Although the process was a bit roundabout, Kiana did make good on her promise to treat.
On the commercial street near Qianyu Academy.
Lucius and Kiana crouched by the roadside, ignoring the curious glances of passersby, each holding a portion of takoyaki.
Lucius popped a takoyaki ball into his mouth.
The crispy shell wrapped in sauce, and when he gently bit down, the soft filling burst forth inside. The octopus pieces in the filling were springy and tender, as if dancing in his mouth.
One bite down, and the long-missed deliciousness nearly brought tears to his eyes.
For the past half year, in pursuit of thirty daily crystals, he had eaten nothing but Mei's cooking at every meal and had nearly forgotten that food could actually taste good.
He had truly sacrificed so much for the survival of this pre-civilization era.
Beside him, Kiana equally had tears in her eyes, stuffing takoyaki balls one by one into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster.
During this time, she had been invited to Mei's home for meals by this reincarnator Lucius in his Ryoma disguise, and had similarly nearly forgotten what food that humans were meant to eat was supposed to taste like.
Soon, after finishing a whole box of takoyaki, Kiana finally had time to ask about what Lucius had said earlier.
"Lucius, what was that about playing the hero you mentioned just now?"
In response to Kiana's question, Lucius replied nonchalantly: "I'm planning to kidnap that girl called Asakura Miyuki first, to create a hero-rescuing opportunity for you."
Hearing this, Kiana's expression became strange.
"So, Lucius, what you mean is... you're planning to rope me into kidnapping someone?"
"Although saying it that way is somewhat misleading, looking at the result... yes, I'm planning to go kidnap her!"
Kiana fell silent, then grabbed Lucius's wrist and started walking toward the commercial street exit regardless of his struggling.
"Wait, good brother, what are you doing?"
"Taking you to turn yourself in!"
"No, why would I need to turn myself in?"
Kiana stopped walking but didn't release her grip on Lucius's wrist, looking at him with regret.
"Lucius, I always thought that although you're a bit out there, you're fundamentally still a good person."
"But I never imagined that you would now be planning to commit crimes. As your good brother, I absolutely cannot watch you go astray!"
"Come on, let's go turn you in right now!"
Watching his good brother's expression of confusion and regret, Lucius knew she had completely misunderstood, so he explained: "Wait, good brother. I'm doing this to save the world!"
"What does saving the world have to do with kidnapping?"
"It does! Of course it does!"
Lucius sighed, his expression becoming increasingly serious. Meeting Kiana's eyes, he said:
"Good brother, as the person I trust most, I've decided to tell you another important secret about me."
"Actually... I'm not just a reincarnator. I also possess a system panel from fantasy novels."
"As long as I can complete a hero-saving-the-beauty mission, I'll receive rewards, which will help this world defeat the Final Honkai and escape its fate of destruction."
"..."
Kiana silently looked at Lucius, her gaze like she was looking at an idiot.
She pointed a finger at her own face and said to Lucius: "Lucius, although you've always called me a silly deer, I'm truly not dumb. So could you please respect my intelligence?"
After Kiana said this, Lucius also fell silent. He looked at Kiana, his gaze... also as if looking at a fool.
In the end, Lucius laughed it off.
"Alright, good brother. That was actually a joke just now. In my previous life, I was actually a Fusion Warrior."
"The mutation factor I fused with came from an Apocalypse-class Honkai Beast, code name—Chitragupta."
"The ability its mutation factor granted me was 'Record.' Everything I see and experience is stored in my consciousness in the form of memories. If certain conditions are met, I can even manifest them into reality."
"But this ability required sufficient experiences to record, so in my previous time in the pre-civilization era's brief period, I didn't have much power. That's why I was chosen as a pioneer to travel to the era fifty thousand years later."
"There, I witnessed your counterpart's rise from nothing, all the way to becoming the God of Earth, and recorded all of it in the form of memories. They gathered in my mind and condensed into a book."
"I named it—'As I Have Written.'"
"Because my mutation factor could exist in the form of memories, even after paying an enormous price to return to this point in time, I still hadn't lost the power from my previous life as a Fusion Warrior."
"As long as I can recreate scenes from my memories in reality, I can bring the memories recorded in 'As I Have Written' into the real world. The stigmata I gave you is power extracted from within. That is my ability as a Fusion Warrior."
"This is also why you had to be a girl, and why Mei had to be the young mistress of MEI Company—because only by matching the memories can power be drawn from them."
After listening to Lucius's string of fabrications, Kiana's face showed an expression of sudden understanding.
"I see... so that's how it is..." Kiana completely believed him.
Watching her expression of shock, Lucius rolled his eyes.
People are always willing to believe what they think they understand. Sometimes telling the truth and nobody believes you—lies are often easier for others to accept.
"So kidnapping this girl called Asakura Miyuki is also for drawing power from your memories?"
"Good brother, I didn't expect you to be this smart." Lucius became a praise machine, giving Kiana a thumbs up. "So next, let's cooperate to complete this little performance!"
"What do I need to do?"
After Lucius provided his reasoning, Kiana stopped questioning and chose to trust her good brother.
"It's simple. Although this script is rather dark and gritty, at its core it's still a hero-rescuing-the-beauty story. The key points are to have 'Kiana' play the hero, and have Asakura Miyuki present the 'Three-Year Cherry Blossom' to complete the theme."
"However, dark and gritty content doesn't have much market anymore. We can change the performance style. As long as we can get through the script, it'll work."
"Shortly, I'll go kidnap her first, then you rescue her from me. Finally, she'll personally present the Three-Year Cherry Blossom out of gratitude."
"That simple."
...
So after Lucius finalized the plan, the two prepared to take action.
The moment Lucius laid eyes on Asakura Miyuki, he knew she was no ordinary person. Various small habits in her speech and behavior all indicated she was a well-trained warrior, most likely affiliated with Fire Moth.
But at this point in time, she was ultimately just an ordinary person with stronger-than-average physical constitution and combat ability—completely insufficient against Lucius and Kiana, these two stigmata-enhanced individuals.
So kidnapping her wasn't difficult for Lucius.
The most challenging part of this operation was actually finding the crucial prop—the 'Three-Year Cherry Blossom.'
—A sachet made from petals of the same cherry blossom tree over three years by a girl aged fourteen to sixteen, this was a crystallization of a girl's most sincere feelings. The mass-produced industrial product sold in stores would likely not meet the objective's requirements.
So Lucius directly found a girl at a nearby school who had such a sachet and bought it from her with money.
With that, the necessary prop was prepared.
Next came abducting Asakura Miyuki.
Lucius had originally planned to make his move after she returned home, but discovered that Asakura Miyuki didn't go straight home. Instead, she took a detour to her neighbor's house.
Actually, that worked just as well. Waiting for her to come out before making his move was fine.
During this time, Lucius changed his appearance—making it the first time he displayed his shape-shifting ability in front of Kiana.
In a mist of blood, Elysia's appearance materialized.
Then came the familiar routine: changing hair color, putting in colored contacts. Soon, the Faded Fairy who specialized in doing bad things made her appearance once again.
After the disguise change was complete, Lucius found his good brother staring at him with a face full of amazement.
Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Good brother, what's the meaning of that look?"
Kiana shuffled over, reached out both hands, grabbed his face, and pulled it into strange shapes.
"It's so realistic." Kiana's face showed astonishment. "Lucius, how is this even possible?"
Lucius swatted away her hands, rubbed his face, and said: "The almighty Honkai energy. Pretty amazing, right?"
"So this is the ability you used to disguise yourself as Mei's father... By the way, where did the real Mr. Ryoma go?"
"He's in prison picking up soap~"
The two chatted casually, waiting for Asakura Miyuki to come out of her neighbor's house.
But at this moment, the two who were in conversation suddenly stopped.
As stigmata-enhanced individuals, their physical constitutions had far surpassed ordinary people's. They could hear certain sounds that normal people couldn't detect.
"Yuno, what are you doing?!"
"Kekeke, no one can save you! Little Yuki, just surrender to me!"
"Ribbit! Help!"
Hearing this, Kiana looked at Lucius with admiration.
"This performance is so good! Lucius, I didn't expect the person you found to be so professional."
However, Lucius's expression was strange.
"Is there any chance that I had absolutely nothing to do with this?"
"...Huh?"
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