Chapter 22: A Conversation Three Years Late
In Queen Elysion's study, Beichen and Xiaxue sat face to face, with some food for humans and weapons in front of each of them - it didn't look like a discussion between enemies, but more like a reunion of old friends.
No, perhaps neither side defined the other as a pure "enemy." Otherwise, given their personalities and codes of conduct, only one side would have remained.
Beichen's cup was filled with delicious fruit wine, while Xiaxue's cup was filled with a solution of star minerals with seasonings (those edible crystals). Both of them raised their glasses at the same time and toasted each other.
"I didn't expect you to guess everything I was thinking."
Xiaxue took a sip of the Star Spirit Ore solution, smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"I still underestimated you, Beichen."
"If you had known I would guess so accurately, you would have regretted not giving me that diary, right?"
Beichen laughed teasingly.
"My original goal was just to use Theresa's records to get you to set your sights on Senagard."
"You want to lead us two into a fight, lead Su Mo into executing the Doomsday Plan, and then have Xiang Ying use the power to command the world's weapons—and then your goal will be achieved, right?"
Xiaxue remained silent.
"The ruins and the Red Tower... didn't originally contain any readable modern Senagadian text. ...You must have added that, too, to help us understand the past."
Beichen said as he put a bacon and tomato roll into his mouth, chewed it slowly and swallowed it. Seeing that Xiaxue still didn't answer and just looked at her face with amusement, he rolled his eyes:
"Then let me ask another question. ...Who is Agard's descendant?"
Xiaxue was quite straightforward: "Andre."
"As expected." Beichen moved the cup, watching the swaying liquid within. "Looking at what happened to Yagad, it seems... that among the three of you, none of you considered treating the 'knight' kindly when selecting him. Yagad is very loyal to me, so I can't see anything yet. Perhaps, within that red cone, there's some kind of immediate punishment for attacking the witch?"
"If he hurts you, the hurt you inflict will be returned to him threefold."
"You admit it?"
"Of course, I'll leave matters related to Agard to Prometheus. As for the Red Cliff in Feinheim—you should be able to guess who the 'True God' is, right?"
"It's you after all, isn't it?"
"Bingo."
Xiaxue raised his eyebrows proudly and snapped his fingers.
"As expected, Prometheus—that female humanoid Moon Envoy is also acting in concert with you. So, that means the 'Light' in the Thirteen Moon Slaughter Blocks, who was supposedly dead, is you?"
The golden-eyed Star Vein laughed proudly and nodded.
"Do you have any other questions? I can answer them all for you."
"The database on Chita was tampered with—and it was you who did it. You're trying to antagonize me, Sumo, and Senagade."
"Uh-huh."
"You were also the one who secretly installed the tactile ball in the Spiritual Martial Union that can measure levels and rankings, right? With it, you can record the data of most Spiritual Martial Unions and weapons in the world."
"Uh-huh."
"People who pass through the dimensional gate can understand the language of the other world. Is it because the dimensional gate implants some kind of machine with translation function into the body of the person who passes through the gate? Is this also what you did?"
"That's not the case." Xiaxue finally shook her head. "The one who created the dimensional gate was Wanzu."
“—Huh?”
"Wanzu is different from us. It is a four-dimensional creature. You must have spoken to it before, right?"
"I told you he can speak multiple sentences at once—I see. A four-dimensional being. If you add three dimensions and a timeline, then I can understand why Wan Zu's way of speaking is so unique."
"Yes, he can not only see space, but also the 'time' of all things. I don't know the specific principles, but I heard from Wanzu that four-dimensional creatures have a certain chance of seeing another world in a parallel universe. The other-dimensional isotope planet in Senagad is Feinheim, which is also your home Earth."
"……I see……"
"After discovering Earth, Wan Zu gave it the name 'Feinheim' that Senagard had discarded. At that time, there were no intelligent life forms on that planet. When Senagard learned about this planet through Wan Zu, he was fascinated by it and wanted to make it his new body, but Chi Yue and I stopped him."
"Why?"
"To migrate there, one must bring with them the energy of celestial spirit power. And I believe that this energy is the source of all kinds of war. Therefore, I oppose the idea of spreading the flames of war to a parallel dimension. We persuaded Senagad to not carry out his plan, but because of this... he began to feel a rift between him and our two satellites."
Xiaxue said this, as if he was recalling something from long ago, his eyes were empty and he had a somewhat unreal smile on his face.
"A thousand years ago, a serious disagreement arose between my philosophies and those of Senagard. While possessing the body of the Possessed Moon Envoy, I engaged in a fierce battle, ultimately defeating him. I briefly fell into a state of suspended animation, then Wanzu used my corpse to transfer my consciousness into my current form—the body of 'Xiaxue'—and was reborn as a new war weapon. After my rebirth, I discovered that the descendants of Theresa, scattered across the world, had been slain by Senagard and then by Red Moon."
“…Huh? Why are you doing this?”
"They probably thought I'd use the Red Box maliciously. So they wanted to eliminate all Theresa's relatives who could use it. Anyway, with the prophecy of the end of the world, it wouldn't be impossible to replace them with someone else."
Beichen frowned when he heard this.
"Then, I finally found the last remaining Bloodline and secretly hid him in Feinheim. While monitoring the spread of the Bloodline, I established the 'Red Cliff' there, attempting to artificially cultivate bodies capable of housing the Red Box. However, most of the attempts failed, and the most successful ones were merely 'pseudo-shells'."
"Didn't Senagade discover these?"
"It wasn't even a hundred years later, and they were quickly discovered." Xiaxue shrugged with a crooked mouth, "But Senagade didn't kill them all. Maybe he calmed down and softened his heart.
"Then what."
"Then we each carried out our own plans." Xiaxue smiled bitterly. "Senagarde soon changed his body again. He didn't tell me what body he would change into. I only heard Wanzu say that he chose a new body to possess the Moon Envoy. So in the end, I completely lost contact with him──"
"Putting the official battlefield now?"
"Exactly."
After Xiaxue nodded, Beichen lowered his eyes and took a few sips of wine - the two of them were silent for a few minutes.
"Xiaxue, you're still lying—no, not lying, there's still a lot you haven't said."
"What? You've already guessed my purpose."
"What's your deepest intention in wanting Xiangying to replace Wanzu as the new pillar of life? Is it just to save Wanzu?"
"You still want to destroy this era, right? I've been spreading those prophecies for a reason."
“…destroy this era?”
"I want to revive the technology of ancient civilizations. To bring all of humanity's lost technologies back to the world."
Beichen was stunned for more than ten seconds, then nodded in sudden realization, and then shook his head.
──As expected, you’re still lying.
But Beichen no longer argued with Xiaxue about this issue, but just took another bite of the snack on the table.
"Now that I've seen through your plan, what are you going to do?"
"No big deal, just wait and see. Oh, by the way, next Blade Cry Night, I'm afraid the Ancestors won't be able to hold on. By then, there might be no more War Machines, and they'll all just turn into violent Iron Ghosts. Don't forget these brainless enemies who are even tougher than us."
Will you be unable to hold out on the next Blade Night?!
Beichen frowned suddenly - by the way, Wanzu has recently consumed a lot of physical energy to create a body for Yagad, so did it accelerate his disease?
Seeing Beichen's solemn expression, Xiaxue seemed very satisfied and showed a mischievous smile.
"There's an enemy overhead that you've ignored."
"The top of your head? The top of your head────"
Beichen thought for dozens of seconds, then froze.
There are the Poison Moon and the Red Moon above your head... The Poison Moon doesn't seem to pose any major threat except for possessing the Moon Messenger, so what about the Red Moon?
The Red Moon has the Red Spirit Turret—but no one has used the turret for a long time.
"Haven't you figured out what's going on yet? Don't you know what a high concentration of star power will bring?"
“Ah—”
Beichen let out a trembling scream from his throat.
When the concentration of star power reaches a certain level, the inorganic matter soaked in it will have a chance to produce signs of life or even an autonomous personality - and the Red Spirit Turret is a fortress that uses star power as a weapon.
"The Red Spirit Turret was bathed in artificial red astral energy, so its personality took a while to develop, but it certainly has one. I went to see it once—how should I put it, even I felt that same 'fear'."
"What's the meaning?"
"A completely unhealthy personality. Perhaps it's because Andre's remnants remain within the turret? In short, as a fortress and a weapon, it possesses only a desire for battle, bloodshed, and destruction. He hasn't attacked Senagard yet because I've blocked access to its operating program. And the key to unlocking this access is the Red Box within you."
"Then why didn't he try to find me?"
"Why not?" Xiaxue's mouth curled up dangerously.
"His consciousness, carried by the Red Moon's soil, transformed into a meteorite and arrived on the surface of Senagard. It then became a toxin, contaminating the weapon tombs. Using the corpses of the weapons, he created the first violent iron ghosts. Furthermore, he separated a small portion of his consciousness and took over the body of a possessed Moon Envoy."
"──Possessed by the Moon Envoy──Could it be that, that────"
"Yes, that's the mutated Possessed Moon Envoy. Don't you find it strange? How can he, a Possessed Moon Envoy, control the Violent Iron Ghost? Because their origins are the consciousness of the Red Spirit Turret.
Of course, because not all of his consciousness has entered that body, his situation is very unstable. He and the possessed Moon Envoy are still fighting for control of the body, and it has also caused inexplicable changes to the body. Aren't you curious about who the last star killer, 'The One Who Laughs at All Things,' is? He is it."
Seeing Beichen's pale face, Xiaxue shook her finger in a good mood:
"Sometimes, disasters are like firecrackers. Once lit, they explode on their own. Even if you beat us, the ones who lit the firecrackers, to a pulp, it wouldn't really mean anything. Okay, what are you going to do now? There are turrets in the sky, watching intently, and on the ground, there are about to be a large number of violent iron ghosts. Even if you deal with the three of us great consciousnesses, it seems you still haven't solved anything."
Beichen put down the cup, picked up the napkin beside him to wipe his mouth, then slowly exhaled and looked up at Xiaxue.
"Xiaxue, let's not talk about that for now. I want to say something to you."
"oh?"
"How come you, a pervert who only wants the world to be in turmoil, are so deserving of a beating?"
“…”
The former number one warrior's mouth twitched.
"And even if you've said all this now, it still doesn't explain your contradictory behavior. You clearly joined us in opposing Su Mo during the Protoss Revolution, but then why did you give me that diary and say those words to Xiang Ying? You really wanted to help me at first, but why did you change your mind later?"
"Why?"
Xiaxue touched his chin and leaned lazily on the sofa.
"Well, it should be said that the period of time I've been helping you is my 'change of heart,' and now I'm just returning to the course of action I've decided on over the past few thousand years."
"Then why did you give up the plan you had been running for so long and help us?"
"Because..." Xiaxue paused mid-sentence, looking at Beichen with a complicated expression. "Because of my encounter with you. You and... Theresa are very similar in some ways."
Beichen was stunned as if struck by lightning. He was stunned for a long while, then nodded hesitantly and pounded his fist:
"I see... I see. I understand exactly what's going on."
As she spoke, she drank the rest of the wine in her glass in big gulps, then put the glass down and stared at the blood-red glow:
"Your purpose...as expected...in the end, your most fundamental purpose is to get Theresa back to you, right?"
Bang!
Xiaxue had a blank expression on his face, the corners of his mouth curled up without any warmth, and his movements hadn't changed at all. He just leaned elegantly on the sofa like a resting black panther - but the wine glass filled with the Star Spirit Ore solution in front of him inexplicably shattered.
"I was right."
Beichen looked at Xiaxue's face with a complicated expression and handed over a few tissues.
"The purpose of reviving ancient technology had no grand purpose at all. It was simply to find the technology to reawaken Theresa, right? Her body wasn't dead at the time, thanks to the Red Star's spiritual power, right? It was... only her consciousness that died? So... you preserved her body, and you haven't given up on bringing her back to this day, right?"
The expression on Xiaxue's face collapsed for a moment, but he quickly returned to his relaxed look.
"You're right. Theresa's body—still preserved intact in Chita. But even I... know it. She's already dead, and there's no way to bring her back except through unholy means. She certainly wouldn't want her eternal rest disturbed. So, I wouldn't do this unless absolutely necessary."
Beichen swallowed his saliva:
"...In other words, because of my appearance...you thought I could be a replacement for Theresa, so you...temporarily gave up your plan to resurrect Theresa. But then you discovered that Theresa and I weren't the same person after all, so in the end..."
"You're wrong. I won't treat anyone as a substitute. This is not only disrespectful to you, but also to her."
A rare, fragile, yet self-deprecating smile appeared on the face of the Emperor-class warrior.
"I...after being reborn as a war weapon, I changed several contractors."
Xiaxue said this while looking at the ceiling above her head in a daze.
"Including that bastard Lian Cang... there were three women and two men in total. Excluding Lian Cang, I had a good relationship with every one of them. When they were alive, I didn't look for other contractors. Instead, I stayed with them until the end of their lives. Every time I sent a contractor away, I felt very uncomfortable. But what can I do? Humans are different from weapons. Their lifespans don't extend as their strength increases. Even the strongest warriors can only live to over a hundred years old. So they left one by one, and in the end, I was the only one left."
Beichen was silent.
"You probably can't understand the feeling of having an endless life but having to watch the ones you love grow old and pass away."
"...No, maybe...I can understand."
"Hmm. So... because of this, I've always wanted someone who could stay by my side forever. Theresa had an ageless body steeped in the spiritual energy of the Red Star, but she died of depression—and as her descendant, you can house the Red Box, and thus, gain endless life."
"……this……"
"So you understand now. There's no need for one of you to replace the other. I just selfishly wanted a contractor to stay by my side. It would be best if Theresa could come back, but if it was you... maybe the days ahead would be interesting, that's what I thought at the time."
"But after you threw me into the War Weapon Grave, I disappeared. Not until the Latia Martial Arts Tournament..."
"I trusted my own charm too much. I thought no one could refuse the world's best weapon. But..."
Xiaxue laughed at herself and shook her head.
"Ever since attending your birthday party, I've realized that I'm completely unnecessary to you. There's not even a tiny sliver of territory around you that could possibly belong to me. So why would I need you? Originally, you were just a 'backup plan' that allowed me to avoid using that cruel, unorthodox method to wake Theresa up."
"You are too willful."
"I have always been so willful." Xiaxue regained his arrogant and domineering look and raised his eyebrows.
"Energy balance, environmental protection, racial conflict... I don't really have much motivation to uphold them. I just want a companion who can eliminate my boredom."
“…”
Beichen gritted his teeth and, unable to bear it any longer, picked up a Tianfeng Fruit on the table and threw it viciously at Xiaxue on the opposite side!
"You...you childish ghost!!"
Xiaxue didn't expect Beichen to react like this. She reached out to catch the Tianfeng Fruit in surprise - but before she could hold it firmly, the second and third ones came flying at her!
"Wait, wait—Hey!"
"Go to hell! Lonely! Sad! Idiot! Narcissist! Tone-deaf!"
Crackling, crackling—a bunch of fruits all rushed towards the emperor-level weapon. At first, he could still dodge it, but later, even Xiaxue, who had always maintained a handsome and cool image, was defeated. He was hit by Beichen in the study and ran away in panic—even if it was fruit, fruit coated with red star spiritual power, it would not feel good to be hit!
So Xiaxue had to rush out of the study, and was chased by Beichen, running in a Z shape in the corridor. She looked really embarrassed.
"Stop smashing it! Hey... little girl! I said... it hurts!────If you're really unhappy, let's duel──ah, it hurts! Stop smashing it! I was wrong, I was wrong, isn't that okay?!"
But Beichen, probably angry at Xiaxue's excuse, went berserk and continued to chase and attack with a large blue fruit in his hand. Not long after, Xiangying, Yaye, Atlas, and Heihuo Sujie, who were on standby nearby, also surrounded him.
"Master—uh, Master, what are you...doing?"
Seeing this scene, Xiang Ying was obviously a little confused.
"Don't you understand?"
Yaye leaned against the wall and dug his ears with an elegant movement.
"They are dueling."
"Huh?! Duel?! Duel with... with fruit?!"
"You don't understand, idiot Ying." Black Disaster smirked and put his arm around Xiang Ying's shoulder. "This is an ancient dueling method! There once was a country called Babulabi. They had laws prohibiting the use of weapons in private fights, so those with grudges came up with a solution—using fruit!"
"That's right!" Su Jie also added fuel to the fire, "Hit each other with fruit. Whoever has the least fruit stains on their body wins!"
"I see—" Xiang Ying suddenly realized, "Then should we also help the master get some fruit to throw at Senior Xiaxue?"
“That’s right!”
With a wicked smile, Heihuai took out something from the storage space, rolled it into a ball, and then smashed it hard at the back of Xiaxue's head!
Xiaxue's expression changed, and he jerked his body backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. He then turned around and yelled in frustration:
"Didn't you say we were going to use fruit? Why did you throw those stinky socks over here?"
"Yeah? You've made a mistake, Master Xiaxue!" Su Jie shook his index finger. "This isn't a stinky sock. It's just a fruit that looks like a stinky sock. It's called the Foot Skin Fruit!"
"Isn't that just stinky socks!?"
Beichen's face turned green:
"Black Disaster, who told you to throw my socks around? And Xiaxue, you bastard! Socks are just socks, why add the word 'stinky' to it? How can my socks be smelly?"
After saying that, he threw a bunch of sweet dates over!
"I see—are you going to throw away your socks?"
Xiang Ying murmured to the side.
"You said you were going to throw some fruit, but why did it turn into socks?"
Xiaxue was so sad that she wanted to cry but had no tears──then she shrank her head and dodged a flying black object!
Atlas was chewing the Tianfeng Fruit with an expressionless face, then his cheeks puffed out and the core shot out like a real bullet, instantly cutting off several hairs of Xiaxue!
"&*…*&%%…&%! Please don't attack people with something covered in saliva! And why did a fruit core get stuck into the wall? How strong are your chewing muscles?!"
Xiaxue started cursing incoherently.
Puff puff puff!
Three more fruit core bullets were shot out. Xiaxue's face turned green. He had to call out his weapon form and swing his sword to smash the fruit cores.
The onlookers fell silent for a moment.
"I'm the best."
Atlas's tail lifted in excitement.
"I forced the enemy into the second form. Beichen wants to praise me."
"Ah, ahahaha, yes, Atlas is really powerful..." Beichen laughed dryly a few times, "But it's better not to shoot bullets with your mouth... I think Xiaxue is a bit pitiful..."
The possessed moon envoy tilted his head:
"Oh. Then I'll lose my socks too. ...But I don't have any socks."
Atlas said this, looking down at his feet—they were just covered with hard shells protecting his soles.
“…No socks.”
Atlas' tail suddenly hung down in grievance - Beichen and Heihuo Sujie were both frightened.
"Don't be sad, don't be sad. We will buy you socks tomorrow!"
"Yeah, yeah! I'll buy you as many pairs as you want. Even if you have to wear socks on the corners, that's fine!"
"So please don't try to break off the shells on your feet! There are no such bizarre socks in the world!"
The three of them worked together to calm Atlas down, while Xiang Ying and Yaye stared at the somewhat exhausted figure of Xiaxue.
"Hmm... I see... Anyway, the way to defeat the opponent is by throwing socks, right? Yaye-senpai."
"That's right—the enemy is a heavyweight like Kasumi-san, so ordinary socks definitely won't do."
Yaye nodded with a serious expression on purpose.
Xiaxue twitched her lips: "I said it was smashing fruit, not socks..."
"Got it!" Xiang Ying clapped his hands. "I absolutely can't bear to throw away my master's socks! I'll just use them as a talisman under the pillow! I'd better use my star power to make a pair of socks!"
"Oh! Good idea!" Su Jie cheered.
“…Xiang Ying, who told you to use my socks as a talisman…” Beichen’s face darkened.
"Come on!" Yaye, who hadn't had a good time for a long time and obviously wanted to move his body, raised his sickle and made a motion that looked like swinging a baseball bat.
"Oh!" Xiang Ying clenched his fist with great pride.
Then, a pair of socks bigger than a person appeared above the aisle──
Li Ye, who was watching, said: "...It's quite realistic. But why is there a small hole on it?"
Xiang Ying: "How can I just randomly fabricate the appearance of the master's socks? Of course, I restored them to their original form!"
In an instant, countless eyes of admiration, pity, surprise, and sympathy were cast on Beichen.
The Queen of Elytheon is so frugal that she even wears her socks with holes in them... It's truly admirable, truly admirable!
Xiaxue: "...That's enough, come on, I'd rather die and be reborn soon."
Beichen: "Why don't you just hit me? I have no face to live in this world anymore."
Xiang Ying on the side had already rolled up the socks - then Yaye let out a heroic roar, and with a loud bang, the socks, as big as an iron ball, flew straight towards Xiaxue, and then, with the same roar from Xiaxue, they were cut into several pieces and shattered on the ground!
Then Xiaxue put away his sword with a cold smile:
"Hmph, if you want to beat me, first learn how to throw socks that change trajectory in the air."
"Damn it! I actually lost!" Xiang Ying said with a look of discontent. "Damn it! Next time I must make more powerful socks!"
"That's right." Yaye patted Xiangying's shoulder, "As long as we have perseverance, we will definitely make it to the national competition!"
"Yes! Coach Yaye!"
Li Ye, who was watching, said: "..."
Fei Bai watched for a while but didn't know where to start: "..."
"I say, has no one remembered that socks are meant to be worn on feet..."
The normal person Lahan huddled in a corner and muttered quietly.
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