There were some things that even he could not decide.
On the way back aboard the Hyperion
"Ah, this operation was finally a complete success. We can finally go back and get some proper rest!"
The white-haired girl wore a relaxed, contented expression.
Although their trip to Jiuyou, Shenzhou had been full of twists and turns, and they had even deployed the Hyperion's main cannon, the outcome had turned out well in the end.
"Tomorrow is June. I hope Bronya and Rosia have fun at the amusement park."
Kiana swayed her head and leaned against Mei with a smile.
"Bronya and Rosia have been inseparable for days. When we get back, I need to borrow Rosia from Bronya for a while..."
Raiden Mei looked helplessly at the girl who was practically drooling from her grin.
"Kiana, don't drool on my lap."
"Bleh... Got it."
Kiana stuck out her tongue mischievously, then rolled over and said,
"By the way, Mei, have you booked a beach in Shenzhou? I think Canghai City would be nice. I remember Rosia has always wanted to see the sea with Bronya. Our summer trip happens to be there..."
Kiana said happily.
She had always quietly remembered everyone's preferences. Though she seemed carefree, Kiana actually cared about every single person the most.
"Mm, I've already spoken with the Headmaster and the class monitor..."
Before Raiden Mei and Kiana could finish speaking, an alarm rang out across the Hyperion.
"Warning. Warning. Entering the Far East region. Level-one combat readiness..."
Hearing the alarm, Raiden Mei and Kiana both froze.
"Level-one combat readiness... Has a Herrscher descended?"
Even when Chiyou had been about to awaken, when a Judgment-class Honkai Beast had descended, Shenzhou had not entered level-one combat readiness. Why was it this intense the moment they returned to the Far East?
"Something happened..."
Although Mei did not know what had happened, it was obvious that quite a lot had occurred while they had been away.
And during this time, nearly all of St. Freya Academy's combat power had been deployed to Shenzhou.
When Theresa brought Kiana and the others back to the academy, they immediately saw a silver-haired girl at the academy gates, covered in injuries and unconscious against the wall.
"Bronya? What happened to you?"
The moment she saw Bronya badly injured, even Kiana, who had always been at odds with her, immediately rushed over in concern.
"She must have only been here for a short while. Take her for treatment, quickly."
Theresa had previously received a warning from Schicksal HQ. Now, it seemed the situation was far from optimistic.
"Sigh..."
Behind a green tree, a blond youth sighed.
He had tried to use the imitation Abyss Flower to save his online friend, but the chip in her body had kept resisting him. Forcing treatment would cause further damage to her brain.
Removing the chip intact would be extremely difficult, since it was directly linked to her consciousness.
So he could only use the imitation Abyss Flower to keep her barely alive.
"Where's Rosia? Where's Rosia?!"
Only after Bronya had been sent to the emergency room did Kiana realize that if even Bronya had met with trouble, where was Rosia now?
But obviously, Bronya was the only person who knew what had happened, and she was unconscious...
The entire Far East, including St. Freya Academy, had surrounded the coast. Yet they did not open fire. They only waited.
After Bronya's condition improved, Kiana and Mei saw a blue-haired girl cautiously peeking her head out at the academy gates.
That familiar face made Kiana and Raiden Mei breathe a sigh of relief.
But when they approached her, the girl's first words left them both stunned.
"Y-you... Hello. Um... do you know Sister Bronya?"
Seele asked timidly.
After leaving the Sea of Quanta, she had arrived on the streets of the Far East.
Everyone had treated her kindly. They answered all her questions, and their attitudes were unbelievably friendly, as if they already knew her.
That left Seele both flattered and deeply confused.
"You're... Seele?"
Seeing that her eyes were different from Rosia's, Raiden Mei and Kiana both fell silent.
"Mm."
Seele nodded.
"I want to see Sister Bronya."
Seeing the hopeful expression on the girl's face, Kiana and Raiden Mei still had many questions, but they nodded anyway.
When they reached Bronya's hospital room, Bronya, lying in bed, seemed to sense something. She struggled to open her eyes and met the girl's pure sapphire-like gaze.
"Ro... sia..."
Bronya froze. She desperately wanted to believe she had seen wrong, but those azure eyes explained everything.
"Seele..."
"Sister Bronya."
The two embraced softly. Bronya gradually understood what had happened, and tears fell uncontrollably. Overwhelmed by grief, Bronya clung to Seele's shoulder with a sobbing voice.
"I'm sorry... Seele, I lost her... I lost Rosia..."
"I've failed you both..."
P.S.: There will still be 10,000 words of updates today. Rosia's storyline will temporarily wrap up here. The second character will appear when the story goes premium tomorrow. Each of today's three updates will reveal a clue about the new character.
The first clue: the new character begins with amnesia, and there is a fixed method for recovering her memories.
Bronya, Has It Burned Through Your Pride?
On the Far Eastern coast
The blond woman dragged her body forward with difficulty.
Because of the Imaginary Imprisonment Round Bronya had used, Cocolia had suffered an accident during her second warp and had been left near the beach.
"She... is a monster..."
Remembering the appearance of "Rosia," Cocolia felt afraid.
She had seen all kinds of life and death, all manner of cruel scenes. But "Rosia" seemed like the embodiment of terror and death. Merely being stared at by her made Cocolia's body tremble uncontrollably.
Why...
Cocolia fled with difficulty as she roared inwardly.
She had clearly done everything she could. The experiment had clearly not encountered any accidents. Why had it still failed, just like what happened with Seele?
She did not understand. Everything she had done was clearly for her children. Why did she have to encounter these things?
On the other side, because Rosia had disappeared, "Rosia's" talent for Quantumization had vanished for some reason. She could only force her way out with brute strength. Though she was slightly slower, she was still far faster than the stumbling Cocolia.
Very soon, she came within less than a hundred meters of Cocolia. "Rosia" spoke softly.
"Why are you running? Didn't you want me to complete the experiment? Now I've completed it. You said I was your granddaughter, so why are you afraid of me?"
The girl gripped a scarlet scythe and walked toward Cocolia step by step. Her black-and-red hair slowly drifted in the sea breeze.
Yet her cold voice was like the whisper of the Grim Reaper, sending chills through Cocolia.
"I can't find her... Do you know where she went?"
The girl's increasingly eerie tone seemed to lower the surrounding temperature to its limit.
"You wanted us to help you enter the Sea of Quanta and bring Seele back. We agreed. So now, please die and give her my regards..."
"Rosia" held her scythe horizontally, and the cold gleam in her eyes flickered one last time.
"Y-you can't do this..."
Within the sub-Imaginary space created by the Imaginary Imprisonment Round, Cocolia had no way to resist. Rosia, controlled by her Stigma, had been greatly strengthened.
"Yes, Rosia can't do this, because if Rosia kills you, her Mother Bronya and Mother Seele will be very sad..."
"Rosia" hesitated for once, but then she laughed.
"But what does that have to do with me? I'm not Rosia!"
"Rosia" smiled brightly, but her smile still held not the slightest trace of emotion.
"Please... die..."
The girl gripped the cold scarlet scythe and slowly raised it. Just as she was about to swing it down, a sense of danger made her sweep the scythe across, blocking an incoming bolt of lightning with unstoppable force.
"Rosia" was blasted back hundreds of meters. Even the massive scarlet scythe in her hands was nearly completely destroyed.
"Who..."
"Rosia" said expressionlessly.
If she had not used all the Honkai energy in her body to maintain the weapon's existence and block the attack, her body would have been instantly annihilated by that bolt of lightning.
"Cocolia... What kind of monster did you piss off, you bastard?!"
A black-haired figure in a hood emerged, the purple-black sniper rifle in her hands already in an overheated state.
Within this somewhat special space, the Sin Mallet Thunder of Seven in her hands had also been strengthened. It would not enter an extended cooldown after one shot, but it was still impossible for her to land two consecutive hits.
"This was the God Key's strongest attack. Even a Herrscher would be severely wounded under that strike, even if it didn't die..."
"This monster..."
Looking at the girl on the sea's surface, who appeared uninjured aside from looking somewhat disheveled, Raven realized she might have encountered a truly tough opponent this time.
She had thought that attack would definitely finish her off. She had been careless.
"Cocolia can't die yet. We need to leave, now..."
Raven knew that if even the God Key could not deal with her opponent, staying any longer would give her no chance of victory.
If Grey Serpent had not said she had to do everything possible to keep Cocolia alive, she would have fled long ago.
"World Serpent... You're stopping me from finding her..."
"Rosia" muttered. The lively light in her scarlet eyes grew weaker and weaker, showing that under the Stigma's control, her consciousness was gradually being worn away until even her basic ability to think was becoming blurred.
"You can't leave..."
Although the scythe in the girl's hands was already damaged, when she swung it, the scarlet light it generated swept past, leaving gouges dozens of meters deep in the ground.
As Raven desperately dodged those scarlet flashes, she occasionally glimpsed the gouges and cursed Cocolia's entire family tree in her heart.
"What the fuck kind of thing did you provoke?"
Raven felt that if she got hit even once, her codename could be changed from Raven to Roasted Bird.
During a gap in her desperate evasions, the black-and-red-haired girl had already reached her side, and the scythe in her hands began to fall.
If she had not been carrying Cocolia, Raven could have dodged it. But burdened by Cocolia, Raven had no choice but to block it head-on with the body of the Sin Mallet Thunder of Seven, then use every smoke grenade and Honkai energy disruption grenade she had.
After the smoke dispersed, "Rosia" stared silently at the hand, leg, and black-and-red sniper rifle Cocolia had left behind.
The Imaginary Imprisonment Round's effect had ended. Cocolia and Raven had both vanished, and she did not know where to pursue them.
She had only been able to think along one track to begin with. Now, under the Stigma's influence, even maintaining that single thread of thought had become difficult.
Before you continue