Chapter 614: Returning to the Sea of Quanta, the Ferryman’s End

“H-Human, how do you have that?!”

Luna pointed a trembling finger at the spatial coordinate sphere in Elias’ hand. There was absolutely no way she could mistake it. This was the very thing she had lost inside the World’s Interstice nine thousand years ago.

Although the exterior of the spatial coordinate sphere had become somewhat worn, it was still functioning normally. It seemed to have been equipped with a device that could automatically absorb external energy, and together with Elias periodically recharging it using his own Honkai energy, it had managed to keep working until now.

“Heh heh~ So this is the coordinate sphere. One look and you can tell Ai made the thing. Honestly, the fact that I managed to find it was pure luck.”

Elias casually tossed the spatial coordinate sphere in his hand as he spoke.

Inside the World’s Interstice, once something was lost, it was essentially impossible to find again, because the space within the interstice was extremely unstable, and accidental teleportation occurred frequently.

In fact, Elias and Luna had encountered it several times themselves. There had been moments when only two or three hundred years of travel separated them, only for a sudden teleportation to instantly widen the gap by another thousand years.

Both of them had nearly suffered complete mental breakdowns at the time.

As the Herrscher of the Void, Elias could still resist those absurd accidental teleports, but Luna had absolutely no way to do so. The spatial coordinate sphere had been the same.

Luna had lost it more than nine thousand years ago. During that entire period, it had been teleported here and there throughout the World’s Interstice until, roughly five thousand years ago, it just happened to appear directly in front of Elias.

Something the vampire girl had lost had been picked up by him, and it was the key that would allow the two of them to return home.

“So you don’t need to blame yourself, Luna. We can go home now. I just wonder how much time has passed outside. Please, please don’t let it have been several years.”

Elias prayed as he spoke. If he had been missing for several years, then the Proper World would undoubtedly have fallen into complete chaos. However, just as he was about to open a spatial portal and take Luna home,

“Idiot…”

“Hm? Luna?”

“Idiot, idiot! Human, you huge idiot!”

The vampire girl’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. She raised her little fists and began pounding Elias’ body over and over. Luna even pushed him to the ground, then sat directly on his abdomen.

Large tears fell from the girl’s crimson eyes. Luna tightly clutched Elias’ clothes with both hands, while the heart that seemed ready to leap from her chest appeared to be screaming something.

This person really was a complete idiot!!

“What’s with you all of a sudden, Luna? This is actually the first time anyone’s called me an idiot like that. Uh, no, wait. I think Ely might have said it before…”

“Human, pretending you don’t understand won’t work. You’re so smart, so how could you possibly not realize what this is? But… you really are a huge idiot!”

Luna stared directly into Elias’ heterochromatic eyes.

“If you picked up this sphere five thousand years ago, then you could’ve escaped back then! But… but you still kept coming to find me and let yourself remain trapped for another five thousand years!”

“…Because I couldn’t leave you behind, Luna.”

Elias gave a helpless smile and sighed. He raised his right hand and gently wiped the tears from the vampire girl’s face.

Now that she had figured it out, there was no point continuing to lie. Elias was starting to regret it a little. If he’d known this would happen, he would have claimed he had only just found the spatial coordinate sphere.

Yes. He had indeed found the spatial coordinate sphere five thousand years ago. As long as Elias had wanted to, he could have escaped the World’s Interstice alone and returned to the Sea of Quanta five thousand years earlier.

But he hadn’t.

Because he knew that the vampire girl who had carried this coordinate sphere into the World’s Interstice was still waiting for him. If he simply returned alone, Luna would be left behind in this world all by herself.

So he chose to stay.

Then he spent another full five thousand years completing his reunion with Luna.

Thinking back on it now, even Elias felt that something in his head must have short-circuited. After all, he had no idea what the ratio between the flow of time inside the World’s Interstice and the outside world actually was.

He should have been racing against every second to get out.

Any normal person surely would have chosen to abandon Luna and escape alone.

There would have been endless excuses for doing so.

But…

if he had done that, Elias wouldn’t have been Elias anymore.

“Didn’t we make a promise? By the red moon, we swore never to part in this lifetime. That vow has already been shattered to pieces, but I absolutely refuse to let it be truly broken~”

At that moment, Elias had made his choice.

He would take the risk!

No matter what the time-flow ratio between the World’s Interstice and the Sea of Quanta was, he would find Luna before leaving! If they left, they would leave together! If they stayed, they would stay together!

He would never abandon Luna.

Never!

The blue-and-gold heterochromatic eyes conveyed the white-haired boy’s resolve directly to the vampire girl, and Luna froze in stunned silence.

“…Human, you’re really stubborn. I was the one who came here to save you, but somehow I ended up being saved by you again. Thank you. Thank you for finding me.”

Boundless joy and emotion overflowed from her heart.

“Meeting you in this life is the greatest happiness I’ve ever known.”

Luna embraced Elias with infinite tenderness and pressed his face into her ample chest. This person really was an idiot. He had given up five thousand years of his life for the sake of one mere vampire.

What was she supposed to do with someone like him?!

Even giving him everything she had in return wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Elias closed his eyes contentedly. Being an idiot once in a while wasn’t so bad, was it? The wise do not fall in love, but when it comes to you, I cannot remain wise. I willingly become a fool, and I will never regret it for the rest of my life!

“Let’s go home, Luna. Together.”

“All right, Human. But to me, wherever you are is home.”

“Of course. Luna is mine, after all.”

His six pure-white wings spread once more. Throughout these ten thousand years, Elias had flown at full speed without stopping for even a moment, and only then had he managed to cross the nearly “infinite” distance separating the two of them.

If one compared the distances they had traveled, the road Luna had painstakingly walked amounted to less than one ten-thousandth of Elias’ journey.

But even as a Planet-class chimera MANTIS, Elias’ accumulated exhaustion had reached the point where he could barely endure it any longer. Because of that, he decided to change his plans and take some time to rest after returning.

Lowering his gaze to confirm the coordinates displayed on the spatial coordinate sphere, Elias pushed the Authority of the Herrscher of the Void to its absolute limit.

Click! Crack!

As more and more fractures spread across the Gem of the Void, a passage that broke through the barrier between worlds appeared. Elias took Luna’s small hand, and after exchanging a glance, the two jumped inside.

…

Within the Sea of Quanta.

“It’s the seventh day already, right? They still haven’t come back.”

Ai crouched on the Hyperion’s deck, staring toward the coordinates that had been set in advance. If Elias and Luna returned, they would inevitably emerge at that location.

“Miss Ai, don’t be too anxious. Only seven days have passed. No matter how long it takes, we’ll keep waiting.”

“…Miss Rosemary, you say that so easily, but you’ve been standing here without sleeping for the entire seven days. You haven’t closed your eyes once. You should go rest for a while.”

“I’m fine, Miss Himeko.”

Rosemary shook her head and stubbornly remained where she was. The normally elegant and mysterious witch now looked utterly haggard, with heavy dark circles beneath her eyes.

Luna’s search for Elias inside the World’s Interstice had indeed been unimaginably difficult, but the witch and the others waiting outside hadn’t had it easy either. Rosemary felt nothing but torment and regret.

(It’s all because I’m too weak. If I were stronger, maybe I could have changed something, and things wouldn’t have developed this way… After this, I absolutely have to become stronger. Strong enough to truly help Lord Captain. I’m his witch, after all.)

“Hey! Look over there! Something’s happening!”

“What?!!” x2

Following the direction Himeko pointed, Rosemary and Ai immediately looked up. A portal with a black interior and golden border had appeared, and the distinctive ability made both women tremble with excitement.

The next second, two white figures leaped out from within.

They were Elias, completely unchanged, and Luna, now fully grown.

“Lord Captain!”

“Captain!”

“Elias!”

The three women immediately rushed toward them. And when Elias saw that their faces hadn’t changed at all, he let out a massive sigh of relief. It seemed luck had been on their side. Not much time had passed outside.

But when he saw how haggard Rosemary looked, Elias’ heart immediately ached. He hurriedly pulled her into his arms and used the power of creation to replenish the vitality of his beloved witch.

“You’ve worked hard, Rosemary. Ai. Himeko. We’re back. I… really missed all of you.”

For the three women, only seven days had passed.

For him, it had been ten thousand years.

Looking at Rosemary and the others, Elias’ eyes reddened, and his body trembled with emotion.

He had countless things he wanted to say to them. And because Elias’ attention had been completely drawn to Rosemary and the others, he failed to notice the figure nearby who looked like a beaten stray dog.

“I didn’t expect you to actually succeed. If it were me, I would’ve made the same choice as always and given up.”

“…Hm? Looks like hardly any time passed after all. You bastard are actually still alive, Ferryman!”

Elias’ gaze instantly sharpened like a blade. Not far away, the Ferryman, with only half his body remaining, was bound tightly in chains.

Terrifying killing intent erupted from Elias in an instant, causing this entire region of the Sea of Quanta to tremble.

After all, one mustn’t forget that he was both a chimera MANTIS and a person of Palatinus.

Even if he did absolutely nothing, time itself would continue making Elias grow and evolve. The ten thousand years he had spent inside the World’s Interstice had caused his strength to undergo another explosive leap forward.

And now, locked beneath Elias’ killing intent, the Ferryman felt as though he had been thrown into a frozen abyss, as if he were standing before some ultimate horror.

“Lord Captain, seven days have passed in the Sea of Quanta from the moment you disappeared until your return. As for why the Ferryman is still alive, I used the remaining energy of this Ether Anchor to barely keep him alive.”

Rosemary lightly shook the lantern in her hand as she spoke.

“Hm? Why?”

Elias froze, clearly confused.

“Because I believe this utterly unforgivable bastard must personally apologize to you and personally receive your punishment. Until then… he doesn’t even have the right to die!”

Rosemary narrowed her eyes, and a cold gleam flashed across the blade of her scythe.

The Ferryman had to pay the price for everything he had done.

For the crimes he had committed, being cut apart by a thousand blades, torn limb from limb, burned, drowned, or killed a thousand or ten thousand times over still wouldn’t be enough!