Arriving at Amatoiwa / Returning to Izumo

"Get ready, we're heading back."

"We don't need to worry about Raiden Mei. Even if she's missing, the people who encountered her should be the ones to worry."

That guy's strength is getting more and more terrifying.

Sirin hadn't seen Raiden Mei draw her sword in a long time, but her intuition told her that Raiden Mei's strength had reached another level.

All of this is for the purpose of returning to Izumo.

... Whether it was her imagination or not, Izumo seemed to have a real consciousness, extremely xenophobic, as if a powerful repulsive force was at work, preventing anyone who wanted to set foot in Izumo.

Raiden Mei, who has been keeping watch near Izumo, must have noticed this too, right?

Conscious planets...

Forcibly landing on the planet's surface without damaging it would be an extremely difficult and thankless task.

"I think Herta Space Station sent us a message, inviting us to come over and discuss cooperation, right?"

"Yes, I've looked into it. That Ms. Herta has a hobby of collecting rare artifacts, and she might be interested in the ones we have. They're also very interested in the specialties of Tenhutou Rock, saying they have great research value. There's also information that the Ms. Herta is researching the Aeon, and the Herta Space Station might want some data or intelligence about IX that we have."

"Herta... I remember she's a member of the Genius Club? It wouldn't be bad for us to meet her. Let's set our next destination as the space station."

~~~~~

20

Chapter Twenty: Arrival at Tenhutou Rock.

Kiana was unaware that her old friend was now planning to leave Tenhutou Rock.

She's still on Kasli -VIII, looking shocked and bewildered early in the morning.

"What? You want to come with me?"

Standing in front of Kiana, the Nightingale nodded earnestly and stated his plans. "I'm not joking, I want to travel with you for a while."

After learning yesterday that the company was going to take full control of everything on this planet, the Nightingale and she decided not to stay any longer and returned to the port city on this planet that was connected to interstellar space.

It's also where the Nightingale held its concert.

Kiana, who had stayed in a hotel and slept soundly all night, was woken up early in the morning by a knock on the door, and then heard a request that she found somewhat unbelievable.

After experiencing all this in Kasli -VIII, the Nightingale decided to leave the planet.

Kiana understands this.

But Kiana couldn't understand why she wanted to go to Tenhutou Rock with her.

Why, why?

Kiana stared at the Nightingale in disbelief, utterly bewildered as to why the Nightingale would go to Tenhutou Rock with her.

It's mostly deserted now; there's nowhere left to help.

The place I'm going to is related to nothingness, and anything associated with nothingness is not harmless.

"He probably just wanted to clear his head."

The Nightingale smiled helplessly. She knew her behavior was somewhat abrupt, but she was truly unable to calm down.

In less than half a month, she heard and saw news here that seemed to be about an unknown Aeon, as well as the company's methods and everything she had encountered.

The heart palpitation of almost dying is not so easily soothed; she currently feels insecure and has many unanswered questions.

But I can't tell my brother these things.

She didn't want her brother to know about it and worry about her. She was perfectly fine and nothing had happened to her, but if her brother knew that he had been hit by a stray bullet, he would be terrified and might even ask her to temporarily stop all her risky activities.

The Nightingale understood her brother, but also knew that since everything was fine now, she absolutely couldn't let him know the news.

She wanted to go out for a walk to clear her head.

I feel that going out for a walk will help resolve the knots in my heart.

Yesterday, Kiana talked about the world called Izumo, the Nightingale became curious about Tenhutou Rock, Izumo, and Takama-ga-hara, which she mentioned.

"To relax?"

Kiana paused, then advised, "If you just want to relax, I think other places are fine too, like..."

"Please, Kiana."

The Nightingale took her hand, its eyes pleading, "Please say yes."

"But the place I'm going to is very dangerous."

Kiana looked troubled. She didn't hesitate about other things, but she herself didn't know what the situation was like in Izumo.

And she was going to find someone.

I don't know how long I'll be staying there.

Shouldn't the Nightingale be a very busy person? Her schedule must be very tight, right?

"Please, please, I'll be very careful and won't hold you back."

"Don't be like that. It's not a problem, it's just that the environment there is really harsh. And don't you have any plans? I'm going to Tenhutou Rock to find someone, and I might have to stay there for a long time."

"I've thought all of this through."

The Nightingale said, "I came here to find you after I had thought it through."

Now that things have come to this point...

Kiana looked at the Nightingale with a hesitant expression, then finally closed her mouth and nodded.

If you're willing to go together, then go together.

It's good to have someone to talk to on the way.

And so, the Nightingale sent a letter after Sunday and left Kasli with her, traveling together temporarily.

More than a month later, they finally arrived at a star system called Tenhutou Rock.

"It seems we've arrived, but there's no detailed information about this star system on the map, and you don't remember where Izumo is. It looks like we'll have to use the most primitive methods to find it slowly."

The two bought a spaceship from the company and flew it to this star system.

It turned out that it was more convenient to pilot their own spaceship; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to continue their journey after arriving here.

The scenery of this galaxy was similar to what she had imagined; it was something she had never seen before.

"I know the way."

Upon arriving in the Tenhutou Rock star system, Kiana vaguely sensed a familiar feeling, and the only thing that could make her feel this familiarity from such a distance was likely the Honkai.

"Do you know Fang Yixiang?"

The Nightingale exclaimed happily, "Then we just need to follow this direction to find the Izumo you mentioned!"

"Yes, as long as we follow this direction, we'll find Izumo. It's not a short distance; it might take two or three days by boat."

More importantly, it is getting closer and closer to nothingness.

However, after more than a month, Kiana knew that the Nightingale made up her mind, she wouldn't easily change it, so she didn't mention anything about danger.

Because it will only cause more unhappiness.

"Two or three days... So we can find the friend you want to see in just two or three days?"

The Nightingale asked, "Kiana, what do you plan to do after you find your friends?"

"After?"

Kiana was slightly taken aback.

We hadn't discussed this topic before, and Kiana hadn't thought about it before finding the person.

After all, she didn't know how much time had passed, and she wasn't sure if she could find the person she was looking for here.

After...

Izumo is gone. What should we do now?

Kiana touched her wrist. First and foremost, she couldn't break her promise; she had promised ARuan that she would continue researching Honkai with her.

But after finding Mei, should we take Mei with us to find ARuan?

She knew Mei cared about her a lot. If she saw ARuan using her for experiments, wouldn't Mei immediately draw her sword?

Probably not.

She's not that impulsive.

Now that Mei has been found, will she continue to stay by ARuan's side?

Kiana found the thought of Mei Ruan Mei together somewhat absurd.

Although she knew it was impossible, the situation felt too much like a chaotic battlefield, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"You haven't thought about it, have you?"

The Nightingale was surprised by her reaction.

"Yes, of course I've thought about that."

Kiana stubbornly insisted, but for some reason, the Stellaris Train to mind again, though she dismissed it the moment it appeared.

If she had just transmigrated, she would really like to get on the train and Trailblaze with the Astral Express Crew.

But what is her current situation?

The Astral Express Crew is there to solve problems and resolve star core issues. If she were to travel from world to world with the Astral Express Crew, the Honkai would probably spread wherever they went.

Moreover, space travel doesn't necessarily require boarding Stellaris Train.

"After finding Mei, I should try to restore the environment of Izumo."

After much deliberation, Kiana spoke her mind.

Twenty one

Chapter Twenty-One: Return to Izumo.

She is also very curious about Izumo's situation; her Remembrance of Izumo are still from after she Herrscherization.

The system seemed to have a new notification at that time, but unfortunately, she couldn't concentrate on it.

This system also lacks a logging function.

It has become a world completely assimilated by the Honkai.

What will be different?

In addition, there are fragmented Remembrance of her vague departure from Izumo when she awoke. At that time, influenced by the power of nothingness, she did not have much consciousness and relied entirely on instinct.

"What a brilliant idea!"

Kiana hesitated, then shook her head with a wry smile, thinking to herself that this was, after all, the mess she had left behind.

Izumo is not somewhere else.

It was where she first arrived in this world. People always have a special feeling for being number one, Kiana was no exception.

Moreover, even she had regrets; what about Raiden Mei, a native of Izumo, and others who might still be survivors?

The tedious voyage continued for another three days.

The further they drove in the direction Kiana indicated, the more oppressive the surrounding environment became; a Black Sun was now visible to the naked eye.

There are also two special planets.

One is Takama-ga-hara, and the other is Izumo.

Relying on her senses of Honkai, Kiana successfully returned here and found Izumo and Takama-ga-hara in the vast Star Sea.

Upon arriving at their destination, Kiana's heart sank completely. They hadn't encountered a single person in the three days they had traveled, nor had she sensed anyone else who had been tainted by Honkai energy like herself.

The spacecraft did not detect any living creatures.

Is that the place you were talking about?

Kiana has finally found her destination: a very dangerous and special planet.