"Baka! You're Rovel, aren't you?" one of the players snarled, his face contorted with rage and humiliation. "You damn dog from Shenzhou! The Funahiki family will rember this!"
He spun on his heel, intending to flee and preserve his level, but he never took a second step. With a flicker of movent too fast to track, Raiden i was behind him. A single, elegant kick connected with his back, and the man dissolved into a shower of glittering data fragnts.
The few remaining players stared in horror, their bravado evaporating into sheer panic. They were not spared. i dispatched them with an almost casual grace, her movents a blur of precise, lethal strikes. Within monts, the clearing was silent once more.
i delicately brushed off the non-existent dust from her hands. When she turned back to face Rovel, the cold, efficient warrior was gone, replaced by the gentle, warm-hearted girl he had been sharing dessert with only minutes before. A slight pout touched her lips.
"Honestly," she complained, her voice laced with a soft, lingering annoyance. "A perfectly good date, and it gets interrupted by these boring Descenders."
It was a sentint she truly felt. Of all the so-called Descenders she had encountered since the ga began, only Rovel had been a pleasant presence. The rest brought her nothing but trouble and frustration. She still rembered the one who had tried to interfere while her father was being arrested, a chaotic encounter that had ultimately prevented her from even learning where they had taken him.
And now, this group had ruined her ti with Rovel. How could she not be annoyed?
"Just think of it as a bit of exercise to help digest the dessert we just ate," Rovel offered, his voice a soothing balm.
i considered this for a mont, and a small smile blood on her face, chasing away the clouds of her irritation. "Hmm, that's a good way to look at it."
In the real world, a high-tech ga pod hissed open, and a young man erged, his face a mask of incandescent rage. Funahiki Shin ripped the neural helt from his head, his knuckles white.
"That damn dog from Shenzhou!" he roared to the empty room, before stabbing a button on his intercom. "Find him! Put a bounty on him in Nagazora City! I don't care what it costs! As long as that Level 31 NPC isn't glued to his side, I want him killed on sight! I want to make him regret ever crossing the Funahiki family!"
He paced the room like a caged tiger. "And check his real-life identity! Rovel Suou… he has to be from Shenzhou. I want to know exactly who has the audacity to defy us!"
A butler, standing discreetly to the side, bowed low and hurried to dispatch his master's orders.
Not long after, the door to the lavish suite slid open, and another man walked in. He bore a resemblance to Shin, but his posture was calr, his expression more composed. The mont Shin saw him, his already foul mood curdled into sothing uglier.
"What are you doing here?" he spat.
The newcor was his younger brother, Funahiki Mi.
Shin's resentnt toward his brother was a bitter pill he was forced to swallow daily. Mi was luckier, more cunning. He had already maneuvered himself into a position to communicate with an executive from Anti-Entropy, and through that connection, he had even secured a titan cha.
Granted, Mi hadn't yet mastered the titan's controls, but in a few days, he was scheduled to acquire the [Basic cha Piloting (Green)] skill. Once he did, he would be able to pilot the titan and single-handedly obliterate Death Soldiers—a feat that would skyrocket his prestige. It was because of this titan that the family's elders had begun to quietly shift their resources and favor toward him.
Now, having died in the ga, Shin had suffered a level penalty and was locked out for twenty-four hours. The gap between him and his brother would only widen. Barring a miracle, Funahiki Mi's ascension to the position of family heir was all but a certainty.
"Big brother, I trust you've been well." A smug, condescending smile played on Funahiki Mi's lips. He knew perfectly well that Shin had just been killed in the ga; he had co here for the sole purpose of rubbing salt in the wound. "I heard you were killed by an NPC. How fortunate. It gives you a whole day to rest."
As expected, Mi's words landed like a physical blow. The color drained from Shin's face, leaving it a grim, stony mask.
"If you only ca here to spout such nonsense, then please leave," Shin said, his voice tight with suppressed fury as he pointed a trembling finger toward the door.
Funahiki Mi acted as if he hadn't heard a word. He strolled casually to the side table, picked up a crystal decanter of wine, and poured himself a glass. Settling onto the plush sofa, he took a small, deliberate sip before continuing.
"Big brother, do you know why you can never beat ? Even without 'Honkai,' you should be well aware that the next heir of the Funahiki family could only ever be ."
Mi didn't raise his voice. Instead, he let the words hang in the air, low and haunting, each one a carefully placed needle.
"Tch…" Shin curled his lip, turning away. He hated to admit it, but his brother was right. Even though he was the eldest, Mi surpassed him in every conceivable way. The ga 'Honkai' hadn't been an opportunity for Mi; it had been an opportunity for him—a chance to finally close the gap. A chance he was now squandering.
"Rovel Suou…" Mi continued, his tone shifting from mockery to cold analysis. "A player capable of building such a strong relationship with a high-level NPC that she would personally eliminate enemies for him. You should be learning from him, not starting a feud over a few pathetic experience points."
He paused, letting the weight of his assessnt settle. "If we could have recruited him, if we had simply asked him how he did it, the benefits to the Funahiki family—not to ntion your own standing—would have been imnse."
Mi stood up, his gaze sweeping over his brother, his eyes filled with an undisguised, chilling contempt.
"And you, my foolish brother, threw away such a golden opportunity. Just like that."
"You…!" The rage in Shin's chest was so potent it felt like a physical pain in his liver, yet he was powerless to retaliate.
"Let's leave it at that," Mi declared, his voice now carrying the unmistakable ring of command. "Cancel the bounty on Rovel Suou. And the mont you have any news of his whereabouts, you will notify imdiately."
Without waiting for a reply, and completely ignoring the apoplectic state of his older brother, Funahiki Mi turned and walked out, his posture radiating an aura of absolute superiority.
For the remainder of their ti together, Rovel and i encountered no further interruptions. It was, by all accounts, a date that could be considered a qualified success.
That evening, Rovel was invited to the Raiden household for dinner, where he once again had the pleasure of tasting the handiwork of the "Cooking Lady." The al was so exquisite that it registered as a tangible boost within the ga.
[Your four primary attributes have increased by 1.]
Rovel's base attributes were now all at a solid 70, and he still had 14 free attribute points to allocate.
He was in the middle of a pleasant chat with i when a ga notification suddenly chid, signaling an incoming call. It wasn't Yuki, however. The na displayed on the virtual screen was one he hadn't expected to see.
As he read the two words—'Family Head'—Rovel's brow furrowed, and a flicker of ice passed through his eyes.
"Sorry, i, sothing's co up. I think I might have to leave first," he said, his voice tinged with a genuine apology as he prepared to say his goodbyes.
"...Is sothing troubling you?" Raiden i asked, her perceptive gaze catching the subtle, dark shift in his expression.
"Soone from my world is looking for . Don't worry, it's nothing," Rovel said, shaking his head and offering her a thin, reassuring smile.
"Okay. Then… goodbye, Mr. Ruobai," i replied, a hint of reluctance in her voice.
"Goodbye, i." Rovel nodded, and with a final glance, he logged off, leaving the world of Honkai behind.
Stepping out of the ga pod, Rovel saw the sa two words—'Family Head'—glowing on his phone's screen. He stared at it, his thumb hovering over the answer button. After a long, hesitant mont, he finally accepted the call.
"Family Head," he said, his voice utterly flat, devoid of any emotion. "What do you want?"
"...Rovel Suou," a deep, majestic voice bood from the other end, laced with authority and displeasure. "Is that any way to speak to your father?"
Beep.
That was Rovel's only response.
He ended the call, calmly set his phone to silent, and tossed it onto his bed. Then, he turned and walked toward the bathroom.
On the other end of the line, the Family Head stared at the disconnected call, a flash of fury crossing his features. He swallowed his anger, his jaw tight, and redialed the number.
At that very mont, however, Rovel was in the bathroom, the sound of the shower starting to fill the small space. He was already humming a tune, completely imrsed in his own world, about to lose himself in song. He had no ti to be bothered with such trivial matters.
'The Family Head?'he thought with a dismissive smirk as he stepped under the hot spray.'How could that possibly be more important than my bath?'
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