the same time, his probing [Wish] had already spread throughout the entire village.
This time, he wasn't searching for Honkai energy or the composition of matter. Those wouldn't be wrong, couldn't be wrong, because within the [Memory], they were normal. Shu wouldn't find any loopholes there.
But he had become familiar with [Memory] itself. Having spent so long in that space, he had "memorized" the way those memories existed.
When you have nothing else, it's hard not to become familiar with what you encounter.
That was why he could ultimately trigger his own memory fragment.
Indeed, after switching to this extremely specific perspective, the world Shu perceived through his probing changed entirely.
What "Pure White Land," isolated from the world, untouched by the Honkai?
There was only an empty village with nothing in it!
And those seemingly living people were just continuously replaying [Memory Memes], constantly interacting with houses, tools, and other objects imbued with [Memory Memes].
So that's how it is... there isn't a single living person here.
In that case, there's nothing to hold back!
"Get behind me."
A sharp glint flashed in Shu's eyes. He turned and instructed the three girls, who were hastily putting on their gear, then raised his hand towards the main door in front of them.
Kiana was only halfway through putting on her leg armor. Hearing Shu's words, she didn't think twice and hopped behind Shu along with Mei and Bronya.
"What are you going to do?" Kiana asked, curious and astonished, staring at the three swords floating around Shu. She resisted the urge to touch them while fastening the last few pieces of her armor.
Is this his battlesuit ability? But I don't see him wearing any armor?
Could it be... my Captain is actually an immortal? Like those from Shenzhou mythology?!
No wonder he could be my Captain!
Shu reached out and grasped one of the swords floating past him, holding it horizontally before him, one hand on the hilt, the other against the base of the blade.
"The game of hide-and-seek is over," Shu replied, his fingers sliding sharply along the blade's base. "I don't have time to play games with [Him]."
A burst of intense flame ignited spontaneously on the sword. In this extremely humid environment, the fire flared dramatically, instantly engulfing the entire blade.
Crimson flames swirled around the sword body. Soon, the sword was clad in a thick fiery shell, transforming into a blazing greatsword.
Kiana hadn't yet processed what Shu meant by his words; she was simply stunned again by his reality-defying technique.
Coach! I want to learn that!!
Beside her, Bronya and Mei, seeing the somewhat familiar flaming greatsword in Shu's hand, suddenly realized what he was about to do.
That sword... wasn't that the Might of An-Utu?! [Note: While visually similar, it's actually Shu's power manifesting, not the actual Divine Key.]
Looking at Shu's poised stance, his face a mixture of impatience and some unknown personal grudge, wasn't it obvious what he intended?
"Kiana!" Mei quickly helped the stunned Kiana fasten her last piece of armor, activated it, and then pulled Kiana and Bronya to huddle tightly behind Shu.
There had to be a reason Shu told them to hide behind him!
The intense heat banished the morning chill. Shu's grip on the flaming greatsword gradually tightened.
"Might of An—"
Mei and Bronya had already wisely covered their ears and closed their eyes. They had no desire to observe a miniature nuclear explosion at close range.
Only Kiana's eyes were wide with excitement, determined to burn the image of Shu's incredibly powerful-looking stance into her memory.
"Utu—"
Suddenly, the ground beneath them vanished. The floor they stood on disappeared instantly, revealing a bottomless pit threatening to swallow them whole.
[He] was terrified!
The surging energy from the Might of An-Utu struck fear deep into [His] core!!
The abrupt feeling of weightlessness made Kiana cry out, quickly grabbing onto the two beside her as they plummeted downwards.
Almost the instant she grabbed them, she felt a tightening around her waist. Looking down, a golden chain had shot out from Shu's free hand, wrapping around her, securely tethering the three of them to his side.
Shu's other hand, seemingly completely unaffected, swung the sword with full force at the encroaching, sky-filling white mist.
"—SHEATHED!!"
Like a sun suddenly appearing in the dead of night, an abrupt, blindingly intense light replaced the surrounding whiteness, annihilating everything with infinite heat and brilliance!!
Kiana's wide-open eyes snapped shut instantly, two streams of pained tears flowing freely.
In that moment, Kiana finally understood why the other two had kept their ears covered and eyes shut from the very beginning, even through all the commotion.
Her eyes were burning ahhhhhh!!!