Cultivating in Honkai!

"Otto did not even hesitate…"

An entire day passed. I did not cultivate. I spent my time cross-referencing techniques. It is for the development of my supernatural seeds. All twelve of them give studying buffs.

Now, I focused on the three complex Daos: Extremity, Causality, and Yin and Yang.

The other part is to develop the [Blade Mantra] to the next level.

All of this was broken when Fu Hua's message came. Otto sent out the Immortal Blade squad to Antarctica.

Hum-!

Somebody appeared right beside me.

I looked at the Tuna. Her face has a reddish hue. It was present even to her arms and legs. She hasn't fully absorbed the dragon steak.

"I was woken up. The formation sent out something."

She looked away and wiped her drool with her hoodie. Her shorts are too short, revealing most of her legs. I looked away and stood up from the orphanage's roof.

Kiana gave me a look after she finished wiping it off.

…

She saw through my embarrassment.

"The thing you said." I spoke.

"Oh! Oh…"

She took out a jade slip from her storage ring. It is the first grade one.

I held it in my hands, with my spiritual consciousness entering it.

"Take care of the trade. Kevin did something to manifest his strength."

It was Grandpa Su's voice.

"He left an ELF with one percent of his power. Taking back and returning the Second Divine Key opened the Sea of Quanta twice. It gave him two chances to grant more power to it. I will send it out at 0800."

The voice was cut off from there. He did not ask me anything… though I know what I need to do—to make sure Schicksal receives the Second Divine Key.

"Can you stay here for a while? I need to do something."

"Yeah. I'm still feeling full…"

Kiana rubbed her hand to her stomach. Digesting the ten pound dragon steak proved to be a hassle. Some of her hair stuck up from her braids. She looks messy.

"Let me fix your hair later."

"Um? No need."

"You don't want it anymore?"

"No! I want it…"

*****

0800 hours.

Schicksal's strongest squad, Immortal Blades, departed from Schicksal's floating headquarters. Simultaneously, a large emission of honkai energy and the Sea of Quanta appeared on Antarctica.

Officially, they are deployed to curb the appearance of honkai beasts and quantum spills.

Confidentially, they are headed to "trade" with someone.

Schicksal's transport jet is extremely fast. The superimposition of Previous Era technology and Otto Apocalypse's five hundred years created a lot of things.

The jet flew far beyond the speed of sound. Nobody fell off balance. Their pilot and co-pilot are valkyries too.

Durandal walked behind the pilot's seat. It is none other than her trusted adjutant, Rita Rossweisse.

"How far are we?"

"Five more minutes, Master Durandal."

She nodded upon hearing it.

Five minutes later, the valkyries are greeted with the sight of endless ice.

Antarctica, the home to thick honkai emissions. Although the entire world was "purified" by the fourth Divine Key on the orbit, the accumulation of a few thousand years gathered thick honkai emission within the frozen continent.

Only those of B Rank Valkyries and above can withstand it.

Just then…

"Adjutant. Five unknown aircrafts refused to identify themselves."

Rita and Durandal looked at each other. They knew what it meant.

"Prepare for battle."

""Yes!""

*****

World Serpent did not give up after the Second Divine Key disappeared. Their Sire had ordered them to act upon it as soon as it reappeared.

Inevitably, the Divine Key's return causes a huge disturbance. It is invisible in the eyes of most people. When it comes to the major honkai organizations, however, it is as bright as a firefly in the dark.

It was bound to draw away their attention; in turn, a melee.

"The Sire's avatar detected the target's presence. Prepare to carry out the mission."

Raven did not say anything else to Gray Serpent. It watched as its bio-mechanical body melted away. She steadily moved towards Cocolia's orphanage.

Gray Serpent made appropriate plans. He intentionally left out Raven on most of it. There is a good reason for doing so.

Rumble-!

Within the Sea of Okhotsk's shore, Gray Serpent's "package" arrived. They caused an unprecedented disaster to the frozen seashore. More than a dozen abominations entered the Siberian land. All of them had the general shape of a common animal—dogs, cats, tigers…

Gray Serpent calmly oversaw it all.

Siberia.

Far East.

Antarctica.

Unbeknownst to all, their Sire's intention could not be any more simple:

To gauge out Anti-Entropy's newfound strength.

With the descent of a foreign god-like being, Kevin paid attention to the bits of information he could intercept. Shi Tian using Anti-Entropy as his base was soon found out.

The only thing left is to scout for information—even if it costs them a Cadre.

Whether he spares the captured Raven or not...

Whether he treats her brutally, tortures her, or simply lets her go...

All of it, just to serve as a preparation, for the World Serpent's descent is not far off.

When that day comes, he will execute humanity's final plan.

As for whether humanity can overcome the final trial Kevin set himself…

It is up to them.

'Siegfried Kaslana… and Theresa Apocalypse. How unexpected…'

The Gray Serpent's eyes flashed, devout to executing his Sire's orders.

*****

"Siegfried! I tried to find you for years..!"

"Come on, Little Teriri…"

"Why are you calling me that?!"

The sight of a fully grown man and an elementary schooler quarreling in front of a company building is a sight to behold. Some people stopped walking to look at it. Some are even ready to call the cops on Siegfried.

"...Where is Kiana?"

"..."

The mention of Siegfried's daughter silenced him.

Theresa wore a huge jacket, mask, and sunglasses.

Siegfried's outfit sported a pair of sunglasses. He cleaned off his beard and stubble and cut his hair short. A pair of contacts changed his eye color to pale gold. He looked like a younger version of himself, but different. he is more than 50% similar to Kevin's look.

Nonetheless, Theresa immediately recognized Siegfried. She eyed him for twenty seconds and decided to confront him. To her surprise, it really turned out to be Siegfried!

She wanted to ask about her niece, but his reaction now betrayed her expectations.

"Let's go inside first."

He took Theresa's hand and pulled her inside the ME Corp building. Unexpectedly, she resisted his pull.

"Where is my niece?"

"We're earning unwanted attention outside."

"Ziggy!"

His apparent dodging of Theresa's question made the latter feel uncomfortable. An ominous feeling came to her mind.

Just then...

Bam-!

Rustle-!

A black cloaked figure fell from the sky. Gray Serpent's knees bent to the sidewalk. His air drop earned much attention from the passerbys.

Both Siegfried and Theresa looked at him. Gray Serpent did nothing to conceal everything. The two became wary at the fact he struck right in the public eyes. The dangerous feeling he emitted was nothing short of a humanoid honkai beast.

"Schicksal and Anti-Entropy. Do your best."

Upon leaving these cryptic words, several canisters fell to the ground.

Swoosh-!

It emitted a special agent targeted to disabling honkai energy. As for ordinary humans, it is a lethal poison in and of itself.

Not long, the first wave of bystanders who inhaled it began coughing. Their body soon collapsed, with bright purple lines appearing on their skin.

"Take the others away! I will deal with him."

Siegfried took out one of the Shamash holstered on his back.

"Go!"

Theresa went out without her battlesuit nor her Divine Key. The help she can provide now is limited.

'This is a blatant terrorist attack..!'

Her eyes darted to the dozens of people around them. There are too many to count, yet all she can do is to start carrying them away from this place.

Rumble-!

Not even ten seconds later, Gray Serpent turned into an insect-like monster with dark blue skin. His size is somewhat small, barely surpassing three humans in height. It showed its incompleteness.

Its sight is horrifying for ordinary humans. Although its appearance was covered by the huge cloud of smoke, some of them witnessed it. They added to the number of unconscious humans present.

Bang-!

It did not react to Siegfried's attack.

Instead…

"Damn it!"

…it began to attack the surrounding humans.

*****

A/N: Gray Serpent turned to Tonatiuh (in-game boss).