In Imaginary Space, the pocket dimension maintained by the authority of the Herrscher of Domination began to collapse due to the loss of its energy supply. In an instant, starting from the light curtain, all the soil, stone, and green vegetation started to disintegrate, dissolving into points of light.
Fu Li remained unfazed by this. He simply gave the dragon wings on his back a little shake and looked down at Pardo, whom he was holding in a princess carry.
"Phew... are you feeling better, Pardo?"
"Mm, I'm better."
"What about Black Cat and Black Pardo?"
Black Pardo?
Pardo sensed the two consciousnesses that had fallen asleep within her body and sighed.
"They're asleep from exhaustion. They'll probably wake up in a day or two."
Hearing this, an embarrassed expression appeared on Fu Li's face. He said subconsciously, "Sorry, I was too forceful earlier."
"It's fine," Pardo said sullenly, her cheeks puffed out. "This was our choice to begin with."
Yep, she's still a little unhappy...
Although she said it was fine, she had been tilting her head away and refusing to look him in the eye since the fight ended. Women were truly difficult creatures to understand.
"Alright, then... should I carry you out? Or will you open a door?"
"...I'll do it."
Snap.
With a soft snap of her fingers, a portal of light appeared directly beneath Fu Li's feet.
In an instant, a feeling of weightlessness washed over him. Fu Li, whose attention was still entirely focused on Pardo, was caught off guard and plunged straight down.
Between the flashes of light and shadow, Fu Li thought he heard a light giggle, the kind one makes after a successful prank. The next thing he knew, he had fallen into the briny, sweet water of the ocean.
In an instant, Pardo—whose tail and ears were now thoroughly soaked—was no longer laughing.
"Oh, you..."
Fu Li shook his head helplessly. As he thought, even though Pardo was still the Pardo he knew, her personality had indeed changed somewhat after the Herrscher transformation.
Specifically, she had become a bit more contrary and tsundere, and seemed to have picked up a sly, mischievous streak.
Resigned, Fu Li flapped the dragon wings on his back, carrying both himself and Pardo upward.
Fortunately, while a depth of 100 meters was difficult for a human without scuba gear, neither Fu Li nor Pardo were ordinary people. The pressure was nothing to them.
A moment later, the two of them broke through the surface of the water. They looked up and immediately saw the giant searchlights and the figures of Mobius and Eden, who were already waiting for them on a speedboat.
"Hey, long time no see, Mobius, Eden."
Fu Li raised a hand in greeting. He knew that the people of this era were still very wary of Herrschers, which was precisely why he had to take the initiative to show goodwill.
Of course, the main reason was that the ones picking him up were none other than the two he was most familiar with, Mobius and Eden.
If it had been those higher-ups who only thought about infighting, he would have simply ground their faces under his heel and told them that the fact they were still alive was a testament to his mercy.
After all, in his eyes, the higher-ups didn't have many human rights to speak of; they were merely tools for resource management. Killing them might even allow someone better to take their place.
A reasonable use of trash, one might say.
"Mm. It's good that you're alright."
Seeing that he was safe, Mobius also put on an expression of relief.
Aponia hadn't lied to her this time. Although she had jinxed it once, the outcome was indeed a good one.
However, for some reason, when Mobius looked at Pardo, she felt that aside from the Herrscher transformation, something else about her was off.
"Doctor, about Pardo's situation... there are too many eyes and ears here. We should talk about it later."
Noticing Mobius's suspicion, Fu Li tightened his hold on Pardo, who had been burying her head in his chest since they surfaced.
Little did he know, this subconscious, protective gesture made both Mobius and Eden grit their back molars in unison.
But in the end, they held it in.
Sooner or later, Pardo will get a taste of the same medicine we have. Who knows if it'll be Elysia or Sakura who delivers it.
As for Vill-V... how could that romantically clueless engineering girl possibly be a threat?
After comforting herself with that thought, Mobius stopped dwelling on it and reached out to pull Fu Li onto the boat.
[You left this sea area with Pardo.]
[Along the way, Pardo did not speak, only occasionally stealing glances at the nonchalant Mobius, revealing a smug, secret smile.]
[Soon, you returned to the MOTHs' headquarters and began your physical examinations.]
[Mobius personally conducted an extremely detailed examination on you.]
[After you came out, you saw Pardo, her fur now dry, lying on the sofa with a look of utter dejection. Beside her was an expressionless Klein.]
"Hey, Pardo, Klein, long time no see... huh?"
Coming out of the examination room, Fu Li was just about to greet them when, in the next second, he saw Pardo leap up and throw herself at him.
"Wuuu! Li, save me! Sister Klein is trying to kill me!"
Looking at Pardo clinging to him for dear life, Fu Li was momentarily stunned. He subconsciously stroked the girl's smooth brown hair and asked with confusion:
"Klein? What's going on?"
"It is just a potion to temporarily suppress Honkai energy. It will help her better adapt to her power, but Miss Pardo refuses to drink it."
"It's not just about drinking it, okay?" Pardo protested, hugging Fu Li's arm. "The taste of that potion is... it's truly beyond words."
"Anti-Honkai energy potion?" Hearing that, Fu Li understood. He took the vial from Klein's hand, sniffed it gently, and immediately knew what it was.
The KT-4 Potion, also known as the "Demon's Potion" for its extreme bitterness. While its effects were good, almost no one was willing to drink it without adding syrup.
"Klein, it seems you forgot to add the syrup. This potion is indeed hard to swallow if you make someone drink it straight."
"Hm? Is that so?" Klein tilted her head, looking completely innocent.
"It was an oversight in my work. I have been too busy recently and was careless for a moment. I will go add some syrup right away."
"Mm, thank you for the trouble."
Seeing that Klein genuinely didn't seem to be lying, Pardo obediently handed the cup back.
However, what she didn't know was that as Klein turned around, a faint, almost unnoticeable smile secretly graced the corners of her lips.
Clearly, she had done it on purpose.
After Klein left, Fu Li sat down on the sofa with Pardo and let out a long-awaited, satisfied sigh of relief.
"Mmm... it's really been a long time since I've felt this comfortable."
"Yeah, I know."
After so many days of fighting, even with the rest on the way back, they were still quite exhausted.
Suddenly, Pardo suggested, "Why don't we find a place to take a vacation? There's still a long time until the next Herrscher arrives, right?"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Hmm..." Pardo thought for a moment. "Once Black Cat and the other me wake up, let's go to the Alps together. I'm getting a little tired of always being by the sea."
"Deal," Fu Li agreed without hesitation, but then quickly added, "But before we play, we have to finish our work."
"What work?!" Pardo instantly became alert, her face full of resistance. But Fu Li pretended not to see it and said:
"A detailed incident report, of course. And a necessary examination of you."
Seeing Pardo's pitiful expression, which clearly screamed 'I don't want to work,' Fu Li, who was well-experienced in this, shattered her fantasy.
"Don't even think about it. This is necessary work; you can't get out of it. However..."
"I'll help you complete it."