"You're going to withdraw?"
When Raven said she was leaving, Wendy was momentarily stunned and instinctively confirmed.
This orphan, taken in and trained by Gray Serpent, chose to completely leave World Serpent.
"Exactly."
She said directly: "For World Serpent, or rather for the people of that era, those living here are merely expendable pawns to defeat Honkai, not equals."
She had actually realized this long ago, but it wasn't until Gray Serpent anesthetized her that she made up her mind.
For the entire World Serpent, those living in this era might be called human, but World Serpent would not consider them equals.
"There are many followers of World Serpent in this world, and their reverence for the serpent is as devout as a religion. I have no doubt that if it meant sacrificing everyone to defeat Honkai, they would certainly do so."
"Wendy, and Raiden Mei, this is a piece of advice from someone from this era."
"Stay away from the serpent, as far away as possible."
Raven took off her hat, revealing an unexpectedly youthful profile.
Raiden Mei couldn't help but exchange glances with Wendy.
Wendy looked at Raven: "I thought you would try to stop us."
"No need. I don't have the capital to be enemies with World Serpent or Herrscher."
Raven paused, then smiled: "But there's still no news about Herrscher of the Void. Let me guess, Herrscher of the Void hasn't appeared yet, right?"
"Yes."
Wendy said: "Before I returned to World Serpent, I didn't even have news about Sirin. But after returning to Schicksal, Sirin has already become Cecilia's Valkyrie."
"Do you know what this means?"
She instinctively threw this question at Raven.
"For such a complex quantum issue, you should consult the doctors of Anti-Entropy or the heroes in the Land of Dreams, not me."
"Anti-Entropy?"
Wendy instinctively frowned.
Her impression of Anti-Entropy wasn't good, as Schicksal's education portrayed Anti-Entropy as a traitorous organization.
"Yes, the doctors of Anti-Entropy are experts in classical mechanics and quantum fields. What you just mentioned falls into the realm of quantum."
Wendy hesitated: "Uncertainty principle?"
Raiden Mei couldn't help but ask: "What are you two talking about?"
Raven blinked: "Oh, before I leave, I have one more piece of free information to give you."
"The Lord of World Serpent will soon emerge from the Sea of Quanta, and if he does, it means the execution of Project Stigma is about to begin."
"If Project Stigma is successfully executed, everyone will become the cost of fighting against Honkai."
"I hope you can stop it. Of course, if you don't listen to me, it doesn't matter. I'm already powerless to fight against this."
Raiden Mei and Wendy couldn't help but frown.
It seemed that Sirin's tragedy began with the creation of Stigmata.
After Raven finished saying all this, she left.
Raven didn't say anything more and simply walked away.
Among all that Wendy experienced, the person most affected was not Wendy, but Raven, who was merely an observer.
Although Raven couldn't directly peek into Wendy's memories like Mobius and Vill-V, from Wendy's seemingly futile efforts, she suddenly felt that fate was indeed predetermined.
What comforted Raven now was that most people in Siberia had not suffered displacement. Although some couldn't bear to relocate and left, it was still much better than what she remembered.
Next, she had only one goal: to find her family.
Aside from that, whether it was Honkai or Project Stigma, it would have nothing to do with her.
After leaving Nagazora City, she found the nearest flight to a nearby city and headed to Siberia.
When she purchased a ticket to Siberia Airport, Raven couldn't help but be moved to tears.
In her memory, Siberia Airport was also destroyed during that Honkai event.
"What are we going to do next?"
In Nagazora City, Raiden Mei looked at the city she had destroyed and couldn't help but say to Wendy: "Should we listen to Raven, or continue to stay in contact with World Serpent?"
Wendy countered: "If we listen to Raven, do we have a chance to defeat Honkai?"
"No chance, I understand."
Raiden Mei sighed: "So, we can only wait for the Lord of World Serpent to return, right?"
"Many technologies in this era inherit from the previous civilization, which is unavoidable."
Although Wendy was still young, her mind was very clear: "Moreover, both Chen Ran and Kiana are still fifty thousand years ago."
Raven said that the people of this era would become the cost for the former civilization's leaders to defeat Honkai.
But whether it was Wendy or Raiden Mei, they could only wait for Kevin to return.
They needed his help.
A hint of confusion appeared in Wendy's eyes.
Raiden Mei couldn't help but say: "Wendy, I want to go back first, back to Saint Freya."
"Having been out for so long, the Principal must be worried about us, and Bronya is alone there; I'm not at ease."
"Let's go back together. I also need to apologize to Teacher Theresa."
Now that Otto is not at headquarters, they have just come out of World Serpent and have nothing to do.
The constant running around during this time has left both Wendy and Raiden Mei feeling a bit breathless. The physical exhaustion is secondary; the main issue is the sense of helplessness in their hearts, a feeling that not everyone can understand.
Even after traveling back to fifty thousand years ago, it seems that nothing has changed.
However, just as Wendy and Raiden Mei agreed to set off for Saint Freya, they sensed a Honkai Source nearby.
The two exchanged glances, initially thinking it was a high-level Honkai creature, and decided to clear it out before returning.
But when they found this Honkai Source, they discovered it was actually a Pseudo-Herrscher.
"Finally, I see living people."
"Hello, I am Yae Sakura, the shrine maiden of Yae Shrine. May I ask what year it is now?"
The shrine maiden, holding the demon blade Akizakura, appeared before them.
…
…
This is a space composed of consciousness.
When Cecilia passed through the subspace layer and touched the realm of the imaginary numbers, she quickly glimpsed the essence of the imaginary.
That is, it does not exist.
In the realm of mathematics, imaginary numbers are numbers that do not exist on the coordinate axis, opposing real numbers.
Correspondingly, in the realm of space, imaginary space also does not belong to any part of four-dimensional space.
To be precise, this should be presented as the opposite of the world, and the energy known as Honkai is the energy generated from the friction when imaginary and real spaces 'embrace.'
Honkai is the only bond that maintains the connection between imaginary and real.
This discovery shocked Cecilia.
The existence of the Valkyries of Schicksal is to completely drive Honkai out of the time and space realms accessible to humanity. However, upon reaching the imaginary realm, she found that this was almost an impossible task.
The Honkai generated from the 'embrace' of imaginary and real encompasses the entire universe.
And Earth is merely an insignificant part of the universe.
Not to mention that beyond this universe, there are countless parallel worlds; the civilization currently occupied by humanity occupies only 0.000001% or even less of the universe.
This means that the birth of civilization is merely a coincidence.
Honkai, on the other hand, is inevitable.
And based on Cecilia's discovery, she was shocked to reach a conclusion: it is not humanity driving away Honkai, but rather Honkai driving away humanity.
For the imaginary realm, for the four-dimensional space, a world supported by cold rules is the normal world, while civilizations that appear through countless coincidences are abnormal.
"This discovery must not be told to anyone."
Cecilia instinctively felt suffocated.
It was as if a group of ants learned that their enemy would be countless elephants; if the ants had consciousness, they would undoubtedly choose to commit suicide at the first opportunity.
Moreover, ants can dig holes to hide underground; where can humanity hide?
She continued to observe using the spatial lens.
According to Otto, the spatial lens would guide her through the timeline, and in the place where the imaginary exists, she would see flowing time.
Whether past, present, or future, all would be presented here.
However, Cecilia did not see any scenes related to the past.
She only saw a tree.
That tree seemed very close to her, yet also very distant.
Just as she was thinking about getting closer, she instinctively felt something was wrong.
"My body is getting lighter."
Cecilia's body was being assimilated by the imaginary.
"This is bad."
The essence of imaginary transformation is the corruption of high concentrations of Honkai Energy, but the result is more severe than Honkai corruption.
If one could still reverse Honkai corruption using Schariac's genes, then imaginary transformation completely leaves a person's body, consciousness, and traces in the world of the imaginary.
In other words, it is utterly without a trace.
The imaginary is a realm that only special individuals can reach.
Kiana, who was obtained by merging Kaslana and Schariac genes, counts as one.
Sirin, who wields the authority of the Herrscher of the Void, counts as one.
Otto, the pseudo-god who steals the authority of the imaginary, counts as one.
They either received the favor of 'gods' or the permission of 'gods' to step into the dimension of consciousness with their flesh and blood.
Theoretically, Wendy and Raiden Mei, during their travels, also traversed into the imaginary space, reaching the past, but that was essentially under the protection of the Herrscher Core.
Su, who can observe countless parallel worlds with her own consciousness, also counts as one, but even Su has never truly stepped into the imaginary space.
Unfortunately, Cecilia is not a guest of the imaginary space.
Countless Honkai and mixed consciousness began to invade her body, and Cecilia felt her aetheric essence rapidly depleting.
"I can't, I must go back."
At this moment, Cecilia couldn't care about anything else; if she were completely transformed into the imaginary, it would be disastrous.
Just then, a life formed of the imaginary appeared, blocking her path.
"Tsk, this is really something."
Cecilia did not carry the Abyss Flower, but that does not mean she was completely powerless.
She had once discussed martial arts with Fu Hua, naturally learning some boxing techniques, not to mention that Valkyrie combat techniques are essentially a collection of ancient martial arts.
Cecilia gathered the power within her; the bloodline of Schariac still flowed, which reassured her somewhat.
After she swiftly shattered the cores of these imaginary life forms, she was shocked to find that her aetheric essence was nearly depleted.
"It's too late."
Even the experienced Cecilia couldn't help but feel despair in the face of this situation.
Once transformed into the imaginary, it meant she was about to face a death, or even complete disappearance.
In this case, unless Chen Ran traverses time to change fate, otherwise...
"So, this is fate?"
Before her aetheric essence ran out, Cecilia suddenly had an epiphany.
"Fate may deviate due to a person's traversal, but it will still rely on inertia to return to its original position."
"Right now, I am merely fate returning to its original node."
Cecilia suddenly felt a sense of relief.
She was meant to sacrifice herself.
Only in this way, after her sacrifice, Kiana would have a chance to become Durandal, and Sirin would lose her protection, having a chance to become the Herrscher of the Void.
This seemed to be a predetermined fate.
Even if time is delayed, what is meant to come will still come.
Cecilia found that she seemed to harbor less hatred for Otto; if there was to be hatred, it should be directed at the Honkai that fools everyone.
The aetheric essence could no longer support her return to the opened subspace, and she could only watch helplessly as her body gradually turned into a part of the imaginary.
At that moment, a hand grabbed her.
Cecilia looked over, stunned.
"You are..."
The person before her had golden hair and identical azure eyes.
That almost identical face made Cecilia instinctively call out, "Kiana."
"I am now called Bianka."
Durandal, who held Cecilia's hand, said with concern, "You have a serious problem right now, Bia, we need to go back."
"Okay."
In Cecilia's astonished gaze, the Blade Durandal in Durandal's hand transformed into an ELF, and then they arrived in a strange world.
"Lady Cecilia, long time no see."
A familiar figure stood before Cecilia.
Cecilia was slightly taken aback: "Shigure Kira? How did you end up here?"
In her memory, Shigure Kira should have been on standby at Schicksal Headquarters.
"Well, you should be asking why there are two of me, right?"
Shigure Kira took Cecilia's hand and said, "Lady Cecilia, you know that the historical node has been changed once, right?"
Cecilia instinctively looked at Durandal.
Durandal, however, did not know how to face this blood-related mother.
"What on earth is going on?"
"It's a quantum state."
Bia said indignantly, "Dr. Chen Ran jumped into the timeline to change the time node, attempting 665 times, but each time he failed."
"This is the 666th time, resulting in a great chaos in time."
She sighed, "Why can't he learn to be more open-minded like Dr. Mobius? I really don't know what he's so stubborn about."
"665 attempts to change time?" Cecilia was somewhat surprised.
Durandal pursed her lips and said, "According to Bia, that person named Chen Ran attempted to change time 666 times, resulting in all observations being disrupted, leading to one life appearing in two overlapping quantum states."
"And then, I, Senior Shigure Kira, and Bia became quantum states. Thanks to Bia, otherwise I would have completely disappeared from the world."
"Although we can walk in the imaginary and quantum, we can no longer enter four-dimensional space to cause an impact."
"Bia sensed your danger, so she brought me to the imaginary world to find you."
Time is not immutable.
However, the cost of changing time is extremely high; the original person becomes an unobservable quantum state, which is inherently unfair.
For Cecilia and Shigure Kira, who died in the real world, this is undoubtedly a benefit.
But for Durandal, learning that her life has restarted, she doesn't know what to do.
She has already adapted to the identity of Durandal, but suddenly learning about her father and mother, yet being unable to reunite, is undoubtedly unfair.
Bia still complained, "Chen Ran is such a big fool; he clearly knows that doing this is irresponsible to everyone, yet he still insists on going his own way."
Durandal couldn't help but hug Bia, saying, "He just can't accept failure, I suppose."
"After all, witnessing the destruction of an era, if I had the ability to change time, I would do the same."
She saw Cecilia's puzzled expression and whispered, "Bia is the Soulium electronic computer from the previous civilization era, but before the destruction of the previous civilization era, she learned all knowledge and then shut herself down."
"That's not shutting down; I just took a nap!" Bia retorted.
Shigure Kira quipped, "So you took a nap in the Sea of Quanta."
Durandal continued, "According to Bia, the original Chen Ran joined Fire Moth, witnessed the destruction of the entire era, and then used the remaining technology to reach the moon."
"After that, he began to jump through the timeline," Durandal paused and said, "Originally, Bia wouldn't have sensed these, but she could feel that the concentration of Honkai Energy in the universe was generally increasing and was very abnormal."
"Then I learned that that fool Chen Ran jumped through the timeline 665 times, but that civilization was also destroyed 665 times."
Bia exclaimed, "It must be that Dr. MEI's fault; that cold-blooded guy turned everything into pawns. The previous time jumps were not chaotic, but this time is different; having two Durandals in one timeline indicates that this world is about to become extremely unstable."
"Overlaying different probabilities of time does indeed have a chance to defeat Honkai, but more likely it will attract the observation of higher-dimensional life."
Shigure Kira scoffed, "But it cannot be denied that this is the only way to completely defeat Honkai."
Bia coldly replied, "But this is also a way to accelerate the Destruction civilization."
She pointed at Cecilia: "Now that Cecilia is here, it means that fate has returned to its usual track. Just watch, Sirin will still become the Herrscher of the Void, that Kiana will still turn into Bianka, and then obtain Blade Durandal, which is me. The clone Kiana will still appear."
"Everything returns to the starting point, and this is still the most fortunate outcome. The most terrifying thing is the increase in Honkai Energy concentration, the accelerated frequency of Herrscher appearances, and Finality will arrive even sooner."
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