I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

As her voice rang out, numerous supple "ribbons" in the room rushed towards Saria like sharp blades.

"Bang!"

After using her sturdy shield to block all the attacks coming at her, Saria retorted loudly, "You should look down at your feet!"

"If scientific exploration ignores human suffering and dignity, you will eventually fall on this earth and never see the day you pursue!"

"Om - hum -"

Despite Saria's rebuttal, Christen remained unmoved, coldly continuing to operate the office's defense system with her left hand.

With her control, all the "ribbons" in the office were unleashed, slicing through the air and hurtling towards Saria, who was holding the shield.

Just as Saria's expression turned serious as she raised her shield to prepare to defend herself, Kristen's resolute voice rang out.

"In order to explore the unknown answers of mankind, I have long been prepared to sacrifice everything."

"boom--!!!"

P.S.: Ah, I really love seeing pretty girls fight, in every sense of the word. There'll be another chapter later, I'll try to write quickly, it's been a long time since I went to bed early, I even forgot to log into the railway yesterday.

Chapter 146 Saria's Departure

"boom--!!!"

The moment countless "ribbons" struck Saria's shield, a tremendous sound erupted, and the violent impact also stirred up clouds of dust in the office.

A moment later, the dust and mist gradually dissipated, and the shield and Saria's figure reappeared, her deep voice coming from behind the shield.

“I know you were prepared all along…”

"That's why I've always protected you, protected the path you chose. Later, you took advantage of that protection, turning it into cover-up and protection..."

At this point, Saria raised her head, looked over the shield, and stared directly into the eyes of the person before her. Her voice rose, and she angrily rebuked, "You've gone too far astray!"

"What you are doing now is harming this land and the people we are supposed to protect and save!!"

"Click——"

"Swish, swish, swish—"

Saria's rebuke was met with "ribbons" that rapidly swirled and gathered in the air, weaving into a large net, and Christen's unwavering words.

"What harms people is hunger, war, and oripathy, and the endlessness of life. My path will bring that end as soon as possible!"

With a rustling sound, numerous calcium deposits rapidly emerged and coalesced into a cone shape in front of Saria. Then, she unleashed a powerful punch from her calcified arm and fist, blasting it towards the large net in the air.

At the same time, she loudly refuted Christensen's previous words.

"The path forward isn't limited to 'any means necessary,' and we could have avoided sacrifice!!!"

"哐——!!!"

With a deafening roar, the large net formed by the "ribbons" in the air was instantly destroyed, and even the ceiling behind it was blasted open by the punch, revealing the blue sky outside.

Christen looked up through the large hole in the ceiling at the vast sky outside, then slowly withdrew her somewhat gloomy gaze, focusing on Saria charging towards her. She slowly raised her hands and said:

"The cost of hesitating and taking detours is far more expensive."

As she raised her hands, two devices quickly popped out from the previously empty spaces on either side of her.

“Saria, perhaps your hardened calcification gives you the luxury of being conservative, but I don’t.”

Seeing Saria and her fist so close, Kristen suddenly clenched her left hand, which was equipped with the control device. In an instant, the devices on both sides of her body emitted a loud buzzing sound.

"!!"

The next instant, Saria was shocked to find that the calcium attached to her right arm and fist was rapidly falling off and turning into dust.

However, by the time they realized it, it was too late; the fist had already been thrown...

"Boom——!!!"

With a loud thud, Saria's right fist, no longer covered in calcium, slammed hard into the transparent wall in front of Christensen, splattering blood everywhere.

Kristen, inside the transparent wall, seemed to have anticipated this scene, her expression remaining unchanged.

"..."

Instead, Saria, who didn't pull her fist back and let the bright red blood slowly slide down the "wall," lowered her head and remained silent for a moment before saying incredulously in a soft voice, "...You applied synchronous resonance technology to [Bore]?"

"You said the purpose of developing the synchronous resonance device is to study the structure of ore..."

“It is indeed used to study the structure of minerals,” Christen said calmly, gazing at Saria before her.

"It just so happens that it can destroy my Originium Arts creations?"

As she said this, Saria's tone remained relatively calm, but a hint of disappointment quietly surfaced in her heart.

"You taught me to be cautious in everything I do."

"哐——!"

Kristen's last words made Saria's eyes darken, and completely ignited the emotions in her heart. She released her right hand, letting the shield fall with a loud bang.

Then, she raised her fist and swung it at the transparent wall in front of her...

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

Seeing Saria's fists, now a bloody mess after being struck several times, Christensen, with a serious expression and calm tone, "commanded," "Saria, stop."

However, Saria, determined to stick to her decision, showed no sign of stopping and continued to grit her teeth and pound the transparent wall with one punch after another.

"Sareya, stop!"

Seeing the blood blooming in front of her, the usually calm Christensen finally panicked. She raised her voice and shouted at the person in front of her, trying to stop her from self-harming.

However, Saria quickly responded to her words with her actions. With another loud "bang!", the originally solid transparent wall was instantly blasted open with spiderweb-like cracks.

Seeing this scene before her, Christensen's pupils shrank slightly, and her expression changed from panic to shock and she stood there dumbfounded.

However, Saria didn't give Christen time to react, and immediately followed up with another punch.

"boom--!!!"

A deafening crack rang out, and the transparent, solid wall shattered instantly, like glass, as Saria's fist smashed it, sending fragments flying everywhere.

Then, he withdrew his fist again and threw another punch... but this time the target was no longer the wall, but Christensen's delicate face.

Her clean, powerful punch created a gust of wind that ruffled her brilliant blonde hair.

However, Saria ultimately showed mercy...

Apart from a drop of blood that splattered across Christensen's face due to inertia, the dripping fist did not land on her face, but stopped just in front of her nose.

"As expected of you, Saria."

"..."

"Click——"

Upon hearing this, Saria did not respond. She simply withdrew her fist, stood up straight, turned around, picked up her shield from the ground, and left without looking back.

"where are you going?"

Watching Saria's departing figure without any hesitation, Kristen felt a pang of panic and quickly asked.

"I'm leaving Rhine Life."

Upon hearing this, Saria answered without turning her head.

Saria's answer confirmed Christensen's panic, causing her pupils to shrink and her face to turn somewhat pale as she said, "No, you can't."

"I can't let you destroy Rhine Life, I can't let you destroy yourself." Kristen's words did not move Saria in the slightest; her back remained as resolute as ever.

"Then stop me here."

“I can’t change you here, Christensen. I will do things my own way and get everything back on track.”

"..."

Christensen remained silent for a moment, and just as Saria was about to leave the office, she threw out her last bargaining chip, saying, "I can find and revive that test subject regardless of the cost."

"No need."

“I will find Ifrit, and I will not allow you to touch a single hair on her head.”

P.S.: I have a small question. A year and a half before the start of the game's story, where is Rhodes Island's main ship now?

Chapter 147 Treatment and Connecting Clues

The commotion in the headquarters office was quite loud, and many people witnessed Saria, with blood streaming from her fists, carrying a shield as she exited the elevator. In no time, various rumors began to circulate among the employees of Rhine Labs.

However, no matter what's going on inside Rhine Lab, Mebius can't hear it now.

She had already left the office building and gone to a place she had prepared in advance before Saria and Chris got into a conflict.

Möbius's Secret Laboratory

'Are you ready, Miss Shining Knight?'

Having completed all the pre-operative preparations, Mebius smiled as he mentally connected Bianca with him.

'Everyone says not to use this title... Fine, I'm ready, summon me now.'

The moment he heard Bianca's reply, Möbius didn't hesitate and quickly summoned her over.

"Long time no see~"

"Alright, stop playing around. Let's finish the treatment quickly so I can go home soon."

Bianca, who had been summoned, didn't even glance at Mebius and walked straight toward the experimental bed where Ifrit was lying.

"Tsk, this is getting more and more boring~"

Seeing that Bianca was beyond amusing, Mebius shrugged in disbelief, then abandoned his playful intentions and walked over as well.

"Everything is ready. Let's begin. It's time to complete the mission and bring that guy over. After all, the benefits and conditions have already been promised."

"Ah."

Upon hearing this, Bianca nodded slightly, then took out the Black Abyss White Flower from her spatial storage...

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