"That's very much your style, Captain."
Rosemary and the others stood on the deck of the Hyperion, watching as the other Hyperion gradually sailed into the depths of the Sea of Quanta, embarking on its final voyage as the eternally unsinkable ship.
Elias also watched in silence.
This was the only thing he could do. Let the Ferryman's Hyperion continue fulfilling its mission. The ship had lost its master, but it would keep sailing until the very last moment.
Elias would not place it in a warehouse as a collectible and allow dust to tarnish its glory. Even though, in this dangerous and endless sea, the ship would most likely meet destruction in the end,
so what?
"Keep moving forward. Don't stop. Go as far as you possibly can and pioneer worlds no one has ever reached. After all, you are the eternally unsinkable ship, Hyperion."
As Elias spoke, he activated the Authority of the Herrscher of Wind and sent a gust of wind after the Hyperion, accelerating it while bidding it farewell.
At last, beneath everyone's gaze,
the silver-white warship shot toward the deeper reaches of the endless sea like a meteor, or perhaps a sharp sword.
This was what Elias believed he ought to do.
Although he did not deny that he found this ending rather romantic, as a fellow captain of the Hyperion, he believed the Ferryman's Hyperion would have wanted such an ending as well!
"Ai, if I ever kick the bucket someday, you can keep sailing like this too. Carry my will with you and travel to every corner of the world. Hehe~ Don't you think that's romantic?"
Elias raised a hand and patted the AI girl's head beside him.
Ai clenched her little fists and puffed out her cheeks in obvious displeasure.
"Romantic, my foot! Captain, you big idiot, how can you say something like that?! You're not going to die! If you ever abandon Ai and the Hyperion someday, Ai will really get angry with you! The kind of angry where I won't forgive you for the rest of my life!"
You're the captain of the Hyperion!
The master of this eternally unsinkable ship!
If one day you're gone,
then I'll pilot the Hyperion to every corner of the world. I'll travel to every Bubble World in the Sea of Quanta and every parallel world on the Imaginary Tree. No matter where you run off to, the Hyperion and I will find you and bring you back!
"Haha, sorry. I said the wrong thing. Mm, I won't abandon Ai or the Hyperion. Never. I absolutely won't leave you to sail all alone."
"Mm~ That's more like it. It's a promise, Captain."
Only then did Ai nod in satisfaction. Her gaze shifted toward the Ferryman's Hyperion, and she silently swore that she absolutely would not allow herself to end up like that! Absolutely not!
This Hyperion: Moonlight Throne ARK
would never lose its one and only captain!
"All right, that's the last thing taken care of. We can head home now. Ai, initiate the jump."
"Yes, Captain. Uh... apparently, we can't."
"Huh?"
Elias froze. Ai awkwardly scratched her head, then brought up a virtual screen and tapped around on it for a while before sheepishly admitting that they still needed another half day before they could depart.
It turned out that during the previous battle, the Hyperion had taken quite a few direct attacks from Quantum Shadows and Imaginary Constructs, leaving it with considerable damage. It needed half a day for repairs.
"It's already been seven days and it still isn't fixed? With the Hyperion's automatic repair functions, even if half the hull were gone, it should be able to rebuild itself in three days at most!"
"Uh, the automatic repair system is usually turned off. Keeping it running all the time uses too much electricity, and saving power is important, so I accidentally forgot about it. The ship never actually started repairing itself."
Ai scratched her head and guiltily looked away. Elias' eye twitched violently as he immediately reached out and grabbed her cabbage-like head.
"Confess! Did you do this because you've been secretly stealing too much electricity from the ship?!"
"Only a teeny-tiny bit! Uh, no, wait, I didn't!"
"Excellent! From now on, the Hyperion's electricity bill will be deducted from your salary, Ai. Glad that's settled."
"Noooo—!!!"
"No, my foot! That's what you get for stealing electricity!"
Elias rolled his eyes. All the emotion from moments ago vanished without a trace as he mercilessly flicked Ai on the forehead.
Since the Hyperion needed half a day to automatically repair its damage, Elias casually found a few things to occupy himself with. First, he absorbed Luna's and Himeko's Bubble Worlds, then took inventory of the Ferryman's collection.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was reading through the knowledge database and learning many truths about the world. In her own words, her former self within the Teyvat Bubble World had been like a frog at the bottom of a well.
A God of Wisdom who had sat at the bottom of that well and gazed at the sky, believing she already knew enough, when in reality she had known almost nothing. Now that she had the opportunity to acquire more knowledge, naturally she would not let it slip away.
Rosemary, meanwhile, had gone to rest. After waiting without sleep for seven straight days, the witch's unenhanced human body had long since reached its limit.
"By the way, Luna, come to the Elysian Everlasting Realm in two minutes. I have a surprise for you."
After absorbing the Bubble Worlds, Elias seemed to suddenly remember something and spoke to his vampire girl.
"Huh? A surprise? What is it?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Look forward to it."
With that, Elias slipped directly into his Theater of Domination and looked over the Elysian Everlasting Realm, which currently occupied only a small portion of the territory. He thought that this time he could finally expand it with something new.
As for why Luna had to wait two minutes before entering,
it was because time flowed differently there.
Back when he fought the Herrscher of Million, Elias had battled for three days and three nights while only thirty minutes passed outside. In other words, ten minutes inside the Theater of Domination was equivalent to an entire day and night.
So two minutes was more than enough time for Elias to prepare something huge.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."
Luna blinked, then obediently sat down in front of the spatial rift leading into the Theater of Domination. With both hands propping up her delicate chin, she waited while counting aloud. She did not feel impatient in the slightest.
After all, she had already endured ten thousand years. A mere two minutes was hardly different from an instant in Luna's eyes.
...
Luna: "One hundred nineteen, one hundred twenty. Human, are you ready? I'm coming in now."
The two minutes quickly passed. Luna stood up and looked expectantly at the space before her, wondering exactly what kind of surprise her beloved human had prepared for her.
But the moment she stepped into the Theater of Domination,
the vampire girl's crimson eyes widened in astonishment.
Aside from the Elysian Everlasting Realm she had once seen before, a realm as beautiful as a fairy kingdom, this Theater of Domination now contained an additional castle, one that was dark, beautiful, and romantic.
"Welcome to~ Castle of Eternal Night!!"
"H-Human?!"
Luna stared in astonishment at Elias as he descended from the sky.
At this moment, the white-haired young man's heterochromatic eyes had both turned crimson, and unlike his usual attire, he wore a black-and-red tailcoat.
A massive ruby adorned his dark cravat, while black gloves covered both hands, perfectly drawing out the dark, demonic, and dangerous charm of a vampire.
Looking at this vampire-prince version of Elias, Luna momentarily lost herself. Combined with the castle shrouded beneath the night sky, she almost thought she had entered a world belonging entirely to vampires.
"What do you think? I put quite a bit of effort into preparing this."
"Human, what exactly is all this?"
"Can't you tell, Luna? This is a little world I created especially for you."
"A world... created for me."
Luna stared blankly at Castle of Eternal Night.
Elias had constructed it using the Authority of Reason.
Of course, with so much time at his disposal, Elias had not built only a single castle. Beyond the castle itself were countless streets, residences, amusement parks, and much more.
In scale, it was even comparable to the Elysian Everlasting Realm, though the styles of the two places were completely different. The Elysian Everlasting Realm was an immaculate paradise, a fairy kingdom forever bathed in the twilight between day and night.
Castle of Eternal Night, by contrast, was a vampire domain forever enveloped in darkness. A bright blood-red moon hung high in the deep night sky, casting vivid magenta shadows across every building in the territory.
Unlike the white flowers of creation that bloomed throughout the Elysian Everlasting Realm,
Castle of Eternal Night was filled with countless blood-red roses.
Whenever the cool evening breeze swept through, innumerable crimson petals were carried into the air before drifting back down, creating an endless rain of roses beneath the night sky.
Tall, sharply pointed Gothic buildings stood throughout the territory as well, perfectly matching a vampire's aesthetic tastes.
"Come, Luna. Let's go to our castle."
Elias took Luna's small hand and flew with her toward the largest and most magnificent castle. This place was nothing like a prison filled with books, nor was it like a dark alley deserted in the middle of the night.
Magenta moonlight spilled across the castle rooftop and over the two of them. This was a castle belonging only to Elias and Luna, a world for just the two of them.
Everything here was filled with things the two of them loved. Elias and Luna were like a vampire prince and princess living within this domain, completely unlike the empty World's Interstice.
Luna could not help thinking that if Elias were willing to stay by her side, then she would gladly and happily live in Castle of Eternal Night with him for another ten thousand years, or even for a lifetime... forever!
"It's beautiful. I really love this place!"
"Hehe, you're saying that too early, Luna."
"Huh?"
"The real surprise is only just beginning!"
As Elias spoke, he pulled Luna into his arms. Then, with one hand, he deftly undid the vampire girl's formal dress. Thanks to all the women in the Proper World, he could now genuinely be called quite skilled at undressing someone.
Luna's cheeks turned crimson. Yet before she had much time to waver, she saw Elias take out a gift box and remove a gorgeous, exquisitely crafted white dress from within.
The vampire girl froze. She thought the white dress looked remarkably like a wedding gown, but in the very next second, Luna realized that it really was a wedding gown!!
"H-Human, don't tell me you..."
"Mm. Luna, I can't hold back anymore. I want to be with you forever, through the most beautiful ceremony possible."
Personally dressing his beloved girl in a wedding gown.
Then Elias took out a small box. When he opened it, a ruby ring lay within, sparkling beneath the crimson moon.
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