"Status analysis: normal."
"Analysis: mental state has reached the critical point."
In a shadowy crevice unknown to anyone.
Grey Snake watched dozens of neatly arranged screens before him. Only one word could describe the meticulous surveillance: every move Raiden Mei made was being monitored.
Sadness, fear, anger...
And even the despair that came after everything had been reduced to nothing—the despair beyond despair, the despair of falling into the abyss.
And yet—
A pink figure suddenly appeared before him.
To rule out any external interference, Grey Snake rewound the footage and enlarged that moment.
"——!!"
Beneath the black serpent-shaped mask, the red lights that served as his pupils suddenly widened.
Th-this is?!
Ely...sia???
——Impossible!
He immediately rejected the thought that had surfaced.
From a rational perspective, he simply couldn't believe something so preposterous could happen.
But that didn't stop him from continuing the restoration. He tapped the virtual screen before him, enlarging the image again. Without hesitation, he abandoned the other screens, merging all the split displays into one. He devoted all available processing power to forcibly repairing the blurred areas.
The fleeting flash of pink revealed its true form on the enormous screen—
Elysia?!!
He couldn't believe it.
He could only believe it.
An artificial creation didn't stubbornly deny what it saw. It accepted things as they appeared, unless there was evidence to disprove them.
After confirming that the person before him looked very much like Elysia, Grey Snake accessed every scrap of stored information and monitored every corner of Nagazora City.
At the same time, he naturally heard—
"Her name is Cyrene. You can also call her Aili."
"——???"
After the resemblance came the name.
It was far too strange.
Grey Snake knew nothing of the deeper secrets of the Elysian Realm, nor the truth behind that dance at the Previous Era's banquet.
Herrscher, traitor, and vice leader—those secrets were hidden even from the Flame-Chasers. There was no way a failed product could know about them.
Grey Snake simply found it strange.
And...
"Perhaps she has value."
He sealed away the enormous screen before him, then bent down and opened a box beneath it. Inside was a safe. He entered the code and opened it, revealing another safe. He reached in and entered another code, repeating the process dozens of times until the last safe revealed a strange device.
It was impossible to understand what kind of object it was.
It seemed to be made of gears fitted together, its grotesque form somehow possessing a peculiar beauty.
Its overall design was reminiscent of steampunk. The instant Grey Snake bent down and lifted it, steam billowed from it, though he couldn't understand how it worked.
Grey Snake watched the steam dissipate without surprise, then lifted one of the gears. A miniature screen appeared before him.
[Lord, an individual resembling Elysia has seemingly appeared in this civilization. Please advise.]
He sent an image along with the message.
A few minutes later.
[There will never be another Elysia.]
[...]
[Invite her.]
Then he turned and opened another screen.
[Cocolia, how are preparations for capturing the Third Herrscher coming along? Any progress?]
Inside the operations room.
Cocolia looked at the message she'd received.
"I've prepared all the necessary forces. The moment she appears, we can capture her and—experiment on her."
[Several individuals have appeared beside the Third Herrscher Subject. Was that part of your plan?]
"Irrelevant."
She couldn't even be bothered to glance at it. She held her head high, raised an eyebrow, and tossed her golden hair back with disdain.
"Ever since I acquired ME Corp, my logistics have been flooded with resources and money. The only person with resources to rival mine now is Otto at Schicksal Headquarters."
"Rival yours?"
"Hmph."
She gave a contemptuous snort.
"Perhaps my resources have already far surpassed Anti-Entropy's original founders. And to make sure I can keep these resources forever, I'll turn them all into strength. I'll deal with anyone who defies me, and take anything that could be useful to me. Herrscher Cores, technology—I won't make any exceptions."
As if showing off, Cocolia pressed a switch on the console, revealing all her trump cards.
The multiple screens merged into one. Reflected on the largest screen was a steel army gleaming with cold light—
Cannons, cannons, and more cannons in the literal sense.
All kinds of conventional missiles and laser weapons nearly filled the warehouse. A similarly vast number of Titans stood in orderly rows in the arsenal.
She had drained ME Corp's reserves, acquiring enough to single-handedly fund Anti-Entropy's operations.
In exchange, she'd gained a vast, seemingly endless army of mechs.
Of course.
Cocolia wasn't some ignorant brute. She didn't think these machines alone would let her dominate without restraint.
—Her real trump card stood on the other side of the arsenal: a blue-haired young man submerged in preservation fluid.
—Welt.
The cloning technology she'd developed through experiments at the orphanage, combined with the genes of the Alliance leader, had recreated the First Herrscher, domineering and in command of gravity.
He was her greatest asset, capable of easily distorting gravity by more than ten times and bringing it down a hundredfold when fighting at full strength.
Powerful enough to single-handedly defeat—
Every nation that openly existed in this world.
The funds needed to support these operations and the world's top organization, hidden behind the scenes, had now been forcibly squeezed dry, nearly to the point of ruin.
Once she got the Herrscher of Thunder, even Schicksal would be easy to force to its knees.
—What did a little money matter?
[...]
Grey Snake didn't respond at all.
Was he shocked?
Cocolia wondered with malicious amusement.
She reached out and pressed the button on the left. Blue lights lit up along the mechs' faces and through the gaps in their armor, nearly turning the warehouse into daylight.
Then she pressed the button below.
The blue light on the life-support unit began flashing red. The translucent green preservation fluid slowly drained away.
The blue-haired young man inside abruptly opened his eyes.
"I..."
"This daddy..."
His stumbling words quickly grew clear. In his eyes, a gear pattern flickered—so incomplete that not even its axle remained.
"—I am Welt, the great!"
Huh?.jpg
PS:
Genshin Impact, Awakening an Infinite Path by Winning Over Girls
After losing a 50/50 on a gacha pull and quitting the game, Ye Yan woke up in Teyvat.
Right at the start, he ran into Columbina, the Fatui Harbinger Third Seat, carrying out a purification ritual at the Silver Moon Court.
She fainted on the spot, and Ye Yan was scared out of his wits!
Later, just as the Moon Hunters were about to kill them both, Ye Yan's mind suddenly buzzed!
[Host's life is in critical danger. Emergency protection activated!]
[Awakening... [Honkai: Star Rail]—all Paths fully loaded!]
[[Destruction], [The Hunt], [Erudition], [Harmony], [Nihility], [Preservation], [Abundance], [Elation], [Remembrance], [Immortality]...]
[Ding! Special talent detected. Path [Trailblaze] has reached maximum level!]
And so, the Teyvat timeline rebooted on the spot! The system's missions also refreshed: carry out the true meaning of [Trailblaze] in Teyvat, spreading the will to live to a wider world.
Looking at Columbina, who had just awakened in his arms with a dazed expression, Ye Yan smiled.
Ye Yan: "Moon Goddess, it looks like we'll have to set out on the Trailblaze together."
Columbina: "Trailblaze? What's that?"
Sparkle: "Oh my, what an utterly delightful little performance."
Huohua: "Hey! You, the old model—look behind you!"
19. Kiana's Super Smart (Revised)
A blast of hot wind roared past, kicking up charred scraps of plastic.
The earth had become a wasteland. Even the steel had melted in the heat, leaving behind half-liquid wreckage. One shop after another exploded, leaving nothing but plastic melted into a liquid.
Kiana holstered her revolver.
—Nothing could survive that strike.
Her fine-textured hair seemed almost like crystal against the atmosphere around her, clinging to her temples in the scorching air.
Kiana naturally lifted a lock of silver hair that had fallen beside her ear and tucked it behind her delicate ear.
She turned her gaze back to Raiden Mei, to the girl who had just torn apart an entire city block—
The brief outburst gave way to an even deeper oppression.
Her fingertips reddened, thin trails of blood caught between them as dust swirled and her wounds grew increasingly swollen.
"From what position are you saying all this?"
Before you continue