"How's the Abyssal Eye's gateway? Can it still be opened?" Delisa asked before the lab's dust had even settled. They'd just cleared the swarm of Honkai beasts and confirmed the Fourth Herrscher was gone—but Bronyia still needed rescuing from the Quantum Sea.
"It's operable," Einstein replied, eyes flicking over the instruments. "But I need to run a full systems check first. If we jump in hastily, unexpected feedback could trap us inside. The Quantum Sea isn't a place you rush into."
Delisa nodded. She trusted Einstein—she had to. Still, her mind wandered to other matters: that Siegfried fellow and whatever strange business he'd been up to.
"Dr. Tesla, Siegfried is here outside," Einstein said, as if on cue.
"I'll go see what's happening," Tesla answered, and Delisa left the lab.
"Siegfried, why aren't you resting? What're you doing here?" Delisa found him on the lobby sofa, eyes unfocused, replaying something only he could see.
"Cecilia… I saw Cecilia," he said simply, voice thick with memory.
Delisa froze. Cecilia was dead. The idea was absurd—could Siegfried's infection be causing hallucinations?
"It's no hallucination," he answered before she could voice that thought. He placed a small data card in her palm. "Look."
Reluctantly, Delisa slipped the card into her device and watched the feed from the base's security cam.
"Such a mess you're in—guess you haven't lived well these years," the woman on the video said, voice, poise, gestures—Cecilia, impossibly like the real thing.
Delisa swallowed a rising chill. In the footage, Cecilia split Black Abyss White Flower, drove the White into Siegfried's arm, and treated his Honkai infection—then, just as suddenly, she seized Shamash and left. The White Flower's rated power—Delisa recognized the technique, though she couldn't name the number of the power used. The Fourth Herrscher had taken Black Abyss White Flower already—yet here was a "Cecilia" wielding it.
How? Why would the Fourth Herrscher masquerade as Cecilia to treat Siegfried? And then take his sword? Or was this some copy Otto had engineered? None of the possibilities satisfied her; all of them gnawed at the edge of alarm.
Einstein's voice cut through her thoughts: "The Abyssal Eye can reopen."
Delisa exhaled. Bronyia came first. Questions about Cecilia could wait until after the rescue.
"No," Einstein warned when Delisa moved to step forward. "You're not the one to go in. Ever since you entered the Sea Lab, you've shown signs of maladaptation. The Quantum Sea rejects certain physiologies. Symptoms vary—mild discomfort to full syncope. Very few are compatible. I—have already gone in once. I'll go again."
Before Delisa could argue, Siegfried spoke up, casual and oddly steady: "I'll go. I'll go with her. I'll keep the entry sealed. Keep the beasts out." He grinned—regret and resolve mingled in the same face.
"Fine. But be careful," Delisa said, and the team arranged the watch. Einstein and Tesla would hold the gate; Delisa and others would protect the exterior.
The Quantum Sea unfolded like another world: cherry blossoms drifting across impossible waters, islands of logic and memory. They'd barely stepped through when Einstein flinched—the landscape had already tugged at Siegfried's attention.
"Siegfried? What's wrong?"
He didn't answer. Instead he bolted toward a point deeper in the Sea, feet carrying him faster than his incense-gray expression warranted. Einstein swore under her breath and followed.
Farther in, a gigantic sakura tree shaded a polished greatsword—Shamash—planted like a monolith. A man stood before it, still and composed: Kevin. He watched Shamash as if he'd been expecting it.
Around him, a small girl—Hime—gasped with recognition: "Shamash? The sword of fire? Who put it here?"
A given of the Sea: things appear where consciousness places them. Kevin did not touch the sword. He watched.
Then the wind shifted. The Sea's surface rippled, and from a place between worlds a voice came, bored and amused:
"You're the Snake. You made this little world?"
Kevin's head turned. Where he looked, a figure strolled out—white hair braided by wind, eyes amused.
Delisa's breath stopped. The Fourth Herrscher stood where reality flexed. Bronyia, in the distorted air, saw it too—a woman whose Honkai readings didn't match her threat. Her core read low, but her strength—her presence—read far, far higher.
"She's the Fourth? Her Honkai readings are… low." Bronyia reported, puzzled.
"Low readings, high effect," Walter answered from his core-link. "She's stabilized her Honkai—keeps it minimal but precise. Dangerous. The God-wards don't work on her."
Kevin's face went flat. Ancient memories rose: "The constraint-type Herrscher… we remember what those did."
Wendi—the Fourth—tilted her head. "Those toys?" she said, watching Delisa's group with a snort. "You really love bringing out dolls."
She sounded distracted—bored even. Then, with the faintest curl of her lips: "Well then… I'll play with this white-haired man first."
And the Quantum Sea swallowed them all into motion.
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