"I am not interested in men."
Mei snorted coldly, especially after her assistant had nearly been carried off just a moment before by a suddenly appearing wild man. Right now, she held a strong psychological aversion toward certain men who attracted bees and butterflies.
"It doesn't matter if you say that now, oh. Miss Elysia will definitely believe you. But what if one day a few little kids suddenly pop out and call you Grandma Mei? You mustn't get angry with children then, because they just might be the kids of Bronca, Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu, oh."
Upon hearing this, Mei immediately widened her eyes in anger, looking in disbelief at this woman whose thirty-seven-degree mouth had actually uttered such an unfeeling and outrageous theory. She had painstakingly coaxed a few useful assistants to her side, and this woman was actually thinking about sending all her assistants off on maternity leave?!
How could you come up with such a vicious thing?!
"Alright, alright, Ely. Don't anger the Doctor. Next, we still need to prepare to welcome esteemed guests."
"My good Eden, how could I bear to anger the Doctor? It's just... she truly needs the presence of a companion who can care for and understand her."
Elysia chuckled softly like this, her gaze falling on Mei. Although outwardly Mei, approaching thirty, still retained the beauty of her youth, due to frequent late nights and high-intensity experimental work, the aging on her appearance could no longer be completely concealed.
The crow's feet at the corners of her eyes had deepened considerably compared to when they first met a few years ago. Coupled with her dislike of wasting time on outward grooming, if not for her natural beauty, perhaps her current appearance might look even older, closely approaching that of a forty-year-old.
"I don't need one."
Mei coldly rejected the remark. Her experiences in early childhood had left her full of distrust toward many things, and only a very small number of people who had lived with her for a long time could barely gain her approval.
"Is anyone home?"
Suddenly, an unfamiliar and energetic voice rang in everyone's ears. Elysia's eyes instantly lit up. Her beautiful-girl radar told her that the owner of this voice must be a super cute, invincible beautiful girl just like her.
"We're in, oh!"
Elysia pushed open the door to the second bedroom. The fragments of the Sword of Fallen Gods had been placed here previously. When she pushed open the bedroom door, what came into view was a pink-haired girl wearing cute blue-and-white casual clothes. The instant she saw this pink-haired girl, the non-existent memories in Elysia's mind had already begun to construct themselves.
I have a younger sister.
Yes,
A long-lost, super cute, beautiful younger sister with pink hair just like mine!
"Hello, I'm March 7th."
Little March flashed a refreshing and pure smile that maxed out her charm toward the pink-haired girl who pushed the door open and entered. The moment she was struck by this smile, Elysia dashed forward without a second thought, wanting to give little March a warm hug.
However, before she could make a move, a man appeared and blocked the way in front of March 7th ahead of time. Elysia was too late to hold back her momentum, and directly hugged the young man who had just appeared in the room.
"So enthusiastic, are you? Elysia."
"One must always show the utmost enthusiasm toward new friends. This is the hospitality of a cute girl, oh."
Although she had hugged the wrong person, Elysia still appeared poised and generous, showing no panic, anger, or shyness. Instead, she hugged the young man quite formally, then stepped back with complete composure, revealing a radiant smile not a whit inferior to that of March 7th.
...Requesting flowers 0...
"You must be Shirou, right?"
"Yeah."
Standing before Elysia was an orange-haired young man of around twenty or so, wearing a black tight-fitting combat suit with a white long-robed cloak draped over the outside.
Judging by his facial features, while not the sort to be breathtakingly stunning, he unexpectedly gave off a cordial and gentle feeling. His entire person seemed to exude the warmth of a boy-next-door.
Light golden eyes added a touch of sharpness to his slightly soft features, making his overall appearance more defined and imbuing him with a bit of masculine temperament.
"I've finally met you."
Elysia's eyes shimmered with a colorful light. She was a true visual hound. Of course, she didn't harbor much malice toward average-looking or ugly things, but she invested more emotion into beautiful things, and Shirou Emiya's own image was enough to make her find him pleasing to the eye.
A beautiful girl was naturally cuter, but a handsome man of this type, completely different from the styles of Kevin and Mobius's past acquaintances, was also a very rare sort.
"Elysia, have the people arrived?"
Just as Shirou and Elysia intended to resume their conversation, from outside the second bedroom, Mei, Eden, and Miss Vill-V, who had popped out from goodness knows where, also walked into the room. At the same time, stepping out from the Aurora Curtain behind Shirou came Miss Asta, Serval, Cocolia, Bronya, and Lynx all together.
In an instant, the entire room was filled with the presence of blooming youth.
And almost at the same moment, a flash of green light flickered in the eyes of Mr. Emiya and Miss Elysia...
Just like Miss Elysia, who could never turn a blind eye to a beautiful girl,
the great diva and the green-haired doctor appearing before Mr. Emiya already gave him an urge that made his index finger twitch.
Of course, he wasn't desperate to start playing a multi-player game right this second.
Though, truth be told, he really did want to open up a multi-player room right now and play cards.
However...
It was still a bit too early.
More importantly, rather than simply playing cards, he was even looking forward to exchanging ideas with the golden-haired genius wearing that eccentric tall hat at the very back regarding the inventions and creations inside her brain.
Vill-V,
this best partner he had been longing for day and night,
right at this very moment, appeared within his line of sight.
Chapter 56: Kevin is Going to Drop Little Pearls. (Seeking First Subscription, 8/10)
"Shirou, the power of my Path is heavily restricted in this place, oh."
After a brief session of mutual introductions and pleasantries, everyone had gathered in the living room.
March 7th was the first to notice that her own power seemed to have fallen into a kind of sluggish space. Using it appeared quite laborious, much like a gear lacking lubricating oil.
"The universe on this side hasn't been reached by the 'Trailblaze'. Its outer perimeter has an extremely enclosed 'Imaginary Tide Belt'. Compared to Jarilo-VI, it is even more isolated from the outside world. Moreover, a certain race has thrown 'trial equipment' meant to screen new clan members right into this place, further causing the 'Paths' to be severed."
Shirou briefly outlined the situation of the Earth on this side for everyone.
It would have been fine if he hadn't explained, but once he did, question marks popped up over almost everyone's heads on the scene "933".
"Imaginary Tide Belt? Trailblaze? Path? Clan screening?"
Hearing these multiple new terms, the eyes of both Mei and Vill-V began to glow with excitement. They just loved these kinds of topics too much, especially Mei, who vaguely sensed that the notion of that clan's screening was of paramount importance to them.
"I am not at liberty to say much about the 'screening', as it might be monitoring everything around here. Once we reach the new place, I can explain it to you."
He pointed toward the sky, actually referring to the "Cocoon of Finality". The strength of that thing was indeed rather troublesome to casually mess with in the current version, and with the Path powers restricted here, he wasn't a monster of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven's caliber.
"Then let's organize a small team-building trip. I suppose Dr. Mei doesn't fully trust the origins of our group yet."
Shirou clapped his hands toward everyone present, and once again opened the Aurora Curtain.
"I happen to have the coordinates of a new place right here, and Dr. Mei might find the situation there very much to her liking."
"What do you mean?"
"The planet over there was once implanted with genetic seeds called 'Chakra' by an extraterrestrial, giving rise to a group of people who call themselves ninjas. Through this gene called 'Chakra', corresponding 'energy' can be extracted, and it can be used to manipulate the five basic elements of water, fire, lightning, earth, and wind. By arranging and combining them, new elements like ice, wood, and steel can be formed, which they call Kekkei Genkai. They can transmit abilities to the next generation through genetic inheritance, and can even interfere with soul reincarnation and rebirth."
Superhuman genes!
Inheritance to the next generation!
Reincarnation and rebirth!
These multiple terms were prodding the field that interested this biology doctor the most. Green light began to involuntarily emerge within her eyes, but soon she quickly calmed herself down, furrowed her brow, and asked Shirou,
"You know me very well, and you're exceptionally familiar with our situation here."
"Didn't Elysia explain the situation to you?"
"What situation?"
"Eh-he."
Shirou glanced at Elysia. The latter playfully stuck out her tongue, then quickly scurried over to the sides of Mei and Vill-V to explain the rundown. Once the two of them began to comprehend the current situation, their expressions both turned quite unnatural.
A man who has read the script, does he really have to be this outrageous?
As for Vill-V, after a brief shock, she grasped the possibility that Elysia had previously asked her about—creating a data space capable of housing everyone's "memories".
"Future design? Sounds good, but it always feels like it lacks 'novelty'."
Her mind pondered improvement schemes. As an eccentric genius who had excised multiple personalities yet could still securely sit in the seat of Flame-Chaser's number one inventor of the future, Vill-V's aptitude possessed, in a sense, the possibility of stepping into the Genius Society.
Of course... that was merely a possibility. At worst, she still had the qualifications to enter the Scholarly Society. If she could break through the shackles of some conjectures proposed by Genius Society members and ultimately forge her own path, the admission ticket to the Genius Society would be sent to her at the very first moment.
"Are we leaving right now? This girl hasn't even had a chance to look around yet."
Little March looked somewhat regretful. They had clearly arrived in a new world, yet they had to leave before even going out to take a few photos.
"There's the Aurora Curtain, we can come back anytime. Or would you like to stay and play around here, March?"
"Forget it, I'll go with you guys. Besides, ninjas... sounds really cool."
After everyone present made brief inquiries, almost without exception, they were extremely interested in the ninja world Shirou spoke of, especially the people of Belobog who had just begun a nationwide revival. If that so-called "Chakra" could be implanted through projects like human body modification, it would inevitably help Belobog's recovery progress a bit faster...
"Then it's unanimously approved."
Shirou nodded with satisfaction, but after pausing for a moment, he suddenly thought of the "Reincarnation Rebirth Technique" that existed over there. He rubbed his chin for a moment, and turning to Vill-V, he spoke up,
"Dr. Vill-V, is the Herrscher Core of Fire in your hands?"
"It's in the lab. What? You want that thing?"
Vill-V stared with a smile at this strange man of unknown origin, pondering Shirou's reason for bringing up the Herrscher Core of Fire.
"The Herrscher core seems to possess the trait of preserving souls. In the future I know of, a Core of Reason absorbed the consciousness of three hundred thousand people, preserving the souls of all the victims from a large-scale Honkai event."
"And in the place we are about to head to, there is a technique capable of making souls perfectly return to flesh and resurrect them, named the Reincarnation Rebirth Technique."
"I want to test whether someone's soul still remains within the Herrscher Core of Fire."
Someone's soul?
Vill-V instantly understood the person Shirou was referring to. A trace of brightness emerged within her dark brown pupils.
"If that can truly be done, I can hand the Herrscher Core of Fire over to you. However... let's get that thing first before talking about the rest."
A look of pleasant surprise also welled up in Elysia's gaze.
The sacrifice of Himiko and quite a few familiar members had caused many people within the Flame-Chasers to feel somewhat sorrowful and upset.
Especially prior to the Herrscher of Flames incident, Elysia had even organized a team-building banquet. At the time, both Himiko and Hua from her squad had participated.
After the Herrscher of Flames incident, although Hua managed to survive, due to the sacrifice of her captain, she still hadn't been able to walk out of it to this day.
Among them was also Kevin, that previously cheerful big boy. Originally, after the Herrscher of Death incident caused the deaths of numerous people, his inner world had become extremely locked away, but later on, through the guidance of Himiko and others, he slowly pulled himself out of it. Yet in the Herrscher of Flames incident, he had personally slain Himiko, and now his entire person was far too gloomy compared to before.
If Himiko could come back...
"Will Kevin and Hua drop little pearls right on the spot... By the way, Kevin should be dropping little ice pearls directly right about now."
Chapter 57: Guh! Retreat Quickly! There's an Uchiha Mad Woman! (Seeking First Subscription, 9/10)
Having long forgotten the concept of time.
In the boundless, pitch-black wilderness, she no longer remembered how long she had been left abandoned in this place.
A year?
A decade?
Or perhaps a hundred or a thousand years.
She only remembered that at the beginning she might have still anticipated someone letting her out soon, but as things stood today, she no longer fantasized about that possibility.
As she was now, she only looked forward to death descending, so that this desolate darkness would no longer torture her.
Only...
Just how much longer must she wait?
The future held no expectations.
Immersed in this despairing darkness, she could occasionally hear some auditory hallucinations—there were warm calls from a pair of man and woman, cold reprimands from her clansmen, and curse words full of hatred from her enemies.
And recently...
It seemed she could also occasionally hear a strange man continuously asking who she was.
However,
Before you continue