You Think Money Can Buy Us Off? / Stigmata Consciousness: Damn It, I'm Telling the Truth! Why Won't Anyone Believe Me?!

"Sure! Leave it to me! I can handle it!"

Raiden Mei stood ramrod straight, her expression more serious and proper than ever before.

???

ME Corporation.

As one of Anti-Entropy's major sources of funding, the company was undoubtedly loaded. Even after Cocolia's meddling and Heavenly Mandate's repeated investigations, it had retained its status as a massive powerhouse.

Raiden Ryoma, who had reclaimed ME Corporation, was currently at the top of the building. When the group reached the highest floor, what greeted them was not an office, but a place resembling a tea room.

On the long table lay the two-hundred-kilogram Deep-Sea Bluefin Tuna. A man wielding a kitchen knife with the sharpness of a sword sliced open its belly. The fatty tuna gleamed like pink marble, translucent and finely textured, its enticing color seeming to convey its tender freshness through every strand of grain. Surrounding this main dish were Wagyu Sukiyaki, Gold Leaf Sushi, Peony Shrimp Sashimi, and Blue Lobster Sashimi flown in from France. The only thing that seemed out of place was the carbonated drinks chilling in an ice bucket.

This was how the Far East received distinguished guests. Raiden Ryoma had originally intended to prepare sake, but considering that most of the guests were students and not yet old enough to drink, he had proactively switched to carbonated beverages more popular with young people.

"Nice to meet you, everyone. I am Mei's father, Raiden Ryoma. I truly cannot thank you enough for what you have done for Mei."

The moment they entered the office, Raiden Mei's father suddenly gave Qianyi and the others a deep bow. If his daughter had not been standing beside him, he might even have dropped to his knees on the spot.

"You're too kind. Mei is my friend. Friends are supposed to help each other." Qianyi's eye twitched. He had not expected Raiden Ryoma to put on such a grand display.

"No. As Mei's father, I failed her when she needed me most. If it were not for all of you, Mei might already have fallen victim to Cocolia. So please, allow me to repay you."

"Save the gratitude for later. We have more important matters to discuss." Qianyi cut Raiden Ryoma off.

Don't rush me. Let me be the one to rush.

Without giving Raiden Ryoma a chance to refuse, Qianyi stated his purpose bluntly. "I intend to attack Heavenly Mandate, execute Otto, that Source of All Evil, and restore peace to the world. I hope you will lend us a hand."

Raiden Ryoma fell silent. He suspected he had misheard. "You said... kill who?"

"Kill Otto."

"Otto Apocalypse?!"

"Yes. I came here to kill him."

"Do you not know that he is Heavenly Mandate's Overseer? He commands nearly ten thousand Valkyries, his influence spans the globe, and no one's every move can escape his eyes and ears?"

"That is precisely why he must be killed." Qianyi's tone was almost an order, stiff as a baguette full of gravel.

What the hell.

Raiden Ryoma nearly fainted. Even while sitting, he could not stay still. The young man before him was utterly insane.

For all these years, Anti-Entropy had only barely managed to contend with Heavenly Mandate. Yet this young man had come right out and said he wanted to kill Otto. He was either wildly overconfident or had no idea how terrifying Otto and his methods were.

With his heart nearly leaping out of his throat, Raiden Ryoma cautiously asked, "Do you... have some blood feud with him?"

"No." Qianyi cracked open a can of cola. He felt that he would not be persuading Raiden Ryoma anytime soon, so he wet his throat first.

"No feud?" Raiden Ryoma frowned and lowered his voice. "Then why do you want to kill him?"

"Did Cocolia have a feud with you? With Mei?" Qianyi's tone remained calm, yet it carried the sharpness of spears and lances.

"What do you mean?" Raiden Ryoma was momentarily at a loss.

"I do not like waving the banner of righteousness when committing violence and killing. Violence is violence. Killing is killing. Any attempt to conceal violence and killing behind righteousness is hypocritical and meaningless, nothing more than a stain upon justice, fairness, and morality. So I will not fabricate some tragic backstory or raise the banner of a grand cause to claim the moral high ground. All I intend to do is commit the world's greatest taboo like Satan, wield violence and slaughter, become a great sinner, tear apart the throne of the gods, and steal this world." Qianyi drank his cola.

Raiden Ryoma sat upright. He was astonished by such audacity. At that moment, he even felt that the person sitting before him was not a young man around his daughter's age, but a war god who had swept through tens of thousands of battles without defeat.

"If you believe my assistance can help defeat Heavenly Mandate, then I am willing to offer you this life that you returned to me. However, I hope you can grant me one request."

"As long as it is within my power," Qianyi said.

Raiden Ryoma pressed a button beneath the table. The screen behind him automatically opened, revealing gold bars stacked like a small mountain, the sort normally seen only in a bank vault.

"I hope you can take these, along with my daughter, and leave this world."

Do You Think Money Can Buy Us?

Qianyi had considered that Raiden Ryoma might make some excessive demands, such as asking him to stay and help fight the Honkai after killing Otto, solve Raiden Mei's condition, or grant Anti-Entropy a certain amount of power after conquering Heavenly Mandate.

He had not expected the request to be this excessive.

"I know this request may be difficult, but she is my only daughter."

Raiden Ryoma took a breath. "I have already failed once as a father. I do not wish to fail a second time. Before you attack Heavenly Mandate, I hope you can send my daughter to your world and let her stay somewhere safe. In return, I will stake everything I have and follow you into battle against Heavenly Mandate. Even if we fail, I will risk my life to protect your escape."

That way, even if he failed, Mei could still live happily in a world without Honkai and without Heavenly Mandate.

Ryoma's words undoubtedly resonated with many present. Toyokawa Shoko was nearly moved to tears by his willingness to stake his life for his daughter.

Why were they both fathers, yet her own father was so different from someone else's?

Raiden Ryoma, were you the one protecting everyone? You were so gentle, practically the gentlest person in the world!

However—

"I refuse," Qianyi said.

"Why? Is the payment not enough? If it is not enough, I can offer more. Shares in ME Corporation, the Raiden family's land deeds, ME Corporation's mechs. If necessary, I can even divert Anti-Entropy's funds, along with the various invention patents in Anti-Entropy's possession. I can give you all of it." Raiden Ryoma stood up and braced both hands against the table, his eyes wide as bells. He truly intended to stake everything and leave himself no way out.

What happened with Cocolia had made him see many things clearly. Without its Sovereign, Anti-Entropy was a scattered mess. The conservative faction's allies were completely unreliable. He could understand failing to protect himself, since he was too conspicuous. But failing to protect his daughter, allowing Cocolia to target her and nearly turn her into a weapon—that was what he found most intolerable.

"This is not about money."

"Not about money? Then what is it? Does crossing worlds require immense resources? I can pay for that too." Raiden Ryoma was getting anxious.

"No. I was just wondering whether you should ask Mei what she wants."

"Huh?" Raiden Ryoma had considered every possible reason Qianyi might reject him, except this one.

Mei's wishes?

What wishes could Mei possibly have? She should be living peacefully in another world, worrying every day about what to eat for three meals, what sort of person to date in college, whether to prioritize marriage and love or her career after graduation, and whether to have one child or several. Those were the things she should be considering, not being targeted by Cocolia today and Otto tomorrow, becoming a chess piece on someone else's board in this shitty world!

As though he had seen through his thoughts, Qianyi sighed and continued, "For a daughter, the most important thing may not be a comfortable life, but the companionship of family. You have already been absent from Mei's life countless times. Are you now planning to be absent from the rest of her life entirely?"

"I..." Raiden Ryoma fell silent. He knew full well that he had not been a qualified father, but he had no other choice. "To me, Mei living an ordinary and happy life is what matters most. She carries the authority of a Herrscher within her. As long as she remains in this world, more people will inevitably target her in the future. So taking her away from this world is the best choice."

"You make it sound like other worlds are so safe." Qianyi snarked, then resumed a serious expression. "Safety gained by relying on others is ultimately a castle in the air, an illusion in a mirror. If Raiden Mei cannot become truly strong on her own, then if she encounters the same kind of crisis in another world, will she have a second father to give her an escape route and help her flee danger?"

"Isn't there no Honkai in your world?" Raiden Ryoma froze.

"Who told you that a world without Honkai is necessarily safe?" Qianyi felt that Raiden Ryoma was talking nonsense, so he waved Seele over. "Come on, Seele. Give him a little show."

Seele shifted over, still holding a slice of sashimi in her mouth. "What kind of show?"

"Tell him about Stellar Cores, the Anti-Matter Legion, Aeons, and all that." Give this Earth native a little cosmic shock.

"Stellar Cores? Anti-Matter Legion? What are those things? Never heard of them. I only know Preservation Aeon Clipper."

"..." Qianyi choked, then corrected her. "That character is pronounced Po, like the Po in Amber."

Damn it, I forgot you were a little beggar from the middle of nowhere in Belobog. You graduated from an orphanage, never even attended elementary school, and only had kindergarten-level education!

He grabbed a chicken drumstick and stuffed it into Seele's mouth, sending the child off to play by herself.

"Ahem. She has not studied much, so she does not know much. Let me explain again."

"No, no need. I already understand how terrifying it is."

Raiden Ryoma shakily wiped away his sweat. That blue-haired little delinquent might have seemed foolish, but he felt certain that he would lose if they fought. Yet someone like her had actually ended up without even attending school.

Looking at her, she ate like a starving ghost. She did not even recognize wasabi and kept squeezing it into her mouth, then choked so badly that she looked like the Monkey King being born in the first chapter of Journey to the West. She probably had barely eaten normal food before.

Was that terrifying? Yes, it was terrifying.

Someone at my level had ended up in such a state. What kind of demons and monsters were brawling over there? I could already imagine it.

Earth suddenly felt pretty safe.

"Good that you understand." Qianyi decided that he absolutely had to find a highly educated teammate to explain this sort of thing next time!

This was too embarrassing.

After considering it for a while, Raiden Ryoma said, "Then let us pretend the matter of taking Mei away never happened. May I make another request instead?"

"Go ahead." Qianyi naturally skipped over the previous topic.

"I remember that you helped Kiana resolve the Herrscher of the Void and successfully obtained her authority, correct? Could you help my daughter defeat the Herrscher consciousness of the Herrscher of Thunder and eliminate this hidden danger?"

"Ah, no, your daughter's situation is special."

Qianyi had just been about to explain that the Herrscher consciousness inside Raiden Mei was not actually a Herrscher consciousness, but her Stigmata consciousness, which existed to protect his daughter. As long as she was willing to accept her weak self, she could control that power. But Raiden Ryoma had already placed glittering gold before him.

"Money is not a problem. If the Herrscher consciousness is powerful and difficult to deal with, I also have a weapon specially made to counter the Herrscher of Thunder."

Raiden Ryoma got up, pulled a briefcase from a cabinet, and opened it. A long blade called Plasma Shadow Show, originally designed specifically to counter the Herrscher of Thunder, was pushed before them together with the gold.

"Please! Help my daughter defeat that hateful Herrscher consciousness!"

Qianyi: "..."

The cold Raiden Mei—Stigmata consciousness—had become warm gold. How could I dream of something like this?

Stigmata Consciousness: Damn It, Everything I Said Was True, So Why Does No One Believe Me?!

Inside Raiden Mei's Stigmata Space.

The Dimensional Chat Group members, who had already entered a dual-personality dungeon more than once, smoothly made their way into this world, bringing Raiden Ryoma along with them.

The instant Raiden Ryoma stepped into this place, a bolt of thunder struck in a flash, frightening him into quickly dodging aside.

The next moment, amid thunder that filled the sky, the heavens seemed to split into countless streaks of light. Roaring lightning swept forth like raging tides. Within the overwhelming storm of electricity, the Herrscher of Thunder slowly descended from the sky, like a god of divine punishment arriving from above.

"Seriously? Why are her entrance effects so much cooler than mine?" Kiana wailed. In comparison, the Herrscher of the Void's entrance effects looked like those of a welder, completely lacking style.

They were both Herrschers, and their numbers were only one apart. So why did the Second Herrscher look like some outdated washed-up character compared to the Third Herrscher?

"She really does look cool. Should we get some entrance effects next time too, to boost our style?" Talulah looked up at the Herrscher of Thunder, clearly tempted.

"It is okay, I guess. I feel like it is nothing special. Effects that are too flashy are not necessarily good either." Seele hugged her Little Scythe.

In an age where her teammates casually opened Space Gates, fired light cannons, and used summoning systems, she, a character who fought by swinging a scythe, felt like a primitive human.

And Qianyi had even lied to her before, saying, "Seele, your world is the strongest among ours. In other words, compared to us, you are like a Trisolaran arriving on Earth, a pure dimensionality-reduction strike."

Damn it, compared to you guys, I look more like a cosmic country bumpkin!

Ignoring the others, Mei's Stigmata consciousness—temporarily called the Herrscher of Thunder—locked her gaze firmly onto Raiden Ryoma. "Heh. I cannot believe you still dare show your face before me, Fa! Ther! Dear!"

Raiden Ryoma refused to be outdone and drew Plasma Shadow Show. "You innately evil Herrscher consciousness, this old man will personally—"

His purple eyes turned cold. Frosty air emanated from the Plasma Shadow Show in his hand, accompanied by the crackling sound of ice forming.

"Go, Dad!" Raiden Mei cheered for her father.

"Dad will do his best!" Raiden Ryoma instantly felt as though he had been injected with dragon blood. He felt like he could now unleash the strength of more than a hundred men!

"Go, Father-in-law!" Kiana cheered as well.

"Huh?" Raiden Ryoma whipped his head around as sharply as Tingyun, locking his gaze onto Kiana. His eyes were as cold as if he were looking at a dead person.

No, little miss, who are you calling Father-in-law?

Wait, that white hair, blue eyes, and that foolish expression... Could you possibly be... could you possibly be—

Damn it, a Kaslana!

He thought of someone who especially irritated him, Siegfried Kaslana. Could this brat be that bastard Siegfried's daughter? And she wanted to court his daughter too? What an utterly unforgivable crime!

"Ryoma, Ryoma, you must uphold the code of honor. Do not have a psychotic episode and stab this bastard Siegfried's daughter a couple of times!" Raiden Ryoma secretly warned himself, while deciding that he definitely had to keep his daughter away from this girl.

Still, he could deal with Kiana, that foolish mutt, later.

He stared at the Herrscher of Thunder in the sky. Right now, he bore his daughter's hopes and future. For that reason, I cannot lose!

Herrscher of Thunder, die!

Raiden Ryoma charged in.

Raiden Ryoma got a GG. Raiden Ryoma was severely wounded and fell to the ground.

Kids, the Herrscher of Thunder was too strong. Plasma Shadow Show was no match for her.

"Heh. You thought you could defeat me with a toy like this? Father, you really are naive. But then again, someone who could not even protect his own daughter is only capable of this much." The Herrscher of Thunder, who had instantly defeated Raiden Ryoma, played with the newly acquired toy, Plasma Shadow Show, and smiled mockingly. With a casual flick, she tossed it in front of Raiden Mei and crooked her finger.