"You don't seem surprised."
"..."
When the silver-haired woman appeared before him, Lin truly didn't feel any surprise.
Parallel worlds, Bubble Universes, and someone capable of suppressing the Herrscher's consciousness... Lin could only think of one person involved, and she was exactly the type to do such a thing.
As the saying goes, one can use another person as a mirror to see their own gains and losses. When the person used as a mirror is infinitely similar to oneself, one can more intuitively see everything about themselves from the other party.
The woman with long silver hair was draped in a black robe. Beneath the robe, her entire body was wrapped in bandages. Her expression was identical to when she had left: indifferent, with a trace of sharp loathing hidden within.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to tell me about your naive ideals this time?" Facing the silent Lin, Yama mocked him without mercy. "Or did seeing the deaths of those people with your own eyes finally get to you?"
"..."
Two people with the same hair color stood facing each other in the freezing wind of the night.
.........
"This is the first time I've met you in person."
"Surprised?"
"I am indeed surprised..." Mei's gaze moved from the woman's exquisite, pale face and jelly-like lips down to her cloak and bandages. "But I'm more surprised by... what kind of outfit is this?"
"Your curiosity is certainly thick. Mobius clothes are far more shameful than mine."
"At least hers are still clothes..."
"Have you said enough? Have you seen enough?"
Being told off by the expressionless woman, Mei immediately shut her mouth and moved her gaze away from the other's fine figure.
It wasn't that she was abnormal, but rather the other party had a very special feeling, much like Lin, except she had a bit more human touch than Lin did.
"What happened just now? Who was that man?" Mei pulled the topic back to normalcy. Whenever she thought of that terrifying man from earlier, she still felt a chill on her neck.
Speaking of which...
Mei touched her sliced neck. A hand full of blood made her frown. Seeing this, the woman placed her hand on Mei's neck. After a wave of warmth, the wound healed.
"You..." Mei was astonished. One must realize this was a wound caused by the Abyss; it was impossible to heal except through the Abyss Flower. The woman being able to heal this wound proved one thing.
She possessed the power of the Herrscher of Death.
"That wasn't a person; it was a Herrscher," the woman answered coldly, pulling her hand away. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying all Herrschers are non-human, but at least that guy is not human. He is a pure Herrscher standing on the side of the Honkai."
"Do you mean the Herrscher's consciousness?"
Mei knew this well. What caused the Third Honkai was precisely the consciousness of the Third Herrscher that had once existed within her. After she completely awakened (feathered), her original consciousness took back all control.
The woman didn't speak. A hint of something unusual flickered deep in her eyes.
After a moment, she said calmly, "I'll send you back once he's gone."
.........
"...Not going to fight?" Lin still remembered Yama saying before she left that she definitely wouldn't let him go the next time they met.
He had also decided to end it here, to nip the potential Herrscher in the bud.
"No need. Seeing you look like a stray dog, I don't even have the urge to strike." Yama leaned against a tree trunk with her arms crossed. She turned her eyes toward the teaching building of Senba Academy. "How do you find this world?"
"It's very good."
Lin couldn't say it was bad. This was likely the world he, Ato, and everyone in the Fire Moth collectively pursued—one where the Honkai didn't rewrite their lives, where they walked the correct path until a mundane yet happy life came to an end.
"As long as it is a 'Leaf,' the Honkai will inevitably break out. It's just a matter of sooner or later."
"What do you mean?"
Yama gave him a meaningful look. "As you can see, this is a world without you. Didn't you confidently say you would save everything? Then use your eyes to see. If you didn't exist, what kind of life would they lead?"
Seeing Yama turn to leave, Lin thought of a crucial matter. He stared at her silver hair and spoke up: "Wait, I have one more question for you."
"..."
"Are you the Herrscher's consciousness, or Lin consciousness?"
She was a Herrscher, yet she maintained a human consciousness. Lin wanted to know how she did it, or if she was in a situation like the Herrscher of Reason from the Previous Era.
He wanted to know if there was still a solution for all of this and everything to come.
No matter what the method, he was willing to try.
The silver-haired woman ended the frozen time and walked forward.
Ethereal words were carried by the evening breeze: "I am nothing. And you wouldn't want to know how I became like this."
...
So, what should he do next?
A world without Honkai meant no need for combat.
Then what... was he supposed to do?
For the first time, Lin truly experienced what a world "without Honkai" was like. In the past, even if he walked in the most prosperous places and saw peaceful scenes, he always felt there was a layer of one-way glass in the sky called "Illusion." All the beauty was merely a lie that would, in an instant, shatter into glass shards and leave one bleeding profusely.
But now, that layer of glass had been removed. All that remained was true peace.
But even so, what of it?
This wasn't his world. Even if the wish were granted and the Honkai were gone, every future he had envisioned was meaningless.
In those futures, there was his own world and his friends.
So, at this moment, what did he have left?
"Lin, the rest... is up to you."
"Go, my hero... you promised me..."
His body seemed to still be in that sea of blood, sinking numbly.
The noise in his ears had stopped, but his heart could no longer find peace.
"Hello? Hey? Are you dazing off? Can you hear me?"
"You're actually dazing off without even blinking... Don't tell me you're sleeping with your eyes open? Hey! Hello! Please say something! A cute girl is talking to you!"
"Strange... doesn't look like he's asleep~"
Who was talking?
As Lin consciousness pulled away from that sea of blood and returned to his body, he finally saw the scene before him.
Even though he couldn't see colors, he knew the hair color of the person in front of him perfectly well.
But why was she here?
At the wrong point in time, appearing in the wrong place.
"Elysia...?"
"Oh! You actually know me! Could you be a fan of mine? That's wonderful! I finally got to meet a fan in real life!"
The pink-haired, flawless girl laughed without restraint under the night sky.