Staring into the eyes of a stranger.
There was no way to fake that.
It was in that vigilant, even faintly repulsed look.
Bronya froze.
Now, no matter how much she tried to selectively ignore certain glaring errors, she could no longer deceive herself.
A harsh truth awaited her.
Right now, the short-haired, masked girl standing in front of her—no matter how much she resembled the one Bronya remembered—was nothing more than a deceiving double.
"So damn unreasonable."
The short-haired, masked girl… Seele, saw the gray-haired girl standing there stunned, her eyes blank with disbelief, and grumbled impatiently.
She didn't want anything to do with someone who, at first glance, was a walking red flag—basically hanging a sign around her neck that read "I'm a problem."
So, having planned to slip away unnoticed, she didn't stay a moment longer. She turned and ran toward the mouth of the alley.
Bronya stared at her retreating figure, watching as she finally left without hesitation.
"Seele~"
Unconsciously, Bronya reached out her hand.
But some things couldn't be said aloud.
The thought in her heart reminded her constantly: No one is obligated to be the shadow of someone else who merely resembles them.
If she kept clinging to the illusion, the future would only grow darker.
And yet—
"This should be what that person (Ling Ke) meant—before civilization."
Bronya was quietly analyzing the situation.
At this point, even though that person was already in her thoughts, she didn't want to... nor did she dare speak his name.
She could only refer to him as "that person."
Up ahead, the figure of "that Seele" had vanished at the alley's exit.
Suddenly—
Step~
Tap tap tap~
Bronya's legs moved on their own.
And her running speed increased rapidly, water splashing with each footfall.
She gave chase.
Even now, though she had lost the power of the Herrscher of Reason, the feeling in her legs had long since returned.
Clearly, she was desperate.
Otherwise, she would be floating just above the ground like usual.
But now—
"Since Bronya has arrived, no matter what plans she has for the future, she knows she must first find someone who understands this place."
Running, Bronya muttered to herself.
As if that explained it.
But in truth, only she knew what she was really thinking deep down.
Even she didn't want to admit it.
But now, every time she closed her eyes, the shattered image of Seele being struck like a fragile mirror rose unbidden before her.
She needed spiritual support.
And just seeing that familiar, deceiving silhouette... was enough to keep her from sinking completely into the abyss called "despair."
And so Bronya chased after her with emotional resolve.
Behind her, only a few unlucky souls remained scattered across the alley.
And—
"Do a good deed? Kindness gets punished? Bah!"
The only man still conscious climbed up from the ground, looked at his clothes and pants soaked and stained by dirty alley runoff, the scrape on the palm of his right hand from when he fell—and cursed, "Who did I offend? Who?!"
Today, there was one fewer good man in the world.
Looking again at those poor fellows on the ground...
Well, maybe more than one.
Meanwhile, inside the Dominator's theater—
"You really haven't changed at all, Bronya Zaychik."
In the pristine white palace, Ling Ke sat alone on his throne, watching a suspended oval "painted mirror" with a mocking expression.
This "empty painting mirror" was a manifestation of his "omniscient" ability.
By disabling the "future prediction" and "past retrospection" functions, Ling Ke could use it to observe anything happening in real-time, anywhere on the planet, at any moment.
To put it simply… well, it's basically the same as the Third Hokage's crystal ball in a certain Hidden Leaf Village, which he uses to peep at the opposite sex in the hot springs (not really).
Or, you could say it's like an EX-rank Clairvoyance ability, like that cheek-puffing flower magician who can see the world in real-time.
Unfortunately, Ling Ke hadn't drawn either of those character templates yet.
Fortunately, he didn't need them.
Anyway—
Right now, the mirror displayed a real-time view of the dark alley in Berlin.
Legs crossed, chin in hand, Ling Ke watched with complete ease and distance.
He observed Bronya, who had just arrived in this era, now chasing after that "Seele."
His gaze eventually landed on the two bystanders who could only curse their bad luck, unaware of the mess they'd stumbled into...
"Tsk tsk. So long as it has something to do with Seele, everything else—other people, other matters—is irrelevant."
Ling Ke narrowed his eyes slightly. "How pitiful, how pitiful."
"The 'Seele' you're chasing is far more cunning than the 'unrelated sister' you remember…"
When he said that, the corners of Ling Ke's mouth arched into an obvious smirk.
It's worth mentioning: this Seele was not a replacement doll created by the Dominator and dispatched here.
She was a real, living person who already existed in this era.
And on that basis—
"Her upbringing is different. So of course her personality is very different."
Ling Ke's eyes narrowed slightly. "This Seele... is quite the little liar!"
"And furthermore—"
This very Seele was the one who would become the Herrscher of Death during the Sixth Honkai Impact in the original historical timeline of the Pre-Civilization Era.
And now, she wasn't the only one who knew this.
Not just Ling Ke, who had known everything ahead of time—
But also Raiden Mei, another "returner."
Kevin Kaslana, who was rapidly building his own power.
The Gray Serpents under Kevin's command.
Mebius, who had gleaned plenty of future intel thanks to Gray Serpent's self-aggrandizement.
And since that latter intel was ever so slightly leaked... some of the high-ranking members of Fire Moth had also become aware.
It could be said that all the future Herrschers, the Fire Hunters who had yet to rise, and every future key player from the two aforementioned groups who would one day shine in this era—right now, all of them were standing on the edge, surrounded by wolves.
Only a few...
Like: Mei.
Or: Pardot.
They were lucky enough to already have a sponsor or backing powerful enough to ensure their personal safety—someone they could truly rely on.
But in contrast—
This Seele.
"When you come across someone who looks similar, don't go deceiving yourself or others with sentimentality, Silver Wolf of the Urals."
Ling Ke slapped the armrest of his throne with his left hand and, with the tone of someone watching a tragic play, sneered:
"'Lost limb,' then 'limb restored,' and then—'lost limb again.' That kind of taste…"
"…doesn't feel good."
"Can you survive it?"