Chapter 60 (volume 3 prologue)

Within a completely blank space there were two people sitting in armchairs staring at each other. Between these two people there was a small table with a chess board. With the position of the pieces it was possible to perceive the game was very fierce, both sides were very well balanced and that any carelessness in moving the pieces could decide who would be the winner and the loser.

One of those people was naturally Ryusuke, he had a slightly nervous expression while he was sweating, he was holding the white horse piece in his hand and after a long moment of hesitation he placed the horse piece on the board. The horse was about to catch the black king.

But at that moment the other person who was Ryusuke's opponent had a wide smile on her blurry face. She was difficult to describe because her figure is blurred by some kind of dark aura. The only visible features about her was the female outline of her body that appears to be about 14 or 15 years old, as well as her female voice. She had long hair tied to twin tails.

"Checkmate." The girl moved the black bishop's piece to destroy the white horse, after Ryusuke's white horse was destroyed the white king of Ryusuke was completely exposed and cornered. This match ended the girl's victory.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! Fuck!!!" Ryusuke put his hands on his head and shouted with frustration as this was his forty-eighth defeat against the girl.

"Hahaha. Another victory for my great self, the most intelligent and the most beautiful of all Herrschers... the Herrscher of Sentience!!" The girl raised both hands up to celebrate her victory with an expression of joy.

"Hmph! The most beautiful of all Herrschers? I doubt that since you didn't even show your face." Ryusuke also spoke frustrated with a face of dissatisfaction.

"Hahaha... are you sure you don't want to take your words away? Because when you see my beauty you will surely be dazzled and then you will fall at my feet begging me to become my humble servant." Instead of being offended, Herrscher of Sentience smiled confidently at Ryusuke.

"It is good to see that you have recovered all that self-confidence. The first time I saw you, you were just a crying depressed girl." Ryusuke spoke with a provocative smile when he remembered the first meeting between the two.

"Don't remind me of that day! You have an idea of how traumatic it was to know that all these years within that Divine Key were just a plot of a game's story. I was just a pointless character in that damn game! And the worst part is that..." Herrscher of Sentience had an ugly expression of dissatisfaction when remembering the game's history. She put her hands on her head and started to shake her head in denial.

But before she could panic, Ryusuke interrupted her.

"Okay Okay, it was my fault to make you remember that. So calm down a little, okay?" Ryusuke had risen from the chair and he started stroking her head to reassure her.

*mental sigh* 'Do all Herrschers have mental disorders? Or are all the girls in this world like that? I feel that if I become a therapist after my graduation I could end up becoming a millionaire with consultations alone.' Ryusuke thought of being a Herrscher's nanny.

"Hey, I heard that! Get stuck in a Divine Key without contact with anyone for 50,000 years! Anyone would be upset to live like this." Herrscher of Sentience spoke with dissatisfaction.

"Hey! Didn't you say you wouldn't read my thoughts?" Ryusuke asked with a frown.

"I said that I would not read your thoughts during our games. I am not to blame if your thoughts are too high around here for me to hear." Herrscher of Sentience spoke with a shameless smile as she crossed her arms.

"You..." Ryusuke's eyebrows twitched. But soon he just sighed as he was already used to this Herrscher's irritating behavior.

The first time Ryusuke met the Herrscher of Sentience of the Previous Age was on the night that Kallen and Yae Rin were revived, it was 6 months ago. He met her inside this blank space when he went to sleep.

When he saw the Herrscher of Sentience he was surprised, for instead of an arrogant Herrscher who was trying to harm him in some way he just found a depressed girl with an almost completely broken mind. Ryusuke did not immediately understand why she was like this but after a few seconds he understood.

The Herrscher of Sentience was able to see all his memories. It wasn't just the memories of his current life but also all the memories of his past life. Consequently she also found out about the mobile game Honkai impact 3rd.

At that moment Ryusuke understood why she was in that state, knowing that he did the only thing he could do.

He went to her and comforted her.

Why did he do that? Did he do it out of kindness?

Obviously not! He did this to protect himself.

At that time Ryusuke did not know what level of power the Herrscher of Sentience had at that time, he knew that she didn't have her Herrscher core at that time and that her Herrscher core was probably still inside Fenghuang Down.

But he didn't know how powerful she still was without her Herrscher core. The Herrscher of Sentience specializes in mental manipulation so Ryusuke didn't even want to imagine the damage she could do to his mind.

As for the reason for comforting her, he was trying to make her calm. If she broke completely and she thought it was all Ryusuke's fault that her life had become so horrible.

Ryusuke did not know if he would be able to resist it with only a small part of the power of Corruption. So he decided to approach her to comfort her.

At first she had no reaction but when Ryusuke said it was okay for her to complain about her frustrations she started talking without a break for several hours.

And so after several hours the Herrscher of Sentience calmed down and she was no longer as depressed as before.

During that time Ryusuke realized that although she had the Herrscher stigma, here she is not able to use it.

She had her Herrscher stigma with her when she left Fenghuang Down and succeeded in infiltrating Ryusuke's consciousness. Before she could integrate into his own stigma she saw Ryusuke's memories and so she almost had a mental breakdown.

Fortunately for Ryusuke the Herrscher of Sentience did not have the power to control his mind, although she had the ability to read his thoughts she did not have the power to brainwash or alter his memories.

As for the stigma of the Herrscher of Sentience, the two are at an impasse. The Herrscher of Sentience is in possession of her stigma but she is unable to use it because of Ryusuke's interference. He took advantage of the situation to place some restrictions that would prevent her from using her powers.

Of course, the Herrscher of Sentience was angry about that and she blocked Ryusuke's access to her stigma. She also used the little influence she had to make their conversations similar to a dream.

Whenever Ryusuke wakes up he will not remember meeting the Herrscher of Sentience in his dreams, he will not be able to remember her in the real world.

But when he sleeps he goes back to that white space and naturally he recovers his memories of when he met Herrscher of Sentience.

After 6 months of getting to know each other they managed to have a friendly relationship where they can play different games. It doesn't matter if they are board games, card games or video games, because the blank space was a mental space so they could create those games there.

Although they had a friendly relationship, this did not mean that they completely trusted each other.

"And then? Are you prepared for your fortieth ninth defeat?" The Herrscher of Sentience spoke with a confident smile about her victory.

"Hmph! In the last one you only won because I was careless. But it will not be repeated!" Ryusuke spoke with a serious expression.

"Hehe, so what do you tell me about all the other 47 games we've had before, huh?" Herrscher of Sentience had a provocative smile.

"That was..."

When Ryusuke was trying to speak he felt a strange sensation in his chest, no, he felt that something was happening to Serenity Gem.

"Oh, so she's finally waking up, right?" The Herrscher of Sentience was initially surprised but soon she had an understanding smile on her face while she put her right hand on her chin.

"What are you talking about?!" Ryusuke asked seriously, after all anything related to Honkai is dangerous.

"You don't have to be that tense. That girl is quite docile and she would hardly be a threat to you." Herrscher of Sentience spoke quietly.

At that moment Ryusuke's body began to become transparent in that white space. He didn't panic about it, he has experienced it several times over the past 6 months. This always happened when he was about to wake up.

"Ah yes! Before I forget to say... well, you will actually forget what I am going to say anyway..." The Herrscher of Sentience spoke with an ironic smile as she scratched her hair.

Ryusuke clearly paid attention to her words.

"Just arrive like a prince on a white horse for that girl. That way you will surely be able to get her into your future harem." The Herrscher of Sentience gave him a thumbs up while displaying a playful smile on her face.

Ryusuke was incredulous at her words. And when he opened his mouth to counter her words, he was already gone from white space.

"Haha… Hahaha... hahahaha...."

The Herrscher of Sentience lay on the floor with her hands on her belly while she laughed madly.

"Hahaha... his face at that moment was spectacular! Hahaha..."

"Coming here until it wasn't such a bad idea. I will never be bored with him around." The Herrscher of Sentience had a happy smile on her face.

***********

"This place... it is not possible that it is what I am, right?"

Ryusuke was surprised and did not understand why he was in that familiar place that appeared a few times in the game.

This place looked like a huge prison with many cells on the walls, while there was a kind of elevator on the other side of the huge room.

He tried to use his senses to try to know where he was and what he discovered was that his conscience was within Serenity Gem.

*sniff* *sniff* *sniff* *sniff*

At that moment he heard a girl's low cry.

Faced with all those facts presented, he already had an idea of what was happening. He didn't really want to get in any more trouble, but he had to check the source of that crying.

Then with reluctance he went towards the source of the crying. He walked as slowly and quietly as possible. As he approached, he saw that only one cell was open, and the sound of crying was coming from there.

After finally arriving at the door of that cell he saw the inside of the cell, and he stood his eyes wide when he saw who was inside.

'Why is she here? How is it possible that she is here at Serenity Gem?' Ryusuke thought he was surprised to see who was inside the cell.

The person who was there was a girl who appeared to be in her 12s or 13s. She had long gray hair with a slight greenish tone, she had light blue eyes with red pupils. She was wearing a dress with a white top and a black bottom, she wore black gloves. She also had a purple hairpin in the shape of wings on her hair, she wore a pendant around her neck. It also looked like there was a pair of black crow wings on her back.

The girl was sitting on the cold floor of the cell while she had her back to the metal wall, she was hugging her knees while she was crying alone. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Ryusuke.

'Why is one of Sirin's Seraphim here?! As I recall in the manga of the second Honkai eruption she didn't even have the Serenity Gem, she had only one pseudo-core of the Herrscher of Death. It shouldn't be possible for her to be here.' Ryusuke was in doubt when he saw that girl over there.

But he decided not to think about it too much now. After all, there are already many inconsistencies that should not exist in this world like Griseo that should not exist in this Age, and Kyuusyou that should not even exist in this world.

"Ah... excuse me, are you okay?" Ryusuke tried to start a conversation with her in a polite way.

The girl finally noticed Ryusuke's presence.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." the girl was scared, she walked away from Ryusuke and went to the corner of the wall. She simply continued to repeat excuses like a broken record.

"I'm sorry if I scared you... how about that? Take this stuffed doll. He's cute, right?" Ryusuke created a yellow film doll in the shape of the HOMU. The place they are in is basically a mental space, so creating a stuffed animal was a piece of cake.

Ryusuke put the stuffed animal on the bed next to the girl and then he distanced himself a little from her. He was at least 2 meters away from her.

After a few seconds the girl calmed down a little, although the girl was still afraid of Ryusuke, it had already softened a little.

The girl went to bed to catch the stuffed doll but when her fingers were about to touch the Homu doll she stopped. She had a hesitant expression, she was afraid to destroy the doll with the Steam of Serenity.

"You don't have to worry. Here the doll will not be erased." Ryusuke spoke with a gentle smile to reassure her.

The girl then took the Homu doll and she was surprised that the Homu doll was not disintegrated. She took the doll and went back to her spot, a little away from Ryusuke. She was hugging the Homu doll to her chest. She was no longer as scared as before.

"Hello, my name is Ryusuke. Could I know what your name is?" Ryusuke asked with a polite smile without reducing the distance between the two. He didn't want to scare the girl.

The girl hesitated a little, she was still a little scared but she decided to speak.

"My... My name is... Galina..." the girl spoke shyly while she hugged the Homu doll a little stronger.