Meanwhile. Elysian Realm Entrance.
Rin, who was gradually bringing the Elysian Realm's control under her command, suddenly had a complicated look on her face.
Su might have known that after the Herrscher of Corruption corrupted the Elysian Realm, she could, like a super-hacker, access all the data within it.
And in the Elysian Realm, the Flame-Chaser memories were, in effect, part of that data.
In other words, within the domain she had corrupted, Rin was virtually 'omniscient'.
But Su truly hadn't expected that in the few short minutes between him learning of Elysia's defeat and him arriving here with Sakura, Rin's level of corruption over the Elysian Realm had reached such a degree.
He knew Aponia had already merged herself with the Elysian Realm; one could say that Aponia *was* a part of the Elysian Realm now.
As long as she was here, Aponia should normally have been the Elysian Realm's last line of defense.
Although, in the face of the Power of Corruption, Aponia would inevitably be unable to resist Rin's power, she should have been able to stall for some time.
But Su had his calculations, and he hadn't anticipated that Aponia, in her desire to meet Leo Ash, had already taken action.
And having taken action, Aponia naturally had no time to put up a pointless struggle where she was.
Therefore, Su thought his act of creating a clone wouldn't be noticed by Rin. But in reality, Rin, who had long since noticed the movements of both Sakura and Su, had already seen this backup measure he had taken.
From an objective standpoint, Su's actions were understandable.
Regardless of what Rin and Leo were thinking, their actions were to beat up a Flame-Chaser upon arrival and then try to 'move' their 'graves'.
If Su didn't keep his guard up against these two people he absolutely couldn't beat, he wouldn't be [Celestial Wisdom] but [Celestial Deficiency], defined by something congenitally wrong with his brain.
However, Rin wasn't a normal person.
Or rather, the normal person she once was had become completely abnormal on the day she died 50,000 years ago.
Rin, who had been locked in a black box for 50,000 years, had endured loneliness all that time, forced to live alone with her hatred.
Even if her heart had softened considerably now, and Cecilia's questions had made her waver slightly about her past actions, it didn't change her fundamental nature over those 50,000 years.
Rin, who had trusted others only to be betrayed, had long since become one of the most extreme people in the world.
And now, Su dared to play tricks while coming to negotiate. For Rin, this was more than enough to ignite her fury.
"Rin!"
Sensing that Rin's emotions were spiraling out of control, Leo immediately barked at her.
"Control your mind! Don't be eroded by the Honkai!"
"Tch... I know."
Rin looked back at Leo, giving him an 'you-get-me' look, before giving up on the idea of actively revealing the information.
In Rin's eyes, Leo also knew what kind of person Su was. He would naturally make a roughly correct judgment after she gave him the hint.
If she spoke up, Elysia, who was hanging on the cross over there, would also hear the news.
Although Elysia couldn't move right now, who knew if she had other ways to relay this information to Su.
*Can't be hasty.*
*Before that eye-closed man gets here, I absolutely cannot be hasty!*
As for Leo, he indeed understood Rin's general idea the moment she gave him the look.
After the Sphere of the Scales had awakened to a certain stage, as the Sphere Holder of this zodiac Sphere that governed 'judgment', Leo's judgment was naturally much stronger than before.
He didn't know *exactly* what Rin was thinking, but her giving him a signal definitely meant someone was about to pull something.
Considering Rin didn't speak, the troublemaker was likely not the Herrscher of Corruption, but one of the other Flame-Chaser memories in the Elysian Realm.
To prevent Elysia from knowing that she had seen through their plan, Rin didn't say anything, only giving Leo a look from an angle Elysia couldn't see.
*Wow, is this really the same 'Big Sister' monster from the original story?*
*Even if this version is one where everyone gets a buff, isn't this improvement in her IQ and thinking a bit too much?*
[Well, she is your most intimate partner right now, bar none.]
?
Don't you go slandering people!!!!
[What are you talking about? Her real home is your Stigmata Space. On a spiritual level, she is one of the people closest to you!!!]
Ah, *that's* what you meant...
[A physical union, and a spiritual union—obviously the latter is superior!!!]
While you're not wrong, there's no 'spiritual union' plotline happening.
[Can you guarantee there won't be in the future?]
You're hyping up potential, aren't you? More importantly, I'm curious why you can still talk.
Someone's about to make a move. Haven't you entered the [Host is in combat, cannot speak] protocol yet?
[Ah, about that. It'll probably be another twenty seconds.]
Oh ho, so it *is* happening.
[But considering they pose basically no threat to you, this System wants to give out rewards too—]
Sys?
U there?
You can disconnect mid-sentence?
Looks like someone really is preparing to make a big move.
It's not the Herrscher of Corruption, so it's most likely Kevin leading a team to beat us up.
Sigh. I didn't want it to come to this, but now...
Oh well, we're already here. If they're coming to get themselves killed, I'll just beat them down one by one.
They probably won't believe anything I say anyway, and we'll have to fight in the end. It's more refreshing to just beat them up and *then* tell them what we're thinking.
As for whether beating them up will affect the overall battle...
That's absolutely impossible.
Even if this Era's Herrscher of Corruption is strong, even strong enough to suppress Rin, it still can't run wild in the Elysian Realm like in the original story.
It's not like Leo Ash will use lethal force when he fights later. If the Herrscher of Corruption really dares to show its face after their fight, it can just wait to be killed by Leo, who has all the walkthroughs.
Hmm, wait a second.
A thought suddenly popped into Leo's head. Maybe he should put on an act?
With his current power, combined with his equipment and the Authority of the Herrscher of Binding, he could unleash incredible strength in a short time.
But the problem was—how much strength he used was up to him.
If he didn't reveal a weakness, the Herrscher of Corruption, if it was really here, would never think of emerging.
The Herrscher of Corruption in the original story wasn't exactly a genius, but compared to its colleagues, it definitely wasn't stupid.
Sigh. I was acting a few months ago, and even after killing Otto, I still have to be an actor.
What a pain.
Damn Herrscher of Corruption, why does it have to be so smart.
"Sir."
After maneuvering his clone into Leo's line of sight, Su said calmly to Leo.
"You don't seem to be in a very good mood."
"If you're willing, you can tell me your troubles."
"Before I joined Fire Moth, I was a doctor. I know a thing or two about psychological counseling."
Looking at the man who had appeared, Leo knew he didn't have time for idle thoughts.
Because right now, next to Su, there was another memory.
Beside Su, Sakura, who had not spoken, had her attention completely captivated by Rin.
The Elysian Realm's Sakura, knowing the tragic end that befell her real self and her sister, had thought about many things on the way here.
She truly had so much she wanted to say to Rin. But now that she saw her sister, Sakura found that she couldn't say a single word.
On the other side, Rin, who had known all along that Sakura would come, looked calm, but her heart, just like the Elysian Realm's Sakura, was churning with uncontrollable waves.
Before Sakura arrived, Rin had constantly told herself: *This is just a memory. She isn't my real sister.*
*She's just a fake. I don't need to invest any feelings in her.*
But it wasn't until she saw Sakura that Rin realized she wasn't as strong or detached as she had imagined.
The moment she saw the Elysian Realm's Sakura, Rin had a thought she didn't want to admit.
Unlike the 'Sakura' that Yae Sakura had pretended to be in the illusion, the Sakura before her was, without a doubt, her sister.
Even if this Sakura was just a memory, it didn't stop Rin from slowing her corruption of the Elysian Realm, and, just like Sakura, slowly walking towards her.
At this moment, the three people watching the sisters instinctively chose not to interrupt their reunion with words or actions.
For the two of them, though they were separated by only a dozen steps, the distance felt agonizingly long.
Unconsciously, they both started to run. A few seconds later, they completely abandoned all other thoughts and embraced each other tightly.
"Big Sister!"
"Rin!"
The two sisters, tears streaming down their faces without them even realizing, clung to each other and wept openly, oblivious to everyone else around them.
Watching their current state, Su, hiding in the shadows, let out a small sigh of relief.
Rin was willing to acknowledge the Elysian Realm's Sakura as her sister. That meant there was room to talk.
Things weren't so bad that they were irreversible, so...
*I hope the negotiations go smoothly.*
......
Meanwhile, the energy clone Su had created beside Kevin immediately spoke to Kevin and the others.
"Everyone, hold on a moment."
"Rin and Sakura have met and are embracing each other, crying. For now, we might not have to fight."
"...Are you sure?"
Kevin instinctively felt that his best friend might be a little too naive this time.
Even though he had left the scene for Su to handle, Kevin's intuition was screaming at him that this matter wouldn't end so simply.
"I'm not sure. But at least we have a chance to try."
"Stay in contact. I'll see what Mr. Intruder does after Sakura and Rin calm down."
"Ah. You be careful, then."
Listening to Su's departing words, Kevin felt the uneasiness in his heart growing.
Intuition. Kevin had always found it to be a mysterious thing.
But it was this very thing that had allowed him to avoid many crises he should have faced, even before he became a MANTIS.
So now, because of this intuition, Kevin felt this matter wouldn't be resolved so easily.
Moreover, he could feel that Kalpas's emotions were clearly extremely frantic.
Alright, Kalpas was *always* frantic. But ever since he heard that 'two Herrschers have invaded the Elysian Realm', Kalpas had become significantly more frantic than usual.
And after learning that one of them was the Herrscher of Binding, Kalpas's agitation had, as far as Kevin was concerned, reached its absolute limit.
The only reason Kalpas hadn't spoken up was probably that he himself judged he wouldn't have anything good to say.
Sigh, Kalpas...
Deep down, he was such a caring person, but his personality was destined to be misunderstood by many.
"Kevin."
Hua, who was following Kevin, looked at him as he stopped and asked softly.
"Are we really going to listen to Su and stop advancing for now?"
"From his assessment, the situation doesn't seem too bad, right?"
"...No. Stay prepared for battle."
After making his decision, Kevin let out a deep, cold breath.
"I want to trust Su's judgment, but he has too little information on the enemies this time."
"And judging by how Elysia was sneak-attacked, the opponent is likely a very decisive person. From that alone, I seriously doubt if Su will even be able to get away in time."
"I said, are you done discussing?"
Kalpas suddenly cut them off, speaking to Kevin with extreme agitation.
"That person brought... brought Rin to the Elysian Realm, clearly to take control of it for himself."
"Since he came here with malicious intent, the only thing left for us to do is—bash that little bastard's skull in, right!"
"While you're hesitating, the blind man and Sakura could be defeated at any moment."
"So much bullshit. I say we're still going to have to fight him in the end."
"And speaking of which, when..."
"—When did we become a bunch of cowards who have to rely on the enemy's mood for our comrades' safety?"
.......