Fuli couldn't quite understand why he had appeared here completely naked; he had definitely been wearing that D-Rank field protective suit properly.
Fortunately, after checking, he found that the other items from the lucky draw were still obediently staying in the system space, ready to be used at any time. Otherwise, he would have really cursed a certain "Light and Shadow" for brain-dead operations to filter readers.
The only minor regret was that the system space could only hold lucky draw items and had no spare clothes... But it didn't matter! Who said only those standing in the light count as heroes? A hero can also stand there naked!
In the end, Otto really couldn't stand the sight anymore. He took off his exquisitely crafted white shirt with gold trim and threw it through the gaps in the bars to the Shenzhou boy who was airing his bird in front of Kallen.
After some tossing and turning, Fuli, with the shirt tied around his waist, sat cheerfully on the edge of the bars.
"Oh my, sorry to trouble you two. Brother and Sister saving Little Brother in a time of crisis... why don't the three of us take this opportunity to swear an oath of blood and become sworn siblings?"
Otto frowned. His first reaction was that this sunny and cheerful Shenzhou boy was glib and unreliable.
It... it definitely wasn't because he was jealous that this guy could truly hide his weapon (junk) on his person!
Just wait until I have the chance to reshape my body! I'll make mine bigger than his DIO! As thick as a forearm!
"Sworn siblings? Sure, sure!"
Kallen, on the other hand, raised her hand with great interest. "Little Brother, what's your name? From now on, you'll be the youngest of us three!"
"Big Sister!"
"Third Brother!"
"Big Sister!"
"Third Brother!"
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Otto, facepalming, was this close to writing 'MDZZ' (Retards) directly on his face.
What is wrong with these two? One dares to propose it, and the other actually dares to accept? Is their brainwave compatibility that high?
"What's wrong, Second Brother?"
Fuli, having been interrupted, looked over, his crimson eyes shining in the darkness.
"I'm a year older than Kallen. Theoretically, you should call me Big Brother!"
"Okay, Big Brother! No problem, Big Brother!"
"Never mind your Big Brother! Third Brother, Third Brother! Quick, do Second Sister a favor!"
Kallen swallowed her saliva and hurriedly waved to her newly adopted little prison brother. "That lunch box in your Big Brother's hand—could you pass it to your Sister here?"
Accepting food from Otto's hand ≈ Accepting the goodwill of the Apocalypse family. No way!
Accepting food from Fuli's hand = A little brother who fell from the sky kindly giving charity to this unlucky soul about to starve to death. Okay!
This was the flexible dialectics of the Kaslana family!
"As expected of Second Sister!"
Fuli, whose brain circuit instantly caught up, reached through the gap in the bars and took the lunch box that the man was handing over with a helpless expression.
Combining the 'Kallen' that Otto had just blurted out with the surrounding environment, Fuli was basically certain of the identity of this eagerly waiting white-haired Husky beside him.
Just to be safe, he took the opportunity of passing the food to lean in and carefully examine that expectant face.
It would have been fine if he hadn't looked, but upon looking, his heart almost stopped.
Simply because she was too beautiful. Beautiful like a dream or illusion, so beautiful she didn't seem mortal at all.
That ethereal beauty was like an angel trapped in a mortal shell, like a thin-winged dragonfly or a glass artwork, or like melting ice crystals or cherry blossom petals. Even though it was late at night, she seemed bathed in moonlight, shocking beyond words.
Fuli considered himself battle-hardened and well-traveled. Leaving aside peerless beauties of different styles like Durandal and Rita, even the three generations of flat-chested wonders—Theresa, Himeko, and Cousin Hua—were all fine. And with the Trio accompanying him this past month, his taste was no longer what it used to be.
The problem was that the person before him surpassed everyone he had met before in every aspect and from every angle, almost standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his Little Great-Aunt!
According to the records in the Schicksal History Museum and the portraits of past Saintesses, the [Kallen Kaslana] of five hundred years ago was beautiful, true, but at most, she was on par with Kiana and the others. She shouldn't reach the pinnacle of beauty that would make Fuli's heart stop.
Considering that this data space was constructed by the Overseer of Schicksal himself, it was obvious that when modeling the Virtual Kallen, that fellow Otto had severely buffed the appearance of his unattainable white moonlight.
Simply put, he mixed in his personal bias.
Fuli could completely understand this. The power of a 'white moonlight' lay in the fact that, years later, even if the person herself appeared, it would be hard for her to defeat the version existing in the observer's memory.
If he hadn't reunited with Kiana in Shenzhou by chance but had lived out most of his life alone, by the time he was old and gray, the girl's status in his heart would also have been elevated to an unparalleled level.
[So, I'm actually quite similar to that Lord Overseer, at least in the aspect of being despised by my fiancée.]
Fuli thought with some resignation.
Considering that guy only strove to unite Schicksal after Kallen died...
"As expected, messy male-female relationships only affect leveling speed..."
He muttered to himself.
"? Little Brother, what are you saying?"
Kallen, her cheeks puffed out with food, looked over curiously. "Are you hungry? Do you want to sit down and eat together? Sister here was so hungry I could barely walk, but splitting half with you... er, one-third? I can still spare one-third!"
"Wuwuwu, Kallen is truly beautiful and kind-hearted."
Otto wiped his tears on the side, thinking Kallen is indeed a kind person; she hasn't eaten for seven days and nights, yet she's willing to share with others.
"No need, I'm not hungry. You eat, Sister."
The more Fuli watched this wolfing-down scene, the more déjà vu he felt, until he superimposed it onto that slightly overweight white-haired dumpling back home.
Good lord! This was basically just a large-sized Kiana!
The boy, successfully disenchanted, instantly returned to a calm state of mind, resting his chin on his hand as he continued to watch Kallen gorge herself.
"Wuwuwu, sho guud!"
She ate with such gusto, her sparkling cute appearance healing even Fuli's heart.
"Don't rush, I still have—"
"You have more there?!"
Kallen suddenly looked up, her expectant little eyes stinging Otto's already riddled heart.
Fuli smiled awkwardly. "No, I was just afraid you'd choke, so I wanted to interrupt the rhythm."
"Wow, you're actually quite nice!"
The white-haired beauty licked the plate clean in no time.
She looked hesitantly at the metal lunch box, which now bore several small teeth marks, and patted her stomach as if complaining about why it couldn't digest inorganic matter.
"No burp."
Based on the post-meal reactions of the Paramecium at home, Fuli made an accurate judgment. "Looks like she's not full."
"Third Brother, have you looked enough?"
A gloomy male voice came from outside the bars, clearly taking issue with someone staring unblinkingly at his fiancée the entire time.
"Not yet, planning to look for another five bucks' worth."
The boy retorted subconsciously. "By the way, Bro, why are you calling me Third Brother too?"
Otto nearly choked on his breath. Who was the one insisting on becoming sworn brothers, not seeking to be born on the same day, month, and year, but seeking to die on the same day, month, and year?
"Otto, you..."
Kallen, carelessly picking her teeth, shot him a speechless look, as if blaming him for being jealous of a kid eight or nine years younger than herself.
Otto felt aggrieved in his heart, muttering about how everyone knows you, Kallen, have a thing for younger people. Didn't you get together with that pink-haired vixen (Yae Sakura), who was only sixteen, while you were already an old maid of twenty-four?
"You!"
The term "old maid" obviously angered the Saintess. She stood up with a whoosh, pointing a finger at this guy, her aura so majestic it looked like she was about to unleash a Great Desolate Imprisoning Heavenly Finger in the next second.
Then—*Bleurgh!*—she spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood.
This scene left Fuli dumbfounded.
"You bald... gold-haired foreign Rakshasa ghost! You dared to poison my Second Sister's food?!"
"I am not! I did not! Don't talk nonsense!"
Otto felt this guy was the poisonous one. Just by standing there, this mental patient instantly turned the originally tragic atmosphere straight down the road of comedy slapstick, never to return.
This was a prison! A solemn place for detaining serious criminals—ah no, sin, sin, Kallen wasn't a criminal.
"Third Brother, calm down! This has little to do with the Golden Rakshasa!"
Kallen raised her sleeve to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth and extended her other clean hand.
Under the illumination of the lantern, her skin, like congealed fat, shone brightly and fair.
But when Fuli looked closely, he found that the blood vessels beneath the surface skin were faintly glowing with an extremely ominous radiance.
He narrowed his eyes, his tone indistinguishable between joy and sorrow. "Those higher-ups at Schicksal are real animals. They even used Blood Boil on Sister."
The Blood Boil Curse, one of the most vicious torture spells. Its original intention was to torment and judge the wicked, making them taste their sins continuously for twenty-four hours until they died.
First, it would cause the judged person's blood to boil, as if they were thrown into a pot of boiling oil, or like being sliced by a thousand cuts. At the same time, the judged would suffer a series of negative effects such as doubled pain sensitivity, frostbite, and feeling like walking on knives, making the agony even worse.
This spell contained a full one hundred and eight types of torture. It would make the judged taste them one by one, starting from the mildest, until finally experiencing the ultimate punishment called death.
And during this process, the spell would also grant the judged a considerable degree of self-healing ability, ensuring they wouldn't truly die until the final punishment arrived.
Blinking her clear, beautiful eyes, Kallen asked curiously, "Third Brother, you know quite a lot about this thing?"
"That's because someone used something similar on me before."
The boy looked as if the past was unbearable to recall. "That sensation... I really don't want to experience it again."
"Right, right?!"
Kallen complained loudly. "Especially the ninety-fifth one, the Zhe punishment (dismemberment). It felt like every inch of skin on my body was being dug out by knives!"
Zhe, pronounced the same as Zhe (philosophy), meaning Lingchi (death by a thousand cuts).
"I think the one-hundredth one, the Avici Sword Tree, is even worse."
Fuli had a different opinion on this.
"Catalyzing a constantly growing bloodthirsty demon tree inside the body by absorbing Honkai energy. Thousands of sharp branches and roots wriggle and pierce inside the body like tentacles at the same time. When they finally burst through the skin all at once, it actually feels like a release!"
The two exchanged their medical conditions with great interest, completely failing to notice Otto's increasingly horrified little eyes in the corner.
I often feel out of place because I am too normal.
"Number one hundred, huh? I haven't reached that yet."
Kallen scratched the braid at the back of her head. "There are a total of one hundred and eight punishments, right? Third Brother, you survived them all?"
The favoritism from the creator of the world gave her nothing to fear. Not only was she still clean despite being imprisoned for so long, but her small hand, which had been greasy just a moment ago, was now brand new in the blink of an eye, emitting a sacred and rich fragrance.
Fuli looked like he had a headache. "The maid lady who teamed up with me at the time was troublesome, but very reliable. She found the caster in the vast sea of people and cleanly cut off their head with a scythe."
The time was, of course, the previous loop, and the maid lady's name was Rita Rossweisse.
Afterward, she took good care of the heavily injured Fuli for a while, feeding him well.
Yeah, locked in a dark basement, limbs firmly secured to the four corners of the bed with super-alloy ropes, fed three meals a day directly into his mouth, and not allowed to leave even after recovering.
Tsk, she was so normal and elegant at first, and her style of speaking in riddles fit the image of an expert.
But seeing my body turn back into a child due to the side effects of the enemy's spell, she instantly went crazy! It was bad enough she slept holding me, but she would lie on top of me going 'huff huff' and sniffing everywhere!
That shotacon pervert!
Good thing I found a chance to run away quickly after recovering, otherwise who knows what kind of heartwarming—ptui, insane things would have happened!
"Third Brother? Third Brother?"
"Sorry, I accidentally zoned out."
Fuli, snapping back to reality, subconsciously shivered. Seeing Kallen's concerned face opposite him, he let out a huge sigh of relief. Clearly, a certain maid had done (physically) him into having psychological trauma.
He said, "Most continuous spells have a weakness: the caster must be alive to maintain the effect. As long as you find the guy who cast the spell and chop him up before the final judgment arrives, the Blood Boil Curse will not only dissipate but also fully restore the judged person's body."
However, hearing this, Fuli also understood why Kallen in the previous loop didn't choose to leave with Kiana.
With such a top-tier curse rooted in her soul, even if she successfully reached reality, Kallen would hardly escape the fate of sudden death.
Yes, virtual products rarely affect reality.
The problem was that Kallen was essentially data too. Changing worlds didn't mean the nature of life would change, nor would it unconditionally dispel all negative statuses like leveling up in a game.
"So, Sister, do you have any idea who cast the spell?" the boy asked.
Kallen smiled. "Why? Planning to vent this anger for Sister?"
She shook her head. "It's useless. Even if you kill that person, they'll just get someone else to re-cast the curse on me. As long as I refuse to submit to Apocalypse's might, they will inevitably push me onto the gallows and kill me, the witch who 'fell in love' with a Herrscher, right in front of everyone."
Otto clenched his fist.
Did Kallen really fall in love with Yae Sakura?
Not necessarily.
The reason the nun and the shrine maiden got together was more about two unlucky souls with equally tragic experiences huddling together for warmth and mutual pity.
But given how things had developed, the truth no longer mattered.
"Theoretically speaking, that is indeed true."
Fuli didn't rush to deny it. "If I really rescue you, the first thing we'll face is the full encirclement and suppression by Schicksal's troops, and then—well, no need to say 'and then,' just with my meager strength, I wouldn't even survive the first level."
"But we can use a trick."
He drew the Black Swan hanging at his waist, adjusting his stance and aiming at the prison bars confining the two.
An invisible fluid covered the narrow blade.
"It's useless."
Otto, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up. "With the anti-magic barrier here, any Honkai energy leaving the body will quickly dissipate. What's more, the cell imprisoning Kallen is built from a single piece of Decision Stone. It's impossible to break through forcefully below S-Rank."
Had he not thought about rescuing Kallen and fleeing far away with her?
Regrettably, if Otto's extremely frail body could truly perfectly drive the Void Archives, he, a Divine Key wielder, wouldn't have been sidelined from the center of Schicksal's power as a nobody.
Leaving aside other things, he was completely powerless against this cell made entirely of Decision Stone.
Decision Stone. A mysterious mineral with almost no weight, as if it didn't truly exist.
Its form was like water, its appearance like silver. Knives couldn't cut it, fire couldn't melt it. It flowed, changed, and fused constantly. Even if a small part was scooped out, it wouldn't disconnect; thin threads would always remain connected.
Items forged with it as an auxiliary material were not only more spiritual but could also slowly absorb free energy from the air to repair damage. Injecting Honkai energy could actively trigger auto-repair capabilities.
Based on these characteristics, plus some small modifications during forging, as long as the prisoner was inside the cell, the Honkai energy in their body would be gradually absorbed by the Decision Stone. Together with the massive amount of energy constantly input from the outside, it would repair itself, forming a perfect closed loop.
So, ultimately, they had to go back to the old path, through sacrifice—What?!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The sound of breaking air rang out unexpectedly, causing the pondering blonde man to look up abruptly.
"Don't worry, Bro."
Three blade lights whistled past, gently grazing Otto's cheek.
"Since I can come in, naturally I can also go out."
Creak—
A clear sound echoed in the gloom-filled underground space. The bars made of Decision Stone were slashed open, creating a hole big enough for a person to pass through.
The silver fluid surged, attempting to fill the gap, but was blocked by the sword marks left by the water-severing slash.
It was as if what Black Swan had cut just now was not matter, but space itself.
The déjà vu of the scene startled Kallen into standing up, her beautiful face changing expression. "Sakura Scatter?"
"No."
Fuli sheathed his sword.
"The name of this move is Momentary Slash: The Suffering Yaksha."
During this month, the Phantom Martial Arts Peerless Kung Fu Catalog naturally had its turn for him to use.
Fuli, having gotten smarter, specially asked the white-haired dumpling—written as Kiana but read as 'European Emperor' (super lucky person)—to lend a hand during the draw. Sure enough, he drew the advanced version of Sakura Scatter: the Momentary Slash: The Suffering Yaksha of the Previous Era Fusion Warrior Sakura.
The effect was still the original effect: a high-speed slash with the blade wrapped in Honkai energy.
The only difference was that the Honkai energy wrapped around the blade had evolved into an Ideal Fluid.
Yes, the authority wielded by the Herrscher of Wind. Zero viscosity, incompressible, no heat conduction, absolute sharpness and smoothness. Theoretically capable of destroying any object or structure in reality.
That being said, as a product catalyzed by Honkai energy, the ideal fluid wrapped around Fuli's long blade could also be neutralized by a massive amount of Honkai energy applied by the enemy. This was how the Herrscher of Wind of the Previous Era was defeated by the Fire Moths.
Plus, the ideal fluid created by Suffering Yaksha only surrounded the blade for a few inches, so this move was currently rated B-Rank.
Even so, cutting open bars made of Decision Stone and breaking this cage that Otto was powerless against was sufficient.
As for the anti-magic barrier, while the weakened version could indeed dispel ordinary levels of Honkai energy, it clearly didn't cover the realm of Authorities involving ideal fluids.
"Suffering Yaksha..."
Looking at the slender figure standing with the sword, Kallen's tone held a hint of nostalgia.
So like Sakura. Also sixteen, also brilliantly talented.
"Speaking of which, I haven't introduced myself to you two yet."
Fuli sheathed his sword and stepped across the cage boundary.
"My name is Fuli. My original goal in coming here was to take this Miss Kallen Kaslana, who has awakened self-will, back to be our shipboard Artificial Intelligence. But now, my goal is to first kill the scumbag who cast the Blood Boil Curse on Second Sister, and then invite her to become a new member of our Hyperion."
He didn't waste words, dumping the whole truth at once—including but not limited to the virtual world, the multiple loops, the fact that none of them were the original people in memory, etc.—emphasizing a clean and swift explanation.
Then, standing outside the prison, the boy turned around and extended his hand to Kallen, who was still standing inside. "So, how about it? Want to leave this virtual world and go with me to another, freer land?"
"Unlike the falsehoods here, the starlight there... is the true light of blossoming stars!"
...