Odin was not merely chanting. Vill-V could vaguely sense that something invisible was coming.
He seemed to be conducting some kind of mysterious ritual, with Vill-V herself serving as the sacrifice.
If she had to compare it to anything, it resembled a scene of ancient Greeks offering a living human sacrifice to the gods.
This was far too incompatible with the Honkai setting.
Could Honkai energy really explain this too? Was this world supposed to be science fiction or magic?
Yet even knowing that trouble was about to descend upon her, Magician could do nothing but stare helplessly.
Even so, there was not the slightest trace of panic in Magician's eyes, as though the threat posed by Odin before her were nothing but an illusion.
Expert's proposal to sacrifice the Time Fragment World in exchange for power had been rejected.
Conductor's plan, which carried no cost, was—
Completely give up and stop resisting.
This was not simply surrendering out of despair.
In fact, Seele confiscating the only Worn Pocket Watch Vill-V could use to "resist" had itself already been a kind of hint.
The clever Conductor had inferred the solution to Odin's threat from Seele's actions—
Enter the worldline Seele had arranged.
The Herrscher of Death's timeline.
But that also means... the contest with the Herrscher of Death has already begun.
...
Pardo was not within the range of the time stop because the stone coffin had carried her away the moment Odin appeared in front of Vill-V.
Yes, the stone coffin was alive. It was an escape device that combined mimicry camouflage with passenger transport.
Seeing Vill-V seemingly "give up completely" and abandon resistance, Pardo immediately sensed something was wrong and began struggling and shouting. "Vill-V! You despicable bastard, what kind of big shot relies on sneak attacks?! If you've got the guts, fight Vill-V one-on-one!"
"Big Brother Stone Coffin, please go a little faster!"
Pardo knocked on the kitty-shaped stone coffin, but it continued being carried along by robots, swaying from side to side as it advanced at a snail's pace while playing the rhythmic music of the Coffin Dance.
No matter how anxious Pardo became, even if she turned into the king of impatience himself, it was still only a stone coffin. Everyone knew how heavy stone coffins were. Running was impossible. It could only crawl slowly for the rest of its life unless Expert was willing to install off-road wheels.
But given Vill-V's design style, how could she possibly install ordinary wheels? A squad of coffin-bearing robots was far more Vill-V's style.
If Pardo were in good physical condition, she could certainly run faster than the coffin. But right now, she could barely move at all, much less run, leaving her entirely dependent on this cumbersome stone coffin for transportation.
Sitting atop the coffin and swaying continuously to the beat, Pardo grew increasingly panicked. What do I do? I'm the one who brought such a powerful bad guy to Vill-V. I can't just stand by and watch Vill-V get killed.
And if Vill-V gets killed, won't I be next? When the lips are gone, the teeth get cold!
At that thought, Pardo lowered her head and spotted a silver coin hanging around her neck.
An idea flashed through her mind. Pardo opened her mouth, caught the silver coin between her teeth, then jerked her head hard and used her sharp canine tooth to sever the cord. Curling her tongue beneath the coin, she flicked it upward and spat it toward Odin.
Little Pardo did not have much strength. The silver coin quickly lost momentum, traced a parabola through the air, landed on the ground, and rolled away with a clink-clatter.
Watching it roll farther and farther away, Pardo sighed. Aw, sure enough, I still couldn't hit him. Vill-V, I tried my best... This really wasn't something I should've gotten involved in. I'm getting out of here...
Pardo likewise gave up and lay back down inside the stone coffin.
"This coffin is actually pretty convenient. I won't even need to find someone to collect my body. That's a huge amount of money saved."
But Pardo still did not want to die.
"Good luck, please let me survive. Good luck, please let Vill-V survive too..."
The threads of fate began to turn.
Perhaps it was merely coincidence, but the rolling silver coin just happened to encounter an explosion from a motorcycle engine on the ground. The blast wave sent the silver coin flying, and it fell directly into the golden rune in Odin's hand.
Runes were precise constructs, and "silver," a substance frequently mentioned in mysticism, happened to be the material capable of exerting the greatest influence on them.
BOOM!
The addition of the silver coin caused the rune to react violently. Its golden radiance suddenly transformed into a dazzling mass of pale blue flames...
Shaped like a kitty's head.
Odin's expression did not change at all. He simply continued holding up the enormous kitty head and fell into contemplation.
The next second,
The enormous blue kitty head exploded with an adorable smile.
That signaled the rune's failure, and Vill-V's release.
The silver coin spun across the ground with a clink-clatter before Vill-V picked it up.
Although a ring of scorch marks now covered its surface, the silver coin remained completely intact.
Because this silver coin was also something Vill-V had secretly slipped to Pardo—the Infinite and Everlasting Lucky Coin.
"Who would've thought the lucky coin I deliberately let Pardo swipe from the workshop would come in handy somewhere like this? What an amusing little kitty trick~"
The silver coin had many specific functions.
For example, if inserted into a coin-operated vending machine, it would fly back out after being deposited, allowing it to be inserted again and again until the vending machine had been thoroughly exploited for free goods.
Or if someone skipped the silver coin across water, it would fly back on its own.
And most importantly of all, this Infinite and Everlasting Lucky Coin could fulfill Pardo's wish.
Naturally, "fulfilling Pardo's wish" did not mean it was some universally capable yet practically useless wishing machine like Mr. Butterfly. Compared to that thing, the Infinite and Everlasting Lucky Coin had visibly practical uses.
The Pardo of Elysian Realm would one day say in the future: "If this chest ever really sees the light of day again, I still hope someone will recognize what's inside. Or... at the very least, I hope they'll know that even in times like those, there were still people living happy lives and dreaming happy dreams."
If the real Pardo ever wanted to bury another "Pardo Treasure Chest" for future generations, then even if every other item inside degraded into dust, at least this Infinite and Everlasting Lucky Coin could survive forever, fulfilling Pardo's final wish.
It would carry her wish onward to the next person who inherited the treasure.
Pardo might truly have been an exceedingly ordinary person, but in that era, she possessed the greatest power available to ordinary people.
The limitless possibilities of an ordinary person's "Reverie."
Vill-V flicked the silver coin upward with her index finger. After flipping dozens of times through the air and falling back into her palm, it had already regained its original brilliant shine.
As a coin intended for limitless use, it had naturally been modified into a self-repairing nanosilver coin.
Otherwise, if it wore away little by little with every use until nothing remained, how could it possibly be preserved for fifty thousand years?
"And after making a full circle, you've ended up back in my hands. Serving as a detonation trigger isn't listed among your functions. Pardo, I'm warning you, don't try throwing this thing into any instruments. Expert will complain herself hoarse."
By now, Magician had already escaped and was sitting atop Pardo's mobile coffin.
Casually tossing the silver coin back to the delighted Pardo, Vill-V added a word of praise:
"Nicely done, my dear little assistant."
But delight was not the only emotion on Pardo's face after hearing that praise. Far more prominent were anxiety and confusion.
Once Vill-V sat on top of it, the stone coffin began moving even more slowly. Now it was practically crawling along like some enormous wheat harvester trudging through a field.
The legs of the coffin-bearing robots had already begun trembling.
Although it was still faster than walking, compared with Odin's enormous horse and giant bird, this stone coffin was as slow as a turtle!