Chapter 316: A Completely Different Person
Inside the steamy, opulent confines of Amphoreus's private Bath Palace, March 7th rubbed her temples. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she watched Stelle. The Trailblazer was furiously tapping away at her virtual interface, locked in a heated, three-hundred-round verbal deathmatch with Hu Tao in the multiversal Chat Group.
March marched right up to Stelle, raising a clenched fist and shaking it directly in front of the gray-haired girl's eyes. A terrifyingly sweet, closed-eye smile stretched across the archer's face. "Stelle~! I think that's quite enough! If you keep picking fights in the chat, I'm going to give you two more punches to help you 'cool off'!"
Meeting March's icy, unyielding glare, Stelle shrank back. Her chaotic energy instantly evaporated. She obediently closed the Chat Group interface, wilting like an unwatered plant as she muttered under her breath, "...I was just defending the sacred honor of the Astral Express..."
Meanwhile, across the cosmos in Liyue's Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli gently set his porcelain teacup onto the mahogany table. A soft clink echoed in the quiet room. Across from him, Hu Tao was practically vibrating with excitement, enthusiastically bragging about her newly acquired weapon in the Chat Group while simultaneously trying to verbally bulldoze both Stelle and Paimon.
The consultant's voice was smooth, measured, and not particularly loud, yet it effortlessly pierced through the Director's manic giggling. "Director, the bill for the antique inkstone that caught my eye yesterday, along with the invoice for the new promotional posters customized the day before, have both been organized. I have placed them neatly on your desk."
He paused, smoothing out a nonexistent wrinkle in his coat. "Additionally, several prospective clients inquired about the specific discount details for our premium burial packages this morning. These matters still require your personal authorization."
Zhongli's polite report acted as the ultimate silencing spell. The triumphant, mischievous grin plastered across Hu Tao's face froze solid.
Her plum-blossom eyes darted from the rapidly scrolling messages on her holographic screen to the horrifying mental image of a towering stack of invoices waiting on her desk. The fight drained out of her. She deflated like a punctured slime, letting out a long, dramatic groan.
[Hu Tao]: "Aiya—! Duty calls, duty calls! This brilliant Parlor Director is swamped with a mountain of daily tasks, so I won't waste any more time bickering with you lot! Next time, I'll let you witness the true, terrifying power of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's newest treasure!"
With that final, face-saving declaration, her avatar grayed out. She hurriedly disconnected, throwing herself back into the grueling reality of managing the parlor's finances.
The chaotic, high-stakes "Luck Showdown" that had been tearing the Chat Group apart finally began to subside. One by one, the multiversal keyboard warriors were effectively suppressed by their respective, far more responsible guardians.
Back in the Bath Palace, March scrolled lazily through the lingering chat logs. Her pink-blue eyes suddenly caught an anomaly.
[March 7th]: "Huh? Everyone else seems to have finished showing off, but... why haven't Himeko and Mr. Yang said a single word?"
Stelle, currently operating in strict "damage control" mode to appease the archer she had just irritated, immediately jumped on the opportunity to prove her docility.
[Stelle]: "Yeah, exactly! @Himeko @Welt, come out and show off your spoils of war!"
However, millions of lightyears away, Himeko wasn't intentionally ignoring her crew's pings. She was simply paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of the surprise hovering right in front of her.
Inside the quiet observation car of the Astral Express, two distinct objects floated in mid-air, bathed in a stable, ethereal blue light.
Himeko's golden eyes were locked onto the floating artifacts. When her gaze swept over the heavy armor, her pupils dilated with a mesmerized, almost reverent focus.
It was a magnificent, imposing set of heavy armor, forged primarily in a deep, blood-red hue and accented with brilliant gold trim. The plating boasted smooth, aggressive lines that radiated raw power. Broad, articulated shoulder pads swept downward into a breastplate molded with resilient, interlocking curves. The entire design was a stunning fusion of hyper-advanced technological precision and the solemn, unyielding aesthetic of an ancient knight.
A fervent, molten glow pulsed sluggishly beneath the armor's joints and central energy core, looking for all the world like an inextinguishable star had been sealed within the metal. This was the Vermilion Knight: Eclipse battlesuit.
It stood in stark contrast to Himeko's usual elegant, intellectual demeanor. This armor exuded a pure, violent aura. It was a second skin born exclusively for the crucible of war. Beyond offering unmatched kinetic and energy protection, its true purpose lay in its core matrix: the absolute amplification and domination of the user's thermal output, transforming ambient heat into a destructive, incinerating force capable of reducing entire battlefields to ash.
Hovering silently beside the armor was a greatsword—massive, brutal, and practically radiating lethal intent.
The blade was absurdly broad and heavy, cast in a dark, jagged red that resembled rapidly cooling magma. Embedded deep within the crossguard was a crimson core that pulsed rhythmically, mimicking the heavy thud of a living heart. This was the Godslayer: Surtr.
The system's brief description had been chillingly clear: it was a weapon forged to sever fate itself, designed to unleash the ultimate, apocalyptic flames of destruction. More terrifying still was its latent condition—should the wielder's own blood ever permeate the dark metal, the blade would awaken its true, hidden catastrophic power, bound by an ancient oath to cut down gods.
Himeko stared at the floating armaments, her breath catching in her throat.
A sudden, phantom memory flashed behind her eyes. In a trance-like haze, she saw a silhouette—a woman with fiery red hair and unyielding, blazing eyes. The phantom warrior was clad in this exact Vermilion Knight armor, hefting the massive Surtr as she charged headlong into a horde of unimaginably powerful enemies across a fractured, apocalyptic wasteland. The phantom's fierce, sacrificial temperament overlapped perfectly with her own soul.
A deep, indescribable sense of familiarity surged from the very depths of her being.
Without her conscious command, the Vermilion Knight battlesuit dissolved into a brilliant stream of crimson data. The light wrapped around her, smoothly replacing her elegant dress with heavy, interlocking plates of armor.
The fervent, deep red metal perfectly complemented her flowing, wine-red hair. Clad in the imposing gear, Himeko's gentle aura vanished, replaced by the overwhelming, formidable pressure of a seasoned, battle-hardened general.
As the light faded, the heavy hilt of Surtr dropped naturally into her waiting palm. The immense weight of the greatsword grounded her. Instead of feeling cumbersome, the weapon sent a peculiar, reassuring warmth up her arm—a blood-deep connection that felt entirely right.
She hadn't even registered the transformation. It felt as though the armor and the blade had always been a part of her, merely waiting to be awakened.
A sudden, high-pitched gasp finally shattered her deep trance.
"Passenger Himeko! Th-that armor looks so mighty, Pom!" Conductor Pom-Pom stood a few feet away, craning their neck upward. The little conductor's long ears trembled with sheer excitement, their big, round eyes shining with absolute wonder. "Is that the reward you pulled from the Chat Group? It looks incredible! It suits Passenger Himeko perfectly, Pom!"
Blinking away the lingering phantom memories, Himeko looked down at the glowing red plates encasing her body. She gave Surtr a slow, experimental swing. The heavy blade hummed softly through the air, practically vibrating with a latent eagerness for battle.
A complex smile graced her lips—a mixture of genuine surprise, deep emotion, and a fleeting, imperceptible wistfulness for a past she couldn't quite name.
The heavy armor clanked softly as she bent at the waist, reaching out a gauntleted hand to gently pat the fluffy conductor's head.
"Yes, Pom-Pom. I suppose I have you to thank, Conductor. It seems your 'good luck blessing' was incredibly effective." Her tone was warm, laced with sincere affection.
It appeared that even the mature, ever-steady navigator of the Astral Express wasn't entirely immune to the "pet Pom-Pom for gacha luck" superstition that had recently infected the entire crew.
A rapid series of chimes echoed in her mind as the multiversal interface flared to life, spamming her with continuous @ notifications.
With a mere thought, she triggered the interface's camera function, snapping a full-body shot of herself fully clad in the Vermilion Knight battlesuit, the massive Godslayer: Surtr resting easily against her armored shoulder.
In the captured image, she stood tall and unyielding. The heavy plating gleamed with a lethal, metallic luster under the cold starlight filtering through the Express's observation windows. Her golden eyes were sharp, confident, and burning with a warrior's resolve—a stunning, fiery departure from the gentle scientist her friends knew.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]