Two more years passed in the same peaceful, orderly fashion, and Elysia turned ten.
The moment she woke that morning, she sensed something was wrong.
Walking to the window, she gazed toward the edge of town and saw a group of soldiers accompanied by a convoy whose carriages bore moth emblems.
They had stopped at the entrance and were unloading equipment.
A blue-haired man who appeared to be their leader was speaking with the mayor, while the townspeople gathered around the convoy, unease hanging in the air.
Barring any surprises, that captain was Griseo’s father, Ato.
After Elysia went downstairs, she saw Director Celia hurrying toward her anxiously.
“Elysia, hide, quickly!” Director Celia grabbed Elysia and hurriedly pulled her toward her room.
?
Director, when did I expose myself?
Then she recalled how drastically her behavior differed from the original Elysia’s and instantly understood.
Her mysterious origins aside, she possessed a head full of knowledge that had seemingly come from nowhere, along with a ridiculous gift for learning, though that was really just her relying on knowledge from her previous life.
It would have been stranger if no one found her suspicious.
Can’t you just assume I’m like Mobius, someone born knowing everything?
I could still be human!
Mobius was treated like a freak at first too.
Never mind, then.
However, after years of practice, Elysia had now reached “Power of Love, Level Ten.” Her control over her authority was so precise that if a mere blood test could detect anything, she would devour the Authority of Origin on the spot.
Besides, thanks to “symmetry breaking,” it should not have been detectable in the first place.
Thus, Elysia spoke up.
“It’s all right, Director Celia.
They won’t be able to find anything.” That wording sounds a little strange…
It makes me sound like an undercover agent.
“Ahem.
After all, Elysia is a genuine human.” In her panic, she hastily added another sentence.
Director Celia clearly did not believe her.
She brought Elysia to the bedside, lifted the bed board, and revealed a hidden compartment beneath it.
Elysia’s eyes widened.
Director, since when did you have something like this?
“Quickly, hide inside and don’t make a sound.
If they come, I’ll say I sent you out to buy something and that you won’t be back today.” Would that excuse really hold up…?
“Thank you for your concern, Director, but Elysia knows what she’s doing.
Please trust Elysia, all right~?” Elysia shook the director’s hand, launching a full-powered cuteness offensive.
“This is serious, Elysia.” Director Celia crouched halfway down and cupped Elysia’s face, meeting her gaze solemnly.
“I believe you’re a good child, but I also know you’re…
a little special.
They may have come specifically for you.
You’re my child.
I have to protect you.” Elysia felt touched, but she also knew the inspection had been ordered from above with no room for exceptions.
Every person had to be checked against the list.
If she truly hid, it would only make her look guilty.
She therefore stepped back and extended her hand, activating her authority with the smallest possible expenditure of Honkai energy.
Director Celia froze as a crystalline flower appeared out of thin air.
“This is Elysia’s ability.” She waved her hand and dispersed the flower, then demonstrated how she could condense the scattered fragments back into a crystal.
“You may not know this, Director, but I go into the woods to practice every night.
By now, I can control my…
special qualities very skillfully.
Elysia hopes you’ll trust her, just as Elysia has always trusted you.” Her voice was equally serious.
The director stared into her eyes for a long time, while Elysia met her gaze with a smile.
At last, she relented.
“If anything goes wrong, run immediately,” she warned before letting her leave.
After storing the crystal in the Space of Origin, Elysia stepped outside.
A long line had already formed at the town entrance.
Several doctors dressed in thick protective suits were drawing blood from the children one by one.
Behind them stood a complicated array of instruments, and each blood sample was sent inside for testing.
Elysia naturally joined the end of the line.
Director Celia followed and remained beside her.
“I’m still a little worried.” The director looked deeply uneasy.
Elysia smiled.
The line moved extremely slowly.
She waited through the entire noon and afternoon.
“Next.” Elysia shook her head to clear her drowsiness, then stepped forward.
“My name is Elysia.
Elysia has already introduced herself, so now it’s your turn to introduce yourself, Uncle.” She unleashed Elysia-style social terrorism upon the blue-haired man holding the list.
The word “Uncle” made the man stumble outright.
He took a deep breath and gave her a speechless look.
“My name is Ato.
And little girl, you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly.
Do I really look that old?
I’m not even married yet!” “Ahaha…
Sorry, Big Brother.” Yes, she had done it deliberately, to avenge the future Klein.
The doctor expertly drew her blood and handed Elysia a cotton ball.
Although the wound had already healed the instant the needle was withdrawn, she still pressed the cotton ball against the puncture site and stepped aside to wait.
Once everyone had given blood, the staff carried the final box of sample tubes into the testing equipment.
Director Celia maintained a calm expression on the surface, but beneath it, she nervously gripped Elysia’s hand.
Elysia was the one who gently rubbed her fingers in reassurance.
At last, the results appeared.
A green light came on.
There were no problems.
“Apologies for disturbing everyone, and thank you for your cooperation.” Ato put away the list, shook hands with the mayor, and led his team away.
Beneath the setting sun, Elysia watched the convoy depart and silently activated her authority.
The scene shifted.
Her consciousness rose into the starry sky, where she saw a massive star-shaped fissure split open at the center of the formerly grayish-purple Cocoon of Finality.
Endless violet radiance erupted from within, as though it sought to swallow everything.
She could no longer look directly at it.
This point in time had finally arrived.
The moment she had been waiting for was here.
In that case, the Honkai would soon descend upon the world in full force.
Though she was reluctant to leave, it was time to set out and walk the path Elysia had once walked.
The afterglow of sunset cast long shadows across all things.
Molten-gold orange light fell across Elysia’s face, making her narrow her eyes.
It was the magnificent yet peaceful final curtain of another day.
Suddenly, she remembered the ending of a work she had seen in her previous life.
“This is humanity’s sunset.” Yet she also remembered the ending of its sequel.
“The sky is growing dark.
Why aren’t your children afraid?” “Because she knows the sun will rise again tomorrow.” At noon the next day, Elysia found the director.
“Director Celia, do you still remember where my name came from?” “Of course.
Little Ely said that in the language of the Mu Continent, it means elysium1.” Director Celia replied with a smile.
“Then…” Elysia clenched her hands.
Director Celia had treated her better than anyone else in this life, reminding her of her mother from her previous one.
Now, she found the words impossibly difficult to say and could only force them out one at a time.
“I…
should set out to search for elysium as well.” The moment the words left her mouth, both of them fell silent.
Elysia lowered her head, unsure what else she should say.
After a long while, she felt a hand gently stroking her head.
Looking up, she saw the director’s tear-filled eyes.
“Then let Director help you prepare.” As soon as she finished speaking, Director Celia turned to leave.
Elysia could tell that the director did not want to make things harder for her.
But what about the director?
Isn’t she hurting too?
“Director Celia, there’s a reason I never called you Mother all these years.
It doesn’t mean I don’t love you.
In my eyes, you absolutely deserve to be called a mother.
Thank you for taking care of me all this time.” Elysia bowed sincerely.
“If you had a child of your own, she would be happier than anyone.” Director Celia’s departing steps halted.
She turned back and pulled Elysia into her arms, tears streaming endlessly down her face.
“Little Ely, the days you were here made me very happy too,” she said through broken sobs, while Elysia merely stroked the director’s long hair at the back of her head.
Everyone in town came to see her off.
The children cried so hard they could barely breathe.
Elysia carried a large bag stuffed with farewell gifts from the townspeople.
Bread, water, clothing, and money were all included.
Seth, the owner of the hardware store, gave her a stun baton.
Before she left, Director Celia also pressed a phone and completed identification documents into her hands.
“All right, all right, don’t cry.” Elysia comforted them as she took out several storybooks.
“These are the stories I’ve told over the years, though they only contain outlines.
I used to fill in the rest myself, but from now on, I’ll leave that to all of you.
You can tell them to the children who come after you.
Beautiful stories are meant to be passed on.
When that time comes, seeing this storybook will mean I’m right there beside you, won’t it~?” “Big Sis Elysia, please don’t go.” “We’ll miss you every day while you’re gone.” “I’ve never thought Big Sis Elysia leaving was something to be happy about.” Elysia smiled and shook her phone.
“We can still call each other.
Whenever any of you have troubles, you can call Elysia at any time.
No matter when or where, Elysia will always answer your expectations~” At last, her eyes met Director Celia’s.
Tears glimmered at the corners of the director’s eyes as she smiled and nodded.
“Goodbye~” Elysia said softly.
With her pack on her back, Elysia gradually walked farther away while the townspeople watched her go.
At last, when she reached the end of the road, she turned around and waved, shouting, “Besides, it’s not as though I’m never coming back!
The world is vast, but life is even greater.
We’ll meet again!
Elysia will always love you!” Once the others had disappeared from sight, Elysia’s expression grew pensive.
She raised her head and looked upward.
Beyond the starry sky, countless threads extended from the bright moon hanging high above, connecting to every person in the world.
Ever since the Cocoon of Finality began to stir, she had been able to see the puppet strings it imposed upon all living beings.
Though almost imperceptible, they undeniably existed.
It turned billions of people into puppets and manipulated them toward a predetermined destiny.
They would either surrender their individuality, merge into one, and become a unified consciousness, or suffer destruction at the hands of Finality and begin again from the start.
Is this the world Aponia sees?
How utterly despairing.
Trial?
Embrace?
Seeking Its Own Kind?
Heh.
How lofty and condescending.
It was nothing more than an executioner.
Throughout these millions of years of repeated cycles, the only periods in which humanity had possessed complete free will were the brief span after Elysia’s sacrifice in the Previous Era and the entirety of the Current Era.
However, as an anomaly of the Cocoon, a miracle Dr.
MEI had compared to “boiling coffee with ice cubes,” Elysia discovered that she seemed capable of erasing the threads across a limited area.
By burning her lifespan, she could even expand that range.
She had tested it while the townspeople were seeing her off, and it had worked.
Perhaps this was the reason she existed in this world.
She would travel to every corner of the earth, sever the puppet strings binding every person, and utterly destroy this marionette play.
She would never submit to such a fate.
eternal paradise