Like a person long confined in a dark cave stepping outside, eyes accustomed to darkness cannot bear the warmth of sunlight.
Having suffered before and now cautious, Seele tightly shut her eyes, only slightly cracking them open.
To her surprise, she found her eyes didn't burn with the familiar, searing pain that usually came with exposure to light.
It was as if she had always been in the sunlight, never having grown used to the dark.
Not just her eyes—her body, too, felt none of the heaviness that usually came with struggling up from the depths, as if filled with seawater. Instead, she felt light, warm, comfortable, as though reborn.
Gathering her courage, the girl opened her eyes fully.
A flood of light washed over her, erasing the last traces of darkness from her vision—and revealing the figure bathed in that radiance.
The height difference meant she couldn't clearly make out the young man's face, tilted downward against the backlight, but his presence shattered the lonely world.
What rose in Seele's heart at that moment wasn't an ordinary feeling.
He was the first human she had seen after drifting for who-knows-how-long in the endless crevices of the sea!
Her sea-blue pupils seemed to ignite, shining with longing, hope, and salvation.
Seele lifted her head.
Her fine, slightly shifting bangs fell like an uneven gray curtain, partially veiling her eyes.
Even with only the lower half of his face visible, the young man's handsome features were evident in the clean lines of his cheeks.
S-so good-looking!
The moment that thought formed, a blush spread across Seele's cheeks.
Shyly lowering her head, she noticed the hand paused near her chest and immediately flinched, stepping back to put distance between them.
"P-please don't… hurt Seele…"
Her voice, youthful and tinged with fragility, trembled as she clasped her hands to her chest, her slender shoulders curling inward.
Even the hardest of hearts would soften at such a sight.
But Caelus acted as if he hadn't noticed, raising his hands to rest them on the girl's shoulders.
"My AI?"
The tremor in the young man's voice made the little rabbit-like girl stop trembling. The timidity in her moist eyes gradually gave way to confusion.
AI?
What was that?
She thought she'd heard her sister Bronya mention that word before…
Baffled by the situation, Seele hesitated a few seconds before speaking softly:
"…Big brother, are you talking to Seele?"
"Seele…"
The gray-haired young man's eyes were still hidden beneath his hanging bangs, his expression unclear.
"You say you're Seele?"
"Mm, Seele's name is Seele Vollerei."
This time, before the host could ask, the system proudly chimed in:
[The best 'AI' for controlling a character in auto-battle is, of course, the original owner of the body~! Ehehe~! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧]
How's that for awesome, your System Bro~!
Damn!
His blood pressure surged and plummeted like a bungee jump.
But Caelus had to admit—the system had a point.
In the silence, a soft, gentle voice echoed in his mind, making him even more stunned.
It wasn't in his mind, but in the consciousness of the body's true owner, residing in the "background"—the one whose spiritual core was Caelus, Miss Seele.
[Other me, what's happening? Where are we? Why is there a living person inside this world bubble?]
Caelus & Seele: "…?"
Dark Seele: Damn! An interloper!
[This isn't a world bubble, nor is it the Sea of Quanta.]
After a few seconds of silence, Caelus-Seele replied.
[Not a world bubble? Then… have we left the Sea of Quanta?]
Upon hearing these words, Seele, who held absolute trust in her "other self," couldn't suppress the flash of delight in her eyes.
She subtly surveyed her surroundings—metal walls exuding a futuristic, high-tech vibe—yet they made little Seele's face turn slightly pale.
It was in a laboratory filled with metallic instruments that she had experienced the most agonizing moment of her life.
But compared to her current environment, there was something else weighing heavily on Seele's mind.
[Other me, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?]
Seele asked with concern.
An inexplicable sense of dissonance washed over her—something about her "other self" felt off.
But no reply came from her "other self," sending Seele into immediate panic.
Frantically, she called out in her heart, on the verge of tears. Watching the distressed Seele, Caelus grinned and directed a sharp question at the system.
[So, you're planning to have this soft, adorable little Seele—who'd probably cry all day if punched—fight on my behalf?]
His tone was like a bucket of cold water dumped over the system, jolting it awake from its complacency.
[Wait! This isn't right!]
[I clearly targeted the Seele from the parallel timeline of the current Star Rail era!]
The Seele from the post-Honkai era was undoubtedly an S-rank Valkyrie capable of holding her own—the best pilot for the "Seele" unit.
Belatedly realizing something was amiss, the system immediately scrambled to check the auto-combat system's code.
[Found it... Gah.]
Its words cut off abruptly, replaced by silence.
[Spit it out.]
Caelus was succinct.
[Well, the auto-combat system encountered a minor operational glitch while entering the solar system...]
The system hesitated, evasive and stammering.
[The Cocoon of Finality's barrier around the solar system was bypassed, and the three phases of time—past, present, and future—got tangled due to this bug. As a result, the "pointer" shifted to a Seele from a few years ago, still drifting in the Sea of Quanta.]
"..."
Caelus's expression was a sight to behold.
Before crossing over, he had just looked up the crossover storyline between Honkai Impact 3rd and Star Rail and remembered the conversation between the Emissary of the Garden of Recollection and Kiana.
Damn!
So you're the culprit!?
But didn't I cross over?
Worldline convergence?
Questions swirled in his mind, tangling into a ball of yarn, but there was no time to dig deeper.
Even Seele's issue had to be set aside for now—he had to provide backup immediately!
[Seele, it's complicated. I'll explain in detail later, but for now, just give me back control of the body.]
Saying this, Caelus-Seele took over control of the body from Seele.
[You want to use the body? O-okay... Huh!?]
Seele naturally didn't mind letting her "other self" use her body.
In those collapsing world bubbles, they often encountered quantum shadows that devoured worlds, and it was always her other self who stepped in to protect her.
What stunned Seele was that her "other self" had taken over the body before she even relinquished control.
Simultaneously, Seele felt herself completely losing control over her body.
Forget fighting for it—without her "other self's" permission, she couldn't exert even the slightest influence!
It was as if this body had never been hers to begin with, but entirely and utterly belonged to her "other self."
Why? How could this be?
Seele fell into bewilderment.
There was no time to explain to Seele. Caelus·Seele equipped the Body Technique Expert badge, grabbed the Obsidian Cutter, and dashed toward the battlefield.
Just after running out of the hatch, Caelus·Seele suddenly halted, tilting her head to cast a glance toward the other end of the corridor.
Staring intently at a certain spot in the hallway, her narrowed, beautiful eyes revealed a hint of thoughtfulness.
Then, the girl turned toward the empty corridor and flashed an exceptionally radiant smile.
She spun around.
Quantum energy surged within her body, and the unprecedented sense of power brought a trace of wildness to Caelus·Seele's lips.
Once her body completed quantum transformation, she stomped hard on the ground.
Jump!
...
Inside the ship's corridor.
"This guy is really strong!"
Stelle forcefully held the Galaxy Bat horizontally, bracing it in front to block the Trampler's iron hooves.
Yet, the Trampler, stepping on the bat, still had strength to spare.
Its humanoid upper body wielded a silver-black longbow, aiming at March 7th. Arrows formed of negative particles collided with Six-Phase Ice arrows, canceling each other out.
If Stelle had been on the Path of Destruction, dealing with the Trampler alongside March 7th wouldn't have taken much effort. But she had just been born.
This was her first battle.
Moreover, a squad of Voidrangers was watching intently.
And March 7th had to guard the corridor entrance to prevent the Voidrangers from getting past to find Caelus.
Taking advantage of Stelle blocking the Trampler's attack, a Marauder, wielding two icy blades, charged toward the gray-haired girl from behind, intending to deliver a "justice backstab."
"Stelle! Watch your back!"
March 7th had just frozen a Heavyweight aiming at Stelle when she spotted the Marauder closing in.
At this distance, she couldn't shield Stelle in time.
"This youngster has no martial integrity, using deception and sneak attacks on a baby less than a year old. Is that really okay?"
Gripping the bat with both hands and grumbling, Stelle turned her head upon hearing the warning.
A blade piercing through the air reflected in her constricted pupils.
The brief distraction allowed the Trampler to seize the opportunity, its hoof-like forelimbs stomping down forcefully, forcing Stelle to turn back and face it.
"Oh no!"
Stelle's heart sank.
Just then, she suddenly heard a girl's sharp cry echoing abruptly from the void.
"Vanish with the butterflies! Phantom of the past!"
It was a girl with deep blue hair, flying toward them like a human cannonball.