Creating Happiness with Heart in Honkai

Why is there the aroma of food underwater? Why is there smoke underwater? And why are there certain ruins on this seabed?

Sometimes, the mysteries of The Elation aren't meant to be fully understood. Moreover, Sakura mentioned that it was just some advanced technology from the previous era, used in tourism rather than space research.

But more than the aroma of the barbecue, Bronie had a feeling that someone was fishing underwater.

The cat was immediately drawn over.

Underwater, one still needed to swim to move faster. Although Vil-V's explosion had startled the fish a bit, Elysia's gentle demeanor quickly attracted many fish to approach her.

Clownfish hid in the coral, playing hide and seek with Elysia. Some brightly colored fish followed the water currents Elysia created, swimming towards Bronie.

It felt like a harmonious coexistence with nature.

It was quite magical.

But even more magical was the scene they approached as they drew closer to the building and the smoke. Bronie heard a hearty laugh.

"Hahahaha! Can you feel this fiery rage? Burn to ashes in this grilling, vanish into thin air! Suffer from your own weakness and foolishness! Regret ever appearing to stand in my way!"

Peeking over the coral and approaching the smoke, Bronya hid behind Project Bunny, watching Kalpas holding skewers and laughing wildly.

How to describe it?

In Elysia's words, it had been a long time since she had seen Kalpas in such a good mood.

Really.

Kalpas seemed to sense the newcomers. His wanton laughter abruptly ceased as he turned his masked face to see the familiar twin drills.

"Hmph, it's you guys."

"Brother Kalpas, what are you doing here?"

"Master Chef, hello."

Fu Hua was more playful, directly calling Kalpas "Master Chef."

"Tsk, I'm not surnamed Chef! And Pardo, are you blind? Can't you see I'm barbecuing?"

"I didn't expect you to be so leisurely, Kalpas, barbecuing here. Why didn't we see you do this in the Elysian Realm?"

Elysia was very surprised. She probably never thought Master Chef would do something like this.

In the past, Kalpas had suffered so much that he hardly ever cooked.

"Hmph, no matter how realistic the data in the Elysian Realm is, it's all fake. But here, it's different..."

Yes, here is different.

Master Chef, aware of this, didn't rush to find his companions but instead started barbecuing on the spot, carefully observing this world.

The falseness of the Elysian Realm had always tormented Kalpas. The reality of death was in front of him, and he was unwilling to forget that horrible past.

By burning, by fighting, by entering a near-death state, Kalpas maintained his rage in his own way, proving that everything in the past had meaning.

Until he came here.

The seawater didn't extinguish his flames, but the warmth of the fire brought delicious barbecue. From the taste of the barbecue, Kalpas found the reality he had longed for.

When Bronie proposed the revival plan, although Kalpas was stubborn, he was the first to support her.

His old homeland was gone, but that didn't prevent him from forming a new family with the other Flamechasers.

Of course, this was only if everything was real, and Honkai was completely shattered by his hands!

"Master Chef."

"Bronie, are you looking for trouble? I've told you I'm not surnamed Chef!"

"Barbecue seasoning, cumin, oil, and this, my favorite secret barbecue sauce, please, Master Chef!"

In the sea, there was only saltiness. Although the fresh barbecue was indeed delicious, it lacked a bit of flavor.

If richer seasonings were available, Kalpas would be more than happy to use them.

"Hmm, hahaha! You barged into my kitchen, are you ready to face the consequences?"

Kalpas retorted, and Bronie nodded.

"Yes, I'm ready!"

"Then come! Eat everything! Don't leave a single scrap! If there's leftover food, you'd better be prepared to face death!"

This was why Bronie and Elysia felt that Kalpas was a gentle guy.

Even Bronie could sense his gentleness.

Because he always said the harshest things, but the actions he took were often quite kind.

It was said that in Fire Moth, the overtly bad deeds were done by Kalpas, and the covertly bad deeds were done by Mobius.

But in reality, it was all a misunderstanding.

If one had to say who was most likely to cause massive destruction, Elysia would more likely give that title to Vil-V.

After all, the rumors about all the bad deeds being done by Kalpas originated from Vil-Vi and Mobius.

Actually, everyone was already hungry. In the Elysian Realm, it wasn't so obvious if people forgot to eat, but here it was different.

"Wow! This taste! Brother Kalpas, how can your cooking be this delicious?"

"Bronya thought today's lunch would be raw fish caught from the sea, but to enjoy such a gourmet meal..."

Looking at the skewer in her hand, Bronya was astonished. Though the meat was fish, its appearance...

How to describe it?

It had a very unique look.

It looked like a giant saw.

"This is a saw shark, right? It should be edible. As long as it's not a scavenger fish, it shouldn't be a problem. Maybe this shark provoked Master Chef and got cooked by accident."

"That 'accident' was quite fatal. Sister Bronie, do you know a lot about fish?"

Bronya had never seen such a peculiar creature. Even on the internet, she had never actively searched for it.

"Not really. It's just that when making games, I often look for various materials to fill in details and enrich the game's world view with subtle knowledge and trivia."

"I see. Although I anticipated game development would require extensive knowledge, I didn't expect it to go to this extent."

"Well, it doesn't matter. As long as it's delicious. Eating well gives us the strength to fight. Brother Kalpas' skills are truly amazing. If we return to the Elysian Realm, will you cook for us, Brother Kalpas?"

"What! Return to the Elysian Realm? Impossible. If I go back there, I will destroy it completely! Don't even think about cooking!"

Pardo apparently didn't realize why Kalpas was in a good mood and accidentally stepped on a landmine.

But even so, Kalpas handed Pardo a skewer.

"Right. If we were in the Elysian Realm, we'd be eating things from our memories, lacking a bit of soul..."

"Hmph, good that you understand."

Kalpas didn't pursue it further but pondered the current situation.

"So you're saying the Aeon targeted us, throwing us here for some event, and you guys are the main group. I didn't join because I was busy barbecuing?"

"That's about right."

"But I stayed here for a reason. Here."

Kalpas threw a golden piece of paper, which floated a short distance in the water before slowly settling.

"Eliminate the palace guards."

"Huh? There are guards in the palace? What kind of creatures are they? They can't be more absurd than the Overlord Crab, right?"

Pardo had a slight psychological shadow from the Overlord Crab, fearing that a single misstep could result in losing Can forever.

Although Pardo had prepared a full set of metal armor for Can, seeing the deformed armor later made her even more anxious and apologetic towards Can.

"Although I don't know what the Overlord Crab is, I'm sure the palace guards are no pushovers."

Kalpas pointed to a palace in the distance.

In that dark corner, a huge shadow could be seen, with tentacles coiling on the ground, stirring up massive dust with each movement.

Even the palace's shadow couldn't completely conceal its figure. Occasionally, a deafening, grating roar echoed. Sound travels faster in water than in air, so the noise reached their ears even from a distance.

The metallic tearing sound, mixed with the ear-piercing noise like a balloon being rubbed, made goosebumps rise.

Kalpas angrily snapped the skewers in his hand.

"Tsk, normally I could take it down, but here underwater, my flames don't work well. That creature looks like an octopus. Who knows how much damage a punch would do. Little Bunny, project some weapons for me, preferably something sharp, so I can hunt more efficiently."

"Something sharp? How about this?"

Bronie projected a light sword.

"Cool~"

"No, Hua, have you caught Kevin's sense of humor?" Pardo couldn't help but tease.

Kalpas weighed the light sword in his hand.

"This delicate weapon, I'd rather use an iron board. Give me something else!"

"Then how about this?"

Bronie projected a chainsaw sword, with a fierce design that immediately caught Bronya's eye.

"Hahaha! As expected from a game maker, good design! This is it! Make me a pot of fish soup, I'll be right back!"

He picked up the chainsaw sword, and as it stirred the water, the surrounding small fish were shredded into a bloody mess.

Predatory fish attracted by the blood, empowered by Honkai energy, became extremely aggressive.

Then Kalpas turned them into a pile of indistinguishable meat with a single slash.

"Hahaha! With materials strong enough, I will meticulously tear Aponia into pieces! Hahaha!"

Kalpas, like a child with a new toy, gleefully charged towards the palace.

It was inevitable since eliminating the palace guards was Kalpas's mission.

"This looks even cooler..."

"Ah! Bronie's caught Kevin's sense of humor. Can this really be contagious?"

Pardo simply found Kalpas terrifying.

Especially with the violent aesthetic of the chainsaw sword, Pardo could only marvel at the famous game designer.

The weapon styles were truly diverse.

"Hahaha! Wail! Mourn! Lament your weakness! I'll tear you apart bit by bit with my chainsaw sword!"

"Kalpas, what's wrong with you? Why are you attacking my pet suddenly?"

As everyone was watching while eating skewers, a familiar voice rang out.

The loud chainsaw sword sound drowned out Mobius's complaint.

"Hi~ Mobius~"

"Elysia, and Bronie. As expected, your entrance is quite unique."

"Mobius, your swimsuit is beautiful! Just like a mermaid!"

Elysia's attention was immediately drawn to Mobius's outfit.

Nothing else, Mobius's swimsuit was indeed very pretty.

"Doctor Mobius, since we're together now, shall we move on together?"

Sakura invited Mobius.

This invitation should have come from Elysia, but her attention was fully on Mobius.

"No need. I have my own plans. Besides, didn't you notice that many of the fish here shouldn't be living in the same area or depth?"

As expected of a biology Ph.D., she had a lot of knowledge in these areas.

Although Earth's current ecosystem and the previous era's were not the same, much about biology was universal.

So Bronie looked at the giant octopus still battling Kalpas.

"That's right, the giant squid. I had tamed it for various experiments and tests. It feels like this small island and sea area were made into an ecological sphere, and some fish were just thrown in because they looked good. There's nothing much to research, but some special creatures contain a kind of imaginary energy worth studying."

Mobius had not stopped researching since arriving here.

Whether taming the giant octopus or studying her own body state.

The seawater had diluted Mobius's blood, but the black, mud-like residue on the ground was the ability from Mobius's Honkai beast genes.

She truly deserved the title of a mad scientist, showing no mercy even to herself.

"Since you have research interests, you should study well. By the way, are you hungry? These skewers were made by Master Chef Kalpas, it's very rare!"

"Oh? Kalpas? Interesting. I didn't expect him to be into barbecue. I must try it~"

"Although I can't determine the Aeon's power level on this island, as protagonists, our every move is likely being watched. I will do my best to find an opportunity."

The opportunity referred to was to bypass the Aeon''s power and revive everyone completely after the event.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, something Mobius would surely realize.

"Hehe, it's okay. Even if we fail this time, we'll leave a mark. I'm indifferent to my life form, after all, I pursue infinity. When I became a memory, I injected a virus into my body. Now it's just transforming from a memory to something else, so don't hesitate, I'll give it my all~"