In The Honkai World: Transforming Into An IF-Route Valkyrie

"You've grown even taller than me." After hugging for quite a while, Mobius finally patted Griseo's back. "You really look more and more like your mother."

Mobius's eyes held both nostalgia and regret. Although the time they spent together wasn't considered long, Blanca was indeed one of her capable assistants.

And after the disaster... after Blanca's death, Mobius wholeheartedly treated the child she left behind as her own. And no mother of a child would ever be dissatisfied with their child's growth. It was just that she had never witnessed this process, leaving her feeling somewhat regretful.

"But did you come in alone?" Mobius looked toward the gate of light. "Where is Kevin? Where the hell did he go?"

"Uncle Kevin didn't come in," Griseo shook her head.

She sensed that everyone's attitude seemed a bit off, but she still didn't understand why.

"Hmph, it seems he just doesn't dare to come in." Kalpas also quietly appeared at this moment. His temper was still fiery, but in front of Griseo, he seemed to have restrained his rough language a little.

"I imagine he also has many things to do." Eden raised her wine glass. "Who knows which Herrscher has appeared outside by now. He must be under a lot of pressure right now."

Since the person had been rescued, their focus should shift back to their original purpose.

Although Eden also suspected that Kevin simply didn't dare to come in and that was why he hadn't come over, the current situation was indeed not very suitable. Irene, as the Herrscher of Death, proved that at least five Herrschers had already been born in the outside world. And during this period, heaven knows how many more Herrschers would be born. The distance to that time was getting closer and closer.

"Hmph!" Kalpas crossed his arms and didn't say any more harsh words.

In truth, they also knew they couldn't blame Kevin for this. It was possible that when Griseo had her accident, Kevin hadn't even entered the Sea of Quanta yet. Moreover, even if Kevin had been in the Sea of Quanta at that time, given the circumstances of the Sea of Quanta, how could Kevin have known that it was Griseo who had the accident?

It could only be said that their anger towards Kevin was just a momentary flare-up, but it wouldn't last long. In this matter, Kevin at most bore the responsibility of negligence, but absolutely not the fault of incompetence.

"Alright, alright, let's not pick on Kevin," Elysia waved her hand. "The important thing right now is that Griseo is back. Let's not talk about those unhappy things."

"Speaking of which, Little Griseo should be considered an adult now. Do you want to try something that only adults can do?"

Elysia took Griseo's hand and pulled her over to Eden's side. Eden looked at Elysia with some helplessness, but she still took out a bottle of wine from below.

"This is one of the rare fruit wines I have here. The alcohol content isn't high, so perhaps you can try this first."

Although Eden's collection was extensive, she indeed didn't have many low-alcohol wines. Fortunately, if she wanted to find one, she still could.

"You rascal, are you trying to corrupt a child right off the bat?" Mobius glared at Elysia. "Offering someone a drink right away."

"Then Mobius, come join us too~" Elysia immediately darted to Mobius's side, scooped her up, and ignoring Mobius's resistance, carried her over to the sofa.

"Let me go!" Mobius struggled for a moment, but she simply had no way to break free from Elysia's embrace.

Seeing this familiar scene of horseplay play out before her, Griseo couldn't help but smile, but then she returned to her serious expression and looked at everyone.

"Um, I have a question I want to ask."

"Of course you can ask." Elysia nodded, a bright smile on her face. "As long as it's something the beautiful Miss Elf knows, I will definitely tell Griseo."

"Who is Miss Irene?"

At these words, Mobius raised an eyebrow. "What's this, Griseo? You also know Irene?"

"I met her when Uncle Kevin was taking me out of the Sea of Quanta." Griseo recounted the circumstances of her meeting with Irene in full detail.

"She seems to be both the Herrscher of Death and the Herrscher of Wind." Griseo's little head was full of confusion. "She can also transform into Sister Pardo's appearance, and not only that, she even possesses Uncle Su's imprint."

"Her, huh. She's probably a person from some Bubble Universe that's quite similar to ours," Mobius gently played with her hair. "The same goes for a certain little cat, coming from a world similar to ours but altered in some details. However, I suspect she must have some other identity as well."

Although Irene had stated that she was from a parallel world—similar yet different—this couldn't fully explain her source of intelligence. Take Griseo, for example. Even if she was from a similar world, it was impossible for her to know exactly where their Griseo was confined right now.

But other than that, Mobius also didn't know how to explain Irene's existence. She was just a very peculiar individual, but regardless, she stood on humanity's side.

"Is that so?" Griseo nodded in half-understanding. "So it was Miss Irene who told Uncle Kevin that I was in the Sea of Quanta?"

"Mhm," Elysia also nodded at this moment. "If it weren't for Irene, we might not have even known your situation, and it would have been even more impossible for Kevin to save you in time. It's really been hard on you these past years, Griseo."

"It was actually okay," Griseo shook her head.

This was her own choice, and since it was her own choice, there was no need to talk about whether she regretted it or not. She was back now, and that was enough.

"Mhm, I'll find a chance to thank Miss Irene later." Just as Griseo was about to say something else, the words caught in her throat, and she turned to look at the portal of the Realm.

The portal trembled slightly at this moment, and Kosma, bringing Little Griseo along, leapt through the portal and arrived in the hall as well.

Seeing Kosma, Griseo waved her hand at him. Looking at the big Griseo before him—both familiar and foreign—Kosma's gaze stalled for a moment. But he quickly snapped out of it. Looking at the big Griseo who was now about as tall as he was, a myriad of emotions flashed through Kosma's eyes.

"Welcome back." Kosma actually didn't know what words he should use to start. He had countless things to say in his heart, but saying this first definitely couldn't be wrong.

"Mhm, I'm back." Griseo smiled warmly at Kosma, reaching out a hand to measure her height. "I'm already very tall now."

Nagazora City

On the outskirts of Nagazora City, inside a specially-made small assault ship of Anti-Entropy, Irene leaned against the wall, recalling their previous encounter. "Thinking about it carefully, that meeting feels like it was just yesterday."

"I also remember the scene back then. Even though so much time has passed, thinking about it now still feels so fresh in my memory." Mei also leaned against the wall, as if reminiscing about the time when the three of them broke out of Nagazora City.

"Back when you guys went out, Kiana probably caused you a lot of trouble, didn't she?" Irene smiled before turning to look at Kiana, who was leaning over by the monitor, gazing at Nagazora City before her—a place now almost unrecognizable from its original state.

"After all, Kiana has always been so reckless." Mei closed her eyes. "Reckless, and seemingly full of curiosity about everything. It's like no matter what happens, nothing can keep her sad for long..."

"I'm still like that now, you know." Kiana turned back to look at Mei. "And what do you mean by me being reckless back then? I clearly did the most work, okay?"

"You probably caused no shortage of trouble either, right?" Mei looked at Kiana and smiled, a trace of exhaustion flashing through her eyes.

On the way here, she had already spoken with her other personality. She could no longer be a burden to Kiana and the others. It was time for her to face the power and the identity she was meant to confront all along.

"Alright, since you've decided, don't regret it." Irene patted Mei's shoulder. "Let's go. Rest up first. You won't be able to handle anything in this exhausted state."

"Mhm." Mei nodded, then headed towards the resting cabin at the back of the assault ship.

"I didn't expect Nagazora City to turn out like this after just a few years." Irene leaned against the console, looking at the images displayed on the bridge's screen. "I can barely recognize it. Though it's not like I stayed here for very long either."

Nagazora City on the screen was almost entirely submerged in water. Only the tall buildings remained above the surface, and one could even see that much of the water had taken on a peculiar deep purple hue.

"The aftermath of the Third Eruption," Tesla looked at the screen, though her gaze kept drifting toward Irene. "It caused the land to subside. Nagazora City was originally a coastal port city; with the seawater pouring back in, it ended up looking like this. Those purple areas are formed by the accumulated Honkai energy."

"There's no need for Dr. Tesla to add an explanation for that." Irene shrugged.

Of everyone present, who wasn't a Herrscher? Their sensitivity to this little bit of Honkai energy was much sharper than the instruments.

"However, I'm still a bit confused. Why did Dr. Tesla tag along? Aren't you going to go watch the handover ceremony on Welt's end?"

"No need, Einstein watching over things there is enough," Tesla shook her head. "The awakening data on Mei's side is also very important. We might be able to parse out something related to energy."

Since they were going to mass-produce the Moonlight Throne, energy was an absolute hurdle they couldn't bypass. The energy required to drive the Moonlight Throne wasn't a number that could be achieved so easily. They couldn't let go of anything that might be of help. The data from a Herrscher's awakening could also serve as a reference.

"Alright, you guys stop chatting. We're almost there." Theresa patted the instrument in front of her. "Irene, where are we going to settle this awakening issue?"

"There's no rush," Irene shook her head. "We first need to confirm where the Honkai energy concentration is relatively high, and whether there's still anyone living here. Without confirming this, I imagine Mei wouldn't dare to casually let herself awaken either."

"Alright, then let's split up and take a look. We'll find an energy focal point. If that doesn't work out, we'll slowly gather it," Tesla tapped the panel of the detector.

"I'll go find a place to open a portal and bring Bella over." Sirin raised her hand. She also planned to conveniently settle Bella's matter here as well.

Bella was currently in urgent need of massive amounts of Honkai energy to nurse her body back to health. At the very least, she needed to help Bella recover the ability to move around in a humanoid form; otherwise, Bella's size was still too massive.

"Then I'll go with Mei." Irene patted Mei's shoulder. "Theresa, you should stick with Dr. Tesla. That will also serve as protection for Dr. Tesla."

"No problem."

Carrying Mei in her arms, Irene landed gently on a rooftop exposed above the water. "Mei, can you still recognize roughly where this is?"

"It should be the East District, right?" Mei looked around, but everything was flooded with seawater. As far as the eye could see, there were only submerged buildings.

"The East District, huh." Irene glanced around, and her gaze quickly locked onto a patch of ruins. "Oh, no wonder it felt a bit familiar."

"?" Following Irene's line of sight, Mei looked over.

What she saw was a damaged high-rise and a large chunk of armor plating—looking as if it had fallen off of something—crashed atop a row of slightly lower buildings.

"That is..." Looking at that dusty piece of armor plating, Mei pondered for a moment before finally recalling what it was. "The external armor plating of the Hyperion. Is this the place where we first met Teacher Himeko back then?"

"It seems to be." Irene looked around. "I've heard about it. Back then, you could say it was a case of 'no discord, no concord' between you guys and Teacher Himeko, especially you."

"It was even more than that. Didn't the Hyperion have to go straight back to the factory for repairs right after?" Looking at that armor plating in the distance, Mei recalled the situation at the time. "Word has it that the newest weapon was also burnt out. Teacher Himeko was originally going to be held responsible for it."

"I know. Theresa helped take the blame for it. Anyway, Otto has always doted on her. It was just a tiny loss."

"More than that, over three years ago, when we were on the run, I was actually thinking about whether I really wanted to leave this place," Mei held onto the railing, looking at the distant scenery. "The power inside my body is undoubtedly a disaster, and when I went on a rampage back then, in truth, there was already a feeling of giving up in my heart. Perhaps someone with power like mine shouldn't have left Nagazora City with Kiana and the others. At least, that's what I thought at the time."

"But when I regained my senses, I saw Teacher Himeko. My state back then..." Mei pondered over her wording for a moment, "...could probably just be described as giving up on myself."

"But Teacher Himeko just gave me a direct slap to the face, saying she would help me master my power and become a Valkyrie capable of protecting others."

"I know that's your motivation for becoming a Valkyrie." Irene also leaned against the railing. "But I think the trio Teacher Himeko brought out of Nagazora City back then are all about to become Herrschers now."

"It's far beyond just not expecting it." Speaking of this, Mei couldn't help but smile too. "Teacher Himeko was even doubting if her villa had been blessed. How did everyone who moved in turn into Herrschers?"

"You can't say it like that; hasn't Seele not become one yet?"

The expression on Irene's face turned playful. "The Honkai has 13 Herrschers, but right now, almost all of them are at our St. Freya Academy. Just which God was sought out to bless this place?"

"Probably the Honkai God."

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