Hearing the trembling call from behind her, Raiden Mei faltered mid-step.
Even though the battle was not over, she still turned partway to look back at the white-haired girl whose eyes were filled with hope.
There was no question about it: in that moment, Mei's eyes held only her.
"Long time no see, Kiana."
Mei seemed to be smiling.
But the smile did not last long.
"Looks like you've already made your choice."
Ahead of her, one Domination Puppet after another was dissolving.
Their levels were not especially high, so their HP pools were limited.
After taking Kurikara's sonic roar head-on, they had been wiped out in droves, almost like clearing trash mobs.
Of course, Ling Ke — hidden behind the curtain — had expected exactly this.
It did not matter. The Domination Puppets could revive infinitely anyway. As long as the Theater of Domination, his "Respawn Room," still existed, he could come back again and again.
And each time, the individual units would grow stronger, while the group itself would grow larger.
Ling Ke had not been Herrscherized for very long.
Given enough time, humanity's odds would only keep dropping.
And before that point—
"Now that you're here, then by the rules we agreed on before, I'm going after Raiden Ryoma. All-out. No limits."
Unit 001 — or rather, Ling Ke speaking through that body by remote control — said it flatly.
"I won't let you."
Mei's gaze shifted back to him.
The uncertainty that had been there before was gone now.
What had she gone through these last few days?
Not hard to guess.
World Serpent headquarters. Elysian Realm. The Thirteen Flame-Chasers…
So my butterfly effect smoothed the whole thing out. Mei inherited the Signets faster than she ever did in the original story.
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke laughed. Makes sense…
At this point in time, there isn't any "Miss Faded Elf" around to stir things up.*
[*TN: Likely a deliberately snide reference to Elysia. The distorted title appears to be Ling Ke's own coinage.]
That was right.
In this era's version of events, the Herrscher of Corruption only managed to enter Elysian Realm by attaching itself to Raiden Mei.
Thinking back over that original arc now—
Looking at it that way, you really are a walking disaster.
Ling Ke's gaze turned cold. Tch. How did I never notice that before?
I was looking at her through rose-tinted garbage the whole time.
When it came to his enemies, he naturally chose the most vicious way of looking at them.
So—
"Won't let me? Ha."
On the deck of the Hyperion, Unit 001 matched Ling Ke's expression and contemptuous tone exactly. "Then do your damnedest, Miss Raiden Mei."
"There are so many people you failed to save when it mattered."
"With your track record, who's going to believe you this time?"
Hearing that—
"Then watch."
Mei tightened her grip on the tachi in her hand and raised it, pointing it straight at the "Domination Puppet: Anby." "Ling Ke, you went from victim to perpetrator. And you didn't even hesitate."
"I won't hold back anymore."
Hearing her say that—
"Oh? That had some bite."
Unit 001 let out a cold laugh. "Yeah. I am a perpetrator now."
"Just like you, isn't that right?"
At that moment, wearing Ling Ke's expression as if it were her own, she looked horrifying. "If you're going to be a perpetrator, then have the awareness to match it."
"To be hated. To be despised. To be cursed by the whole world. To become a target for all of it…"
"So how is it that I don't see any of that on any of you?"
Under Ling Ke's remote control, she tilted her head and glanced at Kiana standing not far away. "Don't think that just because you got to live in the sunlight afterward, everything you did somehow stopped counting."
"We haven't forgotten."
Kiana stepped forward and came to stand at Mei's side. Her answer was immediate and absolute. "The sins we carry — we'll carry them all the way to the end."
Unit 001 applauded.
"Very good. Very good."
The corner of her mouth lifted into a dangerous curve. "Remember what you just said."
"I'm looking forward to seeing how exactly you plan to keep walking forward."
As she finished speaking, a Space Gate opened behind her.
She turned and stepped away without the slightest regard for the many eyes fixed on her back.
Mei and the others had no intention of pursuing her.
Because after Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent had shared intelligence, they all knew that those Space Gates could not be breached.
But—
"That's a barrier we'll have to break sooner or later."
A certain Schicksal Overseer had said that once in a remote virtual meeting.
To be honest, Mei did not agree with many of that man's methods, but she had never doubted his ability.
And yet—
A scream came from behind them.
Everyone's nerves jumped at once.
By instinct, they spun around to look.
The commotion had come from the bridge section Theresa had smashed open earlier.
Several of the helmsmen responsible for piloting the Hyperion had been pierced through the heart from behind.
In the next instant—
Everyone on the deck felt a savage lurch of weightlessness.
Most of them nearly lost their footing before they could react.
And in Mei's line of sight—
At the shattered opening to the bridge stood yet another "Domination Puppet: Anby," blade in hand, cold smile on her face, her lips moving.
It was as if she were mocking them in silence—
See? You failed again. Just like you promised you wouldn't.
-----
In the end, the Hyperion still did not crash.
Because Ling Ke still remembered his original plan.
He had already marked this floating battleship with coordinates for opening a Space Gate.
From now on, it would be one of his spawn points.
So in the end, Ling Ke did not have the Domination Puppets smash the warship's main control console while they were right next to it.
But after that…
"Carry your old sins with you and keep walking, was it?"
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke narrowed those unfocused black eyes of his. "Then stop burying the news. What kind of cowardice is that?"
He immediately looked toward the system screen floating in front of him.
A moment ago, he had pulled a very interesting Game Character Template:
[Game Character Template: Sombra]
[From: Overwatch]
[Character Traits: HP system, infinite ammo, indestructible equipment, immunity to fall damage…]
[Game Skills: Machine Pistol, Hack, Stealth, Translocator, EMP, Opportunist…]
[Background Talents: world-class hacker, world-class killer…]
[Profile: full name: Olivia Colomar, the most notorious hacker in the world, orphaned by the Omnic Crisis, now a member of Talon…]
That was exactly why—
"The Dawn of Silver Wolf may have hacker talent too, but… in the end, she's still not as convenient as this one."
Ling Ke smirked.
Then he gave the order.
"Pull out one hundred Domination Puppets. All of them use the Sombra template."
"Then dump everything online. Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent — plus what those 'Herrscher ladies' have been through over the years. All of it."
"And of course…"
Ling Ke let out a cold laugh. "Don't embellish a thing. Not one thing."
"We're not some shameless troll farm pushing fake dirt. Our job is to restore the truth exactly as it happened. One hundred percent."
"After that, people can make their own judgments."
He obviously knew—
On this front, there was no need for him to do anything extra.
Even the truth by itself—
those hideous, blood-soaked truths—
would be enough to turn public opinion into a storm.
"How did that line go again?"
Reclining on his throne with one leg crossed over the other, Ling Ke propped his cheek up with one hand. "Ah, right…"
"The public has the right to know the truth."