Hearing that trembling call from behind her, Raiden Mei's body paused slightly.
Even though the battle was not yet over, she still turned partway around and looked at the white-haired girl whose eyes were filled with hope.
At that moment, there was no doubt about it.
In her eyes, there was only her.
"It's been a long time, Kiana."
Raiden Mei seemed to be smiling.
But the smile did not last.
"So you've already made your choice."
Ahead of them, one Puppet of Domination after another was vanishing.
Their levels were not that high, so their HP was limited.
After taking Kurikara's shockwave roar head-on, they had been cleared away like trash mobs. More than half were gone in an instant.
Of course, Ling Ke, hidden behind the scenes, had expected that outcome already.
The Puppets of Domination could revive endlessly anyway. As long as the Theater of Domination, that "respawn room," still existed, he could come back again and again.
And each time, the individual units would only grow stronger, while the scale of the group would only grow larger.
Ling Ke had not been a Herrscher for very long.
Given time, humanity's chances would only keep getting smaller.
And before that day came…
"Now that you're here, then according to the rules we set before, I'll begin a full hunt for Raiden Ryoma."
No. 001—or rather, Ling Ke controlling this body from afar—said that line flatly.
"I won't let you do as you please."
Raiden Mei's gaze shifted back.
This time, there was no hesitation left in her eyes.
What had she gone through over the past few days?
"Heh. Not hard to guess."
World Serpent Headquarters. Elysian Realm. The Thirteen Flame-Chasers…
"It looks like, because this butterfly flapped its wings, Raiden Mei's process of inheriting the Signets went much more smoothly than it did in the original plot."
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke laughed. "After all…"
"At this point in time, there's no 'Miss Pink Elf♪' around to stir up trouble yet."
That was right.
In this era, the Herrscher of Corruption had only been able to enter Elysian Realm by attaching itself to Raiden Mei.
Thinking back on that part of the original plot now…
"If you look at it that way, you really are a disaster magnet."
Ling Ke's eyes were cold. "Tch. How did I never notice before?"
"In the end, the filter was just too strong."
When it came to his enemy, of course he would take the cruelest possible view.
So—
"Won't let me do as I please? Ha!"
On the deck of the Hyperion, No. 001 mirrored Ling Ke's expression and his contemptuous tone. "Then you'd better do your best, Miss Raiden Mei."
"Because there have been far too many people you should have been able to save, but didn't."
"They still died in the end."
"Considering your past record of being 'far too outstanding,' I have a hard time believing you aren't just spouting empty words again."
At those words—
"Then watch and see."
Raiden Mei tightened her grip on the tachi in her hand, raised it, and pointed it at the Puppet of Domination—Anby in front of her. "Ling Ke, you've already changed from a victim into someone who hurts others without restraint."
"I won't hold back anymore."
Hearing that—
"Oh? Nice spirit."
No. 001 laughed coldly. "Yeah. I am an aggressor now."
"Just like you, aren't I?"
At that moment, with Ling Ke's expression mirrored on her face, the look she wore was frightening. "If you're going to hurt people, then at least have the awareness of someone who does."
"To be hated. To be despised. To be cursed by the whole world. To become a target for hatred…"
"But why don't I see any of that on you?"
Under Ling Ke's control, she turned her head and glanced at Kiana standing not far away. "Don't think that just because you managed to crawl back into the sunlight afterward, the darkness and sins clinging to you somehow disappeared."
"We haven't forgotten."
Kiana stepped forward and came to stand at Raiden Mei's side. Her voice was firm. "The sins of the past—we'll carry them with us and keep walking."
"Clap. Clap. Clap."
No. 001 applauded.
"Good. Very good."
The corner of her mouth curved into something dangerous. "Then remember what you just said."
"I'm looking forward to seeing how you plan to keep walking."
With that, a spatial gate opened behind her.
She turned and walked toward it, not caring in the slightest about all the eyes on her back.
Raiden Mei and the others had no intention of pursuing.
Because after Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent started sharing intelligence, they all knew one thing very clearly.
That kind of spatial gate… could not be broken through.
But still—
"This is a barrier we'll have to overcome sooner or later."
A certain Archbishop of Schicksal had once said that during a remote meeting.
To be honest, Raiden Mei did not agree with many of that man's methods.
But she had never doubted his ability.
And yet—
"AAAHHH!!!"
A scream came from behind them.
Everyone stiffened.
They turned at once and looked back—
The noise had come from the bridge, from the opening Theresa had smashed through by force earlier.
Several crew members responsible for piloting the Hyperion had all been stabbed through the heart from behind.
In the next second—
"Bang—"
"!!!"
Everyone on deck felt a violent loss of weight.
Most of them nearly lost their balance on the spot.
And in Raiden Mei's sight—
at the broken opening of the bridge, another Puppet of Domination—Anby stood there with a blade in hand, wearing a cold sneer. Her lips were moving.
It was as if she were mocking them soundlessly.
See?
You failed again.
In the end, the Hyperion did not crash.
Because Ling Ke still remembered his original plan.
This floating warship had already been marked with fixed coordinates for opening spatial gates.
From now on, it would be one of his troop deployment points.
So in the end, he did not have the Puppets of Domination casually destroy the warship's main control station that was right there within reach.
But after that…
"Carry your old sins with you and keep walking… is that it?"
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke narrowed those unfocused black eyes of his slightly. "Then stop hiding it. What kind of nonsense is sealing off the news?"
He looked at the floating system screen in front of him.
Just now, he had drawn a very interesting game character template:
[Game Character Template: Sombra]
[Source: Overwatch]
[Character Traits: HP system, infinite ammunition, indestructible equipment, immunity to fall damage…]
[Game Skills: Machine Pistol, Hack, Stealth, Translocator, EMP, Opportunist…]
[Background Traits: world-class hacker, world-class killer…]
[Related Info: Full name: Olivia Colomar. The most notorious hacker in the world. She became an orphan because of the Omnic Crisis, and is now a member of Talon…]
It was because he had gotten this one…
"Wolf's Dawn has hacking talent too, but… in the end, it's still not as convenient as this girl."
A wicked smile appeared on Ling Ke's face.
Then he gave an order.
"Pull out a hundred Puppets of Domination. All of them use the Sombra template."
"Then put everything online. Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, and even those few Herrscher girls… all their pasts, all the related records."
"Of course…"
Ling Ke let out a cold laugh. "Don't add anything. Not one bit."
"We're not the kind of scummy paid trolls who stir things up with fake news. We're here to restore the truth, one hundred percent, exactly as it was."
"After that, people will have their own judgment."
Clearly, he understood this very well.
There was no need for him to do anything extra.
Those truths alone…
those horrifying, blood-soaked truths…
were already enough to turn society's public outcry into a storm.
"How did that saying go again?"
On the throne, Ling Ke sat with one leg crossed over the other, one hand propping up the left side of his face. "Ah, right…"
"The people have the right to know the truth."