How long had it been since he last saw Su? Ever since entering the Sea of Quanta, Kevin had lost all sense of time. Most of his time here had been spent reminiscing about those brief twenty or thirty years of the Previous Era.
At least back then, Kevin hadn't carried the burden of [saving the world]. Even in the most painful moments, Mei had still been by his side…
Cutting off these distracting thoughts, Kevin walked alone to the other side of the palace. This place was something Kevin had carefully crafted during his moments of boredom. Shun had been right Kevin had always been a hidden chuunibyou. He didn't intend to deny it; after all, he had once dreamed of becoming a hero.
Kevin raised his long, slender hand. At that moment, a pitch-black profound-ice pillar suddenly erupted from the ground, shooting straight toward the sky as if to pierce the firmament. Its height was astonishing, seeming to break through the very limits of this sky.
Then, the first ice pillar pierced into the false sky of the Sea of Quanta like a brave vanguard. In an instant, the entire world was shaken by this immense power. But this was only the beginning.
Following the success of the first pillar, countless more pitch-black profound-ice pillars surged up like bamboo shoots after rain. They rose from the ground at astonishing speed, rapidly filling the entire space. The pillars were densely packed, too numerous to count like a vast forest, each one thick and unyielding.
Every pillar radiated an icy chill, making the surrounding air abnormally cold. Their presence filled the world with mystery and majesty, as though proclaiming Kevin's power and resolve to all who beheld them.
The originally solid barrier between Imaginary and Quantum began to waver under Kevin's relentless assault. This skill, somewhat similar to the Abyss Sword, was surprisingly effective against flying-type enemies.
Of course, this was merely Kevin's basic attack opener. He wasn't actually trying to shatter the Imaginary-Quantum barrier. If the barrier broke, countless Quantum Shadows would invade the real world and then he, Kevin, would truly become an unforgivable sinner.
Speaking of which, Su was also a doctor, but when the time came, he hadn't chosen to flee. Su, currently executing Project Stigma within the Mustard Seed of Sumeru, was also affected by the disturbance Kevin created in the Sea of Quanta.
He turned his gaze back to the real world and noticed that Kevin had precisely stopped his attack at the point where it could influence the barrier without any intention of increasing output. Knowing his old friend's personality, Su naturally didn't think Kevin was just messing around out of boredom.
With that thought, Su took out a green bodhi leaf and attached his spirit to it. Using the power of the Second Divine Key Thousand Realms One Vehicle he sent this leaf carrying his spirit into the Sea of Quanta.
Kevin's assault lasted about five minutes. For him, creating enough disturbance to catch Su's attention was sufficient. If he kept attacking like this, the barrier might actually break.
"What happened? What happened?" Shun, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, was startled awake by the commotion from Kevin's side. He instinctively reached to grab Seele and run, but his hand was tightly held by hers. Only then did he calm down and observe what was actually happening.
"Oniichan, it seems to be from Uncle Kevin's side." Seele pointed at the sky that had been riddled with holes by Kevin's attack thousands of ice pillars were still embedded there.
Looking at the spectacular sight before him, Shun was also stunned. As expected of Kevin even after being exiled in the Sea of Quanta for over a thousand years, he could unleash such majestic power. And from the looks of it, this wasn't even a serious move. In this moment, Shun once again understood what it truly meant to be the strongest below Finality.
After watching Kevin's attack for a while, Shun roughly guessed his intention. This kind of edging-style output was clearly meant to tell Su who could observe the Sea of Quanta "I need to talk to you." It seemed the matter of whether he and Seele could leave was already settled.
Shun shared his guess with Seele. Hearing his explanation, Seele was overjoyed. "That's great! Seele and Shun-oniichan can finally go home." She immediately shared the good news with the other her.
Soon, she received a response from the other her: "Got it, got it so you can go back now? What's there to be so happy about? You should first think about what you're going to do after you return. That woman Cocolia isn't easy to deal with. If she finds out you came out of the Sea of Quanta alone, who knows what experiments she'll drag you into again."
Hearing dark Seele's instigation, Seele's originally ecstatic expression immediately wilted. "Then… the other me, what should Seele do?" Ever since the X-10 experiment, Seele had relied heavily on dark Seele. On one hand, dark Seele was stronger; on the other, she was a bit more mature.
Originally, Seele had trusted Cocolia deeply. But after what happened in the X-10 experiment and later seeing Bronya in the Sea of Quanta because Cocolia refused to repent and continued the X-10 experiments Seele could no longer find any reason to trust her, no matter how much she remembered Cocolia's past kindness.
Now that Seele was about to return to the real world, the question of where to go next became her new source of worry. She had never imagined that one day, deciding what to do after returning to her original world would become a problem. Could it be that in the Sea of Quanta, she never had the chance to think about it?
While Seele was deep in thought, dark Seele couldn't hold back and spoke up: "Hey, didn't you just acknowledge a big brother not long ago? Isn't he part of that World Serpent organization? You already call him oniichan there's nothing wrong with staying by his side as his little sister. I don't think he'd mistreat you. Isn't that way better than staying with that woman Cocolia?"
"But… oniichan probably has his own life too. Wouldn't Seele be disturbing him if she went?"
Seeing Seele hesitate, dark Seele continued: "You have to realize if you stay with Cocolia, can your safety really be guaranteed? That Bronya is so weak even Kevin could probably revoke her license with one hand. If you want to go back to her, you need at least some strength first. Don't forget you have a Stigmata on you. I'm bound to you don't drag me down with you."
In the end, after trying various arguments, dark Seele decided to use moral blackmail against the kind-hearted Seele.
Sure enough, upon hearing dark Seele's last words, Seele could no longer refuse. After all, she truly didn't want to drag the other her down.
After mentally preparing herself, Seele said: "Okay… I'll try. If Shun-oniichan can't take Seele in, then we'll just have to wander outside for now." With that, Seele had already decided not to return to Cocolia's dragon's den.
"Hmph, he wouldn't dare!" dark Seele said with inexplicable confidence.
Seele walked up to Shun, who was still admiring Kevin's sky-shattering performance, and timidly spoke: "Shun-oniichan… after we return to the original world, could Seele stay by oniichan's side for a while? Seele doesn't eat much, and I can help oniichan with chores. Seele is an orphan with no home… Please don't worry, oniichan. Once Seele finds a way to survive on her own, I'll leave."
Seele had already prepared herself for rejection after all, no adult would casually accept a useless burden who couldn't do much work. Of course, reality proved that little angels like Seele were an exception.
Shun looked at the girl in front of him, whose face practically screamed "please adopt me," and felt a surge of amusement inside.
How come Seele wasn't planning to go back to the orphanage? Could it be dark Seele's doing? Makes sense unlike Seele, who still had some familial filter, dark Seele had zero courtesy toward that woman Cocolia. He had been thinking about how to keep Seele by his side after returning to the real world. Now it was solved Seele had come to him herself.
Shun unabashedly ruffled Seele's head and said: "Little dummy, since you already call me oniichan, of course you're my little sister now. As long as you want to stay, you can stay as long as you like just don't bring back some gray-haired girl riding a ghost bike later."
Bronya: "Your mom, so targeted at me? Can't we play without nerfing?"
"That's great! The other me oniichan agreed to let Seele stay!" Hearing Shun's earlier words, Seele was both moved and overjoyed. She shared the news with dark Seele first.
"Yeah, yeah I already told you this guy would definitely agree." dark Seele replied indifferently; to her, this wasn't surprising at all.
While Shun and Seele were secretly rejoicing, on the other side, a long-overdue conversation between old friends was also taking place.