In the lowest depths of the Sea of Quanta, in a world of absolute nothingness.

As the lowest energy point in the universe, the Rifts between worlds was the most perfect prison imaginable.

There was no sound, no smell, no sense of touch.

There was only an endless void.

The girl, already in a quantum state, had been in this space for more than four months, drifting along with the currents of the Sea of Quanta.

She was a pretty girl—or rather, so cute it was almost unreal.

Her blackish-blue, shoulder-length hair was soft and lustrous, and her sea-like eyes were magnificently beautiful. Her skin was snow-white, glowing with the luster of fine jade.

She hugged a small diary to her chest, curled up like a newborn kitten abandoned in a rainy night, shivering from the cold.

In the military, there is a punishment known as solitary confinement.

Inside the solitary confinement cell, the light is extremely dim, and there is no sound.

In such an oppressive place, no matter who is sent inside to reflect, they will suffer immense torment.

Often, after just one week of confinement, even the most arrogant new recruit will have their sharp edges worn down.

And the girl named Seele had already been in the Rifts between worlds, a place similar to solitary confinement, for over four months.

At some point, she lifted her head and opened the notebook she held tightly in her arms.

It was a very thin little book, a diary with a blue cover held shut by a butterfly-shaped clasp.

In her solitude, the girl recorded the beautiful things she had experienced, relying on reading her own past to maintain her sense of self.

However, the comfort a single notebook could provide was always limited.

When the not-so-thick notebook was flipped through to the end, the girl once again fell into solitude.

She hugged the notebook to her chest and continued to curl up.

In that state, she was as fragile as a flower ravaged by a storm.

If no one had come to encourage her, she would likely have broken down completely in the near future.

"So, you were here?"

A young man's voice rang out in this world where the concept of sound should not theoretically exist.

The girl, who had not heard even her own voice for a full four months, raised her head, a glimmer of light returning to her azure eyes.

Is someone there?

Joy washed over her heart like a tide.

However, no one appeared around her.

Was it a hallucination?

The girl, who had hallucinated the voices of everyone from the orphanage countless times before, saw her expression turn fragile once more.

That's right, how could anyone come to the bottom of the Sea of Quanta? Besides, even if someone passed by, it would be difficult for them to see me in my quantum state.

"It seems I've been ignored, have I?"

"Or perhaps, telepathy doesn't work on people in a quantum state?"

The voice that had sounded earlier echoed once again.

There really is someone!

Like a rising tide, joy surged in the girl's heart.

Has someone finally noticed me?

The overwhelming joy hammered at the girl's heart, causing her body to tremble slightly.

"Please try to calm down a little."

Seemingly aware of the girl's intense emotional fluctuations, the young man's voice became gentle, comforting her.

Just like my sister...

"If you have anything you want to say, you can tell me slowly after we get out. A broken place like the bottom of the Sea of Quanta is no place for a girl to be."

Is he here to save me?

The girl, who had once made a promise with Bronya, thought to herself.

"To free someone eroded by an excess of Honkai energy from their quantum state, you must use a sufficiently high-grade weapon to extract that excess Honkai energy from their body."

The young man's voice carried a clear note of apology, as if he was blaming himself.

"This might hurt a little, so please bear with it."

Please, don't worry about me. I can endure it.

The girl, who clearly feared loneliness far more than pain, repeated this silently in her heart, regardless of whether the other party could hear her.

Then, a number of golden chains materialized beside her, slithering like nimble snakes to climb onto her slender, delicate limbs, binding them.

Using the chains of Judah as a medium, the master of the Divine Key began to draw out the girl's power.

Having Honkai energy extracted was a very uncomfortable, even painful, experience, but it was all worth it.

As the Honkai energy was drawn out, the girl's body began to transform back toward a physical state.

And then—

An immense force traveled through the chains, pulling her upward.

Like a fish breaking the water's surface, the girl named Seele was pulled from the abyss known as the Rifts between worlds.

Then, the whisper of the wind and its vibrations reached Seele's ears.

Sunlight once again shone upon her body, bringing with it a long-missed warmth.

At this moment, the world was finally reconnected with her.

Am I... saved?

Tears fell from the corners of the girl's eyes.

"It seems you've been through a lot, Miss."

The young man, with a giant, chain-bound cross on his back, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and very gently wiped the tears from the corners of the girl's eyes.

"Is this the girl you went through so much trouble to save?"

A very cold voice sounded from the side.

The source of the voice was a man with pale hair and eyes like glaciers.

As he spoke, the temperature of the surrounding air seemed to drop by several degrees.

No, it wasn't 'seemed'—it was dropping.

The outsider's ability was to travel between different worlds with one other person and inanimate objects.

That position was undoubtedly very precious.

The New Ark Project involved either himself or Su occupying that position, carrying the human gene pool to a new world to establish a second home.

But the outsider was clearly planning to give the first slot to this very weak girl, who showed no signs of being special in any way, and take her away from this world.

Although the outsider had said he would do his best to help find a world suitable for rebuilding civilization, seeing is believing.

Compared to letting Li Zihan choose for him, Kevin was clearly more inclined to have himself or Su scout the environments of different worlds and repeatedly compare locations for rebuilding civilization.

This weak girl was obviously incapable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of scouting whether the outside world was suitable for humanity to rebuild.

Under that person's gaze, the girl, whose disposition was actually quite timid, couldn't help but tremble.

She could even feel the other her, the one who was always so strong-willed, shivering in fear.

That man... he was her natural enemy.

"Lord Kevin, please be a little gentler with the girl."

The youth, who was wiping the girl's tears, turned his head and spoke to the man whose entire body was suffused with a terrifying aura.

"Remember our deal."

The man with the cold expression moved his gaze, which was sharper than a blade's edge, away from the girl, and then spoke to the youth.

The youth didn't answer his question; he simply extended a hand to the girl.

"I'll take you out of the Sea of Quanta."