After leaving that collapsing Terra universe, they took one last look back—for the memories. Even though the other two had only been there for a few minutes, for Amiya it meant everything.
She was born and grew up here. Despite all the hardships and dangers, she still had her loved ones by her side: Kal'tsit, Theresa, the Doctor, and Babel. But now she had to watch her entire universe shatter into countless pieces. It hurt her so much.
"Let's go. This universe is gonna blow up in about 5 minutes." —kal'z
"Okay…" —Amiya
"But… can I look at it one last time, Uncle Cat?" —Amiya (Amiya will call kal'z "Uncle Cat", while kal'z will call her "little girl", "cutie", "baby", "sweetie")
"…" —kal'z
"Of course you can." —kal'z
In just one second, the three of them were teleported above the universe and witnessed the explosion.
"Let's enjoy this artistic explosion together~" —kal'z
The Arknights Universe N started glowing red. Black cracks spread everywhere. And BOOM—it shattered into billions and billions of fragments.
"It's so dazzling…" —Naturlog
'Even though I know it's not exactly a good thing…'
"So… it's really over? It hurts so much…" —Amiya
"Let's go now." —kal'z
And so the three left.
"Where are we going next, Uncle Cat?" —Amiya
"Of course, back to our place. Like I said, you're now my first citizen, so I can give you some special privileges there."
"What about me then?" —Naturlog
"You'll be the mayor—the one in charge of running and managing the city, and reporting back to me."
"Sounds fine."
"We're here!"
"Wow…" —Amiya
In front of Amiya stretched an endless sea of lush green forest. There were some very tall trees compared to the rest, but the real eye-catcher was the super gigantic tree that pierced straight through the clouds of this dimension.
"That tree is so huge! And look at those giant animals over there!" —Amiya
While Naturlog and kal'z were making that classic "-w-" face seeing how excited she was… no one expected the little girl to suddenly jump down. (Thanks to kal'z's power, she was perfectly fine.) And of course… she immediately ran into a beast.
"I'm going~" —Amiya
'So cute…' —both kal'z and Naturlog
'Wait—WHAT?!' —both of them
"Hey! Don't do that!" —both
"Ya~" —Amiya
Thud
"Hey little kid, what are you doing here?" —a gigantic polar bear, currently eating a black bear
"I want to make this place… like, how?" —Amiya
"Oh? Then let me show you right now." A blue icy glow started radiating around the bear. Everything nearby began freezing solid.
Only then did Amiya realize the danger. But before the other two could rush in to save her, she instinctively waved her hand— A golden crystal-shaped glass shard shot out and pierced straight through the bear's body.
"Wha—" —the bear
Shunk
"What… just happened?" —Amiya, only now realizing what she did
"I forgot to mention… the little girl has power. She can create and control a black liquid to erase anything, or create anything using those golden glass shards. That's basically it." —kal'z
"Let's go check on her."
"You two… how long have you been here? I'm scared…" —Amiya
"About a minute ago." —Naturlog
"You okay?"
"I'm fine, but…"
"The bear is dead."
"-_-" —Naturlog
"Anyway, let's head to that tree."
"This gate is so huge!" —Amiya
"Hehe, of course it's beautiful—I built it~" —naturlog
"You built it, big sis?" —Amiya
'Wait—why "big sis"?!' 'I forgot I'm still in girl form! It's all that damn cat's fault!'
"Alright, me and Amiya will head up to the top of the tree. You go find more people for the city, okay?" —kal'z
"So tiring…"
Then kal'z and Amiya teleported up to the treetop. Kal'z suggested teaching Amiya everything she would need to become who she's meant to be in the future.
"This is the top… The night sky is so beautiful. There are stars up there!" —Amiya
"-W-" —kal'z
"Listen, I'll teach you how to become the future you. Do you want that?"
"Yes! But… what about that organization?"
"…" —kal'z
"About them… I'll figure something out. But like I said before, whether you want revenge for yourself or for everyone—that's your choice."
"Okay…"
"In about an hour, we'll start training, cutie."
—Back to Naturlog—
"Alright… I should train this power first before going out recruiting. If I'm too weak, how can I save anyone?"
So to become stronger and save more people, he decided to practice basic combat—normal punches, kicks, martial arts, etc. But he needed a teacher. He chose the Black Serpent (since it was the only creature he knew here who was somewhat decent in this savage place).
'Kal'z is definitely busy teaching the little girl right now.' 'Sigh… oh right, the Black Serpent. He's kinda decent. But where does he even live?'
—At the Black Serpent's place—
After eating his fill (swallowing a giant rabbit whole), he was lounging in his cave—complete with a bed (purpose revealed later), table and chairs for guests—when Thiên Công's voice woke him up.
"Zzz…" —Black Serpent
"Hey! You in there, Black Serpent?!"
"What the—?!" —Black Serpent
'Hmm… it's him. But why is he here and how did he find my place?'
"Thiên Công, why are you here and…"
"I'm here to ask you to teach me how to fight—normal punches, kicks, martial arts, or just how to hit harder."
"And how I found this place? Kal'z pointed it out. Though it seems like it doesn't really care much."
"That cat acts like it cares about everyone, but even for friends or close ones, it still cares more about things that bring it joy—food, toys, or anything that fits its own criteria." —Black Serpent
"Really… well, it's still just a cat after all." —Naturlog
"Yep."
"Anyway, I'll accept your request. But I need to digest first. In this state, I can't do anything."
"Fine, I'll wait."
"Hey… why did you follow that cat anyway?"
"I… I followed it because I wanted power to change my own life."
"Then… don't let negative emotions take over and let that power corrupt you."
"Thanks for the advice."
"…" —both
"Anyway, it's late. Let's sleep." —Black Serpent
"Mm." —naturlog
After that short talk, night fell, so they went to sleep.
—The next morning—
"Man, the climate here is even crazier than my original place."
"owo" —Naturlog
He looked down and saw the Black Serpent's belly back to normal, now coiled up sleeping. He carefully tiptoed out without making a sound.
"Too tight… time to find something to eat~"
"Hey, when did you wake up?" —Black Serpent
"Just a minute ago."
"Oh."
"Alright, today I'll teach you how to fight. But first, let's go hunt for food."
"Hey… did you always look like this?"
"No, I didn't have this form originally."
"Wait—haven't I turned back to male yet?!"
He created a mirror and saw… still a girl. And even taller now (originally 1m70 as male → 1m60 as female → now 1m62), and everything else enhanced too.
"WHAT THE— NOOOOOOOOO!"
"It's all that damn cat's fault! It said after 24 hours I'd turn back to normal!" —Thiên Công
—Meanwhile with kal'z—
Kal'z was teaching Amiya how to read, write, understand languages, and all kinds of words—so later she could communicate with citizens from other universes who might have their own languages.
"Achoo—someone's talking about me?" —kal'z
"Uncle Cat, I finished reading!" —Amiya
"Good, let's continue~"
"Hehe… told you so~" —Black Serpent
"I think besides training, you should get used to this body first." —Black Serpent
"No way…"
"Anyway, let's go find food."
—Somewhere else—
A gigantic eagle was hunting when suddenly a metal chunk weighing hundreds of millions of tons smashed into its face, stunning it and sending it crashing down.
"Who the hell dared throw rocks at me?! I won't forgive you!"
The bird powered up. White energy surged around it. With one flap of its wings, it created two storms (300 km/h) and one superstorm (645 km/h).
"What the fuck?! I only threw it a little and it went berserk already?!" —Naturlog
Thiên Công was now inside a hollow iron shell buried deep in the ground—along with the Black Serpent.
"Did you forget? All of us here—including me—go berserk if our pride gets insulted. This is normal." —Black Serpent
"Then let's finish it off."
—End of Chapter 4—