Cecilia felt her head pounding as her past memories began floating up with vivid clarity.
But almost immediately, she realized those memories were slipping away from her.
“No!”
Cecilia was terrified.
There were far too many precious things within those memories—her time at Schicksal, meeting her fellow Valkyries, falling in love with Siegfried, and every single memory of her daughter.
And now, the emotions attached to those memories were rapidly fading.
When she looked at the memory of meeting Siegfried, she discovered in horror that the scene was quickly turning into a bland, meaningless movie reel.
Siegfried was her husb…
wait, who was he again?
Cecilia was powerless to stop it, forced to watch helplessly as it all unravelled.
“Kiana!!!” When Cecilia saw the memories of her daughter, under no circumstances was she willing to let that memory fade away.
“Kiana!”
Cecilia snapped her eyes open and sat straight up in bed.
She was frantic with worry for her daughter.
Kiana was still so young and still in human hands.
What would happen to her if she couldn’t find her mommy?
“Where…
am I?” Cecilia calmed her breathing before taking in her surroundings.
Where was she?
Why did it look so familiar?
Wait, wasn’t this Theresa’s room?
“Cecilia, are you feeling any better?” Theresa walked into the room carrying a food box and asked Cecilia.
“I’m alright.”
“Have some food.
This meal was freshly made, come try it.”
Theresa placed the food box on the table beside the bed, opened it up, and set out dishes emitting a mouth-watering aroma one by one.
“Smells amazing.” Cecilia walked over to Theresa’s side.
“Of course it does!
Hurry up and eat while it’s hot,” Theresa said with a beaming smile.
“There’s just one problem, though.”
“What is it?”
Cecilia looked at Theresa with a dead serious expression, making Theresa look bewildered before a sudden bad feeling crept over her.
“Just now…”
“That backstab actually hurt like hell!” Cecilia reached out, grabbed Theresa’s adorable little cheeks, and squished them with all her strength.
“Ow ow ow!
Shtoop squishin’ my fashe!” Theresa grunted incoherently.
“I’m the one who felt the most pain here, alright?!” Cecilia continued kneading Theresa’s cheeks.
“Well, there was no other way!
We couldn’t beat you head-on back then, and if we didn’t backstab you, fighting you for real would’ve been a total nightmare!” Theresa huffed angrily and yanked herself free from Cecilia’s grip.
“Whatever.
Once you finish eating, get ready to head out.
Her Majesty is waiting for you.”
“Yes, yes, whatever you say.”
Seeing Theresa act all solemn and official, Cecilia almost couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch her cute little face again.
“Hmph, running fast as usual.”
“Oh right, there’s also Shigure Kira, Cheng Lixue, and the others!
Hmph, I’m definitely ramping up their training regimen later!”
Cecilia munched on her food while plotting how to properly discipline the members of the Snow Wolf Squad.
Sure, their combo synergy when ganking her was top-tier, but damn did it hurt.
“Still…
I’ll ask Her Majesty later if I can go bring Kiana back from the humans!”
Cecilia suddenly thought to herself.
…
Top Floor of Babylon Laboratory
“Where did the 2nd Herrscher go?” When Welt flew up to the rooftop, he didn’t see the silver-haired, red-eyed girl anywhere.
However, he could definitely feel that the spot where the girl had last disappeared was right here.
Welt touched down on the top floor, preparing to conduct a thorough sweep of the area.
“Hm?”
The very next second, alarm bells blared inside Welt’s head.
Before he could even react, a blade of golden light pierced straight through his chest.
“So weak,” an annoyed mumble grumbled from right behind him.
“BOOM!” Welt seized the split second to act, manifesting a mass array of artillery and firing directly behind him.
He used the momentum to push through the agony and break away from his spot.
Yet for some reason, the attacker didn’t bother stopping him, allowing Welt to successfully slip away from the light blade that had run through his chest.
By now, Welt was critically injured.
Even if the light blade hadn’t struck his heart directly, the sheer heat radiating from it had melted a massive hole straight through his chest.
If Welt hadn’t possessed the physique of a Herrscher, that surprise ambush would have killed him instantly on the spot without warning.
“Cough, cough!”
Welt dropped to one knee, raising his head with great difficulty.
A silver-haired, red-eyed girl clad in armor and holding a light blade was staring down at him with utter disdain.
To his absolute shock, Welt realized that the girl who had just ambushed him wasn’t the same girl he and Cecilia had seen earlier.
“The 1st Herrscher?
And a loser like you calls himself the Herrscher of Reason?”
The girl was one of the Queen’s Imperial Guard.
She pointed her golden light blade at Welt, her face full of disappointment.
[Damn it, was this really a trap?!] It clicked in Welt’s mind—this was a targeted ambush aimed specifically at him and Cecilia!
This made him worry deeply for Cecilia’s safety, though right now, he couldn’t even guarantee his own survival.
“Cough…
So you’re the 2nd Herrscher?
This whole thing was a trap set up by you?” Welt coughed up blood, asking reluctantly.
“Me?
I am merely one of Her Majesty’s Imperial Guard!” the girl proclaimed loudly, her voice brimming with wild pride and fanatical devotion.
“Zeroth Rated Power, Pseudo…”
Pfft!
Out of nowhere, a golden light blade materialized and severed both of Welt’s arms clean off!
Meanwhile, his 9th Divine Key, the Star of Eden, was grabbed by a dainty pink hand and slowly drawn into a spatial portal that had opened right in front of him. The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
Welt’s desperate attempt to trigger the Star of Eden’s Zeroth Rated Power failed completely as the weapon was snatched away.
At that moment, Welt looked on in absolute astonishment as he recognized the figure behind the spatial portal—dressed in a nun’s habit, looking both familiar and strangely distant: Theresa.
She glared down at Welt with total indifference.
Once she secured the Star of Eden, Theresa closed the spatial portal without a word.
“This isn’t a turn-based game anyway.
What made you think I’d actually stand around and watch you charge up your ultimate?” The girl claiming to be the Queen’s Imperial Guard smirked softly, slowly retracting the golden light blade she had thrust into the spatial portal.
The golden light blade that had cut off Welt’s arms vanished along with it.
“Seriously, way too weak.” The girl sighed, unable to muster any excitement.
Winning so effortlessly against Welt didn’t bring her any joy at all.
Sometimes she didn’t quite get it either.
The Imperial Guard alone possessed more than enough power to purge human civilization, and Her Majesty could obliterate humanity just as easily.
Why was Her Majesty still unwilling to reveal herself before human civilization?
“You…” Welt forced himself to stand up.
Even without the Star of Eden, as the Herrscher of Reason, he could still fight on.
Before he could finish his sentence, the golden light blade hovered unhurriedly right between his eyebrows, forcing Welt to shut his mouth and dodge immediately.
“Hmph.
An ant like you doesn’t even deserve to speak!”
The girl scoffed coldly.
“Your life,” she declared impassively, “is mine to take.”
Just then, a familiar woman stepped through a freshly opened spatial portal with a gentle, serene smile.
Welt’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he stared at Cecilia standing in front of him—and in absolute horror as the Black Abyss White Flower in her hands pierced through his chest, blasting his Herrscher Core straight out of his body!
“Cecilia?!
You?!”
Welt couldn’t understand it no matter how hard he tried.
Why would Cecilia kill him?!
“Hey!
Why’re you kill-stealing from me?!” The Imperial Guard girl turned to Cecilia, pouting in annoyance.
“Ah, well…
this was Her Majesty’s direct order,” Cecilia replied, looking slightly bashful.
Meanwhile, a dying Welt lay on the ground, his entire mind consumed by a single question: Why…
why did it end up like this?!
In the end, he died buried under countless doubts and unwillingness.
He perished by Abyss Flower, the 6th Divine Key that had slain uncounted Honkai Beasts.
Following his demise, Welt’s Herrscher body completely dissipated into thin air, leaving behind only a sparkling, gemstone-like Herrscher of Reason Core.
…
“Man, Old Yang is dead.
How tragic.
Kept completely in the dark right up to his final breath.”
“Though, who knows if he’s gonna do his usual sit-ups and respawn again?
Better play it safe and avoid using that Herrscher of Reason Core for now.”
Ren let out a wide yawn.
He’d been playing for hours on end, but damn, it was so addicting!
What a blast!