"I've looked through Project Bunny's data. It contains some records about Bronya... It seems this control chip was... was something Bronya requested to be installed herself. There's a line recorded in Project Bunny: 'I can no longer bear a life without Seele... Until I save her, just keep me under control like this...'."
"..."
The three of them fell silent upon hearing this. Seele was probably more important to Bronya than her own life...
"Um... one more thing. Bronya's brain and legs are damaged to varying degrees... her emotion module may be missing. Combined with the period she was controlled by the chip, it's caused her thoughts and memories to become confused... but her thoughts and memories should recover after some time."
Mei gently stroked Bronya's head and said to Kiana and Kika, "This poor child... let's take her with us. I'll take care of her..."
Seeing Mei's gentle and caring demeanor, Kiana felt like she was looking at a great mother. "Mei will definitely be a good mother in the future... The light of motherly love is so dazzling~"
"What are you saying, you idiot Kiana?!" Kiana's words made Mei blush.
Kika placed a few cans of food in Kiana's arms and said to them, "Alright, alright, Mei will be in charge of Bronya then. We'll rest up and then get ready to head to the safe zone Schicksal mentioned for evacuation. Nagazora City is full of Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies now."
"What about Ryn... he told us to wait for him to come back!" Kiana shook her head, not wanting to leave.
"Cortana's host is with him. The moment he appears, we can locate him. And by then, we'll have Schicksal equipment to support him better and faster. Otherwise, with our current strength, even if Ryn appears, we won't be able to reach him, let alone handle any potential crisis. Even we ourselves are in mortal danger right now." Kika didn't want to leave right away either, but their current condition was poor. If a powerful Honkai Beast appeared, everyone would be in danger. If something happened to Kiana, Ryn would be more devastated than if he himself were injured. So, it was better to get Kiana to safety first...
"Then... alright..." Kiana didn't argue further, especially since they were now carrying an injured person.
And so, Kiana and the others set off for the safe zone Schicksal had designated, where a ship from the Far East Branch would be waiting to receive the survivors. As for the other captured members of Anti-Entropy, Kiana untied them and told them about the Schicksal evacuation point. Whether they chose to go was up to them; they had no interest in helping people who had tried to harm them. Bronya was an exception; she was being controlled and was just a child.
————————
Back to Ryn's side.
The light engulfed Ryn and Seele, and then they both vanished from Seele's timeline. The Sea began to reconstruct Seele's body using Ryn as an anchor, bestowing upon her the Sea's blessing. The Tree also began to exert its power, stuffing all sorts of abilities into Ryn, ensuring he wouldn't be outdone by what the Sea gave Seele. The two supreme beings' strange sense of rivalry had flared up again. Seeing the Tree working so hard, the Sea also began to stuff all sorts of things into Seele.
"Let's add some Authority."
"There's no need. You've already given her the Authority over life and death. That's already way too overpowered."
"So what? I want to, I like it, you got a problem with that?"
"Do whatever you want. It doesn't matter to me how many people she revives. When their world's order collapses, it'll be your mess to clean up anyway. But you'd better give this kid of mine a resurrection ability too. It's rare to find one I like. It'd be a pain if that Honkai thing plays him to death."
"Tsk tsk tsk, make it like Seele's then. He can revive once every so often, but only until he inherits the Authority of that girl named Janna. Speaking of which, that Honkai thing's brain must have short-circuited. Creating Janna was one thing, but it also made a Will Coordinator, and now everything is out of Its control. If it weren't for those two little ones in the future becoming gods and turning into rules to take out the Will Coordinator, we'd have to go clean up Its mess."
"It's fine. An unchanging order needs some variables to be interesting. By the way, have you been contaminated by those Bubble Universes? Your tone is so..."
"None of your business."
"..."
An unknown amount of time later, when Ryn woke up, he found that he had returned to his own body. Seele also had a body and was sleeping on top of him.
Ryn felt his consciousness was clearer than ever before. A continuous stream of power flowed into his body from the Sea of Quanta and the Imaginary Space, as if he now held the power to grasp the sun and moon, to reverse the heavens and the earth.
"..."
Wait, it seemed he actually could reverse the heavens and the earth...
"Stigmata?! Get out here and explain! Where's my Authority of Reason? Why do I feel like my Authority is gravity manipulation!"
[Ehehe... isn't the First Herrscher's Authority gravity manipulation?]
"You bastard, I remember the First Herrscher being the Herrscher of Reason, and his ability was Understanding and Reconstruction! How could it be gravity manipulation!"
[Well, about that... the First Herrscher of your world, the Herrscher of Reason, in the Tree's and Sea's records... he seems to have been a gravity user. His use of Understanding and Reconstruction was pretty mediocre... but he was a master of gravity.
I originally got the Authority of Understanding and Reconstruction, but the Sea said your brain wasn't up to it. Giving you the Authority of Reason would probably just make you like Welt, mediocre at Understanding and Reconstruction, unable to replicate anything strong, and replicating weak things would be useless.
Coincidentally, in my world, there's also a Welt. He's also the First Herrscher, but his Authority is gravity...
And the Sea said, since you're both Ryn and both the First Herrscher, it wouldn't feel right without gravity... so the Sea just went ahead and swapped it for the Authority of gravity manipulation...]
"My intelligence is up to the author, you can't blame me for that. Also, couldn't you have at least asked for my opinion before swapping it..."
[Who told you to talk back earlier? The Sea has a bad temper, and the Tree was fanning the flames... anyway, you're their child now in a sense, so listening to your parents is always the right thing to do... probably...]
Ryn didn't want to say any more. He would get all the Authorities sooner or later anyway, it was just a matter of order. Gravity it was then... He had wanted to craft a Valkyrie battlesuit for Kiana, but that would have to wait.
Still... being a Herrscher felt pretty good. All that my will can reach is my domain. To mobilize all the Honkai energy within my domain, to change the world with a single thought, to rewrite concepts with a single thought.