Chapter 196: Herrscher of Origin
"Meeting you for the first time, yet feeling like we've always known each other~" Irene's gaze was soft and warm as she looked at Elysia in her Herrscher of Origin state. Seeing the real thing was nothing like watching a rendered model on a screen.
In person, Elysia was even more breathtaking, more impossible to look away from. If the everyday Miss Pink Elf radiated beauty and vivacity, then the Herrscher of Origin radiated something else entirely — a quality that was spiritual, sacred, similar and yet subtly, unmistakably different. It was a completely different feeling.
"Where are we...?" Irene looked around. The sky above was ablaze with brilliant stars; beneath her feet stretched a frozen sea with no visible shore, yet there was no chill in the air at all — only a strange, encompassing warmth.
Irene raised her hand, and the ice crystals drifting nearby stirred in response, floating gently up to hover around her palm. Watching this, Elysia, standing beside her, softened even further.
"This isn't the High Ground of Origin, is it?"
"You guessed right~ Even Eden, I've never brought her here." Elysia nodded, then glided through the air to Irene's side and nuzzled affectionately against her cheek. "Irene is the very first person to ever come here~"
"So you see, I'm really quite shy about this — this is, after all, the place where I was born."
"So then~" Elysia drifted back to Irene's side, gently took her by the hand, and lifted her into the air, pulling her close and wrapping her arms around her, nuzzling softly against her back.
"You could stand to look a little happier about it~"
"I'm deeply honored, truly." Irene turned lightly and slipped free of Elysia's embrace, then took her hand instead. "Dear Miss Pink Elf, I'm very glad to be among the rare few to visit this place."
"But can you actually just come and go from here freely, straight from the Realm?"
The story had shown that Mei could reach Elysia here through the imprint, but there had never been any clear indication that the Elysia within the Elysian Realm could freely travel to the High Ground of Origin herself.
Elysia tilted her head, wearing an expression of such radiant, childlike cluelessness that it bordered on endearing: "Hmm, I'm not sure~"
"Noted — Miss Pink Elf says she doesn't know." Irene looked at her guileless face and smiled. "Then what has the lovely Miss Elysia brought me all the way here to say?"
"Let me think... where should I even begin?" Elysia tapped her cheek with one finger, pondering playfully for a moment.
"Irene knows me so well. You should already know what I've done."
"What are you referring to?" Irene looked at her. "If you mean the banquet all those years ago, and what you did after it — yes, I do know."
"You sacrificed yourself to give the Herrschers of the Current Era — this era — the possibility of possessing humanity. But I only know that you did it. The specifics of how it unfolded, I'm not clear on."
"So it seems I've managed to keep at least a few secrets~" Elysia nodded happily. She had always thought Irene was truly terrible — knowing everything. She'd thought she couldn't maintain any air of mystery in front of her at all. But now it turned out there were still things Irene didn't know.
"At that time, I decided to sacrifice myself and open a new path for all of you. Of course, I had no idea back then whether it would actually work — it was only ever a possibility, after all."
"But you succeeded." White light and black mist drifted from Irene's hands. "You won an opportunity for us — for all of them."
"Every Herrscher now fights for humanity. You won your bet, Elysia."
"Yes, I won my bet." Elysia nodded, then placed her staff horizontally beneath her and sat down on it, swinging like she was on a swing, then pulled Irene — still holding her hand — up alongside her.
"I won an opportunity — and when you brought them all here, I was so happy. Truly happy."
Elysia's face held a gentle smile, and as she looked at Irene, her eyes carried a trace of gratitude and quiet relief. "Back then, I had no idea whether I could actually succeed."
"I didn't know if even with that change, there would really be someone who could overcome the Herrscher's will." Elysia looked at Irene with tender eyes. "It was when I saw you that I knew I had succeeded. That it was truly possible. That the sacrifice I made back then hadn't been in vain."
"The people of this age didn't let us down, either — didn't let down everything we did for them."
Nothing comes from nothing, nor is any legacy simply passed down from one generation to the next for the next to coast on.
Those who came before, unable to finish what they started, laid the foundation for those who came after. And those who came after proved, through their own actions, that they were worthy of it.
The Herrschers were one such proof. Rin would drop by from time to time as a visitor, and whenever she did, Elysia would ask her how things were going outside. And each answer Rin gave was enough to keep Elysia happy for quite a long while.
The Current Era was doing so well — so wonderfully well. Rin brought these tidings, and they left the others in a quiet, reflective silence.
How to put it? The simple fact that civilization had maintained, broadly speaking, a state of peace — that the vast majority of ordinary people didn't even know the Honkai existed — was already enough to render everyone speechless.
Because in their era, they would have been burning incense and counting their blessings just to keep Honkai news from spreading and the public from falling into panic. And on top of that, a whole pack of Herrschers had turned rebel.
On that particular subject, Eden had a great deal to say. As the go-to idol jointly endorsed by the United Nations and Fire Moth for the purpose of keeping civilian morale stable, Eden had staged no small number of global performances and offline events during that period.
Eyes closed on a plane, eyes open on a stage — either performing, or on the way to perform. And though the wealth accumulated was considerable, it had truly been exhausting in that era.
The Current Era had no need to develop into anything like that. After all, aside from the Second Eruption going catastrophically off the rails for certain reasons, right up to the present —
The most powerful Herrschers, the most destructive ones, had turned around and jumped straight to humanity's side. It was a sight none of them had ever dared to imagine.
"As long as Elysia is happy." Irene nodded. She had brought everyone here partly for training, yes — but also, genuinely, to make Elysia happy.
"Hmhm~" Elysia swung her staff beneath her like a pendulum, rocking back and forth in midair. "They're all such wonderful people. I really want to get to know every single one of them properly."
"Am I not enough for you?" Irene smiled at her. "I've been throwing myself at you, after all~"
"~" Elysia drew out the note. She knew Irene wanted to understand her, so she decided not to hide anymore. "But there are so many lovely girls — if I can't get to meet every single one of them, I'd be losing out terribly."
If she could, Elysia would have happily deployed that meme — 'you've come at just the right time' — or perhaps: 'I'll take care of every last one of you.'
For Elysia, this entire group of Herrschers fighting for humanity was pure, unmitigated affection-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus. It was just that Irene, being the first, naturally had an even higher place in her heart.
"Hm, of course I know." Irene nodded and leaned lightly against Elysia's side. "Which is precisely why I've come to block you — otherwise, everyone would end up getting harassed by Miss Pink Elf."
"You terrible person." Elysia pinched and rubbed Irene's cheek with mild exasperation. "Is Miss Pink Elf really so untrustworthy?"
"Oh, I trust you — in every sense of the word." Irene shrugged, still watching her. "It's exactly because I know you so well that I'm keeping an eye on you."
"Meanest thing I've ever heard." Elysia pouted and gave Irene's cheek another rub. "Mm — well, on that subject, I can only say: you calling it a sacrifice was wrong, you know."
"Hold on — what do you mean, 'calling it a sacrifice was wrong'?" Irene frowned. "Are you saying you didn't actually die?"
"Hmm, how to put this..." Elysia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe, at a fundamental level, death was never really a concept that applied to me — just like how I appeared in this world directly, fully formed."
"I'm a natural-born Herrscher — a child sent by the stars themselves. My true essence, strictly speaking, is the Authority itself. As long as the Authority hasn't ceased to exist, I shouldn't be able to die either."
"What actually happened, more precisely, is that I lost my physical form in the world — and so I can only dwell here."
Hearing this, genuine curiosity flickered in Irene's eyes. She truly did want to know — what exactly had Elysia done back then?
"Do tell."
Elysia nodded and continued: "After carrying out my original plan and hosting the banquet with everyone, I released my Authority. Wanting to make that change — it was genuinely difficult."
Elysia looked at Irene with the expression of someone pouring out a long list of grievances: "It wasn't like a computer where you could just hit Ctrl+C to solve it. I had to go through my own Herrscher Core, bit by bit, and etch its structure into place."
"I roughly understand." Irene recalled that the story had mentioned the core structure of Previous Era Herrschers and that of current-era Herrschers were two entirely different things.
So it seemed Elysia had used her own Authority as the brush, and vast quantities of Honkai energy as the ink, and slowly, piece by piece, overlaid her Herrscher Core's structure onto the original core structure.
But the issue was this: for a Herrscher, HP and the blue bar — their vitality and energy reserves — were generally fused together. And to rewrite the underlying logic of the Honkai, even if Elysia could accomplish it through her Authority, the cost would be immense.
To sustain herself long enough to complete the change, Elysia had fully sacrificed her physical form — poured every last drop of Honkai energy into the rewrite. Only then could she succeed.
"And that is what this gift amounts to." Elysia suddenly lifted Irene's hand. At that moment, both their joined hands were enveloped in a faint, soft pink glow.
"Mm? Elysia?!" Irene tried to pull free, only to find pink crystals beginning to spread upward from where their hands clasped. "What are you—?"
"Just as I thought." Elysia watched it happen without any surprise at all. "My Authority has absolutely no resistance against Irene at all~"
From the moment she had discovered that Irene could borrow other Herrschers' Authorities with no side effects whatsoever — without even needing the other person's consent — she had already sensed something.
If Irene could do that to others, could she do the same to Elysia? And why would that be so? Elysia had her suspicions: Irene, too, was a child chosen by the Honkai.
Only that could explain how Irene could use other Herrschers' Authorities without restraint. It couldn't possibly be some change that had occurred within Irene herself — it had to be the Will of the Honkai doing something for Irene.
And the most likely explanation was that Irene had been chosen, and the Will of the Honkai had opened a back door directly — granting Irene unconditional access to and use of every Herrscher's Authority.
So Elysia had wanted to test it. If Irene could truly do this, it would be Elysia's first gift to her — after all, Irene had given Elysia so many surprises already. It was only right that Elysia give something back.
If this Authority remained with Elysia, it would only ever be confined to the High Ground of Origin, serving no purpose.
If there was a chance, Elysia naturally wanted to find an inheritor and pass it on — just as the Herrscher of Reason had done in the Current Era. That way, humanity's odds against the Honkai would be a little better. And neither her Authority nor her efforts would have been wasted.
"Elysia, are you trying to give me the Authority of Origin?" Irene looked at her smiling face. "But if you do that — will you be alright?"
"I think so." Elysia shook her head. After all, this place was her home — and besides, she was only passing the right to use the Authority to Irene.
"Would I ever let anything happen to you?"
"No." Irene locked her gaze on Elysia and shook her head firmly. The moment she said it, the pink crystals solidified, spreading across Irene's body.
Elysia watched Irene become encased in pink crystal, then reached out and gently patted her head. And at that precise moment, threads of golden light began slowly descending from the sky above — weaving themselves into the pink crystal, mingling deep within it.
The crystal, originally pure pink, took on a quiet, deep tinge of violet. And Irene, suspended within it — whose blood-red eyes had been drawn out by the Honkai energy — felt golden and violet patterns slowly etch themselves into her irises.
"?!" Elysia noticed this and looked up sharply at the starry sky overhead. The stars that had been drifting in their endless rotation had, at some point, quietly stilled.
Elysia stared, wide-eyed, at a point in the heavens above — then turned to look at the golden light streaming into the pink crystal, and the violet hue that was rising deeper and deeper within it.
"How can this be? This was supposed to be my gift to Irene — if you wanted to give something, find your own moment!"
A resonant, ethereal tone rang out across the starfield — vast and deep as the song of a whale — echoing through the whole of the sky. The entire expanse of stars seemed to form a single gaze, watching over the two of them floating in the air.
"Absolutely outrageous!" Elysia stood with her hands on her hips and glared up at the sky. "This is clearly a private space for just the two of us — if you insist on giving a gift, find another time!"
The stars offered no response. They only watched, quietly, over the two of them.
Elysia stared at the motionless sky, pouting. After a long moment, she asked softly:
"So — are you looking forward to it too?"
[——]
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