Chapter 335: Belle and Fairy's Remote Support
That fleeting flash of genuine annoyance breathed a sudden, vibrant life into her normally stoic features. Wise studied the slight crease between her brows and the sharp, crimson glare she leveled at him. Instead of feeling intimidated, a quiet sense of amusement curled in his chest.
His entire initial impression of this youngest-ever Hollow Hunter had been built on their first encounter back in Wildfire Town. Back then, she had been a wall of unapproachable professionalism, perfectly matching Nicole's teasing assessment of her as a "martial arts-obsessed fox."
In his mind, Hoshimi Miyabi was supposed to be the flawless warrior archetype—perpetually calm, hardened by countless battles, and seemingly forged for the sole purpose of combat. Yet, their harrowing trek through this Hollow had systematically dismantled that illusion.
She had displayed raw anxiety over the safety of her Section 6 subordinates. She had shown flashes of deep confusion and vulnerable self-reflection when her own overwhelming power threatened to spiral out of control. And now, she was actually pouting over a harmless little joke. Stripped of the intimidating Hollow Hunter halo and the relentless martial artist label, she was simply a highly responsible young woman who cared deeply for her companions. Beneath the ice, she harbored a subtle, endearing stubbornness.
'Perhaps... I can help her just a little bit more,' Wise thought, the idea taking firm root in his mind.
"Miss Miyabi," Wise said, his casual demeanor evaporating as his expression shifted into one of absolute seriousness. "Could I borrow your sword for a moment? Just the sheath, actually. I have a feeling that its internal structure... is a bit unique."
Her elegant crimson pupils instantly locked onto him. The gaze was razor-sharp, carefully scanning his face as if trying to dissect his true intentions. The heavy air of the Hollow seemed to solidify around them for several agonizing seconds.
Yet, logic and recent memory fought back against her instincts. Wise was a trusted associate of Nicole. Besides, he hadn't abandoned her when Tailless went berserk. Instead, he had risked his own life, stepping directly into danger to help her force the blade back into its scabbard. The fragile trust forged in that life-or-death crucible ultimately overpowered her ingrained wariness. Deep in her bones, she also knew that Tailless was not a weapon just anyone could simply draw.
"...Fine." Miyabi finally gave a stiff nod. Her voice returned to its usual cool cadence, though the icy detachment had noticeably thawed. She extended Tailless toward him, keeping her grip near the guard until he took hold of the sheath. "Do not attempt to draw the blade."
"I understand." Wise solemnly accepted the weapon. As his fingertips brushed against the freezing, complex patterns etched into the scabbard, he closed his eyes. He focused his mind, sinking his perception past the physical metal and directly into its underlying architecture.
A sprawling, tangled stream of intelligent data instantly bloomed within his consciousness. It was a chaotic mess of digital seals and ethereal restraints. Yet, to his trained proxy senses, it shared an astonishing similarity in its underlying logic with the information fluctuations radiating from the nearby Hollow observation data stacks. They were practically born from the exact same origin, merely arranged into different structural formats. Within seconds, a complete, highly effective repair schematic formulated in his mind.
"Miss Miyabi," Wise said, opening his eyes to meet her steady gaze with complete frankness. "I have a working theory. The internal sealing structure of your scabbard and the monitoring systems of this specific Hollow appear to be built on highly similar technological foundations. Perhaps..." He paused, weighing his next words. "I could attempt to siphon power from the data stacks to perform a temporary repair and reinforcement on it. The berserk state from earlier likely caused micro-fractures in the sheath's core suppression matrix."
This proposal was infinitely bolder than merely taking a look. Directly altering the internal mechanics of another person's primary weapon—especially a volatile, cursed blade like Tailless—was a massive risk. It was the ultimate test of faith. A visible flicker of hesitation warred within Miyabi's crimson eyes. To a swordmaster, their blade was their very lifeline. Entrusting it to a stranger was practically heresy.
But the memory of Wise standing his ground against the berserk aura remained vividly burned into her mind. His dark eyes held nothing but absolute sincerity. Her own instincts couldn't deny the truth either; when she had forced the sword away earlier, the scabbard's suppression force had felt dangerously brittle, lacking its usual ironclad stability. The budding trust in her new comrade, paired with the tactical urgency of restoring her weapon to peak condition, pushed her toward a final decision.
"...Alright." She breathed the single word out slowly. Her voice was quiet, yet it carried the heavy, solemn weight of a binding oath. "What do you need me to do?"
"Just trust me and give me a moment," Wise replied, secretly breathing a heavy sigh of relief. He had successfully rationalized his upcoming actions with a plausible cover story. In reality, what he was about to execute went far beyond simple Hollow data manipulation.
He stepped over to the Hollow observation data stack, pressing his palm flat against its glowing interface. While he outwardly pretended to calculate an evacuation route and siphon local data for the sheath repair, his consciousness silently bridged across dimensions, accessing the multiversal Chat Group through an invisible, encrypted link.
[Wise]: "@Belle, are you there? I urgently need your help. I require Fairy's maximum computing power for real-time data calculation and structural reinforcement. The target is a highly complex, intelligent sealing matrix. I'm transmitting the raw data stream to you now—synchronize it with Fairy immediately."
[Belle]: "Big Brother? Are you in trouble again?! Wait... this data structure is super weird... Fairy is already on it! She's running a synchronous analysis and building a digital model now!"
Far away in the Random Play video store on Sixth Street, Belle had no idea what crazy situation her brother had dragged himself into this time, but her trust in him was absolute. She instantly mobilized Fairy. The AI's processing capabilities had recently evolved into something truly extraordinary, having been heavily augmented by the Genshin Origin Stone.
In the blink of an eye, two colossal streams of computing power collided. One surged from the local Hollow data stack, while the other roared through the network from the vastly enhanced Fairy. Guided by Wise's pinpoint precision, the twin data streams acted like two elite, synchronized engineering teams. They ruthlessly sorted through the chaotic code, patching critical vulnerabilities and reinforcing the foundational logic of the complex digital maze hidden within the scabbard.
Through his proxy link, Wise could literally see the fractured code segments. Years of continuous exposure to the corrupting power of Tailless had worn them down to brittle threads, but now, they were being rapidly re-knitted and fortified with fresh, unbreakable algorithms. The operational priority of the entire sealing system was forcefully rearranged from the ground up, constructing a vastly superior, hyper-efficient firewall around the blade's consciousness.
Fairy's newly boosted processing speed was terrifyingly fast, far exceeding his most optimistic calculations. Still, Wise knew this Hollow was no place to linger. Miyabi needed her weapon back in her hands to fend off the ever-present dangers lurking in the shadows. This patch job could only serve as an emergency reinforcement; it was a temporary band-aid, far from a permanent cure for the sword's underlying curse.
Sensing that the digital reinforcement had hit its absolute limit and confirming that their optimal evacuation route was fully mapped, Wise decisively severed the connection. He snapped his eyes open, making sure to let a deliberate hint of pale exhaustion bleed into his features to sell the illusion of excessive energy consumption—though the intense mental focus required had genuinely drained him a bit. Without a second of hesitation, he tossed the heavy scabbard through the air.
"Miss Miyabi! Catch!"
Miyabi had been standing guard a few paces away, her senses fanned out to monitor the perimeter while keeping a close eye on Wise's condition. Seeing him suddenly break his trance and hurl her weapon back caught her slightly off guard, but her physical reflexes were lightning-fast. Her crimson eyes narrowed. Her hand shot out, snatching Tailless out of the air with a steady, iron grip.
The exact millisecond the scabbard settled into her palm, Miyabi felt a deep difference. It wasn't a superficial change in the weapon's appearance or physical weight. It was a fundamental shift in its cohesion. Ever since Tailless had gone berserk earlier, she had been forced to actively dedicate a significant portion of her own mental energy just to suppress the dark, restless whispers constantly bleeding from the steel.
But now? The scabbard radiated an unmatched, absolute calm. Held loosely at her side, it felt perfectly dormant, like a true, natural extension of her own arm. That subtle, unnerving, demonic throb that usually pulsed against her skin was virtually imperceptible. She gave the sheathed weapon a test swing. The kinetic flow of energy felt incredibly smooth, harmonizing with her internal aether and following her will without a single ounce of resistance.
A rare flash of genuine astonishment widened her red eyes. She turned toward Wise, her lips parting to demand how he had achieved such a miracle, but the words died in her throat. A chaotic stampede of heavy, scraping footsteps and violent spikes of aether energy suddenly erupted from the surrounding shadows.
"Roar—!"
A massive swarm of Ethereals, drawn like moths to the intense energy flare of the Hollow data stack, poured out from the ruins. They instantly encircled the duo, their corrupted maws parting to unleash a chorus of bloodthirsty shrieks.
Miyabi's gaze instantly sharpened into frozen daggers. She ruthlessly shoved her burning curiosity to the back of her mind; this was no time for an interrogation. She stepped smoothly in front of Wise, using her own body to shield him from the encroaching monsters. Her right hand dropped, resting lightly but firmly against the hilt of her sword. Staring down the surging, nightmarish tide of Ethereals, she took a slow, measured breath. She lowered her center of gravity, sinking into a flawless combat stance, and then—
She drew her blade.
Clang—!
A clear, beautifully echoing ring of pure steel sliced through the cavernous Hollow. Stripped of the wicked, mind-corrupting hum that usually accompanied its release, the sound was almost holy. A torrent of blinding sword light poured from the scabbard like a torrential waterfall, exploding outward from Miyabi's position. The slashes were impossibly swift, surgically precise, and overwhelmingly dense. It looked as though dozens of phantom blades were swinging in perfect unison, instantly carving out a localized, inescapable domain of death.
Swish, swish, swish, swish—!
Wherever the merciless net of light passed, the frenzied charge of the vanguard Ethereals abruptly froze. For a split second, the monsters hung suspended in mid-air. Then, like a child's carelessly disassembled building blocks, their corrupted bodies cleanly slid apart. With a synchronized, deafening crash, over a dozen towering beasts shattered into a fine, glittering pile of aether dust upon the broken concrete.
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