"I remember now!"
Welt stood up abruptly, eyes wide, staring at the distant, fading pink silhouette.
His gaze was filled with disbelief.
"Elysia!"
That was the name he had heard from Raiden Mei countless times, the person Mei could never mention without showing a trace of sorrow.
Not only did they share the same name, but their looks, their tone of voice, everything matched Mei's description perfectly.
If that were all, Welt would have simply assumed this was another case of an alternate version from a different world, like Himeko's counterpart.
But the Elysia who appeared before them carried a power that didn't belong to this world, honkai Energy.
According to Mei's account, Elysia was from the Previous Era, the very first Herrscher.
Her title: Origin.
After integrating into human society and experiencing countless things, she transformed into a Herrscher belonging to humanity.
The Herrscher of Humanity.
She was, in the truest sense, the first Herrscher to ever stand on humanity's side.
Though in the end, she still couldn't escape her fate of falling.
Before the end of the Previous Era, all struggles had been in vain.
Welt suddenly turned sharply toward Stelle, who was connected to Elysia. "Where did you meet her?!"
Neither Stelle nor March 7 had ever seen Welt so emotional. Both were startled.
Himeko asked, "Do you… know that girl called Elysia?"
Realizing he'd lost composure, Welt sat back down, sighing deeply.
"I know her… She and I are from the same world."
Stelle, "???"
Welt crossed his hands in front of him, his deep gaze fixed forward, or rather, on Stelle.
"But before I boarded the Astral Express, she… had already passed away."
"Passed away?"
"That means she's dead! You really should read more books!" March 7 tapped Stelle on the head.
Dodging to the side, Stelle frowned in confusion. "But isn't she alive and well right now?"
"That's exactly why I'm so shaken."
Welt adjusted his glasses.
He didn't know what Elysia's current state was, but if the future had changed because of her actions…
Would the Honkai of his civilization still happen?
And if Elysia gained great power here and returned to her own timeline to rewrite that doomed ending, would the people he knew still exist?
Would he still exist?
Stelle didn't really understand what Welt meant, so she simply relayed his words back to Levi.
Riding on the back of the Origin Spirit gliding through the void, Levi received the message and replied while guiding it toward the direction of the Luofu.
[Dingdong!]
When Stelle got Levi's reply, she looked at Welt and read it out loud, "Your worries are unnecessary. The fact that you still exist means the future hasn't changed because of me."
"No, I prefer to believe that every time we make a choice, the future changes accordingly. Every choice creates a world that is similar yet different."
"When I make a change, I am no longer the Elysia you remember. She isn't me, and I'm not her."
"So don't worry about me affecting you. We are no longer people of the same world."
"The me standing here now is…"
"A brand-new Elysia!"
Finishing Levi's message in one breath, Stelle's mouth went dry. She gulped down half a cup of water and smacked her lips.
"Mr. Yang, what did all that even mean?"
She had caught only one thing clearly, that Levi… no, Elysia, was from the same world as Welt.
All that talk about the future, choices, and change? Totally lost on her.
"Whew..." Welt exhaled, finally understanding, and explained to Stelle's curious face, "Simply put, she and I exist at different points in the same world's timeline."
From her words, though, he could tell, every choice leads to a brand-new world, a brand-new path.
The Elysia they just met wasn't walking the same path as the Elysia from his world, so she wouldn't affect his future.
But that very idea made Welt think deeply.
If that were true… did it mean the future was already set in stone?
He couldn't help questioning his life, if everything was already predetermined, had his struggles really ever mattered?
———
Meanwhile, out among the stars, Levi, headed for the Luofu, had no idea his overly dramatic speech had sent Welt spiraling into existential doubt.
Even if he did, he wouldn't care anyway.
"Woohoo~ Destination reached safely!"
Feet touching down on the ground of Starskiff Haven, Levi glanced at the time and jogged toward his home.
He found the key hidden inside the vase by the door and unlocked it.
Once inside his cozy little home in Starskiff Haven, Elysia immediately switched into third-person camera mode, inspecting every inch of the place.
'Huh? Where's Kiana's panties?'
Setting down the takeout lunch, Levi twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"What panties? I'm a guy, how would I have something like that lying around?"
Then he added seriously, "I'm not a pervert!"
Elysia rolled her eyes so hard it was audible.
If she hadn't witnessed his "moment of madness" herself, maybe she could've believed that "I'm not a pervert" line.
But after seeing the beast called pervert lurking in his heart, Elysia had given him a private note in her mind, 'Do you even believe your own words?'
"No matter what you believe, I believe myself!"
'If you don't believe your own words, who else will?'
Levi walked to the table and casually kicked a box under it out of sight before picking up his phone.
He carefully checked if anyone had contacted him while he was gone.
[Stellaron Hunter (Silver Wolf): I'm not in the next chapter's script, so I'll come find you at the Luofu.]
"You better not!"
A galaxy-wide wanted criminal sneaking into the Luofu just to "hang out with a regular outsider"?
Yeah, try convincing the judges with that story.
Levi shook his head.
[Levi: Sure, sure, always welcome!]
After replying to Silver Wolf, he scrolled down, most were just spam from companies.
Discount sales, hotel price drops in Penacony, "only 19,999 credits per night"... the usual nonsense.
Then he spotted a message from Qingque.
[Qingque: Divination Commission has unexpected overtime, so I'm eating lunch at your place.]
[Qingque: Oh, and good news! After my pitiful… pleading, Lady Fu Xuan gave back the wages that were docked from me!]
[Qingque: I'm rich again!]
Levi smirked.
"Yeah, you conveniently forgot how much you still owe me."
If he wanted, he could take those debt notes straight to Fu Xuan, and Qingque's salary would be transferred to his account immediately.
"But overtime at the Divination Commission…"
He rubbed his chin. Normally, the Commission had nothing that required overtime. Their main duty was reading the stars to ensure the Luofu's route was obstacle-free.
If they were pulling overtime, it had to be something internal.
Maybe the Alchemists' Secrets.
Maybe the Abundance's Aberrations.
Whatever it was, it was likely connected to the Abundance.
Thinking for a moment, Levi decided to ask her what had happened.
[Levi: Overtime at the Divination Commission… something wrong in the Luofu?]
[Dingdong!]
The phone he'd just put down vibrated instantly. It was Qingque's reply.
That speed, Levi was sure she was slacking off at work, hugging her jade die.
[Qingque: Finally, you replied… As for overtime, I think it's because Lord Long of the Vidyadhara went missing…]
[Qingque: Uh, I remember you're on good terms with that dragon girl, right?]
[Qingque: Don't you go running off to look for her! The Cloud Knights are already on it, they'll find her soon.]
[Qingque: Hey hey hey, you still there?]
"..."
[Levi: Got it.]
Seeing Levi's reply, Qingque finally relaxed.
She'd been worried he might recklessly go after the missing person himself.
If he did, and got unlucky, he'd end up facing either the Alchemists' Forbidden Sect or the Remnants of the Abundance.
Sure, he'd shown his power fighting those mindless Abundance monsters last time, but those were just beasts without reason.
If he faced one of the sane and dangerous Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, who had fully manifested their demonic body… Levi would probably die.
Qingque didn't want to see her friend die before she did.
Even though, as an immortal Xianzhou native and he a short-lived species, that day was inevitable…
She still didn't want it to come so soon.
Putting her phone away, Qingque looked down at the papers on her desk.
"Alright, let's divine, let's divine… Come on, Qingque, for your friend, you can find where the little dragon girl is!"
"..."
Watching her focus completely on her divination, Fu Xuan quietly set down the hammer in her hand.
———
[Starskiff Haven]
"You okay? You look pale."
Elysia's worried voice echoed in Levi's mind.
The two shared the same body now and could sense each other's emotions.
And what Elysia sensed from Levi at that moment, was pure rage.
He forced a grim smile. "I'm fine…"
Then, looking toward the door, his eyes darkened with fury. "But someone's not going to be fine soon."
A whole group, actually.
Levi clasped his hands before his chest. In his palms, a flower slowly bloomed.
"From me it begins…"
Elysia unconsciously spoke the next line.
"From me it ends."
———
[Somewhere in the Luofu]
Tingyun of the Disciples of the Sanctum Medicus looked down at the unconscious girl before her and covered her mouth with a smile. "You people are really bold, kidnapping even the Vidyadhara High Elder herself."
"Heh, she's just a titleholder without the power of the High Elder."
Wearing a new disguise, Dan Shu gently ran a finger along Bailu's sleeping face.
"And really, it's not like we caught her, she practically ran right into us."
Even they wouldn't dare touch a true High Elder, but when Bailu accidentally stumbled upon them during their operation, the others decided to grab her too, to keep her from alerting the Cloud Knights.
Dan Shu's fingers slid down to Bailu's spine and stopped there.
"I've always wondered… If you used the spinal marrow of the Vidyadhara High Elder to make Dragoncoil Elixirs, would the medicinal effect increase several times over?"
"She's right in front of you. You could always find out yourself," Tingyun said, smiling behind her hand.