"Mmmph~"
She let out a stretch with an exaggerated arc.
Fingers interlaced, she pushed her palms upward, revealing half of her fair wrists from within fluffy sleeves.
At the end of a silver ornament, a thorny flower formed from tangled tassel chains, a dark gold rhomboid crystal swayed gently with her cape, which billowed in the cold wind.
On either side of her open collar, fine snow and frost streaked past like silk.
"Why isn't Little Bai back yet?"
Ziz spoke in a tone that everyone could recognize as "I'm so bored," standing up from her seat at the head of the table.
Tracing the edge of the long table, the smooth, rounded nail of her right index finger tapped out a clear yet weighty "tap-tap" sound on the ice.
"Cheche, why don't you pop up and take a look?"
Her seemingly slow steps possessed a speed faster than running or even flying. In the span of two short blinks, Ziz had already arrived beside Behemoth's seat, the second seat.
And then—
With a blissful expression, she began to vigorously knead...
The curved horns atop the white-haired loli's head.
Standing no taller than 150 centimeters, her snow-like, silver-white hair was woven into a long, thin braid at the side of her ear.
Above her slightly chubby, devastatingly cute cheeks, bangs of a darker, almost jet-black gold, as if dyed, slightly obscured less than a quarter of the loli's vision.
The cape, identical to Ziz's, looked a bit comical on her.
But she was an existence no one on the battlefield dared to ignore—her blue-gold "star pupils" were the most striking feature on Behemoth's face; but it was when these unique "cross-shaped star pupils" shifted into a crimson-gold "X" pattern that Behemoth's true terror was revealed.
"No need to worry."
Behemoth did not answer her question.
Cheche, who always looked like she had just woken up, was quite comfortably enjoying Xiao Zi's touch. If only she would use a little more force to rub the rather large curved horns on her head, that would be even better... Cheche was clearly not yet used to her humanoid form and always felt a bit of an itch on top of her head.
"The time has not yet come."
To the left of Behemoth's seat, a man with a fair face, narrow, smiling eyes, and round-rimmed glasses spoke, his hoarse voice carrying a hint of "charm."
"With the Monarch's power, he will not be held back by such a small matter."
His purplish-black, seaweed-like hair twisted with an unruly beauty, moving without any wind as if they were countless tiny snakes slithering in the shadows of an abyss.
Having spoken, Leviathan, with his right leg crossed and his ten fingers lightly clasped, tilted his neck back slightly, looking up at the starry sky that not even the wind and snow could obscure.
After a few seconds—
"Lady Ziz, you need only wait with ease."
---o---
"Ehh~"
"When it comes to perception, you really can see farther than the rest of us."
Leviathan's information was almost never wrong. Among the twenty-seven seats present, his perceptive ability was second only to the Monarch's.
Xiao Zi's gaze swept across the pristine floor.
The slightly mischievous dragon tail had already stopped its act of "destroying" her architectural masterpiece. Even in humanoid form, Behemoth still dragged a tail as long as she was tall. This tail, which swung about unconsciously, was the main reason she had casually walked over to "soothe" Cheche.
"A meeting where only a few people speak—"
Xiao Zi casually ended the previous topic.
"Everyone here will be kin and 'colleagues' from now on. There's no need to be so stiff when Little Bai isn't around. Otherwise, it's just too boring."
"Or could it be..."
Xiao Zi's gaze shifted across the table to Kevin, who wasn't far away.
"Is it because you're missing the 'routine' noodle-slurping session that you're a bit tense in an unfamiliar setting?"
"..."
"Lady Ziz."
After a brief silence, the one who took up Xiao Zi's topic, quite unexpectedly, was Eden.
A long table, not a round one, had already set the tone for this meeting. However, since the Honkai Beasts were willing to appear in human form, and their chief had even spoken the word "kin," it more or less showed their attitude, or rather, the Monarch's attitude.
For the great battle that was to come, there was no need to make the atmosphere so tense.
"You may have misunderstood."
"That is Kevin's personal interest, or, hmm, to be precise, it's his way of hiding his awkwardness. Normal humans do not perform a 'ritual' like slurping noodles before a meeting."
Eden explained gently with her mellow voice.
Smack!
Xiao Zi lightly slapped her palm with her curled right fist.
"I knew it."
"Eating before a meeting... it should usually be the other way around."
"But if that's the case..."
Xiao Zi's pupils constricted slightly, then quickly widened again with a smile.
"Before Little Bai returns."
"To pass the awkward time, why don't you all introduce yourselves? Although you 'became acquainted through fighting,' you probably don't know much about each other."
"After all..."
"Besides the three of us, the members of Fire Moth are complete strangers to everyone else here."
---o---
"Death Temple."
Xiao Zi's gaze swept over the [Retainers'] side.
In a situation like this, it was clearly more appropriate for them to start, and Death Temple did not disappoint, taking up her topic.
"Fifth Seat under the Monarch, proxy for the 'Authority of Binding'."
Death Temple was ranked behind War Temple, but in external affairs, she was usually the one to represent the Four Temples. If War Temple were the one to speak, there would likely be no solution other than battle and destruction.
"Fourth Seat, War, proxy for the 'Authority of Flame'."
"Sixth Seat, Famine, proxy for the 'Authority of Ice'."
"Seventh Seat, Plague, proxy for the 'Authority of Wind'."
Death Temple, with her long golden hair, introduced the Four Temples around her one by one.
On the Fire Moth side, Hua, Kosma, and the others finally shifted their full attention to those directly opposite them.
They had truly fought against them.
Regardless of the situation—be it as enemies or friends, out of carelessness or disdain—when an opponent willingly provided information, committing it to memory was being responsible for oneself.
"Humans."
"You may be curious about the meaning of 'proxy'."
If Xiao Zi represented the Monarch's "gentle" side, then Death Temple was a naked display of the Monarch's power... and the unique faith of the [Retainers].
"There is no need to conceal this matter."
"The Monarch can bestow his great power upon the legions, and among them, we, the [Retainers], receive the most—"
Death Temple's voice rose slightly.
"That's right."
"The Monarch you face, whether in the past or now... has never once shown what it means to be at 'full power'."