I'm Not a Flame-Chaser

Raiden Mei?

The image of the purple-haired girl who had met him twice and joined World Serpent for Kiana flashed through his mind.

So that's how it is. After joining World Serpent, Kevin brought her to the Imaginary Tree? So that Memory Lin and Elysia could see Herrscher with humanity.

It seems that Raiden Mei has experienced quite a lot in the Imaginary Tree during this time.

Lin took another look at the Herrscher of Erosion. Her adorable face, which was exactly the same as that of a guy he hadn't seen in a long time, made him a little puzzled.

Why is she in Elysia's form? Is it because she corrupted Elysia's data? Then why is he here instead of Elysia?

"Are you really Elysia?"

The girl's back stiffened visibly for a moment, then she forced a laugh as she said to Lin, "Of course I'm your dear Elysia ~"

A charming, soft laugh rang in my ears like the sound of bells.

"Look at me, I'm exactly the kind of person you like best," the Herrscher of Erosion with a chuckle as she turned around.

His favorite... etc.

A guess flashed through Lin's mind.

This Herrscher of Erosion is not Herrscher of Corruption who was originally human like Rin. She should have been born in the Imaginary Tree. The reason she took the form of Elysia is because of... him.

"Elysia ..."

"Uh-huh?"

Do you remember what happened on Dusk Street back then?

"Ah... of course." The girl who called herself Elysia showed a clear hint of panic. "I went to Dusk Street to look for you..."

"... You still haven't told me what that person left me."

"I don't remember that very well either~"

It's confirmed.

The Herrscher of Erosion was not born from Elysia's data, but from Lin's memory data. Only Elysia had seen what the Speaker left for Lin, but she disposed of it, and Lin did not know its contents.

The Herrscher of Erosion, born from Lin's data, naturally didn't know what it was.

Perhaps Lin's behavior was a bit unusual, Herrscher of Erosion hesitated and asked, "Lin... are you alright? You're Lin from Elysia, right?"

Lin looked at her through the helmet, then said with considerable certainty, "Of course I am Lin of Elysia."

"That's good..."

The Herrscher of Erosion breathed a sigh of relief, never imagining that she wasn't actually Elysia.

Lin stared at her retreating figure.

Let's wait and see how things develop.

"What's wrong with Brother Lin?!"

Seele rushed to the medical room in a panic. Almost everyone had arrived. Lin Zheng was lying in the hibernation pod with his eyes closed, while Fu Hua, Einstein, and Tesla were examining him with serious expressions.

Kiana and Bronya exchanged a glance, and Bronya stepped forward and pulled Seele out of the room.

"Sister Bronya..."

"Lin is fine, don't worry." Bronya began with a cold reassurance, patting Seele on the shoulder. "His consciousness is stable, he's just unconscious."

Seele was stunned for a moment. "W-why did you faint?"

"..." Bronya's expression changed slightly.

She felt responsible for the incident as well. Lin had only told her about it, and she didn't stop Lin; instead, she supported Lin in conducting the experiment.

Wouldn't it have been better to stop him? Even though she and Seele had also conducted human experiments, she still agreed to Lin's suggestion...

"...It's alright, Lin said he'll be fine." Bronya patted Seele's head and smiled. "Maybe he's having a dream where all the girls are cute, and he'll be back when he wakes up."

Seele paused for a moment, then couldn't help but look at Bronya and said with a smile, "Sister Bronya, you're still using the same tone you use to coax me as a child."

After thinking about it for a moment, the gray-haired girl realized what was going on.

Indeed, they can no longer be considered "children" both psychologically and physically.

The girl, who had no income, no job, and no family, had a rosy complexion, which was unusual for her.

It's all that awful guy's fault...

"Next, we need to get the Nameless Mark from Mei. Only the Nameless Engraving can grant access to the highest authority." The Herrscher of Erosion and Lin planned what to do next.

Lin's first words after hearing this were—

"Why do you need access to the highest level of privileges? Aren't you Elysia?"

"Um... because... even Elysia can't access the highest level of authority~" the Herrscher of Erosion explained reluctantly.

In fact, she was right. Lin had set it up so that no one except the holder of the Nameless Engraving could access the highest authority. So now only Mei could see the other Lin, the one with one-third of Lin's consciousness.

Lin did not intentionally stop the Herrscher of Erosion. She did not show any malice towards the others in the Imaginary Tree. Lin could also take this opportunity to examine Mei, who had obtained the Nameless Engraving. Although she was the successor he recognized, there were still many differences between the memories of the Imaginary Tree and his.

The two Lins in the Imaginary Tree are, one is the memory body that serves as the anchor point of Lin's original consciousness, and the other is the true Lin with one-third of the consciousness. The anchor Lin has all of Lin's memories up to the Twelfth Honkai, but he does not know the inside story of the Ash Project. He only knows that he is a key element in the execution of the Ash Project. The Lin with the authority has the same memories as Lin. The only difference is that one spent the past 50,000 years in the Imaginary Tree and the other spent the past 50,000 years in the Quantum Sea.

Lin originally planned to come to the Imaginary Tree after defeating Kevin, but unexpectedly, he returned ahead of schedule. Since he didn't know why the memory body Lin recognized Raiden Mei, he decided to verify it himself.

So, three hours later, after Lin and Mei's first confrontation, and after he refused to admit that the Herrscher of Erosion was Elysia, the two of them left.

"I am Elysia!"

"... No, your hair color and the way you speak are different from Elysia's." Lin coldly corrected the Herrscher of Erosion of Corruption, "Although Elysia's pronunciation is drawn out, she doesn't do it as deliberately as you do. Besides, she said that her favorite color is pink, so she wouldn't deliberately dye her hair purple-black unless she wanted to prank someone."

The Herrscher of Erosion gritted her teeth. She had clearly corrupted Lin's data, so why was he still acting out of control? But he wasn't completely disobedient to her; he was just very stubborn in some ways.

She stared intently at Lin: "Did you know from the beginning that I wasn't Elysia?"

"... There can only be one Elysia."

"No, I can become Elysia too."

Why do you want to become Elysia?

"Because..."

The Herrscher of Erosion lost its spirit.

"Lin likes Elysia."

Elysian Realm of "Flying Flowers": Chapter Seventeen - Reunion with an Old Friend

... And what is the reason for that?

Lin didn't quite understand.

He likes Elysia, so the Herrscher of Erosion has to become Elysia? But wasn't she born by absorbing Lin's memory data?

Although he was not aware of it before, Lin now looks forward and knows that he used to be a twisted person who hated himself to the extreme. This is also why he thinks that the Herrscher of Binding and his Parallel World self, Yan Luo were also born from him, are so hostile to him.

Even if the Herrscher of Erosion doesn't dislike him, she shouldn't like him either.

Lin couldn't tell that the Herrscher of Erosion was lying; the desolation in her eyes was genuine. As Lin gazed at the girl who was disappointed that she "could not become Elysia," he suddenly understood why she had preserved his data after corrupting it, allowing him to reach the Imaginary Tree through the anchor point.

Lin clenched his fist inwardly. "Then why don't you erode Elysia's data? As long as you erode the real Elysia's data, you can become Elysia."

The Herrscher of Erosion stared at him, then tilted her head and uttered two words—

"Don't want."

"..."

Difficult to understand.

She's another Herrscher with a very strange personality, but so far she doesn't seem to pose much of a threat. She doesn't even seem willing to devour other data.

"I'm going to find Mei. Since we can't take the mark back, we'll have to cooperate with her." The Herrscher of Erosion was about to leave when she thought for a moment and walked up to Lin. She pressed down on his helmet from both sides and a wicked smile appeared on her lips. "Although I am not the real Elysia and you are not the real Lin, I will definitely make these real and turn this place into a paradise, a perfect 'Imaginary Tree'."

"... Then I'll wait and see."

Upon receiving Lin's affirmative answer, the Herrscher of Herrscher of Erosion's expression softened considerably.

Her slender fingers gripped the edge of the helmet, but after thinking for a moment, the girl put them down. "Hmm... I'll reward myself after everything is over."

After speaking, the Herrscher of Erosion went to find Mei along the planned anchor points, leaving Lin still in the same place.

"Call..."

Let's investigate that next.

As mentioned before, although the device for the Imaginary Tree was completed by Lin Spasi, the interior of the Imaginary Tree has been constantly changing. After 50,000 years, Lin has become unfamiliar with the huge and complex internal structure and can only explore it little by little on his own.

He casually traversed through space using anchor points that resembled teleportations, not hoping to find anything.

Soon, he found a small stall that stood out from the rest of the place, filled with all sorts of strange and unusual things that were obviously made by someone else.

There was a sign hanging above it with messy, illegible handwriting.

Pardofelis.

Lin sat quietly next to the stall, taking out some vintage items from the small shop, such as the old uniforms of the Fire Moths or photos of the old base site.

In the desolate space, Lin stared at these things and suddenly realized that fifty thousand years had indeed passed.

Together with Rita, he continuously collects Aether Anchor in the Quantum Sea, experiencing all sorts of adventures. Sometimes he is a prime minister, sometimes a hero, and sometimes a leader of a resistance, but no matter what identity he takes, he is no longer part of the forest of his Intrinsic World.

The ten-odd years that Moth Chasers the Flame were just a tiny fraction of his life, but for the next tens of thousands of years, he fought for that fragment and the world it inhabited.

Now, he is finally approaching the end.

"Brother Lin...?"

A hesitant girl's voice came from behind him. Lin calmly put down what he was holding, stood up, and faced the girl with heterochromatic eyes and animal ears who was staring blankly at him.

Pardofelis's delicate and youthful figure overlapped with his fading memories.

The girl scratched the back of her head innocently. "It really is you, but Mei wasn't talking about you..."

"I'm fine," Lin replied indifferently. "Don't worry."

Pardo responded with a soft "Oh..."

"... What are you trying to say?"

"Well... haha... it's nothing." Pardo waved her hand, trying to brush it off as usual, but quickly lowered her head and murmured, "It's just that I feel like Brother Lin has changed in some way, even though it's only been a few days."

"..."

Is it fair to say that cats have keen senses? Just like when they come into contact with a stranger and smell a different scent, they feel uncomfortable. Pardo stares at Lin with unease.

Lin sighed, turned around and walked up to her.

"W-What's wrong, Brother Lin? You never sighed before."

... He never used to sigh, but since leaving his Intrinsic World and meeting more and more girls, he has been sighing more and more often.

Lin placed his hand on the tense girl's head and gently stroked her soft hair. Pardo was initially so tense that she was trembling, relaxed after realizing that Lin was not doing anything to her.

It really is just like a cat.

"Sit down for a while."

"What? Ugh! Ah!"

Before Pardo could react, Lin pulled her into his arms and made her sit down on the spot. She trembled for a while, her hands and feet trembling, wondering what would happen if Mobius or Aponia found out how she died.

Lin did nothing but quietly hold her and close his eyes.

Startled, Pardo paused for a moment upon hearing the even breathing sounds coming from inside the helmet, then quietly turned her head and saw that the helmet was completely black.

For some reason, Pardo sensed that the person holding her was tired.

It felt like returning to my home, which I hadn't been to in a long time, and I could finally rest in peace.

Pardo hesitated for a long time before giving up. She leaned on Lin's shoulder, breathing in a faint, pleasant scent, and closed her eyes to fall asleep.

However, this peaceful moment was interrupted in less than five minutes. Pardo heard the sound of teleportation coming from the anchor point not far away. When she opened her eyes, she saw a magnificent shadow enveloping her.

The holy Nun looked down at her, her eyes gleaming with a menacing red light.