Shinji Matou at Your Service

Although a mushroom cloud rose, the bomb that Shinji named Killer Queen wasn't a nuclear bomb; it was a manifestation of soul materialization. Its destructive power didn't match that of a nuclear bomb, and it left no lingering pollution. Most of the energy converted from thoughts was exhausted in the explosion, and the remaining portion, without the support of Shinji's origin, quickly reverted to spiritual particles and dissipated into the air.

One second of the explosion, ten seconds of aftershock, and within a minute, the clouds dispersed.

Spectacular, efficient, powerful, clean, and non-polluting—the True Fantasia Collapse lived up to its reputation as a champion among explosions, a model of bomb-making skills!

As Arcueid hugged Pegasus's neck, the red mushroom cloud had already dispersed, revealing a large piece of blackened, pockmarked ground, slightly larger than the mushroom cloud itself.

Beyond that, nothing remained.

Whether it was the massive Crimson Core, the guard trees that always surrounded the core, or the vampire beasts attached to the trees, all had been swept away by the super explosion.

And at the very center of the explosion, the mastermind behind it all had also vanished without a trace.

"Hey, Shinji, where are you? Shinji, answer me."

Naturally, there was no response.

Arcueid grew anxious, and a strange wave of panic surged in her pure heart.

He, the one who had always been by her side—could he have just… died?

No, he couldn't have! Absolutely not! She was used to his presence.

Used to him waking her up.

Used to see him when she opened her eyes.

Used to explore the unknown world with him.

Used to the meals he prepared.

Used to play and bickering with him.

Even when she fell asleep, she could still feel his presence.

This habit...

This habit...

This habit...

This habit easily outweighed her long life before, with 800 years not even comparing to these five years together.

She couldn't imagine what the world would be like without him by her side.

She believed he would stay with her, always by her side.

She knew she had changed from before. There was a feeling in her heart that she couldn't describe. She didn't know what this feeling was, but she knew its source—it came from him.

She didn't want to lose him, definitely not!

"Where are you..."

"Where are you, where are you, where are you..."

"Where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you, where are you..."

Muttering frantically, she scanned the ground, searching desperately for his presence.

"Shinji—don't die, I don't want you to die!!!"

At this moment, Pegasus suddenly neighed loudly, galloping off into the distance.

Arcueid quickly grabbed the reins, shouting:

"Where are you going? I haven't found him yet—huh? You say you're going to find him? You exist because of his magic power, if he dies, you'll disappear too... Ah... How could I forget that, I'm so stupid, sorry, Pegasus, hehe..."

The dark clouds between her brows instantly cleared, the gloom in her eyes turning to sunshine in the blink of an eye. Her relieved, radiant smile was so bright that even Pegasus couldn't bear to look at it, letting out a heavy breath that looked suspiciously like a human sigh.

The natural princess had no idea she was being scorned by a horse, and she urged him on.

"Where's Shinji? Let's go find him quickly."

You're the one pulling me, and you're the one rushing me—what do you want from me?—Pegasus snorted again, flicked its tail, and galloped toward the outskirts of the Forest of Einnashe, following the magical connection.

Due to the earlier chase, especially Pegasus's sprinting at full speed, they had covered more than 20 kilometers in less than half an hour, completing a five-day journey in that short time, rushing from the core of the forest to the outskirts. Perhaps with a few more minutes, they would have forced the core out of the forest.

By now, it was almost the same.

...

In practical terms, it involved being caught by the wind pressure from the explosion, spiraling up into the sky, and once out of the blast range, descending in a spiral.

Finally, with a "bang," he hit the ground, surviving successfully.

That's right—despite being directly hit by the explosion and blown such a distance, Shinji had stubbornly survived.

The reason, of course, wasn't because he suddenly awakened a new ability, granting him immortality like Arcueid's, but because of an instinctive emergency reaction.

By skipping the fantasy creation step, Arcueid's vampiric impulse wasn't compressed before exploding like other bombs but was released outward directly. This was a continuous process, though brief and the effect was better than a single explosion. However, there was still a time gap of a few seconds.

Those precious few seconds allowed Shinji to survive, avoiding the fate of giving up on life.

Here's how it happened: Shinji habitually released the Bomb at a low point. When the first wave of impact was released, Shinji unconsciously leaned forward, slamming headfirst into the Crimson Core under the push of the materialized mental power. Before the core's branches and vines could counterattack, the subsequent impact continued to release, blasting apart the giant tree's roots, then the trunk, and finally the branches, all the way up into the core.

The Crimson Core was, after all, the core of the Forest of Einnashe, the strongest vampiric plant in the forest, with the strongest resilience and recovery abilities. Thus, it didn't get blown apart instantly like the surrounding trees but instead persisted, spiraling up with Shinji.

Located above the core, the massive tree, serving as the last barrier protecting the Crimson Fruit, became a buffer for the explosion, using its strong regenerative abilities to resist the explosion and mitigate the impact and the force of the fall, preserving Shinji's life.

A plant that had drained countless lives ultimately became a shield protecting life—an irony that couldn't be ignored.

Of course, none of that mattered. What mattered was that Shinji had survived. Although he was dizzy and in pain all over, he was alive.

He casually tore off the tattered remains of his shirt and shakily climbed out of a pile of broken branches and rotten wood, muttering incoherently:

"I did it. The bomb-maker doesn't die from explosions—it's true."

Perhaps he had touched something sharp, as a pain in his palm brought clarity to his eyes. Struggling to sit up, he looked around.

"Where... is this? A dark forest... I'm still in the Forest of Einnashe. Then where did this big chunk of iron come from?"

At that moment, he heard a familiar voice.

"Shinji?"