Hot. 

How long had it been since he last felt warmth? 

He had already lost count. 

Ever since he himself became devoid of warmth, it seemed that his ability to feel went along with it. Allowing himself to be pushed into the unexplored depths of the sea by his closest friend, he had unknowingly spent most of his life in it. Reliving through the bubble worlds created by his own memories, if he had emotions, perhaps he could have fooled himself into believing those worlds were real. 

Unfortunately, he did not possess such a thing. 

Day by day, he went through one world after another. Only by following along with the route given by each phantom world could he leave it.. Would be a lie, as he could have always forced his way out, afterall, they were made from his memories. The reason why he had not, he himself did not know. 

“Nii-sama.. Nii-sama.. Wake.. Up..!” 

A very weak and feeble voice interrupted his thoughts. He couldn't help but wonder, was this yet another image of his past? But none of the bubble worlds created by his memories could affect his body to this extent. No, those worlds couldn't affect him in the least. 

He could actually feel the warmth of the individual shaking him, trying to stir him awake. When was the last time he felt such warmth? 

“I.. Who are you..?” 

Opening his eyes, he saw a young girl with white hair and eyes akin to himself; nay, she had red eyes. But from the bottom of his soul, he could feel that this girl was in fact someone with the same blood as his. This unusual familiarity he felt towards the girl, he knew it was the familiarity he felt towards his descendants. 

Yet, at the same time the familiarity he felt towards this girl was simply incomprehensible and different. It was much more than what he felt towards his descendants. The familiarity was much much more intense. Almost like.. 

“I'm.. Your.. Little sister.. Nii-sama.. Did.. You.. Forget?”

At that very moment, he felt a slight pain in his head as memories started rushing in. He recognised them to be his memories, yet what were the unfamiliar aspects of it? Perhaps only someone like him could so quickly point out what was odd in 18 years worth of memories. 

He didn't have a sister. 

There was no such individual called Juviel Zraks, who was Hua's lover. 

What was going on? Was this a trick of the 8th Herrscher?

That wouldn't be possible. 

His beloved had guaranteed that the order in which the Herrschers would come wouldn't be different from the Previous Era. Furthermore, the knowledge she had equipped him with regarding the Sea had nothing of sorts regarding the current situation. Thinking back on it, maybe she had anticipated that he would be sent to the Sea. 

From what he had been told by his subordinates, at the moment only the 4th had descended. 

So what was this? 

No, most importantly, what happened to him? 

Where had his physique gone? 

He could no longer feel the chilling cold that seeped even into his bones. 

This wasn't a bubble world, he noticed that; aside from some oddities, the rest of it was the same as his original world. Atleast, it was not one of the past images either. Those ‘images’ strictly adhered to the flow of time that he had experienced, as they originated from him. 

Then what was this? Was it really a bubble world that coincidentally had a 99.9% similarity to his world? Even the Quantum Degradation that had been eating away at him for the past millennias had disappeared. 

He was clueless. 

He stood there in silence, lost in a cascade of questions that only led to more dead ends. His mind reeled.

And yet, beneath all of that... was a creeping, slow fear.

Not for himself. For her.

What would happen to her effort?

She had fought against the current of fate, torn herself away from every comfort, to give humanity a chance. To mold him into something that could go against fate. He wasn’t supposed to be human anymore, he had lost count of how many Honkai beasts that had been added to his genes. He wasn’t supposed to feel. Every part of his transformation had been about survival—removing warmth, purging weakness, reinforcing the will.

And now? That path—the one she had bled to create—felt like it was coming apart. Like it had never existed.

Had he failed her?

Just the thought alone made his fists clench. 

To begin with, he wasn't that smart, so he didn't really know the answers to any of his doubts. But he had great intuition, honed through the various life threatening experiences he went through in the more than 50 millennia he had lived. Life in the Sea wasn't only about bubble worlds or reminiscing, afterall. 

His intuition made him directly stop thinking about the why, the Sea of Quanta had never offered straight answers to anyone, and he knew better than to chase phantoms. So, instead he moved on to the what. What was he going to do now, in this bubble world? The first thing he did was sort out the new memories he had received. 

“My little sister? I remember now. Ana..” 

He glanced at the girl lying beside him, her white hair fanned out on the cracked wooden floor. Debris from the collapsed ceiling littered the room. A few feet away, the remnants of a coffee table lay splintered like kindling. Books, papers, shattered glass—chaos was everywhere.

An earthquake, or something like it, had torn through the place just moments ago. The last thing in the new memories he had gotten was that he got struck by some sort of mysterious force, perhaps the earthquake was related to it, or shockwave and fainted, while in the old memories he had was that he got shaken from the inside. But for some reason, his little sister was fine. 

She was always sick, so it was debatable whether she was fine or not, but since she was laying beside him, it was evident that the force affected her too. Albeit less than him. He looked around, observing the place. 

Did they live in the same room? 

No, that wasn't it. 

This was the living room—he recognized it now. From the layout, the scent of stale tea, the television stand that had somehow survived intact. The memories told him he and Ana lived here, in this modest apartment, 

“Nii-sama.. Are you.. Okay..? You don't look… good.. Your eyes are.. Scaring.. Me..”

Her voice was weak, trembling. But it wasn’t just the words—it was the way she looked at him. Like he was a stranger.

He slowly sat up. His body still felt too alive, too warm. His limbs moved without the sluggish cold he was used to. The sense of weightlessness that came from his usual quantum degradation was absent. Replaced by a dull, organic ache.

He looked at her again. Her body was curled inwards, shaking. Her skin was pale—not just sickly, but fragile, translucent in the dim lighting. The tears in her eyes made something twist in his chest. A tight pull. She looked at her brother who suddenly felt alien to her. She was trembling, and he felt a slight pang in his heart at the sight.. 

She was scared of him.

But, he couldn’t blame her.

His eyes, cold and sharpened by thousands of years drifting through death, sacrifice and illusion, must’ve looked monstrous now—inhuman in a place where he was supposed to be just a boy. A brother. 

What should he do? Nonetheless, he felt that he should do something, thinking of what to do was really not his forte. 

“Sorry.” 

He felt that to be insufficient, but from the new memories, he recalled one thing clearly: she liked head pats. And hugs—though she’d never say it outright. That kind of closeness meant something to her. He meant something to her. 

His hand reached out to the girl. His hand hovered for a second above her head. He almost pulled back. The weight of what he used to be lingered in his fingertips, and for a second, he feared he might hurt her. That the cold might return and freeze her skin.

Then before his hand made contact, she flinched, this made his hand halt. For some reason, something clenched inside him. A sharp, unfamiliar pain. His heart—a thing he once believed frozen beyond revival—ached.

Was it due to the new memories he had with the girl, no, with his little sister? Was it the influence of these strange new memories—this life where she had always been by his side, fragile and bright, someone he had grown to love and protect?

Or was it because he had lost his physique which made him lose most of his ability to feel from the beginning?

Wanting to pull back in order to not cause her further discomfort, he attempted to pull back his hand. But he was stopped by a pair of small hands. Thin fingers, shaking slightly, held his hand in place. Despite her own body carrying barely any heat, to him, her touch was scalding. It seared through the emptiness he had lived with for over 50,000 years. 

This only served as further proof that his accursed physique was no longer with him. 

“Uu.. Sorry.. Nii-sama.. For making.. You.. Sad..” 

Her voice cracked as she guided his hand gently, placing it on top of her head.

She had noticed. Even through her fear and tears, she had sensed his pain when she recoiled.

She apologized—not for her fear, but for hurting him. Hearing her sincere apology, he couldn't help but ruffle her hair. A flicker of a smile appeared before quickly vanishing, like a ripple on still water.

But it had been there.

Anyone who knew him—truly knew him—would have been shocked. 

Was this the same person who had ruthlessly used cities and islands as experimental sites? Contaminating water sources with Honkai Energy for the sake of Project STIGMA, wiping out entire islands, was this really him? 

“It's ok. How are you feeling right now, Ana?” 

Ana looked super pale, from his new memories, he knew she was pale because of some weird condition, but today, she looked even more pale. Then just as she was about to answer him, she started coughing the moment her lips parted. 

Recalling this to be one of the symptoms of the odd condition she had from birth, he first observed and had to stop observing after a few seconds, because she started spewing blood. It splattered the floor beside her like a cruel signature.

He froze. For just a moment.

Then although awkward and hesitant, he still went behind her and rubbed her back. She wheezed and gagged, her frail body trembling under his touch.

Think. Water. That always helped.

He scanned the debris around them. The quake had overturned everything—bookshelves, chairs, furniture—but luckily, a plastic water bottle had rolled across the floor nearby. Probably fell from the table.

He snatched it up, twisted the cap off with practiced efficiency, and propped her up slightly, tilting the bottle to her lips.

She sipped at first, then drank more. Slowly, the coughing began to subside.

Her breaths were still labored, but steadier now. Her fingers clenched his shirt like a lifeline as her trembling eased. 

“Thank.. You.. Nii-sama.. I'm.. Hehe.. Fine..”

He stared at her.

She was not fine.

Even a child could’ve told that. Her body was shaking. Her lips were stained with red. And yet she smiled—beaming through the pain like it didn’t matter.

What a silly girl. 

She was always like that in these new memories—pushing through pain, pretending to be stronger than she was. It was irritating. It was admirable. It was human.

“Um.. Nii-sama.. Could you please.. Carry me..? I.. Can't walk.. Anymore..”

That wasn't an issue at all, so he nodded. But first, he stood up very carefully. Then took some distance from Ana, and began stretching. This was to allow himself to adjust to his new, or would it be more appropriate to say old body since this was quite far back? 

“Ehh.. Nii-sama.. What are.. You.. Doing..?” 

He didn’t answer right away. The truth was, this body wasn’t the one he was used to. His old physique—no, his future one—was an anomaly, built for endurance and unnatural strength. But this body? This was human.

He had to do this, otherwise he may accidentally use too much or too little strength. That would be problematic. 

“Warm-up.” 

Once satisfied with the stretch and testing the limits of this body, he stepped forward and gently lifted Ana in a princess carry.

She was far lighter than expected. Featherlight, almost alarmingly so. He remembered her being frail in his new memories, but holding her now brought that frailty into harsh, physical reality.

He began walking toward her room, intending to lay her down and let her rest.

But things weren't going so smoothly, as he felt her body going limp. Feeling an emotion that he hadn't felt in so long that he didn't even know what it was, he quickly looked at her. Trying to understand what just happened. 

His steps halted.

He looked down at her, eyes narrowing, scanning her face, her posture.

“Ana?” he said softly, almost cautiously.

No response.

His fingers went straight to her neck, checking her pulse, it still felt a bit unreal to him that he could touch people normally like this. A beat. Steady, if faint.

He checked her pulse and that emotion he felt went away at the realisation that she hadn't died suddenly. This had never happened before, atleast, she hadn't fainted out of the blue like this. 

“That force.” 

Concluding it to be the cause of his little sister's fainting, he exuded killing intent. Thinking about why or how or where the force came from, was really pointless. Wasn't it really simple? 

All he had to do was deal with the source of the force, no? 

He carried her over to her room, only to find it in just as much of a situation as their house was; all in shambles. So he quickly cleared away the mess on her bed and placed her on it before tucking a pillow under her head. 

“...” 

Looking at the mess caused by the ‘earthquake’, his resolve for destroying whatever caused it only got strengthened. Not wanting her to wake up to this messy place, he began sorting out the place. 

This was no doubt, the one called inhumane even by the standards of an artificial intelligence. The unfeeling Sovereign of World Serpent, Hero of the Previous Era, Ancestral Kaslana, the Chimera of Humanity. 

Kevin Kaslana. 

… 

Fast forward to the present, Juviel had just gotten escorted out by Vill-V. Even now she was timid, so he couldn't help but feel some pity now. Still, it could have been the fact he hadn't let go of her head since the start. Not in a threatening manner, but headpats. 

He couldn't help it, her weird hairstyle made him feel the urge to just ruffle it and mess it up. But for some reason, despite being soft to the touch, the hairdo was quite stubborn so he had been non stop showering her with gentle headpats in an attempt to mess up her hairdo. 

“Um..” 

Only after she let out a whimper did he come back to his senses. Coughing in embarrassment, he.. Still didn't recall his hand and left it on her head. Then he started speaking in a serious tone, 

“Give me your contact information.” 

He expected her to resist a bit or be repulsed atleast, but she meekly gave him the information instantaneously. Was his Headpat Skill this op? In the future, instead of torturing information out of people, would headpats substitute it? 

Disregarding that ridiculous notion, he quickly came to the more appropriate answer. Wait, could it have levelled up because of how much he did it to her? 

Thinking that was very likely, he finally took back his hand and watched as she stood in the same spot for a good 5 seconds straight. From her face, he saw confusion. And from her actions, he could see more confusion. 

Because she reached out to touch her head, and then looked at her hand. 

After shifting her gaze a couple of times from between her hand to his hand, she finally returned to her senses. Her face went beet red as she fought the urge to hide in the depths of her lab! 

But she didn't do so as she remembered who was standing infront of her, the man lifted her up like a little chick! He did it so fast she couldn't even react! 

So if he got angry at her running away like that without saying anything, her life might be at risk. 

“I-I will b-be taking m-my l-leave n-now!” 

She attempted to switch out to one of her more energetic and talkative personalities, but ended up becoming a stuttering mess. Why did she feel so good from just headpats? And it was from someone that threatened her too! Did she have some sort of headpat fetish? 

Vill-V couldn't help but lament at that thought. 

“Alright, but be careful. Since you know of my existence, as well as MOTHs, then you should also be aware of the danger known as Honkai.” 

She nodded, and felt her awkwardness go away a bit due to the seriousness of the topic. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement as she asked him, 

“So that's what they are called? The creatures, let's call them Honkai Beasts! Where are they from?” 

It seemed that she had momentarily forgotten her fear of him because her curiosity overpowered her fear. Afterall, the being infront of her was evidently one of the key figures. If there was someone that knew about the Honkai, it would definitely be him.

“Want to know? Then give me a call later~.”

Smirking, he waved his hand as he headed back to the mansion. Vill-V looked at his back speechlessly before she ground her teeth in annoyance.