Chapter 125: Help Me, Big Sis Himeko!
"Woah, Seele!"
"That... that was amazing!"
March 7th, the other Seele, and Bronya stared at the magnificent scene, their eyes wide with unrestrained astonishment. Even Dan Heng couldn't hide his shock. He never expected the gentle, well-behaved girl to be capable of unleashing such power when she got serious!
The dense life force contained within those ancient trees, while not yet at the level of an Emanator of Abundance, had already surpassed that of most Abundance Pathstriders in Dan Heng's memory. If not for the fact that Seele used a strange Imaginary energy—a system she called "Honkai energy"—Dan Heng would have found it hard to believe she wasn't a Denizen of Abundance.
The ferocious tide of Fragmentum monsters was completely swallowed by the sea of life-giving trees bearing leaves of decay. It was like a tidal wave crashing onto a beach, washing away and shattering all the sandcastles. The Fragmentum monsters were created from residual consciousness and Stellaron energy, making them essentially a type of energy-based lifeform. The power of withering may not be as potent as the power of Binding, but it was still quite effective against purely energy-based beings.
The wave of monsters Cocolia had summoned was about four-fifths annihilated by this single ultimate move, which combined the powers of Quantum and Imaginary through the Tiger Talisman and was channeled through a Divine Key. The remaining monsters were mostly Shadowkhan, with a few Fragmentum creatures mixed in. It was hard to say what exactly the Shadowkhan were, as the withering power had no particular advantage against them. Fortunately, the ninjas' defenses were weak, and many were torn apart by the wildly thrashing sea of trees. However, their most troublesome trait was their immortality.
From within the deep, dark spatial tear, Fragmentum monsters no longer appeared, but the shadow soldiers continued to emerge in an endless stream.
"You're right, but shadows... were made to be broken!" Stelle hefted her bat, which was glowing with the blue light of Destruction, and sent several ninja soldiers flying with a single swing. The shadows shattered like broken ink bottles, splattering everywhere.
"I'm counting on you, my other self!" Seele took a deep breath. Then, she pressed the Tiger Talisman to the bright red mark on her fair, full forehead.
To the astonishment of the others, the blue-haired girl's body split apart in a flash of light.
"Seele... turned into two people?" the other Seele and Bronya were particularly surprised. Unlike March 7th and Dan Heng, who had traveled the cosmos and seen many strange things, the natives of the sealed-off planet of Belobog had seen very little of the universe and found this ability incredibly miraculous.
The two had identical, youthful faces, but upon closer inspection, one could spot the differences. One looked just as everyone knew her. The other Seele's deep blue eyes were swallowed by a pupils of crimson, and her azure hair was now a gradient of black mixed with dark red.
"Is that... Seele's other personality?" March 7th and Dan Heng knew Seele had multiple personalities and had seen her combat-oriented persona a few times before. But they never imagined that the personality could separate and act independently, and moreover...
"It's not just an energy clone?" Dan Heng noticed the key point. Both Seeles were flesh and blood, and their power hadn't even noticeably weakened after splitting in two. This was truly baffling.
"You're really helpless without me~!"
Ignoring the stares of the others, a cruel, bloodthirsty smirk curved across Black Seele's lips. She raised the dark-green scythe in her hand—a Black-Iron Greatsword that Seele had taken from her equipment space before splitting. Black Seele charged towards the Shadowkhan army with her scythe. With every swing, it was as if blood-red spider lilies were blooming, their somber and vivid crimson petals tearing the shadows to pieces.
The other Seele, holding the Abyss Flower, fought side-by-side with Black Seele. She felt that Black Seele, when fighting alongside her, seemed even more excited than when she came out to fight alone. And this was indeed the case. Whether it was having an independent body or fighting in perfect sync with her other self, it was an unprecedented experience for Black Seele.
"Let me give you guys a buff~!"
After a moment of brief surprise, March 7th giggled, made a gun shape with her hand, and "shot" at the two Seeles. A Six-Phased Ice shield enveloped both of them.
Without a word, Dan Heng stomped the ground and leaped into the air. He was surprised by the power Seele had shown, but then he thought of the incredible abilities of Stelle and Caelus, and Seele's power didn't seem so out of place. Strong teammates were a good thing! Amidst the still-lingering sea of trees, a spear flashed out like a bolt of light, easily piercing the body of a shadow ninja. Even without using his hidden power, Dan Heng's strength in his normal state was equivalent to a pseudo S-rank in the Honkai world.
"Disperse with the butterflies, phantoms of yesterday!" The brilliance of Quantum energy flashed violently across the white snowfield like a welder's torch. With every swing of her scythe, the red-eyed, blue-haired girl took down monsters and shadows alike.
"Eat this!" Bronya held her rifle—a model she was accustomed to that she had picked up from the Silvermane Guard armory before entering the Fragmentum—and aimed at a monster, pulling the trigger. The wind-riding bullet shot out, trailing a spiraling, pale-green airflow, and accurately struck the Fragmentum monster's forehead.
"For the sake of protection and defense..." Bronya watched her friends fighting, her gaze gradually firming. She raised her rifle, her tone resolute. The reality was different from the game; a Pathstrider's abilities weren't rigidly tied to their Path. As a Pathstrider of the Preservation, Bronya could still buff her teammates.
Caelus and Stelle stood back-to-back, their teamwork even more seamless than that of the two Seeles, and they were particularly watchful of each other. After all, if a monster's attack were to hit the other, they themselves wouldn't be injured, but they would feel an almost equal amount of pain.
"Caelus, don't run around." The Stellaron-powered girl, relying on her brute strength, swung her bat unpretentiously amidst the monster horde, hammering the creatures that lunged at her one by one, protecting her other half behind her.
"What do you mean, 'run around'—Heavenly Dragon Tornado!"
Holding his yo-yo, Caelus threw it out horizontally and quickly spun the string. As the sphere rotated at high speed, a green light bloomed. The verdant glow gathered the wind into a giant tornado, sucking in swarms of shadow soldiers. The light transformed into sharp wind blades, shredding everything within.
The Mother of Deception, Cocolia, watched as her army was routed and decimated in an instant, her expression grim. However, the fact that these grunts couldn't handle the offworlders was within her expectations. Cocolia let out a cold laugh. "Then how about you try this."
Cocolia raised her ice-forged cavalry lance to the sky, her voice filled with a majesty as vast and endless as the mountains. "In my capacity as the Supreme Guardian, I command you to rise—Engine of Creation!"
The earth began to tremble.
At Cocolia's command, the hundred-meter-tall colossus, buried beneath the snow, was brought back to life. With a ground-shaking tremor, it slowly stood up, its massive form so immense it seemed to touch the sky. Then, without a word, its hand, larger than several people combined, slapped down towards the group.
"A-a robot ten thousand times bigger than Svarog!" March 7th cried out in terror.
Bronya's face changed drastically, and she shouted a warning, "That's an ancient machine of the Architects! Everyone, be careful!"
No warning was needed. Caelus, Stelle, and the Seeles, who were at the forefront, had already reacted. Black Seele and Seele were like twin butterflies dancing on the wind. With bursts of Quantum power and holy marks, they escaped the range of the giant steel hand.
Stelle and Caelus were not nearly as graceful. At the last second, Stelle wrapped her arms around Caelus and leaped with all her might. The two of them barely grazed past the slow but powerful slap. Stelle landed on her back first, and Caelus's face was ruthlessly cushioned by her soft, springy chest.
Without a trace of any other emotion, Caelus pulled Stelle up from the snowdrift.
"Level the mountain!" Cocolia commanded.
The several-hundred-meter-tall Engine of Creation raised its right arm, its mechanical hand clenching into a fist that seemed like a mountain of immense weight, possessing the terrifying power to split mountains and crack the earth.
Caelus grabbed Stelle's hand and started running. Holding hands should theoretically slow them down, but since Stelle and Caelus were one person, they could move smoothly even if their limbs were tied together for a three-legged race.
Suddenly, Caelus's pupils widened as he sensed something. He stopped in his tracks. Turning to face the imposing Engine of Creation, he shrank back, putting on the face of a delicate, helpless pretty-boy, and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Help me, Big Sis Himeko!"
Dan Heng, March 7th: "..."
The other Seele, Bronya: "???"
The battlefield fell into a strange silence for a moment. Dan Heng and March 7th quickly realized what was happening and shot their heads up to the sky.
BOOM!!
The orbital cannon struck the Engine of Creation's right chest with pinpoint accuracy. The explosion sent up a cloud of dust and smoke, and faint golden currents of electricity could be seen crackling across the giant machine. Amidst the deafening blast, the Engine of Creation, its right arm still raised, collapsed to the ground, causing the earth to shake violently.
Caelus snapped his fingers. "The support came right on time, Sis Himeko."
"The orbital cannon? Caelus, when did you call for backup?" March 7th asked, jumping over excitedly.
"The moment Cocolia entered her second phase," Caelus said, pulling out his vibrating phone from his pocket.
"Hello? Can you hear me? The signal is really bad..." Himeko's elegant voice came from the other end. "How on earth did that big guy start moving... The rest is up to you..."
Before she could finish, the communication was cut off by the interference from the Stellaron's energy field.
"You damned creatures!" Cocolia looked up in the direction the orbital cannon had fired from, her voice filled with rage and madness. "I am the master of the shadows, and the mother of the new world!"
"The will of the Mother of the World of Darkness will not be defied!"
The power of the Stellaron and immense dark energy erupted from Cocolia's body. The sky had unknowingly turned dark. Including Belobog, nearly a quarter of Jarilo-VI was now shrouded in darkness. The darkness and wicked thoughts in her heart were completely unleashed by the Tarakudo mask. Cocolia's body paused for a moment, then she burst into maniacal laughter. "Hahahahahahaha~!"
"So there was something like this here!"
Cocolia looked with great interest in a certain direction and stretched out her hand. "Power of darkness, come to me!"
Within the shadow-shrouded Fragmentum, in an inconspicuous spot, a strange piece of metal shaped like a triceratops head was pulled by the resonance of dark energy, rapidly tearing through the void and flying towards the Engine of Creation.
"That's... Tchang Zu."
Seeing the dark meteor streaking towards them, Caelus recognized its true form at a glance. Talisman users are drawn to each other, and the "gravitational pull" between pure forces of darkness was even greater.
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