The Tree, the Sea, and the World

Kaino had noticed something important.

"Yes, we came from the same world. Having watched you from time to time, I can be completely certain of that."

As Su spoke, he waved his left hand, summoning a screen. A scene of Kaino fleeing by plane with his family and K423 played across it like a video.

"This is the proof."

"..."

I know you want to prove it to me, but did you have to stab me right in the heart like this?

Watching Kiana get shot down on the screen, watching himself vanish while bleeding, and seeing Ziegfried hold K423 with his eyes wide in anguish, Kaino gritted his teeth and forced down his emotions.

Calm down. Calm down first. I need something from him right now. I can't attack him.

The camera in the video followed Kiana closely as she fell with it from several thousand meters in the air, about to hit the ground.

Calm my ass!

Kaino silently drew Judgement of Shamash.

He would beat Su half to death first. He could heal him afterward anyway.

"Calm down. I only want to tell you what happened afterward. I'm not trying to provoke you."

Noticing Kaino's movements, Su hurriedly explained.

The image on the screen changed rapidly. A brown-haired Valkyrie in a maid outfit was clutching the severely injured Kiana as she sprinted frantically toward a Schicksal transport ship.

"Your sister didn't die. She was brought back by Schicksal's Valkyries and raised there. Consider this information my apology for offending you just now."

Kaino stared blankly at the scene on the screen. The news had hit him so hard that he was completely dazed, unable to believe it.

He had always believed Kiana was dead.

"You're not lying to me?"

After hesitating for a moment, Kaino put away Judgement of Shamash and cautiously sought confirmation from Su.

"Kiana fell from several thousand meters in the air without any protection, and she was only nine years old at the time."

"That's why I said your family was remarkable to begin with."

Su spoke helplessly.

He naturally understood Kaino's disbelief. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he probably would not have believed it either.

You have to know, plenty of Fusion Warriors couldn't accomplish something like that.

Kaino broke into a foolish grin.

"That's wonderful."

"Of course, even if you return and go straight to find her, she won't recognize you. That disaster did affect her. She lost all of her past memories. And Schicksal's Archbishop concealed the news of your sister's survival from the world, giving her a new name and a new life."

Su gave Kaino a warning in advance, lest Kaino find his sister only to be dumbfounded when she failed to recognize him.

"...No, it's fine. As long as she's alive, that's enough."

Kaino shook his head and let out a breath, his whole body relaxing.

It was regrettable that Kiana had lost her memories, but she was alive. That was enough.

"Thank you. I apologize for my previous rudeness."

Kaino gave Su a deep bow. Even Cheng Lingshuang, his nominal master, had never received such a grand gesture from him.

But he understood that neither granting him the power to stabilize a World Bubble nor telling him about his sister brought Su any tangible benefit.

All of this had simply been an act of kindness.

Someone like that naturally deserved his gratitude.

"There's no need to thank me. Though it isn't our own world, aside from a very few people, anyone would be willing to lend a hand if they could save a world from destruction."

Su smiled and shook his head, helping Kaino up while raising his right hand before him.

A leaf glowing with faint green fluorescence floated above his palm.

Kaino looked puzzled. "What is this?"

"This is the purpose of your journey here."

Su gave a light wave of his hand. The leaf instantly shattered, turning into streams of light that flowed into Kaino's body.

Kaino did not resist the power and allowed it to circulate through him.

What puzzled him was that his body did not seem to have changed at all.

"I don't feel anything?"

"It's normal not to feel anything. It won't take effect until you invert that World Bubble into your body."

Su's words nearly made Kaino jump.

"Invert a World Bubble?"

"They didn't explain it to you? Then ask them after you return."

Su shrugged and smiled somewhat casually.

"Don't worry. My power will remain in your body for roughly a week. But you need to hurry as well. Kevin from your world can hold on for three days at most. Oh, right. These are the coordinates of our world."

A complex pattern appeared on the screen beside Su.

"I understand. Thank you."

Kaino drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly.

"Then... can you tell me Kiana's current name?"

"Bianca. Bianca Ataegina. Don't worry about her safety. She's far more outstanding now than you can imagine."

"Mm."

Kaino nodded, activated his Authority, and left the place.

As Kaino vanished, Su's smile slowly faded as well. He sighed softly and continued walking toward the pool.

His steps were neither hurried nor slow, but his mood was far less calm.

"Kevin."

Staring at the shallow, empty pool, Su's voice was wistful yet relieved.

"I met him."

The Tree, the Sea, and the World

Unlike his trip to Sumeru Mustard Seed, Kaino's return to Mount Tai Xu went smoothly. Almost the instant his Authority activated, he arrived at Mount Tai Xu.

...Just how powerful was that defensive device Su had set up?

He should have analyzed it before coming back.

"How did it go?"

Seeing Kaino return, Fu Hua hurriedly rose to her feet and asked. She had been sitting beside the Book of Cang Xuan and chatting with it.

"Everything went smoothly. Maybe it's because you people from the Previous Era are all easy to talk to? In any case, Su was a good and friendly person."

Kaino glanced at the sun, which was nearly setting, then turned toward the Book of Cang Xuan.

"What time is it now? How much time has passed since I left?"

It had not felt like very long to him, but who could say when it came to crossing worlds?

What if he had been talking with those two here for a while, only to find that three days had actually passed? Then he—

The Book of Cang Xuan floated over while sitting atop its scroll.

"Half a shichen. My electronic clock is accurate. It won't be off by even a second."

"Since you're back, we shouldn't delay any longer. Let's begin immediately—"

"Wait."

Kaino raised a hand, cutting off the Book of Cang Xuan.

"Su told me we still have three days, so there's no need to rush for now. Before we begin, shouldn't you explain some things to me first?"

"Such as what exactly you mean when you say the world is about to be destroyed, why I, someone who can connect to Imaginary Space and draw Honkai energy, can help you, and..."

Kaino stared into the Book of Cang Xuan's eyes, his speech gradually slowing.

"What does inverting a World Bubble mean?"

He had wanted to ask these questions for a long time.

Fu Hua had forgotten the details concerning this matter, so Kaino had never been able to get answers.

After awakening the Book of Cang Xuan, he had been worried the world might be destroyed at any moment, so he had no choice but to rush off and find Su.

But now that he knew they still had some time, he naturally wanted to understand everything.

"It's not that I don't trust you, but honestly, this world doesn't look any different from other worlds to me. People can still run, birds can still fly, and the sun still shines... According to Fu Hua, even Herrschers won't be born here. I can't see where the danger is."

"So I hope you can explain why this world is going to be destroyed, whether there's a way to prevent it, and what this inversion of a World Bubble is about—just explain it in a way I can understand."

Kaino crossed his arms, his right index finger repeatedly tapping his arm as he waited for the Book of Cang Xuan's answer.

The Second Herrscher had awakened long ago, and his sister was still at Schicksal. If his own world were to end up in such a state, he could not be certain whether his sister would spend fifty thousand years soaking in the so-called Quantum Sea like Kevin of this world.

And if such a crisis truly could not be prevented, he needed to know how to solve it from the very beginning. At the very least, this time, now that he had the ability, he would not let Kiana... Bianca face danger again.

After all, she had been so naive and full of justice as a child. If Otto from Schicksal sweet-talked her a little, she definitely would not be able to resist.

The Book of Cang Xuan, seated on its scroll, held its head in both hands and bobbed up and down, looking deeply troubled.

"Explain it in a way you can understand... You're not a researcher. How am I supposed to explain all those theories to you?"

Kaino's face remained expressionless.

Inside, however, he was already flipping tables in outrage.

Was it his fault that he had little education?

"Ahem. Since you say there's still plenty of time, I'll explain it properly—though the more common explanation is the Tree-Sea Theory, I'll use fish as an example for you."

The Book of Cang Xuan snapped its fingers.

"Think of the Quantum Sea as an ocean, and worlds as fish within that sea."

"Fish still connected to the Imaginary Tree are like farmed fish, while worlds that have fallen from the Imaginary Tree are like fish that have lost their source of food. If they cannot sustain themselves, death is their only path."

"A dead world is like a fish carcass in the sea, with all of its past experiences laid bare. Such worlds become fragmented and can only replay scenes that have already happened over and over again—there may even be plenty of bugs within them. In the end, they are either devoured by other fish or worn away by the sea."

"Why does that happen?"

Kaino frowned, deeply puzzled.

"If you said that everything would be destroyed after a world dies, I could understand that. But replaying things that have already happened over and over... If it has lost its source of nourishment, where does the energy come from?"

"That's why I said it's only a metaphor. The operation of a world itself consumes almost no energy. What consumes energy is maintaining the functioning of the rules within the world."

The Book of Cang Xuan spread its hands and sighed softly.

"You can use Herrscher Authority, right? Then you should know that Herrscher Authority is essentially control over certain rules. That power should originally be granted to Herrschers by the Imaginary Tree. It's really strange that you can obtain it through a Stigmata."

"Just as the Imaginary Tree grants Herrschers the ability to control rules, it also grants the worlds hanging from it the basic operation of their rules—such as apples falling downward, water flowing downhill, and periodic Honkai eruptions. These are all rules bestowed upon worlds by the Imaginary Tree."

"As civilization develops within a world, Honkai erupts in the region belonging to that civilization. If it cannot pass the trial successfully, that region will fall from the tree and become a World Bubble."

"After the connection between the tree and the world is severed, those rules do not disappear. Instead, they become a world's anchor and continue operating, but the energy required to sustain them must be paid by the world itself."

"But a world is essentially just an empty shell. What can it possibly pay with? It can do nothing. And our World Bubble encompasses the entire solar system. It's too massive and consumes too much energy, so we can only rely on the inhabitants of the world to find ways to feed it."

"Diving into the Quantum Sea to supply energy to the anchor, gathering dead worlds and feeding them to our own world—this is what those warriors led by Kevin have been doing in the Quantum Sea."

"Of course, even Fusion Warriors suffer irreversible damage to their bodies after soaking in the Quantum Sea for too long. By now, Kevin is the only one left. If Kevin dies as well, then we're truly finished."

Kaino nodded in understanding, but another question surfaced in his mind.

"Then according to what you said, why don't you just leave this world?"

"What are you thinking? Do you think everyone can connect to a Stigmata and the Imaginary Tree like you can?"

The Book of Cang Xuan rolled its eyes fiercely.