Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All Chapter 41

Kevin: "Seeing that you've got it even worse over there, I'm too embarrassed to complain."

Eden: "Aponia? Elysia!"

Eden: "@Elysia, are you okay?"

There was no response.

Elysia stared blankly at her phone in her hands. Right... why had they made that kind of promise?

P.S. I know people will definitely say this is a cliffhanger. I admit, that was partly my intention, but I really couldn't fit any more in.

Everything that needed to happen in the dream has happened. Vill-V's and Kalpas's scenes have all been pushed back, but Mei's plot really couldn't be cut. Trust me, I'll definitely give those siblings a very special ending, okay?

In the end, some people might think it was handled well while others think it was handled poorly, but the word count won't lie. After premium release, it'll be 10,000 words a day until 300,000 words.

Premium Release Notice

It'll go premium at noon on Friday.

After stumbling along for so long, it's finally going premium. Let me briefly explain the plan so we're all on the same page and there won't be any sudden changes later.

I thought having saved-up chapters would make updating easier, but there are actually quite a few problems with them. Next, it'll probably be around 10,000 words a day until 300,000 words. After updating normally for a few days, I'll go back to mass updates.

And please support the first subscription!

And please support the first subscription!!

And please support the first subscription!!!

Now, for the plot-related questions.

1. Harem.

I can say this with complete certainty: the characters won't be dragged out.

2. Characters from Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2?

I'm playing it, but I think most people probably aren't familiar with its story or characters.

So I made the dog-head strategist very young, to the point where she practically has no role. Later, during her adoptive mother Einstein's storyline, there'll probably be a joke like, "The young lord is often ill; you must work harder..." Since she has no other scenes, it doesn't matter if I say it now.

3. Will the real world remain a daily-life storyline forever?

No.

The Golden Courtyard storyline, which will barely get moving later on, will completely collapse. Prometheus will act as Finality's agent, shatter the world's barrier, then stand atop the barrier created by the Stigmata Terminal and overlook the entire world.

But that only exists in the outline right now. It's too far off. By the way, here's a source of inspiration for the later part.

Feng Yao: The Netherworld King Said It Again!

An Yu had been in a pretty good mood.

But when he came back after buying food, he vaguely heard crying from inside the room. He pulled open the door and found his sister wrapped in her bedding, wiping away tears.

"Who bullied you?"

His sister had cried herself into a mess. Her beautiful eyes were watery, and she sobbed so hard she couldn't even get a sentence out.

An Yu walked over and leaned against the bed, directly snatching away her phone. The chat screen was open to Golden Courtyard (13).

Sure enough, it was those lousy friends again.

His fingertip tapped lightly: Member Details → Elysia → Leave Group Chat → Confirm. The sequence flowed as smoothly as water, as if he'd rehearsed it countless times in his mind.

After a moment's thought, he casually slipped the phone into his own pocket instead of returning it to Elysia.

"Don't hang around those lousy friends anymore."

"Xiao Yu, don't you want me anymore...?"

Still sniffling, Elysia finally managed to organize her words. Calling her dumb wouldn't be quite right... well, maybe a little.

An Yu fell silent for a moment.

"Why would you think that?"

When he subconsciously wanted to take out his sister's phone, he remembered that he'd left the group chat. The messages had probably been automatically deleted. If he wanted to look for the chat records again, he could only dig through the system files.

"Yesterday, you said we wouldn't argue at home. Wasn't that our agreed bottom line?"

"Xiao Yu, I'll give you all my salary. We won't split up the household in the future, okay?"

She didn't want a marital home anymore. Couldn't the two siblings just be happy together like before?

As though she had exhausted all her strength, tears completely blurred her watery eyes, blocking her vision.

An Yu: ...

It was an agreed bottom line, but he couldn't nod at a time like this. Nor could he be led into her logic. He consciously ignored the second question.

An Yu's tone remained calm. "Stop overthinking things all day."

"But they all said little fights improve a relationship, and the two of us have been going downhill lately."

When you feel like life is going smoothly, you might want to see who's carrying the burden—or maybe you're simply going downhill.

Elysia reached to feel for her bank card at her side, but An Yu held her down.

"Those lousy friends again?"

An Yu put a little more force into his voice. "Elysia!"

Elysia instinctively tried to avoid his gaze, but this time she was pinned down too tightly. She couldn't even manage something as simple as turning her head.

"Elysia, it seems like you've gotten yourself into trouble from being too idle at home."

"Since you really trust those lousy friends so much, then I want to see whether your life will become terrible after losing them."

Elysia continued to sniffle. Tears kept spilling from her huge watery eyes, and her mood sank lower and lower.

"As for you, Elysia, if there's something weighing on your heart, I can offer you a pretty good idea."

He couldn't just let his sister keep drifting through life like this. After pondering for a moment, An Yu smiled brightly. "How about I take control of your life for a while, Elysia?"

Elysia's tearful little face suddenly froze. Her pretty face, like that of a tear-streaked kitten, filled with confusion. Had she just misheard him?

"Elysia, for the next while, listen to me about everything... To put it in trendy terms, be my dog, okay?"

"Huh?"

Elysia's little face went blank. So she hadn't misheard?

His face was too close. Though it was as abstractly flat as ever, Xiao Yu's warm breath made it hard for her to breathe. It was too close, and too sudden—more sudden than yesterday! More ambiguous! A hundred times more!

She wanted to turn her head, but An Yu's arms had pinned her head in place. Even the slightest movement of her earlobes brushed against the young man's arms. Elysia pressed her lips tightly together.

An Yu's tone wasn't relaxed. "Sis, it seems you've already lost control over your own life. So I'll handle these things for you. For the next few days, you just need to listen to me."

Thinking about it carefully, An Yu hadn't never gone through this kind of phase while growing up. After all, two orphans couldn't have grown up peacefully from childhood onward. But An Yu truly wasn't content with being ordinary.

What a shame. This was a world without supernatural powers.

"N-No matter what, this is... too strange, isn't it?"

And why did he have to use words like being his dog? It sounded far too weird.

Yet scorching blood kept surging across her body. She felt hot all over, while an unfamiliar flutter spread through her heart.

It wasn't as if she had never fantasized about such a scene. Sometimes, when she looked at her brother's long, distinct fingers, she would imagine those hands gripping her. But truly facing it in reality still left her at a loss.

"Be good~" An Yu softened his tone. "I've always believed in Elysia. But now, Elysia should believe in me too."

Their noses bumped together. An Yu's gaze was firm. As for those lousy friends, he would settle accounts with them one by one.

You aren't even calling me sister anymore?

Elysia's long swanlike neck bobbed unconsciously. Everything happening now was too absurd, so absurd that at some point, the tears had stopped on her kitten-like face.

"Good Elysia~ When have I ever lied to you?"

Their eyes met. The man's peach-blossom eyes left Elysia's gaze unfocused. By the usual development in fairy tales, shouldn't Xiao Yu be comforting her properly right now?

He should have helped her gather her courage again, believe that they could manage their lives well together once more, then overcome this hardship.

Why had things turned into this!

"Xiao... Yu~"

She felt a little oxygen-deprived, and breathing was becoming difficult. Elysia felt that this couldn't continue. Something would happen—something would definitely happen to her!

An Yu lowered his head, gently pressing his forehead to his sister's. His fingertips softly smoothed down her messy hair, further reducing how much she could move.

"Leave everything that comes next to me, okay~ Good girl."

An Yu's thoughts were clear. After all, the clinic doctor with a 100% positive review rate had told him that Elysia showed some yandere tendencies. So, purely from the perspective of treating her condition, shouldn't he cooperate with her a little?

Rather than let his sister keep imagining things, he might as well take charge of her life himself, so she would stop complaining that his desire for control was too weak.

Although standing up on your own and being pulled up by someone else were two different things, you still had to stand up first. He would take it one step at a time.

Rather than let his sister be deceived by someone else, she might as well be deceived by him. At least he had a bottom line.

"Elysi—ia~"

Perhaps some special genetic fragment had taken effect. An Yu felt like his sister's eyes were spinning in circles...

Her cheeks were burning hot.

Elysia desperately wanted to turn her head and preserve the last shred of her dignity, but she couldn't. He was too close, so close that there wasn't the slightest bit of free space.

Her little face was bright red. With a trace of shame, she murmured in a voice as soft as a mosquito's, "Woof—"

An Yu was silent for a moment before rising. "Good girl."

Elysia, too, briefly broke free from the possessiveness she had once fantasized about.

But it was as though all her strength had been drained away. She lay sprawled on the bed alone, her snow-white skin flushed pink. It seemed as though her previous confusion about the future had vanished.

Or perhaps that confusion had been smashed into pieces by this sudden turn of events. All that remained in her ears was the sound of her own heartbeat, especially clear within the room.

Her brain still hadn't processed this entire chain of events.

Reward... a Reward?!!

Golden Courtyard (12)

Eden: "Cat-head lament.jpg"

Pardo: "Eh, why did Elysia leave the group? I was just about to invite her to my cat café."

Aponia: "She probably needs some time alone."

But Aponia trusted An Yu. After all, someone capable of causing such extensive destruction in a dream definitely had his own underlying logic, and he would be incredibly suited to this world.

At that very moment, Elysia, whom everyone was discussing, was lowering her head as she dealt with breakfast.

The sunlight outside the window was cool. Even through the glass, it carried little warmth. An Yu was as sunny and energetic as ever, but Elysia hesitated slightly as she took small bites of bread.

Was everything from earlier... a dream?

"Elysia, I contacted the boss just now. Go over there later and pick up the instrument."

An Yu suddenly spoke, even though Elysia wasn't the bassist.

Fine, it wasn't a dream. Xiao Yu wasn't even calling her sister now.

"But today, I was planning to..."

"Listen to me!"

After finishing breakfast, An Yu moved close to Elysia again, their cheeks pressed together.

"Then go to my company. You should know the way."

"Oh..."

Elysia nodded blankly, her cheek forced into a squeeze.

A moment later, Xiao Yu's fingertips brushed over the corner of her mouth. Elysia felt like she was about to break down—or rather, she had already started breaking down the instant she submitted to him in the room earlier.

"And then?"

She asked softly.