"Hmm... does little sister Castorice not like this form of address?"
"If you don't like it, I can change it."
Unaware of what Herta beside her was thinking, Lumina ignored Herta's previous attempts to stop her and focused all her attention on Castorice.
Lumina had originally intended to listen to Herta's words and temporarily postpone her decision to make friends with Castorice.
Postpone it until after this conversation was over.
But there was nothing she could do about it, who told Castorice to walk right up to her door.
Who told Castorice to be so cute~
With just a casual glance and a casual remark from Lumina, her little face instantly flushed as red as the evening glow.
This made it very difficult for Lumina to suppress the desire in her heart to make friends with Castorice, to embrace her, and to stroke her head while giving her a warm hug.
Therefore, it wasn't that Lumina had ignored Herta's attempts to stop her.
But rather, Castorice was simply too cute~
If anyone was to blame, it could only be...
Hmm... it could only be blamed on fate.
This is a fateful encounter. We, who are bound by destiny, have absolutely no right to defy it~
If Herta were to hear what Lumina was thinking at this moment, she would definitely roll her eyes to the heavens.
If you get weak in the knees when seeing a beautiful girl, just say so directly. Why make excuses?
Making it seem like you're some kind of victim.
What "fateful encounter that cannot be defied"?
If destiny told you that the beautiful girl in front of you was not someone you could taint, would you then say: "My fate is in my own hands, not the heavens"?
And then, after saying that, you would add another line in front of the beautiful girl: "If the heavens, if this destiny tries to stop me, then I shall shatter the heavens and break free from this destiny!"
And then you would naturally pull that beautiful girl into your arms, wouldn't you?
Herta truly knew Lumina well, but unfortunately...
At this moment, Herta, who was still captivated by Lumina's beauty, did not notice the interaction between the two of them.
Of course, even if she had noticed, she would not have intended to stop Lumina's behavior.
Lumina was already full of determination to befriend Castorice, so what use would stopping her be?
Stall for a few minutes?
"M-Miss Lumina, I..." Hearing Lumina's words, Castorice looked toward Aglaea, wanting to ask her for help.
But Aglaea merely returned a smile, saying and doing nothing, which only made the thoughts in Castorice's head even more chaotic.
"I... I don't dislike that form of address."
Castorice turned her head away, her eyes darting around everywhere except on Lumina.
She didn't dare look straight at Lumina, because her gaze was truly... Castorice didn't know how to describe it.
Even though it was filled with such intensity, it also carried a trace of warmth and gentleness.
At least... at least Castorice didn't dislike that gaze.
Well... not disliking it was one thing, but Castorice still didn't dare to face it head-on.
Taking in all of Castorice's little expressions and movements, Lumina chuckled. If there hadn't been other people present, she would have already walked right up to her side.
There would be no need to stay several meters apart.
With a soft chuckle, Lumina smiled gently, "Then I will call you Little Sister Castorice from now on."
After winking at her, Lumina didn't continue teasing Castorice.
Shifting her gaze to Aglaea, she asked, "Little Sister Agy, who is that inside?"
"His name is Phainon, one of the Chrysos Heirs of Amphoreus."
If it was merely a guess before, Lumina's behavior towards Castorice just now allowed Aglaea to be absolutely certain.
Compared to men, Lumina preferred women.
Therefore, Aglaea didn't give much of an introduction for Phainon.
"Oh my, he shares the same surname as me, what a coincidence." Just as Aglaea expected, Lumina only chuckled lightly regarding Phainon and didn't ask any further questions.
(Spy-Both got the same 白 in their names)
This formed a sharp contrast to her reaction to Castorice.
Concluding the introductions, Lumina spoke up, moving on to the next topic.
"Little Sister Agy, Phainon's Inner Demon needs to be resolved at its source."
"Ordinary methods cannot resolve it, and might even deepen his Inner Demon."
As for Phainon's symptoms, Lumina could easily resolve them.
But there was no need. For something like an Inner Demon, if Lumina were to resolve it, it would only delay it for a period of Time.
Later on, it would erupt again upon directly facing the source of the Inner Demon.
Unless he never encounters the master of the Inner Demon for his Yu Sheng.
"Mhm, Sister Lumina, we understand," Aglaea nodded slightly and earnestly.
Aglaea was still particularly concerned about Phainon.
He was the next successor of the Flame-Chasing Journey; there absolutely could not be any problems regarding his mind and Spirit.
Otherwise, the entire Flame-Chasing Journey would be ruined in an instant...
Therefore, Aglaea engraved Lumina's words in her heart.
"Sir Phainon's Inner Demon should be his own past, as well as his hometown that was destroyed under the Black Tide." Under Lumina's quiet "healing," Castorice slowly returned to normal from her extremely shy state.
Listening to the words Lumina spoke to Aglaea, she took a deep breath, folded her hands at her waist, and reverted to her image of an elegant princess.
She voiced her own opinion.
"Mhm, it can only be for this reason." Mydei also crossed his arms, closing his eyes in agreement.
Mydei offered no comment on the fact that Phainon had developed an Inner Demon due to the destruction of his hometown.
"Black Tide? What is this thing? Can you briefly explain it?" Hearing this term, Lumina asked with great curiosity.
Lumina's knowledge of Amphoreus was limited to the [Amphoreus Saga of Heroes] she had previously seen through the System, so her understanding of the things within was about the same as Stelle and Dan Heng's.
"Sister Lumina, let me explain." Aglaea looked at Lumina, then at Stelle and Dan Heng, explaining softly, "The Black Tide is one of the culprits driving the beings of Amphoreus to madness."
"This indescribable entity acts like a plague, descending upon the land of Amphoreus along with the Three Titans of Calamity."
"Death, Strife, and Trickery—these are the Three Titans of Calamity." Not knowing whether Lumina and Herta knew what the Three Titans of Calamity were, Aglaea patiently explained.
After clarifying this, Aglaea continued, "We don't know where its source originates; we only know that it continuously encroaches upon this small and peaceful land like the sea. Thus, we call it the [Black Tide]."
"Anyone who comes into contact with the Black Tide will become twisted. Reason is lost, humanity is annihilated, and they turn into beasts. Be they mortals, Chrysos Heirs, or even the Titans, none are spared."
Aglaea's words were extremely concise, explaining the definition of the [Black Tide] in just a few sentences.
"Hmm... why does it feel a bit like antivirus software?"
Listening to Aglaea's explanation of the [Black Tide], Lumina muttered this, causing everyone except Herta to fall into confusion.
Stelle and Dan Heng, who understood what antivirus software was, wondered what this [Black Tide] had to do with it.
Meanwhile, the three Chrysos Heirs—Aglaea, Castorice, and Mydei—were confused about what "antivirus software" even was.
Could it be something similar to the Black Tide?
Did the world beyond the sky also have something similar to the Black Tide?
As this doubt arose in her heart, Aglaea turned to Lumina and asked, "Sister Lumina, does the world beyond the sky also have something similar to the [Black Tide]?"
"Huh? Oh, right." Hearing Aglaea's question, Lumina snapped back to reality. After a brief moment of thought, she nodded.
"Pretty much. The world beyond the sky is vast; it has everything."
"There are even existences trillions of times stronger than the Black Tide."
Lumina gave a simple explanation.
This Black Tide thing was essentially just an ultimate degenerated version of [Nihility], wasn't it?
"It's just that compared to [Nihility], it's far, far gentler."
"Is that so," Aglaea said softly, her thoughts unknown.
In this pause, Stelle asked Lumina a question.
"Sister Lumina, why did you connect antivirus software to the Black Tide?"
"About that." Faced with this question, Lumina didn't know if she should answer.
After thinking it over, Lumina didn't give a direct answer.
"It was just an analogy. It doesn't have any special meaning, so don't mind it."
"Mm, alright." Stelle, who believed every word her Sister Lumina said, had no objections. She nodded and didn't dwell on the issue.
Meanwhile, Dan Heng fell into a moment of contemplation.
Was Miss Lumina hiding something?
After pondering for a while, Dan Heng stopped thinking about it.
He didn't waste any energy dwelling on this question.
Since Miss Lumina intentionally hid it, Dan Heng wouldn't pry.
After all, Miss Lumina wouldn't harm them.
"Aglaea, what should we do next?" When Lumina, Dan Heng, and Stelle's conversation with Aglaea ended, Mydei asked Aglaea.
Asking about her next plans.
"..."
And Aglaea also truthfully voiced her thoughts.
"It is exactly as I thought. This place is constantly destroyed, then reborn, undergoing cycles time and time again." While Aglaea was telling Mydei her plans, Herta, having snapped out of her daze over Lumina's beauty, leaned close to Lumina's ear again and explained Amphoreus's situation.
"The Black Tide is the countdown to Amphoreus's reboot. When the Black Tide covers Okhema, that is when Amphoreus will restart its cycle."
"Hmm... So, what is the purpose of this cycle over and over again?"
Although she had figured out that the essence of Amphoreus was a cycle, Herta was temporarily unable to determine the purpose behind it based on what she currently knew.
However, Herta did know that the repeated cycle of Amphoreus definitely had to do with that [Lord Ravager] inside Amphoreus.
She just didn't know what the exact relationship was.
After all, to the current Herta, these repeated cycles didn't seem to hold any meaning.
After all, every cycle meant Destruction, making it simply impossible to generate any useful data.
Unless... it was meant to be meaningless.
It was designed so that every cycle would fail to achieve its intended purpose.
Herta thought to herself.
"Alright, Little Herta, you don't need to overthink it." Feeling Herta's scent lingering at the tip of her nose, Lumina took a deep breath, instantly feeling refreshed.
Then, looking at Herta's thoughtful expression, Lumina smiled, gesturing for her not to worry too much about it.
"We can just treat it as a vacation in Amphoreus. What the essence of Amphoreus is, what its purpose is—what does any of that have to do with us?"
"We can interfere if we want to, and if we don't, we simply won't."
Lumina didn't care at all about the true purpose of this testing ground called Amphoreus.
There were only a few things Lumina actually cared about.
And those were Aglaea, Castorice... and the like.
"Hehehe, 'interfere if we want to, and if we don't, we simply won't.' Then let's leave Amphoreus right now," Herta stopped pondering and snapped back to reality. Hearing Lumina's words, she replied speechlessly.
How could Herta not know what her real purpose for coming to Amphoreus was?
As if she would just "interfere if she wanted to, and ignore it if she didn't."
If even a single beautiful girl were to get hurt, Lumina would absolutely be the first to fly over and pull off a classic "beautiful girl rescuing a beautiful girl" stunt.
"Leave? We're already here, so what sense is there in leaving halfway?" Even though Herta had already seen right through her thoughts, Lumina was still putting on an act.
With a completely serious expression, she made it sound as if that were actually the case.
"Hehehe." Too lazy to entertain Lumina any further, Herta pulled her head back from Lumina's ear, ending their little exchange. She crossed her arms and waited for the group's conversation to conclude.
Herta didn't particularly care what the true purpose of Amphoreus's cycle was, either.
Judging by what that Intellitron said earlier, it was probably to birth a Lord Ravager, right?
If that was the case, then there was absolutely no problem at all.
So much for the wrath of a Lord Ravager engulfing the Galaxy. If He dared to hurt Lumina's precious beautiful girls right under her nose, Lumina would tear Him apart so badly that not even His own father would recognize Him.
Whatever Amphoreus's purpose really was, once Lumina arrived here, it was destined to be impossible to achieve.
Herta couldn't even be bothered to continue thinking about such an unchallenging problem.
Rather than pondering what Amphoreus's purpose was, it would be better to think about how to reduce Lumina's desire to make friends with beautiful girls, so she could properly focus on the people already by her side.
Hmm...
It would be better to research how Aeons are born instead.
In her mind, Herta compared the difficulty of making Lumina stop befriending beautiful girls and focus on those around her with the difficulty of researching how Aeons come to be.
In the end, she chose to study the question of how Aeons are born.
After all, the latter at least had a possibility of being figured out.
As for the former...
Herta could only give a "heh" in response.
If Lumina could actually reduce her habit of making friends with beautiful girls and focus on the people by her side...
Then Herta would willingly call her "big sister," and without a single complaint or moment of hesitation, believe and obey her every word.
Herta looked forward to the arrival of that day.
But Time would prove.
That this outcome would never arrive.