My name is Bella. Bella Benares.
Three months ago, a purple-haired older sister dug me out of the ground. Her eyes were a brilliant gold, brighter than actual gold, more dazzling than the stars in the sky.
She told me my name was Bella, and Benares was the surname she gave me.
She said her name was Sirin, that she was the creator of this world, here to save everyone.
She reached out her hand to me, pulled me out of that incredibly cold place. I remember, it was a winter covered in deep snow... so cold.
But I wasn't afraid, because the greatest, greatest Lady Sirin was by my side. She was so amazing; she built a huge castle for me.
She said, from now on, I would be the evil dragon Homusilla. Even though it didn't sound like a good person, I would work hard with Lady Sirin to save all the other children!
I watched the castle walls being built, piece by piece, watched more and more Homus appear in this world, watched this world become better and better...
And now... as long as the final act is completed... Lady Sirin can achieve her dream, and the children who fell asleep with me can...
...
Can what, again?
Bella, leaning against the window, zoned out for a moment. Then, she immediately shook her little head, pushed off from the window ledge with both hands, and leaped out, catching Kiana Kaslana, who was attempting to escape through the window for who knows how many times.
Honestly... how does this princess have seemingly endless energy? Every so often, she pulls another surprise...
Laboriously pulling Kiana back into the castle, Bella had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a voice that sounded like it came from the depths of hell.
"Ah... hungry. Maybe I should go make some food..." Kiana clutched her stomach, glancing askance at the ceiling, her eyes drifting as she pouted.
Instantly, Bella felt like her world was collapsing.
The last time Kiana got hungry and went into the kitchen, nearly half of her food supplies were ruined!
"Wait!" Bella quickly flapped her wings, taking off from the ground and rushing towards the kitchen.
Watching Bella fly off, Kiana guiltily averted her gaze. Then, she leaned her upper body out the window and gave a thumbs-up in a certain direction.
---||---
Far from the castle, Joyce lowered the simulated binoculars in her hand with a strange expression, letting them dissolve into a cloud of sky-blue particles and merge back into her wristband.
Nanotechnology, quantum storage technology—pretty amazing, right?
The nano-mecha Joyce wore not only allowed her to transform into Iron Man on the spot but even enabled her to assemble a Titan mech then and there.
Glancing at the hand retracting in the distance, Joyce couldn't help but look at Shu, who was beside her, packing his things and preparing to pass through. "Is this also your ability?"
This distance... achieving low-latency communication without equipment meant Shu's pinpoint search capability was incredibly strong.
"Mm," Shu grunted in acknowledgment, then slung his bag over his shoulder. "Bella has been lured away. Let's go."
"Bella?" Joyce asked, puzzled.
Shu paused for a moment, then shook his head. "It's nothing, just a codename."
"A codename..." Joyce murmured, not dwelling on it further.
She didn't know what method Shu's companion had used to lure away the evil dragon, so passing through here quickly was the best option.
The two of them soon bypassed the Dragon's Lair. Before long, Joyce put down the map in her hand.
"We've reached the edge of the mapped area. Next, we might see the world's border, or we might enter a completely new place..."
"What does the world's border look like?" Shu asked, somewhat curious.
"It's an intangible expanse of color, like thick paint," Joyce said, simultaneously conjuring a light screen formed by nano-machines.
Shu frowned, looking at the chaotic images on the screen, predominantly black and purple.
"This is also why I'm sure this place is a dreamscape," Joyce said, bringing up several more images. "I tried to extract these substances. Conventional methods didn't work. Only quantum phase transfer technology could capture a tiny bit of peculiar energy."
"This should be what you call Honkai energy," Joyce said, taking out a test tube from her bag and shakin at Shu.
The instant the test tube appeared, Shu nearly exploded.
No, seriously, you guys can extract Honkai energy crystals even in a place like this?!
"Do you know this stuff is highly corrosive?" Shu asked, his face dark as he took the test tube and examined it carefully.
Pale purple crystals. The purity was far inferior to what Otto Apocalypse produced in his lab, but it was still high-purity Honkai energy crystal.
"Is it?" Joyce paused, then looked down at herself and shook her head. "I didn't feel anything..."
"Of course, you..." Shu's eye twitched, then he sighed. "Forget it. Have you been carrying this thing around all this time?"
"No, I've always kept this stored in my room... Oh, no one goes into my room," Joyce shook her head.
From Shu's words, Joyce already understood that this substance likely had severe associated effects.
"That's good..." Shu breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, these Honkai energy crystals aren't very active, and the quantity isn't large, so there shouldn't be any problems... Do you still need this? I'm going to destroy it."
"Can it be treated?" Joyce asked after a moment of silence, watching Shu destroy the Honkai energy crystals in the test tube. "If symptoms of erosion do appear, can it be treated?"
"There are ways, but the conditions are very harsh."
"Does it require the kind of power you use?" Joyce asked.
"That's not necessary..." Shu shook his head. "I only know of two methods."
"The first is a Honkai energy erosion neutralizing agent. Using live experiments to cultivate reverse energy and DNA that can neutralize Honkai energy. Such experiments would probably take several centuries to cultivate a family bloodline with that kind of constitution..."
"And before that, there are a series of prerequisites: Stigmata, adaptation... and so on. This method is not currently feasible."
Joyce nodded seriously. "Then the second method can be achieved in a short time?"
"Of course," Shu nodded, turning to look Joyce in the eyes. "Just infect another thousand innocent people, then kill them and extract the antibodies produced by their bodies' desperate resistance. Those antibodies could probably save one infected person."
"How about it? A thousand ordinary people for one top-tier talent. A pretty good deal, right?"
Joyce froze.
She looked at Shu's somewhat unfocused eyes, at his expressionless face.
His emotionless voice still echoed in her ears.
"A thousand people... a pretty good deal, right?"