"It would still be a while before she woke up. We could probably wait."
"Is there any news about Mei? Kiana didn't seem to be with her."
"She probably told Mei to wait and receive the support forces, then ran off to deal with the Honkai herself."
Bronya felt that was highly likely.
She looked at Fu Hua, who was also unconscious. "The class monitor arrived just in time too, but didn't she have another mission?"
"Maybe this was that 'other mission.' Compared to her, we're far from mature enough," Bai Yan said casually.
"Mm."
The people currently lying there—Rita, Kiana, and Fu Hua—were all still alive and well.
The enhanced Welt's Clone was already dead, the only combatant casualty tonight.
Bronya helped tend to Rita's wounds.
Only after a long while did she finally speak again.
"Xiao Yan, could I meet Bai Yan sometime?"
"Hm?" Bai Yan's hand paused, then he put on a smile. "Of course. He misses them from back then too."
"Thank you, Xiao Yan."
"No need to be so polite. We're partners who share the same secret." Bai Yan rubbed Bronya's cheek.
Mm, the texture wasn't bad at all.
Hopefully he could rub it after Bronya grew up too.
"You two seem pretty close. Looks like you get along quite well."
Bai Yan and Bronya both leaped back, raising their weapons in alert.
Gradually, under the moonlight before dawn, Cocolia silently arrived while standing atop a mech.
The mech had appeared from more than fifty meters away, at just the right distance. Any closer, and the two would have noticed it.
The mech moved while hovering and manifested in a quantum state, so it made almost no sound.
"Mother Cocolia..."
"Bronya, did you suddenly run away because of her?"
"..."
Bai Yan stepped forward and stood in front of Bronya.
"Did you come here just to say that?"
"Heh, I never expected you to escape even under those circumstances! But seeing that you've already mastered the Gem of Desire, it all makes sense."
Bai Yan already had his short sword in hand.
"Done understanding? Then get lost. Since you didn't let my brother freeze to death, I'll let you off today!"
"He won't get away either. Sooner or later, I'll settle accounts with him too. Traitors have always been treated this way!"
Bai Yan curled his lips. "With you looking like you got played so thoroughly that even your underwear was stripped off?"
Cocolia's eyes narrowed as she clapped her hands.
Bronya and Bai Yan both turned their gazes toward one spot.
A man walked out of the woods. Moonlight fell across his face, and a strange smile appeared.
He looked almost identical to one of the dead men on the ground—the clone of Welt, nicknamed Welt's Clone.
"Allow me to introduce him. This is Anti-Entropy's leader, Welt Joyce."
"A pleasure to meet you, Herrscher of Wind."
Bai Yan examined him for a moment before speaking. "Do you have a Core?"
"..."
"A Herrscher must have a Core, just as a man must have balls. Otherwise, what difference is there between him and a eunuch?"
Welt's Clone's expression abruptly changed. His lips trembled, and even his breathing became rapid.
If Bronya's emotional system hadn't been broken, she probably would have been laughing by now.
"Hmph," Cocolia said through gritted teeth. "You fought the incomplete Herrscher of the Void for so long, only just obtained your Core, and now you have all this in my hands..."
As she spoke, one mech after another appeared.
"Can you still protect your companions?"
For a moment, the atmosphere was taut as a drawn blade.
Bai Yan smiled. "Interesting. Then do you think you can protect yourself?"
Cocolia's expression turned sinister. The killing intent she had developed over years as a soldier fully awakened.
"You can try."
Bai Yan said nothing. He activated the Wind Authority once more and continuously raised it higher.
A violent gale suddenly rose, whirling around everyone.
Energy erupted without end, as though it would undergo Ultimate Ascension the very next moment.
Welt's Clone's face changed as he stared at Bai Yan in disbelief.
"Why?!"
Seeing his reaction, Cocolia immediately asked, "What is going on?"
"Heh, you wouldn't happen to think the power of the one on the ground came entirely from himself, would you?"
Cocolia pressed, "What do you mean?!"
"I have a guess that might not be right, but one thing I can say is that World Serpent's research into the Honkai far surpasses Schicksal and Anti-Entropy. It isn't something we can easily fathom."
As for enhancing Welt's Clone's abilities, Bai Yan had only one guess.
For some unknown reason, the memory entities within Chrono-Sanctum had provided technical support.
Cocolia fell silent.
Bai Yan continued, "Do you really have no idea at all why the last one betrayed you?
"There has never been an absolutely wrong betrayal in this world. If you don't reflect on your own problems, you'll only suffer more and more failures in the future.
"Otherwise, at your age, I really don't know what the hell you've been living on."
Cocolia's expression grew uglier and uglier. Her chest heaved wildly, yet for a moment, she could not say anything.
Bronya moved a little closer to Bai Yan.
"This time, his betrayal did indeed come from fundamental interests powerful enough to stir the heart." Bai Yan pointed with his right foot toward Welt's Clone's corpse. "But what about next time? Could someone buy Rosalia off with a ton of blueberries?"
"If she can be bought off by a pile of blueberries, then she doesn't deserve to be my daughter!" Cocolia snapped.
"Oh? So you think a ton of blueberries is nothing?"
"Of course!"
"Then what do you usually let them eat?"
Cocolia hesitated. Remembering certain things, she fell silent.
Then she thought of something and immediately spoke.
"Is what Otto does really so clean?"
"As long as he's better than you."
"..."
Besides, Cocolia defied heaven for power; Otto seized power to defy heaven.
Their realms were different from the outset.
In a sense, Otto, who knew what he was doing was despicable yet still steadfastly did it for that goal, was more normal than Cocolia.
Because what Cocolia did might actually have been a genuine expression of her feelings.
At that moment, the two sides returned to a standoff, silently wary of each other.
However.
Just then, a set of heavy footsteps gradually approached.
Bai Yan's heart skipped a beat.
Not good!
The next moment, Durandal burst onto the scene in a blaze of fury. Still enraged from being trapped by Thousand Worlds One Step, she began unleashing attacks the instant she saw the mechs.
"Ha!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Welt's Clone and Cocolia were horrified and immediately turned tail and ran.
The remaining mechs received their orders and threw themselves into blocking Durandal.
Yet in an instant, the mechs were smashed all over the ground. Durandal swung Black Abyss White Flower and glanced toward the direction the enemy had fled.
She gathered strength.
Chase!
"Stop, stop, stop!" Bai Yan dashed forward, wrapped an arm around Durandal's waist, and held her back.
Otto's strongest asset: he had his back to all living beings!
Once that was established, it was easy to understand how powerful Durandal was.
Among the living beings behind Otto's back, two were responsible for taking the lead: Durandal and Kiana.
They chased after him while shouting, "Otto, you dog, don't run!"
Even Otto was like that, so if Cocolia got chased, she would have no chance at all.
Being stopped like that, Durandal demanded in extreme confusion, "Why are you stopping me?!"
"Aren't you afraid World Serpent might still have a trap? Their main fighting force is still intact!"
Durandal lowered her weapon and stopped, though her face remained deeply displeased.
Then she suddenly saw Rita, who had been placed against a tree, and hurried over to check on her.
Bai Yan sighed in relief. "She's fine. She's just exhausted and has lost too much blood. I've already treated her."
Durandal reached out to check Rita's breathing before finally relaxing.
"What happened on your side?" She glanced at Bronya and the devastation scattered across the ground before asking again.
"Kiana suddenly went berserk, and World Serpent inexplicably retreated.
"Then Fu Hua suddenly arrived and started fighting the berserk Kiana.
"After that, this Herrscher came to deal with Fu Hua. Rita took the chance to ambush this Herrscher, then passed out.
"Bronya and I went to support Fu Hua. In the end, we ambushed Kiana while she was focused on fighting Fu Hua, and only then did we resolve the problem."
Durandal imagined the battle.
"That was dangerous."
Seeing that she did not grow suspicious, Bai Yan smiled at her. "It was all thanks to Lady Durandal arriving in time. Otherwise, the two of us couldn't have stood against Anti-Entropy."
"I-Is that so? I only thought of rushing over the moment I got free."
With his brilliant smile, gentle tone, and that breathtakingly beautiful face, Durandal could not help but blush.
But when she thought that it was him...
Before you continue