"Are you an idiot!?"
Ignoring the energy spilling from Stelle's chest, Felicity spread her arms and pulled the girl into an embrace.
"I'm an Emanator of Abundance! Do you really think I'd die so easily? Why did you take the hit for me!"
Felicity was both furious and anxious—every word she spoke was sincere.
If she had taken that blow herself, at worst, she might not die and would recover quickly; at best, if she did perish, she could simply ascend another day. No matter how she looked at it, Stelle shouldn't have shielded her from that attack.
She absolutely loathed involving others in matters of life and death.
Pressing her hands firmly against Stelle's chest, Felicity unleashed the full power of Abundance. An emerald glow enveloped the erupting energy of the Stellaron, and she strained with all her might to suppress its violent outburst.
Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.
If she let the Stellaron explode here, wouldn't that possibly kill her?
Yes, even the Doomsday Beast's life-draining strike had barely made her feel threatened. If the rampaging energy within Stelle were to erupt, the likelihood of it completely destroying Felicity was quite high.
But—
Felicity shook her head, dismissing the wild thoughts. Her gaze steadied with resolve as she continued to suppress the Stellaron within Stelle with all her strength.
After all, she was an Emanator treading the Path of Abundance—even if she couldn't match the selflessness of the Aeon of Abundance, she would never stoop to the cruelty of slaughtering the innocent.
Even in her pursuit of death, she would never turn against her companions. Such filthy thoughts disgusted her.
The best way to die was one that didn't drag others down.
Call her pretentious, call her hypocritical. In her view, one must never live in ugliness—even in death, she sought a clear conscience.
Felicity pursed her lips, pressing down forcefully with her palm until she managed to shove the golden radiance back into Stelle's chest.
The overwhelming Imaginary fluctuations finally subsided. Felicity barely stabilized herself, swaying as she turned to hand Stelle over to March 7th before letting out a heavy exhale.
"I'm exhausted!"
Felicity grumbled, her face full of discontent.
This was her first time wielding her authority in combat, and she had no sense of moderation—every move she made would be considered wasteful in the eyes of other Emanators.
After several rounds of fighting and helping seal Stelle's Stellaron, she suddenly felt drained.
"You've worked hard, Miss Felicity."
Quick to react, Himeko reached out to support Felicity.
"Himeko, they—"
March 7th's voice carried a hint of tears as she held the unconscious Stelle in her arms. Felicity over there didn't look like she was faring well either.
Both of them had ended up in this state because of her. If anything serious happened to them...
March 7th didn't dare continue that train of thought. The guilt in her heart had nowhere to go, growing heavier like a massive boulder.
"Don't worry."
But Felicity, supported by Himeko, suddenly lifted her head. She gave March 7th a somewhat weak smile, raised her free hand to flex her muscles, and said cheerfully: "Don't underestimate an Emanator of Abundance~"
"Trust her. Lady Felicity is merely physically exhausted, and that child was well-protected—likely just knocked unconscious by the impact."
Welt explained calmly while leaning on his cane. After speaking, he paused, turned toward Felicity, and gave a slight bow.
"Allow me to express my gratitude once more, Lady Felicity."
"Let's find another place to talk first."
Felicity didn't even have the strength for small talk. She leaned weakly against Himeko, nestling closer comfortably and closing her eyes contentedly.
Sis, you smell so nice.
...
Felicity couldn't be bothered with reports or similar tasks anymore. After dumping all those matters onto the Astral Express crew, she returned to her room and collapsed onto her bed.
In truth, compared to physical exhaustion, her mental fatigue was probably even greater—after all, she had been manipulating the Abundance Flower and Abundance Trees in combat for an extended period.
"Ah... white ceiling."
Felicity rolled over, gazing at the snow-white ceiling, and inexplicably voiced this sentiment.
"If you'd like, you can directly ask Asta to change it to your preferred color."
A cool voice suddenly spoke up. Felicity blinked, then rolled over toward the direction of the voice.
Sure enough, the doll-like girl had appeared at Felicity's bedside at some point, watching her calmly.
"Hey~ Herta, missed me?"
Felicity's eyes lit up. She threw off the covers, patted the empty space in front of her, and said with a beaming smile: "If you're feeling lonely, you're welcome to join me in bed~"
"Get lost."
Herta rejected her expressionlessly.
She stood by Felicity's bedside, staring at her face for quite a while before sighing and shaking her head with some resignation.
"It seems the "Cognito Invalidater" Codebuilder only works on organic lifeforms. That makes sense, since this thing is essentially a virus."
When the host dies, the virus naturally disappears. But the virus didn't expect the host to have a trick up its sleeve, reviving itself after some time.
Hey, I brought myself back to life, how about you??('ω')?
"So this method failed too. When's the next experiment?"
Felicity wasn't discouraged—after all, she had experienced countless failures already.
"...I don't know. I've lost interest in you."
Herta replied.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, or maybe it was network lag? After all, this doll was just one of the 249 that Herta permanently stationed at the space station.
Felicity pouted, wiped the corner of her eye, and immediately put on a tearful expression, speaking in a choked voice:
"Wuwuwu, Herta, please give it another try. I won't do anything!"
"Get lost."
"qwq"
"Cut the act."
Herta rarely felt a headache coming on. She massaged her temples and said to Felicity,
"The last method I can think of is to kill you with the Stellaron. But that's too dangerous, and the Stellaron has already been sealed inside that little girl's body."
"If you're truly determined to die, why not travel with those Nameless? The journey outside is always fraught with danger, isn't it?"
At this point, Herta paused,
"...And you can take the opportunity to see the world outside."
Was Herta really unable to think of a way to completely kill Felicity?
Probably not. She just disliked the hollow feeling she'd get if she truly believed Felicity was dead.
She likened this sentiment to casually feeding a stray cat on the roadside—you'd still feel sad if you saw it get run over by a car.
She was a willful, great scientist after all. If she didn't like something, she wouldn't do it. Wasn't that perfectly normal?
Herta watched Felicity quietly, waiting for a response.
"Then..."
"Could you give me a Herta doll as a dowry?"
"Get lost!"