Honkai, I'll Transform and Punch You

The Herrscher of the Void's originally golden eyes became even more dazzling and radiant.

Even the Herrscher of the Void's gown underwent a tremendous change, becoming far more magnificent. Its pair of golden hems floated behind Bai Chen like wings.

At the same time, a golden Divine Ring shaped like an eye appeared behind Bai Chen's head, continuously radiating strands of majesty into the surroundings.

At this moment, Bai Chen was no longer something as simple as the Herrscher of the Void.

A god! Only a god possessed such divine might.

His aura pierced through the entire space like a pillar reaching the heavens. Even the once-orderly Quantum Sea rippled beneath its influence, as though lamenting the birth of a new god.

Two minutes. Even with Bai Chen's stigmata almost fully restored, he could only maintain it for a mere two minutes!

Not even as long as most Ultramen!

But it was enough! Bai Chen had won his gamble.

The way Bai Chen saw the world had now changed. Knowledge he had never understood seemed to merge into his body as instinct.

At this very moment, Bai Chen truly felt capable of anything.

But there was no time to marvel at this power. Bai Chen glanced at the World Bubble and peeled it away from the Quantum Sea as easily as if he were lifting an actual bubble.

It was rather absurd. Bai Chen had originally stacked so many attributes just to brute-force his way through things, but who could have imagined that once brute strength reached a certain level, it would open up all his blocked channels and leave him with technique instead?

A barely noticeable smile hung at Bai Chen's lips as he held it in his palm and carefully used his authority over space to mend the World Bubble's wounds.

It did not take long for Bai Chen to restore it completely, making it look like a World Bubble that had only just fallen.

But two minutes was simply too short. Bai Chen had no time to reconnect it to the branches. Once the two minutes ran out, even in the best-case scenario, he would fall defenseless into the Quantum Sea—and that was not something he wanted to face.

So Bai Chen directly merged the World Bubble into his body, or rather, anchored it onto his soul.

Because Bai Chen had discovered that his soul was special. All his abilities were bound to it, and his soul was far stronger than his body.

Perhaps even if his body were destroyed someday, his soul could still take them and run.

With godlike power, Bai Chen quickly completed the connection between the world and his soul. Before long, the World Bubble regained its vitality, and it would not be long before it became a true world once more.

Seeing this scene, the weight in Bai Chen's heart finally lifted, and he finally relaxed!

Hmph, once I get back, I'll make Jie Ge cook me a huge feast. And Mobius has to be captured and made into my maid! Who told her not to come pick a fight? I'll tie her up in front of Gray Serpent and humiliate her properly!

Kevin... Your room definitely wasn't wrecked when Mobius and I fought. It was absolutely the Quantum Shadows' doing!

After making plans for what to do afterward, Bai Chen used his authority to return directly to the main world. He was not about to end his transformation in the Quantum Sea.

A little earlier, Bronya had been spacing out in her dorm room. She stared blankly at the game console before her, lost in memories.

Contrary to what Bai Chen believed, he had actually been gone for nearly two weeks here. They had thought he would appear soon, but there was still no news of him.

This should have been the time when Bai Chen and Kiana came to play games with her, but... Bronya looked at the controller she had not touched in two weeks and fell silent.

Ever since Bai Chen disappeared, more and more people had begun to change.

The first was Yuno. She had strongly demanded to go to headquarters, insisting that headquarters had to have a way to find Bai Chen, but Himeko stopped her.

What a joke. If a Herrscher like her went to headquarters, it would be a miracle if she came back in one piece.

Then there was Yae Sakura. Lately, even when helping Theresa review documents, Yae Sakura often made mistakes, occasionally signing Bai Chen's and Kallen's names on the documents.

Even Kiana could only manage two bowls of food lately. Although she had seemed the most optimistic on the day Bai Chen disappeared, it now felt like she could no longer keep up the act.

Bronya once again sank into her memories. Was Bai Chen going to disappear without explanation too? Just like Seele had!

Why did all the younger siblings she cared about most leave her like this?

Bronya missed her family so much that she even began hallucinating. In her hallucination, Seele stood at the doorway.

"Bronya, Sister!!"

Seeing Bronya spacing out in the room, Seele excitedly threw herself at her, pinning Bronya beneath her.

"Huh????"

Bronya clearly felt the weight on top of her. After carefully touching her and confirming that this truly was Seele, even with her emotional module damaged, she froze on the spot.

Welcome Back

"Seele! Is it really Seele?"

Bronya propped herself up and carefully stroked Seele's cheeks with both hands, as though afraid that the person before her was only an illusion, afraid that she would once again turn into a butterfly and slip away from her grasp.

"Bronya, Sister, it's Seele. Thank you, Bronya, Sister, for having someone come save me."

After receiving Bai Chen's communicator, Seele had realized she had no idea how to use it. So she simply asked around for Bronya's location before finding her.

"Someone else?"

She had not asked anyone else. Bronya had never asked anyone else.

"He called himself Bai Chen?"

Seeing Bronya's confusion, Seele explained.

"Bai Chen!?"

That made sense. Although she had never told Bai Chen about Seele, Bai Chen had transformed into that form, so it was normal for him to have those memories. But why had Bai Chen been there? It was too much of a coincidence!

"Where is Bai Chen right now?!"

After so long, they finally had news of Bai Chen. Bronya hurriedly asked.

"Bai Chen seemed to be going to save the world..."

Though she found it strange that Bronya was so anxious, and that Bai Chen meeting them had apparently been an accident, the obedient Seele answered Bronya's question.

"What?"

Bronya was instantly full of question marks after hearing Seele's answer. He was going to save the world? Had she misheard him at such a young age?

Seeing Bronya's bewilderment, Seele told her all the details of what had happened.

After hearing everything, a strange look appeared in Bronya's eyes. That guy Bai Chen had played cards and somehow ended up in another world, then decided to save that world that was about to be destroyed?

No, wasn't the development moving a little too fast? Shouldn't they have formed a party, fought their way through countless trials, killed their way to the final boss's door, then discovered that the world would still be destroyed after the boss died, and only then set out to save the world?

Bai Chen had been gone for so long. It would have been perfectly possible for him to have done all that, wouldn't it?

And yet they had skipped straight to the final step in half a day?

"No!"

Bronya suddenly remembered Bai Chen's personality. If he discovered that world couldn't be saved, he would definitely do something reckless!

"Seele, let's go. We need to tell everyone else."

Bronya took Seele's hand and ran outside, explaining Bai Chen's situation along the way.

"So Bai Chen hadn't come specifically to find us?"

Seele thought to herself as they hurried along.

"Hmph, why would he lie to us? Was he afraid we wouldn't go with him?"

Black Seele spoke up. Were they really that unreasonable? Why did he have to use Bronya as leverage?

"Maybe... we really wouldn't have gone with him so easily."

Seele complained inwardly. If Bai Chen hadn't invoked Bronya back then, she probably wouldn't have trusted him so quickly.

"..."

Black Seele recalled her attitude when she had first met Bai Chen and fell silent for a moment.

Soon, everyone who had been notified by Bronya gathered at the place where Seele had first appeared. Bai Chen might return there as well.

"Still no movement?"

The moment Kiana heard there was news of Bai Chen, she rushed over without stopping. Yet after waiting for quite a while, there was still no sign of him.

According to the girl named Seele, Bai Chen should have only gone to pick up the remaining people. So why was there still no movement?

"That guy Bai Chen isn't going to do something beyond his capabilities again, is he?"

Theresa, who was also present, clenched her fists nervously, afraid that Bai Chen would put on another brutal performance like tearing apart a soul.

Ever since Yae Sakura arrived, she had kept her eyes closed as if praying, seemingly whispering words of blessing for Bai Chen.

Just as everyone was on edge, a golden ring of light appeared before them.

"?!"

At the sight of that familiar spatial gate, Theresa jumped in fright and instinctively slammed Judah onto the ground, ready to fight!

But the Herrscher of the Void inside Kiana reacted even more strongly.

"Impossible! This power... impossible!"

As the original owner of that power, the Herrscher of the Void naturally sensed its strength more directly than anyone else! Before that power, the spatial authority she had always taken pride in felt as though she had merely borrowed it from him!

As long as he was here, space would not answer her call. She was so thoroughly suppressed that even breathing seemed to require his permission! Though she couldn't breathe now anyway.

She was obviously the genuine article! The one before her was obviously the fake!

The Herrscher of the Void felt utterly aggrieved.

No! That person in front of her had to be using some sort of trick! But the feeling Bai Chen brought with him when he appeared completely shattered her self-deception.

As Bai Chen stepped out of the spatial gate, everyone saw his transformed appearance.

The moment they saw him, the same thought rose instinctively in every heart: something that should not exist had been touched.

It was as if the existence of space itself had been created by him. All space seemed to bow in salute at his appearance, thanking him for existing.

Bang!

At Schicksal Headquarters, Otto slammed a fist onto the desk and sprang excitedly from his seat, fiery passion seemingly ready to spill from his eyes at any moment.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect!"

Otto laughed from the bottom of his heart. This level of power had far exceeded his expectations!

The moment he returned to the main world, Bai Chen noticed how many people were watching him. It seemed that after entering this state, he had gained some kind of innate ability.

With a rough sweep of his senses, he found several familiar presences. As expected, those two old schemers, Otto and Gray Serpent, were watching as well.

Otto could wait for now. As for Gray Serpent... I'll catch your mother soon enough!

Theresa, wasn't your confidentiality system basically useless? They'd seen everything down to your underwear... Oh, at least Cocolia wasn't monitoring nearby.

Your confidentiality system worked on Cocolia.

"Everyone, I'm back."

Bai Chen greeted everyone with a smile. Seeing how worried they looked, he thought, I was only gone for one day. Did they miss me that much?

What he didn't know was that, while it had only been one day from his perspective, Kiana and the others had been waiting for two whole weeks.

Only after recognizing the person before her as Bai Chen did Theresa finally lower her guard and refrain from hurling Judah at him.

Wait... was that Kiana? She had wanted to ask last time—wasn't Sirin dead? Why had the Herrscher of the Void's powers appeared in her niece?

After thinking it over, Theresa could only guess that her grandfather had done something she didn't know about.

After greeting them, Bai Chen quickly undid his transformation and returned to his original appearance.

That godlike aura instantly dissipated as well, and space returned to normal as though nothing had happened.

Kiana pursed her lips, then quickly stepped forward, ready to hug the little guy in front of her. He had just returned from saving the world—she had to praise him properly.

Yet somehow, when the words of praise reached her lips, they became a trace of concern mixed with reproach instead:

"Idiot! You only came back now? Everyone's been waiting for you forever!"

"Hahaha, sorry. There were still some things I just couldn't let go of. But I'm back now."

Bai Chen smiled, then winked at Seele beside him to show that he had successfully saved those people.

Seeing Bai Chen's response, Seele finally relaxed. She had been worried about Elysia and the others too, but had Bai Chen's solution been related to that godlike transformation just now?

"Hmph. Welcome back."

Although Kiana was a little unhappy, she walked up to Bai Chen and hugged him.

But Kiana failed to notice that the expressions of the others around them had gradually changed from relief and joy into grief, indignation, and fear!