A Failed Victory

"What's wrong, Aili?"

"I feel like I've forgotten something—ah! That's right! I wanted to ask why that question bank would generate such terrible questions!"

Terrible questions?

Liu Bai was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Elysia was referring to.

"That's what they call randomness, Aili."

"Ugh... that's really terrible randomness. I need a hug from my sweetheart to heal my spirits."

"Sorry, I can't carry you."

"...?"

"Hi! I'm back! Sakura, did you miss me?"

Elysia, holding Liu Bai's arm in the air, walked into the training room.

"If Aili don't come in arm in arm with our head of the family, I'll say I miss you."

Sakura, who had just come out of the training field and was wiping away sweat with a towel, looked at Elysia with a subtle expression.

Although she knew that the so-called position of the legal wife had nothing to do with her, Sakura still felt somewhat uncomfortable seeing this scene.

Yeah, that feeling of frustration, like your lover being outshone by someone else.

Sakura wiped her face again.

"But then again, since we're already in the training room, how about we spar a bit? I want to see just how strong I am now that I've become Fusion Warrior."

"Eh...so direct, Sakura." Elysia made a gesture of drawing her bow, and a longbow appeared in Elysia hand— Elysia's true identity was no longer a secret to the elders in Liu Bai's circle. "If that's what you're thinking, of course I'm willing. But Sakura, have you adapted to the physical attributes of Fusion Warrior yet?"

"I don't know—but it's precisely because I don't know that I need to verify it."

They say they don't know, but daring to fight like this in Vietnam has already pushed their level of competence to its current peak, hasn't it?

Sakura always uses deceptive words to humble herself.

"Hmm... how about we make a bet? The winner gets a date with Liu Bai, how about that?"

"But... cough, the boss isn't betting on you, Aili. Besides, there's no need for a real fight. It would be too dangerous for the two of us to really go at the A-3 simulation training ground."

After all, in a real training ground, it's impossible to pull out the Purging Thunder and fight Elysia head-on; in the simulation, there's no consideration for that at all.

"Alright!" Elysia put away her longbow upon hearing this. "By the way, Sakura, can I ask you a question before we spar?"

"A question...? Of course."

Unless it's something too private, Sakura can't think of any reason to refuse Elysia.

"Ahem... Well, I really have a question—Sakura, are those things on the top of your head really rabbit ears? Ah! I mean, although they're cute, aren't they a little different from normal rabbit ears? Like, a bit longer?"

Cherry. "..."

Chapter 412 A Failed Victory

"That's really impressive, Sakura. That sharp swordsmanship is quite frightening."

Elysia and Sakura walked out chatting and laughing.

Then, the two saw Mei talking to Liu Bai at the door.

... mei?

A shadow suddenly appeared in Elysia's heart, who had just separated from Mei not long ago.

After all, it's quite unusual to see Mei a second time during work hours for no reason.

"They're out, Aili." Mei calmly nodded to the two who had emerged. "The Seventh Herrscher has appeared, and two-thirds of Australia is destroyed."

"Oh... wait? What?"

Elysia almost didn't realize what Mei meant.

"Two-thirds of Australia is gone? What about Kevin? And what about Hen, who was temporarily replaced by me?"

"They're both fine. The Herrscher has already been defeated by Kevin. From the moment she appeared until she was defeated, it was only half an hour."

"Then why..."

Why can Herrscher destroy two-thirds of Australia in just half an hour?

"Because the Herrscher is born from flames—the source being gasoline ignited in the settlement due to an argument, but the fire burned brighter and brighter, engulfing both parties in two minutes and the city in ten minutes. Then, Herrscher- like figure emerged from it."

"... In the end, half an hour swallowed up most of Australia? That's bullshit..."

Elysia couldn't believe what was happening. Before anyone could react, flames engulfed everyone.

Half an hour? Half an hour is utterly useless in the face of a disaster of this magnitude! To put it bluntly, nothing on the ground in the world can move faster than this fire!

"Reality is just a trash game," Mei muttered under her breath.

This was the first time Elysia had ever seen Mei lose her composure to this extent.

The flames raging across the mountains and fields were impossible to contain. To put it bluntly, even the Fourth Divine Key might not be able to quickly extinguish the fire.

In theory, Mei's plan has succeeded. The newly born Herrscher was dealt with within half an hour, given that civilization was well prepared. This achievement can be said to be the most brilliant achievement since the outbreak of the Honkai.

But given the current situation... can we say we've won? At best, it's just a minor loss.

It was terrible, absolutely terrible in every sense of the word. I had clearly done the best possible solution, but...

Mei is unusually tired.

It was no use. Even the optimal solution was useless. She had made all the usual preparations, but the Herrscher that appeared was one whose core ability was fire and Herrscher specialized in large-scale destruction.

But she couldn't blame anyone. Everyone had done their best. Even if Elysia came back for a vacation, it could only be considered a coincidence at most. In fact, even if Elysia were there, it might not have changed anything.

Water and fire are merciless... I hope that in the future there will not be any Herrscher of Water who can create a great flood.

"Sorry, I lost my composure."

Mei let out a sigh of relief. "You two should get ready, we might have to go full speed ahead."

Full speed...?

Elysia and Sakura, who could no longer smile, nodded silently.

Full speed? Of course they should be; neither of them has any intention of playing around anymore.

"And then there's the teacher... I'd appreciate it if you could put in more effort exploring the Sea of Quanta. Civilization doesn't have many options left, and the Sea of Quanta is one of them."

"There aren't many left... The only remaining path is the starry sky? And then there's the desperate struggle along the 'fusion' path created by Mobius... All the paths combined probably only amount to these three." Liu Bai was also very clear-headed; the time for the Previous Era was running out.

"... That's right."

"Then why not try to explore the starry sky directly using the Chariot of a Thousand Worlds?" Liu Bai suddenly recalled the idea that Himeko had come up with when they were in the present civilization.

"The starry sky is too deep. This is the last escape route, not the route of resistance. Its significance is to preserve that last uncertain spark."

This is why Mei placed very low priority on exploring the stars.

Previous Era also explored the stars, so how could they not know about the universe? There were no neighbors nearby, and as for distant ones... that would be like trying to quench a fire with water from afar, and current technology makes long-distance interstellar travel very difficult. Even if they could save them, dealing with a strange civilization with a technological level far superior to their own might not be a good thing.

Putting everything else aside... at least they are not completely powerless to resist the Honkai.

"Then let's give up," Liu Bai said softly.

In his view, the Ark Project was more like gambling, or rather, psychological comfort. With the past of civilization gone, could a single person really pass on civilization in interstellar space?

"I'll consider it." Mei nodded obediently, but did not give a direct answer.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing."

Liu Bai suddenly remembered something he had almost overlooked.

"Please speak," Mei said, her expression showing attentiveness.

"I don't need you to do anything, Sakura. You have time to go back to Dusk Alley with Kalpas and bring Aponia back."

"Miss Aponia?" Sakura asked with a subtle expression.

Although she had never met Aponia, she had at least heard about her from Eden.

She's a good person, has big breasts, is a nun, and is holy, but also somewhat like a succubus.

To be honest, it's really hard not to think the wrong thing with this description... especially with succubus and such, it's just too offensive.

If this evaluation had been given by someone else, Sakura would have just smiled and let it go, but the person who gave the evaluation was Eden! The only war god who can be compared to Elysia.

Sakura felt a little uneasy when Eden gave the assessment that it was "somewhat like a succubus," especially since there was also Thousand Kalpas, who would occasionally express some dissatisfaction with Aponia when talking about Dusk Alley.

But... is it really okay to send Kalpas? He probably doesn't like Aponia very much, right?

She wasn't surprised that she was teaming up with Kalpas, since there weren't many people who could control Kalpas with the Moth Chasers to Fire, and she was one of them.

Since Liu Bai wasn't going, she was the only one who could go.

Mei's expression was also quite strange at this moment. She obviously knew about Aponia and even knew a little about her, but it was really annoying that her teacher brought this up at this time.

They were discussing serious matters, but suddenly this seemingly personal relationship issue was brought up... Well, Mei knows her teacher wouldn't cause trouble for no reason.

But bringing this up suddenly feels a bit strange.

"Hmm... I happen to have some things to take care of here. There might be someone coming into contact with Honkai disease in Dusk Alley. Sakura, you can go and investigate while you're at it." Mei found something that happened to be on her to-do list.

"No investigation needed, it's Aponia."

"...No wonder."

Mei pushed up her glasses and couldn't help but sigh. As expected of someone close to her teacher, he was no pushover. Why didn't Eden tell her this?

"Speaking of which, should we bring Pardo along? She should be able to offer Sakura some help, right?"

"Hmm... take it with you." Liu Bai thought for a moment, and realized that Pardo might be of some use.

"By the way, what if Miss Aponia doesn't want to come?" Elysia suddenly asked. "According to Eden, Miss Aponia seems to have a bit of an obsession with Dusk Alley, doesn't she?"

"It doesn't matter, Sakura. You can knock Aponia out and tie her up—if you can't bring yourself to do it, Kalpas will probably be happy to help."

"... To prevent this from happening, I will try my best to knock Miss Aponia."

After hearing Liu Bai's death order, Sakura practically patted her chest and guaranteed that she would knock Aponia unconscious.

Are you kidding me? Ask Kalpas for help? Kalpas might just kill someone without thinking!

From any perspective, it seems I should take the initiative to knock out that succubus... cough cough, the nun who looks a bit like a succubus and bring her back.

"Keep it up. You can also go to Mobius and get some anesthetic or tranquilizers. As long as you bring the person back, the methods don't matter."

"... You really care about Miss Aponia." Sakura's lips twitched slightly as she listened to Liu Bai's shameless remarks.

Although Liu Bai's statement sounds like something a villain would say, at this time, it was already considered an exceptionally strong show of concern.

However, kidnapping a nun was something Sakura never expected to have in her resume... but it also seemed a bit exciting.

"Then I'll go prepare my things." Sakura turned and left with a complicated expression.

"Then I'll be going too. Is there anything I can help you with?" Liu Bai asked Mei.

"Not for now. After all, it takes time to get into a state of tension. There should be about a week to buffer. Also, the core of the Seventh Herrscher will be delivered soon. Please keep an eye on Vil-V to make sure she doesn't pull any tricks. I rejected her Abyss White Flower design four times last time. I don't have time to pick out every useless design she added to the God Key this time."

Vil-V isn't the type to be too nervous. Even in this kind of atmosphere, Vil-V can maintain a calm and composed attitude while working... It's just that this composure seems a bit too relaxed to others.

If it weren't for Eden's funding making it unnecessary to cut Vil-V's budget, Mei would have already taken drastic measures.

She believes that it was precisely because of excessive budgets that Vil-V developed the bad habit of haphazardly adding useless features to normal products.

Well, the main reason is that I cut Vil-V's budget, and that guy will probably be unhappy and go to Eden to ask for more money, which will probably cause more waste.

Rather than letting waste get out of control, it's better to keep an eye on it yourself...

"Liu Bai, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Eden, are you coming too?" Liu Bai thought that since they had just talked about Aponia, he might as well go to Eden to discuss this matter.

After all, Aponia is an old friend of Eden.

"Mmm!" Elysia didn't care at all, anyway... none of these people had a bad relationship with her.

"Then I'll go pressure Mobius." Mei pushed up her glasses.

Just as Liu Bai said, there are three paths for civilization, one of which is the "fusion" path that Mobius came up with. That guy Mobius has already proven that humanity is able to "fusion" or "coexist" with Honkai Energy to some extent.