Cortana carried Siegfried and flew to a hidden place. The power of Might of An-Utu would surely attract the prying eyes of those with ill intentions.
While waiting for Ryn to arrive, Cortana took the true Divine Key—the Judgment of Shamash—from the still-dazed Siegfried's hand. She weighed it, comparing it with the replica Shuhadaku of Uriel in her other hand.
After analyzing it, Cortana tossed the Judgment of Shamash back to Siegfried and said with a mixed expression of regret and pride:
"A bit disappointing... they have the same materials and structure. The only difference is that the Divine Key relies on the Herrscher of Flamescion's core to charge, while mine relies on my own Honkai energy..."
"Disappointed my ass! What do you mean it runs on your own Honkai energy? It runs entirely on *my* Honkai energy! And at an n-times consumption rate! That was enough energy to fire ten of those!"
Ryn, who had just landed, heard Cortana bragging as soon as he arrived. He thought about how he had just comforted Kiana, telling her it was okay and they could find Siegfried next time. Suddenly, he felt his body drained, and Kiana had to comfort him in return, telling him to "do it less" for a few days. Ryn was fuming inside.
"Does your Honkai energy grow on trees?! Don't you know how to control the yield when you use it?!" Ryn grabbed Cortana's ear and dragged her around in circles.
"Ow, ow, ow... What do you mean I don't know how to control the yield! I controlled it perfectly, not a single blade of grass was harmed!"
"Oh, right, right. Over two hundred million people worldwide were temporarily blinded for five to ten seconds by the sudden flash of light. That's what you call 'not a single blade of grass harmed'!"
"At least no one went permanently blind, right?"
"Hand it over. I'm confiscating the Shuhadaku of Uriel."
"No way! Without a weapon, I'll have all this power and no way to use it! How am I supposed to show off then!"
"I suggest you go show off to the aliens. Humanity can't handle your level of coolness."
Ryn took the Shuhadaku of Uriel from Cortana's hand and kicked her away.
Cortana rubbed her butt, then left Singapore to mobilize network resources for global resource regulation to compensate for the damage her previous attack had caused.
The price of showing off was high, but the move was really cool, so it was worth it. Cortana silently gave herself a thumbs-up.
Her memories were gradually becoming clearer. She could vaguely remember that her own world was constantly embroiled in interstellar war. Since Ryn said to go show off to the aliens, she would have him take her back to that world in the future to give the Star Alliance a little surprise by blowing up stars with her bare hands!
After storing the Shuhadaku of Uriel in the Stigmata Space, Ryn turned to face Siegfried, who was sitting in a chair.
This was Ryn's first formal meeting with Siegfried, and he didn't know what to say. If Siegfried didn't speak, he wouldn't say anything either.
Siegfried rubbed his temples. Cortana's Might of An-Utu had shaken his worldview. It was no less than the feeling of helplessness and fear when Sirin casually threw meteorites from the moon, plunging all of humanity into a crisis of extinction.
(A meteorite with a one-kilometer diameter before impact can completely destroy the Earth's surface. The few meteorites Sirin casually threw, each the size of a person, destroyed several major cities and killed over forty million people. Don't ask why the meteorites didn't break up; the answer is Honkai energy shielding.)
Siegfried sighed. Times were changing so fast he could hardly keep up.
Siegfried: "Kiana... she didn't come?"
Ryn shook his head and said, "She knows I'm here, but she didn't come...
Although I don't know why, you're hiding from Kiana. Even though you're always protecting her from nearby, you still don't let her know you exist, nor do you meet her.
You're not ready for a reunion, so Kiana and I both feel there's no need to force the situation.
But I still want to tell you, although Kiana verbally acts like she doesn't care about reuniting with you... she misses you a lot, the kind of a lot where she really, really misses you..."
"Mm..."
Siegfried thought of the past. The young Kiana was clumsy, but she was full of passion and drive. Being with someone as sunny as Kiana made even a rotten person like himself feel that life was wonderful...
But his bond with Kiana was a slowly deepening poison that would gradually trigger Sirin's awakening, until Sirin awakened completely...
"Thank you for telling me this... but I have my own difficulties."
Siegfried let out a pained, dry laugh. He also wanted to be with his daughter, but this nauseatingly ridiculous fate kept tormenting him relentlessly.
Ryn didn't understand Siegfried's so-called difficulties. He didn't like Siegfried; he had disliked him ever since he met Kiana.
"But no difficulty, no matter how great, should justify disappearing off the face of the earth without a single word. How old was Kiana when you left... For a child living alone in the snow, with no food and no fire, it was no less than murder..."
"..."
Siegfried looked up at the cold Ryn, staring directly into his rebuking, angry eyes.
"Sorry, it's my fault. I let Kiana down... But, actually, I was always watching over Kiana, I wouldn't let those things happen to her. And I left a black card, enough for you all to live on..."
"But you never taught Kiana what a black card was, nor did you tell her the importance of money... Foolish Kiana threw the black card away during her journey, using it as bait to lure you out..."
Ryn thought of the life he and Kiana had, searching for her father for thousands of miles every day, never having enough to eat or a good place to sleep. It was a tale of bitter tears...
"Ah, about that... At that time, I saw people from the family came to help you, so I left to take care of some personal matters."
"The family? Those two were from the Kaslana family?" Ryn said in surprise.
No wonder every time he and Kiana were about to run out of money and starve, a delicious meal would fall from the sky, or some kind person would take them for a feast and give them a large sum of money.
Oh no, Ryn could barely resist the urge to kick Siegfried into the air and take Kiana straight back to the Kaslana family to acknowledge her ancestors.
"Forget it, what's past is past. Let's exchange contact information, at least? Even if you can't meet Kiana, you can be like Raiden Mei and her father, Raiden Ryoma. An occasional phone call just to hear each other's voice would be good..."
"..." Siegfried remained silent, just shaking his head bitterly.
"I'm sorry, I can only pretend to be a stranger and watch her from afar... I can't let her know my identity. After you return to St. Freya High School, I will also be busy with my own affairs... Let's just keep things as they are..."
"This is pointless. Both of you want to see each other deep down, but you let all sorts of reasons prevent you from meeting... What kind of difficulty prevents a father and daughter from even making a phone call... Sigh..." Ryn sighed, not wanting to persuade him any further.