But besides consciousness, humans also have a soul, a mysterious entity born from the physical body, which, together with the brain, gives rise to consciousness.
For a normal human, these three are indispensable. However, puppets only possess two of them.
Namely, body and consciousness. They have no soul.
Consciousness can be seen as a person's ability to think for themselves, or as memory.
Even if a person's consciousness is cleared, their soul still exists, but they will be like a newborn infant, knowing nothing.
They need to accumulate new experiences to form consciousness again. Due to different experiences, different personalities are formed, but their most fundamental essence remains the same.
And what Balladeer needed to do was to erase this most fundamental essence, which was the soul.
Without a soul, there would naturally be no consciousness. At that time, he could remove his core component and implant it into the girl's body, thereby controlling this body.
But how to erase the soul was a problem, because according to the information obtained from Hitomi Hanatani, that chess piece couldn't pull out the other party's soul.
Before, he thought the girl had no soul, only consciousness, just like him, being a puppet. Now it seemed it might be due to other reasons.
Balladeer speculated that it might be due to the golden lightning. It should be known that Shiki did not have a Vision, and like him, could wield elemental power without one.
The golden lightning strengthened her soul, preventing Hitomi Hanatani from pulling it out. Currently, this was the only reasonable explanation.
At the very least, Shiki's soul was different from that of a normal person.
...
4 AM, White Fox Plain
After seven hours of non-stop, full-speed sailing, Xavier finally saw the beach of White Fox Plain. He immediately disregarded the risk of running aground and directly rushed ashore.
Plop!
The full-speed Waverider crashed onto the beach. Xavier, who was in the cabin, was flung out because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Fortunately, the beach acted as a buffer, so he wasn't seriously injured, though he got a mouth full of sand.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
Xavier quickly spat out the sand from his mouth, then scrambled up the cliff using both hands and feet.
The direction of Inazuma City was still easy to discern. On one side stood Mt. Yougou, towering into the clouds, and on the other was the Tenshukaku, the residence of the Electro Archon.
Although the Tenshukaku couldn't be seen due to the darkness, the Sacred Sakura Tree, emitting faint glows, was still very noticeable in the night.
The Tenshukaku was south of Mt. Yougou, so he just needed to run in the opposite direction of Mt. Yougou.
Xavier ran towards Inazuma City with heavy legs. He was just a science and engineering nerd; his physical fitness wasn't good, and the long journey had already pushed his body to its limit.
But he couldn't stop. There were people waiting for him to save!
'Come on, Xavier, don't stop, you can do it!'
Xavier let out a silent roar in his heart. How he fared no longer mattered; he couldn't let them be in trouble!
The dim Vision in his arms suddenly flickered with faint red light, and a warm current flowed into Xavier's body without him even noticing.
But soon, the Vision returned to its original dim state, and Xavier only felt slightly less tired.
As time passed, the sun slowly rose from the horizon, and Xavier finally saw the Sakura Tree in Hanamizaka.
"Cough... ha... ha..."
Xavier bent over, leaning on his knees, coughing frantically by the roadside. He felt like he couldn't breathe, and his entire lungs felt like they were Burning.
"Ugh~"
Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore and spat out some unknown liquid.
However, after spitting, he clearly felt much better. Xavier wiped his mouth with his sleeve and then started running again.
He was going to Komore Teahouse, to have someone from the Yashiro Commission report the news to the Electro Archon. Xavier knew that with his status, he would absolutely not be able to meet this Archon.
"Sir, do you need help?" Shigeru, who was in charge of reception, asked, looking at the panting Xavier.
Not many people came to Komore Teahouse, and the other party was also from Fontaine, so she had quite an impression of him.
"Is Thoma here? Miss Kamisato will do too. I have something important to tell them, it's about Shiki!"
Seeing the other party's anxious appearance, Shigeru frowned. It seemed like a big deal!
Seeing this, Shigeru quickly helped Xavier into Komore Teahouse, then poured him a glass of water.
"Thoma and the Young Miss have both gone out; they are not here."
"Then we must quickly go notify them! I truly have something very important to tell them!" Xavier grabbed Shao's shoulders, speaking with a look of urgency.
And just then, a soft voice came from behind him.
"What urgent matter?"
Xavier turned his head to see Ayaka standing behind him. She was as elegant as ever, but on her back was a slender katana almost as tall as she was.
His engineering background quickly allowed him to estimate the katana's approximate length: a full 140 centimeters. Could such a long blade truly be drawn from its sheath?
'No, no, now is not the time to be thinking about this!'
Xavier shook his head, then took a deep breath and said, "Shiki and the Traveler, something has happened to them!"
Ayaka was slightly stunned upon hearing this, then asked with a serious expression, "What happened?"
"It's the Fatui. They used me to set a trap to lure Shiki. Balladeer's strength is too great; we couldn't defeat him at all. I only managed to escape under the Traveler's desperate cover."
"You must tell the Raiden Shogun about this. Only she can defeat Balladeer and rescue them!"
"Where are they now?"
"Yashiori Island…"
Clatter…
The folding fan in Ayaka's hand dropped to the ground. From Yashiori Island to Inazuma City, it would take nearly half a day by water, not to mention the short land journey required.
This meant that Shiki's incident had already happened yesterday. With so much time having passed…
'No, I mustn't think negatively!'
"Let's go. You're coming with me to Tenshukaku. We must explain the situation clearly to the Shogun!"
Ayaka decided to take Xavier with her, even though she had just come from Tenshukaku.
And her purpose for going to Tenshukaku was the katana on her back. The Shogun had asked her to deliver this blade to Shiki, only saying that it was very important and must be placed in Shiki's hands. But its name or origin were not mentioned at all.
Moreover, it was strange; she could feel a sense of resistance from this blade, as if something bad would happen if she tried to use it forcibly.
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