Chapter 39: Wouldn’t That Be Quite Embarrassing?
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5 seconds wasn’t even enough time for a father to save his daughter.
But 10 seconds was more than enough to save an entire city.
In those brief 10 seconds, the shock that Jiang Qiao brought to Elysia and the other two was like they had just participated in an episode of “The Brain.”
At this moment, all three of them were completely dumbfounded.
“Is… is it over just like that?”
Mei stared blankly at the dimmed countdown screen, looking at the Honkai energy reactor that had lost its color, still unable to believe it.
What exactly had just happened?
Everything had clearly unfolded before their eyes, but when they tried to recall it now, that unknown, extraordinarily brilliant pink girl seemed to have merely shot a single arrow.
Jiang Qiao smiled and spoke to comfort them:
“Alright, don’t make those expressions. I know you must be very surprised, but let’s save all the questions for after we leave this place.”
Even with Cocolia gone, this underground base wasn’t exactly a safe place.
“I’m sure people will be coming here soon. If we get caught, that would be quite troublesome~”
After all, she had just caused quite a commotion. Surely by now, whether it was Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, or even the World Serpent lurking in the shadows, they had all noticed.
The three naturally didn’t quite understand what Jiang Qiao meant. They were still immersed in the scene of Jiang Qiao’s earlier actions, but Elysia and the others still nodded subconsciously, agreeing to Jiang Qiao’s suggestion.
But just as Kiana and the others were about to head toward the passage they had come from, Jiang Qiao stopped them with a smile and said:
“Let’s take a shortcut instead. I happen to want to try out a new ability I just acquired~”
A shortcut? A new ability?
Kiana and Mei were naturally confused, while Elysia… Miss Elf was now looking at herself, completely unable to understand what was going on.
Those strange abilities from before were already completely incomprehensible to her, and now there was a new ability?
Elysia was beginning to doubt her existence. Previously, Jiang Qiao had been a complete novice who didn’t understand anything, even needing her reminders and teachings about using Honkai energy.
But now, she suddenly had the illusion that perhaps she was the novice.
This, this, this, this wasn’t right!
She was clearly the genuine Elysia, so how could the gap be so large compared to Jiang Qiao, this knockoff Elysia?
Puzzled and complex emotions swirled in her heart as Elysia looked at her own body, somewhat doubting her existence.
However, she was also very curious about what Jiang Qiao meant by a shortcut and new ability.
“Don’t blink, this is a fairy’s magic—”
Under the curious gazes of the three pairs of eyes, Jiang Qiao nodded with satisfaction, then raised an index finger with a smile and cheerfully drew a… circle.
Huh?
What was that supposed to be?!
Seeing this operation, Kiana was somewhat dismissive, and Miss Elf also breathed a sigh of relief.
That scared me to death! It was just using Honkai energy to draw a circle in the air, she could do that too!
The Pink Elf regained some confidence. Although the transformation was quite novel, well… she really couldn’t do that.
But aside from that, Jiang Qiao’s version of herself just shot arrows with a bit more strength and power… she should be able to do that with some effort. No, she definitely could do it!
The beautiful elf would not admit defeat!
Especially when it came to using her own body.
If she lost at this, wouldn’t she, as the original owner, be quite embarrassing?
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Mei let out a cry of surprise.
Elysia, who had snapped back to attention, looked toward the circle and was instantly stunned.
On the other side of the circle was none other than the Raiden Residence!
Kiana curiously reached out to test it, found no problems, and directly jumped through.
She immediately started shouting excitedly:
“Wow, I went through a circle and ended up directly at Mei’s house!”
“Hmm… looks like I got it right.”
Hearing this, 【Elysia】 nodded with satisfaction.
Using this authority for the first time, he had thought it might go off course.
— That’s right, this was the authority of the Herrscher of the Void.
Of course, don’t misunderstand, Jiang Qiao hadn’t stolen the 2nd Herrscher’s Herrscher core.
After all, if she turned in a Herrscher body without a Herrscher core, it would definitely cause some trouble. Moreover, if he absorbed the Herrscher of the Void core, it would cause the undetectable characteristic of the Herrscher of Origin to disappear.
This would be harmful to 【Elysia】 life without any benefits.
So after weighing the pros and cons, Jiang Qiao had used the Herrscher of Origin’s position as the big sister to pull out a small piece of the Herrscher of the Void’s imaginary space manipulation ability from the Herrscher of the Void’s core.
After all, fundamentally, all Herrscher authorities were actually reflections of the Finality’s authority.
As the Herrscher closest to Finality, the Herrscher of Origin could act as an authority administrator and perform a certain degree of authority redistribution.
However, this kind of operation had to be based on the other party losing resistance and not fighting back.
“Alright, if there’s no mistake, let’s go quickly~”
Elysia, who had been standing there in a daze, was pushed by the smiling pink girl through to the other side of the circle.
And just as the circle disappeared.
The base’s central hub finally welcomed the belated arrival of a figure.
It was Fu Hua!
Although the battle with her hadn’t lasted too long thanks to Elysia’s notification to Kyoko.
But due to the lack of an access card and a sudden burst of energy waves that interfered with many of the built-in functions of the Shadow Knight battlesuit, her speed in reaching the base’s central hub was inevitably much slower.
When she arrived at the control room, all she could see was the remnants of people having been there but leaving the building empty.
Fu Hua, who had removed her face mask, looked at the base’s central hub that clearly showed signs of human presence and wasn’t long abandoned, and frowned.
She sighed helplessly and reported the situation here to Otto at Schicksal headquarters through the Shadow Knight’s restored internal network.
“However, that energy reaction just now… it felt so familiar.”
The girl gently pressed her forehead, trying to recall where that familiar feeling from the earlier energy burst came from, but the memories burned away by years of using Fenghuang Down had made her incredibly vague about the distant past.
Even though the recollection caused her intense headaches, she couldn’t find the source of that familiar feeling.
She just didn’t know why, but when that wave swept over her, she felt a trace of… nostalgia.
However, in Fu Hua’s life, she had long grown accustomed to such feelings.
After all, the things she had forgotten were already countless.
Just as she was about to give up on continuing to remember.
Suddenly, something in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
— It was pink, extremely fragmented, tiny crystal shards.