Chapter 332

Close your eyes and hypnotize yourself, starting with self-suggestion.

'I am Belldandy, Belldandy is me.'

I always feel like this self-suggestion is like an actor trying to immerse themselves in a role... something doesn't quite feel right. In Kevin's words, I am Belldandy, Belldandy is me. But I am also Belldandy, Belldandy is not me.

Philosophically speaking, this seems to be somewhat related to the concept of 'id, ego, and superego'.

So you could say that I am Belldandy and yet I am not Belldandy. I am who I am, but when I take on the role of Belldandy is no longer Belldandy. She is no longer the real Belldandy, but you.

Or rather, starting from oneself, constructing a Belldandy based on one's own understanding, and then portraying Belldandy in one's own way.

It's like a saying I once heard.

Hamlet has three interpretations: one from the author's pen, one from the audience's perception, and one from the actor's portrayal. Similarly, for oneself, a role can be a real one, one as portrayed by oneself, and one as seen by others. In short, this is roughly what Kevin is trying to say.

If you discard Belldandy's original image and forget your original personality, you can start from a new perspective.

That is, starting with the new identity she gave to this role: 'Battle Goddess Vivian'.

"One-click clothing change is a very ordinary Divine Art. Its foundation is using divine power to alter the structure of clothing, from its appearance to the molecular level. You simply construct the shape and purpose of the clothing to be reconstructed in your mind."

Kevin suddenly noticed a change in the aura of the Goddess before him; she seemed to have become clearer. Kevin didn't know whether to feel heartbroken or relieved. This was both expected and unexpected; his beloved Mei would ultimately not return.

But if you force or deceive yourself, even if MEI really comes back completely.

How could she possibly fall in love again with a Kevin who had become selfish and ruthless?

Looking at Li Pu, who had changed and was now radiating blue light, Kevin finally realized that Mei might return in the future, but the Mei of that time would not be the Mei he knew.

But so what? I will always, always love MEI and support her! I am the one who understands her the most and cares for her the most, no matter what MEI becomes.

"This looks like the Divine Attire, doesn't it?" Li Pu had already reconstructed his clothes.

But...

Why is it the fox's Divine Attire?

Chapter 382 Divine Attire

Let's leave aside the fox and talk about the Divine Attire.

The Divine Attire: Forget-Me-Not might actually be something you wouldn't normally wear out... well, this outfit does seem a little odd. But if you look at it from a 'cool' girl's perspective, it doesn't seem so strange after all.

Moreover, this outfit is also very suitable for combat.

Only...

Li Pu couldn't quite understand why he had chosen to create this outfit, or rather, why he had chosen this particular outfit at all. Because when he was creating it, Li Pu himself hadn't really thought about what he wanted to create.

Her idea was simple, concise, practical, suitable for combat, and also had some defensive capabilities.

And then this set came about.

This...

But I have to say that this perfectly meets her needs.

"Forget it." Li Pu said, not intending to care about this. "Let's go. Let's go to Honganji Temple first. I don't want those strange Honkai Beast to demolish Honganji Temple. If we don't have Honganji Temple, we'll probably have to sleep in the open."

"Understood!" Kevin stretched his limbs and said, "I have to say, the Honkai Beast in this world are actually quite interesting."

Amidst the astonished gazes of his classmates Li Pu soared into the sky towards Honganji Temple. Kevin, though unable to fly, could jump. Thus, also amidst the astonished looks of his classmates, he leaped to the roof of the five- or six-story school building and vanished.

As for the commotion and shock these two people caused to the students at the school, let's leave that aside for now.

There's a reason why these two people could act like this without caring about the consequences.

The Honkai Beast has increased abnormally.

Honkai Beast don't appear out of thin air; they are essentially mutated creatures infected by Honkai Beast. If the Honkai infects a human, then what evolves from that human is Honkai Girl; if the Honkai infects an animal, then it's Honkai Beast.

Based on the degree of infection and mutation, they can also be divided into ordinary infected animals or Honkai Beast.

Ordinary infected animals are infected but not fully mutated, while Honkai Beast are infected and fully mutated.

Since Honkai Beast are creatures infected by Honkai, they cannot increase in number out of thin Honkai Beast. This requires a place with a high Honkai index and a large number of creatures or their corpses. In short, without the presence of Herrscher Honkai Beast also follow a special conservation law.

If too many are eliminated at once, the Honkai Beast in this area will not reach their previous level for a long time.

In any case, you could say that Honkai Beast aren't like weeds on the ground, where you can cut one crop and another will immediately grow back.

But now, with the Honkai Index remaining unchanged, the Honkai Beast has suddenly increased, and they have become restless, which is a bit strange.

Li Pu noticed Kevin jumping back and forth on the rooftops and telephone poles below, chasing after her. Li Pu lowered herself a little and said, "The Honkai Beast in this world seem a bit strange."

"Yes," Kevin added. "Before we came, Seele said she had observed this world. The Honkai Beast in this world are not like Honkai Beast in our world. In our world, Honkai infects living beings, turning corpses into Honkai Beast. But the Honkai in this world cannot infect living beings; it can infect souls."

"So most ordinary people in this world can't see Honkai Beast," Kevin said. "Therefore, this world can actually be viewed in two parts."

"A society where everyone can see ordinary people and a society where the vast majority of people cannot see them."

Yes, ordinary people in this world can't see the Honkai Beast. What they see in terms of the economy is only the impact of the Honkai Beast. If the Honkai Beast do nothing and just wander around the streets, it has almost no effect on ordinary people.

Since they can't see it themselves, it doesn't have much impact on them; at most, they just hear about these things from people who can see them.

However, most of the time it is treated as a rumor.

"Oh~" Not to mention Kevin, Li Pu really hadn't noticed these differences.

"So what do you think of the current situation?" Li Pu asked again.

"The Honkai Index should remain unchanged." Kevin thought for a moment and said, "We don't have the tools to measure the Honkai Index right now, but as warriors fighting against the Honkai, we would all notice if the Honkai Index changed abnormally in a short period of time."

"However, the Honkai Index is not showing any abnormal changes, but the Honkai Beast is increasing abnormally."

Kevin looked up as a bird-like Honkai Beast flew overhead and said, "There's probably only one possibility: something is attracting them."

"Attract Honkai Beast?" Li Pu thought for a moment, and indeed, that was a possibility.

Honkai Beast can indeed be attracted to something.

"You mean someone deliberately released something to attract Honkai Beast?" Li Pu asked.

"I don't know." Kevin shook his head and said, "But it should be right. Let's go to Honganji Temple first. Seele is over there, but she doesn't have a weapon. However, that girl also has the potential to become Valkyrie, and she has observed this world more, so she can answer our questions."

"Mm," Li Pu responded.

What is the answer to this question?

Kevin was most likely right, because she heard some strange words from Kevin, words that shouldn't exist in this world: 'Death God' and 'Quincy.' The reason for adding 'Death God' was because of the term 'Quincy.'

If Kevin is right, and this 'Grim Reaper' is not a position in the divine realm, but the Zanpakuto that Li Pu believes in, then the current situation is easy to explain.

Li Pu had read the popular shonen manga Bleach, but it was a long time ago. He liked it at first, but lost interest later. It didn't have the same level of enthusiasm he had for *Ah! My Goddess *, which he rewatched repeatedly. He even read fanfiction and read the original manga.

However, Li Pu did remember a scene from Bleach.

It's that second male lead who's supposedly the last Quincy... I think he's the second male lead. He seems to have some issues with the protagonist, and then he used some kind of thing to attract a bunch of Hollows.

The competition is to see who eliminates more voids.

But it seems the second male lead went too far, and the number of them became so large that the two of them could no longer handle it.

Li Pu didn't know how it was ultimately resolved, but it seemed that the current situation was indeed...

That does match up.

So... this world...

Does the Grim Reaper really exist?

Chapter 383 Seele's Great Scythe

Let's go! For Honganji Temple! So we won't have to sleep outdoors anymore!

As Kevin and Li Pu raced towards Honganji Temple, Seele was leisurely sipping tea and gazing at the clouds in the sky.

It looked like they were enjoying a peaceful day.

If it weren't for the giant scythe leaning against the wall, it would be as if nothing had ever happened here. It was a place of quiet, peace, and ordinary everyday life.

"Aren't any Honkai Beast here?" Kevin asked, looking around.

"No way," Li Pu said, standing in front of the giant scythe. "This scythe..."

"Are they Guard Honkai Evolved?"

"Yes." Seele took another sip of tea and said, "The Honkai Beast in this world are mutated from souls. Living creatures or the corpses of creatures cannot mutate, and these Honkai Beast mutated from souls do not leave a physical form."

In every sense, Seele's explanation is perfectly reasonable and irrefutable.

"Where did this sickle come from?" Li Pu was still very curious about how this thing came to be.

She remembered Seele's weapon was a scythe, but Seele arrived. Could it be that Seele also possessed some strange spatial dimension? Or was the weapon somehow located in a strange place on her body? Or could she also perform bound summoning? She didn't recall Seele having such an ability.

"It was indeed Guard Honkai Evolved," Seele said. "I stole it."

"Rob?" Li Pu was even more surprised. She looked Seele up and down and asked, "How do you rob her?"

"It was just robbery." Seele said casually, "I thought one of the Honkai Beast looked weak, so I decided to steal its weapon, and I succeeded."

"Weak? It?" Li Pu's lips twitched as he said, "Are you sure?"

When she first encountered the Honkai Beast of this world, she was injured by them. So, from which dimension are we talking about the weakness of the Honkai Beast of this world?

"They are indeed very weak," Seele said. "And as for whether Guard Honkai Evolved or not..."

Seele gestured and said, "It looks more like the upper body is Guard Honkai Evolved and the lower body is a giant spider. It looks particularly ugly, both the upper and lower body are ugly."

"They're not nearly as good-looking as the Guard Honkai Evolved from our world," Seele said, pouting. "And they're incredibly ugly."

The vegetables were picking their toes...

Okay... Li Pu doesn't want to talk anymore. If it's just a regular Hollow, then it's probably really the kind of weakling who's completely useless. After all, regular Hollows only have a little screen time in the early parts of the anime, and then they're basically just background characters.

The level of their skill doesn't even need to be reached in the later stages; it seems that the final Quincy will soon be able to kill Hollows by the tonnes, like spraying insecticide.

"Are you going to that center?" Seele suddenly asked.

"You know?" Kevin suddenly said, "By the way, you've observed a lot about this world, do you have any good suggestions?"

"Hmm, that seems to be Quincy tool." Seele thought for a moment and said, "The Quincy created that tool to attract more Hollows in order to increase the efficiency of eliminating Hollows."

"As for whether to go or not, I can't say for sure. Hollows, which are the Honkai of this world, have conflicts with Quincy, Shinigami, God Race, and Demon Race." Seele explained, "If it's Mr. Kevin and me, it wouldn't matter if we went, but if Sister Mei went, it would be a little complicated."

"Why?" Li Pu suddenly became curious. To be honest, she now knew that this world might be Honkai's monster, a Frankenstein's monster of My Goddess's monster.

"There are contradictions in everything," Seele said. "It's just a matter of how many."

"The goals of the Demon Race and the God Race are similar; both aim to maintain a basic balance of power." Seele organized her thoughts and explained, "These two races don't care about the conflicts between the Shinigami, Quincy, and Honkai. They appear more as mediators or observers. They will only intervene if one side's strength threatens to disrupt what they perceive as the balance."

"They are the ones who strike and break the balance," Seele said. "So, they have all attacked Hollows, Shinigami, Quincy."

"Oh~" Li Pu roughly understood the subtlety of his identity and said, "In other words, my current identity is one that neither Shinigami nor Quincy want to associate with."

"Hmm." Seele nodded and said, "Furthermore, the gods and demons do not recognize the Quincy as an independent force. The Shinigami and the Quincy are the same force because the Shinigami are transformed from the souls of the dead, Quincy are living humans. So the Shinigami and the Quincy are both human. The only difference is that one side can die again, while the other side cannot."

"As for the Honkai, it can also be considered as the mutation of dead humans, which is also human," Seele continued to explain. "Therefore, in the concepts of the gods and demons, the power of this world is that the Shinigami and Quincy are on one side of the scale, humans are in the middle, and the Honkai is on the other side. And they themselves are the observers holding the weights, maintaining the balance of the scale."

"But the Quincy among humans don't think so. Their attitude towards Hollows is the same as our attitude towards Honkai." Seele continued, "They want to eradicate them completely and prevent future troubles. The Quincy don't care about balance; they care more about eliminating Hollows more efficiently. This has led to their war with the Shinigami."

"The Quincy and the Shinigami are quite conflicted, and the attitudes of the gods and demons have also made them deeply hate the gods and demons."

"As for the Grim Reaper," Seele thought for a moment and said, "They acknowledge the balance theory of the God Race, but they acknowledge themselves. The God Race and Demon Race belong to the same power, with humans in the middle and Honkai on the other side. The Grim Reaper's view of the gods and demons is that everyone is the same. Why should you be high above and act as a mediator, becoming the god among gods?"

"Oh, I see." Li Pu roughly understood the relationships between the different races in this world and said, "So, my current identity makes me an enemy to the Quincy, but a theoretical ally to the Shinigami?"

"No." Seele shook her head and said, "Both the God Race and the Demon Race believe that the God of Death is of equal status to them, and they are qualified to be so. This is because both the God Race and the Demon Race are born that way. Although they can be transformed from humans, the two races have absolute control over this transformation process."

"The Grim Reaper doesn't have that control. Human souls can be transformed into Grim Reapers as long as they meet the conditions," Seele said. "Secondly, the Demon Race rules Hell, and the God Race manages reincarnation. The Grim Reaper only rules the Soul Society, which can be said to be just a temporary gathering place for souls."

"The Soul Society in this world is basically an oversized train station," Li Pu chuckled.

If that's really the case, then the Grim Reaper of this world is truly miserable.

"At least that's what the gods and demons think," Seele nodded and said. "So they don't recognize the Death Gods as equals to them. However, there are also Death Gods who are born as Death Gods, just like the gods and demons. But they are not many, and the contempt of the gods and demons for them makes them extremely angry."

"In addition, the gods and demons waged war against the God of Death in order to maintain what they considered to be a balance, and they were badly defeated."

"I understand," Li Pu said, clapping his hands. "To them, I'm their sworn enemy!"

"To be precise, it's a contradiction," Seele said. "There's hatred, but also a desire to be recognized by both the gods and demons."