It took Kiana the whole morning to finish her work.
"Come to think of it, that girl Niúmǎ said the Rite of Parting should be in the next couple of days, right?"
With nothing else to do, Kiana casually opened the chat group to see what her friends were up to.
[Niúmǎ Na: Tomorrow's the Rite of Parting. I'll show everyone our Liyue Rex Lapis!]
[Void Hunting Kiana: Tomorrow Ling Zhenhao actually gave me the day off—I can lie in bed and watch!]
[Special Operations Na: Deep undercover, don't @ me… (crying rivers.jpg)]
"They've been in the group for two days and I still haven't spoken to them."
Kiana eyed the two newcomers chatting away, curiosity written on her face.
[Group Owner Na: My darlings, did you miss me?]
[Gojo Na: Zombie apocalypse!]
[Senju Na: Zombie apocalypse!]
[Knight Na: Zombie apocalypse!]
[Little Moonlight: Zombie apocalypse!]
[Caeluslana abnormal status (death) removed]
[Pretty Cure Na: Aaaaah! Now that's a real zombie! (screaming.jpg)]
For a moment the group erupted in chaos over Caeluslana's sudden resurrection.
Kiana clicked on Caeluslana's avatar—now back in color, the countdown gone.
[Void Hunting Kiana: That's the one whose avatar had a countdown, right? So what exactly happened…]
[Special Operations Na: Same question]
[Caeluslana: …]
[Kevin: Don't tell me my counterpart possessed you]
[Group Owner Na: Have you… entered a new Eternal Kalpa cycle? @Caeluslana]
[Caeluslana: Fire… Seed… Cycle… Stop… Seize… Seed…]
[Detected Caeluslana's incoherent speech and mental confusion; group chat repair initiated]
[Knight Na: Looks like she went through something we don't know about…?]
[Caeluslana: Thanks for the help, group chat.]
[Caeluslana: @Group Owner Na, you seem to know what I've experienced?]
[Group Owner Na: Mm, for certain reasons I've observed the fate of many worlds.]
After some thought, Kiana decided to speak up.
After all, everyone here was on her side; telling them wouldn't hurt.
[Niúmǎ Na: Good sis, you're holding out on us—don't tell me you even know my fate!]
[Group Owner Na: Not yours, but I might know a bit about some other people in your world?]
[Caeluslana: Then I'll be direct… We're now in Eternal Kalpa cycle 23,570,001, and I've inherited everything the previous "me" possessed…]
(I can't find the star date when Amphoreus was born, so I can't calculate how many cycles it'd gone through by 8080, so let's just say it's cycled this many times already~)
"So many cycles already…"
Kiana glanced at Caeluslana's avatar with a pang of sympathy.
She delved into her memories and found some vague records about Amphoreus.
"So from cycle 4,000,001 onward, every Flame Reaver has been the previous cycle's Phainon."
Which meant the Caeluslana in the group now was Phainon of cycle 23,570,000.
Likewise, the number of Fire Seeds she carried had multiplied by that same cycle count.
No wonder she'd just suffered mental chaos—the sheer cumulative power of the Seeds had overwhelmed her.
[Niúmǎ Na: …]
[Pretty Cure Na: (heartache.jpg)]
[Senju Na: No wonder her mind fractured… If I'd endured that many cycles I'd probably be even crazier…]
"Amphoreus is extremely far away, but I should be able to open a gate straight there…"
Kiana lay on her desk, murmuring to herself.
Soon she remembered two nifty items sitting in her system warehouse.
"Digital world tree seed and Absolute Delete!"
She opened the warehouse and saw them right there.
"I wonder if Absolute Delete can currently reboot the Iron Tomb?"
Back in the digi-world Absolute Delete could reboot even the World Tree—essentially the world itself.
But in this vast universe, who knew how much power it could actually unleash.
Maybe it could reboot the place, or maybe before the Iron Tomb that force amounted to nothing more than a little girl?
Still, it couldn't be completely useless.
After all, the Iron Tomb was essentially a system—a lifeform running on data and code.
The Amphoreus it simulated could be treated as another kind of digital world.
And total deletion was exactly the right tool for the job.
If that failed, just plant the world tree seed—boom, perfect match!
Kiana pondered—feasible!
But no amount of theorizing beat actually trying it out.
"Whatever—worst case I'll step in myself, or send Bronya or Little Corruption over."
She'd worry about whether it worked later; she had plenty of options.
A mere Iron Tomb couldn't beat her.
Besides, Zandall might not even be an enemy.
She currently had a very poor opinion of Nous; in all likelihood she'd reset Nous in the future, install someone new to control the entire Erudition Path.
So Zandall, who shared that idea, should be an ally—let him do the work while she relaxed.
Though already invincible, Kiana hadn't become strong just to look for trouble every day… [Group Owner Na: @Caeluslana, I'm sending you something—plant it somewhere to counterbalance the Iron Tomb.]
[Group Owner Na sent Caeluslana a red envelope ×1]
[Caeluslana received: Digital world tree seed]
[Digital world tree seed: when planted in a data world, the seed will grow on its own at the world's core.]
"First let the World Tree and the Iron Tomb keep each other in check; later I'll swap bodies with Phainon to handle this and negotiate with Lygus (Zandall)."
Kiana needed to reclaim Phainon's soul fragments, and the system had given only this method.
Phainon's body should be strong enough to endure Ultra Instinct; she'd have nothing to worry about.
[Kevin: World Tree…? The mythic kind? You just hand it out! Big boss, carry me! @Group Owner Na]
[Group Owner Na: @Kevin, trade me Mei!]
[Kevin: Tch—fine, keep it!]
Meanwhile, in Amphoreus's Mourning Myrtle.
A mysterious figure in tattered black robes and a mask, black torn stockings clinging to her legs, watched from afar two petite girls lying in a brilliant sea of flowers.
One had pink hair with a white streak and tiny elven ears, a purple off-shoulder coat draped over her.
Her diamond-pink pupils and flawless sapphire eyes gazed skyward in delight.
Beside her lay a white-haired girl with clear blue irises and golden pupils.
Hand in hand, the two girls gazed at the azure sky, full of hope for the future.
"…"
The black-robed girl gripped the ultimate black sword in her left hand; in her right floated a golden sphere wrapped in data, silently watching the scene.
-------------------------------
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