Help Wendy, Jiang Qiao!

"It's so quiet, you can't see a soul... Kinda creepy."

Elysia's voice was soft, tinged with worry, as she gazed at the deserted streets and buildings. She instinctively moved closer to Jiang Qiao, taking his arm.

While the situation between [Jiang Qiao] and [Elysia] was clearly a bit weird, no one was around to comment on the strange scene.

"Jiang Qiao... You don't think the people of ARK City..."

Elysia's face fell as a terrible possibility dawned on her.

But a slender, gentle hand soon rested lightly on her head. Because [Jiang Qiao] was much taller than [Elysia] Jiang Qiao, using Elysia's body, had to stand on tiptoe.

This didn't stop him, however, from using this body's sweet, approachable voice to soothe the anxious pink-haired Fat Woman.

"Don't worry, the mist's effect isn't that potent."

The girl spoke with conviction:

"The residents here are most likely fine."

If this were the original Herrscher of Death, Jiang Qiao wouldn't be so sure. After all, the former Previous Era Herrscher of Death had caused millions of casualties in the brief moment Kevin hesitated.

Just like the Black Abyss White Flower, those struck by the Herrscher of Death's power of decay would, like the test subjects in the era craving gems, turn to ash in an instant.

But now, this power of decay—in exchange for a more widespread and versatile application, it had inevitably sacrificed some of its original destructive force.

While this power of decay was still extremely dangerous to humans, accelerating their aging and causing illness, speeding up the process of 'birth, aging, sickness, and death,' at least now people had some chance to react.

Of course, this wasn't to say that Jiang Qiao trusted the local residents of ARK City—not everyone could figure out the details of the power of decay as quickly as he could.

Ordinary people might not notice any threat after coming into contact with the black mist, and then, after inhaling a large amount, their cells would fail, and they would die.

However, a very special individual was stationed here in ARK City—Wendy, of the Fourth Squad.

As the Herrscher of Wind, she should definitely be able to take countermeasures.

[Elysia] spoke softly:

"I can already feel the wind currents."

The power of Origin was not very useful in this environment, which absorbed Honkai energy and generated the black mist of decay.

This was the "Kryptonite" that Cocoon had prepared for this unruly proctor. But even Cocoon couldn't have known—Jiang Qiao possessed more than just the power of Origin.

Every Herrscher body he used, and even the Path power from another world, gave Jiang Qiao extreme versatility, even when using someone else's body and his power wasn't at full strength.

The black mist of decay would rapidly deplete Origin's protective barrier. Its ability to absorb Honkai and convert it autonomously would also make it difficult for any Herrscher to track Honkai energy in this environment.

This was why Vill-V's instruments had failed—there was no Honkai energy here, only the black mist that disabled instruments and withered life.

But the power of the Herrscher of Wind allowed Jiang Qiao to overcome this limitation by sensing the flow of the wind.

"Wind currents?"

"Yeah. Ever since we stepped onto this island, I could feel the wind spreading outwards. The black mist of decay is expanding because of this." Facing Elysia's question, Jiang Qiao looked seriously ahead, at the area shrouded in black mist where the road was invisible:

"The source of that wind is in the center of the island. There's an unusual wind direction there."

Although Elysia, who often relied on path dependency and didn't use her brain much, wasn't the sharpest, she instantly understood when she heard this, blurting out:

"...It's Wendy! It has to be Wendy!"

"Mm-hm."

Only Wendy, as the Herrscher of Wind, could cause such a large diversion and anomaly.

"Hehe, I knew it." Elysia smiled, with a look that said, 'I'm so smart, aren't I?' And with a longing look in her eyes, it was as if she was saying, I'm so smart, praise me!

Unfortunately, Jiang Muer didn't seem to notice this longing gaze, and the pink-haired Fat woman puffed out her cheeks. [TN: "Jiang Muer" implies he's being wooden/emotionally dense.]

But then she wondered:

"If it's Wendy, why isn't she contacting the organization?"

Wendy belonged to the Fourth Squad stationed in ARK City. If something happened, theoretically, she should report it to headquarters.

"She must be facing some trouble."

"Trouble big enough to keep her occupied," the girl said with a confident tone.

And indeed, things were as Jiang Qiao had guessed—

Guided by his sensing of the wind, Jiang Qiao quickly led the two Elysias to the location of the abnormal wind direction.

There, they saw a massive wind field.

The dark wind field was like a protective shield, completely obscuring the details inside. Even approaching it caused a faint tingling sensation on the skin.

This was undoubtedly the effect of the Herrscher of Wind's power.

The massive wind field prevented the encroachment of the black mist, but it also made it impossible to enter.

Fortunately, Jiang Qiao also possessed the power of the Herrscher of Wind. With a gentle wave of his hand, he opened a gap.

"So many people!" Fairy Ely exclaimed.

Entering the interior of the massive wind field, they saw people everywhere, lying or sitting weakly. Their appearances were shocking.

Blue eyes scanned them one by one, revealing the traces of 'time' on their bodies, clearly the work of the black mist of decay.

Among these people, Jiang Qiao and the two Elysias—one man, one woman, and one child—were clearly an anomaly, and they were quickly noticed by someone.

"Who's there!"

The voice was stern, but a closer look revealed that it belonged to a soldier of the Fourth Squad. Jiang Qiao had seen them in the files when he came.

"...Senior Elysia?!"

Although they didn't recognize [Jiang Qiao] they naturally recognized [Elysia] the accomplished warrior and ace of Fire Moth. Their voices instantly changed from serious to surprised when they saw Jiang Qiao.

"Yeah, headquarters sent us to provide support."

"Oh! This is great... We thought..." The soldiers of the Fourth Squad were overjoyed. Without their specialized training, they might have given up hope in the face of this terrifying wind field and the all-encompassing black mist.

"Anyway, fill me in on the details."

Getting straight to the point, Jiang Qiao wanted to understand the situation concisely.

"Oh... R-Right! We'll tell you everything!"

And so, while talking with the soldiers of the Fourth Squad to understand the situation, they moved towards the Fourth Squad's base.

Perhaps because Jiang Qiao was currently using [Elysia's] body, the soldiers of the Fourth Squad were incredibly respectful and chatty, their attitude extremely enthusiastic.

Even Fairy Ely, because she was so cute, was treated like a doll by the other squad members.

Only the real Miss Elysia... was completely ignored.

This wasn't surprising. After all, compared to the 'Hero of Fire Moth,' [Jiang Qiao] a completely unfamiliar man, wasn't worth paying attention to, right?

In their eyes, he was probably just a decoration.

However, facing this differential treatment, Miss Elysia clearly couldn't remain calm.

After all, having to watch those cute girls chatting enthusiastically with bad Jiang Qiao—and it was because of my own body—while I, the real owner, could only watch... the taste was, to put it mildly, sour.

Miss Elysia, unsurprisingly—raged!

Argh!!! That's mine! Elysia's!

That's my body! I'm the real Elysia!

You should be talking to me!!!

Bad Jiang Qiao!!!

The furious pink-haired Fat Woman wanted nothing more than to rush over, pin down the bad Jiang Qiao who was chatting with the Fourth Squad's girls, and snatch back her body—but the thin-skinned Miss Elysia clearly lacked the courage.

After all, there were so many people... And if she actually dared to 'teach a lesson' to that bad guy in front of a bunch of Fire Moth's junior warriors... Okay, it was strangely tempting, but doing so would obviously carry the risk of being ganged up on and beaten up by the warriors.

With no other choice, Miss Elysia could only grit her teeth and swallow her anger—I'll endure.

Jiang Qiao clearly didn't notice the unbalanced little thoughts of Elysia. He was focused on the situation at hand.

—This Major Honkai Eruption had occurred while Jiang Qiao and Eden were having a great time.

But because the way it erupted was different from the previous Major Honkai Eruptions, the people of ARK City, and even the stationed soldiers, had no time to react. By the time they noticed the strange black mist appearing on the streets, it was already too late.

The black mist spread rapidly, causing massive damage to ARK City. Vehicles on the road deteriorated rapidly due to the power of decay, leading to numerous accidents. Communication was also affected.

Fortunately, the stationed Fourth Squad made a timely decision and, using the broadcast system, designated a safe area, finally completing the evacuation before the black mist completely spread.

Having done all this, the Fourth Squad originally intended to seek support from headquarters, but as mentioned earlier, communication was also blocked by the power of decay.

Just as the black mist was about to engulf the designated refuge area, Wendy appeared.

Because she had once been of one mind and body with Jiang Qiao, she used a move that Jiang Qiao had once used with another Wendy's body—compressing the wind within a domain.

The terrifying gale pushed back the black mist that had invaded the shelter, forming a massive fluid protective layer that blocked out the pervasive black mist.

As for Wendy...

At the top of a building in the center of the refuge area, they saw her—leaning against a wall, eyes closed.

Elysia's eyes widened in disbelief:

"She's...."

A slender, finger-like index finger touched her lips. The pink-haired girl shook her head, then bent down and gently touched the body of the seemingly dead girl.

Wendy couldn't possibly be dead, otherwise, the wind field outside wouldn't be able to continue.

Using the power of Origin to probe Wendy's condition, Jiang Qiao quickly made a judgment—this kid was overdrawn.

And the reason was probably this massive wind field.

The power of the Herrscher of Wind was inherently a type that consumed a lot of energy. It was fine when he used it, as he would use various methods to replenish it and meticulously calculate the use of every single bit of Honkai energy.

Even so, maintaining such a large wind field wasn't easy.

It would be fine in a Major Honkai Eruption environment, as Herrschers could borrow the Honkai energy in the environment.

But just as the black mist of decay was quite effective against the power of Origin, the same was true for any other Herrscher. In this environment, their only way to recover Honkai energy was through the imaginary singularity.

But—to hide her identity, Wendy, as the Herrscher of Wind, didn't actually have a core.

Creating one by hand wasn't a problem, the issue was... creating that kind of thing required a large amount of Honkai energy.

And Wendy was precisely lacking in Honkai energy.

If she created a core, she wouldn't have enough Honkai energy to expand this wind field.

But if she didn't create a core, it was difficult for Wendy to maintain such a huge wind field with the little Honkai energy she had.

Just in fact, even simply expanding the wind field was not something Wendy could do in her current state.

So, Wendy made a choice.

While using the meticulous control techniques for Herrscher powers she had learned from being fused with Jiang Qiao—she disassembled her body.

....Yep, she also learned that from Jiang Qiao.

—When it came to 'squeezing the body dry,' it had to be admitted that Jiang Qiao was truly a professional.

She poured all the remaining Honkai energy in the refuge area, her own Honkai energy, and the Honkai energy that Jiang Qiao had infused when creating this 'Dark Wendy' body into it.

Finally, Wendy barely managed to scrape together enough for that giant thing outside.

But because she had over-disassembled her body, Wendy, with not a single drop of Honkai energy left, couldn't maintain her body's function and could only rely on the resilience of the Herrscher body to hold on.

"That's really risky."

Jiang Qiao stood up, looking at the 'Dark Wendy' who seemed to be asleep, and sighed helplessly.

Even a Herrscher body wasn't omnipotent. Once the Honkai energy was exhausted, it wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person.

Theoretically, a Herrscher shouldn't run out of Honkai, because the core was connected to the imaginary singularity, and normal Herrschers wouldn't use high-risk techniques like Jiang Qiao.

But—

In Wendy's case, without condensing a core, squeezing her body dry... When she ran out of fuel, that homeless consciousness would truly dissipate.

The world allowed consciousness to match a new container, but it didn't allow a container to collect dissipated consciousness.

Under this iron rule of the Honkai world, Wendy's gamble was truly a matter of life and death—betting that Fire Moth headquarters would react quickly enough.

No... She was betting that Jiang Qiao would come.

Because the only people in Fire Moth who could truly save Wendy in this state were MEI and Jiang Qiao.

"What should we do, Jiang Qiao?!"

After learning about Wendy's perilous situation, Elysia panicked—although they hadn't known each other for long, and Wendy had the 'black mark' of 'stealing her things,' she truly regarded this child as her friend and comrade.

But with the pink-haired Fat Woman's abilities, she clearly had no idea how to save Wendy in this state. Helpless... the flustered Miss Elysia could only look at Jiang Qiao with the expectant gaze of a cat looking at a magical robot—Help Wendy, Jiang Qiao!

In response, Jiang Qiao was calm and composed, showing no sign of panic.

For him, Honkai energy overdraft was clearly a small problem.

Wasn't it just a depleted mana bar? The easiest way to solve this was obviously—mana transfer!

Looking at Elysia's expectant gaze, and thinking that he would indeed need to use this body in the near future, Jiang Qiao quickly made a decision.

Yeah, this is Elysia's mission, you know!