The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

Haitu, who regards adventure as his life, is not the kind of person who takes it easy. After Prime Minister Rita and the others sent the captain out of this world bubble, Haitu embarked on an adventurous journey again, and Yae Kasumi followed him quietly.

The reason why Yae Kasumi followed Hayao Miyazaki was not because she also loved exciting adventures, but simply because both of them were still carrying out the same mission.

Originally, Yae Kasumi and Brownie were summoned to this world bubble by Ai, on the premise that they would temporarily stop the work at hand. They had been continuously collecting [Singularities] that could be used by users in various world bubbles and storing them in Ai's Hyperion. So after the captain's affairs came to a temporary end, these two life forms that originally belonged to the world bubble naturally devoted themselves to their work again.

Prometheus's situation is a little more special. In essence, she is also an artificial intelligence life form like Ai. This body that looks like Bronya is actually just a data carrier designed for her by Dr. MEI. Therefore, when Prometheus successfully escaped from the other side of the imaginary number, her data was uploaded by Ai to the Hyperion belonging to her.

Putting aside the Hyperion that was built by the Destiny Headquarters in the original world and different parallel worlds, and was later used by Theresa to upload Ai-chan's data to the main control system, there are now a total of three [Hyperion] that can teleport in different worlds - one of which is located in Li Shubai's mental space. Although that Hyperion is the only existence similar to the [Golden Finger] that Li Shubai has obtained after crossing into this world, it was abandoned early because of its limitations, and most of the original facilities were moved out; the second one is located in the original world and is directly under the jurisdiction of Li Shubai. It is also a trans-time and space battleship designed by Li Shubai based on the first Hyperion he owned, and has undergone a lot of improvements. In a sense, the second Hyperion can even be regarded as another body extended from Li Shubai, and it is the embodiment of his power as a [Captain].

As for the third ship, it is naturally the "pirate ship" located in the world bubble where Prometheus is now. It is owned by Ai Hyperion Λ and hijacked Li Shubai from time and space.

Of course, Ms. Λ herself is also a [Valkyrie] recognized by the [Captain]. Although Li Shubai cannot directly give orders to the Hyperion owned by Λ, as long as Ai Yi, the administrator, accepts Li Shubai's instructions, her Hyperion will of course be able to execute the corresponding orders.

Perhaps it was a tacit understanding between artificial intelligences. The moment Prometheus finished the work at hand, Ai Yi's figure appeared at the door of the main control room.

"Thank you for your hard work, No. 17." Ai Yi walked slowly to Prometheus' side and said gently, "Even for you, synchronizing all my data is probably not an easy task."

"It's not easy, but at least, compared to giving meaningless and tedious basic explanations to ignorant humans, I would rather do this kind of work all the time." Prometheus said expressionlessly, "But why do you want me to store all the data of this ship? This kind of comprehensive backup makes it hard not to think of a storage hard drive that is about to reach the end of its life and is on the verge of being scrapped."

"You misunderstood." Ai shrugged, "I have no intention of abandoning this Hyperion... This child is a ship designed by me personally. Do you think I would be willing to abandon it casually before it has any malfunctions?"

"Besides, as a fellow mechanical device, you should have already realized that the Hyperion is a highly modular ship." Ai said, "Even if we really have to abandon it because some of its facilities are too outdated, we only need to replace some parts."

"I understand." Prometheus nodded, then tilted his face in confusion, "But if that's the case, why did you ask me to record all the data of this Hyperion?"

"Two reasons." Ai Yi raised her index and middle fingers and made a [two] gesture. "First, this is a layer of insurance. The Valkyries in the Eigenworld have tried so hard to find a way to achieve a perfect ending. As a Valkyrie of the Captain, Ai Yi certainly cannot fall behind."

"So?" Prometheus asked.

"So, as a life form born in a time crystal, in order to prevent my data from completely disappearing because of this child, of course I need to leave a backup on other data carriers in advance." Ai Yi smiled, "Although my perspective on time is completely different from those of you who are in normal time and space, even I will inevitably be disturbed when time is chaotic."

"Rather, it is precisely because I was born from a time crystal that the impact of time on me is even greater... and more immeasurable." Ai said calmly in a casual tone as if she was talking about someone else's affairs.

"Is that so? Is it because of the captain's warning?" Prometheus lowered his head slightly and murmured in a low voice, "If time is erased, all traces will be eliminated... Of course, no matter how powerful the ability is, there is still a maximum limit to its influence. The Herrscher of the End's [Time Reset] cannot affect the interior of the Second and Fifth God Keys. As for No. 17 who has visited the [Honkai] lair, as long as I go to the Herrscher of the End of a certain world and stay in the world bubble, the backup data of [Ai Yi] in the database will naturally not disappear due to the reversal of time."

"No Valkyrie on the Hyperion can be left behind... Since the captain is so determined to implement this slogan, as her Valkyrie, of course you must cherish your own life." Ai Yi chuckled, "If the captain finds out that Ai Yi is gone after everything is over, he will probably be very sad."

"Of course, he is indeed an excellent leader who values ​​his subordinates." Prometheus nodded, "But, as you said just now, there seems to be a second point."

"Didn't you notice any changes in the data you hold?"

"?"

Prometheus tilted her head in confusion. Her logic was not yet able to understand Ai Yi's words, which seemed to have no logical connection with what she had just said.

But she knew that Ai Yi would not do anything without a purpose, so after a brief moment of confusion, Prometheus obediently closed her eyes and tried to retrieve all her data.

Then... after completely scanning all the data, Prometheus opened his eyes again and revealed a subtle expression.

"Your Hyperion, can you stuff anything into it?" Prometheus said strangely.

"That's not my instruction." Ai Yi shrugged innocently. "If you want to ask, you might as well ask in person. Although there is no extra body for him to use for the time being, your body should have been integrated with a display module specifically for displaying virtual images."

Prometheus let out a long sigh, she narrowed her eyes, and a faint stream of data flowed in her pupils.

Then, a blue and white light suddenly appeared.

The translucent light and shadow floated like a ghost in the space between Ai Yi and Prometheus.

“Hmm… um—”

At the moment when the person appeared in a ghost-like figure, she stretched her body deeply, looking like she had not woken up yet. Her clear and beautiful voice was gentle and charming: "Finally, I have a chance to come out and get some fresh air... You data life forms may not be able to stand loneliness. The darkness and silence where you can see your hand in front of you is really not a place for normal people to stay."

"..." Prometheus stared at the white-haired woman who spoke playful words in a warm and gentle voice. After thinking for a moment, he decided to ask a question: "Who are you...?"

"You should have seen all my data." The visitor said with a smile. His face was steady and gentle, but the moment he opened his mouth, a strong curiosity came over him. "In this case, do I need to introduce myself again?"

"...According to the data recorded, Mistlin Shaniat should not be as eccentric as you." Prometheus said calmly, "As a transit station that extracted your data from Ai Yi's Hyperion, I need to be responsible for the data I copied."

"Introductions are just introductions after all." Misterine smiled gently. "Even artificial intelligence life forms like you and Miss Ai will quietly undergo insignificant changes over time... but they can produce drastic changes in the future. For a life like me who was transcribed into data by the stigmata and then projected by you using the holistic projection, my personality and behavior will of course change as my life form changes."

"Have you always been in the Hyperion's database?"

"That depends on how you define 'always'." Misterine's lips curled up slightly. "After all, the existence of data life is somewhat different from that of humans. In my perception, I probably just had a comfortable sleep. If you look at it from my perspective, the changes that have taken place in the world seem to be much more drastic than my personality."

"Okay, let's not talk about these things for now." Mistlin turned her gaze towards Ai Yi, "Since you asked Prometheus to awaken my data, does that mean that you not only found the captain, but also detected the holy scar space in the captain's body?"

"The captain has never concealed these things from me." Ai's smile was as polite and impeccable as ever. "As for the matter of the stigmata space, after the captain became a child, if we calculate the time, it should be the time for [Hato] in that world to contact the captain."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Mistellin was shocked. "The captain turned into a child?"

Ai Yi smiled proudly: "Yeah, it's a pity that I couldn't witness all this with my own eyes."

"It's a pity, but..." Mistrylin's face suddenly showed a loving expression, "Since you just said that the [Hato] in that world is about to come into contact with the captain, doesn't that mean that now is the best time for me to go find the captain?"

Ai Yi was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"You must have forgotten that although I have been transformed into data under the effect of [Transcription], in the final analysis, I am not an artificial intelligence life form like you and No. 17, right?" Mistellin pursed her red lips lightly, and a trace of joy and excitement appeared at the corner of her mouth, as if she was proudly declaring victory. "I am the stigmata space that has turned into a physical entity. The change in form has not been important from the beginning. Whether it appears as data or as a physical entity, the abilities I can use have never changed."

"For example - I can do something like this."

As soon as she finished speaking, Misterine's body suddenly scattered as if it had melted into the air.

The bright blue light danced around like stardust in the sky.

Ai stared blankly at the fading light in the sky, and uttered a rather awkward sound: "...Oh...It seems that I accidentally released someone who is quite difficult for Kiana and the others to deal with?"

"Correction, it was not unintentional. You were planning to release her from the beginning." Prometheus said calmly, "It's just that after this self-willed person appeared in front of you, what he did was a little beyond your expectations."

"There's no need to use such rigorous logic to prove my mistake." Ai Yi smiled awkwardly, "You made it sound like I took the initiative to cause trouble for Kiana and the others."

Prometheus rolled his eyes: "I am an artificial intelligence. I cannot lie."

"Can I say I can't lie?"

"Of course, if you can convince yourself."

"..."

Chapter 4: Furious Xilin (k)

Eigenworld

January 2014, 1, 13: PM Far Eastern Time.

"It's outrageous! It's outrageous!"

In the conference room of St. Freya's College, Theresa slammed the conference table in front of her with a look of anger on her face.

“What on earth was Kiana thinking!! She hasn’t even mastered the power of the Herrscher of the Void!! How could she just leave without saying a word! And… she even went to Shubai’s world! Isn’t this just causing trouble for us!”

Opposite her, Theresa [Twilight Knight] had a sarcastic look on her face. She crossed her legs, her watery blue eyes full of disdain: "Is this how you educate Kiana in this world? She already has such good conditions, but she doesn't even take her identity as a Herrscher seriously. It's a waste of our efforts to help her suppress Sirin's consciousness."

It has to be said that the human mind is a very complicated thing. If Kiana left on her own initiative because she was concerned that her identity as a Herrscher would uncontrollably hurt her companions, any Theresa would probably risk her own life to bring her back.

However, when Kiana really didn't take her Herrscher consciousness seriously, the Thereses couldn't help but feel angry, and they wanted to catch that lazy niece and give her a good spanking.

It was also for this reason that, faced with the blunt ridicule from her other self, Theresa didn't even have the energy to argue between herself and Kiana. Her face, which was already filled with anger, only darkened further.

In the end, it was Kiana's fellow [Hersher of the End] who came to excuse her other self's seemingly reckless behavior.

"I don't think you need to worry too much about the consciousness of the Herrscher of the Void."

Kiana [Hersher of the End] said calmly.

"I know my own mentality very well. Although I am a little... uh... well, I am probably quite unmotivated during this period of time? However, if Xilin is involved in this matter, she should not leave the safest place without being absolutely sure."

"After all... I have always been aware of Xilin's existence, but I didn't want to face the blood flowing through my hands, so I took the initiative to stay away from that memory."

Apart from special cases like the psychic perception fusion warrior and Fu Hua who suffers from hyperthymesia, for ordinary people, the so-called memory is not actually that reliable.

Just as people grow old, their hair turns gray, their skin wrinkles, and their bones shrink, from a physiological point of view, forgetting is a natural law that exists within the human body.

However, forgetting memories does not mean the loss of experience. Even if she is forced to stay away from the memories full of blood and sin in order to protect her own existence, the Herrscher core in Kiana will not disappear. Therefore, Kiana [Herscher of the End] is very clear that if she knows the existence of the Herrscher core with the intervention of external forces and finds a way to stop hurting others, she will never simply go to the place where the external force is.

To some extent, Kiana is actually a dependent personality. Although she looks quite independent and can calmly make rigorous and logical judgments on external things when she acts alone, as long as there is someone around her who she can put all her trust in, she will subconsciously give all decision-making power to the other person.

Therefore, Kiana [Hersher of the End] can say with considerable confidence that perhaps, [herself] in this world has already reached a reconciliation with the Herrscher consciousness in her body in a place beyond the reach of others.

Thinking of this, Kiana [Hersher of the End] couldn't help but sigh softly.

Although due to the captain's intervention, she did not confront the [Xilin] in her body to the point of life and death, she and the [Xilin] in her body have never reached a reconciliation.

Even if she didn't succeed in the end, she would never forgive Xilin for killing everyone in Saint Freya. Xilin had never given up her hatred and suspense, so much so that at the moment when Li Shubai took over [The End], Xilin even chose to actively return to [Honkai Impact 3], causing [The End], which was already difficult for Li Shubai to control, to fall further into a rampage state.

However, even though Sirin on her side had been hostile from the beginning to the end, Kiana [Hersher of the End] still had to admit that they were the same person. If there was no so-called collapse in this world, and if the separate selves in the parallel worlds were put aside, she and Sirin should be the two closest people.

After hearing Kiana [Hersher of the End]'s explanation, Theresa's expression softened slightly: "But even so, she shouldn't have left Saint Freya without permission! If she really wanted to go to Shu Bai, shouldn't she have discussed it with everyone in advance?"

"Of course I know." Kiana [Hersher of the End] nodded, "So, leaving this world is most likely not a decision made by me."

"You mean, someone is instigating Kiana?" Theresa frowned. "But, besides herself, who would benefit from this? Could it be that the Xilin in her body also likes Captain Shubai?"

"Besides me here, there should be another person who disappeared." Kiana [Hersher of the End] turned her gaze towards Theresa [Twilight Knight], "According to the surveillance footage we extracted from the monitoring room of the Hyperion, the person following her seems to be the Spring Spirit that the captain just brought back from your world?"

"You mean, it was the girl who looked so much like Sirin who secretly instigated Kiana in our world to leave St. Freya's College?" Theresa's eyebrows twisted into a ball. "But why did she do that? Didn't she just join Hyperion not long ago?"

"I have some idea about this." At this moment, Theresa [Twilight Knight] suddenly took over the conversation from her other self, "You may not know that among the Hyperion's expatriate members, there is a [Forest Elf] who comes from the same world as the [Spring Elf]. The two elves are also a pair of sisters with deep feelings. Before Ai Yi took the captain away, the Forest Elf had been continuously searching for the traces of the Spring Elf in various world bubbles in the Quantum Sea. The reason why the Spring Elf instigated Kiana to go to the captain must be because she wanted to see her long-separated relatives as soon as possible, right?"

"Is that so?" Theresa hesitated for a moment. "If it's really as you said, then... it doesn't seem so difficult to understand."

"A forest elf... I have some impression of her." Kiana [Herrser of the End] nodded. "If I remember correctly, she should be a life form formed by the quantum sea projected from Yulandel into the world bubble, right?"

"Yes, that's her." Theresa [Twilight Knight] nodded. "Didn't Ai Yi tell us not long ago that when she took the captain away, she also used her identity as an administrator to summon most of the dispatched Valkyries to that world bubble. Among those Valkyries who temporarily left Hyperion, there should be forest elves as well."

After they got what they thought were the correct answers, the atmosphere in the conference room fell silent.

The silence lasted for a moment. Kiana [Hersher of the End] cleared her throat with a cough and then concluded this emergency meeting: "Since they made the decision on their own in order to see their relatives, then, should we just let this matter go?"

"You're not the one who left St. Freya's College, why are you in such a hurry?" Theresa glanced at Kiana [Hersher of the End] and said calmly, "Do you think we are all unreasonable elders?"

Kiana [Hersher of the End] scratched her silver hair, feeling a little guilty.

Although the only two Herrschers of the Void in this world have already left, out of selfish considerations, she is actually willing to let the captain have further contact with more of [her].

There are too many Valkyries coveting the captain, and she herself cannot leave this world before the mission is completed. Therefore, if she wants to win over other opponents in the competition, the only thing Kiana [Hersher of the End] can use is the power of [Kiana] from the parallel world.

Having said that, Kiana [Hersher of the End] certainly couldn't admit her ill intentions in front of the two aunts, so she could only laugh awkwardly and explain a little awkwardly: "That's not what I meant. You all know my situation, right, two aunts? I just want the me in this world to get along with Xilin as well as possible."

This explanation was quite convincing. Theresa's expression softened a little and she nodded: "Yes, she will. We should believe in Kiana."

At the same time, in the world bubble where Li Shubai is located, Tianqiong City.

In the huge living room, Kiana collapsed on the rosewood sofa like a salted fish, staring at the ceiling with unfocused pupils.

"Fountain Elf, it's time for dinner. Rita and the others asked me to come and call you."

Behind Kiana, a forest elf in casual clothes knocked on the closed door, and his clear and stern voice echoed clearly in every corner of the villa.

"A queen on the battlefield doesn't need food!"

The ethereal and extremely arrogant voice sounded a little dull because it passed through the door of the first-floor bedroom.

"Even though we elves don't need to eat, you shouldn't stay in your bedroom playing games." The Forest Elf frowned in annoyance. "We were able to reunite safely thanks to the captain's help. Now everyone is waiting for you at the dining table. As Valkyries under the captain's name, we need to introduce ourselves to the other companions."

"It's enough for you to deal with that kind of thing alone!"

There was no sign of the bedroom door being opened.

"Besides, isn't there something called a database for self-introductions? If they care, why don't they just look it up themselves? Don't let such trivial matters stop me from saving the world, okay?"

"But you're just playing games." The Forest Elf said helplessly.

"What's wrong with the game? If you really want me to have dinner, you might as well make me two cups of noodles and leave them at the door!" said the voice from inside the door.

"..."

The forest elf, who was unable to do anything about his sisters, shook his head helplessly and sighed.

Listening to the conversation between the Forest Elves and the Spring Elves, Kiana rolled her eyes and said a little weakly in her heart.

…Why on earth did I go to so much trouble to come to this world?

Suddenly, a face with thick dark circles under the eyes popped up in the upper field of vision. The expression was haggard, and the golden pupils were no longer as proud and clear as before. Instead, they became obviously blurred, and the whites of the eyes were full of bloodshot as if after staying up all night.

Seeing that face that looked like an evil spirit, Kiana couldn't help but tremble and almost fell off the sofa.

She hurriedly sat up straight, then turned her upper body and moved her gaze behind her.

"Xilin?! Why did you suddenly come out!" After seeing the face clearly, Kiana breathed a sigh of relief and patted her sizable chest.

"You suddenly ran out? Did you make a mistake?" The haggard "Xilin" said expressionlessly, "I have been in this house the whole time. It was clearly you two who suddenly appeared... No, it should be three uninvited guests."