Chapter 23: How About Adding Some Romantic Atmosphere?
***
Being betrayed by her most trusted daughter left Cocolia deeply wounded.
But now was definitely not the time to deal with Bronya.
The enemy had already broken in!
“Lady Cocolia, the autonomous robots used for defense can’t stop these people’s advance. How should we respond?”
A subordinate reported the situation while seeking Cocolia’s orders.
This ME Corp building looked completely normal during the day, but once night fell, autonomous robots would defend and patrol. However, with the defensive configuration of those autonomous robots, they simply couldn’t hold out for long against those invaders.
“Hmph, I was just thinking the plan was progressing too slowly. Since Ryoma’s daughter has delivered herself to our doorstep, how could we not accept her?”
Cocolia snorted coldly, a flash of coldness in her eyes:
“Order the Titan units to capture those invaders. Kill them all on the spot, except for Raiden Mei!”
She had to admit that Raiden Mei and her group had indeed come at a very opportune time.
In this haste, she didn’t have many cards to play.
But even so, Cocolia didn’t consider the invading Elysia and her companions a threat at all.
The Sovereign wasn’t here, Schicksal hadn’t made a move, and those two idiots from the conservative faction were too busy to care. Just a wandering Kaslana and two ordinary people, what was there to fear?
Just as Cocolia issued her orders, a somewhat childish yet arrogant girl’s voice rang out:
“Mama, let this great me deal with those foolish invaders.”
The speaker was a girl with pink hair on the left and purple on the right, along with heterochromatic golden-blue eyes. When she spoke, she revealed shark teeth that made one’s lower body go cold and were quite emasculating, her smile very arrogant.
Sin Mal, one of the orphans adopted by Cocolia, was Bronya’s classmate and companion.
Jiang Qiao probably hadn’t expected that this bratty girl who had only existed in dialogue, seen in name but not in person, would actually be by Cocolia’s side.
But thinking about it carefully, with Sin Mal as Cocolia’s right-hand woman, it wasn’t strange for her to appear by Cocolia’s side during such an important experiment.
“Sin… alright, I’ll leave them to you. After this, I’ll need you to bring Bronya here.”
Cocolia didn’t use the word “capture.” Although the facts told her that Bronya had betrayed her, she still held some wishful thinking about Bronya.
Not to mention how much she had… cough cough, at least if Bronya wanted to save Seele, she had no reason to betray her!
…
Perhaps due to the Honkai eruption, the wind and snow on this Siberian snowfield that was covered in snow year-round was much heavier than usual today. The dense and dangerous snowflakes made it somewhat difficult to keep one’s eyes open.
But this couldn’t affect Jiang Qiao, who was currently the Herrscher of Origin.
While he was observing the other party, clearly, the 2nd Herrscher had also noticed his gaze.
“According to the Previous Era’s naming conventions, should I call you Sirin?”
The pink-haired girl in gorgeous attire approached the 2nd Herrscher provocatively. Jiang Qiao examined this Previous Era’s 2nd Herrscher up close, extending his hand without any wariness to touch the other’s chin.
This action seemed to trigger the 2nd Herrscher’s vigilance, causing her to retreat a few steps and create distance.
However, she didn’t attack.
Perhaps because Jiang Qiao’s body also belonged to a Herrscher, just like the Honkai Beasts he had encountered before, the 2nd Herrscher wouldn’t actively view him as an enemy.
But through this brief contact, Jiang Qiao still noticed that the girl before him had some emotional fluctuation when he said the name “Sirin.”
“Looks like I guessed right.”
“What a pity. I thought I could take advantage of this body’s nature as a fellow being to see if I could touch you, but you still maintain some wariness, don’t you?”
Jiang Qiao lowered his hand, his pink eyes tinged with divinity looking down at the 2nd Herrscher before him, with a hint of helplessness.
Sirin had no reaction whatsoever to his words, like a puppet on strings.
“Although there are still remnants of the human part, at this level, even the Herrscher of Origin’s authority has no room for manipulation.”
“How ugly. Were all the Herrschers of the Previous Era like you, with nothing but destructive desire in their hearts and no other emotions?”
As the Herrscher of Origin, Jiang Qiao could clearly sense the inner state of the 2nd Herrscher before him.
With a sigh, he spoke softly:
“Unpleasant.”
The moment those words fell, a massive Honkai reaction erupted from the 2nd Herrscher’s body.
Detecting the malice and hostility from Jiang Qiao, Sirin instantly categorized the former, whom she had originally considered a fellow being, as an enemy.
“Whoosh!”
A breaking sound accompanied by a sonic boom rang out, and Jiang Qiao didn’t even look, simply twisting his head slightly to dodge the attack from the 2nd Herrscher.
He looked up at the forest of spear tips surrounding the other party and couldn’t help but click his tongue:
“So this kind of thing is hereditary?”
Shaping imaginary space into sharp spears and launching them as projectiles — Subspace Lance, the Herrscher of the Void’s signature attack method.
The tuna from 50,000 years ago and the one from 50,000 years later seemed to have no difference.
Wait—
There was still some difference.
“They’re not on the same level of strength?”
Jiang Qiao wasn’t quite sure.
He had never fought the tuna from 50,000 years later. Strictly speaking, the one before him was the first Herrscher he had seen besides himself.
But he could still vaguely sense that the tuna before him was abnormally strong.
Could the tuna from 50,000 years later create sonic booms with Subspace Lance right after being born?
The six-core one probably could, but the fresh-out-of-the-factory one was questionable.
The Herrscher of the Void’s authority didn’t include acceleration.
“If I got hit by something like that, I’d probably die on the spot.”
Jiang Qiao frowned deeply, raising his hand to lightly touch his cheek. Through the silk gloves, he could feel the tiny wound that was throbbing with pain.
However, soon, under the Herrscher’s superhuman constitution, this minor wound healed.
“A Herrscher’s body really is convenient, it can easily repair itself as long as there’s Honkai energy.”
It’s just—
“This is a bit hard to fight. The Herrscher of Origin’s authority isn’t the type that’s good at combat.”
Jiang Qiao sighed.
Originally, he thought that after mastering the Herrscher of Origin’s authority, dealing with the 2nd Herrscher should be quite easy.
After all, even Elysia hadn’t fully developed the power of Origin and still won, right?
But he was indeed thinking too simply.
What was recorded in the files was Elysia’s decisive great victory.
Although the term “great victory” seemed relaxed and effortless, the actual situation of that battle probably wasn’t as simple as recorded.
“But it’s just a bit hard to fight.”
With a light murmur, Jiang Qiao raised his hand to grip the bowstring.
Between his fingers, an arrow condensed with massive amounts of Honkai energy gradually took shape.
“If it were Elysia, she would probably say something like this?”
— How about adding some romantic atmosphere?