"Over here~!"
Meanwhile, the intense battle at the central floating island raged on.
However, with the boost from the Space-Time Prism, Lynelle's combat prowess was skyrocketing at an astonishing rate.
After all, if this ability, when used on others, could be considered as letting them borrow power from their future, then when Lynelle used it, it felt more like reclaiming power from her past.
At the very least, she wielded this Origin Power, amplified by the Space-Time Prism, with effortless familiarity, as natural as moving her own limbs—not the slightest bit awkward.
But Durandal on the opposing side wasn't having nearly as smooth a time.
"Hah..."
Launching another flame-wreathed lance to shatter the crystalline arrow shot her way, Durandal couldn't help but let out a heavy breath.
She had to admit, she'd previously underestimated Lynelle's strength...
This level of combat pressure demanded Durandal's full, undivided attention. After all, in her estimation, even Overseer Otto's prowess was roughly on this level.
She could win, but it would be a tough victory—that was the conclusion Durandal had reached after her initial clash with Lynelle's power.
Yet, if at the start of the fight Durandal's goal was simply victory, after a few minutes of exchange, she wasn't so sure anymore.
Because she'd discovered a more serious problem.
The Black Abyss White Flower... seemed to be acting up.
Earlier, due to Otto's request for a "sneak attack" and her own reluctance to go all out, she'd been using the lance that came with her Dea Anchora armor—versatile, extendable, retractable, even usable as a projectile; it was highly practical.
However, after fighting for a while, Durandal decisively switched back to the Black Abyss White Flower.
After all, Lynelle's strength was nothing to scoff at, and if she didn't get serious, there was even a chance she might lose this battle.
But this switch quickly revealed the issue—the Black Abyss White Flower in her hand seemed to be constantly transmitting feelings of resistance, as if it was reluctant to attack Lynelle.
When she first noticed the problem, Durandal thought she might be under some mental assault from Lynelle.
Otto had mentioned Lynelle possessed psychic perception abilities, and having met the Previous Era's Su before, Durandal was no stranger to such powers.
But after focusing her senses for a moment, Durandal realized her initial impression was both right and not quite.
The Black Abyss White Flower was resisting her attacks against Lynelle, but not entirely. It seemed mixed with a hint of resentment, a touch of irritability, and even a little... grievance?
This completely baffled our straightforward, blunt "Dummy Goose".
She'd always used the Black Abyss White Flower just fine before.
No one ever told her this weapon needed psychological counseling! And especially not this... peculiar kind of therapy. In that regard, even Rita was probably more qualified than she was.
But... why?
Though Durandal excelled in martial prowess, her intellect and knowledge were far from lacking.
She clearly remembered the historical records of the Second Eruption: Lynelle shouldn't have had many opportunities to see the Black Abyss White Flower back then at all, let alone use it. She'd never even touched it.
So why would the Black Abyss White Flower harbor such complex feelings toward Lynelle?
After several more exchanges, Durandal felt her own brain was about to overload.
If the situation weren't so inappropriate, she'd really want to ask Lynelle right then and there: just what was going on?
"Mhm~"
Just as Durandal was caught in her confusion, Lynelle proactively halted her attacks.
After all, she wasn't nearly as pressed for time as Durandal or Otto assumed. Otto wanted to stall her? Well, she wanted to stall him right back!
The longer she dragged this out, the more Sirin could feast over on her end. If they rescued Kiana too early and those two "bottomless pits" didn't get their fill, they'd have to go to an Anti-Entropy base for more Honkai energy later.
So, noticing Durandal's increasingly troubled expression, Lynelle thoughtfully stopped her assault.
"You seem preoccupied? If it's not too much trouble, would you like to share?"
"After all... a maiden's eyes often hold many little secrets~ I can tell, you know? Whatever's troubling you... seems related to me?"
"While I appreciate your concern, this is a battlefield."
Durandal tightened her grip on the faintly trembling Black Abyss White Flower, her voice laced with confusion.
"I don't believe conversing with you now is appropriate, especially given our current positions."
"Positions... indeed, such troublesome things."
Lynelle tilted her head. "But cute girls shouldn't let strange reasons like that block the exchange between their hearts, you know?"
"Right now, the entire central floating island is enveloped by my Impeccable Dome. Not even Otto can monitor what happens here by any means."
"Besides..."
Lynelle clasped her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and flashed a radiant smile. "Your Black Abyss White Flower is trembling so much that even I can tell something's wrong~"
--+--
"Grey Serpent, Lynelle said even Otto can't see what's happening inside the central island now. So how come we can still see what's going on in there?"
"To be precise, only you can see. I'm only able to view the situation by translating the electrical signals from the Seven Thunders of Retribution. Didn't you notice I turned off my prosthetic eye's recording function a while ago?"
Grey Serpent replied flatly. "If Otto were also observing using a mimicked Seven Thunders, he could probably see it too. But he's a bit tied up himself right now, so naturally he can't spare attention for Lynelle's situation."
"I see. But speaking of the Seven Thunders..."
Raven stroked the body of the rifle with some puzzlement. "You might not believe this, but Seven Thunders... she seems to be gloating."
"That's pretty much the emotion I'm picking up from her..."
Seven Thunders: (≖‿≖)
"Uh..."
Looking at the simple emoticon Raven casually carved on the ground, a trace of awkwardness crossed Grey Serpent's face.
After a moment, he glanced around and lowered his voice.
"Actually... I have a rough idea what's going on."
"As the mistress of the Seven Thunders, it's fine for you to know these secret histories, but please don't spread them. After all, this is also just 'unofficial history' I collected from others in the Previous Era. If it got out, it might damage the dignity of the various Flame-Chasers."
"Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Spill the details."
Raven immediately perked up her ears, making a zipping motion over her mouth.
Ahem.
Grey Serpent cleared his throat. "Natasha, I heard you're on good terms with the Flame-Chaser Eden back in the Elysian Realm."
"Then you should know, the original master of the Black Abyss White Flower was actually the Flame-Chaser Elysia, right?"
"Yeah, but later it seemed Elysia stopped using that weapon?"
"Correct. And her reason for abandoning the Black Abyss White Flower was... it wasn't pretty enough, didn't match her style."
"Huh?"
"Don't be shocked yet, that's just background info."
Grey Serpent's voice dropped further. "In truth, back when the Divine Key project first started, since the threat of the Honkai wasn't so imminent yet, the Flame-Chaser Vill-V often added some... 'little quirks' when crafting the Divine Keys."
"This resulted in most of the Divine Keys produced early on, or those planned early, being equipped with virtual personality systems of varying strengths, similar to those of armed dolls—like the Seven Thunders in your hand, for example, or Void Archive."
"And the Black Abyss White Flower... it was actually among this group."
"According to unofficial records, the consciousness of the Black Abyss White Flower is also that of a young girl."
"This led to the Black Abyss White Flower itself being quite picky about its users—it would only accept beautiful maidens wielding it, and the more beautiful the maiden, the higher the compatibility."
"Sounds like the unicorns from myths..."
Raven muttered. "But looking at it that way, when Elysia gave up using it back then, doesn't that mean..."
"Exactly. Following that logic, the Black Abyss White Flower must have been quite taken with the Flame-Chaser Elysia back then. After all, whether in figure, appearance, or inner charisma, this Flame-Chaser was universally acknowledged as top-tier in the Previous Era."
"So, after being bluntly told by the Flame-Chaser Elysia that it wasn't cute enough and subsequently abandoned, the Black Abyss White Flower went into a long period of depression. It wasn't until much later that it was put to use again by the Flame-Chaser Su, Elysia's close friend."
"Gasp—"
Raven drew a sharp breath. "You're not going to tell me next that Su was actually a—"
"What are you talking about!"
Grey Serpent jumped, quickly looking around. "What I meant was, the Flame-Chaser Su later became a MANTIS of the psychic perception type."
"He keenly discerned that the Black Abyss White Flower hadn't simply failed to find a suitable wielder, but was quietly sulking on its own. So he gave it some psychological counseling."
"And as repayment, the Black Abyss White Flower allowed the Flame-Chaser Su to wield it."
"However, most of the Black Abyss White Flower's users in the current era have also been women. The few male exceptions were... rather handsome individuals, like the Flame-Chaser Su..."
"Hmm..."
Raven was silent for a moment. "So, you're saying the reason the Black Abyss White Flower is acting so strange is because Lynelle's current appearance is a lot like Elysia's?"
"To be precise, Lynelle's appearance was already similar to the Flame-Chaser Elysia before, but the differences were still noticeable back then."
Grey Serpent silently glanced at the two figures in the arena again. "But after using that mysterious item, perhaps due to receiving a large amount of the Flame-Chaser Elysia's power, or maybe being influenced by the Stigmata... in short..."
"If not for Lynelle's relatively more petite frame, even the Flame-Chaser herself might not be able to tell at first glance, let alone the Black Abyss White Flower."
"Oh... now I get it, I think."
Raven gave a thumbs-up. "So you're saying Lynelle's current state is basically her being 'marinated' in Elysia's power, right?"
"Then... this state shouldn't affect her original personality, should it?"
"It won't."
Grey Serpent shook his head decisively. "According to the Grey Serpent network's continuous observation of her, this 'marinated' state has happened to her more than once, and the subjects involved weren't limited to the Flame-Chaser Elysia. The phenomenon you mentioned has never occurred."
"And if I had to describe it, the nature of this ability is more like the 'coloring' state of the young lady Griseo... I suspect this is also a form of legacy the various Flame-Chasers left with Miss Lynelle."
"It's just that, because Miss Lynelle's own meek personality is also quite distinct, the symptoms of being 'colored' are much milder compared to the young lady Griseo herself."
"I see. The Flame-Chasers' abilities are truly marvelous..."
Raven had an epiphany. But just as she was about to say more, she suddenly felt the Seven Thunders in her hand vibrating again.
This time, however, if the Seven Thunders' emotion before was mocking the Black Abyss White Flower, now her emotion felt more like... envy?
"Did something else happen?"
Raven blinked and hurriedly pressed her eye to the scope again.
Then she saw... Had Durandal really handed the Black Abyss White Flower over to Lynelle?!
"No, seriously...?"
Watching Lynelle gently stroke the Black Abyss White Flower, Raven's jaw nearly dropped. "Durandal just gave her weapon away like that?"
"The Flame-Chaser Elysia's little tricks for interpersonal interaction, quite miraculous, aren't they?"
Grey Serpent, however, seemed to take it in stride. "After all, Durandal already held some goodwill toward Miss Lynelle. And honestly, this is nothing."
"If you study the history of the Previous Era more, you'll find that when several of the Flame-Chasers first met the Flame-Chaser Elysia, the difficulty of their interactions was far higher than this..."
And on the other side, just as Raven and the others witnessed, Lynelle had indeed successfully "talked" the Black Abyss White Flower out of Durandal's hands.
Of course, it was only temporary. And Lynelle had also lent the Space-Time Prism she'd just used to Durandal to play with for the time being.
After all, as long as she didn't activate its ability, the prism was just a multifaceted mirror reflecting different versions of oneself, completely free from the side effects found in a certain star rail game.
"There, there, I know you've been wronged..."
Lynelle gently stroked the shaft of the Black Abyss White Flower, feeling its continuous, aggrieved tremors, and soothed, "But Elysia didn't mean it back then, you know~ She didn't mean you were ugly, she just thought a black-and-white weapon didn't match her pink aesthetic!"
"See, plenty of people were happy to use you afterward~ And if Elysia really thought you were unattractive, Vill-V probably would have remade you long ago."
"That just goes to show you have your own unique charm, right?"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask your current master. Isn't that right, Durandal~?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.