19. Miu Miu: Take this righteous backstab! / 20. Seele: Uh-oh, I've run into a scammer

On the other side, Bronya and Seele, who had entered the theater not long ago, were predictably separated again.

It was still unknown where Seele had been teleported, but Bronya knew that this time, the main target of the Thousand-Man Herrscher should be her.

There was no other reason than that the scene around him was not the same corridor and platform he had entered from before.

Instead... it was a huge Court of Judgment.

"This is..."

"Oh no, oh no, the sisters are separated again~"

Accompanied by an unpleasant voice, a rather thin-looking doll appeared in front of Bronya.

"A doll?!"

Behind Bronya, the Heavy Armor Rabbit immediately appeared.

"Don't get excited, don't get excited, I have no intention of fighting with you."

This doll looked very... comical. It waved its arms, which looked like they had just been attached and it hadn't gotten used to them yet, as it introduced itself to Bronya.

"Welcome, welcome to my Theater of Domination! I am your host today, Jerry Barbera!"

"Please be patient, audience. The first performance is about to begin! And it will also be—the final act of the Herrscher of Reason!"

Seele and I are temporarily separated... but judging from the dolls gathered around me, they probably don't have many people left to deal with Seele.

Sister Xia Ling shouldn't have come in yet, for the same reason... If Sister Xia Ling had come, the other side wouldn't have left so many dolls here to deal with me.

Therefore, the priority at present should be self-preservation, and trying to delay the inevitable.

Let's just listen to what they have to say for now.

As her thoughts raced, Bronya had already made up her mind.

Meanwhile, among the various puppets in the audience, one exceptionally beautiful puppet was quietly blending in.

Chapter Nineteen: MewMew: Eat my righteous backstab!

"Before the show begins, we will introduce today's main characters to the audience."

"The Herrscher of Reason, the first traitor of the Honkai, the guardian of the ant civilization!"

"Of all the traitors, this one before us is the most unsuccessful!"

"First, let's review her life—"

On stage, the puppet is venting its dissatisfaction in an unpleasant tone.

Bronya, however, seemed unfazed. She observed carefully, trying to glean more information from her surroundings and the doll itself.

Using the Herrscher of Reason's abilities requires analysis and then reproduction. The more information she can obtain now, the more favorable the situation will be for her.

However, MewMew was not in a good mood offstage.

Although she was indeed sitting in the Court of Judgment in her true form, she still had a water clone mixed in with the group that was interfering with Seele.

It was precisely because of this that she discovered some "situations" that differed from the original plot.

In the original work, Seele was attracted by the sounds of Bronya fighting, and then accidentally found Bronya whose abilities had been taken away by the Thousand-Man Herrscher. Of course, this was intentional on the part of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, whose goal was to capture both of them.

However, whether it was because they had failed too many times before, or because Xia Ling was right outside the theater, this time the Thousand-Man Herrscher seemed to want to play it safe. Attracted by the puppets, Seele and Bronya gradually separated and moved to opposite ends of the theater.

If the Thousand-Man Herrscher were to succeed, one can only imagine what would happen to Bronya, whose powers had been taken away. Therefore, the most urgent task is to bring Seele back.

"Xia Ling, have you entered the theater yet?"

"MewMew asked anxiously in the channel."

"I've entered the crack, but I haven't gone deep into the theater yet." Xia Ling glanced at the crack, which had become mostly stable. "What happened?"

"I need you to shield the true Herrscher of Domination from view; I need to do something about it."

MewMew quickly replied, "Seele and Bronya didn't reunite like in the original story. I need to try to lure Seele back. If I fail, you'll need to go protect Bronya later."

"Okay, leave it to me."

After pondering for a moment, Xia Ling did not rush into the theater, but instead opened the system.

"You're Herrscher of Domination, aren't you? You like to spy along the threads, don't you?"

"System, release the Rejection Reaction —focus disorder."

"If you like watching, then don't stop!"

After Xia Ling released her focus disorder, Mulsus clearly sensed something was wrong.

She could clearly sense that the gaze from the other end of the thread seemed to have become somewhat... strange.

Although he would still glance at her from time to time, at least the time he was being stared at had become very regular, like being called out in order of numbers.

So, as long as you leave her a gap, she can...

Temporarily easing control over her main body, MewMew focused her attention on her water clone.

Compared to Bronya, Seele's puppets were extremely limited, since their goal was simply to lure Seele away, not to fight Seele to the death.

For this reason, the puppets did not fight too hard, but instead mingled in the sea of monsters, constantly filling the gaps with minions, while adjusting the monster density in both directions.

It's a very simple principle: as long as the monster density on one side is greater than on the other, Seele will naturally and subconsciously move towards the side with fewer people during the battle. With some verbal cues and environmental obstruction, they easily led Seele in another direction.

However, this work is not without risk. In fact, two puppets have already died by Seele's scythe by accident. After all, these puppets, who are Herrscher, are quite different from ordinary Honkai Beast and mechs that are manipulated.

Mimiu, mingling among the monsters, waited quietly.

Waiting... for the moment when the gaze of the Herrscher of Domination shifts away.

The opportunity came relatively quickly; soon, MewMew got the chance she wanted.

Streams of water quickly converged from the various corners where MewMew was hiding, and then combined to form five identical water clones.

Meanwhile, far away in the Court of Judgment, a small, crystal-clear ice bird, encased in ice shards, quietly appeared in MewMew's hand.

The collectible [Empty Feathered Beast] can greatly increase the HP and ATK of the operator's summoned creatures. In addition, the summoned creature will increase the operator's ATK by a certain amount while it is on the field.

Although the latter half of the buff is of little use to MewMew at this point, the amplification from the first half alone is enough to significantly boost the combat power of MewMew's water clone.

It's important to know that MewMew's combat abilities are actually quite unique. Her main body and her water clone are roughly equal in strength in their normal state. The difference in strength depends on which side MewMew is primarily controlling.

After all, the water clone has no self-awareness, and every move it makes depends on MewMew's dual-track operation.

While the main body is taking a break and the consciousness is fully controlling the clone, MewMew's water clone is capable of unleashing combat power close to that of the main body.

That is, a normal Elite 2 operator is equivalent to the strength of S-rank Valkyrie.

The sudden appearance of the water clone startled Seele, even though she had noticed this clone mixed in with the monsters more than once during previous battles—after all, the difference in appearance between MewMew and the other dolls around her was quite large, and her own doll-like features were not obvious.

However, she never expected that MewMew, whom she had always regarded as a minor boss unit, could unleash such power in an instant and even split into five.

"Seele, be careful, this guy is very strong!"

In his mind, Black Seele's voice simultaneously reminded him, "Give me control of your body. With your strength, you might not be able to handle this guy..."

Before Black Seele could finish speaking, she, who shared vision with Seele, witnessed an incredibly unbelievable scene.

The doll, who was feeling smug because of MewMew's sudden outburst, had its head smashed by a slap from the smiling water clone MewMew beside it.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

However, before the dolls could even make a sound, the five MewMew quickly locked onto their next target.

Seele might not know where the hidden dolls are, but MewMew, who is also Thousand-Man Herrscher, knows them all too well.

Seemingly just recovering from MewMew's merciless backstab, the puppets finally began to command the Honkai Beast to surround MewMew. However, since more than half of the puppeteers had been killed or wounded, the so-called encirclement did not seem to have much of an oppressive feeling.

In MewMew's precise decapitation, the remaining puppets didn't have time to escape and were all left behind by MewMew.

The puppets still in the field were cleanly and efficiently taken away by the self-destruction of one of the water clones.

After casually dismissing the rest of her clones, MewMew looked at Seele, whose face was a mixture of wariness and confusion.

"Ciallo"

Chapter Twenty: Seele: Oh no, we've run into a scammer!

"Huh?"

Seele was taken aback. She had thought that after this internal strife, this very beautiful-looking... doll? would continue to attack her.

The other person's sweet greeting completely stunned Seele.

"Is there something wrong with this doll...?"

Even the Black Seele in her mind didn't hold back in criticizing, "First, you took care of all your companions, and then you came over and greeted us?"

"She is indeed somewhat different... another version of me. She doesn't seem to have attacked us before; she just blended in with the strange group..."

"No, look closely, she doesn't seem to have any doll-like characteristics, and even her temperament is different from other dolls..."

Seele's voice was hesitant. "This... is she really one of the Thousand-Man Herrscher?"

"Perhaps it's a doll that hasn't undergone such a deep transformation?"

Black Seele questioned, "After all... judging from the dolls we've come into contact with so far, I find it hard to imagine that there could be any good people among them."

"Hey, why aren't you guys saying anything?"

Seeing that Seele hadn't made a move, MewMew Miu could guess that she was communicating with Black Seele.

Was my opening line not cute enough?

"Hello, miss... doll, may I ask... what are you doing?"

"Eh? Can I call you that? My name is Mulsus, you can call me MewMew, although I'm just a water clone right now."

"However, you can't add puppets to clones, you can call this kind of clone... Flow-type?"

"It seems you're still confused. Well, I'll tell you a name that should dispel a lot of your doubts."

"You... should know someone named Kal'tsit, right?"

As if afraid Seele wouldn't remember, MewMew even went so far as to describe her. "It's that one with white hair, cat ears, and a flat chest..."

"Alright, alright, I know Lady Kal'tsit..."

Seele quickly interrupted MewMew. Although she wasn't very familiar with Kal'tsit, the other woman had saved her life, and it wasn't right to talk about her figure behind her back.

"Well, as you should know, Kal'tsit began investigating the Thousand-Man Herrscher a long time ago."

MewMew pointed to herself. "That's right, I am the host of the Herrscher Core that she turned to the other side, and also the only one."

"There's a mole here!"

Black Seele's voice was somewhat incredulous. "So, there's actually a normal person among this group?"

"Miss Mulsus, just because you can name Ms. Kal'tsit doesn't mean I should trust you."

Of course, Seele wouldn't be so foolish as to believe everything the other person said, especially in something like this.

"At the very least, you need to provide sufficient evidence."

"Huh? Isn't backstabbing so many dolls enough evidence?" MewMew curled a strand of hair, somewhat troubled.

"No, because we can't rule out the possibility of it being a ruse."

"And... what about this sign?"

A Rhodes Island symbol made of flowing water appeared in MewMew's hand.

"This is..."

"Oh no, you don't seem to know her either... If you have a chance to go back and ask Kal'tsit's child there, she should be able to vouch for me."

MewMew shook her head in distress. "But right now, I really can't produce any other evidence."

After a moment of silence, MewMew suddenly raised her head.

"Forget it, your situation is critical right now, so we can't worry about that now. Before the real Herrscher of Domination casts her gaze on you again, I need to tell you the information first."

"The true Herrscher of Domination?"

"Intelligence?"