Elysia and Vill-V

He forced himself to calm down. "The situation is already good enough. Otto isn't an idiot like Cocolia; he'll understand how to make the most of a Herrscher's value. Even if she's used, Wendy's life won't be in danger."

"This is actually the best possible outcome."

He forced himself to take comfort in it. "Wendy can become a Herrscher who fights for humanity too. It can't be worse than the original outcome, can it?"

Just then, he spotted a familiar instruction manual on Theresa's desk.

It was the Stigmata activation serum he had given Theresa before his last simulation ended.

The serum, created with the system's knowledge beyond conventional biology, was still there.

But perhaps due to the system's corrections, Theresa had not used it on Wendy.

Chen Ran froze slightly and instinctively reached for it.

Naturally, he could not pick it up.

"So this is quantization!"

"Even if I can control a Category Ten hurricane, I can't blow around a single blade of grass in this world."

He felt a little dejected.

Chen Ran actually understood why the system was designed this way. Only then could he avoid becoming attached to the simulation scenario.

The world was separated from him. Only then could he enter the next scenario.

Otherwise, people could easily lose themselves in it.

Just like him now. He was already on the verge of losing himself.

A trace of desolation flashed through his eyes.

"I'll take one last look at Wendy before I leave."

He left St. Freya and sped across the Atlantic Ocean. From Theresa and Otto's conversation, he had learned that the Valkyries of the Blade of Immovability had already prepared an ambush.

Wendy and Durandal were locked in chaotic battle.

High-altitude combat was not Durandal's specialty. Even wearing armor, being unable to use the strength of her legs weakened her considerably for no reason.

Even so, she still did not fall behind in her battle against Wendy.

Wendy deliberately held back. She did not control water and only kept using wind, merely trying to disrupt Durandal's balance.

However, the support functions of the fourth-generation Valkyrie Armor allowed Durandal to block out the wind's effects to the greatest extent possible.

At that moment, Wendy realized she could no longer hold back.

She did not want to hurt anyone, but she also did not want to be taken away again.

If she returned to Schicksal, setting aside whether Schicksal would continue helping her search for Chen Ran, she would lose her freedom.

A Herrscher was an amplification of the desires hidden in one's heart, including the desire for freedom.

A Category Ten storm began to form over the sea, sweeping up shallow-water fish and passing birds.

Saltwater and moisture, carried by the gale, slammed into Durandal. At such speed, those fluids could give even a pebble enough force to destroy a heavy truck.

When speed reached a certain level, even air could explode.

Durandal's eyes narrowed slightly as she activated her armor's defensive functions. Yet air seeped in everywhere, even bursting the internal organs of many fish and seabirds. Chunks of flesh and blood splattered directly onto her armor.

The damage was minor, but the humiliation was immense.

Her anger flared, and she began throwing weapons at Wendy. Wendy twisted aside to evade, only to discover white walls of light surrounding her from every direction as a knightly phantom appeared.

"Awaken, Defender of Glory!"

A knightly phantom over three meters tall appeared, wielding a greatsword as it slashed down at Wendy.

Seeing this, Wendy had no choice but to form a fluid shield with Honkai Energy to block it.

Intense Honkai Energy erupted over the sea. At that moment, Chen Ran, who was rushing toward the Atlantic Ocean, sensed the fluctuation and immediately sped toward it.

Then he saw Wendy, doing everything she could to withstand Durandal's assault.

Defiance shone in the girl's eyes as she continuously controlled wind and water to form obstacles, resisting Durandal's relentless, blazing assault in fourth-generation Valkyrie Armor.

However, Wendy had already overdrawn her Honkai Energy while searching for Chen Ran. Since she had never found an opportunity to replenish it, she was clearly beginning to lose ground.

Chen Ran could not help but grow anxious.

He tried to control the wind around Wendy's body and interfere with Durandal's judgment.

However, wind formed from quantum particles could not be observed either. His efforts were doomed to be futile.

Chen Ran could only become a helpless spectator to the battle.

Again and again, he stirred up enormous winds and waves, trying to break through the barrier between spaces. Yet he could only watch as Wendy gradually struggled to keep up in battle.

"I want to help her! Let me help her!"

Just then, Wendy gradually ran out of strength and revealed an opening.

Durandal seized the chance and decisively hurled her knight's lance. It was about to strike Wendy's shoulder.

Chen Ran felt as though his heart had been clenched.

"...Open up for me!"

An intense desire surged within him.

He compressed the wind under his control until it actually stirred the tides of quantum particles.

Between Durandal and Wendy, invisible wind surged like a tide and formed a massive barrier, trapping Durandal within it.

Wendy looked over instinctively and saw that familiar figure from her memories.

Then...

He disappeared.

Ding. An unknown cause has caused the host's mental capacity to instantly exceed its limit. The system is conducting an emergency investigation.

Before the investigation results are available, the host may not enter simulation scenarios. The system will notify the host separately once the investigation is complete.

Elysia and Vill-V

When Chen Ran was forcibly removed from the simulation, he only felt a sharp pain explode through his head.

It hurt...

A piercing, gut-wrenching pain.

It felt as though eighteen burly men had violated him in his sleep, leaving him in agonizing pain.

The moment he controlled fluids to break through the barrier between quantum space and the world, he had instantly exceeded the upper limit of what his mental consciousness could bear.

The system's cold voice was unusually tinged with anger:

Due to the host's forced interference, unknown factors have appeared in the Wind Painting Scroll scenario, exceeding the system's intervention parameters.

The system is urgently investigating the cause and attempting repairs. However, if the host commits such a foolish act again, the system will forcibly unbind from the host.

Fighting Honkai does not require an impulsive host.

The system was not entirely emotionless, but Chen Ran had no mood to argue at that moment.

His mind felt as though it had been pierced by needles. Though his consciousness had not been reduced to a complete mess, his expression had become extremely ugly.

Fortunately, Blanka was helping Mobius with an experiment at the time and was not paying attention to him.

He slowly got to his feet, then gradually left the First Research Institute.

Flame-Chaser, rest area.

"Ta-da! This is the Flame-Chaser's rest area. What do you think, Vill-V? Doesn't coming here feel a little like coming home?"

In the spacious hall, a girl with long pink hair spoke to a girl in work clothes. "Isn't it charming? I gave plenty of input on the design here too."

The girl called Vill-V replied blandly, "It's all right. It would be better with a little less pink."

She had been "captured" and brought into the Flame-Chaser.

After the Second Honkai War, Vill-V had noticed the organization fighting Honkai and begun investigating it herself. She had even used drones to infiltrate the Flame-Chaser, sneaking into Mobius's room to steal information.

Then the Flame-Chaser set its sights on her.

A magician might deceive an audience, but she could not deal with everyone. Especially not the girl before her named Elysia.

After a long game of "you chase, I run," Vill-V resigned herself to fate and allowed Elysia to bring her into the Flame-Chaser.

However, that was not the end.

She had been detained thirteen times and escaped from prison twelve times.

The thirteenth time was because the prison holding her was on an island in the middle of the ocean, leaving her nowhere to flee by land or sky. Even so, she still created weapons that terrified even Mobius.

So Vill-V joined the Flame-Chaser and directly became the head of the Engineering Department.

Though only now did she learn that the so-called Engineering Department consisted of her alone.

The Flame-Chaser had even held a grudge and assigned her an almost impossible task: excavating a prison that even she could not escape from.

Vill-V did not feel much attachment to the Flame-Chaser, so she did not care much about the task.

Unfortunately, the Flame-Chaser had anticipated that and given her an extremely strict deadline.

So Vill-V truly had no mood to discuss interior design.

Elysia blinked. "Don't be like that. Don't you think pink is adorable? Just like me: beautiful, cute, and impossible not to want to get close to?"

Vill-V did not agree with that in the slightest.

She said indifferently, "I only want to find more people to finish the work."

Compared to the rest area, she was more concerned with where she could find suitable people.

The higher-ups of the Flame-Chaser had told her that she had to solve that herself. They would provide a sufficient budget, but she also had to demonstrate matching capability.

Perhaps the higher-ups were all mediocre, but those who could enter the Flame-Chaser now were geniuses.

If the abilities Vill-V displayed seemed ordinary, then she would lose the greatest asset and value that had allowed her to enter the Flame-Chaser.

The current Flame-Chaser already had the capital to choose among geniuses.

Vill-V naturally understood that, but she still wanted to join the Flame-Chaser. Otherwise, she would not have cooperated with the Flame-Chaser in that "prison break" game to prove the value of her mind.

To the girl, stepping into the realm known as Honkai was simply something more exciting.

That was right. She merely found it exciting, nothing more.

Honkai was dangerous. That was true.

But she liked this life that brushed close to danger, rather than becoming what ordinary people called a mentally ill patient.

Elysia smiled. "Don't worry. The people in the Flame-Chaser are all very nice. As long as you ask, plenty of people will be willing to help. For example, that person who just passed by."

"Hi, Chen Ran."

Chen Ran walked past with a blank expression, pretending not to hear Elysia's voice.

Elysia was a frequent visitor to the First Research Institute, so he naturally knew her.

This girl had once assisted the Flame-Chaser in recovering the Second Herrscher. Mobius had wanted her on the operating table for a long time.

That was also why, whenever Elysia came to deliver little dresses, Mobius would grit her teeth yet still force a fake smile.

However, once Mobius later discovered that Elysia was like a scumbag who always kept her at arm's length, she would most likely refuse to let Elysia visit again.

Chen Ran saw that very clearly.

Under normal circumstances, he would have greeted her and used the opportunity to get closer.

But now, he only wanted to sleep.

Seeing this, Vill-V subconsciously asked Elysia, "His complexion looks rather bad. Is there somewhere dangerous inside the Flame-Chaser?"