Kiana pulled Ryn through the bustling crowd and hid in a deserted alley.
Under a dimly lit streetlamp, Kiana lectured Ryn while eating the Toast Pizza in her hand.
"You always teach me to be frugal, frugal, how dare you pay eighty thousand for a Toast Pizza! We can't spend money like that even if we have a lot!"
As she spoke, Kiana tore off a piece of the Toast Pizza she had taken a few bites from and stuffed the rest into Ryn's hands.
"Mainly, I suspected that was your father, so I was prepared to pay."
Ryn took the Toast Pizza and took a bite. The taste was somewhat similar to the Toast Pizza Kiana made, but the crust was more charred.
Instant high-heat cooking made the edges slightly crispy and chewy, but the inside remained incredibly soft, melting in the mouth.
"Even Siegfried can't sell a Toast Pizza for eighty thousand!" Kiana stomped her foot angrily. Just as she was about to continue lecturing Ryn, she suddenly realized something. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open in surprise.
"That was my stinky old dad?! But he didn't look like him at all!"
"Idiot, there's something called a disguise..."
———————————————
By the time Ryn and Kiana rushed back to the stall where they suspected the disguised Siegfried had been, the cart was already gone.
Kiana was both anxious and angry. In the end, she could only cup her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shout on the spot:
"You stinking bastard dad! You better keep hiding so I don't find you, or I'll definitely smash your dog head in!"
Kiana shouted for a long time, but apart from Ryn beside her and the passing pedestrians, no one paid her any mind or responded.
In the end, after waiting to no avail, Ryn and Kiana turned and left, returning to the hotel.
Since Siegfried still wanted to hide, let him hide. At least Kiana could confirm one thing: Siegfried was always wandering nearby, silently protecting her.
———————————————
Night fell, and a cold wind blew. The small blades of grass danced in the wind, and even the leaves began to sing.
Siegfried was perched at the window of the hotel opposite Ryn's, observing the situation inside their room through binoculars.
When he saw Ryn and Kiana enter the same room through a hacked camera, Siegfried's face darkened instantly. The Judgment of Shamash in his hand was already emitting the flames of charging power.
But Ryn just had to draw the curtains. Even if Siegfried stared until his eyes popped out, he couldn't see what was happening inside. No, he didn't need to see to know what would happen.
"Bastard, bastard, bastard..." Siegfried paced and stomped anxiously in his room.
*Click—*
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered, and at the same time, Siegfried's computer screen went black. A dark figure appeared on the screen.
"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. He who pries upon my master shall receive divine punishment from beyond the heavens."
Cortana slowly turned around, her desireless, god-like eyes staring at Siegfried through the screen.
"What's this, a threatening letter?"
Siegfried was startled by Cortana's sudden appearance and then burned the computer to ashes with the Judgment of Shamash.
The fire alarm in the room was triggered, and the sprinkling water turned into a thick mist under the high temperature of the Judgment of Shamash.
"Tsk, looks like my identity was exposed when I registered at the front desk, and Schicksal's pursuers have arrived..."
Siegfried knew his position was compromised. He held his sword protectively in front of him, shattered the floor-to-ceiling window, and jumped directly from the fiftieth-floor room.
Shouting apologies to the hotel guests, Siegfried stepped on their windows, leaving large footprints, and quickly slid down to the ground.
"You want to catch me? You're twenty thousand years too early!" Siegfried laughed heartily and ran towards a dark alley.
Just get to that place, then slip into the sewers to avoid the cameras...
Thinking this, Siegfried lifted a manhole cover.
But the same person from his computer screen was looking up at him from under the manhole cover.
"Hi, hello there!"
Cortana first greeted him with a smile, but then her entire art style changed. The outlines of her facial features became sharp and clear, with very pronounced shadows.
Cortana reached out towards Siegfried, pointing a single finger at him. "We're full here. You can't escape."
"Nani!"
Siegfried broke out in a cold sweat, quickly replaced the manhole cover, and ran in the opposite direction.
*Bang—*
Cortana sent the manhole cover flying and charged after Siegfried.
"Mr. Siegfried, I mean no harm. Please stop running."
"Heh, Schicksal really is persistent! Sorry, but I have more important things to do. I can't go with you."
Siegfried came to a sudden stop, grasped the Judgment of Shamash at his waist, and fired several quick shots at Cortana, along with explosive rounds at the surrounding walls.
Cortana easily dodged the bullets, then materialized a replica of the Judgment of Shamash greatsword in her hand, incinerating a collapsing building with a single swing.
"Mr. Siegfried, can I consider your attack a provocation?"
"The Judgment of Shamash? No... it's just a replica..."
Siegfried was stunned for a moment seeing the Judgment of Shamash in Cortana's hands, but then he remembered the original was with him and calmed down.
"Beautiful lady, I'm just trying to stop you from capturing me. Perhaps this counts as self-defense? But if you insist on continuing, then this will have to be the first shot of my resistance."
"I said I mean no harm... but if we have to fight for you to listen to me properly, then..."
Cortana raised the Judgment of Shamash in her hand and aimed it at Siegfried.
"Might of An-Utu!"
"Holy crap!"
A light and energy comparable to a dying star erupted in the sky, instantly illuminating the boundless darkness with a scorching sun.
The massive energy fluctuation interfered with all nearby electronic devices and simultaneously blocked observations from outer space.
That night, people in the Southern Hemisphere slept soundly, but those in the Eastern Hemisphere couldn't sleep at all. This included the people in Southeast Asia awakened by the blinding sun, and the world leaders suspecting someone had secretly detonated a massive hydrogen bomb...
And then there was the stunned Siegfried. From the moment Might of An-Utu was unleashed until the light faded, he couldn't understand why a replica could transform into the final form of the Judgment of Shamash—the Shuhadaku of Uriel version—and even unleash an attack with power he couldn't produce even with a Human-form Collapse.
Cortana didn't release the attack at Siegfried but launched it into the sky, towards space. No one knows how many planets were destroyed, but the aliens wandering beyond the heavens were dumbfounded. Because another one of their scout ships sent near Earth had been destroyed.
"Mr. Siegfried, you see, I mean no harm."
Siegfried nodded woodenly, saying blankly, "Indeed..."