The strange glow from the rift shone upon their fingertips, which remained just out of reach.
Her body was like a small boat tossing on a storm-tossed sea, liable to be destroyed at any moment.
Seele had never felt such powerlessness; though so close she could almost touch her, she could not reach her no matter what.
Tears submerged the pain, and sins stirred ripples from the depths of her Remembrance.
Even on that day at the Orphanage—when Sister Bronya, having performed excellently in training and being close to Seele, was pushed down the stairs by a jealous Sin; the day she had hidden in a corner, shivering as she witnessed the atrocity.
Powerless, a profound sense of powerlessness.
Afterward, Seele, feeling guilty for her own weakness, hid in a box in the dormitory, only to be found by Bronya when she returned from having her injuries treated.
She remembered herself from that time.
Huddled in an empty box, weeping silently.
Across the trajectory of time, that coward who dared to do nothing stood in the darkness, watching her.
Trembling, weeping, cowardly—her eyes were filled with daze and helplessness.
As if asking:
Why are you...
Still so powerless?
Still so weak?
"Sister Bronya."
Seele's tears poured out as she cried out with all her might.
She could see Bronya, smiling gently, being submerged by the dark, twisted tentacles.
The world on the brink of destruction, the drifting spatial debris, even her Sister Bronya, the one person she could never give up on.
All were constantly receding!
Drawn by the sky behind her, the distance between them grew further and further!
The sound of rending space thundered in her ears.
Seele's hands flailed, trying to grab Bronya's hands suspended in mid-air.
But with the distance constantly increasing, she could only grasp at nothingness; in her bloodshot eyes, that smile grew more distant.
The space behind her receded frantically!
Her heartbeat slowed... "Boom!"
An unstoppable suction, like a vortex, pulled Seele away, followed by a surge of brilliant white light!
On both sides of the spatial rift was the world of the Sea of Quanta.
This was a World Bubble on the verge of destruction; the distorted space on either side was constantly squeezing and contracting, as if a great door was closing shut.
Uneven force fields were scattered randomly, with distorted spatial fragments and black cubes drifting everywhere.
It was as if she were in the middle of the ocean, being struck by one crashing wave after another.
Never mind moving—even keeping her body from being torn apart was an extremely difficult task!
In a daze, Seele forced her hand to grip a wall of the receding space.
This slowed her backward flow by a fraction, but served no other purpose.
Even so.
She exerted even more strength, thrusting the five fingers of her right hand into a protruding crack in space, trying to halt her body.
She couldn't just... just leave like this!
They had promised to leave together, she and Sister Bronya!
Pain.
Intense pain.
Her hand bones were being abraded, and blood seeped from Seele's clenched fingers.
Fresh blood flowed and splattered recklessly from her broken, pale fingertips.
The gore, condensed from pain and resentment, left a blood-red trail along the trajectory of the receding space.
Warm, slick blood coated her palm, making it difficult for Seele's trembling fingers to even maintain their grip on the protrusion.
Her soul grew numb, and the agony in her heart intensified.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump! A convulsing heartbeat echoed within her deafened ears.
Finally, she caught a crack in the protrusion!
Her fingers thrust deep inside, tears warming her palm; her drifting body was forcibly halted in mid-air!
But the door was about to close... the rumbling sound of its closure harmonized with her aching heart.
From within the gap, Seele could see that she might be annihilated by the closing rift at any moment.
Death—to be swallowed by the closing Sea of Quanta!
The choice was given to Seele.
To let go and return to the real world she longed for, as Sister Bronya wished...
Or to use her agonizing, bleeding fingertips to stubbornly remain in this closing rift within the Sea of Quanta, waiting for death.
If given to anyone else, there would be no hesitation.
But Seele was different; rather than leaving all alone, she would rather die here.
Submerged in tears, Seele's hand twitched and spasmed, her entire arm stained crimson with blood.
Yet she remained stubborn, the faint light in her eyes rippling along with the dying world—filled with the same pain and resentment, even if she were to die in a forgotten corner, even if she were to be annihilated just like this.
"Sister... Bronya."
...The outside world.
Everyone watching this scene was shocked and heartbroken.
From the very start of the escape, they had sensed an ominous atmosphere.
Bronya, who had lost her Herrscher of Reason core and was heavily injured by erosion, and Seele, who had almost no power.
They were inside a World Bubble on the verge of shattering, needing to cross from the rift of the Sea of Quanta through the Sea of Quantas Eye to return to the real world!
What a difficult task that was!!
Floating rubble, a rolling sky—within the shattered World Bubble, irregular space was everywhere; except for a single winding track that had yet to be annihilated, all the surrounding land had been ground into dust.
It was the death throes of the World Bubble!
Yet they were still holding hands, just a tiny bit away from escaping that world!
But often, that final bit becomes the beginning of agony.
The two of them running non-stop, survival on the brink of collapse, a world of ruin and desolation behind them, while a world bathed in light awaited them ahead.
All hopes and dreams were just a short distance away!
Within reach—they just needed to go a little bit further!
At that moment, everyone's hearts beat much faster; they didn't even dare to breathe heavily, staring intently at the screen.
A faint smile had already appeared on Rozaliya's face, as if she would soon see her beloved Bronya and Sister Seele escape to safety!
However, in the next second, Rozaliya saw those dark tentacles condensed from Honkai!
Those dark, twisted existences seized Sister Seele's small body!
Before heartache could fully flood Rozaliya's heart, and before the smile could even leave her lips, she witnessed another shocking scene!
It was Sister Bronya using her own body as the price to hurl Sister Seele from the abyss into the rift of the Sea of Quanta.
While she herself remained forever within the dying World Bubble!
As the tip of the blade severed the bond connecting the two of them.
Sister Seele was sucked away by the rift, escaping that hell.
While Sister Bronya, in Rozaliya's panicked eyes, sank into a dark abyss.
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