Honkai? Honkai!

"No, you can't do this to a paramecium!" Sera lay sprawled on the table, eyes vacant, a white spirit spilling from his mouth.

Damn it! Zandar, you old bastard, sooner or later I'll drag you off to do hard labor and help build up the cosmos! (Qlipoth: Thanks. Send him over right away.)

Still, the results were remarkable. After Zandar's training-scratch that, teaching-in theory, Sera could construct any creation of the galaxy's geniuses on Amphoreus.

But judging by Sera's current output, he would need a great deal of time and a continuous output of power to do so.

(Sera: So where did you get the knowledge of those other geniuses, teacher?!

Zandar: "Silence..." He then continued assigning Sera lessons as if nothing had happened.)

Sera suddenly pushed himself up from the table. The analysis of the Reason Core Flame was finally complete.

Sera reached out and swept his hand through the air.

ID: Seraphis

Serial number: δ-me13. Progress toward acquiring scepter authority: one-twelfth

"Mm~" Sera nodded in satisfaction. He didn't actually need to make a gesture to check it; he just thought it looked pleasing that way.

Now, then, it was time to get down to business.

Sera put aside his casual attitude. Zandar continued to watch him in silence.

Sera closed his eyes, but on second thought, he felt a little awkward just closing them, so he extended his right hand.

"Scepter δ-me13 is loading unknown data."

"Loaded data has been named 'Honkai.'"

If Sera was right, then...

"Is this power called Honkai?" Zandar suddenly spoke up, for no reason other than curiosity.

"It's just the name I'm familiar with. Other civilizations that were tested called it things like 'Endlessness' and 'Calamity.'"

"A test..." Zandar's heart stirred.

"That's right. That god sent down tests in the past, present, and future at the same time. Only one civilization passed its test, thanks to a girl."

"I loaded Honkai into Amphoreus to draw the god's gaze." Sera didn't finish what he had to say. He wouldn't trust Zandar completely.

As for what he'd said before, it was half true and half false. Only what he kept buried in his heart was his true goal. After all, the Cocoon of Finality must have turned its gaze to Amphoreus the moment he appeared.

He had white hair and blue eyes, after all! And no matter how he tried, he couldn't cut his hair short. However he looked at it, that had to be because of the Cocoon's tastes! The thought made Sera angry. Because of his appearance, people always mistook him for Phainon's younger sister.

In any case, he wouldn't and couldn't tell Zandar any of that, because he couldn't guarantee that Zandar's curiosity wouldn't lead the cosmos toward a finality called "Honkai."

Curiosity was the most terrifying and also the most perfect foundation of a genius. Seraphis was a very curious person too, but he didn't consider himself a genius.

(Zandar: Without a doubt, my student, you are a genius in every sense of the word.)

Seraphis finally remembered his childhood friend. With a grand wave of his hand, Sera opened a portal and stepped through it, returning to the living room. He tried not to make a sound as he walked to Cyrene's door and gently pushed it open a crack. Luckily, it made no noise, and Sera was secretly pleased.

Sera peered through the crack into the room. Cyrene was sitting quietly at her desk, reading. As if sensing something, she turned and met Sera's gaze.

The concentration on her face from reading gave way to uncontrollable delight. Cyrene hurried forward and pulled the door open.

"You're back!" Sera thought Cyrene's eyes had lit up, beautiful as twinkling stars.

"Yeah, I finished today's lessons early, so my teacher let me come back early."

(Zandar: I did not. Sera: I say you did, so you did.)

"You've been so busy these past few days that I haven't even been able to see you." Cyrene pouted, but she didn't really mind. After all, she knew Sera must have a reason he had to work so hard.

"So, let me decide how you spend your free time from now on." The pink-haired girl held her hands behind her back and looked at Sera with a slightly mischievous smile.

"Mm..." Sera turned his head aside. The faint blush on the tips of his ears revealed that he wasn't as calm as his face suggested.

"Come on." Cyrene naturally took Sera's hand.

Sera had a fleeting feeling that he'd forgotten something. Oh well, if I forgot it, it can't be that important.

Sera came back to his senses and focused on the girl holding his hand.

"I found a place where the plants are this big! Or so I heard. A senior said Teacher Anaxa grew them. Oh, right, you haven't met Teacher Anaxa yet, have you?"

"No. I got special permission to receive one-on-one instruction from Teacher Lycurgus. But I've heard of Teacher Anaxa. He's one of the Seven Sages and the founder of our School of Wisdom Seeds, after all."

"That's true. Even without going out of my way to ask, I've heard plenty about Teacher Anaxa's exploits."

"Yeah, from what I know of him, Teacher Anaxa certainly has quite a reputation." Sera was referring to Anaxa's reputation for blasphemy.

Cyrene also understood what Sera meant, but the girl who had been called Oronyx's holy maiden since childhood didn't mind the blasphemy.

"Do you want to meet Teacher Anaxa, Sera? We might be able to see him where we're going right now~"

"I did want to before, but not anymore." Sera had indeed planned to work with Anaxa before, but after Zandar became his teacher, all he wanted was to meet the blasphemous Anaxagoras. "But I'd still be happy to simply get acquainted."

Cyrene led Sera to Anaxa's experimental field. As soon as they entered, Sera saw a pink-haired girl watering the plants.

"That's Senior Hyacine over there," Cyrene whispered to Sera, tilting her head.

"Oh, Cyrene, you're here!" Hyacine smiled and took Cyrene's free hand. "And this must be Sera, who you're always talking about, Cyrene!"

"Uh..." Though Sera had prepared himself for it, actually hearing it still left him a little helpless.

"Hello, Senior Hyacine. I'm Seraphis. You can just call me Sera."

"All right, Sera."

"Hehe♪~" Cyrene laughed at the helpless look on Sera's face.

"These are all..." Sera looked at the enormous vegetables before him and couldn't help asking. It wasn't as though he knew nothing about the subject, but he didn't understand: if they grew them this big and couldn't finish eating them, wouldn't they go bad?

"These..." Hyacine turned to look at the oversized vegetables, sounding a little helpless. "These are all by-products of Teacher Anaxa's alchemy experiments. He left them all to me to look after. Luckily, Cyrene comes to help me from time to time, or I'd really work myself to death."

"Hyacine, plant these too. Consider it an assignment. Remember to keep an observation record; you'll get extra credit."