Awakening (Continued)

"Are you not afraid I will alter your memories and send you back to work for Bishop Otto?"

"Ha, you kid are awfully suspicious."

Seeing the hesitation on Lin Yu's face, Siegfried spoke with total frankness.

"If you had intended me harm, you should have made your move after defeating the Herrscher of Thunder."

"I don't know what you've done in the past, but your actions just now are more than enough reason for me to trust you."

"To put it bluntly, if I kept my guard up and offended you at a time like this, it would only be easier for you to find an opening and deal with me."

...Is this guy really Siegfried?

Damn it, if you'd had even half of this brain back then, you wouldn't have dragged your daughter to sneak into Schicksal and stir up all those subsequent messes.

Looking at the young man he thought so highly of, Siegfried still chose to extend an invitation once again.

"How about you reconsider joining Anti-Entropy? Trust me, serving under him--"

"Is still better than wallowing in the mud with Cocolia."

Activating the ability of the Voidpower Gem Shard, Lin Yu spoke to Siegfried.

"It's not that I look down on Anti-Entropy, but with its current state, you're telling me this is an organization fighting against the Honkai? Who would believe that?"

"Well... there are still good people in Anti-Entropy..."

"Good people are fucking useless if they can't keep Cocolia in check. Anti-Entropy is practically whatever Cocolia says it is now."

"As for Schicksal, the Bishop isn't a good person, that's true, but he keeps Schicksal running clean. Only a few places are dirty."

"But what about Anti-Entropy? Cocolia has already seized half its territory. Her bad reputation means Anti-Entropy stinks right along with her now."

"Mr. Siegfried, I respect you as a hero, which is why I'm treating you with this attitude."

"You keep trying to drag me into a fire pit. Isn't that going a bit too far?"

...Damn, damn, damn, how is this kid's thinking so crystal clear at a time like this?

Sigh, but he isn't wrong, either.

If Cocolia hadn't messed things up like that, would Anti-Entropy be turned upside down right now?

Ryoma was already close to firmly establishing himself in the Far East. If Theresa had been willing to cooperate, the entire Far East could have gradually become our territory, so to speak.

And yet, Cocolia took out Ryoma in one fell swoop, rendering all the backup plans Ryoma had laid completely useless, and ruining Anti-Entropy's reputation...

Oh, and if she brings her Titans over here, my budget is probably going to keep getting squeezed tighter.

"Alright then, please close your eyes."

The moment he uttered those words, Lin Yu activated the Phantasm Lantern Barrier once more, rewriting Siegfried's perception of him within the latter's mind.

Following the rewrite, in Siegfried's mind, Lin Yu was simply a Schicksal member who had not turned on Siegfried after defeating the Herrscher of Thunder.

With all of that done, the consciousnesses of Lin Yu and Siegfried abruptly returned to reality once more.

When Siegfried opened his eyes, he recalled a memory that had suddenly popped up in his head.

Wait, Welt told me he found out Kiana is the current S-rank Valkyrie Durandal???

Good grief, who knows where he snuck off to, but he was actually tracking down Kiana's whereabouts for my sake...

I have to admit, I'm a little touched.

But right now...

Gazing at Lin Yu before him, Siegfried still watched the other person with a trace of wariness.

Both Lin Yu's actions and the vibe he gave off made it impossible for Siegfried to harbor any hostility toward him.

Even so, Siegfried had to be careful now.

After all, the other person was with Schicksal.

And his loyalty rating was awfully high... Damn it, Cocolia, if it weren't for you, a lot of things wouldn't be this difficult to handle.

Staring at the man before him, Lin Yu thought for a moment and chose to test out another active skill he had acquired.

Channeling the magic power within his body through the Voidpower Gem Shard, Lin Yu—currently in a standoff with Siegfried—directly unleashed the Powerful Healing Technique skill at full power against Siegfried.

Upon confirming that Siegfried held virtually no hostility toward him, Lin Yu had already decided to use the skill on him.

The minor reason was that he felt he had indeed gone too far just now.

The major reason, however, was that Lin Yu currently needed a temporary ally who could actually fight.

To be frank, returning to Changkong City with his current strength was genuinely quite difficult.

When he had rushed all the way here, it was because he had the HSN Serum stuck in his system.

Back then, protected by the HSN Serum, Lin Yu must have smelled like some sort of unspeakable abomination in the eyes of the Honkai Beasts—so foul that they didn't even want to come near him.

Right now, though, the HSN Serum on his body had basically been exhausted during the battle against the Herrscher of Thunder.

If Lin Yu were to ride a motorcycle with Raiden Mei and fight his way back now...

The combination of Royal Guard, Mirror Mind, and Cosmic Phantom gave him extremely strong burst power in one-on-one human combat, true.

However, with the sheer number of Honkai Beasts out there, he figured that even if he activated Mirror Mind, charging in would essentially be a suicide mission.

Furthermore, ever since parting ways with Raiden Mei, aside from sleeping for a while on Kiana's person, he had not! slept! at all! from start to finish.

If he hadn't known beforehand that the Herrscher of Thunder would come looking for trouble, coupled with an overwhelmingly strong will to survive, he suspected that without that survival instinct kicking in, he might have been too exhausted to even trigger the Mirror Mind state.

As for something like the Phantasm Lantern Barrier, he had no idea whether it worked on Honkai Beasts or not.

Gambling his life on something like that at a time like this—if it worked out, fine, but if he flipped his vehicle and died, it would be far too stupid.

On the other side, Siegfried—currently in a standoff with Lin Yu—suddenly sensed a faint wave of... energy emanating from Lin Yu?

This stuff wasn't Honkai Energy.

Nursing his doubts, however, Siegfried still dared not make a rash move.

After the two of them remained in an awkward standoff for a full minute, Siegfried suddenly snapped his gaze toward his left hand.

"This...!"

At that moment, Siegfried abruptly felt a warm sensation emerge from the amputation site of his left arm, which had been severed for several years.

My left hand... My left hand is recovering?!

Though the progress was extremely slow, Siegfried could feel his left arm indeed beginning to slowly regenerate.

Following that, the warmth even spread throughout his entire body, healing a good deal of the injuries he had sustained.

While it wasn't enough to instantly restore his strength to its peak, Siegfried could distinctly feel that the lingering internal injuries within his body had also been repaired to a certain extent.

On the opposite side, having expended a massive amount of magic power, Lin Yu glanced at the shock on Siegfried's face and let out a slight breath.

The expression on Siegfried as he stared at his severed left arm served to verify Lin Yu's hypothesis.

True to the description of the Powerful Healing Technique at full power, its accompanying "heal old injuries effect" indeed worked on severed limbs.

Yet a new problem arose: why was Siegfried's arm growing back so damn slowly?

And my mana bar—after two uses of the Phantasm Lantern Barrier followed by a single Powerful Healing Technique, it was completely empty. This was way too frail.

If I may speak, Host, please consider the actual circumstances. Casting spells on powerhouses naturally consumes vastly more magic power than casting them on weaklings. Add to that the fact that Siegfried's body, already built on a foundation of extremely high physical fortitude, was battered and broken to begin with. Healing a body with high durability naturally requires far more magic power.

Never mind, then.

That also served to test the limits of his two new tricks. As for what came next...

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Play dumb; there was no way he could let him confirm that the healing spell had been cast by him.

"---Wasn't this your doing?"

Gazing at the young man before him, Siegfried ultimately chose to put away the Flame-Chaser's Judgment.

"Little Brother Lin Yu, honestly speaking, I really don't feel like fighting you right now."

"Exactly, my thoughts, too."

"Besides, even though we aren't from the same faction, I figure we at least share a common enemy."

"Spot on. I think so, too."

"Then how about you consider teaming up with me?"

"Teaming up is fine, but..."

Seeing Siegfried extend his right hand, Lin Yu said with a tone of exasperation:

"There is no way Mei is getting handed over to you."

"But Otto--"

"Bishop Otto is a bad guy, not an idiot. To him, the value of grooming a Herrscher to serve as his subordinate is far greater than messing things around blindly."

"Mei still has a chance at survival if she goes back to Schicksal now. If she follows you instead, Cocolia will hunt you down, and the Bishop will hunt you down. With both sides chasing you, forget about protecting Mei—you'll barely be able to save your own skin."

"Right now, Changkong City has already gathered a massive amount of combat power from both Anti-Entropy and Schicksal. I don't know if they've started fighting or not, but I do know they're both after Mei."

"If you want to go courting death on your own, I can't stop you. But if you're going to drag others down with you, I certainly can't agree to that."

...Oh, right.

The moment he recalled the current situation, Siegfried felt a splitting headache coming on.

He had wanted to bring his old friend's daughter to a safe place, but the current situation no longer allowed him to do so.

Although the massive Honkai eruption caused by Mei wasn't as widespread as the beginning of the Second Honkai Eruption, that Honkai Energy was still diffusing into the surrounding areas.

If Siegfried wanted to continue acting now, he would have to fight his way out of this sea of Honkai Beasts on foot.

For him, fighting his way out wasn't particularly difficult.

Even when his body had been covered in old injuries in the past, Siegfried had faced these lower-ranking Honkai Beasts without the slightest fear, let alone now that his injuries had been largely healed.

The problem, however, was what came after fighting his way out.

Once he leisurely smashed his way through, the probability of Cocolia swooping in would skyrocket.

No, rather, it was already quite strange that Cocolia hadn't made a move yet.

"Besides, even if you think you're a powerhouse, your hardware configuration isn't enough."

Gesturing toward Siegfried's severed arm, Lin Yu said speechlessly:

"You've only got one hand right now. If a fight breaks out, you'll have no choice but to strap Mei to your back."

"With your current setup, are you certain you can guarantee her safety while carrying her on your back?"

"You'd be much better off teaming up with me. I'll guarantee Mei's safety, and you can take charge of fighting and carving out a path."

"You guy..."

Looking at Lin Yu's natural expression, Siegfried constantly felt something was off.

"Using me is one thing, but you aren't even going to pretend to hide it?"

"We each take what we need. You need Mei to be safe, and I need someone who can fight to carry me out of here."

"At least for now, our interests truly align."

Pulling two pre-prepared motorcycles out of his storage space, Lin Yu tossed the keys of one to Siegfried.

"They're fully fueled. Once we're out of the battlefield, whatever you want to do is none of my business."

Spatial teleportation/retrieval???

Having previously seen Lin Yu pull out a plastic chair, Siegfried felt a bit unwell at the moment.

He desperately wanted to ask something about this phenomenon, but he also knew very well that the other party might not answer the question honestly.

Besides, regarding the application of spatial abilities...