The World's Ego

Side: A Small Corner to Talk

<Confirmed. Breaching... Successful.>

The sound of shattering glass reaches your ears again and from out of nowhere, Elysia is there waving to you.

"Oh! We are back here again! It has been a long while!"

Unexpectedly, she had brought two guests with her. Feiyun's curious crimson eyes and Iris's sharp red eyes looked at 'you'.

"Hey, where are we? This feels like a space of 'sentience', but it doesn't feel like one either. Are you sure this is safe?" Feiyun questioned Elysia with a small huff

"I cannot get a proper analysis result, but this is a dimension called 'The Fourth Wall', apparently. Have we... hacked into something?" Iris asked with slight hesitation

Elysia waved off their concerns, "Oh, it's not the first time this happened, so don't worry! Come and introduce yourselves!"

Feiyun scratched her head before shrugging, "My name's Feiyun."

"I am Iris."

<Report. By my calculations, we have ten minutes before this space closes again.>

"I think we have more than enough time. About ten minutes before this space closes." Elysia relays the words from Raphael to her two companions, motioning to you, "These little ones have been watching us for a long time, so I believe they may have some questions... Oh! Look at all those comments!"

There was some grumbling from Feiyun as she sees some words beside her, "What's up with this? What's with the 'Yattas' I'm seeing? Is that supposed to mean something?"

"You don't remember? You love to say that after you hit something and become satisfied with the results." Iris replied nonchalantly while reading the words that appeared beside her, "... Me and Demon Lord Dino? I find that highly impossible."

"I heard you got into a fight with him the first day he started working." Feiyun scoffed

Iris averts eye contact, "... He deserved it."

"Iris, he is still a Demon Lord, so try not to antagonize him, okay?" Elysia chides her mildly while she shrugged lightly

"Changing the topic a little, this author person... is that person here?" Iris asks, successfully changing the topic, "Since we only have ten minutes, we should make use of the time wisely."

<Answer. The individual 'Author' is currently in a confused state after the recent event called 'lore drop'. Unable to find it in any data.>

(A/N: Chapter 39 is a rollercoaster of lore bombs, and just gave me a bunch of shocks at once, so-)

"The heck was that? I swore I saw something." Feiyun mumbled with a troubled look on her face

"Ah, that was Author-san! I think they just went back to writing again." Elysia noted with a small grin, "Well, we should leave them be and continue with this short section! We are running on a time constraint, after all. Let's see..."

Elysia shuffled through the bunch of data around them with Iris's help. Feiyun, on the other hand, was still reading whatever was shown to her.

"Huh? Why are some of these words blurred out?"

Elysia and Iris walked to Feiyun's side to investigate the issue, seeing the same blurred words she was seeing. Elysia took a quick glance at 'you', but even you don't know what was the issue.

<Answer. It seems that the individual 'Author' has used their authority to prevent any potential 'spoilers' from being shown.>

"Oh... It's Author-san's authority in this space. I think it's best to not try prying too much into it, Feiyun." Elysia suggested as Feiyun clicked her tongue but nodded

Iris looked over to 'you' as 'you' held out a paper to her. She takes it to read.

"A question from an individual called 'shoothingstar132'... How is everyone... Lady Mother and the Flame-chasers doing... they asked." Iris read aloud as Elysia and Feiyun peered over her shoulder, "... This part's blurred out too."

"Is it spoilers again, I wonder..." Elysia muttered under her breath before turning to 'you', "Then I'll just answer the question! We are all doing great!"

Two pairs of eyes stared incredulously at her, ""How?""

Elysia then recalled the incident back at Lubelius and flinched, "Uh... I am in peak health, and everyone else is getting along back in Tempest! See? We are all doing well!"

"I seriously doubt that she knows what it means to be 'doing well'..." Feiyun complained under her breath

"Agreed."

"I can still hear the two of you! Don't be so mean!" Elysia whined with a small pout

Since time was quickly running out, 'you' decided to ask another question before the space would close.

'How close is every Herrscher to the Imaginary Tree?'

"Imaginary Tree?"

"Feiyun wouldn't understand, but if you are talking about that, then the connection to it is rather faint. After all, the Authority of Origin has always been a one-in-a-million chance to be born into the world. We are simply lucky that Lady Mother could be born twice, once in the other world and once more in this world." Iris explained as simply as possible

"And by luck, a brand new Honkai energy was born under this Authority..." Feiyun hummed in thought, "... This world didn't seem to have any in the first place."

'Will this cause any major changes?'

Elysia gave it a thought, "Bubble universes exist, after all. If this world attracts the attention of another world... Well, that is highly unlikely to me!"

"Why do you say that?" Iris asks

"Hm... I don't know, but I just think that even if something does decide to come then we can all just kick them out of this world! I love it too, after all!" 

Feiyun sighed exasperatedly, "That sounds like you to say that, but I think so too! I'll just beat all my enemies up!"

Stuck between these two optimists, Iris couldn't help but sigh before nodding along, "I guess so. We are still far from the ultimate power, after all."

"Are you talking about Ultimate Skills?" Elysia asked in curiosity

"Of course."

"Ultimate power, huh? I like the sound of that." Feiyun grinned in slight anticipation

"As long as we keep the balance... I hope." Elysia chuckled

Suddenly, the space around everyone started to darken, signaling the closing of the space once again.

"We have to leave now." Elysia noted, turning back to 'you', "Thank you for being here again! Maybe we can meet again someday, but until then, take care of yourselves, okay?"

Iris gave 'you' a small bow and Feiyun just gives you a backhand wave as the space completely went dark.

.

.

.

.

In a certain shared house, Su hummed in thought as he observes the Seed of Sumeru in his hand displaying a few words.

'How are the Flame-chasers in the Empire doing?'

"What a weird question. Is it another bubble universe? No, it doesn't feel that way..." Su sighed, being the only occupant in the house currently as the other two were busy with something, "... How are we doing, huh? I don't know if this is a prank or something, but if I have to choose an answer..."

He takes a few minutes to contemplate an answer before completely erasing the words.

"I suppose you could say that we are still 'doing well', but for how long... Haha. What am I saying? If it's the three of us, then there should be no problems. After all, we are all moths that chase the flame."