"Three, two, one… Cheers!"
Lín was sandwiched in the middle, reluctantly raising his glass to clink with theirs.
The overly cheerful atmosphere did not meet his expectations. Even a ballroom dance would be more serious than this gathering.
He silently found an empty seat and sat down. He didn't eat any food, instead sipping water and pondering the issues he needed to resolve next.
The most urgent matter was the escalating internal division within the Moth of the Flame. Whether he wanted to get involved or not, he couldn't stand by any longer. From the Fifth Branch to the Deepest Pit and then to Sakura's assassination attempt, this could no longer be explained away by differences in ideology.
Then there was the issue of Sakura. She was currently detained in the Deepest Pit, and Suzu was left unattended. The transaction between Sakura and someone likely involved Suzu, such as an agreement to take care of her, which is why she chose to carry out the mission. Thus, the investigation could start with Suzu.
The focus of work had shifted from countering Honkai to internal matters. A sense of impending collapse emerged within the Moth of the Flame. To drive out this harmful atmosphere, the Moth of the Flame needed a unified voice.
Suppression? No. The ability to speak out indicated a non-low status within the Moth of the Flame. Suppressing their power was impossible. To prevent erroneous direction at its inception, the Moth of the Flame had given every council member equal power, but now, this separation of power had instead contributed to the birth of error.
So, if stripping people of their power was impossible, only one simple, fast, and neat method remained.
The opposing side had already demonstrated this method to them.
"…"
But Lín would not do that, or rather, he could not do that.
He had said he would not kill people. Not now, and not in the future.
"Are you thinking about the assassin named Sakura?" Méi sat down next to him with a drink. She knew exactly what Lín was thinking.
"Yes." Lín felt that discussing it with Méi now would do no harm. "I want to start the investigation with her."
"The investigation into the 'Chrysalis' issue is mostly complete in these two months."
"…What?"
Mostly complete already?
Méi had indeed been investigating the Chrysalis for the past two months, and she wasn't being subtle; she was investigating openly and ostentatiously.
This blatant behavior made it difficult for the Chrysalis to act, because Méi's speed and depth of investigation exceeded everyone's expectations. Those being investigated simply did not dare to make a move, as the Moth of the Flame officially forbade the assassination of internal personnel.
So, the fact that a newcomer carried out the attack this time was not entirely unexpected.
"I have organized the members' data and handed it over to Unit 1." Méi took a small sip of her drink and said, "The Moth of the Flame needs the Chrysalis to exist, but not this current unit."
Lín immediately understood Méi's meaning.
This unit had a necessary existence, but not in its current form or with its current members.
"I know you won't agree with my method, but you most likely won't object either." Méi spoke a little faster, her gaze scanning the faces of everyone present. "So, I will find someone to do this, and that person has already been chosen."
"…"
Lín did not ask who that person was.
…
Kálpas blocked the way.
To be precise, he was standing casually at the entrance of the Elysian Realm, pushing off with his feet, horizontally barring the way as if no one else was there.
Méi was accustomed to Kálpas's erratic temper, full of anger. Similar incidents rarely happened, but they weren't unheard of. Usually, he would respond to Méi with impatience, but when he was in a good mood, Méi had to be vigilant, because Kálpas's "good mood" was different from that of an ordinary person.
"Herrscher."
"I've told you many times, I have a name."
"A name? Heh… I'm not in the mood to remember a Herrscher's name."
"If you're only blocking the way to argue, then step aside. You might have a better argument talking to a mirror." Méi retorted sarcastically.
Méi still remembered that she used to be quite gentle, but after entering the Elysian Realm, her sarcasm skills were rising in direct proportion to the number of Flame-Chasers she knew. The girl who would never even utter a curse word now knew how to aggressively retaliate to every remark.
"…" Kálpas was uncharacteristically silent. According to Méi's understanding of him, the next response would either be an unrestrained, arrogant laugh or an explosive fit of rage.
But Kálpas did neither. After a few seconds of thought, he actually used a tone that was considerably kinder compared to his usual manner: "Tell me what you saw in that place."
This "kindness" was only relative to Kálpas himself. To Méi's ears, it was still a sullen, commanding rudeness.
Méi folded her arms and looked at him coldly: "What place? If you're curious about something, why don't you go see it yourself? Or is it that Kálpas, who fears nothing, actually has a place in the Elysian Realm he's afraid to go to?"
"Afraid? Hmph… Are you joking?"
"All I know is that you certainly dare not go there."
Méi had later asked Klein about that space, but still had no precise information. Yet Kálpas seemed to know some inside details.
"The difference between daring not and being unable to, Herrscher, do I need to explain it to you?" Kálpas was clearly becoming impatient, and the temperature around him noticeably increased. "Do you think I haven't tried to go in?"
"…You went there?"
"What? Do I need your permission to go there?"
The conversation was clearly heading nowhere. Kálpas's way of communicating with people could only be described as simple and crude. But this bluntness was different from being straightforward; it was basically saying whatever came to mind, being tactless and driving others to extreme anger.
"Kálpas, what do you want to know."
Then, this explosive conversation was interrupted.
A bright blue visible window gazed at the two of them, calm as a dead man.
Lín had walked out of the Elysian Realm unnoticed and was standing behind Kálpas. A chilling draft blew toward them.
"Kálpas, I told you that if you have questions, you can ask me directly, or you can ask Elysia." He said this to Kálpas, then turned to Méi. "Raiden Méi, do you have anything else you need to do?"
"No." Méi glanced at the silent Kálpas, then raised her leg, intending to step past him.
"I want to know what you were thinking 'at that time'."
Kálpas's words made Méi pause again.
At that time?
Méi suddenly noticed that Lín had clenched his fist. This inconspicuous action surprised her greatly.
Was Lín… nervous?
And then, Kálpas's next words escalated the situation to an uncontrollable point.
"When you became a 'traitor to humanity' and personally killed the human you once loved the most, what were you thinking?"