Clansis stared coldly at Feeney.
He now felt even more convinced that Amos was right.
What good does it do to have a lot of younglings?
Just a bunch of little brats.
None of them could compare to Amos’s one adorable child—
Just like the one before his eyes.
Clansis squeezed his fists, fixing his gaze on Feeney for a long while.
Suddenly, he lowered his head and began muttering to himself.
It was rare for Clansis to harbor such deep resentment—in fact, Clansis was seldom embarrassed.
But under the effects of love and peace—
With Clansis’s psionic force, if anyone else had seen it, the impact might have been small, perhaps only making him act more affectionate—but this time the effect was supercharged.
What had he just said?
Unbelievable.
He dared not even recall it.
Thinking back on it, Clansis felt frozen with embarrassment.
Save me, save me, save me—
Feeney listened in a bit from the side.
He heard Clansis muttering—
“When he’s recovered, when he’s recovered, when he’s recovered…”
Feeney: …?
When who’s recovered?
Feeney belatedly realized.
“Father, you promised not to hit anyone for a few years—”
“That was your second brother’s promise.”
Clansis looked up again, expressionless.
“From today on, I’m in charge of your physical training and psionic rehabilitation.”
Feeney: ?
No—
Off to the side, Anya cheered, “Great, I’m free!”
Amos watched it all unfold, remaining silent, naturally ignoring Feeney’s look begging for help—
Though he liked to contradict his father on many things, on this matter Amos agreed with Clansis.
It was just as he’d said.
He’d advised it, but it really had nothing to do with Clansis.
And Amos, having worked hard to refrain from beating up his brother, was definitely bearing a grudge, and was now quite gleeful at Feeney’s misfortune.
Nearby, Feiman had already shrunk into a corner of the sofa, also looking at the Cupid’s Bow in Chu Zao’s hand with awe—
She patted her chest—
Thank goodness, thank goodness—
Feiman thought.
Good thing Zao Zao hadn’t pulled it out when she’d given that kiss.
Otherwise she might not have cared at the time.
Clearly, Zao Zao’s arrows didn’t lead to destructive literal death, only social death—a true killing blow against the Crown Clan.
Only Solan remained at Chu Zao’s side, curious as she looked at the Cupid’s Bow in his hands.
“Baby, you’re really amazing.”
Ba-baby?
Chu Zao’s eyes widened slightly, looking at his grandmother with a somewhat embarrassed expression—it was clear he quite liked being called baby by grandma, but the term was just so childish.
“It’s a special trait—it doesn’t have much attack power—”
Chu Zao pursed his lips as he spoke.
“It’s very useful, you know, for a bit of fun—baby, how long do your arrows last? Lend it to grandma sometime, all right?”
Clansis turned abruptly, “Solan!”
He strode over and grabbed Solan’s collar, dragging her back—
What are you saying in front of the child?!
Forget what just happened, forget it!
Solan burst out in laughter.
But just then, the communicator chimed.
Holy Cas’s efficiency was high; after a night of high-efficiency work, the army poised to set out was fully assembled, just waiting for the Crown Clan’s order.
At that moment, the rare lighthearted mood in the room disappeared.
In the eyes of the Crown Clan guardians, the emotions darkened once more—
Clearly, the laughter and joy before the youngling could not soothe their rage.
“Let’s go.”
Clansis turned first.
“Let’s take care of all this—”
No matter how they handled the pollution, no matter whether the Crown Clan could exist in the future.
History had taught the Crown Clan never to yield, to see matters through to the end—even if the future could not be seen, dealing with the trouble at hand would prevent it from piling up and causing missed opportunities later—
It was Chu Zao’s first time boarding a Holy Cas warship at the head of combined imperial armies.
Holy Cas now was at all-star strength.
With the exception of Feeney, who needed further monitoring in the medical center, all the Dwights were present.
Clansis had handed his various tasks to his former Crown Clan peers.
This was an operation with a somewhat hasty destination, but with all preparations complete thanks to the military’s constant readiness.
All of Holy Cas had become aware of the situation these past few days.
This was a new Holy Cas, nothing like before—most former allies had been destroyed or exiled to the stars, so at present, the imperial star net essentially stood alone.
Due to the unique situation now, the returning Crown Clan had built a massive web throughout every facet of Holy Cas, especially the imperial star, making it tightly sealed and impenetrable.
Such security meant that no one and no organization could find any weakness to steal information or intelligence.
So even though the operation was rushed,
There was no attempt to hide it from the people of Holy Cas.
From afar, crowds could be seen standing beyond the military assembly square—
All of them Holy Cas people from the imperial star.
Ever since his return, Chu Zao hadn’t walked the city streets, nor seen so many healthy Holy Cas citizens.
The scene was striking; Chu Zao instinctively wanted to step back and turn to look.
But Amos steadied him and held him close, walking quietly forward.
Under the gaze of Holy Cas soldiers, they walked toward the warships, those enormous steel behemoths—because it was a combined operation, the largest starport could not hold all the ships, and a large portion of the army was already assembled in nearby space, hovering silent above the imperial sky—
This was the first time in centuries that the blue sky of Holy Cas had seen such an awe-inspiring fleet, like a pod of orcas in a deep sea, exuding unparalleled pressure upon all around.
Chu Zao instinctively looked at Amos.
They walked behind Clansis; all he received was a soothing glance from Amos.
—Don’t be afraid, don’t worry, this is all you should get used to.
You need to see all this, hear all this, and then protect all this.
The ships were fully prepared; the soldiers lined up to welcome and be inspected by the Crown Clan, efficiently boarding the ships, an atmosphere of solemnity before battle filling the air.
Meanwhile, from afar, the people of Holy Cas watched the mighty ships rising into the sky.
They looked up—
“His Majesty and their Highnesses—that one just now, the one protected by His Highness Amos, is that the little Highness of this timeline? Didn’t they say little Highness has already come of age? But he still looks like a child.”
“Haven’t you heard about what a mess things are here?”
The crowd whispered.
“I heard this place is all but lost, who knows how many regions and nations have surrendered to pollution and aberrant beasts—and—Holy Cas nearly perished. I’ve seen survivors of this timeline: few in number, all gravely wounded—”
“I heard the same, so did little Highness suffer here? Heavens—I can’t imagine, a little Crown Clan child growing up in such a place—utterly awful.”
All them spoke, and even if they were gradually getting used to events in this timeline, each reminder left them incredulous.
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter.”
They looked up.
Watching the departing warships.
“The Crown Clan’s Emperor and princes are still here—we must all work harder, not just in our daily work but in study too—make every contribution we can.”
The speaker’s eyes darkened.
“For the holy coronet, let us offer glory!”
We will prevail, and conquer this madness.
In the blink of an eye, voices echoed nearly to the heavens.
Chu Zao stood at a starship observation port, looking out. He widened his eyes, pressing his hand against the viewing panel—
Amos stood behind him, quietly watching his youngling.
He wanted to show his child a Holy Cas that still endured.
Chu Zao stared for a long time, waiting until the crowd dispersed and the last voices faded completely, then turned—
“This is what it’s like—”
He said.
He reached up to rub his nose. Perhaps it was because he’d found his guardians again, or maybe because there were elders above, but he now looked much gentler than before, especially well-behaved in front of the elders.
“When I first arrived here, the Holy Cas people were the same.”
They’d never changed.
Only now did Chu Zao really feel it—
This was the Holy Cas he thought of as home.
The starships left the Holy Cas star system, heading farther afield.
They were traveling toward several sites marked by Crown Clan out on external duties as locations where angels had appeared.
Just after leaving Holy Cas space, they were suddenly “attacked” by a powerful wave of psionic force—
Attack wasn’t quite the word.
For the other party did nothing overtly hostile.
They simply forced their psionic force, twisted and a bit out of control, into their formation—but still careful, not harming the ships—
It was as if that power had been hiding here for a long time.
The first to sense something wrong, of course, were the psionically sensitive Crown Clan.
Amos had been about to show the little one around when he paused, feeling that force bearing down on them. At the same time, as the foreign psionic power was revealed, at the edges of the starship, countless Crown Clan psionic forces came roaring out, so fiercely that the previously brash wave of power quivered in fright, instantly appearing weak, innocent, pitiful.
“Confirm intent—”
Clansis’s voice came from Amos’s communicator.
“That seems to be a long-lived species’ psionic force? Are there any long-lived ones left?”
Chu Zao took a moment to respond; he’d still been looking out, but snapped his head around at this.
“Wait—”
The golden coronet above Chu Zao’s head suddenly lit up as he began searching.
“Dad, that’s my friend.”
Amos twitched an eyebrow, clutching his communicator lightly.
“Friend?”
“Uncle Feeney knows him—a friend I met outside, his psionic power isn’t stable, and we rarely meet, but he’s helped me many times. His psionic power is strong, but he can’t be around people. It’s just been too long, and Holy Cas’s situation spooked him a little—let me talk to him—”
Amos watched as Chu Zao spent a while searching and finally grabbed hold of the unfamiliar psionic force that had been fleeing from the Crown Clan’s overwhelming pursuit.
“Mu, don’t worry about me, everything’s fine now. I’ll tell you more when I get back.”
Chu Zao held the psionic force as he spoke. It seemed to understand, and gradually retreated.
Chu Zao turned to Amos.
“He can hear. It’s fine now.”
Mu?
A friend?
Oh, Feeney had mentioned Zao Zao had friends among the interstellar ones.
Amos narrowed his eyes, seemed to think for a while—
Well, just a friend.
If Feeney had confirmed it, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Amos nodded, not giving it any more mind.
Far off, at a distance from Holy Cas space, a head popped out, looking around blankly—his psionic state was a bit chaotic, blurred, but now his mind obeyed, drawing in neatly, dazedly thinking—wait, why had so many psionic forces just chased him?
Was the guardian by Zao Zao’s side now able to split into parts?
Meanwhile, back at Holy Cas’s imperial medical center,
Feeney sat on the exam table, preparing for another scan, when he suddenly sneezed, rubbing his nose in confusion.
Huh—so strange.
What had he just forgotten?
Feeney cocked his head, thinking for a long while, but couldn’t remember what it was.
He contentedly lay back—
It’s fine, it’s fine—if I can’t remember, it can’t be important.
There’s no problem.
Anyway, there’s Brother Amos above me, and the old man still alive above that, so no matter how things go wrong, the consequences won’t fall on me.
*
The false alarm on Holy Cas’s side passed, and they continued rapidly toward their destination.
Amos didn’t worry further about the friend.
Chu Zao was still curious about the outside world; since leaving the Angel Realm, he’d only reached the vicinity of Holy Cas, met Feeney, then ended up in the current situation.
At that time, their survival environment had been pressed to the minimum.
Feeney couldn’t take the kid very far. Chu Zao had actually been here a year, but had no real understanding of what the interstellar world was like.
And the Holy Cas of over a thousand years ago—its equipment and knowledge were not the same as what Chu Zao had learned.
After thousands of years of technological change, even though all the old Holy Cas information had been purged and core devices dismantled, what remained was still better than present Holy Cas’s.
Of course, this Holy Cas understood that point, and what was left had been quickly retrieved for research and reverse engineering, but expecting to catch up quickly to a thousand years’ advancement was wishful thinking.
The journey would take two days.
Along the way, they cleared aberrant beasts, set up defenses at coordinates, and saw more humans of this star system.
But most now stood opposed to Holy Cas.
Yet the “dead camel is bigger than a horse,” and though it was unclear why the Holy Cas flag and badge had reappeared, even the most battered Holy Cas fleet inspired a fighting spirit the others couldn’t match.
So they paid no real attention to what was happening here; as soon as they saw the flag, they hurriedly left.
And sent reports and intelligence up the chain.
Now, with Holy Cas of a thousand years ago having arrived, there was widespread misjudgment about both aberrant beasts and the Angel Realm.
Information had become so confused—truth and rumors alike—that no one could determine what was really going on in Holy Cas.
But no one realized: both conditions were actually true for Holy Cas now.
“Report it upwards. Did you hear? Those angels recently accepted a few savvy types into another space, something called Angel Realm—”
“You heard that too? Does such a place really exist?”
“Who knows? Anyway, risking it is better than staying like this. Whatever happens, we can’t end up worse.”
“That’s true—”
“And I heard the Angel Realm has no pollution; everything there is wonderful—”
“Does any place like that really exist? God, I don’t even know what a world without pollution would look like. Funny, wasn’t Holy Cas finished? How is their fleet still appearing here?”
Holy Cas ships had cloaking coatings—unless you came close, you couldn’t see much but the badge and flag, not the ships themselves.
“So who knows, who can say why they’re here? If Holy Cas had any options, things wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
“Yeah, it’s sad to think about—the once mighty star empire and that terrifying era of the Black Tyrant, all gone in a flash, everything falling apart, Holy Cas shattered.”
“I heard they ran some hope project back then, but what good did it do? In the end, the pollution force was just too much for the Crown Clan, wiping them out, and so our choice was the right one.”
“Yeah, the long-lived races are extinct; we were right…”
“But it is weird, even though I didn’t dare get closer.”
They looked at the Holy Cas ships from a distance as they retreated rapidly; the ships ignored them completely, just moving toward their target.
“But didn’t you think the Holy Cas fleet seemed pretty powerful? Like the old days.”
“Ha? Don’t make me laugh, you’ve never read a book, have you? You know those Holy Cas ships are ancient, antiques from centuries past, right?”
That was why they never suspected the truth.
“The fact they had to bring those out shows Holy Cas is finished, right?”
“Well, true.”
“For our goal, let’s keep moving—let’s not let anyone else grab the chance—A world without pollution, that’s—such enormous temptation.”
Meanwhile, in the Angel Realm, the Archangel listened to the latest reports.
On Holy Cas, the intelligence was contradictory.
Many said they’d seen Holy Cas warships heading deep into the polluted zone, but also said Holy Cas was spent, too weak to operate, no attack power left.
That they used old warships from centuries ago—though speed was considerable, probably just to preserve a spark, a last-ditch effort.
Multiple sightings left them confused.
Along with these reports—
Their various operations against Holy Cas.
The aberrant beasts sensed something was off; they wouldn’t attack the angels themselves, but inside their own ranks, enmity was plain—the higher command of the Aberrant Beast Legion was mutually hostile, rarely sharing information, much less reporting anything about Holy Cas to the Angel Realm.
Yet Holy Cas sometimes acted far too strong.
The bizarre contrast between retro decay and raw aggression left everyone baffled—
They had no idea what Holy Cas really was now.
“Pay it no mind, it’s fine.”
At last, the Archangel spoke.
He stood up, suddenly slashing open space-time, standing at the juncture of the Angel Realm and the polluted territory, peering out into the universe.
“There is no life left here—all will yield before the power of our natural gods. Even if Holy Cas shines with one last brief light, it is futile. So long as the little one is confirmed to be in Holy Cas—”
Just a broken empire.
How could it possibly stand against the Angel Realm?
Utterly laughable.
Chu Zao—did you think such a place could save you?
Don’t be so naive.
Given the state of the interstellar world, they hadn’t even thought much about Holy Cas; it was beneath them to gather intelligence on a declining empire.
“All right, confirm and lock it—transmitting intel, all legions stand by—”
At that moment, a Crown Clan voice rang out on the Holy Cas fleet network.
Amos had just stepped away from Chu Zao’s side. On the screen before Chu Zao, a somewhat familiar face enlarged into focus—
“Archangel—” and behind the Archangel—was that—the Angel Realm!
But as the Archangel watched, he suddenly froze, looking sharply in a certain direction.
A feeling so powerful it made his scalp tingle struck suddenly. He jerked his head, a thread of blood ran down his cheek—What was that? Some force of this universe—? No.
The Archangel’s eyes reflected shadows slowly surfacing from the darkness, like schooling fish converging, and at the front—what was that? …A human? Impossible?