Breaking into the Battle / Awakening

She thought back for a moment, but in that short second, there wasn't enough time to see the other person's face clearly.

Mei frowned and walked to a corner, then quietly opened the paper bag and peeked inside...

"Smack."

She slammed the bag shut, the contraction of her pupils making her extremely uncomfortable.

Hand.

Inside the bag was a black hand that looked like a monkey's paw; its withered shape and sparse fur made it impossible to mistake it for a real hand.

More importantly, the hand gave her an extremely ominous feeling the moment she saw it.

Absolutely, do not touch this hand.

Have you ever had regrets? Have you ever lost someone important to you? Is there someone you want to get back together with? Is there someone you want to save?

At that moment, a familiar voice echoed in her ears. Mei immediately recognized it as Lin's voice. She was certain that she could not mistake that deep, cold, and emotionless voice.

"Forest?"

But the voice just kept saying to itself, "When you had the chance to go back in time and change all of this, what would you do?"

"Will you stand by and watch the tragedy repeat itself, or will you try to change it... or perhaps, with a little bit of privilege?"

Privilege?

Mei looked at the paper bag in her hand. The bag and its contents were not heavy; she could not even feel their weight.

But she felt that her hand might let go at any moment, and she might throw this thing that made her want to scream into a place where she couldn't see it.

"If you crave something, hope to salvage, hope to save, hope to change, then try making a wish."

"The first one was 'Raiden Mei'."

"The second one is the 'Herrscher of Thunder'."

"The third time is 'you'."

"Only wishes are 'free'; you can fulfill them without paying any price. But just like that... not every wish can be fulfilled."

Mei gritted her teeth and whispered, "I don't need to pray to have my wishes fulfilled."

Wouldn't Mei wish for an all-powerful wish-granting machine to fulfill her desires? Impossible. I'm afraid everyone would wish for an all-powerful machine to grant their wishes.

She hopes that Himeko- sensei can come back, she hopes that her father can come back, she hopes that Kiana can come back, and she hopes that all of St. Freya's friends can go back to the past and make up for their regrets.

But that's impossible; you can't accomplish anything just by making a wish.

She will use her own power to save Kiana; the past cannot be changed, so she will focus on tomorrow.

If they cast their prayers into falsehood, then everything they do will become a laughable joke.

"If this is your test, then you underestimate me, Lin."

"..."

Lin didn't reply. Mei glared at a certain spot. She didn't know if Lin was there or if this was some kind of autoplay program he had set up, but her anger was genuine.

She didn't want others to trample on her beliefs, not even those pioneers from the previous civilization who shared the same beliefs.

"When you think your will is strong enough, you can first examine yourself to see if you are really as steadfast as you imagine yourself to be."

This time, the tone changed.

Lin is right here!

"Forest!"

"Raiden Mei, when we meet again, I will tell you everything you want to know, but before that, you should be prepared to leave here."

Lin spoke slowly.

"Remember what I said, and also remember what Kevin reminded you of."

Chapter 45 The Battle Begins

"..."

"..."

Lin and Yan Luo's first reaction after reading this passage was bewilderment.

Putting aside the connection between wishing and monkey paws, the phrase "The first time, it was 'Lin'; the second time, it was 'Yan Luo'; the third time, it was 'you'" is completely incomprehensible, especially the "you." Could it be that there are other people besides them who are trapped in this World Bubble?

This kind of prompt, similar to the usage hints after acquiring a key item in a game, serves no purpose other than to make them wary.

"... What's your opinion?" Lin kneaded the monkey's paw over and over as if giving it a hand massage, then asked Yan Luo, who was deep in thought.

In the bright month of January, as the moon revolved in the heavens, its light slowly peeked out from behind the towering clock tower. Yan Luo, with her snow-white hair, stared at the words with her radiant eyes before slowly turning to Lin's face.

Lin's heart skipped a beat.

Was it just his imagination? He thought he just saw Yan Luo's eyes...

However, Lin might have just misjudged the situation. He hadn't seen such a colorful world in a long time, so he wasn't very good at recognizing colors.

Yan Luo had no idea what Lin was thinking, so she replied expressionlessly, "Tell me your opinion first."

"...Why?"

Do we need to distinguish between the order of priority?

"For no reason, I just want to." Yan Luo adopted an uncooperative attitude, hugging his not-so-broad arms and staring at him silently with icy eyes.

Unable to fathom Yan Luo's attitude, Lin could only try to express his own insights.

"The wish-granting feature likely refers to this arm. Judging from the last sentence, any wish that can be fulfilled requires no price, but not all wishes can be granted. The wish can be granted three times: the first time I use it, the second time you use it, and the third time..."

The third one is unknown. The "you" could refer to Lin or Yan Luo, which is a key piece of information.

"There are many legends and stories about wishes coming true."

Yan Luo suddenly spoke in a cold tone, "Take the most famous Aladdin's lamp, for example. It grants three wishes unconditionally. In the beginning, granting wishes without any cost and being almost omnipotent was regarded as a model for testing one's heart and greed for power. But after the stories started to tell the same template story with different characters, innovation began."

"At first, it was just a difference in the characters' morality and background, then a difference in the era, and finally it came down to the story's trigger—wishes. Some set restrictions on wishes, some reduced the number of wishes, and some made wishes no longer wishes, or rather... made wishes come true in a distorted way."

The way it was twisted...

"If you wish for wealth, traditional stories will conjure up countless riches for you out of thin air, but a twisted wishing opportunity will cause the richest person closest to you to die suddenly, their entire family to be slaughtered, and then it will be discovered that you are the last collateral relative with inheritance rights."

"If you want to get love, kill everyone around the person you love who loves her, until only you are left."

"If you want world peace... then annihilate all intelligent life, leaving only absolute peace."

Yan Luo's tone was calm to an extreme, yet her words were filled with a slow, deadly suffocating feeling, a sense of impending despair, and the magnificent beauty of death sinking into the deep sea.

It's like... experiencing it firsthand.

"Do you know so much?" Lin suddenly asked.

"..." Perhaps not expecting Lin to ask such an incongruous question, Yan Luo remained silent for a long time before muttering softly, "Hmm... I have plenty of time to read books, so I've read most of the stories."

Do you read light novels or wish-fulfillment stories?

"... I won't look."

Yan Luo actually turned his gaze away guiltily, letting Lin know that this cold-blooded guy still had some humanity.

However, this nonsensical conversation was destined to be short-lived, and Yan Luo quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic. "This arm may be the so-called 'twisted wish-granting machine' because it has no restrictions on the wishes it makes. The problem may lie in the way it grants wishes."

"..."

"Therefore, my advice is not to use it, not even once."

At that moment, the two exchanged a knowing glance and then simultaneously turned to look in a certain direction.

Flames shot into the sky.

"Oh my, another lovely girl. No wonder Lin didn't want to go back, hehe~"

A grumpy Mobius and a closed-eye Aponia looked at the newcomer at the door. Her quick wit and charming appearance stood out in the Deepest Place, dark place, like a ray of light shining down on the world.

Elysia smiled and waved, then casually opened the door to Aponia's room and walked in.

"Hello... Elysia ..." Aponia nodded politely to Elysia. She had many ways of knowing about the girl, so she was not surprised by her appearance.

"You actually came. I thought you, this social butterfly, had forgotten about him." Mobius's expression wasn't very pleasant, but those who knew her well knew that she often smiled when she was in a bad mood, but displayed a different kind of indifference when she was in a good mood.

Of course, her sharp tongue is also a characteristic of hers.

"I'm so sad, Doctor Mobius. I just wanted to be friends with everyone. How could I be a social butterfly?" Elysia shook her head, feigning sadness, and sat down next to Mobius. "Besides, Lin is my good friend. How could I not come to see him when something happened to him?"

"Isn't being a social butterfly just about making friends with everyone?"

"But I didn't become friends with everyone with any ulterior motive."

"Tch, who knows?" Mobius turned her head away, but didn't chase Elysia away from sitting next to her.

"This beautiful Nun must be Aponia, right? Hello, Lin has mentioned you to me many times~"

Mobius felt even more agitated.

Why did even Elysia learn about Aponia from Lin? How many people did he plead with to get the Firemoth to give Aponia a break? Was this guy always this indecisive?

"We're going to throw a super lavish celebration after Lin wakes up. Aponia, are you coming?"

Huh? She's already planning a celebration before she's even awake? And how many welcome parties, celebrations, and birthday parties has Elysia held in the past six months? She's never missed a holiday, and she goes all out for the soldiers' birthdays. How much does she love having people together? Is she a child?

However, Aponia was actually chatting and laughing with Elysia, and they seemed to get along quite well. It was as if Elysia could talk to anyone, especially pretty girls, who were simply unable to resist her verbal onslaught. On the contrary, the men treated her the same way.

"By the way, was Lin wearing that before?"

At this moment, Elysia smiled and pointed to the ring finger of Lin's gloved left hand, asking a question casually.

Mobius looked closely and noticed what appeared to be a ring-shaped bulge beneath the glove...

Chapter Forty-Six: Awakening

As soon as Elysia uttered those words, the temperature plummeted to below zero, as if Kevin were standing in the room, radiating icy cold.

Mobius's long green hair fell over her shoulders, and her golden earrings swayed gently as she turned her gaze and neck. She narrowed her snake-like pupils, looked at the extra thing on the left ring finger of the unconscious Lin, and then looked at Aponia, who was looking down and hiding her expression with her long bangs.

She felt that her memory was pretty good, unlike Lin who was always paying attention to changes in his surroundings, so she didn't notice the extra things on Lin's body immediately. But now, upon closer inspection, she could see that Lin had a rope around his neck and a ring under his glove on his left ring finger.

The rope clearly indicated that an ornament was worn around the neck. Mobius quietly took his hand out of his pocket and subtly released some black liquid from his fingertips, keeping a watchful eye on Aponia.

Elysia's reminder made Mobius realize something he hadn't noticed before.

Lin's coma was due to a problem with his consciousness. She initially thought that Lin's coma was caused by the outbreak of a pre-existing problem with his consciousness. But if we think about it from another angle, what if it was caused by someone?

Lin frequently came into contact with Aponia was the only Flame-Chaser among the Firemoths capable of manipulating human consciousness. If Lin were caught off guard and Aponia did something to him, such as attaching her power to some accessories and having Lin wear them, then silently eroding Lin's consciousness...

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Mobius looked at the silent Aponia and was ready to make his move.

She was uncertain. Aponia had easily defeated her last time, and on a conscious level, she didn't know if she would have enough time to react, or even how to resist...

Damn it, I must thoroughly study consciousness in the future!

"Lin wears rings? He actually dresses up? He has such a charming face but he doesn't want to show it to others~" Elysia naturally walked to Aponia's side, squatted down and took off Lin's gloves in front of Aponia, revealing the simple and unadorned ring.

Mobius's heart was in his throat, but thankfully Aponia showed no signs of losing her temper; she quietly watched Elysia's actions.

This relieved her. If the three Flame-Chaser had fought here, the Deepest Place the place would have been blasted to pieces from the inside out, and all for... a man?

Thinking about it this way, Mobius's expression became a little strange, but in any case, she quickly convinced herself that Aponia was Flame-Chaser who was not controlled by the Firemoth, and her danger was self-evident, so it was better to be more vigilant.

Aponia's gentle voice came from her throat. "This is... something I did..."

"Wow~" Elysia's eyes lit up as she grabbed Aponia's hand, leaving the other woman a little flustered. "Aponia, do you know how to do crafts? They're so delicate! Can you teach me sometime?"

"Huh? Um..." Aponia had never encountered such an enthusiastic girl before. She seemed to have instantly transformed back into the Nun who hadn't yet left the sanatorium, responding blankly, "Okay, Elysia..."

"Just call me Eri, all my friends call me Eri ~"

"Hmph." Mobius snorted dismissively.

"You can also call him Doctor Mobius!"

"Don't talk like it's some privilege you've granted, and who's calling you that anyway?" Mobius glared at Elysia through gritted teeth. "Your social butterfly passive has been triggered again?"

"Hehe..." Elysia laughed without caring at all, "Because I can't help myself when I see a beautiful girl, and who can blame me for being a cute and charming girl myself?"

Mobius couldn't help but exclaim, "I've never seen anyone refer to themselves like that before!"

"Doctor Mobius, don't you think you're quite beautiful?"