The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"Elysia, it's time to wake up~"

A gentle voice sounded in her ear, awakening Elysia's consciousness from its slumber.

And when she opened her eyes, what she saw was a warm, burning campfire.

This was a small wooden cabin, simply and plainly decorated. The orange-red firelight from the center of the room illuminated the entire space. Although it was narrow and simple, it gave people a feeling of security.

And sitting on this side of the room was an important person that Elysia could never mistake.

"Lee...?"

"Yes, not an imposter."

Wearing a white dress, Lee sat by the fire and added wood to it, while smiling gently at Elysia. "How did you sleep?"

"Sleep? I don't know....."

Elysia felt confused.

What exactly happened? And where was this place?

She looked out the window of the wooden cabin. The wind and snow were howling outside, making it impossible to see the way.

"If you didn't sleep well, you might not have a chance to try again for a short time..... But it doesn't matter, after this, you will definitely have time to rest well." Lee followed Elysia's gaze and looked out the window. "This place is quite nice, right? I quite like this kind of place, small and very secure."

"Where exactly is this place?" Elysia couldn't help but ask.

"This is your dream." Speaking of this, Lee thought for a moment, smiled and shook her head. "No, perhaps it's more accurate to say it's our dream."

"Do you still remember what happened before?"

As soon as Lee mentioned this topic, the memories that had been dormant in Elysia's mind quickly surged up.

That's right, that day she handed her Herrscher Core to Lee, but the other party suddenly merged the core into her body, acting like..... like those real Herrschers!

And then she was—

Elysia's eyes flashed with a trace of confusion. Was she dead?

But if she was dead, why was she still sitting here now?

"Elysia, you're not dead. There's a vast future waiting for you." Lee smiled. "At that time, I just made you faint..... I'm sorry to scare you, but I had no other choice."

"What exactly happened.....?"

She couldn't figure it out. In her memory, not long ago she was fighting Lee with her life on the line, but after falling at Lee's hands, she came directly to this place..... Was it a flashback, or a Herrscher's consciousness attack or something?

But Lee now looked indeed without any hostility, and she also said that this was 'our' dream.....

"The details are hard to explain in a short time..... Simply put, you are now in The Great Hibernation." Lee explained softly.

"The Great Hibernation?" Elysia's doubts grew stronger. Of course, she knew about The Great Hibernation, but wasn't that a tool that would only be used when going to the next civilization? They hadn't gone to fight the Herrscher of Finality yet, so why was she in it?

It could only be Lee's doing. But if she wasn't a Herrscher, why—

At this moment, seeing Elysia's confusion, Lee briefly explained her previous plan to her.

"That's it. I wanted to contain everyone's consciousness in the Herrscher Core, and then take them to the next civilization. One day, when this civilization defeats the Honkai, they will be resurrected in this new civilization."

Shaking her head apologetically at Elysia, Lee said regretfully, "It's just that for some reason, it's difficult to collect the consciousness of Herrschers. Even when their emotions are in a state of fluctuation, it's like this. So in the end, I could only put you in The Great Hibernation..... In the worst-case scenario, when you wake up, you may have to live alone in the new civilization for thousands of years, I'm sorry."

Elysia opened her mouth. She wanted to ask too many things, but for a moment she didn't know where to start. In the end, she could only pick a question that she cared about most now.

"Then what about you?"

".....Elysia, I remember you telling me about your dream before." Without answering Elysia's question, Lee smiled and talked about another topic. "You said that one day you wanted to create a flawless paradise like your name, an eternal Elysian Realm, right?"

"Yes..... But why are you suddenly talking about this?"

"Nothing, it's just that I don't seem to have given you any gifts." Lee smiled lightly. "So I wanted to give you something special enough..... Although it's more like a responsibility."

"The gift will probably be brought to you by Kevin – of course, although the possibility is very small, maybe I will give it to you personally."

"It's the Eighth Divine Key~"

"Eighth Divine Key? Where did it come from—wait, you mean?!"

Elysia's pupils shrank, and she had guessed what Lee was talking about.

The numbering of Divine Keys all came from the sequence of the Herrscher Cores they used. The First Herrscher's core was the First Divine Key, the Second Herrscher's core was the Second Key.

But there had never been an Eighth Divine Key, because the Eighth Herrscher's core had been transplanted to Lee from the beginning. It could be said that Lee herself was the Eighth Divine Key.

And what Lee meant now was obviously not to give herself to her. Then there was only one possibility as the Eighth Divine Key, and that was Lee's Herrscher Core that contained the consciousness of more than 100 million people!

But if she didn't have the core, then Lee.....

So that's it, she had already thought about it from the beginning – Lee had no intention of surviving.

She was no match for Kevin. She probably decided from the beginning that after collecting the consciousness of other people, she would pretend to be a Herrscher and die at Kevin's hands.

"Lee, you—"

"There's no need to waste your breath, Elysia. I'm just a consciousness." Lee shook her head. "After knocking you down at that time, I was worried that you wouldn't understand the situation when you woke up, so I separated a wisp of consciousness in your mind to explain the process to you..... This wisp of consciousness will only be activated when The Great Hibernation is about to end the freezing. It will combine with your own will to construct such a dream."

"Then doesn't that mean....."

"Yes, it's no longer necessary."

"....." Elysia was silent.

The Great Hibernation's freezing lasted for tens of thousands of years.

In other words, all the stories she wanted to change had already ended tens of thousands of years ago.

"So, now you know what happened." Lee gently pointed to the small door of the wooden cabin. "Walk out from here, and you can wake up."

"Then..... what about you?" Elysia subconsciously asked this question again. "Come with me?"

And Lee just smiled calmly. "I'll stay here, Elysia."

"....." Not knowing what she was thinking, Elysia lowered her head and didn't mean to get up.

Seeing this, Lee's smile became gentler and more helpless.

"Elysia, dreams are meant to be woken up from. As a person who spans two civilizations, your burden is very heavy. You have to protect everyone."

"But, if you're not here, Lee....."

"It doesn't matter, Elysia. The road ahead will always make people feel confused, and it's inevitable to be nervous."

Lee stood up and took Elysia's hand, leading her to the small door next to her.

"But I think you will definitely have no problem with the road ahead."

Gently pushing open the door, in the howling snow and light, Lee smiled at Elysia.

"After all, the darkness at dawn is over. What will be written next must be your story, full of sunshine and hope~"

"—!"

Under the glass of the mud-covered hibernation pod, the eyes that had been sleeping for tens of thousands of years suddenly opened.