Chapter 199: Taking the Elysian Realm Dream Team on a Field Trip
[Irene, what do you think they'll paint us as?] [Irene] asked from within the consciousness space, her tone curious. [I'm actually kind of looking forward to it.]
[No idea.] Irene settled into the pose Griseo had requested — sitting in a chair, pretending to read a book — and sneaked a sideways glance at the two Griseos, both absorbed in their painting. [Though I have to admit, I'm a little curious too.]
Some time passed before both Griseos set down their brushes at the same moment. They exhaled with quiet satisfaction, leaned forward, and looked over at Irene. "We're done, Sister Irene / Miss Irene."
"Already? That was fast." Irene stood up and walked over with undisguised curiosity — but the moment she saw the paintings, her eyebrow arched.
The reason was simple: what was depicted on both canvases had absolutely nothing to do with the pose she'd just been sitting in.
In the adult Griseo's painting, Irene was dressed in an ornate white feathered gown, its fabric threaded with gold embroidery, a pair of black-and-white wings spreading from her back. Her hands were clasped together in front of her chest, and from her cupped palms, vivid crimson liquid spilled and overflowed.
The expression on the painted face was one of profound, sorrowful compassion — the kind Irene honestly doubted she could even reproduce on her own face.
The little Griseo's painting was something else entirely. In it, Irene was dressed in a black formal gown traced with violet patterns. Her face was veiled in black, her expression unreadable. And unlike the adult Griseo's version, little Griseo's Irene held a pitch-black scythe in one hand.
"Huh..." Irene looked between the two paintings. It seemed the two Griseos had each drawn from a different facet of her — or perhaps little Griseo had drawn from [Irene]'s palette?
That would make sense: the black representing the Herrscher of Death's side of things, a gown like funeral wear, and the dark scythe in hand like something that harvested all things in existence.
The adult Griseo, meanwhile, had likely drawn from Irene's own palette — the pristine white gown called to mind the outfit worn by Mei in the original story after she inherited the position of Origin. Except where Mei's ensemble had a certain clean, efficient elegance, what Griseo had painted was far more ornate. As for the Authority of Death, it seemed to have been expressed solely through those wings.
Though — would she really ever make an expression that sorrowful? And what was that enormous halo doing behind her head?
[Oh, these are genuinely excellent. I've been meaning to say — it's probably time we updated both of our Herrscher outfits.] [Irene]'s eyes practically lit up inside the consciousness space as she studied the designs Griseo had rendered.
The Herrscher outfit Irene had been wearing no longer suited her — not in terms of capability, but in terms of style. A Herrscher outfit was part of a Herrscher; there was no such thing as a mismatch of power. They were naturally crystallized defensive armaments formed from the full maximization of a Herrscher's abilities, with defensive properties that could fairly be called the strongest state achievable in the world — so long as there was sufficient Honkai energy.
Not that Herrschersever ran short of ways to avoid taking hits in the first place. And for attacks that couldn't be dodged, the Herrscher outfit could help absorb them. As for certain opponents' attacks... well, one simply shouldn't ask too much of a Herrscher outfit's defenses in those cases — it was better to just eat the hit and rely on Honkai energy regeneration. After all, as long as a Herrscher wasn't killed outright, they recovered fast enough.
Irene's combat style, to put it plainly, had become far too varied. The somewhat rigid design of her original Herrscher outfit was no longer adequate.
In particular, she'd now gained the abilities of the Herrscher of Binding — whose fighting style involved charging forward with a weapon while using blood to create large-scale barrier-like constructs in the surrounding area. To accommodate that style, her Herrscher outfit would need at least some reworking. [Irene] had been mulling over how to do it for a while now without landing on anything concrete.
Forcing a redesign was always an option, but she was a girl — aesthetics mattered, at least a little. Unfortunately, none of the Irenes — including the whole crowd living inside her head — happened to have tailoring as a professional skill.
Among the rare few who came close was Klein. The reason for that, oddly enough, was Mobius: in the old days, between experiments, Mobius would occasionally pull stunts that were more prank than science, almost like she was demanding Klein play along with her. She'd burn her own lab coat with an alcohol lamp, then drag Klein over and insist Klein sew it back together — and add a little snake pattern while she was at it.
It was one of Mobius's rare, almost childlike phases. Not that anyone could say so within earshot of Mobius, of course — she'd fly into an indignant rage, and everyone who knew about it would promptly find themselves on the receiving end of a memory wipe. Or at least an attempted one.
The sad truth was that Klein only knew the bare basics of needlework. She was the Overtime Omnipotence, the Vacationless One — but that didn't mean she was literally omnipotent. A little sewing, sure. Pattern design? Please. Spare her.
Somehow, the one person inside Irene's head who could actually be useful here was, once again, Nuwa. Because Nuwa was both a die-hard figure modeler and a full-time shut-in. Reading comics had exposed her to plenty of attractive costume designs over the years, and as a top-tier model hobbyist, she'd spent no small amount of time customizing figure outfits — all of which had quietly built up into genuine experience.
The False Omnipotence: Klein.
The True Omnipotence: Nuwa.
Honestly, there seemed to be nothing Nuwa couldn't stick her hand into. That talent was probably matched only by Vill-V — and Vill-V was a born prodigy, so the fact that Nuwa could even stand in the same sentence as her was already a win for Nuwa.
Still, nothing had been finalized yet. But now, looking at the two paintings and combining them with the ideas she'd been circling over the past few days, Irene felt like the pieces were finally starting to click into place.
"Oh, these really are beautiful." After Griseo finished, Elysia and Aponia both came over to have a look. Despite sharing the same subject, the two paintings gave off completely different impressions, and both women let out sounds of genuine admiration.
"Mm." Both Griseos nodded in unison. Then they lifted the paintings off the easels and held them out toward Irene. "These are for you, Sister Irene / Miss Irene."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course — the art supplies were brought in from outside at my request," Griseo said with a shake of her head, "so they can be taken back out normally."
"In that case, I gratefully accept." Irene nodded and gathered both paintings in her arms. She'd ask Sirin to hold onto them for the time being — they were too large to cart around casually. She'd hang them in her room on the Hyperion when she got back.
"Oh, right — one more thing." Irene looked at the group. "Would anyone be interested in going out to see the outside world? To take a look at the current civilization?"
Griseo nodded immediately. She was a Flame-Chaser who was still alive — she wanted to protect this civilization and make sure it never suffered the same tragedy that had befallen her own. Even if Irene hadn't asked, she'd have tagged along whenever they went out anyway.
She'd actually considered joining the World Serpent, but for some reason, Uncle Kevin kept not picking up her calls. Or rather, it seemed like Gray Serpent was intercepting her calls and hanging up the moment she connected — as though they didn't want her to join.
That pattern tipped Griseo off immediately that something wasn't right. After a few more attempts, she'd stopped trying — because she'd started to remember.
Joining the World Serpent really wasn't the right move anymore. She'd align herself with Miss Irene instead. Her ultimate goal was still to fight the Honkai, after all. She just hoped Uncle Kevin would truly hold back from doing that.
Aponia opened her mouth as if to decline, then caught sight of Elysia beside her and took a step back — quietly leaving the decision to Elysia.
Elysia gave Aponia a gentle pat, then turned to look at Irene. "If it's Irene's invitation, of course I'm willing. I'm just not sure how the others feel about going."
"Then I suppose that's up to the lovely Miss Pink Elf and her powers of charm." Irene smiled at Elysia. A few of them would definitely want to come out.
Though she could already guess which ones probably wouldn't: Kevin and Su. Su hadn't truly died, and his real body was still around. And Su had no desire to come face Kevin — even knowing that what Kevin was doing was necessary, that wouldn't change anything. He understood Kevin too well to want to stand across from him.
Kevin, on the other hand, had his real body still alive and active, so there was no real reason for a mental projection of him to go anywhere. The real Kevin was already out there. His echo wasn't needed.
As for everyone else — the odds were pretty good they'd come out. Eden would depend entirely on whether Elysia could drag her along.
"I'll go let the others know then~" Elysia drew out the last syllable, grabbed Aponia by the hand, and vanished through the portal.
She had spent far too long in the High Ground of Origin, able only to send her mental projection through others' memories and meet everyone within those memories. For someone as fond of company and liveliness as Elysia, that had been genuinely miserable. Now that she was finally back, she was going to have a proper conversation with everyone — especially her dear Eden. Eden must have missed her terribly.
Irene stood where she was, paintings in her arms, watching Elysia's retreating figure, and smiled. She turned to the two Griseos. "And you two?"
"I'm obviously coming." Griseo nodded, then turned to look at little Griseo. "What about you, other me — want to come along?"
"Mm." Little Griseo nodded. "I want to help too."
"Then let's go together." Griseo nodded, and both of them reached out toward each other. The two figures flickered — and merged into one.
Little Griseo had always been a fragment of Griseo's soul left behind in the Elysian Realm all those years ago. Now that she was ready to reclaim it, the process was as easy as breathing.
Though after so much time apart, a perfect fusion was no longer entirely possible — so—
"Talking to yourself inside your own head is a genuinely strange experience." Griseo gave her own head a pat, expression slightly odd. "Feels a bit like back in the day, with the Knight."
"Reliving your childhood?"
"That's one childhood that lasted way too long." Griseo shook her head. "Let's go, Miss Irene."
— Elysian Realm Hall —
"I'm back!" Irene stepped through the portal and looked out at the people already gathering in the hall. "Looks like everyone found their coaches?"
Everyone nodded. The thirteen Flame-Chasers between them covered nearly every conceivable situation anyone might face — even if some student hadn't directly encountered a given ability before, there was still plenty of guidance to be offered. And they'd taught without reservation, holding virtually nothing back — that much everyone present could feel.
The Flame-Chasers themselves were thoroughly unbothered by this. What was the point of hoarding techniques? Their real bodies were essentially all gone now. Their purpose was to see the Honkai defeated.
Beyond that, they were genuinely impressed by the people before them — especially the Herrschersof the group. They truly hadn't expected that the Elysian Realm, originally built for a successor, would end up being most satisfying to a bunch of Herrschersof all people.
Well. Life was full of surprises.
Across the hall, Eden stood among the crowd. She glanced past a few figures, caught sight of Irene, and seemed to sense something. She brought her cup to her lips, took a quiet sip of wine — expression somewhere between contentment and a faint, understated sadness.
"This is fine. It's fine." Eden looked up again, eyes resting on Irene. The aura coming off Irene was not difficult to feel — there was no chance Eden could mistake it. But the gaze Eden directed at her held warmth and quiet affirmation. She trusted that with Irene's character and ability, she would be a wonderful successor.
And then, from behind Eden, a rush of sweet fragrance — Elysia appeared out of nowhere and threw her arms around Eden from behind. Eden's hand moved on instinct to cover Elysia's.
Her hand froze mid-air. She turned her head, surprised. "Elysia?!"
"I'm back." Elysia pressed herself warmly against Eden's back, lips near her ear, voice soft. "Irene brought me back. I missed you so much, Eden."
Eden's hand, suspended in the air, lowered gently. She settled it over the arm Elysia had draped across her shoulder. When she spoke, her voice almost — almost — carried a tremor, but she caught it before it fully surfaced.
"Welcome back."
Elysia nodded, then lifted her gaze toward the portal. The Flame-Chasers she'd persuaded began filing through one by one: behind Vill-V came Bronya with an enormous stack of books, and Einstein and Tesla, both looking thoroughly pleased with themselves.
Nearby were the two Wendys, who'd been whisked away by Elysia before they could get much studying done — though neither of them minded particularly. The Wendy who was the Breath of the Gale already knew a great deal about controlling wind and utilizing the Authority of Wind; she simply hadn't had the chance to pass it on yet. They could self-study for a while — they weren't in any rush. Besides, as Irene had mentioned, the most they'd need was to fill in a few gaps in their coursework anyway.
There really hadn't been a coach here suited specifically for those two, so it was fine. They could treat the Realm as a sparring ground and leave it at that.
A handful of other Flame-Chasers came out with the group as well. Once everyone was accounted for, Elysia and Irene moved to stand together at the front, facing the assembled crowd.
Irene looked at the people from the current civilization and said: "Alright, everyone — that's the end of today's Elysian Realm tour. Time to head back."
Elysia, meanwhile, had produced from somewhere a tiny pink hat and a tiny pink flag — no one was quite sure where she'd gotten them. "And that means it's our turn — we're going on a sightseeing trip to the current civilization!"
"Stay close to Miss Pink Elf, keep your eyes on the little flag, and please don't wander off."
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