I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

What? You're asking why it wasn't dyed the color of a black snake?

Don't even think about it, never in this lifetime. Gretchen absolutely will not allow herself to be tainted by that dark, obviously abnormal color. What if she goes bad?

And so, to help unlock the snake, the little girl stayed up most of the night, working tirelessly.

……

In Kosich's dream...

"How can this be……"

Having lost the game, Kosic is now listening to his subordinates' report in shock, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"How could Ursus... possibly be destroyed by a bunch of rabble! This is impossible!"

"bump--"

Just then, the mansion gate was kicked open from the outside, and as the gate opened, scorching flames with terrifying heat swept in from the outside.

"Nothing is impossible, Kosichek... It's time for things to come to an end between us."

As she spoke, Talulah walked in from outside the door, and with each step she took, the earth seemed to melt a little more...

"End it? Hahaha, you can't kill my Talulah... my good daughter."

Koschl, who had initially looked incredulous, relaxed upon seeing Talulah and burst into laughter.

"I may have lost this game, but if you can't kill me, I still have a chance to make a comeback!"

"is it?"

Hearing Koschei's words, the mature dragon girl's expression remained unchanged. She simply gripped her sword tighter and stared sharply at her prey.

In the next instant, terrifying flames erupted, like a red dragon on a hunt, fierce and scorching.

"It's just a body... What! Ahhh!"

Facing Talulah's most terrifying flames, Koschei showed no sign of tension... until he was surrounded by the flames.

Both the physical body and the will were incinerated in intense pain... and finally turned into a pile of dirty ashes.

……

"...What just happened?"

Coming to his senses, Kosiché stood in his mansion, reflecting on his momentary lapse in concentration.

……

"How is this possible... How could the mighty Ursus be split apart... How dare these ants!"

……

"I'll come back stronger! You can't kill a snake... Ah, how is that possible! Ahhh!"

……

"What just happened?"

----------------

"Ah woo~"

After yawning, Gretchen blinked her large, moist eyes and then stopped painting.

It took her almost the entire night, and it was nearly dawn, before she finally finished the second painting, thus creating a perfect closed loop for the Black Snake.

Tonight, besides the unexpected success of allowing Gretchen to unlock Mebius, we'll also be able to deal with the slightly troublesome Black Serpent.

"..."

Just as Gretchen was about to raise her hand to rub her large, watery eyes and rest for a moment, the azure-blue knight suddenly appeared silently beside her.

"...?"

After the knight appeared, he gently grasped Gretsch's slender wrist, stopping her from rubbing her eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, a basin of water and a towel appeared, and they gently wiped the little girl's hands.

It was at this moment that Gretchen noticed the paint that had somehow gotten on her hands.

"Thank you, Sir Knight..."

?;

After wiping the paint off Gretsch's hands, the azure knight disappeared again, vanishing into the shadows.

After rubbing her eyes with her clean little hands, Gretchen took down the painting she had just finished from the easel, jumped off the small stool, and walked towards the bedside.

Although she created a nightmare loop for Black Serpent, there's still one task she hasn't completed.

After walking to the bedside, Gretchen placed the painting in her hand next to Talulah, whose body was shrouded in black mist, and then picked up her paintbrush again.

As the colorful paintbrush lightly touched the painting, the vibrant colors exploded rapidly, the surface of the painting began to distort, and then it gradually absorbed the black mist from Talulah's body.

As the last wisp of black mist entered the painting, Talulah, who was originally depicted being entangled in the black mist, quickly transformed into a coiled black serpent with its eyes closed, as if it were having a nightmare.

"Ugh... I'm so sleepy."

Right now, Gretchen is in a strange state of being very happy... but also very sleepy.

This time, however, she could finally relax completely. The black snake had been captured inside the painting, and all she had to do to kill it was tear the painting apart.

Of course, Gretchen isn't planning to do it yet, because her Grandma Möbius hasn't been unlocked yet.

Once it's unlocked, she plans to give the painting of the imprisoned black snake to Tarua as a second gift.

"..."

After blinking her half-open eyes, Gretchen glanced at Talulah, who was lying on the bed, seemingly lost in a dream influenced by the painting, and suddenly had some bold ideas.

After having a new idea, she started to take action again.

Greta first put away the painting in front of her, then carefully climbed onto the bed and slowly moved towards the dragon girl.

Finally, she lifted her smooth, snow-white bare feet... and straddled Talulah's waist.

"..."

Then, Gretchen, her face expressionless but her eyes full of laughter, picked up her paintbrush...

……

After finishing everything, Gretchen finally lay down on the bed again, although not sleeping all night had no effect on her as a fusion warrior.

But she's really sleepy right now...

Moreover, if Gretchen were in the Honkai world right now, given her current bedtime, she would probably have been "kindly" persuaded to go to sleep by Aponia long ago.

"call……"

She gently turned over, reached out her small hands and hugged Talulah's slender, warm dragon tail, then slowly closed her big eyes.

“An’an… Tarua…”

P.S.: To be honest, I only realized it belatedly that...

I haven't played the storyline in a long time because I quit the game, and then I forgot a detail.

That is, I've been writing that the protagonist calls her Aunt Mebius, but actually, Ellie seems to have misled her into calling her Grandma. I'll revise it in a bit.

Please vote! Chapter 2 should be updated after 12 o'clock today, because I have some things to do tonight.

Chapter 22 Abandon Illusions, Begin the Struggle

At dawn, as the sun peeked over the horizon, casting rays of sunlight, everyone on the snowfield gradually awoke from their sleep and slowly began to stir around the camp.

"..."

Talulah, lying on the bed in the tent, slowly opened her eyes, but unlike when she usually woke up early... at this moment, her eyes were filled not only with confusion, but also with sadness and guilt.

But when she focused her gaze and clearly saw the scene before her, her pupils instantly contracted... her face filled with shock.

Talulah quickly sat up to check the situation, and just then, the sensation and pull from her tail made her turn her head to look.

When she saw the cute little girl hugging her own tail, her memories returned instantly, and she understood what had happened.

But it was precisely because her previous memories had returned that Talulah was even more shocked. She looked down at her palm and whispered, "Is this... the magic of painting?"

“Um… Ta… Tarua.”

As if sensing the movement of the person beside her, Gretchen shifted slightly, then tightened her grip on Talulah's tail, and murmured drowsily.

"call--"

Upon hearing this, Talulah let out a deep breath and stopped fidgeting with her tail, letting Gretsch continue to hold her. Then, she reached out and gently stroked Gretsch's soft hair, as if to confirm whether she was real.

?;

Even though all her memories have returned, Talulah still feels as if she has lived through another world.

In her dream last night, she experienced all of this alone, from having everything to having nothing...

Unlike Alina's observer's perspective, Talulah's dreams yesterday felt as if she had experienced them firsthand.

Whether it's Alina's death, his own grief and hatred, or being controlled by the Black Serpent and letting his companions die one by one... it all feels incredibly real.

It felt so real that when Talulah first opened her eyes, she began to wonder if she had been reborn, reborn back to two years ago...

However, she also noticed that things on her side weren't exactly the same as in her dream. A... cute yet incredibly capable little guy had changed the course of the story.

"I initially thought Alina was exaggerating, but I never expected..." Talulah withdrew her hand from Gretsch's soft hair and chuckled to herself in a voice only she could hear.

"?-?)?"

Although she was very sleepy, Gretchen slowly opened her eyes because someone kept patting her head, and squinted to check the current situation.

But when Talulah's face came into view...

“???)!”

Startled, Gretchen's drowsiness vanished considerably. However, she quickly realized that the thing on Talulah's face was actually her doing.

"Oh, sorry, I was a little excited and woke you up."

Seeing that Gretchen had been startled, Talulah subconsciously softened her voice and said softly.

"Oh...it's okay, is it because Tarua-neechan got up so early?"