Chapter 102: The Hour of Judgment
The more Yae Miko thought about it, the angrier she got. She launched herself at Ei and tackled her to the ground.
Ei didn’t hold back either. She had been annoyed with this good-for-nothing pink fox for a long time. The two of them immediately engaged in a hearty, no-holds-barred brawl. If any outsiders were to see this, their image of the majestic and inviolable Raiden Shogun would probably shatter into a million pieces.
Watching Ei and Miko wrestling on the floor, a vein popped on Makoto’s forehead. She took off her wooden geta sandal and proceeded to properly educate the two of them. What is this? Do you have any respect for me at all?
The Musou no Slipper. The ultimate anti-Ei Noble Phantasm.
Ei and Miko knelt obediently on the floor, their eyes sparkling with newfound clarity. The suppression from their bloodline was terrifyingly effective.
The Raiden Shogun’s inner thoughts: Host, you are truly despicable.
That’s right. The moment she saw Makoto brandishing the geta, Ei had instantly switched places with the Raiden Shogun puppet, letting her take the punishment instead.
Yae Miko: Sob, sob... But it was Ei’s fault! She didn’t understand. Ei was the one who tried to sell her out. She was just venting a little, so why was she getting beaten up too?
Kenji didn’t interrupt, enjoying the show. No matter how skilled Ei was in martial arts, she could never defy Makoto.
Lumine, watch and learn. This is how you speedrun Inazuma and Sumeru.
[Galactic Baseballer]: Uncle Yang’s glasses just shattered on their own. That’s so cool.
[Galactic Baseballer]: [WeltLookingStressed.jpg]
[The Destroyer]: He looks like he just ate crap. What did he see?
[Galactic Baseballer]: Nothing much. We’re in Belobog’s Underworld, and Uncle Yang just turned into this after seeing Seele and Bronya.
[Galactic Baseballer]: Oh, right. He was also muttering something like: "The Honkai... it’s caught up to me again. Why won’t it just leave me alone?"
[Star Forger]: Let me explain. It’s a metaphor. Imagine you decide to start a new journey in a strange place, but you keep running into old acquaintances who left a deep impression on you.
After seeing a Seele with no last name, it would have been strange if Welt hadn’t been stressed. With Seele, Bronya, and Cocolia all here, you could almost call it an Anti-Entropy reunion.
[The Champion]: I get it. It’s like going to another region to observe Pokémon, but you only find Pokémon you already know.
Cynthia could deeply relate. The population of some Pokémon was just too large.
[Gudako]: It’s just seeing old faces, right? It’s not like he’s going to run into his father’s killer or something?
Gudako, honestly, are you psychic? Because there was indeed an Otto-face on the Xianzhou. While Welt hadn’t interacted with him much, he had seen photos of the handsome Luocha.
[Star Forger]: @Galactic Baseballer Stelle, you’d better get used to it. Old Yang will be making that face a lot more often in the future.
Luocha, Sushang, Fu Xuan’s voice, Acheron...
[Star Forger]: Speaking of familiar faces, @Ahoge King Artoria, in your world, there are quite a few people who look just like you.
After a moment of surprise, Artoria thought of Morgan and Mordred. Are there others who look like me?
Oh yes, there are. There are many who look just like you.
"Makoto, don’t worry about your body for now. You’ll need to follow me for a while," Kenji said. Unlike Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, who was backed by the power of Irminsul and could restore her body and consciousness more easily, Makoto’s situation was different.
"This..." Ei was certainly not comfortable with her sister following a stranger, but she herself had no way to bring Makoto back.
"Ei, don’t worry about me. You should go out for a walk. Go and see Inazuma," Makoto encouraged her.
"Go out for a walk?" Ei would listen to Makoto’s words. They were more effective than any number of the people’s wishes.
"One more thing," Kenji said. "Ei, go to the kitchen and cook a pot of soup."
Kenji’s words made Makoto and Miko’s faces change instantly. They were all too familiar with Ei’s culinary skills. Even a god would be puking their guts out after eating it.
"Alright." Ei had no objection. This was a small request. She headed straight for the kitchen.
"Kenji, Ei’s cooking... you can’t eat it," Makoto said with a rare seriousness. This man was her savior, after all.
Miko nodded vigorously. Ei had the looks, she had the martial arts, but when it came to cooking skills... she had the looks. Don’t be fooled by her mature, wife-like face; she absolutely could not cook.
"I know," Kenji said, a smirk playing on his lips. "But I’m going to let my good friends have a taste."
Himeko’s coffee was still drinkable, but The Hour of Judgment was a hard pass. He had absolutely no intention of trying it himself. When Elysia returned to the Honkai world, he could ask her to get some cooking from Dr. MEI. That was the origin of all Kaslana-style cooking, the original Kaslana cuisine. If one were to combine Himeko’s coffee, Ei’s Hour of Judgment, and MEI’s Kaslana cooking... what kind of power would be unleashed? It would silence anyone who ate it, permanently.
"Your friends are truly fortunate," even Miko, the prankster fox, felt her mouth twitch. She thought it was fine to tease others, but trying to take their lives was a bit too extreme.
"I think so too." He would have to find a way to disguise The Hour of Judgment. After all, it looked completely inedible. How could he trick anyone into taking a bite?
Before long, a deafening explosion rang out, shaking the entire Tenshukaku. Kenji and the others instinctively looked toward the kitchen. Thick smoke was billowing out from it, making it look like the aftermath of a war.
"I’m not very good at cooking."
Ei walked out of the kitchen, her face calm, though it was now covered in soot. In her hands, she held a pot of purple liquid that was still bubbling. The original ingredients were completely unrecognizable. As the purple bubbles popped, was it just their imagination, or did the purple smoke form a skull?
Kenji was stunned. The real thing was even more shocking than the pictures he had seen. It was as if the God of Death himself was waving at him. If Coco, the poison man, took a sip, he should... probably be fine.
Miko swallowed hard. After several hundred years, Ei’s cooking had "improved" yet again.
"Can you really drink that?" Elysia whispered to Fufu. She felt that if she ate that, she’d have to use her Herrscher of the Void authority to teleport the food away to avoid ending up dead on a board.
"If you put a shield up inside your body... maybe?" Fufu also sounded unsure.
"Thank you." Kenji politely accepted the pot and stored The Hour of Judgment in a far corner of his dimensional space, lest all the other ingredients he had stored spoil. If NEO were to taste this, he wondered what its reaction would be.
Ei nodded. This was the first time someone had actively asked for her cooking.
"Ei, about your darling boy... when are you going to deal with him?" Kenji asked.
"Darling boy? Sister, when did you have a son?" Makoto blinked. She didn’t know everything.
"Huh?" Ei was taken aback. Since when do I have a son?
"Kenji, you’re talking about that cannonball boy, aren’t you?" Miko said, a look of interest on her face as she remembered.
"Ah, Kunikuzushi..." Ei recalled the puppet.
"He should be within Inazuma’s borders right now. You can go look for him. The number of deaths caused by Scaramouche over the years is not small. He’s even distributing Delusions in Inazuma."
"Ei, if you had destroyed that puppet earlier, we wouldn’t have so much trouble now," Miko said flatly.
Ei closed her eyes. The thunderclouds above Inazuma’s islands began to churn and roil. Many Inazuman residents started to bring in their laundry. Others knelt directly on the ground, guessing that this was the Raiden Shogun’s divine might at work.
Ei opened her eyes. With a flash of lightning, she transformed into a purple thunderbolt and vanished from the Tenshukaku.
Kunikuzushi, here I come!