"So that's why you could protect me in the Sea of Quanta, and why you could sense exits that I couldn't perceive."
"If we still have any chance of opening an exit, that possibility must lie with you."
Hearing Seele's words, Dark Seele looked completely baffled: "What the hell are you even talking about?"
Seele continued: "Even though I keep saying I want to rely on my own efforts and stand on my own… doing this might seem really contradictory… but now isn't the time to let my stubbornness get in the way of the bigger picture…"
"Admitting your own shortcomings isn't something shameful… especially when it's in front of the person I trust the most—you."
"So—"
"Please, the other me."
Without waiting for Dark Seele to refuse, she directly handed over control of the body.
While fighting, Dark Seele communicated deep in their consciousness: "Ha… you really never fail to surprise me every time. Just suddenly handing over full body control like that—are you really this trusting?"
Seele said: "Of course I am. From the very beginning, I've completely trusted you. After all, I've always been watching you, just like you've always been watching me—"
"So this time, I'm planning to hand the body over to you completely. I'll temporarily sink myself into the deepest part of our consciousness. That way, you won't have to worry about burdening me anymore and can unleash your full power—right?"
Dark Seele was startled, and her scythe missed its mark slightly: "Hey, Seele, do you even know what you're saying? If you let me take over now, everyone around you will know I exist."
Seele said: "It's fine. Actually, I've wanted to introduce you to everyone for a long time."
Dark Seele continued: "Even if they hate you because I'm a monster, even if they distance themselves from you, you won't be able to take it back."
Seele said with full trust: "They'll definitely accept you, just like I did."
Dark Seele warned: "If you completely hand over control to me, you won't be able to forcibly switch personalities like before during this time."
"Mm, I know."
Dark Seele still probed: "If I unleash all my power, I don't even know what will happen—"
"Mm, it's fine."
Dark Seele kept asking: "If I refuse to wake you from the depths of consciousness, you might never wake up again and fall into permanent slumber."
"Mm, I understand."
Dark Seele brought up the thing Seele was most worried about: "Even if I go on a rampage, bully your important friends, do all sorts of things to your Big Sis Bronya—you still wouldn't be able to stop me?"
Seele remained incredibly trusting toward her: "You wouldn't do that. I believe in you."
"…"
"..."
Faced with such trust, Dark Seele sighed: "How on earth has such a naive idiot like you managed to survive until now?"
Seele said: "Because of you, because of Big Sis Bronya and Kiana, and because of so many kind people who believe in and protect each other's hearts."
"Sigh~" Dark Seele sighed: "Fine, I get it. It's just a door, right? I'll open one for you. If there isn't one, I'll smash one open myself."
"I'll go all out!"
Seele said: "Then I'm counting on you. Ah, right. You still haven't told me yet."
"Told you what?"
"The name you like. I want to call you by the name you like."
Hearing this question.
Dark Seele actually already had an answer in her heart: "...Seele."
Seele said: "Mm? I'm here."
"…" Dark Seele grew impatient: "I mean, that's the name I like the most."
"…Ah." Seele nodded: "Mm, I understand!"
Dark Seele still said tsundere-ly: "It's just that since we already share a body, sharing a name doesn't feel bad either. No other meaning."
Seele smiled as she gradually sank into the deepest part of their consciousness: "Hehe, then from now on, it's all up to you, Seele."
Dark Seele also showed a smile: "Fine, fine, yes yes yes… Leave it to me, Seele."
With full access to their twin powers, Dark Seele immediately began a frenzied massacre.
Wherever she went, only puppet wreckage remained.
Limbs were piling up into a small mountain.
"Come on, get serious, try harder—do your very best to entertain me properly~"
"If the toy breaks, it'll get thrown into the trash heap, you know~ Hahahahahaha!"
Right now she looked far more like a villain. Even though puppets kept appearing, they were all instantly crushed under her claws.
Until one particular puppet appeared.
Dark Seele recognized her in an instant: "You're… that tone, I remember you. You're the puppet who talked to me last time."
The puppet said excitedly: "That's right, that's right! It's me, Lily! I'm so happy—you still remember Lily! Pretty big sister, did you come to see Lily? No, you want to leave here. Sigh, what a pity, what a pity, clearly—"
Snap!
Dark Seele pinched the puppet's head in one claw: "Shh— no, when did I give you permission to speak?"
"Chattering away, repeating every sentence twice—annoying as hell. A toy should act like a toy. Quiet ones are much cuter."
"But whatever. I was actually looking for you, and you came right to me."
"What did you say about me last time? Oh, I remember now—unwanted child, coward, pitiful sight."
"You sure have some guts—makes me really want to tear you open and see just where in that tiny body of yours you're hiding all that courage."
The puppet struggled desperately: "Why won't you admit it? Everything Lily said was true! You know it—even if you comfort each other forever, you're you and she's her!"
"Her sister, her friends, all the people who care about her and love her—will they look at you the same way? Will they? Will they?"
"They won't! You're different from her. You're dangerous, you're sick—you're a monster—Bronya is coming soon. Guess what her reaction will be when she sees you?"
"You can't even change yourself, and you want to change other people's gazes? Impossible! Impossible!!"
This time Dark Seele spoke very calmly: "Everything you said is correct. But I have zero interest in being friends with any of you. Want to know why?"
"—Because I hate you. Because you're annoying. Because the way you talk is stupid beyond belief. Because that creaking sound makes me sick."
"Your color scheme is disgusting, your joints are disgusting, your eyepatch is disgusting, and those two whatever-they-are things on your head are even more disgusting—maybe you'd be cuter if you were a cabbage instead!"
"Just looking at you makes me uncomfortable. So right now, immediately, get lost from my sight. Disappearing from in front of me is the most useful thing you can do!"
"Don't be scared. Tonight I'm in a good mood—I promise I'll make it hurt… really hurt…!"
She directly sent the puppet called Lily flying with one claw, then chased after her.
"Haha, run! Run faster! Don't stop even if your legs break, or you'll get caught by me!"
Lily got up and ran into the distance while still shouting: "So scary, so scary! Pretty big sister, Lily likes you, but you don't like Lily."
As she ran, she summoned Honkai Beasts to stall and wear down Dark Seele's power.
But in front of the current Dark Seele, these Honkai Beasts couldn't hold out at all.
It didn't take long at all—her chain claw clamped around the puppet like playing with a claw machine doll: "Gotcha~"
The puppet sighed: "Sigh… what a pity, what a pity. The strings on you are gone."
Dark Seele said coldly: "Got your last words ready? My little doll."
The puppet said: "Oh! Doll? That sounds so nice! But last words? No, no, it's not time to say last words yet. We'll meet again."
While the puppet was still chattering away—
Snap~
The laughter stopped abruptly. Then her head rolled off, sliding along the gaps in the claws, drifting farther and farther into the bottomless abyss…
After dealing with the puppet.
Dark Seele headed straight for the destination.
As for whatever the puppet said about "always being by your side," she didn't care at all.
Right now she was only thinking about whether to take this chance to do something "fun" to Bronya.
While she was still thinking about it—
"Seele."
Bronya suddenly appeared behind her.
Seeing her, Dark Seele also showed a smile. She had originally planned to let her go since time was almost up, but now she arrived just in time.
She imitated Seele's tone and said: "Big Sis Bronya, how come you're here? Ah, have you already taken care of the enemies over there? As expected of big sis!"
"..."
Bronya didn't speak and just kept staring at her.
She stared until Dark Seele felt a little creeped out and awkwardly asked: "Sis… why do you keep staring at Seele…?"
Bronya said seriously: "You are not Seele—at least not the Seele that Bronya is familiar with."
Dark Seele still tried to pretend, speaking in a pinched voice: "Geez, why would you suddenly say something like that? Seele is Seele."
Bronya said: "Bronya has seen you. In the Sea of Quanta, you appeared once—you said you are the other her who resides within Seele's body."
Dark Seele dropped the act: "…So you actually remembered. I thought normal people would just treat it as nonsense and forget."
Bronya said: "Bronya remembers every word Seele has ever said. But now isn't the time to talk about that."
The two looked toward the platform in the center of the space. Fine web-like patterns spread through the air, and right in front of it, puppets were gathering.
"Our top priority is still to leave the Theater of Domination, correct? The puppets are converging here because they don't want us to reach the spatial rift—that must be the exit!"
The two attacked the rift together.
Sure enough!
The next instant.
They appeared back in the Salt Lake Base.
Before Bronya could even feel happy,
Her body felt like a hollow had been carved out of it.
Bronya could still sense the Herrscher core inside her body, but the connection between herself and it had vanished.
"…It seems the doctors won't be getting any sleep tonight."
Seele, however, said: "There's still one puppet here—the Jerry whatever-his-name-was."
The puppet lying on the ground was already broken. Its remains wore a frozen, ferocious smile from before death—extremely unpleasant. She stepped on it in disgust.
"Take this corpse back and report it later. I'm leaving. The rest is up to you and her."
"0 requesting flowers"
"Wait!" Bronya called after her: "We haven't formally introduced ourselves to each other yet."
"Huh?"
Dark Seele said impatiently: "Introduction? Just ask Seele about that kind of thing. There's no way she wouldn't answer Big Sis Bronya's questions—Heh, actually I'd like to hear how she plans to introduce me."
Bronya gently shook her head: "No. Bronya would rather hear it from you. Bronya has always known that Seele had her own secrets. Ever since learning of your existence, many strange things from the past finally made sense."
"Looking back, even back in the orphanage, Seele would occasionally behave in ways that were completely unlike her—things like that couldn't escape Bronya's eyes."
Dark Seele asked: "Like what?"
Bronya recalled: "For example, Seele never picks at her food, but you only like the foods you enjoy. The ones you hate, you'd secretly dump into Anma's plate."
"Huh?" Dark Seele was stunned.
Bronya continued: "Seele prefers sweet flavors, but you like spicy. Several times, the tomato cans used for soup were swapped with chili cans—that's also the thing Anma hates the most."
"Also, Seele loves reading, but the moment you touch a book you get sleepy and end up drooling on the pages…"
Dark Seele hurriedly said: "W-Wait a second! What kind of stuff have you been memorizing in that head of yours?"
Bronya kept going: "These differences show in every gesture and movement. Your personalities and habits are completely different from Seele's—even the little ways you space out are poles apart."
"Rather, it would be strange if someone didn't notice such obvious differences."
Dark Seele sighed helplessly: "That idiot actually thought she hid it so well that no one knew."
Bronya said: "Since Seele wanted to keep this secret, others shouldn't expose it. But Bronya still wanted to meet you again, to learn more about you."
"Who exactly are you?"
Dark Seele calmed down and said: "I thought you were going to ask something else. As you can see, I'm a dangerous, cruel monster with no sympathy or empathy."
"I'm the other Seele, residing within her, the second her born from the Stigmata… That's the basic explanation. If you're asking about philosophical stuff, I can't really say what I am either."
"I'm different from her. I hate thinking about unnecessary things. I only enjoy the feeling of trampling others. Doesn't matter if they're enemy or friend—if they appear in front of me, they're my toy."
"So don't panic. Your Seele is still the same Seele. The bad stuff is all my doing—it has nothing to do with her."
Bronya said sincerely: "That isn't bad. It's your way of protecting her. Whether it was taking revenge on Anma, or the deal with the Sea of Quanta and the Serpent—your starting point has always been Seele. She dislikes fighting, so you fight in her place. You want to keep her away from danger."
Dark Seele said: "You're overthinking it. I'm nowhere near as kind as you make me sound. If she dies, I go down with her. That's why I protect her."
"I… am just following my own nature. It's not like the people around her are useless, always making her suffer so much that I have no choice but to help. You should reflect on that yourself."
Bronya thanked her earnestly: "Bronya will. Thank you for always staying by Seele's side."
This completely threw Dark Seele off.
She always felt these two sisters were exactly the same—completely unable to understand normal speech!
"I already told you—don't thank me!"
"To her, you are the most important person."
"When I'm in control of the body, Seele will sleep. Right now she's probably still in her dreams, worrying about you and calling your name."
"That idiot has a lot she wants to say to you, a lot of things she wants to do with you. But she always gets timid at the critical moment, swallowing her words right before they come out. It's really frustrating to watch."
"How about I just say it for her right now… nah, forget it. She'd definitely get mad. Saying it for her would be boring anyway. Better to wait until one day she tells you herself."
"In short, please keep taking care of her from now on."
Bronya nodded: "Bronya will."
Dark Seele asked: "Alright, can I go back now?"
Bronya hesitated and asked: "In the future… will Bronya be able to see you again?"
Dark Seele said curiously: "What's that supposed to mean? Suddenly can't bear to part with me?"
Bronya also felt a little embarrassed: "You rarely appear except during battles. Bronya hasn't had many chances to talk with you. Even if Bronya wants to understand you more, if Seele won't speak up, there's nothing to be done."
"But today, Bronya confirmed what was in her heart. Even though you keep saying deliberately annoying things and doing exaggerated actions to make others afraid of you and stay away… that isn't what you truly want deep down."
"You are the other side of Seele. Your essences are the same. Bronya feels relieved."
Dark Seele was stunned.
She sighed helplessly: "…Is there something wrong with my understanding of this world, or is that idiot's innocence contagious? Why is everyone around her like this?"
"Fine, fine, whatever you say. Who told you to be Seele's most beloved big sister, after all."