Chapter 188: The Blue Bar
"Is this the place?" The Hyperion hovered above a solitary island. Everyone peered through the monitors at the scene below — an island dotted with ruins. They turned to look at Irene.
"The important part isn't what's on the surface — it's what's underneath." Irene pointed downward. "Everyone come on down. And Himeko, you can stop giving me that look. I promise the Hyperion won't run into any trouble here."
"It's not that I don't trust you." Himeko studied the ruins below. "You're really sure that parking a battleship this conspicuously right here won't get spotted by Schicksal?"
"Relax — and even if they do spot it, what are they going to do about it? It's fine." Irene waved a hand. Using the Herrscher of Death's life-sensing ability, she had already picked up that Kevin was somewhere nearby.
Kevin was right in the area — surely he could keep an eye on one battleship. As for any World Serpent members trying to pull something, the moment Kevin gave the word, there was nothing any of them could do.
And even if someone wanted to push their luck, did they think Zero had left the ship empty? Even with Rin gone, the Corruption virus she'd left on the battleship would faithfully report every little thing.
If Gray Serpent dared try anything, Irene would turn right around and report him to Kevin. And if that wasn't enough, she could always drag Mobius out of the Realm — let Gray Serpent try saying a single word against that.
As for Schicksal — please. Otto was never going to come pick a fight with Kevin, much less come looking for trouble with them. Odds were he was probably busy right now studying the Cosmic Juggernaut.
As long as they didn't waltz right up to his front door, he couldn't be bothered to care about them.
As for why she'd dragged Himeko along as well — well, mainly she wanted to give Fu Hua a little jolt. Because that face of Himeko's — honestly, Irene felt that on face value alone, Himeko's compatibility with the Herrscher of Flame was at least eighty percent.
"So Irene-nee, at least give us a rundown of what this place is," Bronya said, gazing down at the ruins. "I can't detect anything particularly special here."
"The ruins are just the surface. Back in the day, though, it genuinely was a wonderful place." Irene shrugged — after all, the Golden Courtyard had once belonged to Elysia.
"As for where we're headed next: beautiful scenery, excellent training environment, a coach who is dedicated, passionate, and full of fire. Then I'll go take care of the Herrscher of the Legion issue, and the rest of you can hang out with the others and spar."
"...What?"
"Passionate and full of fire, I said."
"Right here." Irene touched down on the ground and looked back at the others as they landed one by one. "Kiana, drop a waypoint marker — just in case. You'll be coming to this place a lot from now on."
"Got it." Kiana nodded, then looked at the ruins in front of her. "But Irene-nee, this place doesn't really look like beautiful scenery to me?"
"Because the real place is on the inside." Irene pointed ahead. "Quick reminder — unless the other person brings it up themselves, don't go poking at anyone's sore spots. We're not here to step on landmines."
"To think I'd end up here." Little Senti glanced around. "I have to say — Elysia really did use quality materials. After all this time, this place still hasn't collapsed."
"Little Senti, you know what this place is?" Wendy drifted in the air, glancing left and right. "You look like you're pretty familiar with it."
"How could I not be? Though the one who actually lived through it firsthand is the old fossil, not me." Little Senti shrugged. "Oh, and a heads-up — if you run into a woman with green hair who tries to lead you off somewhere, watch yourself."
"If you can avoid following her, don't."
"Oh, Mobius is fine," Irene said, shaking her head. "I've got someone who'll keep her occupied. She'll be too busy to bother with you all."
"Anyway, just follow me." Irene led everyone down into the underground passage beneath the ruins, pointing toward the shimmering white curtain of light up ahead.
"Go on in."
No one had any doubts. They all stepped forward and walked into the luminous curtain of light.
Some distance away outside, Kevin stood quietly atop a flying craft, watching the Hyperion descend with complete brazenness right beside the Golden Courtyard.
"Quite a crowd." Kevin looked toward the Golden Courtyard. He had come to check things out after sensing people approaching, but once he sensed Irene among them, he had been ready to leave it alone.
He'd assumed it was Irene bringing her group of Herrscher friends into the Elysian Realm — nothing to concern himself with. But when he saw just how many people Irene had brought down, he was genuinely taken aback.
Were Herrschers really this common among the humans of this era? And he had also noticed — the Herrscher of Reason. When had she been replaced?
Identifying which Herrscher was which wasn't difficult. Every Herrscher's Honkai energy fluctuations were unique, and he had just sensed the distinct resonance of the Herrscher of Reason emanating from that silver-haired little girl.
Kevin had a rough idea of why the change had been necessary. He'd noticed some time ago that the previous Herrscher of Reason had been a poor fit for her own core — her physical condition had been alarmingly deteriorated.
She must have found a compatible successor after coming out. As for the new vessel's character — he wasn't worried. Irene was there, after all, and a Herrscher wouldn't casually pass their core to just anyone.
So the question was one of capability. He'd see how she performed.
There was one thing he hadn't anticipated, though — Little Senti. Based on what he'd observed earlier, this Herrscher of Sentience had, in all likelihood, been overwhelmed by Fu Hua's memories.
Otherwise, there was no explaining why she hadn't used her Authority at all and was fighting purely with her fists. That was inconsistent with how any Herrscher behaved. Even the most dim-witted person, upon gaining an Authority, would instinctively put it to use.
No one would argue that Sirin, back in the laboratory, couldn't manipulate space the moment she awakened — and yet the Herrscher of Sentience wasn't using her Authority at all, relying on her fists instead. Something was clearly off.
Combined with that strange sense of familiarity she'd shown, and the things she'd said, he could reasonably conclude that something had gone wrong when the Herrscher of Sentience had absorbed Fu Hua's memories.
As for exactly what kind of problem it was — give Kevin a break. He was the founding ancestor of the Kaslana family, not a psychologist. That he'd deduced this much was already impressive enough, especially now that he didn't have any external brains to rely on.
Still — it had only been a few days. And yet this Herrscher of Sentience had already come to accept her identity as a Herrscher that quickly, and returned the body to Hua?
While Kevin was lost in thought, Gray Serpent's voice came from inside the flying craft: "Sovereign, should I...?"
"Watch their battleship. Do nothing else." Kevin gave the instruction casually. Besides, there wasn't much Gray Serpent could do anyway — odds were the Corruption virus Zero had left on that ship was still active. He didn't believe Gray Serpent could stir up any trouble.
And there was simply no point. In the end, everything would come down to top-tier combat power — a real, direct confrontation. He needed them to convince him, on their own terms, that they could win.
Sabotaging one of their battleships would accomplish absolutely nothing. It wasn't worth the effort.
"Yes, Sovereign." Gray Serpent nodded, then after a moment, asked again: "Then, Sovereign — is there anything else you need me to do regarding Schicksal?"
"No." Kevin shook his head. "Just do what needs doing."
"Understood."
— Elysian Realm —
Once they were inside, the stark white curtain of light gradually shifted into a warm, gentle glow, and an expansive, brightly lit hall materialized before them.
"Oof." While everyone was taking in their surroundings, Kiana's voice rang out from the side. They turned to look — and found Kiana pinned underneath Sirin.
Sirin, dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, was sitting on top of Kiana with a completely blank expression, as though she'd been pressing down on something just a moment ago.
"Mm... where is this?"
"Never mind where this is, get off me right now, you menace!" Kiana heaved with all her strength and threw Sirin off. Sirin floated briefly in the air before landing lightly on the ground.
"Is this the place Irene mentioned? But why did I come out here?"
"You'd have to ask Ire—" Someone only then noticed that the group that had come through didn't seem to include Irene. "Where's Irene?"
Before anyone could puzzle it out, a massive dark heap of figures came tumbling out from the direction they'd entered. Everyone squinted to look — and realized it was a large pile of people stacked on top of each other.
When they finally made out the white-haired figure buried at the very bottom of the pile, looking thoroughly dazed, Theresa's eyes went wide.
"Cecilia?!"
"Theresa. It's been a while."
"Save the reunion for later — can you all please get off me?" Irene's muffled, buzzing voice drifted up from the very bottom of the pile. "Honestly. I came prepared and it still ended up like this."
"I think it's because our coordinate axes were all linked together. No matter how we prepared, the Realm probably just defaulted to treating us as a group, so it dumped us all in at once."
Nuwa and the others quickly scrambled off Irene. As the sizeable heap of people climbed to their feet, the others watched Irene with increasingly peculiar expressions.
They'd known before that Irene had a lot of people living inside her head — but seeing it play out like this in person, this was a lot, even by those standards.
Especially those among them who'd had experience with a second personality — they were looking at Irene with the kind of reverence one reserved for a true powerhouse. This was already well beyond anything "multiple personalities" could explain.
"Irene always makes such a dramatic entrance~" Elysia's voice suddenly filled the hall. She looked at the group who had just arrived, her smile growing ever brighter.
"Welcome, pure and radiant souls. Welcome to the Elysian Realm."
The power of the Herrscher of Origin told her that a good number of the beautiful girls before her were Herrschers — and the presence of Irene mixed among them made it immediately clear that every single one of these girls fought for humanity.
And not only that — every one of them was a beautiful girl. Every single one a perfect ten in looks. Elysia had only sensed people approaching from outside, but she hadn't expected this many to show up.
"Hey, long time no see, Elysia." Irene stood at the back of the group and gave Elysia a cheerful wave. "Brought the whole gang to come see you."
"So I see~" Elysia smiled and nodded, then turned to address the others. "Welcome to the Elysian Realm, everyone. I'm Elysia — but you can also call me the beautiful and adorable Miss Pink Elf."
Elysia's gaze swept over the group. The girls assembled before her truly covered every imaginable type — cute girls, elder sisters, those with commanding presences, and those who looked delightfully easy to tease.
Every variety was represented. Surrounded by a crowd of beautiful girls like this — it was bliss upon bliss.
And more importantly, they were all Herrschers who fought for humanity. Though with this many of them, there was no way she could tease them all at once. Who to start with~?
Actually — she should catch up with Irene first. Then again, she could always find some new sweetheart to fluster for a bit first. Oh my, decisions, decisions.
But as she looked around, Elysia suddenly noticed — there was someone in the crowd who looked awfully familiar.
"Hm — Hua? And there are two of them?" Elysia looked at Little Senti. She could clearly sense the Herrscher aura emanating from Little Senti, and the face was identical to Fu Hua's.
She looked back over at Fu Hua.
"Oh — Elysia?" Little Senti looked at Elysia and scratched her head. "Um, you've got the wrong person. I'm not the old fossil — the old fossil is right over there."
Little Senti pointed at Fu Hua beside her, then pointed to herself. "I'm Little Senti — the Herrscher of Sentience. And this name is only temporary, by the way. Remember that."
"Old fossil~?" Elysia tilted her head. She studied Little Senti's face, glanced at Fu Hua, and felt a mischievous idea bubble up.
"So then... are you Hua's daughter?"
"I am nobody's daughter — especially not the old fossil's!"
"Alright, alright — technically speaking, that's not even wrong." Irene gave the flustered Little Senti a soothing pat on the head, then looked up at Elysia. "This kid's origins are... a little complicated."
Irene stepped forward and slipped naturally into place beside Elysia, then began giving her a brief but thorough rundown — pointing at Little Senti and walking Elysia through the whole story, from Little Senti's birth to how she'd ended up like this.
As Irene spoke, Elysia's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The others were still glancing around at their surroundings, but many gazes drifted back to settle on Irene. Bronya nudged Little Senti with her elbow and asked, "Little Senti, who is that older sister?"
"Her? Well..." Little Senti thought for a moment. "She goes by Elysia. She was the second of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers from the Previous Era, and she's also..."
Little Senti hadn't even finished her sentence when a faint floral fragrance drifted to her nose. Without anyone noticing when, Elysia had glided through the crowd and appeared right in front of her, reaching out a finger to gently press back the rest of the sentence.
"Let's leave a little mystery for now~" Elysia smiled at Little Senti. "Some things are better discovered by others on their own — it makes for a better experience~"
"Just think of it as a small favor from me. Would that be alright, Little Senti~?"
"When you put it that way..." Little Senti looked at Elysia, who was right up close — barely a breath away. A flush of red crept across Little Senti's face. Aside from Irene, no one had ever gotten this close to her. Not even the old fossil.
"When you put it that way — it's not like it's anything important anyway."
"Then thank you~" Elysia smiled at Little Senti. "But I imagine Hua never expected things to turn out quite like this. Little Senti — would you like to meet her? The Hua that's here in the Realm?"
"The old fossil's Realm counterpart?"
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