After their discussion, the three of them decided to try their luck nearby first.
"Luka, do you often help people find lost things?"
Faced with Seele's question, Luka smiled and replied, "You could say that? Kids always come to me when they lose something."
"Mhm, that makes sense."
Luka stared blankly at the tattered tent. "So run-down… I wouldn't want to live here."
"Neither do the people here, but they don't have a choice."
"We can change that, right?"
Seele softly responded with an "Mhm!"
[Standards! Vision!]
["We can change these"! Luka, I really like people with this kind of personality.]
[The Stellaron crisis is over—everything will get better!]
[Yeah! Belobog will slowly recover.]
[Fight for all that's beautiful in the world.]
——
Thanks to the innate good luck of hot-blooded idiots, the three of them found "Little Fay" not far away—already sabotaged by someone.
Luckily,
Stelle had apprenticed under Serval for a few days and picked up a trick or two.
After some tinkering, she actually managed to fix it.
Using "Little Fay's" built-in tracking system for "Big Ben," the trio located the real thief.
But even with his back against the wall, the thief refused to repent.
One moment, he was throwing punches: "I'll fight you to the death!"
The next, he was cowering: "Sirs, I was wrong, please stop hitting me!"
The audience couldn't help but chuckle at how relatable it was.
Luka blew on his fist.
"Hahaha, giving up already? Where'd all that bravado go?"
Suddenly, the camera inexplicably zoomed in on Luka for a close-up.
He planted his hands on his hips.
"'The warrior from Molten Hammer—'"
"'The invincible champion of bedrock—'"
"'—has once again upheld justice and peace!'"
After a series of inexplicable camera movements, even the subtitles enlarged by several sizes.
At this moment, Luka's cringe levels had peaked.
Seele, of course, wanted nothing to do with him.
Even Stelle facepalmed, muttering in disbelief.
[Did they hire a scriptwriter from the One Piece team?]
[Hahaha, Luka's got that classic shounen protagonist energy.]
[The lines are cringey, but they somehow fit Luka perfectly.]
[Even Stelle's speechless—Luka, I respect your cringe.]
[Villagers, assemble! Let's give Luka a round of applause.]
[Team Rocket watched this scene and immediately started rewriting their lines.]
——
"Perfect! Looks like our thief friend here has completely surrendered. Step one of the champion's trial—officially complete!"
Luka shot Stelle and Seele a confident grin.
Faced with their lackluster reactions, he felt a little deflated. "What's with the faces? Can't you at least pretend to be happy?"
Stelle raised her right hand. "'The warrior from Molten Hammer, the invincible…'"
Seele glared at her. "I was about to ask—what the hell was that?"
"That? Just a slogan, don't overthink it. C'mon, let's return 'Big Ben' to Cassidy first."
After defeating the thief, the trio led the two mechanical companions back to Cassidy.
Once Cassidy finished showering them with gratitude, the three left the vagrant camp.
Luka planted his hands on his hips again. "Ahhh! Helping others really fills your heart with satisfaction, don't you think?"
Seele: "Honestly, I feel like you could've handled this alone. But earlier, you mentioned this 'trial'—how many steps are there? You only said it was the first one."
"Don't worry, just three steps total. Won't take up too much of your time."
Stelle suddenly interjected, "I'm more concerned about the payment."
Seele shook her head. "Uh, maybe we can discuss that later?"
Luka picked up where she left off. "Now, onto step two…"
Luka explained to Seele and Stelle that a new Fragmentum rift had appeared near the vagrant camp, spewing out monsters.
To ensure public safety, Luka had taken it upon himself to deal with it—marking it as "step two" of his trial.
Before long,
The three arrived at the scene,
Startled by the sheer number of Fragmentum creatures.
"Seems like Belobog's peace made Svarog let his guard down. How'd so many monsters get here?" As she spoke, Seele drew her scythe.
Stelle fell into thought—this reminded her of when she encountered the "Guardian Shadow."
"There's probably a powerful Fragmentum creature nearby. If we take it out, the rest will scatter on their own."
"Huh?" Seele gave her a strange look. "That sounds familiar… I think I heard the boss mention something like this before. Happened in the mines once—the Silvermane Guards' officer was there. You were too, right?"
Seeing Stelle nod, Seele sighed. "Fine. Let's find that thing and finish it off."
With that, Stelle and Luka readied their weapons.
...
After a tense, effects-heavy action sequence,
They located the "Everwinter Shadewalker" hiding deep within.
"That's the one. Let's go!"
Before Seele could strike, Luka had already charged at the monster.
His mechanical arm could equip an even larger gauntlet, resembling the weapon of a certain "Vi" from League of Legends.
With a zap, steam hissed from Luka's gauntlet as he unleashed a rapid barrage of punches.
The barrage of comments now flooded with "ORA ORA!" and "MUDA MUDA!"
Under the trio's righteous beatdown, Luka landed the final blow.
"That thing was tough. Good thing we outnumbered it. So, step two's done, right? Lu—"
Before Seele could finish, the camera once again shifted into another inexplicable angle.
Sure enough, the familiar lines followed.
"'The warrior from Molten Hammer—'"
"'The invincible champion of bedrock—'"
"'—makes evil tremble before justice!'"
Seele exhaled deeply, feeling a headache coming on.
She had to drag Luka to Natasha later for a checkup.
"Are… are you sure you're okay?!"
Stelle planted her hands on her hips. "'Makes evil tremble before justice!'"
Seele, as if possessed by March 7th, snapped, "Stop copying him!" She turned to Luka with a bewildered stare.
"What's wrong with you today? Did you punch your brain loose or something?"
"Hahaha." Luka laughed it off. "Just a little victory ritual. No need to make a big deal out of it."
Seele's eye twitched. "You call that normal? I've never heard you spout such embarrassing lines, even in the ring!"
"Don't overthink it, Seele. I promise you, my brain is completely fine. Besides, we just took out a major threat for the Underworld, didn't we?"
"Yeah, but that's beside the point. This new 'habit' of yours is just…"
"Anyway, just one last step in the trial. Mind humoring me a little longer?"
Seele sighed. "We've come this far—backing out now would feel like a waste. So, where's this 'last step'?"
Luka pointed toward Svarog's base.
"Step three—challenging the big man himself, Svarog."