A beautiful girl who transmigrates into a Herrscher of the Void is treated like an elf and conquered

She could neither readily accept Chinatsu's invitation to trample on the world that Shido was protecting, nor could she resolutely reject this tempting "solution" from her "kindred spirits."

Her lips trembled slightly as she looked at Chika's outstretched hand, then at Shido on the ground. Finally, she closed her eyes in anguish, and glistening tears slid down her cheeks.

She slowly, very slowly, shook her head.

"……Do not."

Her voice was soft, tinged with heavy sobs, yet strangely resolute.

"I...can't go with you."

She opened her teary eyes and looked at Qianxia, ​​her gaze filled with apology and an overwhelming sadness.

“This…is Shido’s world. He loves this world so much…I…I can’t destroy it.”

She choked back tears, as if she had used up all her strength, "Even if...this world doesn't want me...I...can't become the kind of person he hates..."

She chose to believe in Shido, and in the beautiful possibilities that the boy had described to her about the world.

Even though that beauty is something she can no longer touch.

This rejection, born of kindness and pure trust, was like a blunt knife cutting into the script that Chika had planned.

Instead of becoming the first member of her "anti-entropy" mission as she had expected, Tohka, in an almost martyr-like manner, held fast to the last bit of tenderness towards Shido and the world.

This unexpected reaction caused a barely perceptible pause in Chika's meticulously crafted, cold and resolute performance.

Chapter 157 After Relief, Before the Abyss

Inside the bridge of the Fraxinus, the air seemed to freeze.

On the main screen of the bridge, everything that was happening on the platform was being clearly displayed.

[The Judgement] His performance was worthy of an Oscar – from the unbelievable stiffness to the staggering approach, from the trembling and retreating fingertips to the intense and painful breathing, and finally to the empty and lifeless eyes and the cold and resolute "verdict".

...Every frame is filled with extreme dramatic tension and emotional impact, enough to move any onlooker and make them believe that she is enduring heart-wrenching pain and disillusionment.

"Waaah...it's so sad..." Some of the more sentimental crew members couldn't help but wipe their eyes, completely infected by this "despair".

"Shut up! This is not the time to be sentimental!" Kotori shouted sharply, but her gaze was also fixed on the screen, her brows furrowed.

Chika's reaction was logically understandable, even more intense than they had expected, and... it fit the classic template of "love turning into hate" or "the collapse of faith due to the death of an important person".

This should have been the "worst-case scenario" that was expected.

When those golden eyes completely lost their luster, and a voice so cold it was almost icy spoke, "Is this... the final answer... that you humans have given?", everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

“Spiritual energy reading… The spiritual energy reading of the [Divine Judgment] Herrscher is rising rapidly! It’s not aggressive, it’s… it’s some kind of deeper transformation, a shift towards the nature of ‘End’!” The monitor’s voice trembled with fear.

However, amidst this atmosphere of grief and panic, a crew member responsible for monitoring the elves' physiological indicators uttered an incredulous, trembling cry of alarm:

"Commander... Commander! This... This is impossible!"

"What is it now?!" Kotori turned her head irritably.

"It's...it's about the real-time physiological data of the [Heavenly Judgment] Herrscher!"

The crew member pointed to a row of almost flat curves on his screen, his voice filled with confusion and horror.

"The spiritual energy fluctuations are indeed escalating dramatically, consistent with her displayed anger and impending berserk state! But... but her 'mood value'... the core emotional fluctuation indicator..."

He abruptly raised his head, his face drained of all color:

“Absolutely no change! It’s remained at an almost absolute baseline! No drop, no dramatic fluctuations! It’s as if… as if all the ‘sadness,’ ‘pain,’ and ‘despair’ she’s displaying right now… is…”

He didn't finish the word, but everyone understood what he meant.

—It's all fake.

The bridge fell into a deathly silence.

Mood is an indicator that reflects the true emotional state of a Pokémon, derived by Fraxinus through sophisticated instrument analysis of various data, including the Pokémon's micro-expressions, emotional factors in its spiritual energy ripples, and subtle changes in its vital signs.

Typically, intense emotional changes, especially anger, sadness, and despair, can cause mood swings as drastically as a rollercoaster.

However, the mood curve for Chika that is currently displayed on the screen is as calm as a stagnant pool.

This contrasts sharply with the immense grief and overwhelming anger she displays at this moment, which is enough to infect everyone around her!

"Is the instrument malfunctioning?!" Kotori asked sharply.

“We’ve calibrated it three times already! Other monitoring targets, like Tohka’s mood values, fluctuate wildly, perfectly matching her berserk state! Only [Heavenly Judgment]… her data is so stable… it’s like…” The analyst swallowed hard.

"It's as if her heart is completely unmoved!"

"How is this possible?!" Shen Wuyue also came over, looking at the flat curve with an incredulous expression.

"Her expression just now... her eyes... her almost suffocating posture... how could she be completely calm?! Could it be that her emotions were too high, exceeding the detection limit of our machine, causing the data to plateau?"

Kotori nearly dropped the jewel in her mouth. She grabbed the data panel on the control panel next to her and stared intently at the ridiculously stable curve that represented Chinatsu's mood.

It was like a cold, straight line, running through the entire process of Shido being shot, Tohka going berserk, Chinatsu's appearance, and that "collapse performance" that was enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes.

There was no fluctuation. Absolutely no disturbance.

It's as if the elf on the screen, who appears to be in unbearable pain and whose faith is crumbling, actually has a calm, perhaps even mocking, icy plain in his heart.

Lingyin pushed up her glasses, her gaze behind the lenses sharp as a knife, her voice low and solemn.

"This means that she felt no real sadness or shock at Shido's 'death'. Either she already knew that Shido would not die, or... Shido's life and death never really touched her heart."

Her voice carried a cold, chilling conclusion:

"This can only mean one thing—all the 'collapse,' 'despair,' and 'anger' she outwardly displayed... are very likely..."

"...It was all a disguise."

A deathly silence fell over the bridge.

Everyone was stunned by this conclusion.

If this is true, then the [Heavenly Judgment] Herrscher's current state of "grief and indignation" and "ultimate disillusionment" is enough to fool Tohka, AST, and even almost fool them.

...It turned out to be just a brilliant performance, devoid of any emotional investment?

Why did she do this? What was the purpose of putting on such a show at a time like this?

A profound sense of bewilderment and a deeper chill replaced the previous despair, engulfing the entire Fraxinus bridge like an icy tide.

They discovered that this elf, codenamed "Celestial Judgment," was far more complex and unfathomable than they had imagined.

She's like a mystery wearing countless masks; every time you think you've seen through her, she reveals an even more perplexing side the next moment.

Kannazuki also dropped her nonchalant expression, her face turning serious:

"Whichever possibility it is, it is extremely terrifying. If she knows that Shido will not die, then all her performances at this moment are for some deeper purpose. She is using Shido's 'death' to manipulate Tohka, and even us, into her grasp."

"If she doesn't care at all... then all her previous displays of concern and tsundere attitude towards Shido might have been part of a much larger deception."

Kotori felt a chill run from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

As Kotori watched the screen, a chill ran down her spine when Chinatsu spoke in a cold tone, a mixture of sorrow and mockery, "Is this... the final answer... that you humans have given?" and then said lightly yet with immense weight, "I understand."

(If Reine's speculation is correct... if her current 'despair' is an act... then what is her true purpose? Is it just to recruit Tohka? Or... is there a much larger plan?)

All their previous analyses, whether it was "tsundere", "having feelings", "being concerned because of her brother", or "her beliefs collapsing because of Shido's 'death'", were based on the premise that he was "tsundere".

...In the face of this steady mood curve, everything seems so ridiculous and wishful thinking.

This spirit was more profound and unfathomable than they had imagined.

She is like a master actor, passionately performing joys and sorrows on stage, while calmly calculating every move in her mind.

"So...so, all that behavior she was just now was an act?" a crew member asked in a trembling voice.

"I'm afraid... yes." Kotori's voice was dry.

"She wasn't venting her pain; she was... executing a plan. A plan that we couldn't possibly understand."

The immense pressure escalated once again, but this time it wasn't the fear of the sprite's rampage, but rather a deep apprehension about this opponent hidden beneath layers of performance, whose motives remained a mystery.

They watched the screen as Chika maintained her cold and resolute demeanor, extending her hand to Tohka, awaiting a response.

But at this moment, in the eyes of Fraxinus and the others, her perfect performance of "despair" had been shrouded in a chillingly false veil.

They didn't know what she was planning to do. This unknown was more terrifying than the known destruction.

On the main screen, Chika's expression, a mixture of sorrow, mockery, and final resolve, was magnified—a state more unsettling than mere anger.

When she reached out to Tohka and said, "This world doesn't deserve us," Kotori even clenched her fists unconsciously, her nails almost digging into her palms.

(Is the worst possible scenario really about to unfold? Two elves team up, utterly disillusioned with humanity...)

However, Tohka's next reaction made everyone's heart skip a beat.

They saw Tohka's expression as she struggled violently, saw her close her eyes in pain, tears streaming down her face, and then... she actually shook her head!

"……Do not."

"I...can't go with you."

"This...is Shido's world...I cannot destroy it..."

Tohka's tearful yet resolute refusal was clearly transmitted back to the bridge.

In an instant, the deathly silence of the bridge was broken by a gasp of relief, as if someone had survived a catastrophe.

"Rejected...rejected?!"

"The princess... declined the invitation from [Heavenly Judgment]!"

"Great! We've avoided the worst-case scenario!"

They saw a barely perceptible hint of surprise flash across Chika's cold, golden eyes after Tohka's rejection, but it vanished in an instant.

Her expression remained unchanged, still that empty look of someone who had lost all hope.

This completely illogical emotional stability, combined with his boiling spiritual energy and lifelike performance, constitutes a huge and unsettling mystery.

The crew members wore expressions of unbelievable relief. After witnessing Chinatsu's almost "darkened" state, Tohka's refusal was undoubtedly a lifeline, temporarily averting the apocalyptic scenario of two high-risk spirits simultaneously turning against humanity.

However, this sense of relief lasted only a very short time.

On the command platform, Kotori, Reine, and Kannazuki's expressions did not relax at all; on the contrary, they became even more solemn.

"Idiot...! It's too early to relax!" Kotori gritted her teeth and cursed in a low voice, her eyes fixed on the screen, on Chinatsu, who was momentarily stunned by Tohka's rejection.

Murasame Reine pushed up her glasses, her voice low and serious: "Tohka's refusal, while temporarily preventing an alliance, may... have triggered deeper problems." She pointed to Chinatsu's spiritual energy fluctuation diagram on the screen.

"Her spiritual energy is becoming more unstable, more...isolated. Losing Tohka as a potential 'companion' means that her attempt to build 'anti-entropy' has been rejected from within the spirits themselves at the very first step."

Kannazuki abandoned her nonchalant expression and began to analyze the situation seriously, which was quite unusual for her:

"This means that [Celestial Judgment] may think that even her own kind cannot understand her path. She will become a 'lone wolf' in the end. A 'lone wolf' who is unrestrained, without any ties, and filled with disappointment in humans and even some elves."

"...its unpredictability and destructiveness are probably more dangerous than an organized 'anti-entropy'."

Kotori sat back heavily in her chair, crunching the jewel in her mouth.

"Ugh...this is so troublesome. That idiot Tohka, of all times, she has to be so 'kind' at a time like this!" She rubbed her temples.

"Now we might not be facing an elven leader trying to build up power, but rather a... walking calamity who is completely disillusioned and believes the whole world is against him."

Her gaze swept over Shido, who was still lying on the ground on the screen, then looked at Chinatsu, who was standing alone and whose aura was becoming increasingly cold and eerie, and finally landed on Tohka, who looked even more helpless and sad because of her rejection.

"As expected... the worst-case scenario is still..." Kotori murmured to herself, her fingers turning slightly white from the force she was applying.

She could already foresee the terrible disaster that a heartless elf with dual powers would bring to the world.

Instead of becoming clearer, the situation slid into an even more complex and unsettling abyss because of Tohka's kind choice.

Fraxinus's prized elven emotion monitoring system appeared utterly powerless in the face of [Judgment].

They couldn't understand her, couldn't predict her, and could only watch helplessly as she hovered on the edge of losing control, like a pre-programmed terminal teetering on the brink of disaster. They didn't even know where her real "switch" was.

"All personnel, highest alert! Target priority changed! Reassess all behavioral patterns of the [Heavenly Judgement] Herrscher! I need to know what every single, even the smallest, action she takes next means!"

Kotori's voice carried unprecedented pressure, "Also... how long is Shido going to pretend to be dead on the ground?! Tell him to get up and clean up this mess!"

Fraxinus's heart, which had just been at ease, was once again raised to an even higher position.

They realized that the real storm might only be beginning to brew.

What will a [Divine Judgment] Herald, whose ideology has collapsed and who has fallen into absolute isolation, do next?

Is that so?