Before the freshly rebuilt confinement room door—looking to Klee like the very gates of heaven—she could no longer restrain the excitement bubbling within her.
She leapt off the bed.
Clothes on.
Backpack strapped.
Hat secured.
The Spark Knight Klee was officially ready for an outing!
"Farmas big brother, how do we get out?"
Standing before the new door—crafted from the roots of a Cryo Regisvine—Farmas let a surge of pure pyro resonance ripple across his body. In the blink of an eye, his form scattered into a cloud of glowing fire motes.
Klee saw darkness for half a second, and suddenly the two of them had slipped cleanly through the gap of the door.
"I'll take you out myself."
Seeing the corridor of the Knights' headquarters, Klee's eyes sparkled for an instant.
Then she tiptoed close to Farmas and whispered into his ear.
Her soft little breath made Farmas blush.
Klee hopped out of the confinement room with practiced ease, Farmas following behind her—only for her to suddenly turn and dive right into the Knights' Library instead of heading for the exit.
Inside, Lisa was nowhere to be seen at her usual librarian's desk.
She was, in fact, at this very moment in Jean's office drowning in piles of paperwork—paperwork she fully intended to vaporize with Electro the moment she snapped.
"That's the biggest library in the northern continent?"
Klee and Farmas took in the interior.
Lavish decorations, towering bookshelves stacked floor to ceiling, dark-toned walls, wooden chandeliers, a stained-glass skylight—everything oozed elegance.
Farmas even noticed a hidden room tucked behind one of the bookcases.
"A restricted section?"
He wondered.
Klee tiptoed to the tall windows.
"Great! Lisa forgot to lock the windows again today!"
Avoiding the reading patrons, she shoved one window open with a gleeful cry.
Without hesitation, she slipped through.
Farmas followed.
But instead of jumping down, Klee climbed along the wall upward—toward the rooftop of the Knights' headquarters.
Once atop the roof, she glanced at the large windmill to orient herself…
And then she immediately jumped off with her tiny custom glider.
"This kid really has this down to muscle memory…"
Thinking back on the sequence of Klee's movements—smooth, precise, perfectly practiced—Farmas' expression twitched.
He was now certain:
Even if he didn't tempt her, Klee would've busted out eventually to go fish-blasting on her own.
"We're here! This is Starfell Lake!"
After gliding and sprinting for some time, the two finally reached the little island in the center of Starfell Lake.
Boom.
A pulse of pyro burst from Farmas' body, instantly evaporating all the lake water that clung to him.
"Ah! Farmas big brother is dry already? Okay! Then it's Klee's turn!"
Klee clenched her fists at her chest, squeezed her eyes shut, and concentrated.
The Vision hanging from her backpack began to glow softly—within seconds, all moisture on her clothes and hair was steamed away.
Once dry, she pushed aside the bushes arranged around the island, revealing a long-unused campfire pit.
"Alright! Farmas big brother, wait here! Klee will blow up some fish for you!"
"No, actually we don't have to be in such a hurry to—"
Farmas eyed the Vision on her backpack, about to continue when the little girl had already pulled out a bomb plushie.
As Klee's Vision lit up, the bomb expanded and grew heavier.
Satisfied with its weight, she hurled it into the lake.
"Jumpy Dumpty—go boom!"
Instead of exploding immediately, the bomb bounced off the water's surface like a rubber ball—
boing
boing
BOOM
Every contact with the water produced a small underwater explosion.
In only a few bounces, several unlucky fish were already belly-up at the surface.
"Impressive."
Farmas remarked with sincere interest.
"Of course! This Jumpy Dumpty is Klee's special custom-made fish-blasting version!"
Hands proudly on her hips, Klee basked in the praise.
Eventually, the bomb sank and stopped bouncing.
Klee dove into the water without hesitation and scooped up all the freshly harvested fish.
"Look, Farmas big brother! Klee got eight fish this time! My record is ten in one blast!"
"A record, huh…"
Farmas rubbed her hair affectionately and dried her clothes again.
Then a strange feeling stirred within him.
"Klee… can I borrow one of your bombs?"
"Of course you can! Here you go!"
Delighted, Klee charged a new bomb and handed it to him.
Farmas inspected it briefly—
Then straight-up hurled it into the lake.
More explosions.
More fish floating.
"So? Farmas big brother! Isn't fish-blasting super fun?"
Klee leaned forward eagerly.
"Tch. It's… fine, I guess."
He tried to sound unimpressed—
but the excitement glittering in his eyes betrayed him.
"When was the last time I blew something up…? Was it in old Munata… helping dig wells for humans?"
Savoring the sensation, he suddenly smiled.
"Klee, let me teach you—what real fish-blasting is."
As he threw a few more bombs, something inside him awakened.
The old war-blood.
The ancient generals of Munata rose from the ley lines behind him, forming a spectral battle formation.
"Burn the heavens—
Boil the seas!"
Empowered by thousands of phantom generals, Farmas leapt hundreds of meters into the sky.
He thrust downward like a flaming comet—straight at the Seven Statue of Venti on the island.
"Cough… the statue can be repaired… right?"
A colossal pyro shockwave exploded outward from the lake's center, incinerating everything in its path.
~~---------------------------
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