Where's the Promised Third Honkai?!!

At first glance, it sounded more like a meaningless statement.

However, once one considered that Prometheus monitored the host's condition around the clock and that neither side had been completely candid with the other, Fu Li's decision to hold something back became rather meaningful.

"I see..."

The woman sat atop a casually arranged pile of rubble, tapping out a rhythm with her index finger.

"It's a pity that child didn't agree to let the End-of-World Assistance System scan his memories from the start. Otherwise, neither of us would need to go to such lengths."

A Divine Key was ultimately made of matter. Even if it had been bound to Fu Li, whose Hyper-mutation Factor had awakened in his previous life, after being scoured by the torrent of time and losing its original body, there was no way it could have appeared before him in an almost complete state from the very beginning—much less brought him so many good things through ten consecutive draws.

Memories of the future, the direction in which the world situation would develop, the results of Project Ember, the whereabouts of World Serpent, the conditions of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, as well as those special beings suspected to be alternate-dimensional counterparts of the Fire Moths...

Everything Fu Li had personally experienced was an immeasurable, priceless treasure to the two of them, who had been trapped on the moon for over fifty thousand years.

Unfortunately, perhaps because he realized that handing those things over would render him worthless, or perhaps merely due to a powerhouse's instincts and fastidiousness, Fu Li had almost instinctively refused the End-of-World Assistance System's memory scan.

Moreover, Prometheus—the main body of Miss Will of Honkai—was trapped in the Imaginary Space where the Cocoon of the End resided due to multiple factors. Unable to extend her influence to Earth on the side of reality, she had no choice but to disguise herself as the AI of the End-of-World Assistance System and play the role of a curious child to coax information out of Fu Li.

Neither side showed their hand, and both responded to every move with a counter.

Dr. MEI tilted her head, a strand of hair naturally falling by her temple. "Next time, how about I go meet him?"

"MEI, what are you plotting now?"

"As a false 'Dr. MEI' born within a bubble world, I yearn to breathe the fresh air that exists only in my memories."

The woman who called herself a counterfeit smiled. "I wonder whether Miss Will of Honkai agrees with this reason?"

"My original spent many years with yours."

Prometheus half-closed her eyes. The implication was clear: cut the nonsense and get to the point.

"Mei's Breakdown, Fu Li Seizing the Opening"

"Looks like you still can't bear to let go."

Faced with Prometheus's evasiveness, Dr. MEI let out a faint sigh. "I understand, too. Unlike me, who only woke up a couple of days ago, you were trapped in the pitch-black Imaginary Space for a full fifty thousand years. After finally finding a port through which you could touch the real world, no one would let go easily."

"Who was the previous port again? Ah, right. That purple-haired little girl who called herself Sirin."

She clapped her hands, speaking unhurriedly. "She called you 'God' so affectionately, yet the great Will of Honkai she worshipped actually got so engrossed in playing house with that little girl that she failed to retreat in time and took Hua's Greatsword of the Void head-on."

Prometheus waved a hand to interrupt her. "Don't make it sound as though I deliberately helped the Herrscher of the Void block that attack. I didn't even possess self-awareness at the time."

Although people of the Current Era often referred to that supreme being above the Herrschers as the Honkai God or the Will of Honkai, the Honkai phenomenon itself had originally possessed no will.

It was only at the end of the Previous Era, when the Fire Moths who had entered the moon to battle the Herrscher of the End helped Prometheus No. 17 hack into it, triggering the multidimensional resonance phenomenon known as the Imaginary Renormalization Group, that Honkai was given the shackles called thought. The types of Herrschers were changed from appearing randomly to being fixed as identical to those of the Previous Era.

As the price, Prometheus, who had hacked into Imaginary Space, had to become a member of the Imaginary Renormalization Group. She was then ruthlessly swallowed by the surging imaginary tides, left muddled and unconscious until the sole Backdoor Program was awakened correctly by someone in the future.

However, plans could never keep up with change.

During the Second Honkai, the Herrscher of the Void, gravely wounded and near death at the hands of the Herrscher of Reason, reached the moon with the help of her accompanying Honkai beast, Benares. Not only did she absorb the powers of Conquest, Desire, Serenity, and Plague sealed upon the lunar surface, she also established a connection with the Will of Honkai.

That connection was later split in two by Hua's full-powered Greatsword of the Void, causing a small portion of it—Prometheus's human side—to temporarily detach from the Imaginary Renormalization Group. It became a semi-independent individual wandering the moon, though this also caused its emotional side to greatly outweigh its rational side.

That was why Dr. MEI had reminded her in this manner not to develop any unnecessary feelings for Fu Li.

What they wanted was intelligence. What kind of situation would it be if she ended up getting herself involved? A love story between an artificial intelligence and a carbon-based life-form? The untold little details between a fifty-thousand-year-old maiden and a sixteen-year-old fresh-faced boy?

Come to think of it, hadn't that child claimed he disliked humans?

Prometheus naturally understood what Dr. MEI meant.

The girl remained expressionless. "I pretended to be the AI of the End-of-World Assistance System only to obtain information from Fu Li concerning the current state and future of the intrinsic world. Once I have the information, I will immediately sever contact with him and avoid unnecessary investment."

It was hilarious. No matter how one looked at it, they resembled a young couple cruelly torn apart by malicious parents.

"Really not?"

"No."

"Even though this is your first connection with the outside world since regaining your personality?"

"Even so."

"Then should I go online next time and make contact with that child instead?"

"...Pick an appropriate opportunity. As for the excuse..."

"The system AI's model was based on someone familiar within the host's interpersonal circle, correct?"

Dr. MEI pressed her fingertips together, her mature and intellectual voice brimming with teasing. "Should I claim that my appearance was modeled after the person he secretly loves? That little girl named Raiden Mei should be Dr. MEI's alternate-dimensional counterpart fifty thousand years later, shouldn't she?"

After the charming mother-in-law had broken up the couple, she immediately ran off to meet her son-in-law. In the novel section of some blue app, that premise could easily produce over a hundred thousand words of romance fodder.

"He doesn't secretly love Raiden Mei."

Prometheus said, "And Raiden Mei doesn't resemble Dr. MEI at all."

"Even though they were clearly made from the same mold?"

"I mean on the inside."

"I'm not so sure."

Dr. MEI neither confirmed nor denied it.

"Bella! Y-you take five thousand men and capture the Babylon Tower!"

"Bring cavalry! God said cavalry are freaking awesome. No, no trebuchets, trebuchets are useless. Aurora, listen to me, use cavalry, cavalry are freaking awesome..."

"What do you mean cavalry can't attack cities? Why can't they?"

"Forget it. Galina and Agata, bring that... what was it, Frankish thing? Just blast it for me..."

In the pitch-black basement level of the villa, a beautiful girl with waterfall-like dark purple hair opened her eyes, the heavy dark circles beneath them doing considerable damage to her looks.

She glanced at Kiana, whose sleep-talking was becoming increasingly outrageous. Her exhausted gaze held equal measures of helplessness and affection.

Gently pushing away the girl's arm wrapped around her, Mei stood and straightened her wrinkled collar.

Then she turned around and silently headed toward the second floor.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Fu Li, who was leaning by the window, turned his head. "How did you sleep?"

"Not bad."

Mei tried to hide it with dignity, but the smoky makeup on her stunning bare face gave her away.

As long as Fu Li was awake, Bronya couldn't possibly cause any trouble.

With that thought in mind, Mei had indeed wanted to get some proper sleep during the past three hours.

Unfortunately, no one knew what kind of stimulant Kiana had taken—though in truth, her heart was simply sweet with happiness from Fu Li's praise. During the first half hour after returning from sentry duty, she had been beaming like spring sunshine, her face flushed like peach blossoms. Then, after Mei had finally coaxed her to sleep, she started spouting nonsense in her dreams.

The noise kept Mei from sleeping even though drowsiness was overwhelming her. After repeating this several times, she simply gave up on sleeping and settled for resting with her eyes closed.

Seeing the girl cover her mouth and yawn again, Fu Li thought for a moment. "How about you go rest some more? I can keep watch here. Haaah~"

Well then, yawns really were contagious.

"No."

Mei shook her head and stepped over to her friend.

She carefully tidied his disheveled sideburns, then held the Escape Dagger in her arms and smiled gently. "Leave this to me, Fu Li. You go rest."

"Sure. If anything happens, don't hold back. Just call me and I'll be there immediately."

"Then when the time comes, should I call, 'Help me, Mr. Fu Li!'?"

"Include Kiana too, or else that brat will sulk with me afterward."

"No! That kind of development is what makes it interesting~"

"Gah! Give me back that gentle, considerate little angel Mei!"

The boy picked up Mikazuki Munechika, which had been resting at his right hand, and ran toward the stairs with exaggerated movements.

Upon reaching the stairway, he turned and winked at Mei. "Then see you in three hours?"

"You're not allowed to get handsy with soft, sweet-smelling Kiana while I'm gone! And turning raw rice into cooked rice is even more forbidden!"

"How could I?"

Fu Li felt that Miss Raiden was being far too imaginative.

There was reproductive isolation between humans and grasshopper-like organisms!

The lights of the city in the dead of night appeared especially lonely and distant. The skyscrapers stood like silhouettes, adding a sense of heaviness and oppression for no reason at all.

A cold wind, as biting as winter rain, clawed through the sorrowful sky. It made the weather doll beneath the eaves sway and flutter uncertainly, its slightly upturned mouth seeming both pitying and mocking.

After watching her friend's figure disappear at the stairway and confirming that his footsteps and the vibrations of his movement had gradually faded, the smile on Mei's face slowly vanished.

"Fu Li?"

She called softly.

No one answered.

"Fu Li? Kiana?"

She called again.

Still, no one responded.

Once she confirmed that she truly was the only one left here, the girl who was finally alone felt as if an invisible hand had violently hollowed out her spine!

She staggered against the cold wall, her powerless body slowly sliding down toward the floor.

Even now, Raiden Mei remained at a loss.

A few months ago, she had still been the famous young lady of ME Inc. at Senba Academy. She lived in a grand estate that countless people could not afford even after a lifetime of struggle and rode in luxury cars imported from North America.

Every day when she woke, considerate maids would come forward to help her dress and wash. Delicacies from around the world were hers to sample at will, and her Menkyo Kaiden swordsmanship was unmatched.

Even after her father had been imprisoned over an enormous financial fraud case and the family assets frozen, she had still been able to use a wooden sword to crack the skulls and break the spines of everyone who harbored ill intentions toward her.

The once gentle and proper Lady Mei had transformed into a renowned, icy heroine. Two friends who had crossed the ocean to be by her side adored and relied on her, and next they would form an invincible team, travel the world with swords in hand, and settle grudges to their hearts' content.

Yet just as the good days seemed about to arrive, everything had taken a sharp turn. She had become a fugitive wanted by Anti-Entropy, dragging her friends into trouble, and now even eating or sleeping required constant caution!

Most importantly, the boy among those two was entangled in an ambiguous relationship with the daughter of the true culprit, while the girl who had once stood firmly at Mei's side was gradually accepting her under his influence!

Am I being excluded?

Isn't it only right that I seek revenge on the accomplice who framed my father?

Do I really have to pretend not to care and live under the same roof with her, smiling and getting along peacefully?

I'm the victim here!!!

The bright moon in the night sky disappeared behind dark clouds, and Mei curled up in the darkness.

Helplessly, she buried her face in her knees, the cold piercing through her marrow.

'Rumble!!!'

Lightning tore through the sky like a sword, ripping apart the pitch-black heavens in an instant and bringing a brief, dazzling white light. After the flashes and thunder came the promised downpour, cascading as though the heavens had overturned and splashing loudly against the ground.

The small two-story building standing alone looked so pale and powerless amid this springtime frenzy. The roof's drainage pipes simply could not remove such an immense volume of rain in time.

The accumulated water flowed down the walls with a hiss, forming curtain after curtain like miniature waterfalls.

The pattering water became a barrier separating inside from outside. It blocked Mei's last remaining perception of the outside world as she cried, and it also concealed the faint footsteps Fu Li inadvertently made as he came upstairs.

This woman is exceedingly delicate. A punch should make her cry for quite some time.

That was the sentence that surfaced in Fu Li's mind when he returned to the second-floor doorway and saw Mei curled up in the corner of the room, hugging her legs.

Putting aside that malicious thought—so vicious it made even pandas deliver bamboo shoots straight to the door—the main reason he had returned early was to confirm one detail.

Unlike the viewers with their omniscient perspective, Fu Li, with his limited viewpoint, could not determine one thing: had Kikyo stripped Mei's Stigmata away and given it to him, or had it done something more sophisticated, like copy and paste?

The latter would be fine. But if it were the former, wouldn't that mean he had shamelessly stolen something from his friend?

The value of a natural Stigmata went without saying.