The black mist formed from Honkai energy, the thing that had been misremembered, was a special power belonging to the Herrscher of Death. It could cause any cells it touched to rapidly age and turn to ash...
Unfortunately, just like in the original story, Lin was unable to fuse with it. The power of the gem inside her began to backfire against her body.
"My hand! My hand is gone!"
Amid the excruciating pain, Lin came to her senses. She fearfully glanced at the arm that had turned to ash and struggled toward Dr. Maki.
"Grandpa, it hurts so much! Save me!"
The A-rank Valkyrie Lin cried out like a little girl, begging for her grandfather to save her.
"Lin!"
Dr. Maki pressed his hand against the isolation glass in agony. Helpless, he could only watch as Lin turned to ash before his eyes.
"You were standing too close."
At some point, Bai Chen had circled around the isolation glass and entered the laboratory.
The black mist that everyone else avoided like the plague seemed to have no effect on Bai Chen at all.
It was not merely due to Bai Chen's Advanced Collapse Energy Manipulation. With Seele's Stigmata equipped as well, he was completely unafraid of the black mist.
Bai Chen leaped over and pressed a palm onto Lin's head, forcing her to one knee.
"Lin!"
Seeing his granddaughter being abused by that brat before her death, Dr. Maki's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins.
"Hmph!"
Ignoring Dr. Maki's furious glare, Bai Chen continued doing as he pleased. He thrust his hand into Lin's chest and removed the Serenity Gem.
Then, as if tossing aside trash, he flung the legless Lin away. The instant she hit the ground, she exploded into a cloud of ash and completely vanished from this world.
"Lin!!!"
Dr. Maki stared wide-eyed at everything before him, his bloodshot eyes filled with horror. His heart felt as though it were being sliced by a thousand blades!
Ignoring the collapsing Dr. Maki, Bai Chen left the Serenity Gem in the laboratory and departed.
The bait was down. Now he just had to wait for that old bastard to bite.
"Wow! That's awful!"
Inside the World Bubble, Pardo, who had been idling around in the hall, looked at the suddenly appearing girl with eyes full of sympathy.
Such a lovely girl had lost one arm and both legs. There was even a gaping hole in her chest, while ominous black mist poured from her body, making people afraid to approach. Still, that black mist no longer seemed to be harming her?
"? I sensed something happening in the World Bubble. Did Bai Chen toss something in again?"
Vill-V hurried downstairs, only to see the horribly mangled girl and fall silent for a moment.
"...These look like injuries caused by the Herrscher of Death?"
Vill-V pulled open Lin's clothes and carefully examined the wounds before speaking hesitantly.
Why was the remaining black mist no longer hurting this girl? She had suffered such grave injuries, yet she still had a breath left. That was absurd.
Could it be Bai Chen's mysterious power again?
"Did that little fellow Bai Chen find me a free lab rat?"
Mobius also came over to Lin. Looking at her horrifying wounds, she teased.
"I don't think so?"
Pardo replied awkwardly.
"If you know that, why don't you go get Elysia's spear? Do you want her to die?"
Mobius shot two laser-like glares at Pardo. Ever since Elysia stopped using that spear, no one knew where it had gone. Pardo had definitely hidden it away in some corner.
"I'll go!"
Pardo's body tensed under Mobius's stare, and she fled upstairs as if escaping for her life.
Treating Lin
"Wow, nicely done. I knew I wasn't wrong to call you here. Look, those staff members are thanking you for saving them."
Otto kept pace with Bai Chen and praised him in his uniquely exaggerated manner.
Those staff members really were thanking Bai Chen. Thanks to him dealing with Lin in advance, they had not been harmed by the spreading black mist.
Bai Chen cast the group an annoyed look, ignored them, and continued walking outside.
"Mm, this environment really is awful. Hurry and clean up those ashes. They're rather unpleasant to look at."
Otto continued calmly, but Bai Chen stopped walking.
Anger! In that instant, the anger in Bai Chen's heart even resonated with Kallen's rage!
"Bai Chen..."
There seemed to be a trace of pleading in Kallen's furious voice.
"No problem."
Bai Chen immediately turned and walked toward Otto.
"Hmm? My friend, is something the matter—"
Before Otto could finish, Bai Chen's frame grew taller within a blur, and he transformed into Kallen. He wore purple clothes—the outfit Kallen had personally chosen and even sewn herself!
This outfit held extraordinary significance for Otto. Back then, Kallen had worn it when she parted ways with him.
Smack!
While Otto was stunned by that familiar figure, the purple hand struck his face!
The blow was so powerful that blood even seeped from the corner of Otto's mouth!
That familiar slap. So familiar, far too familiar. It was like he had often been struck with such slaps before.
After all, ever since he had conducted experiments behind Kallen's back, Kallen had often slapped him. Was this a slap delayed by five hundred years?
"...Sigh."
After briefly freezing, Otto wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sighed inwardly. It seemed his little brother Bai Chen, his important partner, had rather high moral standards.
Just as he was about to say something to soothe his important partner, he met Kallen's eyes.
Within those azure eyes were justice, anger, unwillingness, remorse, and even glimmering tears!
Too familiar. This was not Bai Chen.
Otto, who had lived for five hundred years, recognized at a glance that the person who had slapped him was not Bai Chen!
"Enough! Otto! When did you become so cold-blooded? Back when we were on the battlefield, you taught those children why they fought. Yet now, you treat them like this!"
Kallen's question pierced Otto's heart in an instant. If anyone else had asked him that question, Otto had dozens of excuses he could use to brush them off.
But facing Kallen's eyes now, he could not utter a single word.
Otto lowered his head and fell silent. Only after a long while did he finally speak hoarsely. "Kallen?"
"It is me."
Kallen's chest heaved with anger. A mere slap could not dispel her fury. If she were truly here, she would surely have rushed into the laboratory and stolen that gem to destroy it.
"No, you aren't Kallen."
Otto suddenly shook his head, denying the Kallen before him. Although this Kallen had many suspicious aspects, there was no evidence proving she was truly Kallen.
"But you're the Kallen I know."
"..."
Seeing tears stream from Kallen's eyes, Otto fell silent again. He truly had no way to treat this Kallen with the same perfunctory exaggeration he used on outsiders.
Even if she might have nothing to do with the real Kallen.
"I'm sorry."
In the end, Otto unexpectedly yielded. With half his face swollen from the slap, he left.
Otto's feelings toward the Kallen inside Bai Chen were complicated. She was currently the most likely remnant of Kallen's soul in the world, but with no evidence whatsoever, Otto had always been conflicted.
But there was one thing he was certain of: this Kallen definitely possessed his memories. After all, that familiar slap felt far too right.
After slapping Otto, Bai Chen looked around, made sure no one was nearby, canceled his transformation, and returned to the World Bubble.
The moment he entered the apartment, he saw a large group of people gathered in a circle, seemingly conducting some strange ritual.
"What the hell are you all doing?!"
Bai Chen was stunned. He stared foolishly at the twelve members of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers gathered in a circle around the battered Lin. Anyone who did not know better would think some cult had captured a sacrifice.
"Oh, you're back. We were merely discussing how she could survive injuries like these."
A rare look of gravity appeared on Su's face. The condition of the patient before him made his years of studying medicine seem completely useless.
"Indeed. There are clearly no signs of hemostasis in her body, yet the bleeding has stopped. The black mist that was originally destroying everything is only clinging to her surface and has not continued causing damage."
Mobius gestured with a fruit knife at the side, seeming as though she wanted to dissect Lin right there to satisfy her curiosity.
"So you're all just here to watch the show?"
Bai Chen looked oddly at Chijie, Griseo, and the others. Even you people came over to join the fun?
"Hmph. We're preventing certain people from losing their sense of proportion."
As if understanding Bai Chen's gaze, Chijie snorted and said nothing more.
"We were actually only worried about this young lady."
Aponia explained.
They had originally planned to use the Black Abyss White Flower to heal the girl, but Pardo had sold it not long ago!
Not long after Pardo got the Black Abyss White Flower, she figured Elysia did not use it anyway, the world would soon be gone, and there was no need to keep something like that taking up storage space. So she sold it at a high price to the principal of St. Freya Academy in this World Bubble!
Uh... The principal of St. Freya Academy in this World Bubble was Cecilia, if he remembered correctly? That made sense.
Bai Chen scratched his head awkwardly, but it did not matter. He had the ability to save her.
As long as he used the Herrscher of Reason's authority, then stacked it with the Herrscher of Rebirth and Welt Yang Stigmata, he was confident he could save someone who was not dead yet.
As soon as he acted, gear-like patterns suddenly appeared in Bai Chen's eyes. This was the effect of using the Herrscher of Reason authority skill card, but because he had used the Herrscher of Reason skill card, he was actually using the Herrscher of Truth skill card now.
But it did not matter much. In any case, he was not lacking in Truth combat power.
After equipping the Stigmata, Bai Chen instantly felt the pressure surge, as though the blood in his veins were about to burst forth.
Yet his understanding on the cellular level had indeed improved by leaps and bounds.
Plans
After a long while, Bai Chen placed Lin, whose body had completely recovered, onto the sofa. Aponia swiftly covered Lin with a white cloth, concealing the springtime scenery exposed during the treatment.
Bai Chen rubbed his aching neck and looked toward the boys, who had voluntarily left halfway through his treatment and were now squatting outside the front door.
"It's done."
"Huh? That fast?"
Kevin raised his head in surprise and looked inside. Seeing that it had indeed been handled, he prepared to get up and return to the room.
The instant Bai Chen saw Kevin lift his head, he frowned, because several white paper strips were stuck to Kevin's face...
"Jeez..."
Bai Chen's expression twisted. I thought you went out to avoid embarrassment, but you just went out to play? Sure enough, everyone in this World Bubble has some kind of problem.
"Hey! Kevin, don't tell me you're trying to run away now!"
Chijie raised the cards in his hand irritably, lifting the face covered in paper strips.
There were so many strips that they even blocked his mask!
My god, I don't think I took that long. How did you manage to lose enough to cover your whole face in such a short time?
"It's almost over."
Before you continue