"Ugh…"
Mikael pushed himself up from the asphalt road, his hands covered in dust. His body was already coated with dirt.
"Here... how did I get back to the surface?"
Indeed, the surface, the solid ground beneath his feet.
A city, an ordinary city.
But there was a problem, a big problem--the city and streets were just like normal, yet everything was a gray monotone. There were no plants, no signs of human activity.
Mikael walked a few steps and turned his head. A clear trail of footprints was left behind on the asphalt. However, as the wind blew through the streets, more dust flaked off the walls, and wisps of flying ash poured out from the open balconies. The footprints were quickly submerged without a trace.
"Is anyone there?"
Mikael turned his back to the wind and called out a few times, but there was no reply.
More and more dust was swirling about. Since no one was around, he simply ducked into a building, closed the doors and windows, and began to sort out his thoughts.
"At that time, Kalpas and I didn't seem to touch the seabed. Instead, we fell into… how should I describe it? It felt like a more viscous liquid. No, think carefully. I've definitely seen that seabed somewhere..."
Without Kalpas to disturb him, Mikael quickly found the answer within his complex memories—that place, according to current terminology, was called Te Moana Kino, or in the Post-Civilization Era, the Sea City that was marked by Anti-Entropy.
"So it really is... the Sea of Quanta..."
"Which means I'm in a bubble world right now?"
"I wonder if that guy Kalpas can survive in the Sea of Quanta..."
"This has really gotten out of hand… I should have just let Ellie look for Kalpas…"
Even if Kalpas could survive in the Sea of Quanta, he might not be in the same bubble world as Mikael, which meant that if he was unlucky, Mikael might have to search through hundreds or thousands of bubble worlds to find Kalpas.
And he had to do it quickly. The Void barrier he left for Hua wouldn't last long without his energy supply.
"Then let's make it quick."
Although he didn't know how to leave a bubble world... but logically speaking, as long as he solved the problem, it should be fine, right?
Mikael walked out of the building and closed his eyes lightly. He instantly felt himself sink into the sea. The Honkai energy that permeated the air was the seawater surrounding him. The water flowed past buildings, past withered plants, until the water was pulled towards a huge vortex in the distance.
"Herrscher!"
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, a dark purple lightning bolt nearly split the entire city in half.
A girl with blue-black hair was standing blankly in a scorched "park". Her pupils were suddenly filled with purple light, and then she felt a pain in her chest. A blade of lightning had pierced through her, lifting her up high.
The winding lightning snakes that overflowed from the blade lashed around like unruly whips, shattering the shriveled shrubs that were as thin as a hair.
"Huh? Seele? No, is that the Sixth Herrscher?"
The girl looked down in disbelief at the lightning blade. The high temperature of the lightning directly seared her palm, creating a "sizzling" sound and white smoke.
Her eyes were wide, but they looked so helpless. She only managed to shakily raise her burnt hand and gently point at Mikael…
"I-it… hurts…"
Her childish face was twisted in pain, and tears continuously flowed from the corners of her eyes…
With a "boom," something exploded in Mikael's heart-- "Could it really be... Seele?"
The girl was exactly like the Seele in his memories, with blue-black short hair that reached her shoulders. When their eyes met, her eyes were full of extreme innocence and disbelief.
That gaze…
It was as if Mikael was someone she had once been very close to and trusted, but now he had betrayed her.
Just that one moment of eye contact caused an overwhelming, uncontrollable feeling of guilt to rise up within him.
"Damn it!"
How could it be Seele? This was the Sixth Herrscher! It was the Sixth Herrscher!
Mikael screamed frantically in his heart.
He knew it was impossible… or it should have been impossible. But impossible was never one-hundred-percent impossible, it was never absolutely impossible, especially since this was a bubble world, not the world that Mikael originally came from...
Mikael clearly remembered that the Sixth Herrscher had shown very obvious human emotions, which was why Kevin had not chosen to kill her right away, leading to a tragedy…
Right! This is the Sixth Herrscher! Mikael convinced himself.
But time didn't stop for his inner thoughts. Instead, because of his hesitation at that moment, the lightning blade, which was deprived of its subsequent power supply, slowly dissipated, and the Sixth Herrscher's body fell to the ground with a "thud."
"The Sixth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Death, whose powers correspond to rapid cell regeneration and decay, huh..."
Mikael didn't know how Kevin and Elysia had finally killed the Sixth Herrscher in the original story. All he knew was that, in the Herrscher of Dominance incident later, Immel, who only possessed a small portion of the Herrscher of Death's power, couldn't be killed... But perhaps that was because Fire Moth wanted to study him and had kept his entire body?
"Is dismemberment okay?"
Mikael bit his lip and made up his mind—
"That's right, this is just a bubble world. The characters here are just remnants of a destroyed world, not real beings. There's no need to feel guilt."
Thinking that way, the space behind him tore open. A sharp Void lance was poised to strike.
"Why… why… do you want to kill me…"
The Herrscher's chest heaved rapidly. Her innocent and desperate eyes were fixed on Mikael.
Anyone would soften when seeing this scene, right?
But Mikael had made one mistake, and he wouldn't make it a second time. He shot out the Void lance without any hesitation.
It missed.
The Herrscher, who had just been on the verge of death, jumped up with a speed that was too fast for the naked eye to see. After dodging the Void lance, her fingernails on her right hand grew into long, sharp claws that reached directly for Mikael's heart.
The claws pierced through skin and flesh without any resistance, followed by her entire hand, and then her entire arm... The Herrscher realized something was wrong, but her body was still moving forward due to inertia, and she couldn't make any reaction at all. She phased through a spatial rift and appeared behind Mikael.
Then, the world in her eyes began to spin quickly before finally becoming parallel with the ground.
Of course, in her view, there was also a black shadow that fell on the ground—that was her body, the Herrscher barely realized.
"Ugh… this should prevent me from respawning, right? Just to be safe, I'll destroy her head."
Mikael created an ultra-small electromagnetic cannon, and without another word, he blasted the Herrscher's head, which was still staring with innocent eyes, into pieces.
"This should have done it, right?"
Mikael's eyelids twitched. The unease that had risen from the bottom of his heart hadn't disappeared with the completion of this task, but had become even stronger.
"Seriously, what's going on?!"
These past few days, from the villagers' sacrifice, to killing the Herrscher just now, it was constantly challenging Mikael's bottom line as a human being...
Mikael stood still and waited for ten minutes. When he saw that the Herrscher showed no signs of moving again, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
The matter was resolved.
"Hmm? But the bubble world hasn't disappeared. Is there something wrong with my understanding? Or should I just leave using my spatial powers? Since I was able to use the Void lances normally, then logically speaking, my spatial powers shouldn't be affected..."
Mikael rested his chin on his hand, pondering and becoming lost in thought.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow broke through the air, producing a sharp whistle. Just as it was about to hit Mikael's temple, a phase shift redirected it, and it exploded a short distance away.
Pink crystals splattered out, leaving a bloody scratch on Mikael's cheek.
The sound of air being broken reached his ears again. Without any hesitation, Mikael raised his left forearm to block, and then twisted his wrist, grabbing the attacker's forearm.
Then, he tilted his head to dodge a straight punch. At the same time, his right arm went under the attacker's armpit, and his right foot kicked at the opponent's knee. In a flash, he had subdued her.
"Elysia?"
The two of them were tightly pressed together. Her pink hair was constantly rubbing against Mikael's cheeks as she struggled.
That familiar scent, one that was more familiar than any other, uncontrollably assaulted his nose and mouth, making him forget a fact—Ellie had shown real hostility toward him!
"Die, Herrscher!"
A cold smile appeared on the corner of Ellie's lips. When that ever-widening smile was reflected in Mikael's eyes, he realized too late.
But it was already too late.
His lower body was already covered in pink crystals. The joints in his arms were also turning into crystals, becoming stiff, slow, and weak.
Elysia easily broke free and stood up. This made it look like Mikael was kneeling before her on one knee.
"Oh dear, that was actually a little difficult!"
She flicked her hair, making it look even more voluminous. When she looked at Mikael again, her eyes were now as cold as ice.
"Are you the Seventh Herrscher? From the looks of it, your power is to copy? To copy the powers of the Herrschers that have appeared in the past? But… why would you fight the Sixth Herrscher? Hmm? Or did you want to steal her powers?"
"Wait, Ellie!"
"Oh? Not only did you steal Mikael's body, you plan to deceive me with emotions as well? Sorry, I made that mistake once with the Sixth Herrscher, but I won't make it again!"
Crystalline arrows quickly gathered on the Bow of Feihua. Even though they were so close that all it would take was the light swipe of a dagger to end the Herrscher's life, Elysia still chose a bow and arrow.
"You really are... as always, you have an annoyingly strong obsession with all things cute, Ellie..."
"!"
The voice came from behind him!
The image of Mikael was nowhere to be seen!
"Hmph!"
A weapon tore through flesh, and the one who was attacked let out a muffled groan, suppressing the pain.
Elysia quickly turned around, only to find that Mikael was also facing away from her.
A blood-red claw had pierced through his shoulder, a claw tip protruding from his back.
"After watching the show for so long, you finally couldn't help but move, Sixth Herrscher!"