Page 246
"If something unexpected happens and the body is also detained—"
"Perhaps this is what... the Star God of Destruction wants to see. He hopes that we can at least kill or send one of them back, anger her kind, or break up her self-consciousness and replace her."
"To anger his own kind? Isn't he angry yet?"
"His anger wasn't directed at us. It was weird."
Eula couldn't hear the noise "inside" the star core, but the scene of the other side suddenly turning into a sky full of golden stars still made her tense up.
Eula swung the sword with all her might, trying to block the scattered star core light particles, but many of them still bypassed the sword wind and covered her forehead - at that moment she felt a little regretful.
Because she felt that this ghost thing began to invade her brain, and the obscene music began to circle around her ears, as if it was saying something...
"Car, ticket?"
The scene in front of her began to dissolve, and what she saw was not the abominable golden spirit and the snowy scene, but a red ticket stub, an entire gold-plated round-trip ticket for the Starry Sky Train for life.
"Yes, once you have saved up your share, you can travel back and forth between Teyvat and this world without worrying about losing energy—"
Sora held the ticket, his face showing a bit of trepidation, but overall he looked naturally satisfied and excited: "Well, have you thought about it? Should I wait a few days before going back to let Amber know I'm safe, or should I leave now? Anyway, the built-in CD only lasts for one day."
"Hey, hey, what I mean is, I can come to you whenever I want...finally?"
Looking at the ticket and Sora's anxious and stupid face, Eula's eyes, which were not easily deceived, actually began to become blurry.
322. They rushed over shouting about love and stuff!
Eula's spiritual world is not that complicated.
The lines of desire that the star core can see are not strong, there are only three in total.
Live your life well, gain recognition, and protect others.
No matter how tough she is, the color reflected from the depths of her memory cannot be faked. This woman's strength was forged after being misunderstood, slandered, and even breaking up with her family. It does not mean that she has really established a comprehensive and all-round self-defense system as her appearance shows.
In Xinghe's view, her weak side is also very clear - especially her desire to have friends who understand her, listen to her complaints about this not-so-gentle world, and don't have to raise their thorns.
Amber is one, Jean and Rosaria are half, Sora is one and a half - and Paimon is included... He filled Eula's fantasy of love and changed something that even Amber's enthusiasm could not change... that is, her overall reputation in Mondstadt.
Previously, a few Mondstadt people knew about Eula's difficulties and efforts, and that she had no ambition to revive the family, but only Sora succeeded in changing the entire Mondstadt's view of the sinner...
Because of his efforts in certain areas and the fact that he took Eula everywhere to run commissions, almost all the people in Mondstadt knew that this woman no longer wanted to be named Lawrence, and that she wanted to marry far away in Inazuma or even in Liyue - in fact, she was just following Sora around the world, but in the eyes of the casual people of Mondstadt, this was an act of pursuing freedom, and because of the time she left Mondstadt, the pressure on the Knights Temperance increased sharply, which in turn reversed her reputation.
It's very ironic that Eula actually enjoys the feeling of being needed and can no longer leave her beloved man.
In a sense, the train ticket was an affirmation of her efforts during the time she was lost in the air, a crystallization of her obsession that could be recognized by the Ice-Attributed God's Eye.
As long as she had this thing, she would no longer have to worry about Sora disappearing for a year or two. She could come and mess with him whenever she wanted, and even show off in front of Jean, Mona, Amber, and Rosaria. She could discuss with her besties in the tavern how much Sora had sent her, and whether he had sent her the money on his legs or his waistline...
I could appear in time when he needed me, or suddenly appear to scare him and give him a surprise when he didn't need me... All these imaginations made the ticket in front of me more tempting.
She subconsciously wanted to reach out and take it——
The insidiousness of the Star Core lies in the fact that they did not directly use the void itself to seduce Eula, but instead used an object to weaken her willpower. As long as Eula holds the ticket, even if it is just touching it, this desire will be taken advantage of by them and turn Eula into a puppet like Cocolia.
"Damn woman - take it quickly, this is what you've been pursuing all your life, why can't you hold back?"
But Eula paused again under the temptation of the star core. A look of struggle appeared on her face. The light of the Eye of God shone brightly, and she began to resist the erosion of her mind:
"Not so fast... No, that's not right! Sora said it would take three weeks to make a ticket..."
"???"
The star core is a little numb.
How can you be so logical, woman? That's the symbol of your love and friendship! Don't be such a spoiler, okay?
I never thought that one day the Star Core would actually rely on and beg a human to abandon its own rationality, even though it clearly despised this part that could not be eaten.
Today we have decided on this body!
The remaining divine power of mutual destruction was still there. Seeing that the temptation had only taken a little effect, the star core was running out of time. Regardless of whether doing so would cause excessive load on Eula's body and cause them to be damaged, they tried their best to drill into her brain.
"Take it!"
The "Kong" in the illusion changed his nervousness and prepared to force the sale, stuffing the ticket into Eula's hand.
"!"
Then they were kicked by Eula.
The couple's usual quarrels are not so gentle, because Kong is too tough, sometimes when Eula practices with Kong, she will really pretend to play SM and beat him to death. This is something that Xinghe cannot understand. After all, they have sampled too few samples of the way "Genshin Impact" gets along with people from other worlds. A normal person would travel to Teyvat on the spot after being kicked by Eula - their bodies cannot withstand it in the illusion.
Kong was kicked apart, making Eula suddenly realize that she was "dreaming" and immediately fled backwards. The angry Star Core condensed its body again, and could only maintain a half-human, half-ghost appearance, showing Eula a hideous face:
"Submit to our will!!"
"Damn it, if Sora had been half as proactive as this fake when pursuing me - I can't even imagine how happy our married life would be!!"
"???"
The world of consciousness is indeed uncontrollable. Even though her life is in danger, Eula's mental state is still a bit chaotic.
Hearing those complaints, the star core began to heat up.
The despair and hatred they expected, Eula didn't have any of that. This woman was clearly talking about revenge, but she was always complaining in her heart that she didn't play enough with Sora, that she didn't have enough time alone at night, and so on. And all of these were subconscious thoughts -
The angry star core once again caused the illusion to sway and almost collapse, and the lights in the train scene turned into the color of lava.
"boom--!"
But it seemed that it was not just the excitement of the star core that was affecting the spiritual world... At the moment when the grinning freak almost caught Eula, they both heard an unnatural roar coming from above their heads.
"Wow wow wow!!!"
Maybe it was because what she learned in the light cone was too different from what she experienced in actual operation. Her physical fitness was not as strong as Sora's. The feeling of weightlessness made Estelle's lower abdomen itch violently. She also forgot to turn off the external speakers of Titan. At the end of the acceleration, accompanied by a scream that tore the atmosphere apart, the high-pitched female voice hit the area where the star core and Eula were from far to near, blowing both of them away on the spot -
"Shield, is the shield deployed normally? Oh, it's okay."
The Titan stood up from the shield and scanned his landing site with his single eye. He took out his plasma machine gun and immediately found Eula lying in the snow.
“…Eula-san!! Ugh, could it be that I crushed her to death when I fell down just now?? It’s over, what should I do?”
[Please calm down, Esta Pilot, her vital signs are intact and she is not injured. ]
The volunteer AI from Screw Star tried to calm the rich lady down.
The collapsed Eula looked up and realized that she was back in that damn snow. The confusion on her face slowly subsided and she waved to Ester who entered in a high-profile manner.
"... Fleming, help me get it out of my head. I've made a note of it. Be careful. The star core has only been temporarily dispersed. It has not been destroyed."
"...? It's over. It seems like we smashed Eula's head."
The rich woman had only heard of Eulaji making enemies, but had never heard of her wanting to repay a favor, and for a moment she trembled a little.
"This is also a grudge, remembering that you saw my embarrassing side."
She picked up the big sword, her body staggering a little. In the battle against the erosion of the star core just now, the elemental power stored in the Eye of God was almost exhausted, and she had entered Ultraman's red light state.
But she still held the sword and shouted to Ester:
"Wait, Fleming, let me tell you a secret that only we know - let's make sure you are a real person!"
"Hey, so sudden?? Can I open a private channel?"
"The private channel is being interfered with, hurry up!"
"Well, um, the winning model you asked me to buy for you, Sister Eula, has arrived... the black one with butterfly cutouts... I remember you chose it so it would be easier to sit on. Is that okay?"
The neuro-synchronized Titan actually made some awkward movements, which was inconsistent with its rather imposing appearance.
【…】
The female omnic from Screw Star who assisted in operating the Titan selectively deleted some of the information she had just heard.
"Okay, that's enough. You can ask me one too."
"No... there are companions coming in from behind... I don't want to die socially yet."
While Ester was helping Eula to self-destruct, Xier, Banya and the students rushed in from the opening of the rift.
"Senior Eula! Are you okay? Watch out behind you!"
The star core that had just condensed into a little shape was shattered by Asuna's short burst of shots: "Come to our side quickly! There's something dirty!"
“???” I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but the star core that Eula used to pass through every time she attacked, after being attacked by Asuna, the speed at which its shadow reorganized slowed down.
"It almost happened, tsk."
After she recovered, she felt annoyed at her own arrogance and a little regretful about being a lone wolf. Eula was very glad that her rivals came to help her at the critical moment.
These little girls are more aggressive than each other in fighting for food, but building good relationships can really help at critical moments. Isn't that a great help?
"Is that a star core? It actually landed near it—"
The instrument was interfered with, but the benefits of the built-in mental link were reflected. Even though some electronic equipment was unusable, Titan still fired two missiles at the shadow behind Eula.
"——Damn woman!! Shell!! Come back!"
The somewhat crazy golden shadow allowed the missile to pass through it, and rushed towards Eula with all its might, as if it had locked onto her, or as if it had understood the true meaning of hunting and was determined to chase her to the death.
"Eula, I'm going to release electronic smoke!"
The size of the Star Core was much different from that of the Mother of Illusion, but its violent posture was like stepping on a dog strip, causing everyone who suddenly engaged in the battle to use their ultimate moves together.
"To protect and defend!"
The vengeful knight, whose muscles were aching, only saw a flash of green on Bronya's body in the distance, and she became lighter on her feet and jumped to avoid the e-cigarette grenade thrown by Ester.
The star core covered by thunderclouds let out a sharp explosion, and its golden body twisted into several scattered arcs. Estelle, who had done her homework on the star core well, learned a lot of strategies to deal with it from her teacher.
"I can only suppress it for a short while. Its energy level is so high. Is it because it has been blessed by the Star God?"
"Hana Rin!"
"Received, Senior!"
Heipi immediately lay down, and the large-caliber ammunition shot away the phantom claw that emerged from the smoke, causing it to scream even louder than being electrocuted.
"You, who are you, why can you attack us——"
"..."
At the moment of firing, the halos above Karin and Asuna's heads lit up, as if some kind of energy was supporting the bullets to be fired.
Being hurt by that extremely terrifying existence, Star Core experienced the emotion called fear for the first time.