Honkai Impact: I will save everything alone

Chapter 96: Request for Cooperation

"You... can see me?"

This abrupt greeting startled Kirataka.

The woman in front of him nodded without comment and said:

"Of course, you followed me all the way, but I just pretended not to see you."

Perhaps Kirataka misunderstood something because he had never been discovered in front of other people in the tower before, but at least, in front of her, outsiders like Kirataka were visible.

"…"

Kirataka immediately assumed a fighting stance, ready to use his ability to go back in time at any moment.

—This time, he had collected enough intelligence and information, especially the storage location of the [Ether Singularity].

Even if he didn't follow the gray-haired woman, he could come here directly next time and complete his plan to destroy the [Ether Singularity].

"Don't worry, I have no ill will towards you. Rather, I am just a poor creature trapped in this world, and now I am eager for your help."

 She shrugged her shoulders, waved her hands helplessly, and then said self-deprecatingly:

 "Although my current situation is somewhat...self-defeating?"

 Judging from her expression, she seemed quite helpless.

 "...?"

 Kirataka couldn't understand the meaning of her words yet, so he just asked what he was most concerned about at the moment:

 "So, why can you see me?"

 What is the difference between her and the other people in this tower?

 "Because I have special permissions... This [Ether Singularity] is connected to my consciousness, so I can see the space inside and outside of dreams at the same time."

 Su explained.

 "Dream?"

 Kirataka heard this keyword.

 "If you like, you can call it an illusion. Anyway, that's the situation. This world is... in an infinitely looping dream with no end."

 Su explained.

 Well, the cyclic situation is no different from his previous speculation.

 However, he did not feel that he was in an illusion.

 "This is a dream constructed based on the memories of the girl named Sirin. You have been pulled into it since the moment you stepped into this world bubble."

 "Moreover, if you stay here for too long, your consciousness will be captured by the dream like that girl named Seele. You will become a part of the dream and will never be able to escape."

 Su reminded.

 Then she continued:

 "You seem to want to use force to destroy this [Ether Singularity], but I don't recommend you do that. After all... it is very likely that everything in this bubble will perish along with it, including your friend named Seele."

 She had a very strong observation ability and had already seen Kirataka's plan.

 Kirataka narrowed his eyes slightly and said:

 "You seem to know a lot about this bubble world."

 "The current state of the world does have something to do with me, or rather, with the 'me in the past'."

 "'You in the past'...what do you mean?"

 Su explained patiently:

 "The woman named [Su] standing in front of you now is not the complete [Su], but just a remnant of the original owner's soul. Or if you like, you can think of me as her clone, although I don't have much power."

 ' Avatar...'

 Kirataka touched his chin. This was indeed a concept he had never come across before.

 Looking at the Schicksal characters he knew, it seemed that no one had ever used such a technique. After all, psychic players were quite rare talents.

 Seeing that Kirataka didn't seem to believe it, Su smiled and said:

 "For a powerful fusion warrior with spiritual perception, this is not a difficult task. It is just a matter of fabricating a puppet consciousness."

 "But you don't look like you're being manipulated by others now."

 Kirataka groaned.

 It was hard to associate the lively woman standing in front of him with a state of being controlled by someone.

 "Well, that's because... my original body died at some point in time. Well, maybe she's not dead, but she lost her consciousness anyway."

 The gray-haired woman in front of him stated the not-so-easy fact with a relaxed expression.

 "…"

 Kirataka was silent for a while and asked:

 "So your original self...what was her situation?"

 It seems that the relationship between her clone and her original body is not that good.

 "My original self... well, judging by conventional moral concepts, I should be a super villain. She once created an illusion that made everyone on her planet fall into an eternal dream, causing their bodies to age and die over time."

 Su tilted her head slightly, recalling the "feat" she had performed in the past.

 "In most parallel worlds, [Su] is a warrior holding the inscription of [Heavenly Wisdom], fighting to save the world. But my original self is not like that. She chooses to call herself [Foolishness] and does things that are completely different from other Su."

 That guy destroyed her own world and she's not satisfied with it.

 She went on to say:

 "However, she was not satisfied with destroying the place where she was born. After that, she chose to use the Second Divine Key to observe other worlds and enter the quantum sea, intending to spread her [Gospel] to other parallel worlds and world bubbles."

 Kirataka thought for a moment and asked:

 "…So, your mission in the past was to serve her and carry out 'exploration' in the quantum sea?"

 The woman in front of her nodded and said:

 "Of course, you have to know that this quantum sea is completely opposite to the imaginary tree and is of the same size. Its size is almost endless. If she wants to spread her dream here, it is naturally impossible for her to sweep it by herself in one world after another."

 If only one individual is performing a task at the same time, the efficiency will be too low.

 "So at some point, she chose to create a large number of 'copies' of herself and ordered us to spread out across the sea to help her with her work. Well, that's about it."

 After all, this quantum sea is too vast.

 "And what you found is this world bubble?"

 Kirataka asked.

 Su nodded and said:

 "Well, after I accepted the order, I found this world bubble a long time ago. I originally planned to transform the ether singularity here according to her expectations and let this place enter the eternal dream... But something went wrong. Of course, I'm not talking about the problem here."

 ——When she was halfway through her work, something went wrong with her "boss", that is, her own body.

 "I don't know which expert took action to remove my body, so I gained... freedom, and this world, by accident, fell into a repetitive dream."

 Su shrugged and said indifferently.

 "You look very happy."

 Kirataka complained.

 It's like a long-exploited employee finally gets relieved of his burden one day.

 However, after hearing what she said, he remembered the world bubble of the ancient battlefield that he encountered before coming to this world bubble of Siberia.

 There was an extremely strong remnant of mental power left on that broken battlefield, which obviously showed that it had experienced a large-scale battle. Moreover, that world bubble had the same properties as the [Seed of Sumeru], and it did meet the conditions related to [Su].

 Could it be that... the real body of Su in front of him was defeated by someone there?

 Kirataka considered this possibility, and heard the gray-haired woman say as a matter of course:

 "Isn't that natural? Even if it's 'myself', I don't have to agree with all her ideas. I have my own ideas. It's just that the duties she imposed on me before were all mandatory and could not be violated."

 And at a certain point, once she was freed, she no longer intended to continue her work.

 Then, Su put her hands on her hips, sighed, and said:

 "...Although I really want to put down my work and leave and find a safe world to retire, but because my work of transforming the [Ether Singularity] has reached the most critical point, I can't get out and can only be trapped here."

 To be precise, she has over-fused with the [ether singularity] of this world bubble and is unable to leave this world bubble.

 "So it all comes down to you."

 Kirataka said silently.

 Su did not refute it but admitted it openly:

 "Yes, yes, yes, all of this was indeed done by the 'past me', but the 'present me' also wants to end the dream cycle here. Unfortunately, I can't do it by myself."

 She has almost completed the [transformation] of this world bubble, turning it into a continuously recurring dream.

 If she wanted to end the cycle and escape from here, she couldn't do it on her own.

 We need the help of an "outsider".

 "So, let's work together, Kirataka."

 Su suggested seriously:

 "I want to get rid of this bubble of a world, and you want to take the girl named Seele away from here. We don't have any conflict of interest on this matter. Why don't we work together to solve the dream cycle here?"

 After saying all this, she calmed down and waited for Kirataka's reply.

 She has already told the other party everything about this world, which should be enough to impress him with her sincerity.

 "…"

 Kirataka was silent for a while and did not respond immediately.

 He thought about it and asked a more critical question:

 "…So, what's going on with this Sirin?"

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