"...???"
"...Huh?"
"...What is going on here?"
Silver Wolf let out a trio of bewildered sounds.
Just as she was about to play the hero and save the damsel in distress, the lovely girl who seemed moments away from being ruthlessly crushed by the Voidspawn suddenly shed her soft sheepskin, revealing the bloodthirsty wolf hidden beneath.
Wielding a scythe, she charged forward and utterly decimated the Voidspawn!
She was beautiful, and every move in combat was filled with a certain grace.
However, this ferocity, a stark contrast to her previous gentle and cute demeanor, was clearly very wrong.
Split personality?
That surge of violent power... could it be the Mara?
It seemed somewhat similar to Blade's symptoms when he flared up...
"Looks like this little sister has her own secrets."
Slightly disappointed at losing the chance to be a hero, yet pleased to have uncovered the girl's secret, Silver Wolf pulled down her neon glasses.
"Interesting!"
Secrets make a girl even more captivating~!
...
After the battle concluded, Qiong, March 7th, and Seele—all four of them—headed towards the central elevator in the atrium.
They began by introducing themselves to each other.
Seele initially planned to present herself as an ordinary inhabitant of some unremarkable planet in the galaxy. She was just minding her own business, eating hotpot and singing songs, when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, she found herself inexplicably transported here.
After all, much like Artoria's face in the Type-Moon world, in the vast Honkai universe, the face of a famous actress could seemingly pop up anywhere.
Belobog itself had counterparts of Seele and Bronya, and Welt didn't seem particularly shocked or astonished upon hearing of their existence.
Presumably, having journeyed across the stars and seen much of the universe, Welt was already accustomed to such things, right?
Just looking a tiny bit similar, what's the big deal~!
However, Seele paused, thinking about the unmistakable Honkai Energy within her.
Unless Welt's brain had been scooped out and fried by the Void Archives, he would obviously never believe such an unrehearsed, nonsensical story.
Therefore, after a moment's thought, Seele decided to adopt the persona of "Little Seele"—completely clueless, answering every question with "I don't know."
Although the consciousness residing in this body could still benefit from the mask partially controlling emotions, Qiong, too lazy to put effort into acting, simply activated 'Auto-Battle,' handing control of the body over to Little Seele.
Perhaps due to being in an unfamiliar place, her steps were somewhat hesitant. The girl observed the various objects in the space station, her eyes flickering with novelty and confusion from time to time.
The space station was immense, filled everywhere with high-tech equipment that Little Seele couldn't comprehend.
Gazing through the glass windows at the outside world, the sheer awe of being in space for the first time, looking up at the sea of stars and down upon a planet, was utterly unconcealable.
Those sea-blue eyes, like windows filled only with purity and simplicity, brimmed with innocence.
Even Aha himself would have to comment that it didn't look like an act!
"What? Are you serious? Seele, you don't know about the Aeons?"
March 7th's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Sister March, Seele has never heard of gods with that name."
Strands of hair swayed gently as Seele shook her head.
"Aeon isn't a specific name, it's more like a general concept."
March 7th scratched the back of her head, looking utterly bewildered.
How strange!
Even natives from planets yet to enter the interstellar age couldn't possibly not have heard the names of the Aeons!
As a Nameless, she had visited all sorts of planets. Even civilizations still stuck in medieval feudal dynasties knew about a few Aeons, more or less.
This had nothing to do with access to the interstellar information network.
On any given planet, with a population base in the billions and a human history spanning thousands, even tens of thousands of years, there would always be individuals capable of drawing upon a Path through sheer will, attracting the gaze of an Aeon.
These Pathstriders were the source of information about the Aeons.
But after a brief chat with Seele, March 7th discovered the girl was genuinely ignorant of all this.
"Seele, let me tell you, the Aeons, they're actually..."
March 7th's lively and cheerful personality easily dissolved White Seele's guardedness, and her gentle reassurance even began to subtly dispel the anxiety of being in a strange world.
[Aeons and Paths?]
Listening to March 7th explain the concepts related to Aeons and Paths, Dark Seele, located within the Stigma Space, fell silent.
A moment later, she spoke within Seele's 'squad voice channel'.
[Other Seele, shouldn't you be explaining things to us now?]
Her voice had reverted to its usual coldness, laced with a hint of intimidation.
After the three-minute limit, the rift in the Stigma power forcibly opened by Qiong-Seele vanished. Her control over the body and the power transmitted to the outside world were abruptly cut off by the closing gap.
Just as Dark Seele was about to forcibly seize control of Seele's body to turn these people who dared bully Seele... cough, bully her body, into dust...
She realized with astonishment that the power of the Stigma was not under her control!
It felt as though she had only been granted temporary usage rights; the true owner of the Stigma was someone else.
But how could that be possible?
[As 'my other self' can see, this is not a Bubble Universe within the Sea of Quanta, nor is it your native timeline from before entering the Sea.]
Dark Seele's coldness and threats couldn't frighten Qiong-Seele. Did she not know Dark Seele was actually warm-hearted deep down?
[Have you heard of the concept of parallel worlds?]
[Seele knows, Sister Bronya talked about it.] White Seele chimed in.
[Tch~!]
Seemingly annoyed that White Seele mentioned Bronya at every turn, Dark Seele pouted slightly.
[So? Are you a Seele from a parallel world?]
Sitting on the ornate, fairy-tale-style black and red princess chair within the Stigma Space, Dark Seele posed the question, then suddenly looked up, a flicker of realization dawning on her face.
If that were the case, it would explain why this Seele's personality was different from the 'crybaby'.
And the difference in Honkai Energy.
Things had happened too suddenly before, under urgent circumstances, so she hadn't noticed. Now, back in the Stigma Space, Dark Seele finally perceived it.
The Honkai Energy within the body... felt a bit off!?
Dark Seele couldn't quite pinpoint the feeling.
If she weren't a transcendent existence born from the Stigma, possessing a Honkai Energy affinity far exceeding humans, she might not have even detected the subtle difference.
But, whatever. Honkai Energy wasn't important; Seele was.
[That's right.]
Who dared say that her identity in this world, possessing Seele's body, wasn't 'Seele from a parallel world'?
[The body Seele is currently using, it's actually my body, you know.]
Qiong-Seele's tone was gentle.
[Eh?!] White Seele gasped.
[So that's how it is.]
Dark Seele seemed to have found the root cause of all the abnormalities, realization dawning on her face. Resting her chin on her hand, she asked:
[Then, why did we come to this world?]
[Hmm...]
After pretending to ponder for a moment, Qiong-Seele beamed, smoothing out the calm edge of Qiong from her voice, softening it until it was identical to White Seele's.
[Maybe a god heard the intense longing and desire in my heart for 'my other self' and granted me the ability to connect with my parallel world self~]
Intense longing for 'my other self'!?
The direct hit, delivered from point-blank range, combined with that 100% 'Seele-flavored' soft, sweet tone, dealt tons of true damage directly to Dark Seele. Her cheeks flushed crimson instantly.
[Y-You, what are you talking about?!]
Dark Seele at this stage clearly couldn't withstand such a direct assault and abruptly went silent out of embarrassed anger.
Meanwhile, the ever-considerate White Seele was thinking about something else.
[Then, my parallel self, is it really okay for me to use your body?]
[Seele, do you want to go back?]
The moment the words left her mouth, Qiong-Seele already had the answer.
Fear, panic, and other emotions surged forth like a tide, swelling instantly like a storm.
Undoubtedly, she did not want to return to that abyss of only nothingness and darkness.
However, simply occupying her parallel self's body like this wasn't right either!
White Seele suppressed the fear in her heart, about to speak, but Qiong-Seele's words came first.
[Your situation before coming here was pretty bad, right? You can use my body for now. After all, we're both 'Seele'~!]
Being in a state of sharing the body, Qiong-Seele could sense Seele's mental state. It was like a spring compressed to its absolute limit, gradually losing its elasticity and nearing the point of shattering.
Having had a high opinion of Seele in her past life, and considering she might need Dark Seele's help for 'substitute fighting' later on, Qiong-Seele naturally wouldn't just stand by and watch.
Unlike other cases of multiple consciousnesses sharing a body, as long as she turned off 'Auto-Battle,' she could regain control of the body.
Absolute control!
While the Seeles were communicating in their squad channel, Qiong was also conferring with the System internally.
[System, is the ability to grasp and use the power of the Stigma the difference between 'Swallowtail Phantasm' and 'Stygian Nymph'?]
Having already formed a rough guess, Qiong was merely confirming with the System, preventing it from hiding any other surprises.
[Essentially, yes.]
The System answered concisely.
[The Host can master the power of the Stigma through their own efforts. Upon success, compared to 'Stygian Nymph'... there are some statistical differences.]
[Then what if I later pull the 'Stygian Nymph' character card from the gacha? Or the Herrscher of Rebirth? Will I get another Seele body?]
Qiong continued asking.
[No, only the first character card for any individual comes with a physical body. If the Host later pulls Stygian Nymph, you will directly possess power equivalent to it. The same applies to the Herrscher of Rebirth.]
[Besides directly gaining the corresponding power that the character card can master, it will also unlock the character's 'Eidolons'...]
[Stop! You don't need to say anymore, I get it.]
Before the System could finish, Qiong cut it off abruptly.
Qiong covered her face, trying to suppress the urge to complain.
It's still stitching things together!
It's still cramming features in!
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