"We can't get out of this place at all! It's the same scenery no matter where we go!" Kiana said with a look of grief and indignation. She would have been more convincing if she had thrown away the chocolate banana she had casually picked up from a shop.
"....Roar!!~" One by one, ordinary Honkai Zombies chased after them from the path behind, brandishing their dark, sharp claws to attack Mei, Kiana, and the others...
But before these ordinary Honkai Zombies could get close, Li Xuan cut them down as if they were cabbages. Purplish-red blood soaked the ground, adding a nauseating stench of decay to the food-scented air.
"Honkai Zombies have appeared too. It looks like the plan is to corner and kill us in this space..." A flash of white light glinted from the katana in Mei's hand as she swung it, easily finishing off a Honkai Zombie... Nowadays, these ordinary Honkai Zombies were no match for them.
"Tsk..." Li Xuan casually decapitated the fearless Honkai Zombies rushing at him and took a step back, dodging the gushing red, white, and even purple fluids... Even though he had killed quite a few things, he still felt a bit disgusted...
'I really admire Kiana's ability to still eat...' Li Xuan was impressed by the white-haired furball's thick skin. However... Li Xuan swung his golden longsword again, killing another Honkai Zombie as if slaughtering a chicken, before he had a moment to turn his head and speak to Mei and the others behind him.
"Mei, Kiana... we can't go on like this. We need to find a breakthrough." Indeed, human stamina was limited, but the Honkai Zombies were endless...
Li Xuan could clearly see more Honkai Zombies continuously appearing behind them... Heaven knows where 'Seele' was bringing them from...
"Hehehe~ Where do you think you're going?" No longer hiding, 'Seele' brazenly appeared out of thin air above the horde of Honkai Zombies, looking down on them like a god and said mockingly.
"Hahahahahahaha..."
"Tsk! What a grating laugh!! Shut up!" Kiana said angrily, covering her ears. She raised her pistol, the 'Guardian of the Moon God', aimed at Seele, and pulled the trigger....
"Bang! Bang! Bang!!" Three crisp gunshots echoed clearly over the roars of the Honkai Zombies at the festival. Three silver-glowing bullets instantly pierced through the body of the girl named 'Seele'...
But... the other party was completely unharmed. 'Seele' stiffly raised her head like a robot... her violet-blue eyes as cold as a beast's...
"Kiana, it's useless! That's just an illusion from another plane. Our attacks can't hurt her!" Mei reminded her. It was like attacking someone's shadow... it couldn't possibly harm the actual body, right?!
"Nee~" 'Seele' tilted her head, looking at them like a broken doll as she spoke softly.
".For Onee-sama's and my happiness, please die~" A deep blue scythe appeared in her hand, and then she appeared before them like a ghost. The scythe sliced through the air as it swung viciously towards them...
"Clang!~" A few strands of white hair were cut by the deep blue scythe, drifting down slowly...
".....Phew~" Li Xuan looked at the white-haired furball whose sleeve he had grabbed to pull her out of the way, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whoa! Swinging such a big scythe around is dangerous!" Kiana yelled at 'Seele' from a distance, completely unaware of the danger she had just been in...
"Damn it..." Li Xuan felt a headache coming on as he watched 'Seele' approach them again, swinging her scythe. This kind of enemy you couldn't hit, but she could hit you... It was like she was using a cheat code...
"Li Xuan-kun, Kiana... do you remember what Seele said back in the Illusory Sea? Seele relies on the observation of others to maintain her existence..."
"I seem to remember this dangerous subordinate personality preys on memories everywhere to protect the main personality..." Li Xuan said, blocking a strike from 'Seele' with his sword.
Because of a strange experiment by Anti-Entropy, Seele entered the 'Quantum Level'. Her physical body turned from matter into a probability cloud, and she needs a strong impression from an observer to maintain it. But to maintain a physical form permanently... the price is the observer's death...
"Exactly! Conversely, if our thoughts of Seele become stronger, won't her existence become more concrete?" Mei said earnestly, her eyes shining.
"Ohhh!!" Kiana had an 'I see' expression, but after a moment, she said embarrassedly, "Uh?! Mei-senpai, what do you mean?"
"...*Cough, cough*," Mei seemed to choke a little. Giving up, she said to Kiana, "In short... try hard to remember every detail of our time with Seele, her voice, her face, her smile. These are the keys to finding her!"
"So you mean we just have to think about Seele, right?" Kiana said with sudden understanding.
"...Alright, you guys do your best... I'll hold her off..." Li Xuan said softly. He swung the Xuanyuan Sword hard, the blade whistling as it clashed heavily with the deep blue scythe... All his memories of Seele were of fighting her... so it was better to let Kiana and Mei do the reminiscing...
"...." Li Xuan was getting a little pissed off looking at this 'Seele' and felt somewhat aggrieved. Honkai energy circulated in his body again, and a faint flame rose from the golden longsword.
The next moment, the golden longsword clashed with the deep blue scythe again... Then, a piece of the scythe was cut off by the flaming sword... The scythe shattered...
"Hehehe~ Goodbye. May you sleep forever in Seele's world!" After a brief stun, 'Seele' looked at Li Xuan again and said with a grin. The scythe in her hand twisted like a living thing... and then, a new blade grew... the scythe was whole again.
.................
Meanwhile... in the real world outside the Illusory Sea space...
"Hey~ My dear little sheepdog, you'd better do your best later~" said a man with glasses and a black coat, in a teasing tone.
"Hmph, old man... cut the crap..." A girl with short pink hair and a boyish appearance grinned, revealing sharp-looking teeth...
"How could I possibly fail!..." the boyish girl said with a fierce expression. "They're just Schicksal trash!"
"I could finish them all off with just a little effort!" The girl forcefully crushed the empty drink can in her hand, the aluminum can twisting and compressing under the immense force.
"Is that so?..." the middle-aged man shrugged. "Well, do your best then... If you happen to fail, I'll be the one getting a harsh lecture from Lady Cocolia~"
"Hmph! Nonsense... Do all old people like to talk nonsense?" the girl grinned. She swung the slender sword in her hand, which looked like it was made of thorny branches, and cut a crack in the steel floor...
"I am... Xing. Ma'er!"
(End of Chapter)