With the aid of the Herrscher of Corruption's authority and the original owner of this body, Seele, Dark Seele—who was currently engrossed in secretly reading the diary—had no idea that two spectators had appeared beside her.
Honestly, it made sense.
Both Light Seele and Dark Seele were masters of this body. If one wanted to hide, the other would never find her, and vice versa.
So, even as the two drew near, Dark Seele never lifted her little head, buried in the diary, nor her flushed cheeks that looked about to catch fire.
"Um… other me?"
In the end, it was the kind-hearted Seele who ended this one-sided battle against suppressed laughter.
Before Lynelle's grin could stretch ear to ear, she gently patted Dark Seele's soft, pale shoulder.
"Eek!"
Being caught completely off guard like that, it was easy to imagine how badly she was startled…
At the very least, aside from Theresa, Lynelle had never seen anyone get so scared they sent a diary flying that high into the air.
"Seele?! Wh-what are you doing here… No, wait, I didn't mean to peek at your diary, I just…"
After her brain blue-screened for a full second, Dark Seele visibly transformed into a steaming, overheated mess.
Judging by the spirals practically spinning in her eyes, she probably had no clue what she was even saying.
"There, there, I'm not blaming you, other me…"
With her usual gentle smile, Seele slowly wrapped her arms around Dark Seele and whispered, "If you want to read it, you can just tell me. But next time, don't just disappear without a word, okay? I was really scared…"
"Wait, Seele, that's not what I meant… I left because…"
Hearing Seele's words, Dark Seele suddenly seemed to remember something.
Her expression instantly dimmed. She bit her lip, her body tensing as if to pull away from Seele's embrace and retreat back into hiding, but…
It was only then she realized that, at some point, the space around her and Seele had become encased in a barrier of dazzling pink crystals.
Within this strange enchantment, her own power seemed completely unusable—she couldn't even feel her connection to the body she shared.
"After all, I've been invading Seele's body for quite a while now!"
Lynelle's voice came from outside the barrier. "Even if the authority of Corruption can't do much to a true Herrscher, this much time was more than enough to seize control of Seele's body~"
"Don't worry, though. I'm not interested in puppeting you two. The only reason I took over was to create a little… private chat room that you can't leave until you've properly talked things out."
"I don't know all the details of your situation, but I've told Seele about the current-era Herrschers. Let her clear things up for you… And, well, give you an environment where you have to speak your mind."
"After all, the best way to deal with a tsundere is with a direct approach, right?"
"Wha?! Hey, you! I am NOT a tsundere! You wait—"
Before the flustered Dark Seele could finish, Lynelle proactively cut the connection to the private space, deliberately withdrawing fully back into her own body with a satisfied smile.
"See? For types like Dark Seele and Evernight, just lock them in a private room with the main personality for an hour, and any problem gets solved…"
She glanced at the toy box where Seele still lay dormant, clearly not finished with her conversation yet.
Lynelle thought for a moment, then opened the communication line she'd previously arranged with Kevin.
"Lynelle? How's it going on your end? Need help?"
"Pretty much handled," Lynelle replied, poking Seele's soft cheek with a finger. "What about you? How's the core situation?"
"It's strange." Kevin's voice held a pause. "Ever since you left—no, maybe even a bit before that—the core entered a stable, silent state… If it weren't for the Honkai energy density around it being more than twice as high, you'd never guess how unstable it was before."
"I suspect this core might still have some other connection to that child on your end. You might want to test that later."
"No problem there," Lynelle agreed without hesitation. "By the way, what about Bronya's situation?"
"You mean the girl who inherited the Herrscher of Reason core? Hmm… She probably hasn't broken through the Honkai Beast encirclement yet. That said, her mastery is visibly improving, and she's driving that motorcycle faster and faster."
"Considering you might need more time over there, I was about to head over and have her take a break… After all, the way she's pushing herself is pretty damaging to her body."
"Have you considered that she's using her power like that because you kicked both me and Seele out…?" Lynelle couldn't help but complain.
"Lynelle onee-san?"
Just then, Seele's eyes suddenly fluttered open, and she looked somewhat troubled at the little hand playing with her cheek.
"Uh…"
Caught off guard by Seele's sudden awakening, Lynelle had no time to "hang up."
She could only maintain the call with Kevin while quietly retracting her mischievous finger.
"Seele, did you and your other self make up?"
"It wasn't really 'making up'… She just got told off a bit." Seele giggled.
"Other me was just worried that her true identity would cause trouble for me, so she shut herself away… After I told her that Herrschers in this era don't lose themselves after awakening, she relaxed a lot."
"As for what happened next, well, as Lynelle onee-san would say, it was just some classic 'tsundere' lines. Like saying she wasn't worried about me, just afraid of damaging this body, and things like that… Eek!"
Mid-sentence, Seele let out a small yelp, then said apologetically to Lynelle
"Lynelle onee-san, sorry! Other me is trying to take over the body now. She must be embarrassed about what I just said… Don't worry, she's actually very friend—"
Before Seele could finish, the girl's gentle aura shifted abruptly.
Then, as if to help Lynelle tell them apart, even her azure eyes tinted with a layer of crimson.
Next, before Lynelle could react, the now-in-control Dark Seele, with a flustered and annoyed expression, grabbed Lynelle's shoulders and lunged forward, seemingly trying to push her down and then…
She didn't budge.
Not only did she fail to push Lynelle over, but due to her awkward posture, she ended up stumbling headfirst into Lynelle's chest.
After all, while the scene felt vaguely familiar to Lynelle, Dark Seele was nowhere near as powerful as Evernight.
Not to mention, Kevin was watching via the comms. Even if Lynelle wanted to experience being pinned down by a girl, she couldn't just let Dark Seele have her way right now.
But then, to Lynelle's surprise, the first to speak wasn't Dark Seele, but Kevin.
"Wait, Lynelle, the core is acting up!"
Just seconds after Dark Seele took over, Kevin's voice suddenly rang in Lynelle's mind.
"Right now, the core suddenly became active again… What happened on your end?"
--+--
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.