"Aunt?"
Raiden Mei tested the word tentatively.
"Mm," Xia Yu hummed, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "You've gotten thin."
"I..." Hearing those words, Raiden Mei nearly burst into tears on the spot.
For months, she endured everything alone. Her vast home felt devoid of life, and outside, she faced constant cruelty from others. It all began the day her father went to prison. Now, finally, someone stood up for her, someone who cared that she had lost weight. Honestly, if she weren't such a reserved, well-bred girl, she would have wailed aloud.
In reality, Xia Yu didn't actually know if she lost weight, but after days of torment, her mental state was certainly compromised.
"I walked around Nagazora City this afternoon," Xia Yu said to them. "I paid a visit to the parents of those who bullied you."
Broken arms and legs were just the basic interest. Once Raiden Ryoma got out, he would surely continue the "rectification." There was nothing to say about school bullying, especially when sanctioned by parents. Xia Yu didn't care about their lives; since she was playing the part of a Raiden relative, she had to leave a few people for Raiden Ryoma to vent his frustrations on later.
Hearing this, Raiden Mei couldn't hold it back anymore. Her eyes reddened, and large droplets of tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Kiana looked at Xia Yu, flustered and helpless. Xia Yu sighed, stepped forward, and pulled Raiden Mei into a hug. "Don't cry. Aunt is here."
"I won't let anyone bully you again."
"I... I..." Watching Raiden Mei sob uncontrollably, Xia Yu could only silently pat her back to soothe her.
Ultimately, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl. After a sudden upheaval, it felt as if the entire world rushed toward her with malice. The household servants scattered, her father's old acquaintances avoided her like the plague, and she faced bullying at school.
For a sixteen-year-old child, such things were enough to crush anyone. Cocolia's plan was a success; the Herrscher of Thunder was indeed being birthed in such an environment. Without Kiana's desperate intervention, Raiden Mei likely would have fallen completely to the Honkai, becoming a true apostle of a god.
Eventually, Mei cried herself out. By the time Xia Yu noticed, the girl had fallen asleep in her arms. Xia Yu tried to gently pull away the hands clutching her, but even in her sleep, Raiden Mei held on tight.
"Kiana, you haven't eaten yet, have you?" Xia Yu sighed and turned to give instructions. "Go out and buy some food first. My situation... well, you see it."
"Right, right! Sister Acheron, I'm going now!" Kiana tiptoed out of the room, leaving Xia Yu alone to look quietly at Raiden Mei.
Once Kiana was far enough away, Xia Yu slowly channeled her power, probing into Raiden Mei's body.
She soon found the Gem of Conquest. The gem representing Herrscher power formed an almost perfect energy cycle with Mei's natural Stigma. With regular checks and adjustments, she could live a peaceful life if no accidents occurred. It seemed Raiden Ryoma's billions of dollars were worth every penny!
Of course, the reason it could be solved with billions was that this was fundamentally different from Schicksal's artificial Herrscher project.
Schicksal's plan involved transplanting gems into Valkyries to grant them Herrscher-level power to fight the Honkai. Regardless of Otto's true intentions, that was the internal belief at Schicksal. Since the example of Welt, the world knew that Herrschers didn't necessarily align with the Honkai's will and could stand on humanity's side.
Raiden Ryoma's plan had a different starting point. His daughter, Raiden Mei, was a natural Stigma bearer, but this wasn't a good thing. She awakened too early, and her young body couldn't withstand the Stigma's power. Therefore, Ryoma used the Gem of Conquest to create a cycle with the Stigma, consuming its power to ensure his daughter's survival. He didn't require her to gain Herrscher powers.
The difference in philosophy dictated the gap in difficulty.
Xia Yu tried to draw Honkai energy using the Gem of Conquest in its current state, but to her embarrassment, the gem ignored her completely. She could use brute force to achieve her goals, but what about Raiden Mei? She couldn't exactly wake her up now and say, 'Dear, let Aunt have a heart-to-heart talk with your internal organs,' could she?
Without Herrscher authorization, the gem just wouldn't play ball.
She sighed, looking at Mei's tear-stained face.
Since you called me Aunt, I'll have to arrange this Herrscher gift pack for you. You just worry about Herrscher-fying; I'll handle the Honkai part!
In this less-than-beautiful world, only the power held firmly in one's hand is real.
Just then, Kiana cautiously pushed open the door carrying three boxes of food.
"Is Mei still asleep?" she whispered, approaching Xia Yu.
"..." Xia Yu silently nudged Raiden Mei in her arms.
"Mmh..." The girl wasn't sleeping deeply and soon opened her reddened eyes.
"Time to wake up and eat," Xia Yu tried her best to make Acheron's indifferent face look gentle. "Sleeping on an empty stomach isn't a good habit."
"Mm..." Raiden Mei gently released her hold, called her Aunt shyly, and sat on the edge of the bed.
Seeing her awake, Kiana enthusiastically cleared the clutter off her small desk, moved it to the bedside, and pulled up a stool. Her rental was meager; with only one stool, Xia Yu and Mei had to sit on the edge of the bed. Fortunately, it was a proper bed and not a tatami mat, or there really would have been nowhere to sit.
"Three pork cutlet bowls," Kiana said, pushing two boxes toward them. "Let me tell you, back when I was drifting around, I used to see these in movies and craved them. Since I came here, I've tried a few places, but they just didn't taste right. This place? I spent a month scouting before I found it. Totally authentic!"
Raiden Mei opened her box and ate in small bites. The taste was indeed good.
However, she was clearly distracted. Her attention was entirely on this so-called Aunt. She didn't doubt the woman's identity; one look at that face confirmed a blood relation. But why had she never heard her father mention her?
Xia Yu, catching the slip about Kiana's past, teased: "Drifting? Aren't you a Kaslana? With such a massive influence in Europe, you still had to wander?"
Kiana suddenly broke into a cold sweat. She still didn't understand the relationship between her "shitty old man" and the Raiden family, so she didn't dare expose too much. She laughed it off. "I'm an outcast, you know? The treatment isn't that great. I had to run around. Having a home I can't return to isn't much different from wandering."
"I see," Xia Yu sighed, a trace of warmth appearing in her eyes. She picked up a piece of pork cutlet from her own box and placed it in Kiana's bowl. "You've worked hard."
Kiana froze.
Xia Yu didn't stop, placing another piece in Raiden Mei's bowl. "Mei has worked hard these days, too."
Both girls' eyes grew red simultaneously.
'Sigh, just children lacking love. So easy to coax...'
"Um, Aunt..." Mei quickly shoveled a few bites of rice to calm herself before asking, "I have a question..."
"Go ahead," Xia Yu nodded, blinking.
"About... our Raiden family..." Mei asked hesitantly. "Do we really have an underworld background?"
Earlier, she heard this aunt talk about breaking people's limbs with such nonchalance. She didn't seem like the merciful type. She began to believe Kiana's story about the feud between two crime families.
"Underworld background?" Xia Yu blinked, feigning ignorance. "Who told you that?"
Mei looked at Kiana.
"Wait, isn't that how it is?" Kiana looked at Xia Yu, bewildered.
"...Let's just say it's like that," Xia Yu didn't explain, simply smiling at them. "We are all black forces hidden behind the scenes."
Technically, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were massive organizations, but saying they were hidden behind the scenes wasn't exactly wrong.
"I see," the two girls nodded in unison, completely fooled.
"Then my father..." Mei looked up expectantly. "He was framed, wasn't he?"
She had asked Kiana before, but the girl had been vague, fueling Mei's worst fears. She wanted confirmation.
"I'm not sure," Xia Yu shook her head. "We haven't been in touch for a long time. The last time I saw him was right after you were born. After that, I went to the Sea of Quanta to seek an answer. Mei, I haven't been back for sixteen years."
"As for whether Raiden Ryoma embezzled funds, I couldn't say before. But just now, I checked your body... Sigh. To be honest, I didn't believe he would do such a thing, even though I usually found him annoying..."
"Your body makes me uncertain about the truth."
"What do you mean?" Mei was completely confused. "Is something wrong with my body?"
"Sea of Quanta?" Kiana asked. "Wait, do gang wars really use such high-end terminology?"
"The truth of this world is far from the peaceful image you see," Xia Yu sighed. "Mei, I hope you don't blame your father."
"He did it all for you."