Returning to her homeland, Sakura's feelings were actually mixed.
Because in this era, there was another "her" existing.
Namely: the female assassin with the same name, code-named "Forget-Me-Not," who hadn't yet been implanted with the "Yaksha" factor and hadn't become a MANTIS.
And by "her" side, there was also her own younger sister...
"Can I really call myself Rin's older sister?"
To be honest, among the thirteen Flame-Chaser Memory Bodies, she was actually one of the more confused.
In her heart, she really wanted to see Rin again.
But if she were to take it seriously...
Actually, even those "memories" didn't belong to her.
From beginning to end, she was just a shadow.
And an "unsuccessful" shadow at that.
Sakura didn't know what the other twelve Flame-Chaser Memory Bodies were thinking.
She only knew that... she now both wanted to see Rin and was afraid... afraid that Rin would personally say the words she least wanted to hear:
"You're not my sister."
She had to admit...
"I guess this is what they mean by 'the one involved is the most confused'!"
Without any warning...
The black-haired young man's figure abruptly appeared beside Sakura.
"It's you."
Turning around warily, Sakura's heart calmed down upon seeing the visitor was him.
Obviously, this wasn't because she trusted him.
It was because she knew that with his power... no matter what he wanted to do, she couldn't resist.
This point had already been proven multiple times and thoroughly before she had even left the Elysian Realm.
So...
"Is there something you need?" Sakura asked.
"You could say that."
Ling ke shrugged. "You can just think of it as... hmm~ a passing whim of mine."
He smiled. "Lately, you've helped me a lot in the Elysian Realm."
"Aside from the daily massive EXP farming sessions... cough~ Anyway, when you were acting as my sparring partner, you were very serious and responsible."
"So, I'm planning to give you a little benefit."
Only upon hearing this did Sakura truly face the current situation.
Because she knew all too well that he acted entirely on a whim.
And the so called "little benefit" he offered was usually anything but small.
She had seen an example before.
Namely, The Sundown Alley on Earth in the Proper World.
That secluded, safest sanctuary had appeared because he was in a good mood, creating a domain that received "special care (positive)."
Right now...
"Go ahead," Sakura said, her words brief.
Over the past few months, when she was still just a Memory Body within the Elysian Realm, she had chatted with Ling ke.
But they had very little in common to talk about.
However, she had listened very attentively when he told the story of Jizo Mitama.
Of course, the story related to the Twelfth Divine Key, the Key of Corruption, was also told on a whim. He had just returned from The Sundown Alley that day and, in a good mood, happened to tell it to her.
And today...
"Sakura, you should trust your younger sister."
The corners of Ling ke's mouth curled slightly, as if he had just seen through Sakura's thoughts.
In fact, he did indeed have the ability to do so.
At this moment...
"Knowing Rin, if you appeared before her, the only thing that would happen is..."
Ling ke raised his right hand and held up his index finger. "She would gleefully declare: Starting today, I have two big sisters!"
"!!!"
Sakura froze.
After a long silence...
"You're right!"
She let out a long sigh of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted from her heart. Her tone turned lighthearted. "It was my fault... I can't believe I actually doubted her."
"I really am an unfit older sister," she said with a self mocking smile.
The two were standing in an open area, not anywhere secluded.
Brave onlookers were already gathering around them.
Far Easterners were drawn to power.
Unless someone deliberately stirred up trouble, they were all eager to see the God who had just frozen a tsunami with a single slash. What did he look like? What was he like?
Could they even speak to him?
*Snap*
Ling ke didn't like being disturbed by strangers.
So, he simply snapped his fingers, instantly freezing everyone who tried to approach.
Sakura saw him do it, but she wasn't surprised.
But then...
"Here."
Without warning, Ling ke tossed her a black sword with a uniquely shaped guard of gold and crimson.
Sakura caught it in surprise.
This was the first time she had ever seen this sword.
But... even at first glance, she instantly recognized its true identity.
The Twelfth Divine Key, the Key of Corruption, Jizo Mitama.
"This..."
"I told you, I'm in a good mood today."
Ling ke waved his hand dismissively. "It's just a sword I didn't want to use before and have no use for now. It's yours."
Sakura was stunned.
Things... were obviously not as simple as Ling ke made them sound.
After all, the era where the Jizo Mitama originated... had completely vanished.
And it was this very man who had erased it.
But now...
Had he waved his hand, temporarily restored that era's existence, taken this sword, and then erased it again?
Was it like building a skyscraper just to pick up a package, and then blowing it up afterward?
Just because it was an eyesore?
"What are you thinking about?"
Ling ke waved his hand in front of Sakura's eyes. "The gift has been delivered... don't go spreading it around."
"I didn't prepare gifts for everyone."
With that, he seemed to have come to find Sakura specifically just to do this.
The next moment, he turned and walked away on his own.
As he walked...
"By the way, why did my mood suddenly get so much better today?"
Ling ke tilted his head, suddenly looking a bit blank.
But then, he clapped his hands. "Oh, right!"
"Someone must have been slashed today!"
***
Meanwhile, in a certain deep sea area.
"Haha, serves her right!"
Kali's mood right now was very pleasant.
At this moment, she looked at the severed arm sent by a certain "Spawn" before her, and the smile on her face couldn't be stopped.
This arm belonged to Raiden Mei.
Previously, in the final move of her clash with Fu Hua, she had left a wound on Fu Hua that slashed diagonally from her left shoulder to her right waist.
And Fu Hua...
Her Eminence not only completely killed off a personality within Raiden Mei's body that had split and merged, merged and split, and could even reconcile with each other... but on top of that, she also severed one of her arms.
It could be said to be a double blow to both spirit and body.
And now, the trophy that originally should have belonged to Fu Hua... well, she probably wouldn't have wanted it at all, was obtained by Kali, the Herrscher of Blood.
"It's a pity I couldn't collect the genes of the other strong one."
Kali read the memories of the corresponding "Spawn."
After confirming that during the battle, all the flesh and blood that left Fu Hua's body due to injury was completely eroded by some kind of black gas and could not be collected at all, she still felt a bit regretful.
However, the severed arm before her was enough to make up for all the regrets.
After all...
"Using your own power to kill you... that would be very interesting."
"No, no, no."
Kali thought of a good idea but immediately changed her mind.
Instead...
"Using your power to kill the person you cherish most... that would be the most interesting!"
She had been secretly watching the battle all day.
Naturally, she already knew that the person Raiden Mei cared about most was a young woman named Kiana.
Moreover, the only reason Raiden Mei had suddenly attacked her before and severed her head, which was her original body given by her parents, was because she was a Herrscher and posed a threat to that girl's safety.
"Hehe~"
Kali laughed.
She would do exactly what her enemy least wanted to see happen.
Therefore...
"My Spawns, whoever you are, if you find Kiana, immediately designate her as the primary target and kill her on the spot."
Clearly, she had no intention of torturing the latter.
She had no personal grudge against her.
However, the latter's corpse would bring her a sense of revenge.
So she only wanted the body, not the process of torture.
The goal was quite clear.
Then...
"Next is 'you'."
Kali gently stroked the severed arm in front of her, her movements incredibly... gentle.
A sickeningly sweet gentleness.
"Raiden Mei, you are so powerful. If I devour your flesh and blood, what kind of abilities will I gain? What kind of 'Spawn' will I give birth to?"
With those words, she didn't hesitate.
Immediately, several bloodlines shot out from her palm like tentacles covered in sharp-toothed suckers, instantly wrapping around the severed arm.
In the blink of an eye, accompanied by sounds of chewing and bones cracking, it devoured the "food."
"The flesh of the strong is truly... mgh~"
Kali's expression suddenly changed.
Having just retracted all the bloodlines, black... eerie things began to flow abruptly beneath her sky-blue skin.
Her body twisted helplessly on the seabed.
She was the Herrscher of Blood, meant to devour the genes of all living beings, plundering their talents, traits, and even memories and knowledge to continuously strengthen herself and the swarm.
But now...
She discovered with horror that she was being... devoured in return?
That was a higher being...
"Kagh~"
In the high pressure of the deep sea, Kali, her white hair floating, coughed up a mist of blood.
Her body was collapsing.
She was terrified, filled with immense panic due to this unknown situation.
At this moment, the black, eerie substance inside her body was rapidly spreading throughout her entire form.
The hand that had first touched the severed arm was even starting to disintegrate.
"!!!"
Kali's pupils constricted sharply.
Suddenly...
"Poof~"
The Blood Crystal embedded in her forehead, shaped like a long, thin oval and resembling a third vertical eye, quickly transformed from a solid to a gel like liquid. Like a spirit snake leaving its den, it shot out of her body.
It was like a miniature escape pod, detaching itself from her original body that was about to completely disintegrate.
Then...
*Kaka kaka~*
With the Blood Crystal as the core, accompanied by the wriggling of flesh buds, Kali's body was reshaped once more.
Even though she was on the seabed where it was logically impossible to gasp for air, Kali still lay on the ocean floor, her body trembling.
How terrifying.
Just now, it was almost...
In the face of that black, eerie thing, even her original body had nearly been disintegrated with it.
"W... what is that thing?"
Kali's pupils were practically shaking in shock.
And when she looked up again...
"!!!"
In her field of vision, the body she had just abandoned had not completely disappeared.
Instead... it seemed to undergo some strange change after "she" detached.
It...
Had turned into a cocoon.
An egg-shaped cocoon, completely black, so black it turned purple, with a dense network of blood vessels like creeping vines covering its surface.
This cocoon...
*Thump-thump~*
*Thump-thump~*
It actually...
Already had a heartbeat.
At one moment...
(O_o)
Inside that egg, two bright spots, one large and one small, like eyes, appeared... no, "opened."
"What is... this?"
Kali stood not far from this "egg cocoon," her heart filled with confusion.
Strangely, when she stared at it, she felt no fear.
It was as if even the feeling of fear had inexplicably vanished for some unknown reason.
Gradually, her eyes became vacant.
She seemed completely drawn to it, and then, on the seabed, she moved slowly, slowly approaching.
Finally, she reached out her right hand...
"!!!"
She touched nothing.
Kali snapped awake.
Only then did she realize that the black-purple "egg cocoon" right in front of her was like a phantom.
Her hand had passed right through it.
It was as if it had never "existed" from the very beginning.
Yet, she could clearly see it... see it lying quietly before her eyes.
At this moment...
"Holy shit!"
Ling Ke, who had just returned to the Theater of Domination and used the Omniscience screen to glimpse Kali's situation, cursed out loud.
"This, this is just fucking..."
He strained his neck forward, his eyes nearly pressed against the screen.
After he finally saw it clearly and confirmed it...
"How did this weird thing end up getting created?"
Ling Ke sat back down on his golden toilet... cough, his magnificent throne. "Well, all I can say is it's a good thing we didn't directly create a real Aeon of Nihility. For now, this thing is just a sentient black hole creature... heh, hehe~"
The corners of his mouth twitched. "This is way beyond the scope of the lesson."
Speaking of which...
Months ago, Ling Ke grafted the Path concepts from the neighboring universe onto the current one. To improve the efficiency of "preparing a bigger stage for the next act," he had directly opened up all the Paths he could remember the names of, over a dozen in total.
In other words: Paths that were originally supposed to appear only after an Aeon was born, and would not disappear even if that Aeon fell, had become a crude method in this universe. Ling Ke, using his admin privileges, simply created the Paths first and then looked for a suitable Aeon.
And with this as the major premise...
In fact, up until now...
Looking across the entire universe, there wasn't a single true Aeon of Nihility worthy of that position.
Ling Ke's gaze fell back on the Omniscience screen...
"Don't tell me... it's you, isn't it?"