Chapter 493

"Okay, okay, I'm not kidding anymore."

After gently embracing the woman in front of him, Lin Yu spoke to Ling in a very tender manner.

"We've become friends through a misunderstanding, so at least give me some face on my birthday today."

"But..."

At this moment, Ling, who was being held by Lin Yu, finally couldn't hold back her tears.

"Going to face the Cocoon of Finality alone... do you want to die?"

"Ha, I've answered this question many times, and my answer is never different."

After hugging the woman tightly in his arms, Lin Yu spoke confidently to Ling in a soft voice.

"We will win."

"Because I am the strongest."

After saying that, Lin Yu's figure finally disappeared from Ling's side.

"Lin Yu, hey... don't joke around..."

Watching the fading starlight fade away, Ling tried to hold onto everything in front of her, but in the end, she found herself helplessly collapsing to the ground.

"You bastard, things... didn't have to come to this!!!!!"

"Damn it! Damn it! Didn't Kevin already believe your plan? Wasn't the Stigmata Plan already obsolete?"

"Damn it, your so-called reliable plan is to sacrifice yourself? How could I possibly allow that?!"

"This, this is..."

Bianca, who was initially exhausted by Lin Yu's Phantasm Lantern Barrier, gradually regained her consciousness after Lin Yu disappeared from the room.

When she saw Rin sitting on the ground crying, Bianca instantly realized that she had been tricked by Lin Yu.

"This thing is..."

Bianca's face gradually turned pale as she looked at the cross Stigmata that had appeared on the back of her hand and felt the special power within her disappear.

Given her personality, she should have been at her most proactive in a situation like this, but at this moment, her deeply trusted intuition told her...

—It's all too late.

Wrong...

Wrong!

It's not late at all!

I must contact everyone now!

Lin Yu left, but that doesn't mean everything is beyond repair, so...

"Ring, don't cry, stand up."

After helping her acquaintance, whom she wasn't very close to, up, Bianca quickly changed her clothes and spoke to Rin, who had stopped crying.

"There must still be something we can do for him—no, maybe there's still a chance to stop him!"

"... It's no use, Bianca."

Although Bianca helped Rin up from the ground, her expression didn't change much.

Looking at the girl who still held onto hope, Rin said with a bitter smile.

"You wouldn't understand..."

"I don't understand? Why?!"

"—Because you're not Herrscher."

After giving this reason, Rin walked weakly toward the door of the room, while continuing to speak to Bianca.

"You are not Herrscher, so you cannot feel how... irreversible Lin Yu's actions are."

"He went to find the Cocoon of Finality, and even with his Cocoon of Finality for it..."

"—We absolutely cannot fight the Cocoon of Finality."

"No, I don't believe it!"

Seeing that Rin was at a loss for what to do, Bianca gave up on trying to persuade her further.

She had no intention of looking for her peers—the fact that Rin, who shouldn't be here, had suddenly appeared meant that the Herrscher among her companions must have also sensed something was wrong.

In situations like this, I need someone I can discuss things with...

Mr. Welt and Mr. Sue!

Both of them are exceptionally intelligent; they may have already noticed some of the problems!

I'm going to Anti-Entropy right now!

Lin Yu, you just wait...

—I will never forgive you for what you did to me and everyone else today!

Anti-Entropy Headquarters. Between Arks

Inside the Ark, Welt felt a pang of melancholy in his eyes as he realized that the power that had been within him had finally vanished.

He didn't go to the Schicksal Headquarters to celebrate Lin Yu's birthday today because of his own reasons.

However, the reason why Welt, Sue, Kevin, and even some of the Flame-Chasers of the Elysian Realm, who had long sensed something, all helped Lin Yu conceal his thoughts was certainly not because everyone thought 'this is for the best'.

In fact, when Lin Yu realized that some people might have seen through the biggest problem in his plan, he had already secretly used Phantasm Lantern Barrier to "silence" some of these people.

Under the premise of a sneak attack, facing the full power of the [Distorting the World's Perception of Reality] Phantasm Lantern Barrier, even these experts would be caught off guard and have no time to resist Lin Yu's rewriting of perception.

Only now, after Lin Yu has taken back those powers, have their rewritten perceptions returned to normal.

"Mr. Lin Yu, you..."

Although the core of the Herrscher of Reason was no longer in his body, Welt, who could still use the power of the Herrscher of Reason, heard the short message left by Lin Yu through his power as he felt the power disappear.

Looking at the Shenzhou characters floating in mid-air, Welt sighed helplessly.

Mr. Welt, I apologize for using such excessive power on you, but please believe me, this was for the victory of humanity...

Forget it, there's no need to say those hypocritical things now.

I know some of you have already seen through some of the flaws in that plan, and you will certainly take action to ensure my safety and try to delay the inevitable Finality.

I'm very grateful that everyone is doing this for my own good, but... I don't have time.

[I don't know when Xiao Yi, Kiana, and Bianca's health might deteriorate, so I must eliminate the Cocoon of Finality before anything happens to them.]

The odds of winning... aren't particularly high.

Even if I don't win, I will still try my best to severely damage the Cocoon of Finality in the moment of my failure to achieve true transformation.

[Although this thing is ferocious, after I severely damaged it, a sufficient number of Moonlight Throne could overwhelm it.]

I don't feel there's much else to say, but if I had to...

If I'm unable to return, please help me apologize to everyone.

Haha, speaking of which, maybe wanting to protect my daughter and lover is just an excuse I'm making for myself.

[Perhaps in the end, I will always be a vengeful spirit, and as a vengeful spirit...]

[I still want to personally exact revenge on the Honkai!]

"Seriously... these text messages are so frustrating."

After sighing and reading the message, Welt realized that Bianca, dressed in an evening gown, had appeared behind him at some point.

Bianca, who arrived between the Arks via the Quantum Teleportation System immediately, showed no change in expression after reading the messages.

But in Welt's view, the worst thing still happened.

If Bianca were to start crying and making a scene at this point, things would be easier to handle, since it would indicate that she is still capable of venting her emotions.

If she were to suppress her inner emotions, yet still show a certain degree of emotional fluctuation, Welt would only marvel at how strong Siegfried's daughter was.

But the fact that she's so calm now means things are really serious.

"Mr. Welt, I have a question."

At this moment, Bianca calmly walked up to Welt and asked Welt in a flat, monotone voice.

"Now, if we want to go to the vicinity of the Cocoon of Finality..."

"The Moonlight Throne will suffice."

"Okay, I see. I'll go and inform everyone."

After watching Bianca disappear from his sight, Welt confirmed his earlier thought once again.

People change, and they change depending on the people around them and the environment they live in.

Bianca, who shouldn't have been so radical, has now become an extremist under Lin Yu's influence.

It's understandable to worry about Lin Yu's safety, but now...

For a fleeting moment, I actually saw a resemblance to Mr. Lin Yu in Bianca.

I really hope this is just my imagination.

Almost simultaneously, at the Schicksal Headquarters.

Inside the Schicksal Headquarters, Lin Yi looked at her two mothers whose expressions had suddenly changed, and a sense of helplessness arose in her heart.

Although she is just a child, she knows just as much as these adults and the elderly.

Lin Yu, who had long realized that Lin Yi Yu was worried about her health, actually had a vague suspicion that her father might do something reckless because of her health problems.

She kept her conjecture to herself in order to avoid further chaos within the Schicksal organization because of her speculation.

But now, Lin Yi regrets it.

She knew that her father usually appeared calm, but was actually an impulsive person.

But she truly hadn't expected that, when faced with such a major problem as the Cocoon of Finality, her father would still act according to his usual pattern, charging in alone...

No, we can't even say that we're operating according to our usual routine.

Based on Lin Yi's daily conversations with various elders, it's clear that her father had actually been making many preparations behind the scenes in order to kill Otto.

Therefore, the fact that Lin Yu flew out alone in this operation clearly shocked her even more.

As for why Lin Yi knows things that only official Herrscher can perceive, it's mainly because—she is also one of the candidates for the Herrscher of Finality.

Given the simultaneous occurrence of her own power disappearing and her mother's sudden change in expression, she could guess the correct answer even without much thought.

My dad's personality... it's really hard to know what to say.

To avoid causing everyone headaches about the Cocoon of Finality, I'll just worry about it myself.

I told you long ago that a father like you would corrupt a child, and now look what you've done...

I'm just a kid, so I'm bound to unconsciously want to imitate my parents' behavior.

Moreover, Yuno's Mom and Kiana's Mom looked terrible, as if they were about to cry, but they still endured their pain and gave me a few smiles so I could rest.

They're all thinking of others, not their own feelings...

That's why I said I'm very distressed to have parents like these.

After seeing her two mothers off with a smile, Lin Yi closed the door to her room and leaned against the wall, feeling the strength slowly draining from her body.

Lin Yi, who thought she would be stronger, realized after hugging herself with her arms that she was indeed just a fragile little brat.

Lin Yu yearns for love for her family, but isn't Lin Yi the same way?

She usually behaves very well, not only because of Alicia's teachings Elysia the Key of Reason was activated, but also because of some of her inner fears.

Because she was well aware that she was a child of unknown origin, she tried her best to appear well-behaved in order to avoid being disliked by her parents and to make it easier for others to accept her.

However, now, the father who unconditionally regards her as his daughter is actually going against Cocoon for the sake of those around him and all of humanity.

Although the outcome of the confrontation is still unknown, if the Cocoon of Finality were such an easy thing to deal with, her elders wouldn't have such a headache.