Evan's somewhat abrupt words stunned Mei for a moment. Her gaze shifted from the strange guitar case on his back to his face, her eyes flickering with emotion.
"Is this... a formal confession?"
"Although I really want to smile and nod, this is actually a rather heavy topic. I can only say this much for now. If I say more, those who are watching you might notice something unusual. You can take it as a confession, and also as my promise. If you are willing to trust me, I will do everything in my power to do something."
"..."
Mei, who had been smiling, gradually stopped. After carefully observing Evan and confirming he wasn't joking, the girl seemed to remember something and asked.
"Back when we first practiced swordsmanship, was the pressure you showed related to this? Because of me?"
"Yes."
Evan nodded after a brief pause. He hadn't expected Mei to still remember something from so long ago. It had been dozens of days, and the flaw he had accidentally revealed back then had been completely corrected since.
Originally, Evan thought Mei would pursue the matter further, questioning why he had approached her with ulterior motives. He was even prepared for an emotional outburst from her. But he was wrong.
"Thank you."
"?"
While Evan was speechless at Mei's completely unexpected reaction, Mei, who had lowered her head, looked up again.
"Thank you for silently bearing such great pressure for me. Although I still don't know what happened, I am willing to trust you. Now, and in the future, I trust you."
Evan took a deep breath and nodded.
Half an hour later, in the outskirts of Nagazora City.
Mei looked at the completely ordinary grass and the nearby woods with a confused expression.
"If you wanted to come here, why did we take so many detours just now?"
"To avoid surveillance cameras. If anyone asks later, I hope you won't mention that you came here. It would be best if you didn't even mention leaving the city center."
"I understand."
Mei nodded. She didn't probe further into Evan's words, nor did she show any nervousness because Evan had brought her to this deserted, remote suburb. As she had said, she trusted him.
"You might feel some pain, or you might not. But I'm not trying to hurt you."
After speaking, Evan reached out and placed his hand on Mei's back.
What were Schicksal's Valkyries like, those with artificial or even natural Stigmata? Evan wasn't too sure. But what he did know was that the seven Stigmata he possessed, while enhancing his physical fitness, also contained a power—the power of Honkai energy—and this power was controllable.
A Herrscher is an entity born with a certain probability in a disaster area when the instantaneous power of a Honkai outbreak reaches over 1000 HW.
A Herrscher is a human with extremely high adaptability to Honkai energy who has been transformed. This human might possess certain characteristics of Honkai abilities from birth. Relevant organizations speculated that the locations of Great Eruptions were not random, but were triggered because the area contained a human with Herrscher characteristics.
Generally speaking, a human with Herrscher aptitude would first trigger a Great Eruption, and then the concentrated Honkai energy would gather to form a Herrscher Core within that human's body, transforming them into a true Herrscher.
But Mei was different. She already had a Herrscher Core in her body. It was a part of the Second Herrscher's power that was split off after her defeat—the [Gem of Conquest].
Mei, who had been implanted with the [Gem of Conquest], wasn't a potential Herrscher in the normal sense, but she also had the possibility of awakening as one. She was a ticking time bomb. The moment she became a Herrscher, the Honkai energy that erupted would be enough to destroy everything she cherished.
Evan wanted to try and make this probabilistic event controllable. At the very least, the relevant organizations needed to be prepared before it happened.
If Mei knew how many lives were lost because of the Honkai she triggered, how would she feel? Would she be willing to die, or would she be disheartened?
Evan planned to rely on the Honkai energy from his seven Stigmata to try and stimulate the Herrscher Core inside Mei, allowing her to become a Herrscher at the right time and place, and then defeat her to return her to normal.
As for directly extracting the [Gem of Conquest], that would damage Mei. Besides, as a former player of the game, Evan knew that among the Valkyries under his command, there were Herrschers too.
Personally starting the Third Honkai Eruption, and then personally ending it—doesn't that sound cool?
Because of the high controllability of his own Honkai energy, some originally whimsical plans became plausible.
As Evan injected energy into the [Gem of Conquest] inside Mei, the air changed.
It was the increasingly active Herrscher Core taking effect. The concentration of Honkai energy in the vicinity was rising sharply. Although the location Evan chose had no other humans, the suburbs of a city were never lacking in animals.
Besides humans turning into zombies, there were also animals transforming into entities closely related to the Honkai—Honkai Beasts.
Boom!
In the nearby woods, tall trees with diameters of nearly a meter were knocked down in large swathes, crushed like dry weeds. That power was enough to send chills down one's spine.
The wielder of this power, rushing out of the woods towards Evan, was a giant Honkai Beast over ten meters tall. The large trees that ordinary people couldn't even wrap their arms around were as small as chocolate sticks under its feet. With the momentum to destroy everything in its path, the Honkai Beast charged at Evan.
It wasn't just one. Deep in the forest, several other giant, predominantly white Honkai Beasts could be vaguely seen rushing towards them, the ground trembling with their march.
"Here they come, huh?"
Looking at these monsters that were enough to make ordinary people despair and close their eyes to wait for death, Evan grinned and reached for the guitar case on his back.
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