33. Fu Hua: Well, I'll be damned

"How could that be? Of course I believe you." Fu Hua paused for a moment, then added, "Regardless of your identity, what I believe in is you."

"Although you have my memories, you are ultimately not me. In fact, when I first met you, I already guessed that you might be the Herrscher of Consciousness in this era."

"It wasn't just me; Xia Ling guessed it when she first met you, and even Kevin, Otto..."

Sirin fell silent.

"Since you all know, why don't you say it?"

"Is it fun to watch me entertain myself like a clown?"

"Why would you think that?" Fu Hua smoothed out the wrinkles on Sirin's clothes, her voice gentle. "The reason we didn't expose you is because..."

"Even if you are Herrscher, so what? Aren't there enough Herrscher like Anti-Entropy?"

"Since you don't want to be this Herrscher, I will naturally help you keep the secret: a second personality, an inner demon, or perhaps you are the real Fu Hua..."

"Although most of these identities are questionable, and many people in Anti-Entropy probably have their own guesses, everyone has tacitly kept quiet. Do you know why?"

"Because you have gained everyone's recognition and are no longer alone like before... Since becoming 'Fu Hua' was your choice, everyone will naturally respect your choice. This is because of you, not because of the name."

"So, Sirin, if you..."

"Hey, hey, it's time to end this low-class sentimental drama. If you want to put on a show of motherly love, there will be plenty of venues for you to perform after you become puppets."

The dolls, annoyed by Fu Hua's nonchalant words of advice, all showed expressions of disgust. As Thousand-Man Herrscher, they seemed to be born at the opposite extreme from beautiful emotions.

Moreover, they would never allow Fu Hua to pull Sirin out of the dilemma.

"Now that you can't make a choice, shall I make the choice for you?"

"Remember, don't accidentally kill the dolls, okay?"

As they spoke, the puppets, ignoring the threads connecting them to the void, charged toward the two of them in comical poses, like patients pulling on IV tubes to go to the toilet.

"Old Fossil, you don't need to continue."

Seeing the dummy rushing towards him, Sirin took a deep breath.

"I know what you want to say... I will cut all the threads on the doll and then give its body to you."

"With your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult for you to stay in the theater until Xia Ling comes looking for you."

"Don't worry about me. You know I'm the Herrscher of Consciousness. As long as I don't want to die, no one can kill me..."

"Alright, Sirin."

Fu Hua gently covered Sirin's lips with her finger.

"After all this time... it seems you still don't understand me. How could I possibly say something like asking you to sacrifice yourself?"

"This time, I'll make the choice."

As the words fell, Sirin suddenly felt a burning sensation in her heart, where Fu Hua's feather was usually kept.

However, this burning sensation is not painful; on the contrary, it feels warm.

"Old Fossil, what are you trying to do!"

Sirin panicked immediately. Although she hadn't reacted yet, her memory had already subconsciously given her the answer: in Fu Hua's memory, such sacrifices were not uncommon.

Even a Sirin methods could easily come up with the idea that she wanted to once again amplify Feather Dust's power by burning her memories, so that he could complete this difficult choice for her.

She tried to grab the burning feather on her chest, but missed. The feather had already melted into Fu Hua's translucent body, and her entire body began to burn.

"Don't try to use your powers... With me burning my memories, you can't beat me in the struggle of Herrscher Authority. After all, I am also the master of this body."

With a light tap of her finger, Fu Hua easily pulled the power to her side, taking advantage of the moment when Sirin lost his composure due to panic.

"I have a few more words to say to you, so please don't interrupt me, okay?"

"Sirin, you must live well. From now on, you won't have to worry about the identity of 'Fu Hua' anymore... You can become the real Fu Hua if you want, or you can become a completely new version of yourself if you want."

"In short... I hope you can no longer be bound by my memories. I hope that after me, you... can gain 'freedom' and make your own choices."

"Who wants this kind of freedom! What are you talking about!"

Sirin struggled fiercely, her voice already trembling with tears. "I don't want to gain recognition this way! Give me back my powers! What are you trying to prove, you disposable feather? Let me use my powers to sever the connection, and you can take over the body and leave, wouldn't that be better?"

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes..." Su's eyelids seemed to be trembling uncontrollably. "I find it hard to believe that Hua could say such a thing."

"Elysia- style chat training, isn't that amazing?"

Xia Ling revealed a knowing smile, "She guided and comforted Xiao Shi, then seized power to prevent Sirin from stopping her, all in one smooth motion. Although I feel that she added the power-seizing part herself."

"But, is Fu Hua alright?"

"There are no problems for now, but it's time to make a move."

A verdant spiritual power began to surge within Su.

"After all, we can't let Hua burn herself again... Although even if Feather Dust is burned, her consciousness will most likely not perish, but will be preserved in her body by the Herrscher of Consciousness."

"But, if she does that, who knows how many memories she'll have to burn..."

"So you guys from Previous Civilization, always willing to sacrifice yourselves, never thinking about how heartbroken others will be," Xia Ling Lingrui commented.

"Xia Ling, are you describing yourself?"

"Well..."

"Haha, subconsciously choosing to give the future to others... this may also be a characteristic of our times."

Su smiled slightly, and a phantom image of a leaf instantly enveloped the two people on the platform.

"The Karma Wheel!"

Chapter 33 Fu Hua: This is truly a ghost story.

In this complex situation, Su did not hold back, but directly used his strongest ability from the very beginning— the Karma Wheel.

The simplest external manifestation of the Karma Wheel and Effect is to reflect the opponent's attack back. Of course, its true effect is not that simple, or rather, to achieve such a "simple" effect, this ability is definitely not ordinary.

Under Su's suppression, the threads between the puppet and its host were severed almost instantly.

The puppets themselves weren't much better off; they were firmly imprisoned in place. After all, they were just puppets, and there were only a few hundred of them.

Fu Hua's already ignited Feather Dust was forcibly extinguished by Su.

After all, Su was a genuine Mental Perception -type Fusion Warrior. Even the Feather Dust at its peak was made from the core of the Herrscher of Consciousness who was killed by Su in the previous era. Suppressing a feather was naturally not difficult for him.

However, although Su's actions were quite understated, the shock he brought to the rest of the field was no less.

"Su? You're still alive?"

Fu Hua's expression was as if she had seen a ghost; no, it really did seem like she had seen a ghost.

After all, Sue's death was news she could fully confirm; both Kevin and Otto acknowledged Sue's death without hesitation.

"No... you don't seem to have a body either. This ability is... Little Xi's painting?"

Fu Hua, who had met Xi several times at the Schicksal Headquarters, immediately realized what was going on. After all, Griseo's, had left a deep impression on Fu Hua.

"Before I leave, I must leave something for my successors... This painting is just one of them."

Su's face showed a hint of wistfulness at reuniting with an old friend. He chuckled and said, "Long time no see, Hua... you've changed a lot."

"And this one... another Fu Hua?"

"Don't call me by that name... just call me Sirin."

Sirin had just been protecting the feathers like a treasure, paused for a moment, then said somewhat awkwardly.

"I don't care about this name... Since it's Old Fossil, I'll just give it back to her."

"Then why don't you lend me the feather to play with?" Xia Ling peeked out from behind Su, a mischievous smile on her face.

"No way!" Sirin said instinctively, then realized that her words seemed a bit like she was trying to cover something up, so she quickly blushed and denied it, "... I'll return my body to the Old Fossil later, and then you can play with the feathers."

"Um... Sirin." Fu Hua seemed a little embarrassed, after all, those words were the first time she had said anything like that in her 50,000 years of life.

In fact, she had already cut a lot of the things that Elysia had taught her before... mainly because she really couldn't bring herself to say the contingency plan that Elysia had given her for Sirin.

"You... you don't need to inject Honkai Energy into the feather anymore. Sue's intervention was timely; my power wasn't greatly depleted, and besides, the feather can't withstand that much Honkai Energy..."

"Mind your own business! You're such Old Fossil!"

Sirin immediately stopped what he was doing and turned his head to the side.

"Damn you...!"

"You have no say here, Herrscher."

The puppet had barely broken free when it was suppressed back down by Su's power.

There's no way around it; the Thousand-Man Herrscher are just like that. Precisely because of their weakness in power, they constantly try to manipulate people's minds. But when they encounter someone far stronger than themselves, they can only obediently shut up.

Of course, they do have some cards up their sleeves, and more than one... but now that the situation has reached the point where they need to sacrifice some to save the game, it's definitely not the right time to use them.

"Oh... I almost forgot we're still in the Theater of Domination. Let me see..."

Xia Ling closed her eyes, sensing the "anchor point" she had left in the Hyperion.

"They seem to have returned to reality and are looking for a way to enter the Theater of Domination... That makes sense, this time the Theater of Domination was opened from inside the Hyperion, so they might be able to find it soon."

"Is that so...?"

"Well then, in that case, I won't bother you any longer."

Su waved her hand gently.

"After all, it's best for a remnant soul from the old era like me not to interfere too much with the current civilization."

"The power here will last for a long time, so you don't need to worry about the puppets suddenly losing control. Of course, you can finish them off if you want."

"Hua, Sirin, Xia Ling, farewell."

As his voice faded, his body gradually dissipated, transforming into a somewhat blurry painting.

"Why is he in such a hurry... I haven't properly thanked him yet," Sirin muttered, touching her hair.

"After all, he can't let the power of this painting dissipate too much... However, there will be another chance to see it again."

Xia Ling turned her gaze to the puppets in the theater who were restricted from moving and said, "Well, Sirin, I still need to contact Kiana and ask her to bring them in."

"How about I leave the finishing blow to you?"

Don't worry!

Sirin turned fierce as he happily accepted the task. "I was just about to use them to vent my anger!"

"In short, that's how it is... I discovered that Fu Hua was being pulled into the theater by the Herrscher of Domination, so in order to prevent them from closing the rift, I followed her in."

"I've already dealt with most of the puppets using some kind of legacy from Previous Civilization. Fu Hua and Sirin are cleaning up the mess, while I've come out to ask for your help."

"So... Theresa, can you let me go now? This time it's really alright... I wasn't even the first target of the Thousand-Man Herrscher."

"Hmph... I'll pass you."

Theresa loosened her grip on Xia Ling's hand.

"A legacy from Previous Civilization... to be honest, I'm quite interested in this, it is..."

"Not a big robot, Mr. Welt."

"Oh, that's all."

"Ahem, regarding the Previous Civilization... perhaps I'll be able to give you a definitive answer soon, but for now, let's go help Sirin first..."

Xia Ling was just about to call for help to clean up the puppets in the Theater of Domination when she was interrupted by a sudden loud noise from the deck.

When everyone ran out to look, they saw Sirin and hundreds of puppet bodies appear on the deck together, with Sirin's weapon still stuck in the chest of one of the puppets.

Amidst the bewildered stares of several people, Sirin guessed:

"Uh... it seems like if we deal with all the puppets, we'll be automatically teleported out of the theater?"

"I think so." Fu Hua, who was floating to the side, pushed up her glasses. "Also, Sirin, didn't you have something you wanted to say to everyone?"

"Ahem, I'm not ready yet... never mind."

Sirin, who had been pushed forward by Fu Hua, cleared his throat and slowly spoke amidst the encouraging and kind gazes of the crowd.