Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

The awkward dinner ended quickly. Both Mei and Kiana were eager to leave, especially Mei.

Before leaving, however, Mei approached Li Mo, his face still a mask of indifference, his emotions dulled by his three deaths.

She pulled out her phone, wanting to exchange contact information. A voice inside her, a remnant of her human self, urged her to protect him.

Li Mo refused. He wanted no further ties to this world's Mei.

Then, Kiana, hugging Mei from behind, appeared in his view.

Li Mo quickly offered his phone. "Let's exchange contacts, Kiana."

"No way! I don't even know you! I only need Mei in my contacts!" Kiana squeezed Mei tighter, resisting the urge to tease Li Mo with a glimpse of Mei's cleavage. That's for later, she thought, when it's just the two of us. Mei, however, had other ideas.

"Kiana, he saved my life. We might meet again. Just… add him." She avoided Li Mo's gaze, a hidden motive behind her words. Kiana's phone was an open book. She could access Li Mo's contact information later, even if he refused to give it to her directly.

In this exchange of hidden agendas, both Li Mo and Mei got what they wanted. Kiana, however, whined, burying her face in Mei's chest. Mei, feeling guilty, let her cling and nuzzle, oblivious to Kiana's true intentions.

Li Mo, looking at Kiana's contact information, smiled faintly.

"Men," MEI muttered, rolling her eyes.

Mei and Kiana left. Li Mo returned to the villa with MEI and the fabricated Mei.

No Elysia.

"Where's Elysia?"

"Traveling. She needs to maintain her connection to this world, to reinforce her identity."

Li Mo nodded. Elysia's power came with a price. Traveling was a small price to pay for the ability to suppress Bizarre entities.

He entered Elysia's room, finding Pardofelis still confined, wearing Elysia's pink outfit. She needed Elysia's presence, her aura, to maintain her own stability.

"Mo-bro! You're back! So fast! Three days! Amazing!"

"Meow!" Can seemed to agree.

"Who's this… Dr. MEI's little sister?" Pardofelis looked at Mei, her resemblance to MEI uncanny.

"Raiden Mei. Our new companion."

"Hi! I'm Pardofelis! Call me Pardo, or Pardo-chan, or whatever you like!"

Mei relaxed. Everyone seemed friendly, except for MEI.

Suddenly, MEI's phone played a video of Pardofelis's rampage, a chaotic scene of blood and carnage, screams and explosions.

"Oops. My finger slipped," MEI said, closing the video.

"P-Pardo… you… hello…" Mei stammered, her eyes wide with fear. She couldn't forget the images, the screams, the violence. She shuddered, her innate aversion to cruelty making it difficult to even look at Pardofelis.

"Let's get to work."

MEI opened her Notebook, starting the debriefing.

Li Mo described the source Bizarre, and Mei, surprisingly, offered her own account, revealing the true nature of her powers.

A new entry was added to the Bizarre archives:

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Sickly Origin, Raiden Mei

Active Time: Always

Rule: Escapism. The source Bizarre resides within a fabricated personality.

Method of Killing: Memetic contamination, Wish Granting.

Characteristics:

Memetic Contamination: Alters reality by manipulating emotions, memories, consciousness, and perception.

Wish Granting: Grants any wish, but at a cost. Failure to pay the price results in erasure.

Threat Level: S+

-----

"S+? Isn't that a bit high? She can barely stall the Bizzare Kiana," Li Mo said.

"True, in terms of combat power. But her abilities are… unique. An A-rank is too low for an Origin Herrscher. And her Wish Granting has no known limits. That's why I gave her an S+, same as the Bizzare Kiana. Her memetic manipulation is almost as powerful as Wish Granting, and it doesn't require a price. A fabricated world…" MEI looked at Mei, a flicker of… something in her eyes.

Li Mo didn't argue. He looked at his left hand. He'd thought it was Usurpation. It was Wish Granting. A Bizarre-enhanced Herrscher power. The Notebook hadn't lied. It had said "Usurpation," meaning his Wish Granting was incomplete, limited to things he remembered, requiring an equivalent exchange, hence the term "Usurpation."

"Let's take a break. I'll order takeout." No one in this house could cook. MEI's creations were biohazards. Pardofelis could only manage basic meals. He needed to clear his death accumulation in Elysia's room.

"I'll cook. I'll rest later." He thought he was stable enough.

"No. You're staying here. Don't you feel… different? You haven't made a single joke."

"I'm just… tired. Three deaths…"

"I hope so. Rest. You need to be at your best to find Hua. It's been months. Three missions for you, and she's still there. Something's wrong."

"I'll go tomorrow."

"Her coordinates are in your room. And the Head Bizarre. I'm done studying it. Not much potential."

"Mei, Pardo, you're staying in this room tonight. Don't leave unless it's an emergency."

"Okay!" Mei readily agreed. She was grateful for the shelter, even if it meant sharing a room with the terrifying Pardofelis.

Li Mo understood MEI's reasoning. She didn't trust Mei, hence the confinement in Elysia's room, the strongest barrier against Bizarre influence.

After MEI left, Li Mo rubbed his temples. His death accumulation wasn't clearing. He was still at one death, stuck, unable to return to his normal state. He still felt emotions, but he was… subdued.

The advantage: increased combat strength, rivaling an A-rank Valkyrie, and enhanced regeneration.

"Pardo, keep an eye on her. I'm going to my room."

"Don't you want to stay? You don't seem well."

"I'll be fine. I need to prepare. I'm leaving tomorrow."

Back in his room, he saw the dormant Head Bizarre, covered in MEI's markings, and a crimson feather resting on a piece of paper.

"Hua's feather. Her coordinates. I can reach her world." He pocketed the feather, then picked up the paper.

MEI's handwriting:

[Hua might not be Hua anymore.]

[Come back alive.]

"I will." He placed the note in his bag.

"No moonlight tonight." He closed the curtains, blocking out the moon's light.

But as he drifted off to sleep, a crimson eye opened on the feather, staring at the note, a silent, unseen observer.

He'd assumed darkness would protect him from the dreams.

He was wrong.

He dreamt.

A figure in a red dress, her hair a cascade of red and white, stood on a mountaintop, her back to him, gazing at the starry sky. Time seemed to flow around her, leaving no mark, but the graves on Mount Taixu multiplied, tombstones weathered and worn.

"If you forget me, I will die."

"But you won't die. Because I will never forget."

Her voice was cold, distant.

The dream-Li Mo was unresponsive, unmoved by her words.

The figure turned, revealing a faceless void. A tentacle, tipped with an eye, extended towards him, examining him, then bursting, splattering him with blood.

He recoiled, the grotesque image seared into his mind.

"You looked at someone else…"

His skin was peeled away, his flayed body hung from the highest branch of a槐 tree, his lifeless face swaying in the wind, surrounded by countless other flayed corpses.

He woke up, his heart pounding, checking his body, relieved to find it intact.

"Just a nightmare?" He tried to remember the details, the figure, the voice, the method of his death… but his mind was blank, only the image of his flayed body, hanging among the others, remaining.

"An instant-death Rule? Why would I dream of that?"

He splashed cold water on his face, trying to remember, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

I didn't reset. He'd died in dreams before, triggering resets within the dream world, his real body unaffected. But this time… nothing. He'd simply… ceased to exist. He wouldn't have allowed that, not willingly. A soul detached from its vessel, lost forever.

He'd experienced failed resets before, in Room 303, his consciousness resetting within the isolated space, his real body unaffected. But this was different. Both his dream self and his real self were trapped. As if the quirk had overridden his ability to reset.

"The flayed corpses… how did they die? Who did this? And why?" He was fixated on his own death, the other details fading into the background.

He couldn't sleep. He lay in bed, tossing and turning, his mind racing, until dawn.

6:00 AM. MEI, her eyes dark with fatigue, sat at the kitchen table, a half-empty cup of coffee beside her.

"Morning," she mumbled. "Or not. Whatever."