In the afternoon, a light rain began to fall, soon turning into a continuous drizzle.
Tokyo in late January was not warm, and as the light rain descended, a chill began to permeate the entire city.
Fortunately, however, Tokyo was one of the world's premier cities and wouldn't appear desolate merely due to the weather. As far as the eye could see, it remained a bustling scene.
Welt Yang stood at the port of Tokyo Bay, brushing raindrops from his hair, and gazed towards Nagazora City.
Back when Anti-Entropy was still Schicksal's North American Branch, they had deciphered the Dead Sea Scrolls—texts carrying the technology of the Previous Era—based on certain intelligence.
Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, there was explicit mention of a special battleship capable of converting Honkai energy into ordinary energy under controllable and universally applicable conditions—the Moonlight Throne.
Thus, the project codenamed "Moonlight Throne" was born.
Welt Yang, already feeling that his days were numbered (referring to how he was alive and kicking in Post-Honkai Odyssey), had been working as a teacher at St. Freya Academy while simultaneously perfecting this plan.
This way of life had continued for quite some time. If no other accidents occurred, he could have remained undercover for a while longer, maintaining a superficially peaceful existence.
However, fate, it seemed, had no intention of letting him live peacefully.
Even if that so-called peaceful life was only peaceful on the surface.
"Welt, although we wanted to let you have a few more peaceful days, a special situation has arisen that requires you to handle it personally."
"Lord Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, currently undercover in Schicksal's Far East Branch, if you receive this message, please make a trip to Nagazora City without fail."
Recalling the messages from Einstein and Theresa respectively, Welt took a deep breath and then looked towards Nagazora City.
Truly troubled times.
The Moonlight Throne project was not yet fully completed, his whereabouts were now completely exposed, and Nagazora City faced the crisis of a Herrscher attack.
The next course of action was to eliminate the Herrscher of Erosion from the Previous Era before it could recover its strength.
Welt, having learned from Theresa about the immense destruction the Herrscher of Erosion had inflicted upon civilization, had a murderous glint in his eyes.
The Herrscher of Erosion's ability was to infect machinery and living beings without contact, and it had a prior record of using nuclear weapons to destroy human cities. Such a Herrscher absolutely could not be allowed to remain.
Schicksal Overseer Otto's stance was very ambiguous; he was a strange entity standing between humanity and the Honkai, his position never firm, and thus unreliable.
Schicksal, in turn, was Otto's echo chamber. Because of Otto, Schicksal too had become untrustworthy.
Therefore, the task of dealing with the Herrscher of Erosion could only be accomplished by himself.
Even if it meant betting his own life.
Welt, already prepared for battle, even prepared for death, gazed into the distance, quietly awaiting his subordinates.
Soon, a sleek sedan cut through the rain curtain, speeding from afar, and then stopped nearby.
The man, who despite a period of imprisonment still held a very high status in the Far East, stepped out of the driver's seat, opened the rear door, and made a "please enter" gesture to Welt.
"Lord Sovereign, I've come to pick you up."
"Thank you for your trouble, Ryoma."
Welt nodded and then settled into the back seat of the car.
"Lord Sovereign, what are your instructions?"
Raiden Ryoma, who was in fact a die-hard fan of Welt, turned his head respectfully, requesting Welt's orders.
What should be done first?
Go find Einstein and Tesla to discuss battle plans?
Or rendezvous with Theresa, whose mind wasn't always the sharpest but whose character was trustworthy?
Welt pondered.
He had previously heard from Einstein that a young man had first rescued Raiden Ryoma, then contacted Anti-Entropy headquarters through him, and revealed Welt's own whereabouts.
If he wasn't mistaken, his location had been exposed because of that young man.
He had been doing fine at St. Freya Academy. He received Einstein's notification that his whereabouts had been discovered by an outsider, and before he could even finish packing his luggage, Theresa's message arrived.
Not many people knew his location, only a few loyalists and that young man who, for some unknown reason, knew where he was.
Looking at it this way, Theresa suddenly learning his identity was most likely due to that kid.
So, if his identity was revealed to Theresa by that boy named Li Zihan, then did the information about the Herrscher of Erosion also come from that same boy?
Welt, vaguely sensing the truth, pondered for a moment, then issued an order to Raiden Ryoma.
"Go find that person named 'Li Zihan'."
Hearing that particular name, Raiden Ryoma's expression suddenly stiffened.
"What's wrong?"
Welt, sensing that his subordinate's expression was a bit off, frowned and asked.
"It's nothing."
Mr. Ryoma forced a smile uglier than tears onto his face, then stepped on the accelerator, heading towards the apartment his daughter was renting.
========Line Break========
Raiden Mei's title as the "Herrscher of Rice" was perhaps somewhat undeserved.
In the room Raiden Mei had temporarily rented for convenience to attend school, Li Zihan held a bowl, eating what was, in reality, very home-style cooking, and thought.
Honestly, Li Zihan was a bit disappointed.
The food prepared by Mei, who bore titles like "Rice Cooker" and "Herrscher of Rice," could only be described as conventional, not particularly stunning.
"How does it taste?"
Miss Mei, who had actually started learning to cook after seeing Kiana nearly starve to death, asked.
"As home-style cooking goes, it's already very good," Li Zihan said, putting down his chopsticks.
Miss Mei, whose only diner before this had been Kiana, observed Li Zihan's reaction and felt slightly dejected.
Is it that bad?
Kiana clearly enjoys it a lot.
"It seems my culinary training still needs to continue."
Miss Mei uttered a declaration to continue advancing on the path of the Herrscher of Rice.
"I look forward to it."
Li Zihan gave Miss Mei a thumbs-up.
Raiden Mei, famed as the Rice Cooker, undoubtedly possessed more culinary talent than what she was currently displaying.
"I'll work hard."
Miss Rice Cooker, indeed feeling that she had been somewhat lax in her culinary training, nodded, her delicate face filled with seriousness.
Perhaps it was because the dignity of the Herrscher of Rice had been first provoked and then encouraged; she suddenly became fired up.
Having eaten his fill thanks to Miss Mei's hospitality, the young man began to consider what to do next.
The location of the donkey-eared fox had been found, but Welt hadn't arrived yet, so it wasn't suitable to awaken Yingyingying for now.
Finding himself with nothing to do for the moment, his gaze fell upon Miss Mei's delicate face, then moved downwards.
The first thing that met his eyes was a slender, graceful, swan-like neck, then, due to the slightly loose-fitting loungewear, a small portion of her beautiful collarbones was revealed, and then, even through the loungewear, her fine curves were discernible.
She's developed so well.
Li Zihan seemed to somewhat understand what constituted a "beautiful girl possessing a mature beauty that surpasses her age."
Here was a ready-made example.
"What are you looking at?"
Miss Mei, who had become very sensitive to others' gazes due to Kiana frequently peeking at her, subconsciously raised her hand to cover her chest, her expression somewhat wary.
"Just thinking about the Gem of Conquest on you, that's all."
The young man, who was indeed contemplating whether or not to remove the Gem of Conquest from Raiden Mei's body, naturally stated his purpose.
As for his gaze lingering a bit too long on her neck and collarbones... that was all an illusion.
"What's the Gem of Conquest?"
Miss Mei, completely oblivious as to what the Gem of Conquest was, looked somewhat bewildered, then pressed further.
"Is it something very dangerous?"
"I almost forgot you don't know about this yet."
The young man, whose intervention had prevented Mei from becoming a Herrscher, shrugged.
"Then let me first explain what the Gem of Conquest is. If you don't want it, I can help you remove it."