Collapse, I'll Directly Transform and Punch You

Otto put down the controller in his hand and said unhappily, "I can't even play the Kallen Fantasy series games without feeling refreshed."

"I've been a bit bored lately. Should I find someone to go check on Theresa's situation? I heard she brought back two pseudo-Herrschers. It's probably best to compare them."

Meanwhile, back in his room, Bai Chen took out a pink card. "Let's try this one."

[Stigmata: Judgment Shadow Dance]

After Bai Chen excitedly transformed, he found something was wrong. He realized the feel of operating his body was a bit off.

Bai Chen overlooked one detail: although it wasn't on the card, Judgment Shadow Dance was actually the Herrscher of Thunder.

Originally, when Bai Chen used Herrscher abilities to transform, his memories and emotions were affected. What's more, his soul was incomplete now.

Bai Chen looked out the window coldly, momentarily unsure if the scenery before him was familiar or strange.

Walking to the window, Bai Chen touched the crimson eyeshadow at the corner of his eye, his indifferent gaze flickering with complex memories.

Knowing that his current state was wrong, Bai Chen wanted to quickly undo the transformation. However, a strange emotion in his heart stopped him from canceling it.

"..."

Bai Chen let out a breath and stopped struggling. Anyway, the transformation would automatically end when his stamina ran out.

He strolled into the dormitory lobby, gently touching the surrounding chairs and furniture, a nostalgic look in his eyes.

Then, Bai Chen began to operate the kitchen appliances following his instincts, starting to cook dishes that a certain person in his memory used to like.

Just as Bai Chen was about to finish everything, Kiana's voice, talking to someone, began to come from outside the door.

The sound paused abruptly at the door. Kiana exclaimed in surprise.

"Wow, it smells so good! Mei! Mei, why did you cook so early today!"

Seeing Mei in the kitchen, Kiana, disregarding her image, lunged at Bai Chen's back and hugged him. The two soft mounds were squeezed and deformed between them.

"Wow, these are all my favorite foods! Mei, you really understand me the best!"

Kiana poked her head out from behind Bai Chen and looked at the dishes, letting out another happy sound.

Bronya, who had returned with Kiana, wore a strange expression. She felt that Sister Mei seemed a bit taller, and her clothes were different from when they had just met.

"Kiana, if you hug me like that, you'll mess up the food."

Bai Chen turned around, extended a hand covered in black and red armor, and gently patted Kiana's head, speaking softly.

Kiana, who was covering her head and about to cry out in pain, froze in place when she saw Bai Chen's face after he turned around, her expression turning infatuated.

"Mei, you look so beautiful like this."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confrontation

The slow-witted Kiana only felt that Mei was much more alluring now. Compared to the gentle Mei from before, she had a different kind of beauty. Haha, she liked both styles of Mei.

After Kiana returned to her seat in the lobby, Mei took off her armor and served the prepared dishes one by one onto the dining table.

"Sister Mei, why did you cook so early today? Teacher Himeko and the others aren't back yet."

Bronya, who had started to notice something was wrong, asked tentatively.

"Today's situation is a bit special."

Bai Chen did not directly answer Bronya's question, his cold voice betraying no joy or sorrow.

Strange, Bronya felt something was off. After observing closely, Bronya was almost certain that Mei before them was definitely not the Mei they knew.

Then, it could only be Bai Chen. Could Bai Chen transform into Mei's abilities? But the person acting now was definitely not Bai Chen. Was it like Kallen, taking over?

But if it were like Kallen, there would need to be a similar consciousness within Bai Chen's body first, right?

Bronya tasted the food Bai Chen had made, and a glint flashed in her eyes. It was delicious! Even better than Mei's cooking!

Of course, after all, this body was Mei from a few years later. Her cooking skills had naturally improved over the years.

Kiana stuffed food into her mouth as if afraid someone would snatch it away from her. Suddenly, she noticed that Bai Chen wasn't eating with them and was looking at her with a gentle smile.

"Mei, you're not eating, is something wrong?"

Looking at Bai Chen's gaze, Kiana inexplicably felt a pang of sadness, but she didn't know why.

"No, no, I'm happy that I can see you eating the food I made like this."

At the same time, Bai Chen wore a heartbreaking smile.

"Mei..."

Even Kiana, as dense as she was, felt that something was wrong. She felt that something had happened to Mei. Was Mei leaving?

"Everyone, I'm back."

Just then, Mei's voice sounded from outside the door. The unexpected voice caused chaos in the lobby.

"Mmm... it smells so good. Did the class monitor cook today?"

"Mei?!"

Kiana looked at Mei at the door. That was right, the Mei at the door was wearing the casual clothes they saw during the day, and her aura was the familiar gentle one.

With this comparison, Kiana immediately realized that Bai Chen before her was not right.

"Kiana? You... You!?"

At first, Mei didn't notice anything strange about Bai Chen and didn't greet them. When she noticed Bai Chen facing Kiana, she was too surprised to speak.

"...Bai Chen?"

The only explanation for this strange phenomenon was Bai Chen's special transformation ability.

Just as Mei was about to approach Bai Chen to get a closer look, Bronya immediately stopped her.

"Mei, be careful. Bai Chen isn't quite himself right now."

"I didn't expect to see you so soon. Hmm? Want to give it a try?"

Bai Chen slowly stood up from the chair, speaking in a way that others couldn't understand. Accompanying him, white lightning crackled and emerged from his body with a roar.

"Boom!"

As Bai Chen glared sideways, crackling with lightning, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bowl appeared out of nowhere and struck directly towards Mei.

"Mei!"

Kiana, reacting swiftly, immediately leaped and tackled Mei to dodge the attack. She looked at Bai Chen with a surprised expression, feeling an overwhelming pressure.

"Is that Bai Chen? But he doesn't look like him at all. Instead, he looks like Mei, but... alone."

Kiana didn't believe that the person before her was controlled by Bai Chen.

Her intuition was correct. Bai Chen was currently being driven by Mei's memories and emotions. This was a side effect of using a powerful transformation with a damaged soul.

"What? Me? Am I going to hide under Kiana's protection forever? Hide until I lose Kiana completely!"

Bai Chen, or rather, the Herrscher of Thunder, would be more accurate at this moment.

The Herrscher of Thunder stared coldly and sorrowfully, projecting a possible future.

"I will completely lose Kiana!"

Although Mei didn't know what had happened to Bai Chen, she was certain of one thing: the person before her was definitely from the future!

"What do you mean, 'completely lose Kiana'!"

Hearing that she might completely lose Kiana in the future, Mei gritted her teeth, got up from the ground, and glared at the other person before her, demanding an answer.

"In the future, when facing the Collapse, because of your incompetence, Kiana will be on the brink of death. Therefore, you will be forced to leave everyone you know and live alone again... Are you satisfied with this answer!"

The Herrscher of Thunder sneered at Mei, not blaming anyone. Her only hatred was for her own powerlessness to do anything.

"Don't joke! Such a thing can't happen in the future."

Mei, who cherished her current life immensely, naturally couldn't believe such a cruel future.

Mei wasn't wrong. With Bai Chen's involvement, the future wouldn't be like that. But... the Herrscher of Thunder recalled some memories that she shouldn't have had.

"But if things continue to develop like this, it will be me, and you will eventually lose the person who is most important to us."

"It won't happen? Then let me prove that this future will indeed not happen."

The Herrscher of Thunder uttered this and walked into the forest outside the window.

Mei, unwilling to accept this, also followed with anger, carrying her training wooden sword.

Kiana and Bronya exchanged a look and followed them as well, to prevent any accidents.

Incidentally, Bronya had sent a message to Himeko, and Himeko, abandoning her work, was rushing over.

"Bai Chen, you little brat, can't you give me less trouble!!"

As Mei stepped into the forest, a sword light accompanied by a thunderous roar struck in front of her.

Upon seeing the familiar sword technique, Mei hurriedly dodged. In that instant, Mei was shocked to realize that it wasn't a sword blade at all, but the Herrscher of Thunder's lightning-glowing palm!

Before Mei could recover from the first attack, the Herrscher of Thunder retracted her palm and struck again, hitting Mei in the stomach.

"Ugh!"

Mei's clothes on her stomach were immediately torn open, and she was sent flying by the powerful recoil, crashing into a tree.

"Mei!"

Kiana, who had been watching from the side, rushed forward worriedly to help Mei.

"Kiana, don't come here. This is something I must do."

Mei used her bamboo sword to support herself, struggling to get up from the ground, her eyes seeming to spew fire.

"Again!"

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Power of the Future

"Whoosh!"

The Herrscher of Thunder's attack landed on Mei's bamboo sword like a mighty thunderbolt. The electricity pervading the air subtly slowed Mei's movements.

"Hmph, coward, can't hold on?"

As Mei struggled to withstand the Herrscher of Thunder's attack, a proud voice echoed in her mind.

It was Mei's Herrscher persona, or perhaps the Stigmata's consciousness, but it didn't matter. It was just a title.

"To be affected by a mere electric current to this extent, as the Herrscher of Thunder, is truly pathetic."

The Herrscher's consciousness, which had been observing everything from the side, did not hesitate to mock its own core consciousness.

"Shut up."

Mei stumbled, thrusting the bamboo sword in her hand towards the Herrscher of Thunder, but how could such an attack possibly hit the Herrscher of Thunder?

With a slight sidestep, the Herrscher of Thunder easily dodged the attack and kicked Mei to the ground.

"You cannot fight that power. Come, let me out, and use the Herrscher of Thunder's power!"

As Mei's heart wavered, the Herrscher of Thunder grabbed Mei, who was lying on the ground, and lifted her up!

The Herrscher of Thunder stared directly into Mei's eyes and reprimanded her, "Don't beg others to give you power!"

"Power must always be controlled!"

After speaking, the Herrscher of Thunder once again sent Mei flying with a palm strike, but this time, a current was also sent into Mei's body.

That current surged rhythmically within Mei's body, as if guiding Mei to do something.

"If you can't even control yourself, how can you control the future fate of your companions!"

The Herrscher of Thunder's attacks continuously sent currents into Mei's body. Mei's movements, which she could barely parry before, gradually became smoother.

Although the Herrscher of Thunder's attacks caused Mei immense pain, Mei felt as though the Herrscher of Thunder was holding back.

Knowing the situation, she could clearly feel the Herrscher of Thunder holding back in many areas and moderating its strength.

Even though the attacks still hurt when they landed.

Mei now felt like an apprentice being personally guided by a teacher, being led step-by-step on how to properly unleash her power.

"Hah!"