After breakfast, a knock came at the door.
"Come in."
A figure clad in Cloud Knight armor stepped inside and bowed to Kanzaki.
"Your subordinate, Xue Yi, greets you, General."
"There is no need for such formalities in private."
Kanzaki waved his hand dismissively. He studied Xue Yi for a moment and sighed inwardly.
She had changed greatly since the battle of Cangcheng.
"How is Hanya's condition now?"
"The Alchemy Commission said... she likely won't be able to return to the front lines..."
Kanzaki fell silent.
During the search and evacuation of Cangcheng's survivors, Hanya had her legs devoured by Rahu's flesh while saving two trapped children. She had been forced to amputate them to survive.
That flesh carried a corrosive quality that could rapidly erode, dissolve, and assimilate the bodies of the long-lived.
In short, her life had been saved, but the aftereffects remained.
"My younger sister's newly regrown legs are far less flexible than before. Her movements occasionally lag by half a step... It is difficult for her to keep up in the chaos of a rapidly changing battlefield."
"The Master Alchemist said that persistent rehabilitation might offer a chance of recovery, but it is best not to hold onto too much hope."
When speaking of her only remaining family, Xue Yi's mood grew somber.
Kanzaki remained silent for a moment before saying, "If I return from this expedition, I will examine Hanya myself."
"You understand medicine, General?"
"Yes."
"Then Xue Yi thanks you in advance!"
"We are all people of Cangcheng. No more words are needed... I leave her to you."
Kanzaki gestured toward the somewhat stiff Jingliu, then picked up his helmet from the table and put it on.
"Please rest assured, General." Xue Yi responded solemnly, then turned her gaze to Jingliu. "Miss Jingliu, let us go. I will take you to the Cloud Knights training camp."
"Master, I wish you a triumphant return!" Kanzaki's figure was reflected in Jingliu's crimson eyes.
Kanzaki nodded slightly but offered no promises.
The three boarded different star skiffs and departed in separate directions.
Sitting inside the cabin, Jingliu stared fixedly through the porthole at the star skiff carrying Kanzaki until it shrank into a distant black dot and finally vanished from sight. Even then, she did not look away.
The scenes etched deeply into her memory surged forth once again.
The Abomination Planet had dyed the sky crimson. Its flesh devoured the earth and countless lives, filling the air with wails and shrill cries.
Yet she no longer feared that Abomination Planet as much. What she feared now was loss... At present, she had nothing left except her Master. Her Master was not gentle. He was harsh, even cold-blooded during training.
But she understood that it was all to help her survive and grow stronger.
Whatever her Master promised, he would absolutely fulfill.
But just now, her Master had made no promise.
He had not even said, "I will definitely return"... That was right. The word "definitely" carried too much weight. Perhaps not even a General could utter it lightly.
She was asking for too much.
Xue Yi switched to the military flight path. Only after the autopilot took over did she notice Jingliu's low spirits.
"Too few... Far too few people of Cangcheng survived. Everyone has lost their home."
"Whether it is General Kanzaki or us Cloud Knights, a fire of hatred burns in our hearts, one that is hard to extinguish."
"Tempered by this flame, we will never allow ourselves to die easily before we have hunted down every last Abomination."
"Have faith in General Kanzaki, and have faith in your Master, Miss Jingliu."
Jingliu remained silent for a while before finally asking the question she had been afraid to voice.
"Senior Xue Yi... In the end, how many people from Cangcheng survived?"
"..."
Xue Yi did not answer for a long time.
The star skiff passed through the clouds, and the whistling wind swept in through the porthole.
After a long while, she finally spoke.
"Less than twenty million. Among them, nearly forty percent have already shown mara symptoms, and the numbers continue to rise without slowing. Every day, a large number of people fall into the mara-struck state."
"The youngest among them is only 426 years old..."
One must remember that even for retired Cloud Knights, whose mara progresses faster, the risk only begins to increase noticeably after five hundred years.
Yet that 426-year-old survivor had been an ordinary person.
"What about the Cloud Knights?" Jingliu continued to ask.
"Fewer than a million Cangcheng Cloud Knights survived. So far, 430,000 have completely become mara-struck... And the Cloud Knight Vanguards..."
At this point, Xue Yi could not help but take a deep breath.
"Only ten Vanguards survived. Of those still in service, only your Master, General Kanzaki, and General Mo Tingquan remain. The rest have all succumbed to mara."
The fall of Cangcheng was not only an unprecedented blow, but perhaps one that would never be repeated.
Too many people could not escape the terror of that day. The severe mental trauma had been the most direct factor triggering the early arrival of mara.
Among the surviving Vanguards, Mo Tingquan, who was under four hundred years old, showed no signs of mara.
As for Kanzaki... after a period of observation, it had been confirmed that he currently faced no risk of falling into the mara-struck state.
At his age, he could have retired and chosen to live out the rest of his days peacefully on another Xianzhou ship.
But everyone knew that was impossible.
Of the Cloud Knights who had survived that catastrophe, many never considered retreat until their final moments.
The fire of hatred for the Abominations of Abundance could only be quenched by constantly feeding it with their own blood... until they fell in battle or the Abominations were eradicated.
Hearing this, a shadow fell over Jingliu's crimson eyes.
She was young, but she understood just how cruel these numbers were.
"What exactly must be done to completely destroy Abundance...?" She seemed to be asking Xue Yi as much as herself.
"I do not know..." Xue Yi replied with a bitter smile.
Completely destroy Abundance?
The Reignbow Arbiter had pursued the Hunt for a thousand years, never ceasing the pursuit of the Aeon of Abundance. Yet those life-devouring Abominations continued to sprout and spread across the universe.
No one could answer that question.
"The arrows of the Hunt did everything they could, but they only managed to strike down that crimson star... to strike down Shuhu..."
"Investigation results indicate that the crimson star was the ancient dead star Rahu, which Shuhu had animated using the power of Abundance."
"No one can be certain whether Shuhu truly perished that way..."
"If that undying Abomination returns centuries later, who knows what even more terrifying animated star it might bring."
"Before that day comes, the only thing we can do..."
"...is to embark on the expedition and hunt the Abominations of Abundance without end, right?" Jingliu suddenly interjected.
"Right." Xue Yi nodded.
The star skiff glided through the high sky, passed through the Delve gate, and arrived at a restricted Delve where non-military star skiffs were prohibited.
They had reached the Cloud Knights training camp.
A faint aura of bloodlust lingered in the air. It came from the retired Cloud Knights who had once fought fiercely on the battlefield, faced life and death countless times, and slain numerous Abominations.
They remained in the military camp to train the next generation, constantly replenishing the Cloud Knights with new blood.
Feeling this atmosphere, Jingliu gazed at the sky through the star skiff window. Everything in her sight turned crimson once more, becoming a familiar nightmare.
Facing that nightmare, she made a silent vow.
If one day that star returned, she would strike it down without fail.
Her parents had already been devoured by Rahu. She could not watch her Master meet the same fate... Never.