"Oh, I see. Please, do go on."
Elysia nodded, and on the surface at least, Durandal couldn't detect a single thing out of the ordinary.
Of course, that was partly because Durandal was a bit preoccupied elsewhere at the moment.
While she had agreed to Elysia and Vill-V's request to let Elysia share the burden of the Honkai energy released by the Third Eruption, Durandal's unique constitution changed the stakes.
Once the Holy Blade Durandal absorbed that energy and channeled it into her body, she effectively had three choices.
The first was to simply leave it be. Her body might absorb a small amount, but the vast majority would be diverted through the Moon Ring and split more or less evenly between her and Elysia.
The second was to fully leverage her own constitution and swallow the energy whole.
This way, even with the Moon Ring active, Elysia wouldn't have to shoulder any of the Honkai energy; she would only need to withstand the aftershocks radiating from Durandal during the absorption process.
The third was a far more delicate operation: Durandal would use her constitution to absorb a portion of the energy herself while carefully regulating the rate at which the rest was fed into the Moon Ring.
This would allow Elysia to receive a steady, manageable flow of energy, which she could then channel into the Selene.
Naturally, Durandal wouldn't consider the first option.
She desperately wanted to choose the second, but after weighing the consequences, she ultimately dismissed the idea.
And so, Durandal settled on the third—the safest and most stable path.
She was well aware that Elysia and Vill-V had likely anticipated this exact scenario.
The fact that Durandal still had the mental bandwidth for such precision work proved that she was indeed operating within her limits.
This aligned with Elysia and Vill-V's original intentions, so they weren't about to force her into the first plan.
In any case, with her mind split between two tasks, Durandal didn't have the spare energy to notice Elysia's subtle micro-expressions or the little secrets she was hiding.
Seeing that Elysia was ready to continue and hadn't pressed her for details regarding the Sea of Quanta or the Ether Anchor, Durandal felt a slight pang of regret—she'd already prepared a lengthy lecture in her head—but she picked up where she left off.
"After Rita and I entered the Sea of Quanta, we arrived in a small world influenced by the projections of several larger worlds. There, we encountered the author of Don Quixote, the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes."
"We met the most brilliant playwright in British literary history, Marian William Shakespeare. We even saw the Nautilus, the miraculous submarine from the works of the French science fiction writer Jules Verne, and a mysterious man in an iron mask."
Durandal paused to offer a quick explanation. "These people—and even the objects—are all famous figures from my own world. They lived in different eras, but for reasons unknown, they drifted from various worlds and times into the Sea of Quanta, becoming refugees."
That clarified, she continued, "According to them, their worlds had no Honkai and no Schicksal. Some individuals even had genders different from what I knew. After Rita and I befriended Shakespeare's group, we set out together on a journey toward the European continent."
"Through Shakespeare, Rita and I learned that this world's Europe was encased by a strange energy barrier known as the Wall of Asgard. This barrier first appeared over a century ago and had been expanding ever since, eventually swallowing the entire continent."
"According to the investigation by the Man in the Iron Mask, this barrier was composed of Honkai energy. Its average energy density reached 1000 HW per square meter—matching the minimum requirement for a Herrscher to manifest in the main world."
"Yet, no Honkai beasts appeared near it. If an ordinary person touched it, they were instantly reduced to ash. Because of this, Rita suspected the wall wasn't just Honkai energy, but likely contained other energies as well."
"Speaking of the barrier, Shakespeare mentioned an old story about how she tried to touch it with a miraculous sword she'd found, which resulted in the blade being damaged."
"As she spoke, she pulled out that very sword and gave it to me. According to the Man in the Iron Mask, the blade tests its master, checking if the wielder possesses seven virtues: courage, confidence, altruism, kindness, vitality, composure, and nobility."
"If the sword deems the holder unworthy, its power scatters, transforming into seven gems that disperse across the globe."
"Before we met, Shakespeare's group had already recovered the Gem of Courage, which had added a red decorative ring to the hilt."
"The Man in the Iron Mask and Shakespeare believed I was the 'Chosen One' the sword was waiting for, so they decided to entrust it to me. The moment I took the blade, I realized it was likely a weapon on par with a Divine Key."
"And so, the sword Shakespeare gave me became the Holy Blade Durandal. From that point on, Rita's and my mission within that world bubble was to collect the remaining six gems and save that dying world."
She went on to describe their journey to gather the gems, eventually reaching the conclusion of the tale.
"Facing La Niña, the Daughter of God, I intended to strike first using the full power of Durandal. However, while the Holy Blade's completed form holds unparalleled power, it is also its own greatest weakness."
"La Niña exploited this, shattering the sword's blade. Because the blade was broken, the purification program Durandal had prepared couldn't be initialized."
"In the end, I chose to use my own body to replace the Soulium blade. Working with the seven gems, I triggered the purification program, instantly draining La Niña's Honkai energy and defeating her."
"However, the energy La Niña left behind within the Ether Anchor was set to completely erode the anchor within three to five years. By then, the world bubble would still face its inevitable destruction."
"The only way left to save that world was to use the power of Durandal's seven gems to 'invert' the entire world bubble, the Ether Anchor, and all that Honkai energy into my own body, turning it into my personal 'Miniature Universe.'"
"As long as I live, that world will endure. And within the precious time we've bought, Schrödinger (the Man in the Iron Mask), Kira Shigure, Rita, and I will find a way to permanently stabilize that world."
Hearing this, Elysia couldn't help but sigh.
"But by doing that, you've tied your fate to that entire world. It means your life from that point on is dedicated to the struggle of saving it."
"Yet you didn't hesitate for a second, did you? Because you love that world. You couldn't just stand by and watch it fade away—just like you're doing for our world right now."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL