Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

Despite her considerable fighting prowess, being able to wield some of the Authority of the Herrscher of Reason, Bronya's luck seemed rather poor.

Whether it was Durandal she had encountered earlier, or Kalpas now.

Even when ranking combat power across the entire civilization, they were still among the top echelon.

And within this Elysian Realm, there were only two individuals truly stronger than this Mad King of [Decimation].

This scorching air was merely a prelude – anyone familiar with Kalpas understood that this unbearable heat was just a 'warm-up' for that man.

It was an unfortunate coincidence – appearing before Kalpas when he was already in a foul mood. An even more unfortunate coincidence – that person just happened to be a Herrscher, the very thing Kalpas loathed most.

If Bronya's childlike appearance hadn't earned her some points in Kalpas's mind, he wouldn't have even bothered to acknowledge her presence.

Annihilation was his usual approach.

The Honkai Beast factor was boiling. Even in this Elysian Realm, where it was merely a data construct, it was undoubtedly the most significant part of the lingering trace that was 'Kalpas'.

His already volatile and irritable nature was amplified to the extreme by it.

And Bronya Zaychik, this junior who had unknowingly provoked him, was about to witness the epitome of violence from that era.

"Boom—!"

As a purely data-based environment, the Elysian Realm prevented Project Bunny from manifesting, but as the Herrscher of Reason, Bronya could still utilize her authority to construct a highly realistic simulation of it.

However, the ultra-alloy shield, which was as strong as its real-world counterpart, if not stronger, couldn't provide even a moment of protection against the masked man's punch.

Terrifying power accompanied the deafening roar, obliterating the simulated Project Bunny as easily as crushing dry weeds, leaving behind only burning flames of [Decimation] and an unstoppable iron fist.

Bronya, not expecting such an outcome, was utterly dumbfounded – this seemingly fantastical event had actually happened to the renowned 'Silver Wolf of the Urals'.

Although she had relinquished that title years ago, Bronya, with her past experiences, undoubtedly possessed a high tolerance for death.

However, in the face of the extreme violence displayed by Kalpas, Bronya felt a chilling fear that she hadn't even experienced during her fight with Durandal.

— Was this it? Was she going to die?

Although she knew from Raven that death in the Elysian Realm didn't mean actual death, the intense realism of the sensation made it difficult for Bronya to distinguish reality from simulation.

Subconsciously, her mind began to flash back to the moments she had spent with Seele.

...I can't die, I absolutely cannot die here. Seele is still waiting for me!

She wanted to reunite with what was important to her, and she wanted to protect those she cherished.

Losing to Durandal, losing to the masked man before her, the initial feeling was one of powerlessness, of 'I can't do anything'. But immediately following that was an unwavering determination and unwillingness to give up.

The power of the Herrscher of Reason seemed to become more manageable than before – unbeknownst to Bronya, her control over the core had subtly improved, and although the will residing within the core still held a disapproving attitude towards this young girl, a portion of it had relented, acknowledging Bronya Zaychik's qualification as the Herrscher of Reason.

Her core control rate, which was previously a pathetic single-digit number barely reaching double digits, now, quantified by concrete data, had reached 30%.

She had gained more power.

This was truly encouraging.

However—

Even this level of power seemed insufficient to survive against the enraged 'Mad King'.

Even at 30%, she was still so helpless.

Strangely, Bronya recalled her previous battle with Durandal.

...Would someone come to save me this time too?

That man named Jiang Qiao, he seems to have left already…

This realization brought a sense of despair to Bronya.

But at the critical moment, a flash of pink suddenly appeared.

Just like before—incredibly similar.

What is it… so you haven't left after all.

As her consciousness began to fade, Bronya had this thought in her fleeting moment of clarity before collapsing gracefully.

"Elysia."

Sensing the arrival, Kalpas slowly stopped his fist, the flames of [Decimation] on his body gradually subsiding. Although still filled with anger and dissatisfaction, upon uttering the newcomer's name, the 'beast' somewhat calmed down – at least by Kalpas's standards.

"You want to save her?"

"How could you hurt such a cute beautiful girl? Although I'd like to say that… it doesn't seem necessary anymore."

[Elysia], who had rushed over, glanced at the fallen Bronya, a smile gracing her lips before looking back at Kalpas, saying with a deeper meaning:

"After all, you weren't really going to hurt her seriously, were you?"

Indeed – Kalpas had stopped because of her arrival.

But with [Elysia]'s insight, she could tell at a glance that her companion hadn't used his full strength.

This might seem normal for others, but for Kalpas… Kalpas intentionally holding back during a fight?!

It was something that probably no one would believe if they heard it.

Well, if this were the past, it would definitely be listed alongside 'Kevin's team-building activities are very popular', 'Kosma is very eloquent', and 'Dr. Mobius wearing a pink dress' in the "Ten Impossibilities of Fire Moth".

After all, Kalpas was known for never holding back.

Even those close to him were certain of this.

"Hmph."

Kalpas snorted coldly, crossing his arms and remaining silent.

It seemed he was admitting it.

This was indeed something he would never have done in the past.

But Bronya had become an exception.

— Kalpas had noticed that this clueless little one.

Was similar to him.

The Elysian Realm's matching mechanism categorized visitors based on their compatibility with the Flame-Chasers, and the fact that Bronya had directly ended up in Kalpas's domain from the start couldn't be explained by mere 'luck'.

Looking at that kid felt like looking at his past self. While perhaps not entirely the same, Kalpas had indeed seen a reflection of himself.

Of course, he wasn't this weak back then.

Furthermore, [Elysia]'s arrival wasn't entirely meaningless, despite what she had said.

At the very least, if she hadn't appeared, Kalpas definitely wouldn't have stopped that punch.

And the result of that, even if she didn't die, would probably have been Bronya experiencing something similar to what Kalpas's adjutant, Imer, had gone through.

— Being beaten half to death!

Kalpas's restraint was merely the difference between killing someone outright and beating them half to death.

"Take her away."

"Hmm, don't you want to go see her?"

[Elysia] asked as she watched Kalpas turn to leave, but the only response she received was:

"No interest."

"Aiya, just like Mobius, you're both so bad at being honest."

The pink-haired girl chuckled.

— It was impossible that Kalpas didn't care about his original self.

Among the Flame-Chasers in the Elysian Realm who had sensed her arrival, almost all of them were probably extremely interested in their original selves, right?

"Hmph, don't compare me to that beast."

A sweet yet slightly androgynous voice rang out, sounding like a snake licking an apricot near one's earlobe, making one shiver while also curious about the owner of the voice.

Elysian Realm's Ellie turned her head. A delicate girl with green hair, wrapped in a long dress resembling a snake's belly, was standing on a peculiar mobility device, glaring at her with displeasure. The former, completely unperturbed, teased with a smile:

"Aiya, it's rare to see you outside of your lab, this is quite a sight~ Mobius?"

"Hmm~ Could it be you missed me? If so, I'd be delighted~"

"Stop being delusional. I merely sensed the commotion here and wanted to see what that beast was up to again."

Mobius's green and pink gradient serpentine eyes fell upon the unconscious Bronya, her gaze like she was assessing a consumable item. Excitement permeated her words as a slight smile curved her lips:

"Hmm~ Look what I've found, a Herrscher… and the Herrscher of Reason, no less. Such rare material."

"Speaking of which, Grey Serpent has really been sending me a lot of rare experimental subjects."

Herrscher of Reason, Herrscher of the Void, Herrscher of Thunder, and Herrscher of Wind… and even…

"I can understand your excitement, Dr. Mobius, but seeing such beautiful young ladies as experimental subjects is rather insensible, don't you think?" With a crisp snap of her fingers, the sleeping Bronya vanished from the spot – being good friends with Aponia, the Elysian Realm's 'fat lady' could utilize Aponia to facilitate rapid transportation, though she rarely used such methods before.

The reason? Probably because it felt less real?

Mobius didn't mind.

She would have plenty of opportunities to interact with these interesting little mice.

And for now.

"What interests me most is you, Elysia~"

"Such a direct statement, I like it. Though I didn't expect those words to come from Mobius. Has anyone told you that you seem particularly honest today, Mobius?"

"Heh, it's not you that I'm interested in."

Mobius's seemingly contradictory words carried a hint of hidden meaning.

Someone who should have died had come back to life and even appeared in this Elysian Realm.

Regarding this, apart from the fairy's two close friends, she was probably the one most concerned about the details.

Of course, it wasn't because she wanted to see her that she was interested.

It was merely the implications of her identity that piqued her interest.

Without that, she wouldn't want to see that annoying woman again!

Looking at the serpentine Mobius, the Elysian Realm's version of the 'fat lady' maintained her smile.

— Hmm… maybe it was just her imagination, Mobius was still as dishonest as ever?

…

"Dr. Mobius's findings regarding the Herrscher of Dominance are in, Elysia."

As [Jiang Qiao] finished dealing with the issues of the displaced civilians and those infected with the Honkai disease, MEI's intellectual voice sounded through the communication link, a hint of a headache evident in her expression.

Because Vill-V was responsible for handling the political aspects, and Dr. MEI was overseeing the central command, the issue of the Herrscher of Dominance ultimately fell to Mobius.

In fact, she was currently the most knowledgeable person in Fire Moth regarding Honkai research – even MEI couldn't compare, well, she was still too young.

"Mm, what is it?"

The pink-haired girl, who was helping MEI share some of her responsibilities and leveraging the [Elysia]'s status as a Fire Moth hero as a frontline commander, asked casually.

"We haven't concluded all of the Herrscher of Dominance's abilities, but even what we have is enough to give us a headache."

"The tens of thousands of Herrschers of Dominance you eliminated, they can't actually be called Herrschers of Dominance. A more appropriate term would be: Herrscher of Dominance husks."

"…It's contagious?"

[Elysia] instantly realized the implication, her eyebrows slightly raised as she voiced her suspicion.

"You could say that."

"The Herrscher of Dominance has a contagious characteristic. It expands towards populations with extreme emotions and generates new Herrscher of Dominance cores upon contact, which are the 'sand' you brought back."

"But those cores are actually unfinished products. As you saw, they don't even possess an Imaginary Core."

"What's the difference?"

Faced with this question, MEI shook her head on the other end of the communication:

"Regarding that, we don't know yet – as of now, we haven't discovered a single 'true Herrscher of Dominance'."

"However, we have explored the effects of the Herrscher of Dominance core husks."

"It makes the negative emotions of the host body even stronger than before. Normal people are fine, it doesn't pose much of a problem, but if it's someone with already strong negative emotions, like a criminal…"

"To put its effect in simpler terms: the Herrscher of Dominance core makes the desires within the host harder to control."

"How strong is it?"

Just hearing the effect, [Jiang Qiao] already understood how troublesome this new version of the Herrscher of Dominance's Authority was – unlike the previous Herrschers, it seemed to be testing humanity by avoiding direct combat.

But what concerned him more was the level of interference this Herrscher exerted.

As the saying goes, discussing toxicity without dosage is just being a rogue.

Since this was a Herrscher Authority that worked on people's emotions and instincts, it must have a limit.

The Cocoon wanted to test and select those who could embrace it as kindred, it wouldn't create an unsolvable test that aimed to directly destroy humanity and end the examination.

Therefore, they needed to figure out the strength of the Herrscher of Dominance cores.

Of course, MEI understood this as well, continuing her explanation:

"It seems because the cores are too weak, their level of interference isn't very high – at least for the ordinary husks that Mobius has discovered. Under the influence of the core, their desire fluctuations are about 20% higher than normal, which is slightly above average in terms of criminal assessment."

"But if this core falls into the hands of someone who is already a heinous criminal – the only case we've assessed so far indicates at least an 80% increase from their original state. The husk becomes even more depraved than before."

"However, there is good news – this core seems to have a judging mechanism. If it ends up in someone who can reasonably overcome their desires, the effect of the Herrscher of Dominance will be minimal, and it might even bring some benefits to the host – for example, their Honkai energy resistance will increase to some extent, and their body will be healthier."

It sounded like a rather humane test, not a direct, one-size-fits-all approach like the past Herrschers – it even gave humanity the right to self-select.

The vile become more vile, while the noble are rewarded. In any case, individuals with some Honkai energy resistance were definitely more likely to survive the Great Eruption than those with no resistance.

But from an administrator's perspective, this Herrscher of Dominance was incredibly troublesome.

The mere fact that it made ordinary people more susceptible to their desires would cause crime rates to skyrocket. As for the effect of making bad people worse…

If some of the management got hit by this effect, it would be a disaster.

"Can't we remove the cores or control the spread in some way?"

"Not really."

MEI shook her head, saying:

"You probably haven't noticed, but the location of the Herrscher of Dominance core is different from normal Herrschers. It's located in the cerebral cortex, and because it's connected to the central nervous system, even removing it through Herrscher means could easily cause irreversible damage to the host."

"For small-scale operations, it's manageable – we can try using nano-surgery, but this method is obviously not scalable."

No matter how humanitarian they were, they still needed to consider the cost, especially since the control of Fire Moth was gradually transitioning into their hands.

As leaders, they had to consider the rational allocation of resources.

"And removal is pointless. Even if you remove it, as long as you encounter an infected individual again, the core will reappear."

"As for the spread…"

"This thing can spread through animals."

— And because it was a Herrscher core, unlike ordinary viruses, it could spread not only through birds and beasts, but even fish and insects could become carriers.

For this reason, Dr. MEI speculated that if this thing spread, the animals humans kept would likely become hidden dangers.

After all, humans could manage it to some extent, for example, through technology or law, but if animals were dominated by the desires of the Herrscher of Dominance, no one could expect them to exercise restraint. Perhaps a few might, but that was obviously not a universal trait.

"Hehe, you don't need to be so pessimistic."

With a series of beeps, Mobius joined their call, her tone somewhat lighthearted.

"While this is indeed a big problem, isn't it also a path for human evolution?"

As she said this, a hint of fervent excitement flickered in her eyes.

The more Dr. Mobius delved into the details of this Herrscher of Dominance that spread like a 'virus', the more excited and thrilled she became.

It was even more captivating than dissecting the remains of the Second Herrscher.

— With my own hands, elevate humanity to godhood.

Her terrible childhood had given rise to the idea of making humans more perfect, not as hideous as her own father. Upon encountering the perfect individuals known as Herrschers, Mobius developed this ideal.

And even after personally dissecting the Second Herrscher, she didn't seem to find the answers that satisfied her.

After all, the birth of such perfect lifeforms as Herrschers was too demanding and lacked universality.

Therefore, Mobius later chose a more universal approach – the Fusion Warriors brought about by Honkai beasts.

Due to the current situation and other factors, although this technology granted her 'immortality', it was at best a semi-finished product, a failure, compared to her ideals and what she wanted to achieve.

It wasn't until the emergence of the Twelfth Herrscher that Mobius finally saw a glimmer of hope for her dream – but unfortunately, no one agreed with her ideas.

No one wanted to abandon their human form and become a consciousness virus like the Twelfth Herrscher, right?

Although the Twelfth Herrscher hadn't appeared yet, from this 'new Herrscher of Dominance' created by the Cocoon specifically to counter the 'Herrscher of Origin', Mobius seemed to see a ray of hope.

It could turn all of humanity into 'Herrscher of Dominance husks'. Although Mobius was well aware that the essence of 'Herrscher of Dominance husks' was just a cheap imitation compared to a true Herrscher, mere slaves to their desires,

But—

As long as she could figure out a way to convert them from a false state to a real one and eliminate the hidden dangers, the ideal of making humanity a more perfect lifeform seemed to be within reach.

At that point, even the dreaded Honkai wouldn't be a concern anymore.

"…You still cling to that idea, Dr. Mobius."

MEI sighed.

This was the biggest point of contention between her, or rather them, and Mobius.

Neither MEI nor Vill-V could agree with Mobius's ideas.

Although they were well aware that what defined humanity's essence was not their frail 'human' bodies, Mobius's ideas seemed too hasty and extreme in their eyes.

It was like betting humanity's fate entirely on Mobius's confidence in her own talents.

Mobius didn't expect MEI to agree with her. In fact, when discussing this topic, their conversations often ended in arguments and unpleasant partings.

So, she instead looked at the other person – if it were that fool, Mobius would never do such a stupid thing, but with the current [Elysia], Mobius hoped she might get a different answer. The eyes of this usually assertive genius now revealed a hint of undisguised longing and trepidation:

"Elysia, is that what you think too?"

"I'm sorry, as [Elysia], I share the same view as MEI."

The pink-haired girl pondered for a moment before saying words that disappointed Mobius – although the hope was slim, she still wished that at least Elysia could be her understanding companion. Alas, it seemed she was still alone.

…It's better this way. Mobius didn't need any companions.

Thinking this, the disappointment was concealed within her heart, but her determination remained unwavering.

Even if MEI and Vill-V opposed her, she would definitely pursue what she had set her mind to!

But just as she was about to end the call, the girl's unfinished words echoed in her ears:

"But personally, if you think that's the way to go, then go ahead and do it."

At this moment, a genuine smile graced Mobius's lips.

Indeed, that woman was truly annoying!