The golden chains binding Seele trembled slightly and creaked. The golden blade of the Xuanyuan Sword in Li Xuan's hand shone with a sharp golden light as it was aimed at Seele's chest. Cocolia could finally watch no longer...
Although Seele was her 'daughter'... her coming all this way to give Seele the 'Gem of Serenity' was not purely for Seele's sake. It was also because she wanted to try again... 'to control the power of the gem with a human body.'
Therefore... Seele was an excellent piece of material...
"Wait..." Cocolia finally spoke, wanting to stop Li Xuan from stabbing Seele...
"..." But before she could speak, Li Xuan, who had no intention of paying her any mind, directly gripped the golden sword and stabbed it fiercely into Seele's chest. It was so decisive that everyone was stunned for a moment, even Bronya didn't react.
The golden longsword pierced into Seele's chest without any hindrance, yet no blood flowed from her fair chest... Li Xuan felt the Xuanyuan Sword strike a stone-like substance...
'Is that the Gem of Serenity?' The thought flashed through his mind for a moment, and then the next moment, Li Xuan resolutely lifted the golden sword and stabbed it fiercely at the Gem of Serenity again...
"Crack!~" Even Cocolia could hear the crisp sound of shattering, like a crystal falling to the ground... The Gem of Serenity was cracked by the extremely sharp tip of the Xuanyuan Sword, and even a small piece of the shattered Gem of Serenity broke off from it...
"Pfft!~" Li Xuan, who knew when to quit while he was ahead, abruptly pulled out the Xuanyuan Sword. The golden longsword was not stained with any blood. Of course, no one noticed that a deep blue, fingernail-sized piece of debris also flew out as the Xuanyuan Sword was withdrawn, landing unnoticed in Li Xuan's pocket...
"Ahhhhhhh!!" A wave of air was generated out of thin air around Seele, sending Li Xuan flying... The shattered Gem of Serenity's immense Honkai energy was like a wooden bucket with a missing plank, and streams of Honkai energy gushed out from it...
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The golden chains wrapped around Seele's body cried out under the burst of energy from her body, and finally, unable to bear it, they broke one by one. The faint golden light on the surface of Judah's Oath also dimmed a little...
"....Will she be okay?!" Kiana said something obvious as she watched this scene...
"Ugh!! The energy in my body is out of control...." Seele bit her lip and clutched her chest in pain. The violent energy rampaged inside her body like a series of small knives, viciously cutting at her flesh...
"Ugh, ahhh—" Streams of black mist spread out from Seele's body, and the things in the room were blown away like pieces of paper...
"Seele?!" Cocolia didn't show any sadness, just glanced at Seele and frowned, muttering to herself, "As expected, only a Herrscher can control the power of a gem. This child still lacks the qualities of a vessel..."
She had already tried twice to have humans master the power of the gem, but the results were both frustrating... The Third Herrscher was completely beyond her control...
Compared to a true Herrscher... for example, that First Herrscher, Lord Walter, the power of other Herrschers was like the difference between a firefly and the bright moon... utterly despairing.
"It hurts... it hurts... Mama! Save me!! Onee-sama... save me!!" Seele reached out, wanting Cocolia's help, but Cocolia stood there, unmoved, her eyes flickering as if she were contemplating some problem. Seele's gaze turned to Bronya again...
"Seele!" Bronya looked helplessly at Cocolia's figure. She had brought the Gem of Serenity... and only Cocolia knew everything about the gem...
"It's useless, the experiment has failed. The gem's power amplified her abilities, and now that power is out of control. This child will once again transform into a Quantum state, and I'm afraid she will never be able to return...." Cocolia said, looking with a hint of pity at Seele's already transparent body.
"It seems that even without your meddling, Li Xuan... this experiment had a high chance of failure... It seems I still trusted your abilities too much, both Seele's and Bronya's... Could it be that only the Second Herrscher is the true key? It's such a waste of a gem...." Cocolia was a little regretful...
"Shut up, Auntie!" Li Xuan said, a little annoyed. To think that Seele and Bronya called this woman 'Mama'... Were they blind?
"You..." Upon hearing this, Cocolia could no longer remain calm, and a look of annoyance finally appeared on her face.
"That's right... you! What right do you have to be a mother! You actually used your own daughter as a tool for an experiment! You even wanted to use her to kill us..." Kiana also shouted loudly, expressing her indignation.
"..." Cocolia suddenly fell silent, her expression wiped clean. She glanced at the still-naive group with her indifferent eyes and said softly, "...All of this is a necessary sacrifice to protect this world."
"So... Seele still has to disappear?" Li Xuan felt a little guilty and soft-hearted as he looked at Seele, who had once again become transparent. He was largely responsible for her becoming like this...
"No... Seele doesn't want to disappear!! No! Onee-sama...." Seele shouted in vain, but her body was already becoming more and more transparent, slowly dissolving into blue particles of light, disappearing into the darkness like stardust...
"We will meet again..." At the last moment, 'Seele' returned to being the Seele she was... She smiled through her tears and said, "I'm sorry... everyone, Seele has caused trouble for you all again."
Seele disappeared, and an immense power began to rampage throughout the entire space...
"Rumble!~" Along with Seele's final disappearance, a loud noise like a clap of thunder resounded. The entire space began to shake as if an earthquake was happening again, and the sky began to disappear out of thin air, revealing a pitch-black color... This was the phenomenon of a spatial collapse...
"Seele's power has gone out of control and reached its critical point. You all should leave here quickly too, or you'll disappear along with this laboratory and turn into a quantum state." Cocolia gave one last look at the collapsing space and said with a hint of annoyance.
"Miss Cocolia, how do we leave this place?" Mei asked. They had been accidentally drawn into this space, so how would they know the way out...
"...Just follow the passage I opened~ See you later, brave Valkyries~" Cocolia turned around and said playfully.
"Oh~ my bad... and also student Li Xuan... a male Valkyrie?... haha..." Cocolia chuckled softly, the cape embroidered with the 'Anti-Entropy' logo swaying gently behind her... She stepped into the black passage behind her, and her figure disappeared...
"Damn it! Li Xuan, Mei-senpai! Hurry up and get Bronya out of here!" Kiana shouted urgently, facing the constantly disappearing and shifting pitch-black space.
"No... I want to save Seele..." Bronya stretched out her arm and slowly said, watching the darkness that was getting closer and closer, like the darkness at the bottom of the deep sea.
"Li Xuan-kun, please help me..." Mei held Bronya tightly but felt it was getting more and more difficult. Bronya's strength was really great...
"Bronya... I'm sorry!" Li Xuan steeled himself against Bronya's empty gaze, gritted his teeth, and swung his right hand down hard, striking the back of Bronya's neck...
The effect was superb... Bronya, with tears on her face, passed out directly.
"Kiana... let's go!" After dealing with the trouble that was Bronya, Li Xuan called out and, carrying Bronya's small body on his back, was the first to walk into the passage...
"Mm..." Kiana trotted after him and rushed into the passage... In their haste, no one noticed a blue particle of light quietly merging into Bronya's body...
Of course... Li Xuan and the others who rushed into the passage never thought... that a large group of 'Anti-Entropy' people would be waiting for them on the other side of the passage, lying in wait...
(End of this chapter)