"This is truly troubling... Pioneer Su. Before trying to win someone over, you should at least explain your method for defeating the Honkai."
Su: "My apologies. It is not that I am unwilling, but that I am unable. The number of singularities that must be passed through to converge this world into a 'world that has defeated the Honkai' is 32,874. The countless threads of causality here are so exquisitely complex they cannot be described with words.
Trust me, Miss Bianka. This is my request. Complete the tasks I give you, and save the world from the shadows."
"After all that talk, it's still just empty words with no evidence. It's too much to ask me to trust you under these circumstances."
Durandal rejected Su again and reached out to form a star spear, a power she had gained after merging with a Bubble Universe that allowed her to travel between them.
"I'm leaving. It's a pity your Bubble Universe can't hold me. This isn't the first time I've traveled between Bubble Universes."
"I know, Miss Bianka. I have foreseen all of this. Including your doubts..." Su opened his closed eyes, revealing his cherry-red pupils.
Su flashed to Durandal's side, grabbed the star spear she had formed, and crushed it. "Go, and sacrifice yourself for this world."
"What are you trying to do!"
Reacting quickly, Durandal immediately retreated, creating distance between herself and Su. She was now certain of one thing: Su was an enemy.
"Miss Bianka, you have refused to cooperate with me, so I cannot let you return...
In my foresight, only in a handful of instances did you trust me unconditionally, a probability of one in billions...
So, to be safe, I have prepared a solution."
Su extended his hand, creating a puppet next to him that looked exactly like Durandal.
"A substitute. She has all of your memories and is almost identical to you. The only thing she lacks is the power you obtained from the Sea of Quanta. Miss Bianka, I am now going to extract that power from your body."
"Hah—"
Durandal had no more patience for talk and threw a jet-propelled straight punch at Su.
Su caught the punch, but was still pushed back several steps.
"Miss Bianka's strength is truly remarkable. But it is not enough..." After saying this, Su's figure quietly vanished.
Durandal was on high alert, vigilantly scanning her surroundings, searching for where Su might reappear.
Illusory leaves suddenly appeared beside Durandal, followed by an invisible attack that struck her face like a heavy blow, sending her flying backward.
*This feeling... was that my own punch?*
Durandal spat out a mouthful of blood and stared coldly at Su, who had appeared before her.
"It's over, Miss Bianka. Your sacrifice will not be in vain, I assure you." Su raised his hand, preparing to deliver the final blow to Durandal.
"Pioneer Su, are you underestimating me? Ending things like this would be far too sloppy. Now, let's begin round two!" Durandal wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Come forth, king!"
King, the guardian knight bearing a massive longsword, instantly materialized behind Durandal and unleashed a space-shattering slash at Su.
"Sigh... any more struggle is futile."
Su dodged king's strike from a perfect angle. At the same time, the illusory leaves in the sky condensed into a greatsword identical to king's and slashed down at Durandal.
"Causality reversal. Within my domain, your attacks will be returned to you. The stronger the power, the stronger the backlash."
The greatsword fell. Su turned to leave, certain in his foresight that Durandal could not withstand this blow.
*BOOM—*
A massive clang of sword against shield echoed, catching Su by surprise.
Su spun around abruptly, looking at Durandal.
Amidst the smoke and dust, another massive guardian spirit knight appeared, holding a spirit shield to protect Durandal, blocking the blow for her.
Durandal stood between king and queen, saying, "Thank you for the explanation, but I had already figured out your ability for the most part."
"To think such a monstrous person possesses two of them... But controlling such weapons must consume a tremendous amount of energy. That so-called full-power strike just now was probably just to figure out my ability, wasn't it? Miss Bianka's wisdom truly exceeds my imagination."
Su spread his hands. Since the reflected attack was blocked by queen, his causality reversal domain seemed to be useless. After all, his own body wasn't that tough and couldn't take a single slash from king.
Just then, the spatial wall of Sumeru rippled, and an unexpected person broke in.
Purple-black gravity spheres rained down from above, aimed at Su. Su could only resort to his previous trick, turning into illusory leaves to dissipate and dodge the attack.
"It seems the two of you weren't having a pleasant chat. In that case, would you mind telling me what you were discussing?"
Ryn held his left hand high, using a black hole to cover the entirety of Sumeru, while his right hand held several gravity spheres, ready to attack again.
"Ryn, be careful. His domain can reflect attacks back onto the attacker." Durandal flashed to Ryn's side, with queen's spirit shield protecting them both. She then quickly explained the situation to Ryn.
"Ryn...? Who are you?"
Su's figure reappeared. He had opened his eyes again, his expression more grave than ever before.
In just a few seconds, the abilities Ryn displayed proved he was no nobody. But if that was the case, why was there no record of him in the countless parallel worlds Su had observed?
"Who am I? What's wrong, didn't you say you've observed countless parallel worlds? Looks like you haven't seen enough!"
Ryn made a grabbing motion in Su's direction. The plants within Sumeru began to grow at a rapid pace, sending out vines that shot towards Su like sharp swords.
Su activated 「Omniscience」, simulating all possible attack paths of Ryn's vines and, from countless possibilities, chose the perfect path to dodge all of Ryn's attacks.
Then, Ryn's attack was completely returned to him by the causality reversal.
"Ryn, watch out!" Durandal controlled queen to move directly in front of Ryn, but the vines curved around the spirit shield and shot towards Ryn.
*Duang—*
The vines collided with Ryn's body, producing the crisp sound of steel striking steel...
Durandal & Su: "???"