"Do you still remember when you were searching to enter the Sea of Quanta and help Seele and Bronya meet, catching the intermediate state that came out when switching characters?"
"Of course I do!"
How could Luo Lin forget?
Thanks to the "Emotion Diffusion" skill, the Valkyrie accidentally got stuck in the intermediate state of character switching. At that time, Luo Lin thought the system had encountered another bug...
Later, Luo Lin, with the help of this miraculous intermediate state, not only found a way to help Seele enter the character's body, return to the real world, and reunite with Bronya; even the Valkyrie discovered that when stuck in this transition state, her emotions could easily transform into Honkai energy...
"Now we need to enter that state!"
"Huh?" Luo Lin was stunned for a moment.
"To get stuck in the intermediate state, I have to switch characters. But now, everyone else in the Valkyrie lineup is fighting outside!"
[I'll figure something out!] The system started to tinker, and a series of pop-up prompts appeared in front of Luo Lin. The data flashed across the panel like flowing water, dazzling the Valkyrie's eyes.
After a few seconds, the prompts disappeared.
[Alright, I've set up a temporary extra character switching position for you. Clicking on it will only switch to your own entity,] the system said with a slightly electronic effect. [It should meet your requirement for switching characters!]
Luo Lin looked at the upper right corner of her field of view, where the Valkyrie's lineup switching button was.
In addition to the avatars of Miss Pink Elf and the Herrscher of Sentience, there was now an additional flickering blank avatar frame with garbled characters.
"Amazing, system!"
Luo Lin touched the avatar frame with her mind, and the feeling of character switching flashed by—this was exactly what she needed!
Now, at this critical moment, the Valkyrie's performance became even more heroic. What used to take multiple attempts to get stuck in the intermediate state, Luo Lin succeeded in one try!
Emotions wrapped around her like threads, suspending Luo Lin's consciousness in the boundless darkness, preventing her from falling downward.
Luo Lin found that there were many more emotions lingering around her than the last time she came here. If the emotions she discovered last time looked like balls of yarn, now they had become steel cables used to build houses.
"System?"
The voice with electronic effects transmitted to Luo Lin's consciousness.
[I'm here. Now, look into the distance—]
The girl followed these emotional steel cables, which stretched infinitely into the darkness, shimmering with faint light and standing out against the darkness.
[Before, I mentioned that the account you are currently using is a pre-crossing Honkai Impact 3rd game account, which has a 'trait' conceptually linked to you.] The system said, [And the intermediate state you are currently stuck in happens to allow us to observe this 'link'.]
Luo Lin asked anxiously, "What should we do next?"
[Let me try.].
Some data streams flowed from her in front of Luo Lin, gently falling on these emotional "steel cables."
Luo Lin stared at the data streams, but the "cables" only shook slightly and then stabilized, no longer moving.
The system spoke somewhat awkwardly, [With my current power, I can't exert influence along this 'link'... it seems we need to spend some crystals to continue operating, Host.]
"Crystals? Can they do this?!"
[Of course they can! After all...]
Luo Lin's head was on fire, interrupting the system's words: "The situation is urgent now, we can discuss explanations later, hurry up—take whatever you need!"
[Alright!]
The shop panel quickly popped up, and under the gaze of the Valkyrie, the number marked with the blue crystal pattern began to change rapidly, like a floodgate opening, quickly dropping. Luo Lin gasped for air, feeling the pain.
"You better get things done, or... sigh, I've saved up crystals for so long..."
Accompanied by the rush of data streams, an invisible force transmitted along this link...
In a corner unknown to Luo Lin, changes quietly occurred.
...
In an unknown world, a captain opened the Honkai Forums, clicked into the announcement area of the Honkai Impact 3rd section, and saw a strange post.
"Announcement? Furious Flames, Xuanyuan Reborn... Whoa, it's the Garbled Brother again!"
---
"Boom!"
Just as Helix and the Herrscher of Sentience were fiercely fighting the Husk Mysticism, huge quantum energies suddenly appeared above their heads, rendering the entire cave bright blue.
These quantum energies flashed by and disappeared into the depths of Chiyou.
"What's happening again!?"
Dodging the Imaginary Bulls, the Herrscher of Sentience began seeking contact outside the field: "Luo Lin? Luo Lin! Help me check... Damn, why did she disconnect too?"
Helix spoke to the Herrscher of Sentience, "She definitely hasn't died, or else I wouldn't be alive!"
"I know! Damn it, why is the Herrscher of Sentience's power not as reliable as punches and kicks?"
With a fierce punch, the Herrscher of Sentience sent out several bright Honkai energy balls.
"Ding ding!"
The energy balls hit the core of the "Mysticism" with a crisp collision sound.
The next moment, the ground under their feet shook violently.
The Honkai energy erupted like a volcanic eruption from the cracks caused by the battle, and the substantial purple torrents even blew the two people into the air!
"Roar—!"
A huge, terrifying roar echoed through Chiyou, making Miss Pink Elf and the Herrscher of Sentience dizzy.
"Helix" exclaimed, "Is the seal completely broken?!"
"It's absolutely broken! Chiyou has awakened!"
The Herrscher of Sentience adjusted her body and landed on a dark flying sword, while Miss Pink Elf re-manifested the crystal cross shield that was destroyed in the explosion, flying on it like a surfboard.
It's hard to say that this is not a tribute to a certain animated short film by Helix.
As for the "Mysticism," it seems a bit confused about the current situation, but due to its huge size, it couldn't avoid the Honkai energy torrents and was a bit embarrassedly tossed around, rolling on the ground.
A dozen seconds later, the erupting Honkai energy gradually weakened. At least the ground was solid enough to stand on, and Miss Pink Elf and the Herrscher of Sentience both landed back on the ground.
Then, a countdown appeared abruptly in the Herrscher of Sentience's field of view.
"1:30"
"1:29"
The Herrscher of Sentience squinted. She felt that the style of this thing was somewhat familiar.
Miss Pink Elf exclaimed, "Isn't this the countdown of the Abyss? What does it mean? Do we have to solve the Imaginary Bulls within one minute and thirty seconds?!"
"Huh?"