Yama looked down at the man lying on the ground. His signature black hair had turned entirely silver-white, identical to hers, as if narrating the mutation occurring in his body.
Originally, she had much to say—originally, she should have said much—but she spoke with cold directness: "I can help you now."
"..."
"You can stay here forever and live with that person, as if you truly belonged in this world. I will take responsibility for suppressing the Pseudo-Herrscher Core in your body. Aside from this Herrscher of Reason, it will be a long time before the Honkai breaks out in this world. The people you know will live, age, and die normally."
"Even if one day everyone you know has left you and you no longer wish to live, I can help you find release."
"In exchange, you can never return to your original world."
Lin did not respond. The man on the ground seemed to be entirely a corpse.
It wasn't until a small puddle of rainwater accumulated under his chin that he moved. A raspy voice pierced through the heavy rain: "And the other choice?"
"There is no other choice." Yama ruthlessly shattered his fantasy. "You want to go back and see her one last time before leaving? Impossible. You either stay here completely, or... you die."
Yama gave him time.
She used what she considered the gentlest method. Now, Lin only needed to give up everything he originally insisted upon, and they wouldn't have to face each other in battle. Lin could live like an ordinary person, and she could try to believe that a "Lin" truly could change.
There would be no more hypocritical "heroes." She would no longer cry for help in her heart. Everything would return to the right track.
All it took was one word from Lin.
As long as he stopped searching for a way back to his original world in the time to come.
"I let you stay in this world for three full years just so you could see that even without you, the world remains the same. The people you know wouldn't face any problems."
"When you were still in your world, did you manage to stop those around you from being sacrificed?"
"Aside from the process, did the result change even a single bit?!"
Yama tone grew heavy. Her face was distorted with rage. Pointing at the man in the mud, she hissed, "Now! Don't! You dare stand up again! You lying deceiver!"
"..."
The silver-haired girl stared at the man. Seeing him remain still, the ferocity in her eyes faded, replaced by a rare trace of tenderness.
"Staying here is the best result for her, for you, and for me."
"If you have nothing to say, then goodbye."
Yama took one last look at Lin and turned to leave. But at that moment, the wet sound of someone rising came from behind her.
"..."
"..."
The last remnants of tenderness vanished. Absolute cold occupied her pupils.
The Rainbow Eyes, capable of freezing time, turned quietly behind the curtain of rain to meet another pair of rainbow eyes.
"Three years ago, you were still thinking of suicide to stop yourself from becoming a Herrscher," Yama mocked. "Now you want to take this body, which could trigger a massive Honkai at any moment, back to your world and cause mass casualties?"
Lin coughed twice. He raised his head without the slightest hesitation.
"I'm going back."
Yama scratched her hair in frustration and sighed: "You really are..."
Thud!
His neck was grabbed by immense force, and his head was slammed into the ground. The cold, heartless person pronounced his death sentence.
"Deserving of ten thousand deaths."
BOOM!
A giant void appeared in the sky above them. Immediately after, the figures of the two disappeared into the pillar of light descending from the void.
...
The heavy force made Lin hear his bones crack. The ice-cold face suddenly moved away as he crashed into a "fragment."
Where... was this?
This was a space filled with bizarre shapes. Pieced-together platforms that defied all logic were everywhere. Up, down, left, and right were indistinguishable. He was currently "fallen" on one fragment, but from his perspective, the fragment he was on was completely opposite to the one Yama was standing on.
Simply put, Yama appeared as if she were hanging upside down above his head.
A completely disordered space...
A fragment flew past his side. Lin saw humans inside it.
Is this... the Sea of Quanta?
But before Lin could think further, Yama charged at him like a bullet. Lin protected his front with both arms, but he was still sent flying by the terrifying impact.
Thud!
Yama gripped his right wrist with her left hand, stretching it out. She looked coldly at Lin as he struggled to crawl up, then reached for the golden cross behind her.
Click.
She pulled a mechanism. A spike popped out from the bottom of the cross and pierced the ground, while the sides slowly unfolded. Twelve pure golden spears were pulled by golden chains. In this eerie space, the holy cross now looked like a giant instrument of torture standing behind her.
Clatter.
The sound of chains colliding rang out. After Lin saw the true form of those chains, he finally knew what had sealed him and the Rainbow Eyes into the depths of that sea of blood.
Yama placed her hand on the emblem in the center of the cross. Her rainbow eyes lit up. The spears and chains of the cross began to stir, pulling themselves out automatically one by one under her conscious control.
Even without knowing what the cross was, Lin felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Don't get caught.
Swish!
Chains shot out like bullets. Lin retreated quickly, but the chains snapped at his heels relentlessly, like wolves scenting blood!
Lin had no weapons. He could only watch as the chains that gave him such a sense of dread drew closer and closer.
No way out—?!
Lin eyes darkened. He swung his right arm to collide with the chains!
Clang!
Yama frowned as she saw Lin was not only not bound but had actually knocked back the chains about to entangle him.
In his hand, he held a pure white knight's lance.
The Abyss Flower? Why was it here?
...It wasn't the real Abyss Flower.
The Herrscher Core inside Yama allowed her to recognize immediately that this wasn't a true Divine Key, but a counterfeit reproduced through other means.
Lin panted, suppressing the cheers that were about to make his brain explode. He looked up with difficulty to meet Yama cold gaze.
Inside the palm of his hand, the Herrscher of Reason's core had been pressed into his flesh, emitting a faint grey light.
Using the Herrscher of Reason's core?
Yama stared at the blood flowing from his palm and let out a cold laugh for no reason.
How ironic.
Right now, inside Lin, was the prototype of "that," yet the external power he used was the power of the Herrscher of Reason.
She was using a Divine Key made from that very power.
And she herself...
"Phew..."
A long straight sword consisting of a white scabbard and a black blade manifested in Yama hand.
She was a true Herrscher of Reason.