Chapter 122: Reversed Fate
"It's getting late. We should head back," Irene said softly, turning her head to look at the distant sky.
"In the future, there will be plenty of opportunities to come out and look around again."
Sirin nodded, taking one last, deep look at the brightly lit city, firmly engraving this real, warm sensation into her heart.
"Mhm..." A barely audible response dissipated into the gentle night breeze.
The figures of the two merged into the night once again, quietly returning in the direction of St. Freya Academy. Even if the sky was already getting bright, with their speed, it was more than enough for them to return safely.
Under Irene's watchful gaze, Sirin lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. However, she then turned her head to look at Irene standing at the doorway: "Irene?"
"I'm here, is there a problem?" Irene asked, looking at Sirin lying on the bed, who appeared very well-behaved.
"Could you sleep with me today..." Sirin looked at Irene, but the words were swallowed back down just as they reached her lips. "No, forget it. I can't cause trouble for you..."
Sirin lowered her head. She knew she shouldn't appear in front of everyone right now, and she still had to go back later. If Irene was discovered lying in Kiana's bed the next day, it would be difficult for Irene to explain.
She couldn't cause trouble for Irene.
And just as Sirin lowered her head, a hand gently rested on top of it. Sirin looked up at Irene, whose face was full of smiles.
"Well, sleeping with you... that wish is probably not going to work out," Irene said while stroking Sirin's head.
She then leaned down and gently pressed her forehead against Sirin's.
"But wishing you sweet dreams, I think that's still doable. Good night, Sirin. May you have a good dream."
"Mhm..." Sirin's face flushed red as she nodded obediently.
She then lay down, finally watching as Irene turned to leave and closed the bedroom door.
Sirin rolled over and looked at the ceiling above her. The pristine white ceiling before her eyes alternated with a pitch-black steel cage. In the end, two white-haired figures appeared before Sirin.
Sirin took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and murmured to herself, "Ich liebe dich..."
As Sirin's mouth opened and closed, it seemed she mumbled something else, but it was so faint that even she might not have heard it clearly. Or perhaps she was only saying it for her own heart to hear.
Beneath her eyelids, the dark gold pupils gradually faded away, reverting to Kiana's azure blue eyes. Upon awakening, Kiana looked around as if jolted awake from a dream.
"Huh?" Kiana looked around in slight confusion, seemingly wondering why she had suddenly woken up. And why did it feel like there was a taste in her mouth?
"Strange, I obviously didn't eat anything, so why am I so full?" Kiana rubbed her stomach. Even though she had eaten a lot of Mei's cooking this afternoon...
But with her digestion speed, how could she possibly be this full right now?
However, Kiana immediately exercised the top-tier trait of the Kaslana Family: if you can't figure it out, then don't think about it. She would just treat it as an occasional bout of indigestion today.
Finally, she flopped back down with a thud and continued sleeping. If she didn't sleep now, she really wouldn't have the energy to go to class tomorrow, and she didn't want to be nagged by Himeko again.
Meanwhile, in Irene's room, Irene lay on her bed and returned to the consciousness space. The moment she returned, she saw several people surrounding her, their eyes carrying a hint of teasing.
"I didn't expect Miss Irene to be quite so good at flirting," Kallen said.
She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded approvingly. As a former phantom thief, she had learned quite a few flirting tricks from storybooks.
Beside her, Little Corruption also shared the same approving look, giving Irene a thumbs up: "Irene, that move of yours has at least forty percent of Elysia's skill level."
"The way I see it, Sirin has absolutely fallen for you."
Beside them, Rin also wore a teasing expression, giving Irene a thumbs up: "Sister Irene is very strong~"
As soon as Rin finished speaking, she was flicked on the forehead, and the other two also received a knock on their heads respectively.
"What are you saying? I am clearly making a contribution to the world," Irene said.
She crossed her arms over her chest, putting on an awe-inspiringly righteous appearance. "This is clearly called feeding myself to the tiger."
"Then, my dear, do you not like it?" [Irene] leaned over with a smile on her face. "When you were flirting, you were practically going all out, my dear."
"I won't deny that point, I suppose," Irene said, looking away.
She admitted that she did have some ulterior motives when flirting, but she was absolutely sincere about it.
If Sirin was truly willing to let go of her desire for revenge against all of humanity, Irene would naturally keep her promise to stay by Sirin's side and give her warmth.
But if she wasn't, Irene would only be able to... However, looking at her current state, it shouldn't need to reach that point.
As for the subsequent descent of the Queen, if Sirin was willing to cooperate, the two of them could very well team up to put on an act in front of Otto.
So what if Otto was smart? How could he possibly know that two people who shouldn't have any interaction would suddenly put on an act in front of him?
An information gap is an information gap, and the fog of war is the fog of war. It's not something that can be resolved just by being smart.
"But it seems Miss Irene hasn't just harvested Sirin's heart," Kallen said.
She and the others had been watching Irene's previous actions through her perspective.
And they had also noticed Irene's sudden pause. Although they couldn't see the System's light screen, they could still notice Irene suddenly stopping.
"Indeed, it's not just that," Irene nodded.
She formally claimed the rewards. However, Irene ignored the Role Card for now and focused her attention on the other two skills.
She could roughly guess what the skills of the Role Card were like. After all, the title of the Herrscher of Wind was slapped right on it; it wouldn't be too late to study it later.
Irene had already obtained six Role Cards from the System, but her skills—including the current Palace of Consciousness, Mirror Sync, Active Polarization, plus these two new ones—only totaled five.
[Mirror Sync]
[Host Skill] [Passive Skill]
[Effect: Used in conjunction with Mirror Sync, allows the constructed equipment to simultaneously possess the abilities of another piece of equipment. For example, syncing the Ruoshui Sword allows it to be imbued with the Oath of Judah, possessing the Power of Binding.]
[Burst Lattice]
[Host Skill]
[Effect: All produced Honkai energy crystals possess the ability to detonate at will. The explosion damage depends on the activity of the Honkai energy within the crystal. Any Honkai energy touched can also be infected by this ability, turning into easily manipulated Burst Lattices.]
Both of these skills were enhancements to her current system. Irene looked at the descriptions of the two skills and nodded. It went without saying for Mirror Sync; it allowed her to mix two pieces of equipment.
For example, when she used the Cat's Chakram, she could imbue the Cat's Chakram with the Ruoshui Sword and then the Oath of Judah. It could absolutely be called a peerless divine weapon.
As for the other one, Burst Lattice, it was an enhancement to Active Polarization, and it should also be able to enhance her two existing skills, Burst Lance and Explosive Blossom.
It was just unknown how the specific power fared. She would find an opportunity to test it out later; it shouldn't disappoint her.
It wasn't that she didn't want to test it in the Palace of Consciousness, but the situations simulated by the Palace of Consciousness were based on her own cognition. If she hadn't tried it in reality...
She wouldn't be too clear on exactly what kind of effects these two skills would achieve. It was just like when Kallen taught her Absolute Position previously; without telling her the effects of Absolute Position, she had no way of making the mental world display the same effects.
Irene and [Irene] exchanged a glance.
[Irene] nodded: "No problem, my dear. After you've studied these two skills on the outside and figured out their general capabilities, I'll go research how to integrate these two abilities with our existing ones."
"Mhm, thanks for your hard work, [Irene]," Irene nodded.
Her time was indeed currently very tight, so the matter of researching abilities could only be handed over to [Irene] for help.
If she didn't have [Irene]'s help, there would really be no way to apply all these abilities in such a short amount of time.
"Why say so much between you and me? We're originally one entity anyway," [Irene] shrugged. "Besides, aren't the things we want to do exactly the same?"
"You are laying out plans in the outside world, my dear, so of course I have to help you research how to make those plans proceed smoothly. In this regard, the mental effort you expend is no less than mine."
"Mhm, I still have to trouble you."
After nodding, Irene took out the Role Card representing Wendy.
[Wind of Emergence · Breath of the Gale · Wendy]
[Type: Possession Card · Logic of Continuation]
[Honkai Resistance: [Extremely Strong]]
[Honkai Adaptability: [Limit Break]]
[Abilities: Wind of Emergence: Possesses a complete Herrscher of Wind Core, and has fully adapted to the Herrscher of Wind's Authority to complete emergence. Possesses the ability to manipulate all fluids, and can create the theoretical perfect fluid.
Breath of the Gale: Specialized wind-based abilities. With a wave of a hand, can create tornadoes exceeding a hundred meters per second, and can freely apply this to one's own speed to travel alongside the tornado.]
[Evaluation: Can cause gale winds to fracture the earth, clouds to surge and rain to howl, and the hurricane to blow endlessly.]
Irene looked at the card in her hand and nodded. This indeed wasn't far off from the abilities she had imagined. After all, the tricks Wendy could play were probably just those few.
Speaking of which, the outfit of the Herrscher of Wind after emergence was probably fixed. Although this outfit had some differences, it was very similar to Heavenly Emperor Wen's outfit from Honkai Gakuen 2.
Irene stared at the card in her hand, which was wreathed in flowing pale cyan light. The figure of Wendy on the card face looked as if she would ride the wind and emerge at any moment. She took a deep breath and slowly released her hand.
The Role Card did not fall, but instead floated in mid-air. A soft yet intense cyan light burst forth from the center of the card, rapidly outlining the silhouette of a petite young girl.
As the light gradually faded, a young girl clad in a Herrscher dress, primarily cyan and white and adorned with feather patterns, revealed her figure. She had refreshing, short pale cyan hair, and her delicate face carried a trace of lingering melancholy. It was none other than Wendy.
However, her eyes were tightly shut and her brows were deeply furrowed, as if she were immersed in some kind of nightmare. The moment her figure completely solidified, she abruptly snapped open her emerald green eyes.
But before anyone could say anything, Wendy suddenly spread her hands as if facing an enemy, instantly whipping up a massive cyan storm within the palace.
"Haa—!"
"Watch out!" Lixue reacted the fastest.
The Ruoshui Sword was unsheathed in an instant, transforming into a water curtain barrier that blocked in front of everyone. But the hastily erected water curtain fluctuated violently under the berserk wind pressure.
Little Corruption's gaze sharpened, and she immediately adjusted Eden's data. A black sphere appeared in her hand, and an immense gravity instantly pressed forward, attempting to suppress Wendy.
Kallen had also pressed her hand onto the manifested Oath of Judah, and several chains shot out across the surroundings, stabilizing the whirlwind around them.
Subsequently, Irene made her move directly. Using her authority within the Palace of Consciousness, she outright eliminated the surrounding storm. Only then did Wendy realize that the surrounding environment had drastically changed.
"Wh—where is this?" Wendy looked around, her eyes filled with wariness. "Where did that bastard Herrscher of Ice go?"
"Herrscher of Ice? Ana?" Several question marks flashed above Irene's head.
The Herrscher of Ice, she naturally knew who that was, but could Ana actually kill an emerged Herrscher?
Although an emerged Herrscher didn't entirely represent strength, being able to achieve emergence meant their strength was at least guaranteed. Moreover, the Herrscher of Ice... hmm, interesting.
"Miss Wendy, please calm down for a moment. Hmm, the situation here is a little bit complicated," Irene said.
She reached out and handed the prepared Book of Memories to Wendy.
"A little bit complicated? I feel like it's no longer just as simple as 'a little bit complicated'." Wendy looked up and scanned the crowd. How should she put it? Just among the ones she recognized, there seemed to be a Herrscher of Death here, as well as three other unrecognized Herrschers.
Counting herself, five Herrschers were actually gathered in this tiny space. Was this reasonable? However, she truly didn't sense any hostility from them.
Moreover, Wendy turned her head to look at Kallen, who was standing in front of everyone holding Judah, having just retracted the surrounding chains. This person looked a bit familiar. Why did she look like Saint Kallen, who was frequently mentioned in the textbooks?
With the situation currently unclear, she might as well see what kind of tricks they were trying to pull first before making a judgment.
Thinking this, Wendy opened the book and began absorbing the memories within. The contents of the book were roughly the same as for the others; it detailed the current situation, as well as their original fates.
As a Herrscher, and an emerged Herrscher at that, the Book of Memories in Wendy's hand was quickly comprehended and dissipated from her grasp. Wendy opened her eyes.
"I see..." Wendy nodded. She could understand the circumstances of the fate displayed in the book, or rather, only one point had changed.
That was back then, although she was indeed extremely weak after battling Sister Bronya and the others, she hadn't been so weak that she would be completely thrashed by a Titan.
She still retained a bit of Honkai energy sufficient to drive her Authority, and by relying on this bit of Honkai energy, she had overturned Sister Bronya, who was being controlled by Cocolia at the time, as well as the other Titans.
Wendy took a deep breath. She had been able to retain that bit of Honkai energy precisely because she still retained a shred of sanity back then. She understood what she had done, so during the battle, she had merely been seeking death.
Since she was seeking death, she naturally wouldn't exert her full strength. The battle was more like forcing them to attack her, as well as a final catharsis.
There was only this kind of difference, merely that she had harbored a mindset of wanting to seek death.
It was just like that. She had clearly been seeking death, yet she had inadvertently surpassed the so-called Destined Death instead. Thinking of this, Wendy couldn't help but shake her head helplessly.
"Sigh, this fate, it truly is wondrous."
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