Okay.

—

[Five hours later]

Pressurizing a large amount of accelerated water through his latissimus dorsi muscles, Richard launched himself into the mouth of the Leviathan. Entering the mouth of the gigantic deep-sea beast, he saw a group of children gasping for breath.

Moving swiftly, he gathered every child he could find and brought them to one corner inside the beast's stomach. Using his Water Breathing technique, he touched every liquid molecule in the surrounding area, moving the water out of their lungs to create a safe space.

Turning to Sylphrena and a group of her Honorspren, Richard pleaded, "Please, everyone. Your Adhesion and Gravity magic."

"Don't worry, Kaladin—I mean, Richard! We'll help you!"

Nodding his head, Richard summoned the transparent keyboard from his wrist and provided each Honorspren with Mana he created through undeployed Huginn and Muninn.

[User Registered: Sylphrena, Rynara, Thalor, Aelindra, Varlis, Cyrin, Ishara, and Lareth.] [Transfer: Sample Mana. Quantity: 100.]

The seven blue, little flying people lit up, then outstretched their hands to make every stone-like and fox-like child sticky and permanently subject to normal gravity.

[Magic Surges: Adhesion and Gravitation.]

[Detail: Surge magic owned by every Honorspren. Only activated when bonding with individuals. Mana can substitute. Adhesion - Can manipulate dipole-dipole interactions. Gravitation - Can manipulate gravitational attraction.]

After the spell was complete and the children were stuck together, Richard wasted no time. He drew his Uru metal swords and employed his Fourth Form: Whirl of Bluesky on the beast's stomach wall. With a loud Foom, the Leviathan split in two. Richard immediately used his pressurized water maneuver to piggyback the clump of frightened children and controlled the air molecules around them to protect them from atmospheric air resistance, launching himself toward the surface.

With a Boom, he saw the sun and moon in the sky again. Discharging a large amount of electricity into his back right muscle, he changed direction. Another Boom echoed, Richard arrived at Undvik island, bringing a clump of living beings with him. Slowly descending, he reached the race of fox-like people called Kitsune. Bringing down the frightened kids from his back, he looked at Sylphrena and the Honorspren group.

"Aye, aye captain! We know what to do! Let's go, let's go! Release the Adhesion!"

Leaving the Spren to do their magic, Richard turned to the leader of the fox-like race and said, "Bring these Oread kids to their group."

"Y-yes, Your H-highness."

Shaking his head at their ancestral custom of addressing someone powerful, Richard left the Kitsune race group with a zap of lightning. Arriving at the tower once again and hearing the discussion between the mother and daughter duo, he couldn't help but wear a strange expression.

"Mother, please. It's all because of me," Ciri said sternly. "I am ready to sacrifice my Elder Blood if it means turning back time. None of this would have happened if I wasn't born with it," she pleaded to her mother. "So, please."

"Okay, okay! Fine! You asked for this! Don't come whining to me when Vilgefortz or any of your enemies suddenly resurrect and walk the land of the living! You're the one who wanted this to happen!" Yennefer replied angrily.

Looking at her mother with gratitude in her eyes, Ciri assured her, "Don't worry. I will be ready this time. I won't let them use me. This time, I will be the one who hunts them."

"With what, silly?"

Looking to her wrist where there was an ashen-gray transparent watch, and finally feeling the Thunder Breathing circulating inside her body, Ciri replied, "With this new power," while demonstrating the electricity running throughout her skin, "and my new friend," looking at Richard, who had a strange expression.

"Still, no matter what, I will leave you a way out. We don't need to destroy your Elder Blood for this. We just need to reverse everyone who died because of the Conjunction. There's no need to reverse time or anything. But it will still bring the ghosts of the past, and I'm not even sure who will show up. So, are you ready?" Yennefer asked again.

Taking a deep breath, knowing she would once again delay the regeneration of her Elder Blood, making her unable to use the ability for a long time, Ciri replied, "I am ready."

Walking closer to Ciri and seeing that everyone had returned from their individual business, Richard then heard the ashen-haired lady's question.

"You don't mind having one or two more powerful enemies, do you?"

Shaking his head, Richard replied, "No. My original powers come from you anyway. So, this is the least I can do. Not to mention, if the lineup is like Eredin and his henchmen, I will gladly chop their heads off."

Nodding her head and sighing in relief, Ciri said, "Good, good."

After a minute passed in silence, she couldn't help but ask, looking at her transparent ashen-gray watch, "Why the color, if you don't mind."

Looking at her beautiful hair, Richard smiled gently and replied, "Because I like your hair."

Fumbling with her hair clumsily, Ciri stammered, "Y-you like it short? O-or do you like it long?"

Raising his eyebrows, seemingly understanding that she misunderstood his simple appreciation of beauty, Richard answered honestly, "I like it long. But, Ciri, let's keep our relationship as it is, okay? I still don't want to invest my emotions in this world," then remembering the first time he saw Margarita, full of torture and humiliation, he continued, "It would hurt me too much if that kind of thing happened."

Fumbling with different kinds of responses, Ciri replied, "O-oh, o-okay. I-I d-didn't—"

After a silence that seemed to stretch for eternity, Ciri took a very, very, very deep breath to calm herself down. Looking up at Richard, she then punched his chest, "That's not how you talk to a lady, you know. You'll be single for the rest of your life if you keep doing that. Anyway," giving her pinky finger to Richard, Ciri then asked, "Best friends, is that okay?"

Looking at her pinky finger, and then at Ciri, Richard sighed at this childish behavior and proceeded to lock fingers with her, saying, "Okay."

—