Honkai Energy Erosion, the Night Before the Storm

The deep purple mist surged in and then dissipated like a tide, leaving only two Soul Steel Barriers in the huge underground cavity, both showing signs of erosion.

In the brief moment the Herrscher of Death regained her senses, the mist instantly gathered around her and dissipated completely. In fact, if it had only lasted for half a minute, Mei, who was behind the barrier, would have faced death.

Even though these creations of power have disappeared, and the Honkai Energy caused by the Herrscher have completely vanished, the consequences for Mei, who was not even wearing a protective suit, when she rashly approached the Herrscher of Death, who was located at the center of the violent Honkai Energy, can be imagined.

Her Honkai Energy level was below that of B-rank Valkyrie, making her unable to withstand the rampaging Honkai Energy around the Herrscher.

The Honkai erosion that the girl had already contracted was forced to worsen, and the meridians that were visible on her face turned purple, which was enough to show that the Honkai Energy had penetrated into her limbs and bones, and might even endanger her life in a short time.

With her keen senses, Seele shouldn't have ignored Mei's physical condition, but the shock of the cruel truth made her fail to notice.

Clinging to falsehoods and desperately clinging to empty dreams, she chooses to drown in the vortex of lies, sinking into eternal damnation...

The next day, in the office.

Mei suppressed her inner anxiety and the burning pain caused by the Honkai Energy corroding her body, and stared intently at the constantly flowing images on the screen. This was the only data collected from the Herrscher Core in the previous experiment.

A full day and night had passed since the experiment. Apart from drinking a bottle of nutrient solution in the middle, the girl had been using nanotubes to inject Anti-Honkai Potion to support her frail body and continue working, repeatedly confirming all the calculation results.

She could not allow the perfect Stigmata Grafting Project, built upon so much effort and sacrifice, to fail, stubbornly ignoring Prometheus's advice throughout the process.

Mei isn't incapable of accepting failure; she simply doesn't want the expectations and sacrifices of others to be wasted.

The expectation and the price of sacrifice were so heavy and sorrowful that one could not bear to betray them. That's why Mei spent a whole day and night searching, but no matter how she calculated, she could not find anything missing except for the Stigmata.

After repeatedly confirming her thoughts throughout the night, Mei silently took off her glasses. She wearily closed her eyes, feeling the throbbing pain emanating from her veins, trying to find other possibilities in her mind, but ultimately she still had to accept the truth.

The missing element in the Grafting Project could never have been achieved in the first place.

From the moment she obtained the Herrscher data, she should have realized that her gamble had been a complete failure.

Searching for answers in data where there are no answers will only lead to failure, even for those with unparalleled talent.

After the failure, the girl had to consider the specific consequences and chain reactions that resulted.

If it's impossible for Su Qing'an to gain Honkai Energy immunity as Herrscher of Death, then the Stigmata substance in his body, which lacks something, becomes an unexpected burden.

With the presence of Stigmata material, Mei is unsure whether the results of pursuing other paths in the Stigmata Project would be ineffective on the target. If that were the case...

The grafting of Stigmata material some time ago was practically tantamount to blocking the boy's escape route. Apart from the impossible Herrscher of Death Stigmata, he had no other choice.

Frustration made the girl frown. The heavier the burden on her shoulders, the greater the pressure. The rational thinking and personality models she could usually construct anytime and anywhere were no longer applicable.

She thought there must be a way; her current inability to do anything was simply due to a lack of time and information.

Mei was not yet in despair, but being abruptly cut off, or even pushed back to the beginning of the progress bar, completely went against Seele's expectations.

She couldn't explain things to the other party, and she found it even harder to contain her inner confusion. Her pent-up emotions overwhelmed her awareness of her physical condition, and her nerves and senses seemed to become dulled, making it impossible for her to correctly perceive the suffering she was experiencing.

Prometheus, who was constantly monitoring her physical condition, spoke up:

"Dr. Mei, your schedule needs careful planning. It's not just Mr. Su who needs the Perfect Stigmata anymore; your body also needs a transplant of the same Perfect Stigmata to resolve your current situation."

"Based on the mind map you entered into the intelligent module, the optimal solution at present is to completely abandon the Grafting Project, accelerate the live experimentation of the Fusion Warrior Project, and buy more time to shift the focus to the original Stigmata Project."

Mei naturally understood what Prometheus meant by those words.

The theoretical and practical demonstrations of the Fusion Warrior Project have been repeated hundreds of times in the virtual world. It is almost certain that as long as enough Emperor-class Honkai Beast genes and excellent experimental personnel are used, it can be truly implemented.

Within this Soul Steel Prison, there are people qualified enough to significantly advance the plan.

That is, Kevin Kaslana.

Although she had agreed to the other party's request last time, Mei, as the person in charge of formulating the experimental plan, could easily deceive the other party's intuition and delay the implementation of the plan if she had the intention to do so.

The core reason for doing this was that she was focused on the Stigmata at the time, while the other reasons were naturally due to personal feelings.

As long as the flaws in the Stigmata material can be identified and remedied, Su Qing'an, who no longer needs to worry about his lifespan, will have a much stronger output ceiling and combat endurance than before.

In this way, the experiments on Fusion Warrior can wait until they are more complete and safe before they are officially launched, without having to take the risks of conducting live experiments at this stage.

But as things stand now...

Mei had no choice but to actually begin the experiment. This was not only to prevent Su Qing'an from encountering external factors that would shorten her lifespan, but also because she was deeply worried about whether human civilization could kill the next Herrscher.

The power of the Herrscher of Death shows that the Honkai Fission Bomb has lost its original strategic significance to it.

Assuming the Herrscher went berserk from the very beginning, regardless of whether humanity wins or not, Australia, the safest land outside of the Mu Continent, will be completely destroyed.

She was unaware whether the powers granted by the Honkai Consciousness were deliberately targeting the current trends in civilization and technology.

Once this is considered, one has to think deeply about the information Su Qing'an gave. Logically speaking, his information is from another world. Unless that world is close to a parallel universe, there is no reason why the powers of the Herrscher should be able to correspond one-to-one.

Mei didn't have time to delve into the hidden secrets. She understood that Su Qing'an's background was probably not so simple, but the fact that the other party hadn't lied at crucial points was also a certainty, so she never went into further investigation.

In short, at this stage, the output power of the Sixth Herrscher and the Fifth Herrscher is about equal, but the difference in their powers leads to a huge difference in their compatibility. This means that if they were to actually fight, they would need to use the power of the entire civilization to contend with them, and even then, there is still a risk of defeat.

Whether the powers and permissions granted to the Herrscher by the Honkai Consciousness will remain unchanged next time is entirely unknown. At the very least, it is impossible to expect it to be as harmless and cause no casualties as it was this time.

She didn't want to make overly optimistic or idealistic assumptions; striving to improve civilization's chances of winning was what she needed to work on right now.

Originally, obtaining the perfect Stigmata for Su Qing'an aligned with this goal, so Mei could naturally focus all her energy on it without any psychological pressure. However, given the current slim chances, the Fusion Warrior Project should be the priority at present.

Even Prometheus's statement about researching the original Stigmata Project was based on Mei's own situation. Otherwise, from a rational point of view, it would have been more sensible to temporarily abandon the Stigmata Project, which had low short-term value, and focus all efforts on the Fusion Warrior Project. There was no need to waste extra energy.

Upon hearing this, Mei made a decision in her mind.

The young girl hunched over her desk, her pretty face etched with unconcealed weariness. Seemingly to restore her complexion and avoid appearing too sickly, she applied a perfectly shaded lipstick to her previously pale lips, making her look almost identical to usual. She whispered softly:

"Prometheus, inform Kevin to come to the lab at 3 PM tomorrow."

"Help me finalize the preliminary arrangements for the Fusion Warrior Project experiment. I'm a little sleepy, could you please wake me up in two hours..."

The girl lay face down on the table, slowly drifting off to sleep in a hazy state of consciousness.

Mei still had many things left to do. Every minute is precious these days, but she was so tired that she fell asleep before she could even finish setting up the various instructions she was supposed to give.

A virtual image of Prometheus popped up on a nearby device. A girl, woven from blue light and shadow, surrounded the sleeping girl in a daze. She looked at the sleeping face, her delicate eyebrows and eyes gradually softening. This anthropomorphic expression seemed to possess real emotions, revealing an undeniable concern.

"Don't worry, Dr. Mei."

"Prometheus will take care of everything during your rest period, please rest well."

The false sunlight, mixed with the real breeze, came slowly. The girl, devoid of soul and emotion, embraced the sleeping maiden, scattering into thousands of drifting starlight, becoming a transparent sentence ending.

Knowing the truth brought no meaningful change; Seele continued to live in the not-so-free Soul Steel Prison, yet she still found joy in it.

What was once taken for granted has become all the more precious in the present day.

She thought that, in fact, not having one's own self and not having one's own life is never something one can decide for oneself. Just like the original Seele, whose soul was easily scattered under the wanton manipulation of that god, and who lost everything as a result.

And so it is with the person who took over that identity.

Perhaps the only difference is that, while she was unfortunate, she also had the right to choose.

However, aside from being used as a tool for gods and betraying loved ones, it seems that all that lies before them is living a life that follows the original trajectory of others.

She has no personal accumulation of knowledge, no personal experiences, and no personal background.

Even now, I feel genuine sorrow and bewilderment at the thought of my own death, as if my self-awareness has been cut in two.

On the one hand, she understood her own identity and realized that she was not Seele Fulei.

On the other hand, they are completely drowning in this inherently narrow framework, unable to generate thoughts outside of it. This is the ultimate form of empathy, a self-awareness that is undeniably false yet impossible to escape.

Just as the Herrscher of Death realized at the beginning, what good would knowing this truth do?

Isn't this version of Seele Fulei?

With the knowledge and theoretical understanding of a child of this age, it is impossible to draw a firm conclusion. When it comes to philosophical questions, even a normal adult might find it difficult to make a relatively correct judgment.

The definition of "correctness" in this context is difficult to pinpoint precisely, and a definitive answer is hard to conceive.

Even though she knew the real Seele was dead, she still instinctively questioned whether she was Seele Fulei.

What criteria should we use to distinguish ourselves from others?

How can you distinguish between two people who are completely identical in appearance, knowledge, memory, personality, habits, and everything else?

This version of myself, this version of myself that is exactly like Seele Fulei, even if I truly believe I am Seele Fulei... is that lying? Is that going too far? Is that... theft?

She felt inexplicably wronged and sad, yet she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

But I didn't want to either. Since the moment I was born, this personality has given me everything and covered everything for me. What choices can I possibly make?

The choice that Seele Fulei would make from this position is the choice she is making now.

After absorbing the personality named Seele Fulei, she, as the Herrscher of Death, had no other choice.

But actually, this is good enough.

She watched Su Qing'an chopping vegetables in the kitchen, then glanced at Fu Hua, who was awkwardly controlling her character while taking over the game progress for Su Qing'an. She sincerely believed that it didn't matter if she didn't have a so-called self.

The wealth that Seele Fulei possessed was so precious that her circumstances should have prevented her from ever owning even a fraction of it in her entire life.

Herrscher of Death born as a tool should not have protection, should not be able to play games, and should not have family.

She shouldn't have had the opportunity to receive care and concern, much less enjoy such gentle treatment and peaceful daily life.

Seele Fulei gave herself all of this, and even though she lost herself in the process, she was still grateful for it.

If there's anything different about the current Herrscher of Death compared to the previous Fulei Seele, aside from their souls, it's the recognition and affirmation of Seele Fulei's existence and value.

In the past, Seele did not believe that her own existence had any definite value, nor did she believe that her weight needed to be evaluated or cherished.

But the current Herrscher of Death, Seele Fulei, believes that such a girl deserves her respect, her brother's care, and all kinds of gentle treatment.

But even this difference is essentially just a matter of perspective on "Seele Fulei".

In terms of her self-perception and how she treats herself, the Herrscher of Death is no different from the previous Fulei Seele.

This unwavering similarity, even in its pathological state, is perhaps what truly makes it incurable.

She doesn't need any pretense; she can simply "play" the role well by following her own pace.

After that day, although Seele did not realize that Mei's body had suffered severe Honkai damage, she was fully aware of the results of the experiment.

The elder brother's body had been successfully transplanted with the Stigmata substance from his own flesh and blood, but due to the lack of something, his body did not undergo any positive changes.

The purpose of that experiment was to analyze the specific data of the Herrscher Core, thereby finding the missing substances and attempting to complete the perfect Stigmata so that it could play its true role.

However, in yesterday's experiment, the Soul Steel was completely annihilated after only touching the core for less than three seconds. Even with Prometheus's abilities, it would be very difficult to collect enough data in such a short time, let alone extract the truly needed substance.

The experiment was undoubtedly unsuccessful.

This means that the fastest way to reach the perfect Stigmata has almost failed, because Seele understands that even if the answer is hidden within the Herrscher Core, it is impossible to conduct the same experiment again within this Soul Steel Prison.

As the Herrscher of Death, he had only been berserk for less than half a minute when most of the Soul Steel in the entire Soul Steel Prison was vaporized into nothingness.

Even though Seele hadn't yet realized the effects of the experiment on Mei's body, she couldn't allow herself to continue acting recklessly until she was certain she wouldn't go berserk again, even for the safety of the people inside the Soul Steel Prison.

In this situation, there is no fundamental solution to Su Qing'an's physical condition in the short term, and the Authority of Creation that could serve as a temporary solution is also unable to intervene and heal him due to his passive ability.

The anxiety of being caught between a rock and a hard place and the doubt about her own situation are almost constant problems for Seele Fulei. She deeply feels her own powerlessness and her confusion and worry about the future, yet she also craves the sporadic warmth and comfort given by those around her, and finds satisfaction in them.

During this crucial period, which was both calm and like the eve of a storm, Himeko, with the intention of visiting Seele and the curiosity of witnessing Herrscher with human consciousness, came to Soul Steel Prison for the first time since the birth of the Herrscher of Death.