Cecilia: I Really Wish I Could Be Your Mother (Please Support the New Book) / Bai Ge: We Will Meet Again Someday (Please Support the New Book)

Hearing that he had successfully protected everyone he cherished, Bai Ge finally let out a breath and smiled. But seeing his smile only made everyone's hearts ache all over again.

"Flowing Quills EX" activated.

Duration countdown: 5 hours.

A system notification sounded in Bai Ge's mind. His eyes lit up as he thought that this was apparently the last amount of time he could remain in this spacetime.

Bai Ge said, "Good. There's still so much time left. I can still do more."

This life could burn a little longer. He could still make this story a little more perfect.

Fifth update. Thanks to "Xiaoyu Linmo" for the 1,000 VIP point reward. Nice! Three happy events in one day! Kneeling in gratitude!

Cecilia: I Really Want to Be Your Mother

"Continue Battle EX" activated.

Duration countdown: 5 hours.

Bai Ge calculated how much time he had left and relaxed slightly. Good, he still had enough time to make the story a little more perfect, though he did not know whether what he had done so far was truly perfect.

It should have been, right?

Bai Ge knew very well that he was merely a traveler through time. No matter how much harm he suffered, even if he truly died, it would not affect himself on the original timeline.

And he had successfully saved everyone who should have died during the Second Honkai Eruption, gathering all of everyone's wounds and pain onto this body, whose death did not matter.

Thinking of it that way, he had come out far ahead, hadn't he?

Still... he could not help feeling a little sad and wronged.

Bai Ge painfully turned his head toward Cecilia. The Saintess was holding him tightly in her arms, desperately using Black Abyss White Flower to treat his injuries.

Though it was a futile effort. Black Abyss White Flower, the Sixth God Key created from the core of the Herrscher of Death from the Previous Civilization, truly possessed the power to revive the dead and regrow flesh and bone.

But the moment Bai Ge's "Continue Battle EX" activated, it meant that he was already dead. He was only hanging on by his final breath now.

Though that final breath was a little long—five whole hours. Heh.

"Cough, cough... How did things turn out like this?"

"Herrscher of the Void, stop talking. I'll definitely heal you. I definitely will..."

"I know my own body. And my name is Bai Ge. None of you ever seemed to ask what my name was. Herrscher of the Void or whatever—I'm not called that. Cough, cough... cough, cough, cough!"

"...I'm sorry."

Cecilia spoke with guilt and self-reproach.

A name was something immensely important. A person's name was proof that they had been born as a human being.

The boy in her arms insisted on using his human name because, even after becoming a Herrscher, he still believed he was human.

But everyone aside from a few of his companions, herself included, had only called him the Herrscher of the Void, as if they had subconsciously stopped viewing him as human.

Cecilia looked ashamed.

She hugged Bai Ge tighter, because all she could do now was try her best to warm the boy's icy body.

"Your name is Cecilia, right? Please tell me, were our wishes really too much to ask?"

"Sirin and the others and I just wanted to live properly. We never wanted to hurt anyone."

"We only wanted to find somewhere warm and beautiful, build a small home, and live on."

"Was even a wish like that asking for too much?"

Bai Ge clenched his fists. His original plan had been to ignore Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, take the girls somewhere warm, and live peacefully until the simulation ended.

Yet reality was this cruel.

"I'm sorry. It was all the fault of us adults. You should have been able to live that kind of life. All of you should have."

Cecilia spoke sorrowfully, and the surrounding Valkyries began to cry as well.

The boy's wish had not been excessive in the slightest. Like the boy himself, it was kind and deserved to be treated gently by everyone.

"..."

Bai Ge drew in a deep breath.

He struggled to control his battered, exhausted body. Breaking free from Cecilia's embrace, he placed both hands on the Saintess's shoulders.

"...Cecilia, you must be a very good person. A very good mother too, right? Then can I ask something of you? Please take care of Sirin and the others from now on. I'll give you my remaining core as payment."

"I promise you, but you don't need to pay me anything. You saved all of us. Every one of us owes you our life."

Even if that were not the case, I would still want to help you as much as I could. Cecilia's voice trembled as she pulled Bai Ge back into her arms, her heart aching unbearably for him.

"...Thank you. Cough, cough... Sorry. I didn't know there would really be people willing to help us without asking for anything in return. Back in Babylon, even a single bite of food came at a price."

This time, Bai Ge did not struggle free. Cecilia's embrace made him feel less cold, and the Saintess's warmth and gentleness made his body hurt a little less.

But he only allowed himself to enjoy it for a brief moment, though he truly wanted to sleep deeply, wanted to spend every remaining second he had like this.

Because this was also the first time Bai Ge had experienced the warmth of a mother's love. It was something he had longed for in the depths of his heart, yet had failed to obtain through two lifetimes.

At the same time, he was relieved.

Bai Ge believed that if he entrusted Sirin and the others to Cecilia, they would be fine even after he was gone. This gentle mother would treat them well.

After all, she was the Saintess willing to pay with every drop of her blood to save all the residents of Siberia. Even at the end of the original story, when she was about to be killed, she had still been willing to use her warmth to reach Sirin, who had fallen into darkness, and light a ray of hope in her life.

"Thank you for holding me like this. It's warm."

"Huh? Why...?"

Cecilia froze for a moment.

Bai Ge wore the expression of someone who had obtained something precious, leaving her confused about what she had done that pleased him.

She had merely held him the way she held Kiana.

"I don't have parents of my own."

"!!!"

"If only you could be my mother. Cough, cough... Ah, it hurts so much. Even if I can still move, there's no way I can fight like I did at my peak!"

Bai Ge frowned deeply as he struggled to adapt to this wrecked body, inwardly grateful that a Herrscher did not rely on their body to use their powers. Otherwise, this would have been truly troublesome.

"...How could this be?" Cecilia's heart ached beyond measure.

Why had this world been so cruel to him? At that moment, she truly wanted to say yes. As long as you do not mind, I would be honored to be your mother.

First update. Please send flowers, votes, and rewards.

Bai Ge: We Will Meet Again

"I'm sorry, Sirin. I might not be able to keep the promise we made. I can't go find a new home with you." Bai Ge stroked the purple-haired girl in his arms sadly.

Sirin wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her tear-stained face against his chest, as though she feared he would leave her.

"I don't believe it. You never lie to me. You said we would live a new life together. Bai Ge never breaks his promises to Sirin. So, so... we can definitely live together, right?"

"Listen to me, Sirin. Cecilia is a very good person. She will definitely..."

"No! I only want you. I want you to stay by my side! You matter more to me than anyone else. And even though your wish, Bai Ge, was for all of us to live together, I have my own wish too. What I want is... for you to stay alive and smile at me. That alone is enough for me."

Sirin shouted in utter grief.

Her wish was just as simple.

She only hoped Bai Ge could survive.

She only hoped this person could keep smiling.

"I want to hear you sing one more time. I want to hear you tell me one more story. This time, I absolutely won't let go of you again. So... please, Bai Ge, don't leave me behind." Sirin pleaded desperately.

"...In the future, we will meet again. It may take several years, but I promise you that we will definitely meet again someday, Sirin. Really, so..."

Bai Ge gently stripped Sirin of consciousness.

"This isn't goodbye forever. It's only a temporary parting."

Yet when Bai Ge tried to put the girl in his arms down, he discovered that even unconscious, Sirin still clung tightly to him.

It was hard to imagine that such strength came from a fourteen-year-old girl.

But that was Sirin's determination not to let him go, as though she were saying that unless someone cut off these two arms, she would never let Bai Ge leave her.

In the end, Bai Ge even had to use the authority of the Herrscher of the Void before he could finally escape Sirin's grasp.

He kissed the girl on the forehead.

"Sirin, when you wake up, you'll find that everything has changed. You may feel lost. You may feel confused. But... don't give up. Never give up."

"This is the brand-new future I opened up for you. Live well with my blessing. Then, someday in the future, we will surely meet again."

Sirin had already broken free from her original fate.

She had survived the Second Honkai Eruption.

The girl's future had been extended. As long as Sirin kept moving forward, the two of them would eventually meet on the original timeline.

Bai Ge knew it would take a long time, but the worst fate had already been rewritten. Sirin, Cecilia, and the others had all survived the Second Honkai Eruption.

The lives that should have ended here had, because of him, been extended into the future once more. He had changed these tragedies, and... now he was still trying to do even better.