The two of them didn't discuss whether the Spear of Subspace was the reason Levi couldn't come back up.
Other than blue, there was no other color on the water.
Clearly, the Spear of Subspace hadn't made Levi bleed.
At most, it had only scraped his skin.
It probably didn't even hurt as much as when Jing Yuan pushed him down.
Jing Yuan: "..."
'I knew someone would think I pushed him down!'
Jing Yuan wanted to cry.
After all, when Levi fell, he had been standing right behind him with one arm stretched out.
Anyone who saw it would probably misunderstand.
'Can you tell what's happening with him now?'
"I can't. The connection between me and him was cut off just now."
'When you accidentally hit him?'
Sirin nodded.
Looking at the calm sea, Sirin clenched her hand.
She had actually liked the state she had been in earlier.
It had felt as if the Honkai Energy inside her would never run out.
Along with it, even her strength seemed to have become greater.
She sensed the pitifully small amount of Honkai Energy left in her Herrscher Core after the earlier battle.
Looking at her hand, she slowly raised it toward the setting sun. The evening light shone through her fingers into her eyes.
They were all Herrschers, so why was the gap between them so huge?
———
Some time passed.
Fu Xuan and the others arrived and began dealing with Shuhu's remains.
After another period of time, the Cloud Knights who had fallen into the sea, Jingliu, Blade, Dan Heng, and the others, were found one by one and brought back to shore.
Shuhu's remains had all been dealt with. The harmful tissue had been made harmless, while the flesh that couldn't be processed was stored in the former Shackling Prison.
However, because of this failure in guarding it, Shuhu's remaining flesh would probably have to be handed over to another Xianzhou for safekeeping.
"Report, General! Master Diviner! We found no sign of anyone below!"
The Cloud Knight in charge of searching for Levi came to report. Fu Xuan frowned.
"How could there be no one?"
She had seen Levi fall with her own eyes.
Besides, during all this time, no one had surfaced anywhere nearby. He couldn't have just swum all the way back to Exalting Sanctum underwater, could he?
"Continue..."
"No need to search anymore."
Jing Yuan interrupted Fu Xuan, told the Cloud Knight to go back and rest, and ended the search.
Looking at the distant sunset, Jing Yuan said in a low voice, "He's already gone."
"Dead?"
"Pfft... Cough, cough... Lady Fu, that was a joke, right? A joke!"
Caught completely off guard by Fu Xuan's words, Jing Yuan coughed twice before continuing, "I mean he's already left this area and gone somewhere else."
He looked toward the place where Levi had fallen into the sea.
If he remembered correctly, there was an underwater current below.
One that led straight to Exalting Sanctum.
Levi wouldn't even have needed to move. The current alone could have carried him there.
The reason they hadn't found him was most likely because he had already drifted away with the current.
"So, he just left us behind?"
Sirin's face stayed expressionless.
"Uh... Miss, please don't worry. We'll arrange for someone to take you to Levi."
"No need! I'll just have Stelle go with me! I don't need you to arrange anyone!"
Suddenly, Jing Yuan noticed that the girl's tone had changed.
Her slightly cold voice had become full of energy.
Watching her leave, Jing Yuan shook his head, then turned to continue checking whether there was any of Shuhu's flesh left in the nearby waters.
And...
He looked up at the Ambrosial Arbor, which was still alive despite its weakened aura.
"Remove the Stellaron and seal it... Lady Fu, I'll leave that to you."
"Hmph!"
Watching Fu Xuan turn away with an unhappy face, Jing Yuan scratched his head in confusion.
What had he done to upset her this time?
———
The cleanup of Shuhu's remains was finished, and the arrests at the Alchemy Commission were also nearing their end.
The remaining task was to find the people still hiding.
By the time Kiana found Stelle, Stelle and March 7th had already become the champions of the Alchemy Commission Hide-and-Seek Competition.
Their prize was having dinner with Qingque.
Of course, they had to pay for it themselves. After all, every second of General Qingque's time was worth a fortune.
She had already spent so much time eating dinner with them. Making her pay as well would be a bit unreasonable.
"Cheapskate!"
"Hey, hey! Is that how you talk to your boss? Be careful, or I'll make you clean toilets!"
"Heh."
Stelle crossed her arms and looked at Qingque, who was standing in the same pose, constantly shaking one leg with a very smug expression.
She slowly lowered her arms and took out her bat.
Tapping it against her palm, she walked toward Qingque.
A fierce look flashed across her eyes.
"I'm not from the Luofu. You're not my boss."
Seeing things were going badly, Qingque stopped shaking her leg. After noticing the Cloud Knights had already escorted the prisoners away, she turned and ran.
"Bye!"
"Tch."
Putting away her bat, Stelle turned to look at Kiana, who was walking over.
Looking at Qingque's departing figure, Kiana asked curiously after getting closer, "She was... the one from last time..."
"Levi's friend on the Luofu. They're probably pretty close. They hang out together a lot."
You could even see a bit of Levi in her.
"But..." Stelle looked behind Kiana and didn't see Levi. "Why are you here alone? Where's that jerk Levi?"
'Did our dear Master Diviner drag him away for questioning?'
Thinking of that, Stelle couldn't help smiling.
Ding!
[Levi: Thanks for asking. I'm at Exalting Sanctum. Just got ashore.]
He then attached a picture of Exalting Sanctum at sunset.
The wet footprints on the ground showed he had only just come ashore.
He hadn't even dried his clothes before starting to chat in the group.
[Kiana: Prepare a big dinner. Then this young lady might forgive you for leaving me behind.]
Seeing Kiana's message, Stelle looked at her with a strange expression.
"You're not planning to go back?"
"Uh... I'm not planning to go back tonight."
"..."
Stelle's face twitched as she looked at her.
"No way... you're really planning to eat candy?"
"Or are you planning to experience being "served with a stick"?"
"Of course not!"
Kiana shouted, her face turning red.
Looking at Kiana's blushing face and Stelle's strange expression, March 7th tilted her head.
"What candy?"
Meeting March 7th's curious, childlike eyes, Stelle gently patted her head.
"Be good. Go play somewhere else."
"Y-you... if you don't want to tell me, fine! But what's with patting my head? And why are you talking like you're my parent... Keep it up and I'll bite you!"
March 7th quickly stepped back and looked at Stelle cautiously.
She seriously suspected Bailu's treatment last time had somehow damaged Stelle's brain. Otherwise, why was she always doing things that made no sense?
Kiana stammered, "Actually... for now... I can't go back."
As for the reason...
She could only say it was an impulsive decision.
After arriving at Exalting Sanctum and finding Levi, Kiana told him she was staying and that she couldn't go back for the time being.
Levi looked at her suspiciously after hearing that.
'Couldn't go back?'
"You blew up St. Freya Academy?"
"How could that be?" Stelle answered for Kiana. "What normal person would do something like that?"
'People joked about blowing up their school all the time, but actually doing it? You'd be lucky to find one person out of ten thousand.'
Then what could have happened that made it impossible for her to go back?
Levi really couldn't think of anything.
Neither of them noticed the strange expression on Kiana's face as they talked.