In the sunlit room, intermittent sobs came from a large wooden box... giving Li Xuan and the others an indescribably eerie feeling...
"Seele, are you in there?" Bronya stood in front of the box and said softly, as if returning to a time several years ago... two little girls playing hide-and-seek... Seele always hid in the toy box...
"Bronya, be careful! It could be a trap!" Kiana said, trying to stop her. She had just fallen for a trap... her alertness was at its peak now. She wouldn't even pick up Mei's panties if they were on the ground... well, unless they were fresh.
"Creak—" The toy box was gently opened by Bronya... Inside the toy box, which was large enough for half a person, was a curled-up figure... It was Seele.
"Sob... Sister Bronya, I'm so scared... sob... I don't want to disappear again, I don't want to leave you..." Seele, who had been crying into her knees, lifted her tear-streaked face, a look of fear all over it.
"Seele, it's okay. I'm right here. Bronya is here. Neither of us will disappear..." Bronya said, gently hugging Seele to comfort her.
"I keep having a nightmare. I'm at the bottom of a dark sea, and the water pressure makes it hard to breathe. No one remembers me, and I just keep sinking..." Seele said, her eyes looking somewhat vacant.
"But I kept thinking about you, Sister Bronya. Just thinking of your face made me want to swim up with all my might... But no matter how much I swam, I couldn't see the end of the sea..."
"Seele, give me your hand. Let's leave this place together..." Bronya said softly, extending her right hand to Seele, who was squatting in the toy box.
"Mhm... Sister Bronya, I believe you will come back to save me..." Seele said, looking up at Bronya with a smile, but she didn't reach out to take Bronya's small hand...
"But it's useless, Onee-sama~ unless you exchange your life for mine!" A black mist emerged from Seele's body, slowly transforming into a deep blue dress... The red mark on her chest was as crimson as blood...
"Sister Bronya, are you willing to die for me?" A swirl of black mist in Seele's hand transformed into a scythe as she spoke with a smile.
"You are!?" Bronya was stunned, not having time to react...
"This is bad!" Mei couldn't help but shout, wanting to rush forward... but she was a step too late... Seele's scythe swung down at Bronya without any hesitation...
"Ugh!!" By dodging with what little sense she had, Bronya still couldn't avoid the attack... Blood bloomed like a flower on the ground... blood from her wrist slowly dripped down her arm...
"Ahh~~ Onee-sama's blood~" Seele, her face flushed, restrained the helpless Bronya. She lifted Bronya's arm and gently licked the blood from the wound, saying as if intoxicated, "Such a vibrant color. This warm feeling, my heart is about to melt from it~~"
"..." Unlike the nervous Kiana and Mei, Li Xuan stared at the flushed girl with a look of shock and confusion. *Mom... there's a pervert here.* Having been deeply influenced by all sorts of 21st-century Japanese anime, Li Xuan understood perfectly... Seele was acting like a yandere!!
"You bastard! Let go of Bronya!!" Hey! I've got a short fuse... Kiana immediately raised her pistol and aimed it at Seele, threatening her.
"Give Bronya back!" Mei said likewise, her right hand gently gripping the hilt of her sword... She knew exactly what Seele wanted... To return her body from a quantum state to a material one, the observer's sacrifice was needed... and the person with the most memories of Seele was the observer—Bronya.
"Hehehe~ Don't come any closer~ or I might not be able to control myself~ The feeling of wanting to be with Onee-sama is almost unbearable~ Let's just die together like this~ Hahaha," Seele said somewhat incoherently, holding the scythe to Bronya's neck, making everyone afraid to act rashly...
"...." Standing behind Kiana and Mei, Li Xuan tried his best to minimize his presence, tightly gripping the Xuanyuan Sword, ready for the moment Seele might actually strike...
"Seele..." Bronya weakly lifted her head and glanced at Seele, who was holding her, her eyes full of guilt.
"Onee-sama, don't you understand yet~ You exist for my sake~ So..." A wine-red light flashed in Seele's eyes as she laughed wildly. "...For my sake, please die!"
"No!!" Mei shouted, reaching out to stop her, but she could only watch helplessly as the scythe swung towards Bronya...
"..." A sharp light flashed in Li Xuan's eyes, and he took a light step forward... The Honkai energy in his body instantly circulated, and his muscles were about to explode with power to stop Seele's falling scythe when...
"...Click!" The death-like scythe suddenly stopped eerily in mid-air...
"Sob... Onee-sama..." Seele said softly, a single tear rolling down her fair cheek...
If I have to exchange the person I love most for my own life... what's the point?
.......................
Meanwhile... high in the sky, a not-insignificant distance from Russia... three warships bearing the 'Anti-Entropy' emblem surrounded a battered 'Schicksal' transport ship, like three strong men about to bully a weak woman.
"Heh! This is why I hate these Schicksal scumbags..." Xing. Ma'er kicked aside a corpse at her feet with disgust. The kicked-over body revealed the face of a young woman, slightly contorted in fear.
"They clearly couldn't beat us... yet they still resisted..." Xing. Ma'er stabbed her black thorny sword into the corpse as if bored, letting the blackening blood flow onto the silver deck...
"Hmph! They still managed to send out a message about the attack!" Xing said, even more annoyed as she glanced at the communicator in the corpse's hand.
"Alright~ alright~ my lovely little sheepdog." The middle-aged man walked out from the depths of the wrecked warship, holding a black box, and comforted her...
"Anyway, haven't we already gotten what we came for?..." the middle-aged man said with a sly laugh. "Now let's hurry up and deliver it to Lady Cocolia... The lambs have already fallen into the trap."
Under the sunlight... the black box emitted a faint Honkai energy reaction.
(End of Chapter)