Consciousness—chaotic.
The sea of blood was dark and sunless, but at last, he could poke his head out and catch a breath.
"Who will the final bullet hit? I'm looking forward to it."
In the deepest depths, beneath those rainbow-hued pupils, words devoid of humanity echoed through the sea of blood.
Perhaps it was the lack of any real sensation of self that made every awakening feel filled with an unreal sense of displacement.
A faint light was captured by his eyes. The sound of small, hurried footsteps nearby sounded strange—as if infants were walking across the floor.
"He—he's awake!"
"Go notify the Doctor, quickly!"
"Speaking of which, he doesn't look like he's fully booted up yet. Should we help him with a soft reset?"
"Don't go near him! I heard from No. 3 that he does those kinds of things to the simulated androids around him. Her older sister suffered at his hands!"
The chirping all around made Lin feel like he had walked into a wet market. Weakly, he pushed himself up by his upper body and realized the wounds on him had already been treated. Clutching the bandages on his chest, he looked around.
"..."
How to put it? It was truly unexpected.
A group of tiny androids dressed in very... trendy outfits were staring at him with wide eyes. In his memory, shouldn't these little ones be wearing miniature versions of Fire Moth armor?
Speaking of which, where was he now? Since there were ELF (Equipment Living Form) units here, had he returned to the proper world?
But Lin was situated in a place that looked like a hollowed-out tree... no, it was the inside of a tree. He could see the gnarled roots burrowing deep into the ground.
"Where is this place?" he asked one of the ELF.
"Eek! D-don't come over here! You fetishist!" The ELF he addressed scrambled away on all fours.
"..."
Lin shifted his gaze, and the other ELF retreated in fear.
...Had he done something to them?
"If God is omniscient and omnipotent, He cannot be all-good. If God is all-good, He cannot be omniscient and omnipotent. Therefore, faith in God is a rewardless act that goes against rational intuition."
A somewhat lazy voice drifted in from outside. The first thing to appear was a mop of blue, curly hair.
"But the fact that you appeared here might just be a 'miracle' that sparks faith? Like turning water into wine? I can somewhat understand why faith in God was so frequent in ancient times. Is it a human self-identification with coincidence..."
Wearing a suit, Einstein smiled at him with her usual lack of energy.
"Yo. Long time no see, Lin. Though I don't know if you're the Lin I know, we could still manage to squeeze out a few tears for our reunion?"
"So you've experienced quite a lot," Einstein mused with a cup of coffee after hearing Lin brief summary of the past three years.
After finishing his story, Lin stared silently at the faint steam rising from the cup on the table.
"The beans were grown by the little ones. The taste doesn't compare to what we drank in Fire Moth, but when material goods aren't abundant, one shouldn't seek the absolute best in spiritual enjoyment." Einstein smiled at Lin as he looked up. "This place has become self-sufficient. It's not bad."
Due to the time dilation of the Sea of Quanta, unlike Lin three years, Einstein had lived in this world bubble for seven years.
The center of the pseudo-black hole created by the Ninth Herrscher was located in Atla. Einstein and Elysia, who were at the center, had to close the Star Gate; otherwise, the space-time distortion caused by the Ninth Herrscher's pseudo-black hole and the out-of-control Star Gate would have caused an even more terrifying disaster. Consequently, Einstein, the only one with the theoretical knowledge, stayed behind to handle the shutdown while the others evacuated.
She and her ELF, along with Atla, were transported into the Sea of Quanta by the Star Gate at the last moment, forming a world bubble. Over seven years, she and the ELF had transformed this place into what it was now.
As for those ELF, because they were installed with personality simulation plug-ins similar to the Prometheus Prototype, their personalities had gradually matured over the years, which was why they now had the distinct temperaments Lin observed.
Interestingly, they would remodel themselves based on Mu continent fashion magazines found in the world bubble to make themselves more... aesthetically pleasing.
Einstein gestured toward the door with her chin. "Oh, right. No. 3 is here too."
"No. 3?"
Lin turned his head and saw an ELF peeking her small head out from behind the door, watching him warily.
This was...
Lin searched his memory and finally remembered. "Prometheus No. 3?"
"What are you going to do to the Doctor!" Hearing Lin mutter her name, No. 3 immediately raised her hands and questioned him fiercely.
"...What?"
"You're going to do 'H' things, aren't you!"
"..."
Lin pointed at No. 3, turned back, and looked expressionlessly at the dryly laughing Einstein.
"Ahaha... it seems there was a bit of a glitch during the personality simulation..."
"The Doctor said it! Not only do you harm the pretty girls in Fire Moth all day long, you wouldn't even let the Prototype off the hook!"
"..."
Just what kind of gossip had Einstein been telling them in this place?
Lin walked out of the tree hollow. Shading his eyes from the overly intense sunlight, he studied the massive tree where the ELF lived.
Simple strips of cloth hung as decorations, and at the very top branches, many solar panels were arranged. This was their primary power source; as their total numbers were few, it was sufficient for their needs.
ELF bustled in and out beneath the tree—some researching electronic materials, some doing construction work, some laboring, and some simply sunbathing or sitting together playing games.
It was peaceful and serene, like a hidden paradise.
It was truly incredible that a group of artificial constructs could live so peacefully in this world bubble, each possessing their own personality.
It was hard to imagine that before this, he had seen these little ones charging onto the front lines with weapons in hand.
"Heave-ho... heave-ho..." At that moment, four ELF pushed a golden cross toward him from not far away, then waved at Lin. "Hey! Human! We brought your stuff!"
Lin froze for a moment when he saw that golden cross. Einstein walked from behind him to his side, comfortably letting the sunlight spill over her shoulders as she gazed at the cross. "That thing landed not far from you. It should be that weapon you mentioned that can suppress Houkai (Honkai) energy, right? I did a simple study on it; it's a Divine Key with a Herrscher Core inside."
Lin stepped forward and gently stroked the patterns on the cross.
Was this made by the Vil-V of that other world...
Einstein yawned, then perked up a bit. "Alright, let's have a brief chat about what comes next, Lin."
"Regarding how to return to the proper world..."
"Before that, I have to clarify one thing. It seems something else inside the rift you came through is still breaking through the interstitial layers of space, trying to get here."