"Hehehe..."
"U-um…" Vita trembled as she watched Lynelle approach.
The white-haired man from earlier had already tactfully withdrawn, leaving the two girls alone.
Yet, Vi-chan felt not a shred of safety.
To an observer, this girl seemed sweet in every way, her smile not hinting at any cruelty. But for some reason, whenever Vita met Lynelle's pink eyes, a strange sense of guilt welled up inside her.
It felt like encountering a natural predator—just the sight made her legs go weak.
"Hmm? Does Miss Vita have something more to say?" Lynelle tilted her head. "You'd better say it quickly, then? Otherwise, in a moment…"
Vita's face instantly paled. "Wait, why are we skipping straight to the last words! Didn't you agree to let me off? Or is it only physically letting me off, and you're actually planning to do something like a personality extraction or brainwashing control?"
"Wow…" Lynelle gave Vita an indescribable look. "I never would've guessed, Miss Vita, that beneath that normal exterior, your mind is full of such… kinky ideas…"
"But don't worry, I don't have any real ill will towards you. At most… I'll just replicate Griseo's experience for you?"
"Th-that means making me have seven children too?!" Vita hurriedly covered her lower abdomen. "I-I'd break, wouldn't I? Vi-chan has never had that kind of experience before!"
"Uh…" Lynelle looked thoughtfully at the horrified Vita, her head tilting again.
"So, a lack of 'maternal love' and prolonged, unrequited longing for one's creator leads to this kind of repressed state? What kind of nonsense is swirling around in that little head of yours, Vi-chan… You haven't been secretly reading those comics Griseo drew, have you?"
"I never read any of Griseo's…"
"So you're not denying you've read some? Honest, at least." Lynelle quipped. "Relax, I'm not planning to do anything to you. Or rather, my plans are all aimed at Sa. For you, a 'slight' lesson will suffice."
"May I ask… to what degree does 'slight' refer to…?"
Vi-chan ventured tentatively.
"Hard to say, but you can use the experience of one of your future 'sisters' as a reference." Lynelle pondered, then conjured a small, beguiling pink sphere of light in her hand.
"I used some special methods back then to preserve her sensory state at that moment, turning it into something like a Dream Bubble… Would you like to try it?"
Vita looked at the pink sphere. Even without merging with it, she could feel the restless, feverish aura emanating from it.
She didn't need to guess; she knew that integrating this thing into her mind would likely subject her to a rather 'transcendent' sensory experience.
So, Vita shook her head vehemently.
"Heheh, saving the suspense for last? You know how to enjoy things."
After fiddling for a while, Lynelle finally finished whatever she was doing.
A clock, white and green with an infinity symbol ∞ painted on it, appeared in her hand.
"This is…"
Just looking at this strange clock stirred an indescribable sense of revulsion in Vita's heart.
"This thing is called the Perpetual Motion Cuckoo Clock. Of course, as you know, a true perpetual motion machine can't exist. In fact, its name has little to do with its function."
"So, in a moment, I'm going to 'implant' this thing into your body. To be precise, into your Authority. Then I'll let you go."
"L-let me go?"
Vita blinked. "You'd really be that nice?"
"Of course. If I don't let you go, how can Sa logically 'eat' this thing?" Lynelle smiled faintly.
"During the process of Sa reclaiming the Authority within you, this item will get mixed in with the Authority and be absorbed by her. When that happens… she's in for a rough time."
"Um…" Vita asked, bewildered. "Lady Lynelle, have you considered what will happen to your dearest little Vi if you do this?"
"Rest assured, Sa definitely won't kill you. Like you said, she's a being of extreme rationality. Given the situation, the worst she'll do is work you to the bone; she certainly won't kill you outright."
Lynelle snapped her fingers. "Besides, even if she really flies into a rage, I've left you something to save your life… You can use it to teleport back to Earth anytime."
"R-really? Can we actually escape? That's Sa we're talking about…"
"Wake up. Sa was just being chased and beaten by Kevin. She's not some impossibly powerful entity. Relax, she's nothing special."
Lynelle walked up to Vita with a smile, gently lifting her chin.
"Well then… Now, open up your mental defenses~ Don't worry, the first time might feel a bit strange, but I'll be gentle!"
"Gulp…"
Vita bit her lip lightly. It wasn't that she hadn't considered resisting.
But even if she could defeat this pink-haired girl whose strength was unknown, the guy who had been chasing Sa all over the Sea of Quanta was still somewhere in this world bubble…
Look on the bright side, Vita. At least your current 'master' is also a sweet, soft, cute girl, and she doesn't seem as cold and unfeeling as Sa…
The gray-haired girl comforted herself thus. Then, with a sigh, she slowly met Lynelle's watery pink eyes and opened up her inner self.
Instantly, following their gaze, a warm, gentle power, like flowing water, slowly seeped into Vita's body.
The strange comfort was something she had never experienced before, and she nearly let out an odd, pleasurable moan.
"Nnagh..."
Why… is her power… so… strange…
Vita's thoughts grew hazy under the assault of this warm, moist tide, threatening to lose consciousness.
"Oops… Vita's resistance is this low? Seems I might have overdone it a bit…"
Looking at Vita, whose cherry lips were slightly parted, face flushed a strange shade of pink, eyes hazy and clearly in some special state, Lynelle—who was gazing down at her in a 'kabe-don' pose—found her own expression turning a bit odd.
"Come to think of it, is this what Kiana and the others felt when they first saw how sensitive my body was…"
"Never mind, never mind, now's not the time…"
Realizing her thoughts were drifting into dangerous territory, Lynelle quickly shook her head, pulling her mind back on track.
Simultaneously, now that she had taken control of Vita's body, the Cuckoo Clock in her hand began to gradually integrate into Vita's Authority, aided by the 'universal lubricant' that was the power of Origin.
Actually, Lynelle hadn't encountered this Cuckoo Clock through Herta, but rather it was one of Screwllum's collectibles.
However, after being processed by the System, its function wasn't too different from its in-game version.
In the game, the clock's effect was to deduct 5% of the user's Cosmic Fragments per new area. Here, its effect was to dissipate 5% of the user's current energy reserves into the surroundings each day, for 10 days.
For Lynelle, Kevin, or even Bella, a large Honkai Beast, 5% energy wasn't exactly small, but in practical terms, it just meant feeling a bit weaker for a while.
For those with strong recovery like Kevin or Bella, as long as the ambient Honkai energy was sufficient, they could recover most of it in a few breaths.
But Sa wasn't normal. In fact, she wasn't even a normal life form.
If someone like Lynelle could be seen as having an MP pool of 100, regenerating 1 MP per minute, then Sa's situation was having a super long MP bar but no natural regeneration.
To regain MP, she had to plunder other world bubbles.
Under these circumstances, the damage this Cuckoo Clock could do to Sa was terrifying. In a way, it might even be scarier than Kevin's previous operation.
If the clock's effect was permanent deletion instead of dissipation, allowing Sa to potentially recover the lost energy over thousands of years, Lynelle wouldn't dare use it on her—afraid Sa might decide to kamikaze into Earth in despair.
Sa's death was inconsequential, but if Sa crashed headfirst into Earth, who was going to compensate Lynelle for the Herrscher of Death and Ice?
"Alright, the Cuckoo Clock implantation is complete. Once Sa reclaims the Authority, the show will begin!"
Saying this, Lynelle refocused her attention on Vi-chan.
Because the implantation required her full concentration, Lynelle had momentarily overlooked Vita's tolerance level. As a result, by the time she finished…
"Gah…"
Looking at Vita, who was slumped weakly against the tree trunk, eyes lifeless and slightly rolled back, completely dazed, Lynelle silently apologized in her heart.
Because… she still had one more thing to fuse with Vita.
After all, she'd promised to give Vi-chan a life-saving tool, in case a humiliated Sa flew into a rage… And this thing was quite simple—it was called the Laurel Crown of Planar Shifts.
For Lynelle, who could already 'do sit-ups' between worlds at will, this complex and beautiful prop, while powerful, was of little use to her.
And for others who might use it… well, looking at Vita, those close enough to Lynelle didn't really need it, and giving it to those who might need it felt a bit too… intimate.
But Vita was different.
Lynelle could be forceful with this kind of 'bad girl' without any psychological burden—just like now.
Driven by a certain mischievous whim, the power of the Laurel Crown of Planar Shifts slowly merged into Vita's body, taking form in a rather subtle location, in a rather subtle shape.
"Hmm, mission accomplished!"
Standing up from Vita's soft body, Lynelle lightly clapped her hands.
Getting these two items off her hands counted as a great harvest from this 'Eye of the Deep' dungeon—striking a blow against the enemy was a kind of gain, not to mention acquiring an adorable little cleaning maid, Vi-chan.
Several minutes after Lynelle stood up, Vita's scattered consciousness gradually recovered, and she slowly sat up.
The first thing the now-aware girl saw was the pink-haired girl leisurely drinking tea nearby.
Immediately, Vita's pretty face flushed red, her legs subconsciously tightening as she shrank back abruptly.
"Hey now, that step back you took looks a bit too serious…" Lynelle said helplessly. "I didn't even do anything to you…"
"You… you call this not doing anything?"
Vita checked her body, then let out a strangled squeak.
Aside from her now-damp undergarments, Vita had discovered some strange markings on her lower abdomen.
"That's your life-saving tool, you know?" Lynelle smiled, watching Vita. "Don't worry, it doesn't have any of those weird side effects you're imagining."
"Th-then why does it have to be this kind of pattern?!" Vita asked, mortified.
"Uh… Because it's amusing?" Lynelle blinked playfully.
"I don't find this amusing at all…" Vita blushed, pulling down her single-legged shorts. Her outfit barely covered those pink, strange markings.
"Anyway, your part here is done. Next, find an opportunity to return to the depths of the Sea of Quanta and report back to Sa."
Lynelle waved her hand. "Relax, even though I was using my abilities to go in and out of your body and mind just now, aside from these two items, I didn't leave anything behind, okay? Even that pattern, only you and I can see it, so there's no need to pull your clothes so hard!"
"Stop saying things that sound so misleading! And just because others can't see it doesn't mean I don't need to cover it! If that were the case, everyone with invisibility would be streaking down the street!"
"You've been teasing me on purpose from the start, haven't you?!"
Only now did the slow-to-realize Vita understand that Lynelle genuinely didn't seem to harbor much malice towards her.
After all, if Lynelle truly wanted to kill her or get revenge on Sa, she didn't need to go through all these convoluted steps.
Back when Vita opened her mental defenses, if Lynelle had wanted, Vita would have already become Lynelle's 'obedient puppy'.
Moreover, Lynelle's attitude towards her was clearly more about teasing. In other words, she enjoyed seeing Vita flustered and ashamed.
What a bad woman!
Vita, start hissing!
"Hehe, it took you this long to figure it out? A dopey little Vi is pretty cute too!"
Lynelle patted Vita's head, laughing. "Once things settle down on Earth, how about coming to my place to be a cleaner? Teasing you and laughing at your misfortunes every day would surely lift my spirits."
"Hah? No way!"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.