As the figure of the Herrscher vanished into the void, Luo Lin sighed softly. She's gone home, but what about me?
"System, you mentioned earlier that our inter-world teleportation function was disrupted. Have you discovered anything now?"
[The analysis of the anomaly in the Bubble World has been partially completed. It has been discovered that the Bubble World is linked to two parallel worlds on the Imaginary Tree.]
[One of them is from the parallel world of "Post-Honkai Odyssey," and the other is the parallel world where that Herrscher Bronya, returned. However, the specific time of the latter's plot is unclear.]
[The teleportation function may have been disrupted by the information exchange between these two parallel worlds. We need to find the location where entanglement occurs in the Bubble World. After dealing with it, the teleportation function should be able to be activated smoothly, and we can return to our previous world.]
Luo Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to the aimless wandering before, at least now she had a clear goal.
Mei blinked her eyes. After the blue light swept over just now, the pain on her body seemed to have eased a lot. She gently touched the wound on her abdomen—it seemed to have healed almost completely, apparently no longer a major problem.
"That's... the power of the Herrscher?"
"Mei, are you awake?" Bronya sat beside Mei, listening to her muttering, and smiled lightly. "You're not mistaken. It is indeed the power of the Herrscher... A Herrscher from a parallel world helped us."
"A parallel world?" Mei's brain quickly turned, and she soon found the answer from her memory. "You mean the other branches on the Imaginary Tree?"
"Yes." Luo Lin continued, "In fact, you are not in the original world now. The St. Fontaine area overlaps with a Bubble World, and the outer perimeter is also sealed by an unknown barrier..."
Luo Lin introduced her findings to Mei and Bronya: the overlap between the Bubble World and parallel worlds, the disrupted communication signals, the isolation barrier found earlier on the outskirts of St. Fontaine, and the quantum shadows that emerged from nowhere and actively attacked mechanical monsters...
Listening to Luo Lin's words, Mei murmured, "No wonder, before Adam found that the places we had already cleared still had monsters, and even the remains of monsters that should have existed disappeared... So we have come to another world?"
Bronya rubbed her temples with a headache. "It's really bizarre, and I haven't heard about quantum shadows for how long... At least a few years, right?"
Although she knew that whatever Theresa asked her to handle again wouldn't be simple, it wasn't until she arrived at the scene that Bronya realized the problem here was much more complicated than she had imagined.
It even involved parallel worlds...
Bronya turned to look at Mei and took out her terminal. "By the way, Mei, I haven't had a chance to ask you what happened before?"
"I saw the Void Archive, and it actually mimicked Otto's appearance..." Mei's expression was complicated. "Perhaps it is the mastermind behind the current strange situation in St. Fontaine..."
Mei began to recount everything that happened in St. Fontaine before, until she was tied up by the Void Archive with "Mimicry: Oath of Judah", and then stabbed in the stomach by the giant mechanical monster "World".
Carole promptly continued the topic. She recounted Adam's overload Labor of Olympus attack, the fierce attack on "World" by Adam, and finally saving Mei, but Adam himself collapsed due to the corrosion of Honkai energy.
In a critical moment, Luo Lin arrived and saved the members of the Third Squad, bringing them back to the temporary base.
"You all know what happened next..." Carole turned her gaze to Luo Lin.
"Well, now you can finally confirm that I don't have any malicious intent, right?" Luo Lin spread out her hands. "We both want to solve the anomalies here and go home. Our goals are the same, so why not cooperate?"
"Sure."
Bronya immediately agreed, extending her hand, and Luo Lin shook it without hesitation.
"Well... Luo Lin, I see you're from the Intelligence Department, right? Currently, we don't have many clues. Are you interested in providing us with some tactical guidance?" Bronya inquired.
Luo Lin didn't hesitate either, pointing to the road next to Tulip Alley. "First, we need to clear the area around the temporary base again, eliminate threats, and ensure the safety of the wounded."
"Then, we will scout the edge of St. Fontaine and establish contact with the outside world. We need to report the situation to Overseer Theresa and have them take some measures outside to see if we can find a way out."
She pointed to the strange building floating in the vortex of clouds and said, "Finally, go to Arcane Castle— it should be the most suspicious place in the entire St. Fontaine, but the enemy has prepared a large number of forces there. We'll go there to explore after making full preparations."
"Arcane Castle? Isn't that a reference to the anime 'Demon Sword Machine: Arato'?"
Hearing this name, Bronya was taken aback for a moment. She looked at the sky and nodded with a strange expression, "But it's quite appropriate to use here. Its appearance is really similar to the castle of the villain in the animation..."
"Oh! No wonder the famous producer Bronya can understand the references inside!" Carole looked satisfied. "I knew she would get the reference!"
Lyle looked helpless. "Isn't it strange that she couldn't figure it out? After all, she participated in the setting and production of the animation..."
Timido looked around, and her eyes met Mei's helpless gaze. From each other's faces, they saw a sense of empathy.
So much anime, I feel out of place.jpg
"Captain Mei, you and Adam should rest properly next. Lyle will also stay to strengthen the defense of the base. I and the others will go out according to the plan to explore St. Fontaine..."
"But my injury is already healed. Look..."
Bronya gently touched Mei's stomach, and Mei took a cold breath, still feeling some pain.
"You see, although it looks fine on the outside, the wound still needs some time to heal. You need to rest now. At least for now, we're not in such a desperate situation that we need you to fight with injuries."
"Okay, if you encounter any trouble, remember to call me."
Mei agreed readily and exchanged a smile with Big Duck.
Although the two hadn't seen each other for a long time, their years of fighting side by side made them understand each other's thoughts without speaking. Everything was understood without words.
Watching the interaction between the two protagonists who had grown up, Luo Lin showed the same satisfied expression as Carole just now.
—Got it, thanks.
Himeko crossed her arms, glanced at Luo Lin, who was almost surrounded by pink bubbles, and said, "Are you thinking of something strange?"
"No, no... Let's watch the match, watch the match. Um, what I mean is, let's get moving quickly. Time waits for no one... Wait, what's that...?"
Having practiced the Edge of Taixuan and being sensitive to the surrounding Honkai energy, Luo Lin raised her head and noticed something abnormal in the clouds above the Arcane Castle.
First, the golden light pierced through the top of the Arcane Castle, as bright as the sun, and the substantial Honkai energy gushed out, pouring into every corner of St. Fontaine.
Then, another light burst forth, dyeing half of St. Fontaine's sky into a brilliant blue.
Bronya supported Mei, feeling the violent growth of Honkai energy, and came to the window. Mei's voice sounded puzzled, "What's happen...?"
"Boom!"
After the golden and blue lights alternated several times, Arcane Castle exploded into fireworks in the stunned gaze of everyone. Five crimson meteors fell from the smoke, crashing into the city with a bang.
Luo Lin and Bronya exclaimed in unison, "Let's go see!!"
In the distance, next to one of the just-fallen red meteors, a figure with golden long hair struggled to stand up. He coughed a few times, tapped the red crystal with his fingers.
"No, I have to hide in the alternate space... Cough, why... why did they come here..."
With Void Archive's movement, the red crystal floated up and twisted into a portal. Without hesitation, it rushed in.
After a slight dizziness, Void Archive arrived in an alternate space—this was another space created in St. Fontaine through the spatial technology of "Sky People".
"Sky People" had established a large-scale arms factory here to produce those mechanical monsters...
But something seemed off here now.
Void Archive looked around in confusion, shaking its head. It found something floating in its line of sight all the time—
[Ruins - Current Floor 1/23 - Current Score 0]
"What is this...?"