Kaino crouched in front of the robot and pressed his hand against its body. As blue light flickered, he could not help frowning.
"The Honkai energy required to attempt understanding its manifestation is even higher than Soul Steel's. What exactly is this thing?"
Suddenly, clusters of golden motes emerged from the robot's body and slowly rose upward.
Kaino's pupils contracted slightly as he decisively retreated.
The golden motes continuously gathered and churned in the air before finally forming a massive golden clock face. The clock face lay horizontally above the robot, which had already fallen to the ground, bathing it in golden light.
Kaino tentatively fired several shots with Judgement of Shamash, but the fireballs vanished without a trace the instant they entered the golden glow.
Ticktock, ticktock...
The familiar sound of clock hands turning rang out again. The robot beneath the light began twitching once more. Its severed limbs reconnected, its wounds gradually healed, and time seemed to flow backward across its body.
At the same time, the dark clouds overhead instantly filled with lightning. Thunder roared deafeningly, as if some monster was about to return to the world.
Unfortunately, it did not rewind all the way back to before it had awakened from its collapsed state. Otherwise, Kaino would have saved himself a great deal of trouble.
"It can revive too? What kind of game-designed monster are you?"
Watching the robot return to normal, perhaps even to its peak condition, Kaino could not help drawing in a breath.
Unlike when it had first awakened, its current total Honkai energy was no different from that of a Judgement-class Honkai Beast—perhaps even greater.
Amid flashing lightning, the robot stood once more above the amusement park.
Dodging the robot's lunging slash with a sidestep, Kaino swiftly raised one hand. Pale purple lightning flickered across it, echoing the dense lightning within the clouds.
The next moment, a violet-black lightning pillar connecting heaven and earth crashed down from the dark clouds onto the robot. Even Seele and the others far away could clearly see its radiance.
The residual force of the lightning brought every electronic facility in the amusement park to a halt. The previously bright space instantly darkened. The ground around the robot had also been scorched black, as if smeared with coal.
Naturally, the robot at the center of the lightning pillar was not in much better condition. The crystal atop its head dimmed again, and its entire body had been blasted apart into several pieces. It looked far more miserable than after Kaino had dismembered it.
Yet only moments later, golden light rose again, and the enormous clock face restored the robot to its original state.
Wasn't that cheating?
Kaino grimaced, irritation rising in his heart.
Perhaps the robot's revivals had a limit, or perhaps enough force could destroy it completely. But Kaino still did not know what would happen next. Whether he kept grinding it down or used too much Honkai energy, neither was a particularly good choice.
Although he could recover quickly, what if someone ambushed him from the side right after he finished fighting this thing?
"Forget it. Go play in the Quantum Sea yourself!"
As the robot charged at him again, Kaino decisively opened an Imaginary Gate and banished it into the Quantum Sea.
But...
Watching the robot fall into the Quantum Sea, Kaino's pupils tightened.
Almost the instant it entered the sea, that enormous body suddenly shattered like a punctured bubble before vanishing from the world.
...Like a destroyed phantom.
This time, the golden clock face did not appear again.
Between Illusion and Reality
"Don't worry. I just ran into a monster. I'm fine over here. That lightning pillar? I cast it. The monster's gone now."
Kaino held the Feather of the Underworld as he spoke with Seele's group.
"Where are you now?"
"We've reached the place where you were earlier. But Rozaliya and that cyber bike are unconscious. Did you knock them out with that feather of yours?"
Red Seele sounded somewhat distracted.
"You didn't do anything strange, did you?"
"What strange thing could I do? Every Kaslana is an upright gentleman. We would never take advantage of someone in danger."
Kaino spoke with complete righteousness.
"Of course, that only represents my personal opinion."
"By the way, is Xiao Shi there?"
"I'm here!"
Xiao Shi's excited voice came through.
"Great job, Kaino! You did well! That bike was disrespectful to me earlier, and now she's finally fallen into my hands."
"Hehe, now I'll show her what a Herrscher of Sentience is! I'll tie her up in an Illusion Realm, then eat hotpot next to her while enjoying the air conditioning... Hahaha!"
Kaino sighed when he heard that.
Xiao Shi, is that all the ambition you have?
"...Keep it under control. Just don't make her die of jealousy."
"Also, Rozaliya and Yae Kasumi both seem pretty strong. To be safe, don't wake either of them for now. And protect Liliya—don't let her run around. The situation here is a little unusual."
"While I'm at it, Xiao Shi, I'm at the amusement park in the center of the island. Where's the finals venue?"
"Alright, no problem! Leave it all to me, Xiao Shi!"
Kaino could practically picture her patting her chest as she spoke.
"As for the finals venue... it's the biggest building! Just look around, and you'll definitely find it."
"Alright, let's leave it at that. And by the way, stay where you are and don't move around. I'll come back for you once I'm done investigating."
"Sure, okay, okay!"
"Don't go wandering off somewhere strange... If you summon lightning again, it might hit us."
"Got it."
After ending the call with Xiao Shi and Seele, Kaino put away the Feather of the Underworld and sighed with mixed feelings.
Before him stood an Imaginary Gate connected to the Quantum Sea, and two things currently lay on the other side.
A Honkai Ball, and Little Chuang, the Knight-class Honkai Beast he had knocked unconscious with the Feather of the Underworld.
Needless to say, Kaino had thrown both of them in. The miserable fate of that clockwork man earlier could not possibly escape his notice, so Kaino had conducted a simple experiment.
Simply put, Kaino had tossed in three things. Besides the two just mentioned, there had also been the sunglasses he had been wearing on his head.
Well, they were gone now. Just like the clockwork man, they had not even left ashes behind.
"So what exactly is going on...?"
Kaino stared at his Imaginary Gate with a troubled expression.
It had nothing to do with whether something was technological, whether it was alive, or where it was located. The only known common factor left was...
Kaino rubbed his chin and plucked two blades of grass from the roadside. He tossed one out directly, while he first passed the other through his Imaginary Space before throwing it out as well.
The blade of grass he tossed directly vanished instantly like a bubble, while the other remained there completely unharmed.
"So as long as something stays in my Imaginary Space for a moment, it'll be fine? What kind of logic is that?"
Kaino could not make sense of it.
"Forget it. I'll check out the finals venue first."
After placing Little Chuang into the Honkai Ball and retrieving it, Kaino looked around before walking toward the largest building.
Kaino began to suspect that he might have misunderstood what a finals venue was supposed to be.
The area inside the building resembled a subway platform far more than a finals venue.
Because of the suddenly dense storm clouds outside, the glass dome built above the structure failed to provide any light. Rain continuously washed over the windows, making the interior seem even more desolate.
Two railway tracks stretched out from distant darkness before disappearing into the lead-gray sea, as if they led toward some abyss from which there was no return.
In such a gloomy environment, the few lights inside did not inspire any sense of security. On the contrary, the silent and empty platform looked even more unsettling beneath their illumination.
Ah, it was not empty.
Watching the woman emerge from the distance and walk step by step toward him, Kaino narrowed his eyes slightly.
It was her again—Rita.
"Why are you everywhere? And if I remember right, it hasn't been long since we split up at the HOMU Restaurant. Did you sprint over to catch your next scene?"
Kaino folded his arms and waited for her to give him an explanation.
His intuition told him she would.
"Your speed truly is remarkable. The fact that you detained those two people was also quite unexpected. Under such circumstances, Rita did use certain methods to make it here."
"But please allow Rita to keep those methods confidential for now. After all, every girl has some secrets of her own."
Rita raised one finger to her lips and smiled softly.
Heh, girl?
Kaino rolled his eyes.
It was no exaggeration to say that, among everyone he had seen in this World Bubble, she looked the oldest—purely in appearance.
"I get the feeling you're thinking something quite rude."
Rita shook her head.
"There isn't much time before they arrive. Since you won't ask on your own, Rita shall explain."
"This World Bubble... or more precisely, this coastal city, is a dream."
"Impossible!"
Kaino did not believe it at all.
Leaving aside the fact that he and Seele had entered directly through an Imaginary Gate, he had just put Little Chuang into the Quantum Sea.
And under those circumstances, you're telling me I'm dreaming? That was completely—
Not entirely impossible?
"Indeed. Calling it a dream is somewhat inappropriate. Let us describe it with a more fitting term instead."
"A place where illusion and reality meet. That would be a more accurate description of this city. And the subway station where we are now is the key point where illusion becomes reality."
Kaino's expression grew grave.
"Can you put that more simply? I don't understand."
"Hehe."
Rita smiled, though it was impossible to tell whether it was mockery or friendliness, then continued.
"Simply put, this is a place where pure consciousness and physical bodies can both exist."
"Whether false phantoms or mere imaginings, as long as they have fallen into this dream and possess a certain degree of uniqueness, they can influence it and manifest here."
"Miss Liliya was like that, and so was the HOMU Restaurant where I was earlier."
"Of course, the one who has influenced this place the most is Miss Seele, who possesses the anchor and created this world where illusion and reality intertwine. She made the Honkai Beasts here gentle and tame, created a beast-tamer tournament in this city, and continuously drew in nearby people to fall into this dream."
"This is the truth of this world that you have always wanted to know."
Doing Bad Things
"An anchor..."
Kaino precisely caught the keyword and frowned.
"If what you mean is that whoever possesses an anchor is practically the master of a World Bubble, able to alter how Honkai Beasts view humans and even create worlds with ease?"
Though this so-called world currently seemed to be no more than a small coastal city, merely something between illusion and reality, that was still extraordinary.
"That is correct. And possessing an anchor allows one to do far more than merely that."
Rita smiled and continued explaining.
"An anchor is the collection of every rule within a world. Possessing it is equivalent to becoming that world's god. Forget creating a world where illusion and reality intertwine—if there is enough energy, even reversing human life and death, or creating a true world, would not be difficult."
Like that?
No wonder Book of Cang Xuan and the others had not told him.
Before you continue