"Pretty much," Xia Yu replied casually.
But in reality, it was far from it. If you really counted, you were the second personality!
Probably counted, anyway, the relationship between Sirin and Kiana was simply an inseparable, tangled mess.
"Alright, be a good girl. Go walk around the rooftop and see if there are any suspicious personnel," Xia Yu sent her off to work. "I can't get away right now, I'm relying entirely on you, Kiana."
"Okay, okay, Sister Acheron, I got it," Kiana was not discouraged. She seemed to have noticed that this Mei appeared to be interested in her!
But my heart will never change!
Then she eagerly trotted off to patrol the rooftop.
The eyes of the Herrscher of Thunder were firmly glued to her.
"Jealous?" Xia Yu whispered in her ear. "You can only watch Mei possess all of this, while you have nothing?"
"That coward... what right does she have?" Hearing this, the Herrscher of Thunder whispered with grievance, "She's clearly so weak, what right does she have!"
"Yeah, sometimes I also think that Mei's personality is too soft," Xia Yu didn't refute her, but instead chimed in in agreement. "It would be great if she could learn a bit from you."
"However, perhaps all that strength and pride in her heart went into you."
"What does that mean?" The Herrscher of Thunder didn't understand.
"Do you know how you were born?" Xia Yu guided patiently.
"I... don't know," the latter shook her head. "I only remember staying ignorantly in a patch of darkness... until I came into contact with Honkai and saw her memories..."
"Remember what I said? You are also Mei," Xia Yu said softly. "The impact a Natural Stigma brings her is immeasurable. Even if the Gem of Conquest neutralized the erosion of Honkai Energy on her body, it doesn't mean it had no effect on her."
"A Stigmata is a miracle of the soul."
"And you were born within her Stigmata, naturally having an affinity for Honkai. So it is you who obtained this power and not her. You and she share one soul, one life; you are an existence even more intimate than biological sisters."
"Is... is that so?" the Herrscher of Thunder murmured upon hearing this.
And Mei within her body was also stunned upon hearing this.
She had originally thought this was a trial, a trial to test whether she could move past the past, and that this consciousness born from power was a test for her.
But the truth was actually like this. She... was also herself.
Another herself.
The self that had been ignorant and confused within her body for over a decade.
Finally, she stopped resisting and began to scrutinize this other self.
She was so proud, so powerful, and confident, yet in some ways pure like a child. Faced with bullying, she would choose to throw a punch rather than endure it like she did.
Perhaps... this kind of Mei... would be...
"Why did you stop!" Just then, the Herrscher of Thunder appeared in front of her.
"You are..." Mei looked at her with a complex expression. She was so dazzling, just like her past self.
Perhaps...
"I'm asking you why you aren't resisting!" The Herrscher of Thunder looked at her like this, an indescribable emotion surging in her heart. She angrily grabbed Mei's collar. "Why did you stop!"
"I..." Mei only lowered her head.
"Coward!" Seeing this, the Herrscher of Thunder didn't know what was wrong with herself. In the end, she only left behind this single sentence and disappeared.
Leaving Mei alone, feeling crestfallen.
"I'm guessing Mei—I mean the Mei watching inside your body right now—must be giving up on herself right now," just then, Aunt's voice rang out.
"Yes, that coward," hearing this, the Herrscher of Thunder glanced at the other consciousness that had a complex expression. "She stopped resisting!"
"Mei, I let you obtain this power not because I think you are not good enough and want to mold another you," Xia Yu hugged her and said softly. "This is an innate part of you; you will have to face her one day."
"In my eyes, you are both my nieces. There is no such thing as preferring one over the other, let alone having one permanently replace the other."
"Perhaps in the future, you will choose to become a single entity again, or perhaps you will feel that it's fine this way too, but those are all your choices."
"As for Mei, as your Aunt, I can only tell you that you might feel worthless in front of her, but absolutely do not belittle yourself. Some things can never be replaced. At the very least, I really like the Mei who would throw herself into my arms and cry and pour her heart out to me."
"And you," Xia Yu looked down at the Herrscher of Thunder. "You are also Mei, you are my niece, and I love you too."
"That coward..." Upon hearing this, the Herrscher of Thunder lowered her head, her voice somewhat choked up. "She gave up again. Au... Aunt, my heart feels very uncomfortable."
"I know, you are angry at her lack of fight, and you pity her misfortune," Xia Yu reached out and patted her head. "You still care about her."
"But you have to know, she is just an ordinary girl, without the powerful strength you possess. You can say no to the whole world, but she cannot."
"She cannot resist. Even if she tries her absolute best, she cannot defeat a single Titan. But you, you only need one look to turn an entire Titan army into scrap metal."
"She is only sixteen years old. Give her some time to grow. Even I didn't possess such powerful strength right from birth like you do."
"A Human needs time to gradually arm themselves with experiences and become strong."
"Mhm, Aunt," hearing this, the Herrscher of Thunder silently stopped her resistance. "I will listen to you..."
Xia Yu gently patted her small head.
"Continue," she rubbed her cheek against the Herrscher of Thunder's cheek. "Aunt helped you out so much, so what if I consume a bit of your energy? My Elden Ring has been hungry for a long time. It's not like this energy costs money anyway."
"Oh," hearing this, the Herrscher of Thunder obediently continued to extract Honkai Energy from Imaginary Space.
"Good girl," Xia Yu patted her head in satisfaction upon seeing this.
"Umm, Aunt," the Herrscher of Thunder hesitated for two seconds before speaking up. "Am I really..."
"Don't worry, you are Mei," Xia Yu said with absolute certainty. "Even if you go in front of Raiden Ryoma, if he dares to not recognize you, let him come find me!"
"No, I mean..." The Herrscher of Thunder didn't say any more, but instead glanced at Kiana, who was strolling around the edge of the rooftop in the distance.
"Oh, you'll have to go interact with her yourself for that," Xia Yu wore a face full of auntie-like smiles.
"I... I..." Looking at Aunt's strange smile, the Herrscher of Thunder felt uncomfortable all over. Finally, her face flushed red, and she outright gave up control of the body, directly pushing Mei out.
"Ah, this..." Mei looked at Xia Yu with a completely bewildered expression.
"Uh-huh," looking at the familiar person appearing in front of her again, Xia Yu gently pinched her cheek. "Mei, you were not being a good girl. You definitely thought about it, didn't you? Thinking that I was going to abandon you!"
"Aunt... I..." Hearing this, Mei lowered her head in shame.
"If you truly feel guilty toward me, then get along well with her," hearing this, Xia Yu smiled softly. "Take care of her like a younger sister, okay?"
"Although she possesses powerful strength, she was just born after all, and is still ignorant and confused. As her older sister, you have to take responsibility!"
Actually, that wasn't the case.
The Herrscher of Thunder already possessed a mature worldview. Honestly speaking, if Xia Yu weren't strong enough, today's scene would probably have developed to be quite similar to the original storyline before ending.
How could the strong-willed Queen willingly remain dormant?
But who asked her to be unable to defeat Xia Yu? She was locked down so tightly she couldn't move at all. Coupled with the bonus points from Mei's memories earlier, she, having been thoroughly saturated by Mei, was completely grasped by her weaknesses.
Although she called her a coward left and right and spoke full of disdain, she had never tried to hurt Mei's consciousness.
Mhm, this must be what being a tsundere is.
Xia Yu hugged Mei, enjoying the soft body of The Young Girl, thinking exactly this.
Meanwhile, outside ME Corp.
Siegfried, who had rushed over, saw the scene he least wanted to see.
His foolish daughter was holding a Baseball Bat, looking around at the edge of the rooftop.
He silently retreated.
The Herrscher of Thunder had already been born. If he went up there and caused the Second Herrscher to awaken... then Nagazora City would truly be finished.
But wasn't the Herrscher of Thunder right in ME Corp? Why was Kiana acting like a lackey, patrolling the rooftop?
Could it be that the situation inside her body had been seen through by the Herrscher of Thunder? So she used sweet words to bewitch her?
Siegfried couldn't figure it out.
But if he asked, Xia Yu would tell him that it had nothing to do with any sweet words; she simply lusted after Mei's body.
She was seduced by a beauty.
Siegfried was caught in a dilemma just like this. If he went over, things might get even worse. If he didn't go... it was impossible for him to feel at ease about Kiana.
In the end, he could only grit his teeth and inquire about the evacuation progress of Nagazora City once again.
As long as the surroundings were completely evacuated, he wouldn't have to hold back.
But the answer he received made his heart turn cold.
Ridiculous. Evacuation? What evacuation? There was no evacuation at all!
Who didn't know the work efficiency of the Far East Government... Expecting them to get things done?
It would be more reliable to count on the Valkyrie coming down from that Schicksal Warship in the sky to organize the evacuation!
Honestly speaking, it was mainly because Theresa had no drive, and Raiden Ryoma didn't have much ambition either. The two sides just did their own things in this small island country and hardly interfered with the Far East Government at all.
Which resulted in this last-minute scramble being somewhat...
And as for expecting Anti-Entropy... there was only Cocolia's Fleet nearby.
It was even more impossible to count on them.
However, he thought correctly. The reason why Hyperion in the sky was not taking action right now was because they were troubled by the exact same issue as Siegfried.
"Why hasn't the crowd been evacuated?" Himeko asked, extremely irritated. "This is a Great Honkai!"
"About this, sumimasen, we are trying our best..."
And then came a string of bureaucratic jargon, things like considering public sentiment, the difficulties of the citizens, and so on.
Hearing this, Himeko furiously hung up the phone. B*llshit, it was just that no one was willing to step up and take responsibility!
Finally, she glanced around and gritted her teeth, saying, "Have the Valkyrie below B-Rank on the ship stand by. Prepare to deploy and start evacuating the citizens from the perimeter!"
"Then, prepare the Nexus System. I'll go buy us some time!"
★ ★ ★
T/N: I'm noticing increasing mistakes on my translation lately, and no one seems to be pointing them out either, which is why I will be slowing down on releases to review the chapters more thoroughly. Thank you for your understanding.