"So, do you believe me?"
"Of course I believe it!"
Unlike her, Qiji is a genuine genius.
He can do anything and never lets anyone down.
"Well then, since you don't believe in yourself—"
Then trust me, trust your own judgment.
In that Setsuna, accept it.
You can do it, you definitely can, you absolutely can do it.
Because, that's what I said.
It was as if Qiji's voice was ringing in my ears once again.
With Setsuna burst of strength, he shakily climbed up from the ring.
She turned around and looked down at the arena.
Qiji, who was sitting in a wheelchair, seemed to be saying something to her.
At that moment, her head was buzzing, yet she could still vaguely hear it.
At this moment, what Qiji- kun said to her was—
"Run, run, Setsuna!"
In an instant, Setsuna on me.
That day, after losing to Zero and being completely rejected by that woman, this happened.
That day.
In Setsuna, he ran out of that house.
She ran desperately, like a madwoman.
My lungs burned with each breath, and my vision began to blur.
She ran faster and faster.
Gradually, it became so fast it started to seem unbelievable.
Then, something inside the body broke off, and then something new was born.
At that moment, an echo of Setsuna Echo.
Setsuna Echo was born in the running.
And Setsuna first all-out run was for—
Escape that home.
Looking at the woman opposite me, who was swaying as she stood up.
Zero is incomprehensible.
"Aya, why are you forcing yourself?"
Don't call me that name! My name is Setsuna!
From the Setsuna she ran away from home, she had already made up her mind.
From that Setsuna on, she decided to become herself!
so--
Run, run! In Setsuna!
The difference this time is that the run is not an escape.
Instead, they rushed towards!
The moment the thought arose in my mind, Setsuna took a step.
Her Echo Core hummed like never before as she ran!
At first, there were fine tremors, like the first crack appearing on an eggshell. Then, with each step she took, the crack spread and deepened, extending from the core surface into the depths!
Something is breaking apart, and something else is taking shape.
She ran faster and faster, and the speed at which she shattered also increased.
What shattered was the life her mother had always defined for her—
Failures, useless things, people who are not chosen.
What took shape was the person she truly longed to become.
At that moment, Setsuna realization finally caught up with her Echo!
The Heart Essence within exploded as he ran, not from a runaway rampage, but from a long-accumulated torrent finally breaking through the dam!
Those three Epic Fragment—
The treasure that Qiji gave her, which she considered "unworthy of possessing," shone brightly at the same moment, spinning rapidly around her core as it was undergoing fission.
With each rotation, a ray of light detaches from the fragment and merges into the core crack.
The cracks were filled with light, like the veins of a leaf, like the cracks in the earth, like the marks left by lightning in the night sky!
Setsuna speed increased rapidly, faster and faster.
Afterimages began to emerge from behind her—one, three, countless!
It's no longer the scattered trail of an escape, but a directional and determined extension.
Each afterimage ran in a different direction, each one so real that it could confuse the Echo released by Wuma Ling.
The core form changes as it runs.
The blinding light gradually subsided as it moved at high speed.
Finally, the new Echo Core is fully formed!
It is completely translucent, with a stream of blazing white light flowing inside, like a sun compressed to its extreme.
A new lineage name flashed through my mind in Setsuna—
[Chasing Light].
From [Flash Shadow] to [Chasing Light]
From fleeing at full speed to rushing towards it at full speed.
She's running towards becoming the person she wants to be!
She raised her head in Setsuna, her gaze falling on Wuma Ling.
She ran without stopping.
Because running is her evolution!
This time, there was no precedent, no warning.
She simply appeared where she wanted to be.
"?"
Seeing that her sister still wanted to fight, Wuma Ling had no choice but to accompany her.
Her circuitry began to unfold once again.
This time, she simultaneously activated seven Echo—
Trajectory Prediction locks in location, ground spikes block the ground, Wind Bind binding slows and decelerates, lightning nets are deployed deep within the area, and ice walls block escape routes.
In addition, there are two layers of superimposed spiritual energy vibration fields.
Seven layers of barriers wove the arena into an impenetrable net.
There were no blind spots, no gaps, and no paths that could be traversed.
However, it was unaffected for Setsuna.
Wuma Ling's pupils contracted slightly.
Her [Trajectory Prediction] clearly captured the exact landing point in Setsuna...
However, that wasn't the actual landing point; it was an afterimage.
The true Setsuna appeared three feet to her left, vanishing again the instant she invoked the Echo.
When Wuma Ling retrieves Echo from the catalog, he can skip the construction of the loop, achieving theoretical instantaneous activation.
However, her Echo still needs to be locked onto a target before it can be released.
However, she couldn't lock onto that Setsuna...
Wuma Ling retrieved seventeen different Echo in succession.
Of the seventeen types, none could catch up to Setsuna.
A clear look of bewilderment appeared on the girl's usually expressionless face.
It's like a finely tuned machine encountering an instruction it can't handle.
She tilted her head, watching the figure moving freely in and out of the ring, not understanding what was happening.
Why did her sister suddenly change?
It changed so fast, so very fast.
Of course, the most effective way to deal with speed-type Echoer is to use a wide-area AOE Echo to cover them.
Wuma Ling was well aware of this basic common sense.
But she couldn't do it.
Because, while the [Living Catalog] is powerful, it also has its inherent flaws.
The operational logic of the [Living Catalog] is essentially the "parse", "copy", and "store" of Echo.
Wuma Ling needs to witness the complete release process of an Echo firsthand, understand its circuit structure, the flow of the Heart Essence, and the frequency of spiritual resonance before he can include it in the catalog and call it later.
However, there is a crucial limitation to this—
The Echo of a particular spectrum needs to be released to correspond to the corresponding Heart Essence.
Wuma Ling does not possess multiple attribute-based Heart Essence.
The reason she can still use Echo from other lineages is because she spent a lot of time collecting different types of Heart Essence in the Sea of Consciousness as "ink" for later use.
To use [Wind Bind], you need to prepare enough Wind-type Heart Essence in advance.
To use [Earth Spike Thrust], you need to prepare enough Earth-type Heart Essence in advance.
Therefore, behind every Echo lies a significant amount of energy and time she has invested in advance.
Those AOE Echo with huge coverage require an extremely large amount of Heart Essence.
A single, complete release might consume all the "ink" she has stored up for a long time.
Therefore, from a practical point of view, she usually collects small to medium-sized Echo where the Heart Essence consumption is below a certain threshold.
Only those Echo could support her continuous use of them in actual combat.
Therefore, at this moment, Wuma Ling was at a loss as to how quickly the speed Setsuna "upgraded".
In Setsuna, his figure left countless afterimages on the arena, each in a different direction, each so real that it could deceive the Echo released by Wuma Ling.
Wuma Ling's Echo chased after her from behind, but it was always a step behind.
He ran across the arena in Setsuna.
Keep running.
Those insurmountable gaps in talent that once filled her with despair are now being crossed inch by inch by her.