Arknights' Lock of Heaven

The moment they were met by that gaze, all four of them held their breath.

This was not a conscious act, but a subconscious action.

Blood stopped flowing, loose air instantly solidified, body hair stood on end, and heartbeat abruptly stopped.

This feeling...this feeling...it's like encountering a natural enemy...

But...do giant beasts have natural enemies?

The few who perished at sunset were unaware that, at least in their thousand-year lifespans, they had never encountered such a being.

"However, regarding the fact that my team member went berserk after listening to one of your songs..."

Xia Yu narrowed her eyes at the group of people in front of her. "Shouldn't you gentlemen give me an explanation?"

308 Divinity

“An explanation?” Bassist Alty narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. “First of all, we don’t know any of your so-called teammates.”

“Secondly…” she paused, glancing at Siesta outside the window, “I think you came here for more than just this.”

"Natural enemy!"

Hearing this, Xia Yu smiled knowingly. "You mean this?"

In that instant, he no longer concealed his aura or his true nature.

In that instant, his essence, everything about him, filled that small room.

Bangta!

As the sun set, the four of them collapsed into a ball in the blink of an eye.

Because my legs are weak.

To be honest, what's here is just a split entity; although it carries consciousness, it's nothing more than four fragile physical bodies.

It was no match for the true form of the behemoth, which is why it was so easily suppressed.

Xia Yu didn't even move a finger.

Xia Yu herself was somewhat bewildered by their appalling performance.

Surely not... I haven't even used any force yet.

He looked at the group of people lying in a heap, puzzled. This performance... was truly exaggerated.

Even if it were just a few fragments, it shouldn't be so easily defeated... Or perhaps...

Looking at the almost overflowing divinity emanating from them, Xia Yu seemed to be deep in thought.

This is……

Wow, so that's how it is. No wonder. If it were my original self here, it would be impossible to do it so easily.

"Stop...stop..." lead singer Aya said with difficulty, "What do you want to know?"

"Oh, this?" Xia Yu smiled slightly upon hearing this, concealing her true nature.

“First,” he said calmly, “today, my team member, oh, the one you were just talking about outside, the one who’s clearly an Agorian but doesn’t have the Agorian scent, isn’t the change in her a bit intentional?”

Upon hearing this, the four people, whose lives were already in turmoil, looked at each other in bewilderment.

“No,” bassist Alty struggled to his feet. “I swear, really no.”

"Although we are very curious about this child, we avoid Agor and everything in the deep sea like the plague, so how could we possibly make any rash contact with him?"

"Nobody wants to become that kind of monster."

Upon hearing this, the others also expressed their agreement.

We've come all this way to get away from those weirdos, so why would we possibly want to make contact with a strange-looking Agorian?

At most, I'd just find it novel and take a second look.

“Okay,” Xia Yu nodded, acknowledging their statement.

Seeing this, the four people who believed in the fleeting nature of sunset were completely baffled.

You... you believed that so easily?

Alty was stunned. Although she could guarantee that what she said was absolutely true, but... you're trusting her too hastily, aren't you?

Are you really not going to ask a few more questions?

Do you really need this answer?

Xia Yu saw this very clearly. If they really had the ability to see through Skadi's true nature, they would definitely run as far away from her as possible.

Didn't they travel all the way from the ocean to land just to escape those mutated giant beasts?

And if they fail to perceive Skadi's true nature, they will be even less likely to do anything to her.

To them, the Agorians were very different, but not to this extent.

So it's highly likely that they didn't do it intentionally, but rather...

Xia Yu ignored their confusion and instead narrowed her eyes.

“The second question,” he said in a deep voice, “is when did the divinity within you… appear?”

Divinity?

Upon hearing this, the group of Sunset and Vanish were somewhat bewildered.

It took a while before anyone realized what was happening.

A faint golden glow emanated from bassist Alty. "The divinity you speak of... is this?"

Xia Yu nodded silently.

"Ha, I knew it was poison," she laughed self-deprecatingly after seeing Xia Yu's tacit agreement. "What a delicious poison..."

“Such a beautiful, such a tempting poison,” lead singer Aya sighed. “We should have refused in the first place.”

"I absolutely do not accept this thing."

At this point, she looked at Xia Yu.

"Is it because of this that you can make us feel like we're your natural enemy?"

Xia Yu nodded calmly.

“Ha,” Aya lowered her head and chuckled self-deprecatingly, “Indeed, there’s no such thing as getting something for nothing in this world.”

Tuk Tuk.

Hearing this, Xia Yu curled her index finger and gently tapped the table.

"You haven't answered my question yet."

“We obtained it… about a year ago,” Aya said with a complicated expression. “At that time, we were on tour, on our way to another city, when this thing appeared before us like a godsend…”

"No, not in front of me, inside my body."

She looked at her sisters, "At first, we were terrified."

"Our essence... Ha, someone like you must know that we are beasts, behemoths. Even a split of us wouldn't be changed without our knowledge."

"Even if we are young, we shouldn't be like this."

“So we were very panicked at the time,” she recalled with a complicated expression, “and we didn’t even go to the following concerts.”

"I found a corner and quietly settled in there, constantly studying how this thing came about."

At this point, she turned her head and looked at bassist Alty.

The latter felt his scalp tingle under her gaze and apologized repeatedly, "Okay, okay, it was my fault."

"It seems we are still too young to discover the true nature of this thing."

Her expression was complicated. "The more we studied it, the more shocked we became."

"This thing... is too wonderful; it can fundamentally enhance our life form."

“We are giant beasts… this thing…” She opened her mouth excitedly, then suddenly lowered her head, “For us who have always been confused, for us who have always been chasing the future, we really can’t refuse it.”

"Especially after discovering that this thing wasn't an external influence, but rather something that welled up from the depths of our souls..."

“Aya is the most cautious; she rejects all external factors,” Alty sighed. “And I, shamefully, was moved.”

"It was like poison mixed with honey, and for someone as lost as me, it was impossible to refuse."

Upon hearing this, Aya turned her head away.

"In the end, we swallowed this sweet poison and waited anxiously for the judgment to come."

"A week has passed, and nothing unusual has occurred."

"A month has passed, and nothing has changed."

"Six months have passed, and nothing has happened yet. This thing," Alty's fingertips shimmered with a faint golden light, "is just silently strengthening our essence, albeit very slowly, taking hundreds or even thousands of years, but everything seems so wonderful."

“Until now,” she said with a bitter smile, looking at Xia Yu, “the retribution has come.”

"You have appeared before us."