"Hmph..." A clear glint flashed through the wind wings of the Herrscher of Wind. In an instant, the resilient nanothreads were sliced apart like fragile spiderwebs.
Her hand swept outward, an invisible force spiraling around her like a sovereign domain of wind.
Under that power's coverage, Magician—who had been concealed within the rocket's fuel tank—instantly revealed herself.
Yet in the face of this sudden turn, Magician showed not the slightest fear. Instead, she exclaimed in delight, "Oh my, I've been discovered. Revealing the secret behind a magic trick isn't very polite, you know, dear audience~"
Her expression was relaxed, mischief glittering in her eyes.
The wind spirits had already informed the Herrscher that there were no other presences nearby. Only the Magician before her was real.
That was the Magician's true body.
The Herrscher of Wind and Magician Vill-V circled each other high in the sky like two aerial dancers waltzing through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the Herrscher of Wind's face was pressed close to Magician's, and she said disdainfully, "I'd say this magic show should be over by now!"
Her palm pierced straight through Magician's chest. This time, the sensation was real—warm, yielding flesh.
Yet to the Herrscher of Wind's astonishment, the Magician whom even the wind spirits had identified as the true body dissolved into countless pristine white feathers. It was yet another misdirection. It had even deceived the omnipresent wind—and her own sense of touch.
Magician's lively, playful voice sounded once more from above the Herrscher of Wind's head.
"Dear audience, are you still so eager to chase after the truth behind magic?"
"The truths you see, the truths you hear, the truths you touch during a magic show—for the audience, they may not all be real, you know?"
The Herrscher of Wind widened her eyes and looked up at Vill-V.
Magician was seated upon a gigantic feather, her full thighs crossed, her face radiant with a dazzling smile. "If the truth behind magic were so easily grasped, then it wouldn't be worthy of being called magic, would it?"
"True magic is about making you believe in miracles beyond imagination. And I—Magician Vill-V—will ensure that you can never unravel the mystery behind my performance~"
"And besides..." Vill-V lightly pressed down the brim of her top hat, winking cutely with one eye closed. "When a grand magician concludes her act, shouldn't she receive applause from her audience, dear spectator?"
Vill-V lifted four feathers with her fingers. "Anti-Herrscher Armament—Past Lodged Fruit · Feathered Gale."
Though called an armament, it was in truth merely four light feathers, crafted from Gulg data into flying plumes.
At that moment, Wendy, the Herrscher of Wind, paid no mind to what this Magician intended to do. She stirred the voidstorm once more, attempting to tear apart the Magician above her.
Even in the thin air of the upper sky, the Herrscher of Wind could generate wind through Honkai energy. Even in the vacuum of space, she could do the same. That was the authority of the Herrscher of Wind. Wherever she stood became the eye of the storm.
Her earlier approach toward Vill-V had merely been to confirm whether this slippery Magician before her was illusion or substance.
But now, the Herrscher of Wind had no intention of wasting more time. She would rend the entire sky asunder.
Crackle! The furious storm exploded through the vast firmament.
Yet unexpectedly, the instant the storm touched the Gulg feathers, they transformed into two black spears, condensing from within the voidstorm itself, their tips aimed directly at the Herrscher of Wind's chest.
Clang! Clang!
"Mm—?!"
Shock flashed across the Herrscher of Wind's face. Her emerald wind wings beat violently, unleashing countless blades of wind. Yet this time, the razor-sharp wind knives failed to shred the two ancient-looking, translucent spears. Like straight lines driven through a vortex, they pierced Wendy's chest.
Thud! Thud!
"Ugh... this is..." Wendy gasped in pain, staring at the two black spears in confusion.
The Magician's voice rang out brightly once more, explaining to her audience, "That's right. The Impaled Illusion performance you are fortunate enough to experience this time does not rely on optical tricks or prop blades, but on unique quantum spears!"
"A brand-new magical experience never before seen! How does it feel to be impaled by quantum spears?" The Magician sparkled with starry eyes, cupping her ear as though listening. "Mm-hmm, it seems our dear Herrscher is so thrilled she can't even speak~"
Indeed, what the two black spears now exhibited was no longer solid matter as before, but a superfluid—a quantum state.
At low temperatures, the original motion of liquid molecules ceases, forming a more ordered structure. As the temperature continues to drop, the molecules within the liquid draw ever closer, gradually composing a vast quantum state.
In simple terms, a superfluid is a condensed state of matter formed from the quantum properties of molecules.
Originally, the Herrscher of Wind was far from capable of creating quantum matter. She merely wielded the superficial power of wind.
That was precisely why Vill-V had subtly guided the Herrscher of Wind to comprehend her own authority and trace back to her origin. It was extremely dangerous.
But if guided correctly, it served another purpose as well—that was to allow the Herrscher of Wind to undergo self-feathering, to break through the shackles of Honkai.
For a Herrscher to achieve self-feathering, mere awakening of will was far from sufficient. In the Previous Era, Herrschers possessed absolute control over their Herrscher Cores. Humanity's will had to gain control over the Herrscher Core as well.
That required helping human consciousness return to the origin of Honkai, to obtain something from that source.
In a certain sense, this too was an embrace of Honkai—for a Herrscher.
Of course, this remained only a theory proposed by Expert and Scholar, yet to be verified. What form the feathering of a Previous Era Herrscher would take was unknown to anyone.
To assist human will in returning to the origin, Occultist had also added an additional safeguard through special means. But this safeguard did not act directly upon the Herrscher's will.
"Retrospective Construction." That was the definition Expert gave to the ability Scholar had imbued into the spears.
This method had once been demonstrated by Scholar Vill-V at Chiba Academy—that was, "to make the fate of matter return."
The two black spears developed by Scholar bore those peculiar symbols as well.
The principles of these strange symbols were similar to the Discipline ability wielded by Aponia. As an Occultist who had "witnessed the starry sky," Vill-V had gained a special ability—Writing Destiny. It could restore an object's state to what it had previously been.
It was an ability akin to guiding fate itself. One first set the final result, then determined the construction process. If the result was not satisfied, it would revert to the previous step and reconstruct again, repeating until the required outcome was achieved. If the outcome could not be satisfied at all, it would simply revert to the prior step.
However, reverting to the previous step merely ensured identical appearance. Due to the uncertainty of the future, the specific form manifested would exist in a quantum state.