[Save me... Aren't you the Savior... Why won't you save me...]
The voices in her head grew stronger, as if thousands upon thousands of people needed to be saved...
[I'm right here... come help me... I don't want to die...]
[Mom... where are you... can you let me see her one more time...]
Penglaiji Ryn covered her ears and shook her head vigorously, trying to shake the voices out of her mind.
"I'm sorry... you're already dead! We have more important things to do right now, so..."
[See, the Savior is just a lie after all...]
[It's a lie... a lie... you liar!]
[Liar! Liar! Liar!]
*Zzzzt—*
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Chaotic curses, accompanied by overwhelming resentment, filled Penglaiji Ryn's mind, causing her so much pain that she couldn't even stand up.
"See, I told you that being a savior never ends well..."
Tianqi's figure appeared beside Ryn, draping itself over him, watching indifferently as Penglaiji Ryn struggled in the resentment of the wraiths.
"If you want to help, then do it. If you don't, then don't stand there making snide remarks..."
"Alright~ I've been wanting to make a move for a while. Let me just slap all these annoying wraiths to death. That'll solve the problem once and for all!"
"..." Ryn helplessly pinched Tianqi's cheek and then sent it away.
Then, Ryn placed his hand on Penglaiji Ryn's forehead, creating one mental barrier after another to block out the wraiths.
To Ryn, Bronya, and the others, the wraiths were just ordinary whispers of resentment. But for the girl whose Stigmata they were attached to, Penglaiji Ryn, it wasn't just whispers, but also the most genuine emotions from the despair of countless souls...
"Big Brother Ryn... I..."
Penglaiji Ryn's eyes dimmed. Ryn's barrier had taken effect, but the lingering resentment of the wraiths still constantly affected her.
"I'm sorry... for making you bear something you shouldn't have to." Ryn patted Penglaiji Ryn's head, comforting her.
Penglaiji Ryn was, after all, just a sixteen-year-old child, and her memories were incomplete... the interference from these wraiths was too much for her.
"Leave the rest to me..."
Ryn's consciousness sank into Penglaiji Ryn's mind. The wraiths didn't dare to interfere with Ryn, so Ryn would go to them himself.
Countless wraiths, a dark, oppressive mass, filled the entire world. The unwillingness to die, the pain, the despair, saturated the entire soul world.
Every second of every minute, they used the most dangerous words in the world to curse the culprit who caused all this. They were all suffering residual souls killed by the Honkai, unable to find peace.
This was one of the truths about the Honkai and Stigmata... The Honkai kills the material existence of living beings, causing them to become souls that leave the material world...
But the Stigmata Space created by ME blocked the path for souls to return to the Pure Land, imprisoning the wraiths in the Stigmata Space for all eternity...
(The characterization of Dr. MEI in GGZ and HI3 is very different. In HI3, she's a good person, but in GGZ, Dr. MEI is a complete bastard.)
Ryn's soul had already achieved immortality through the tempering of the Sea of Trees, otherwise, the Guixu Divine Turtle wouldn't have appeared to deal with his severed limbs.
The massive figure of Ryn stood tall in the hearts of all the wraiths. The pressure from his soul made them all shut their mouths.
"All of you, shut up. Anyone who keeps blabbering, I'll slap them dead right now. I'm not as nice as Penglaiji Ryn, who you're possessing, who will just silently endure you. From now on, anyone who interferes with her again, I'll slap them dead.
I'm giving you two choices now. One, lend all your power to Penglaiji Ryn. Two, I'll slap you all dead right now."
[Don't even think about it! You liars!]
[You can't change anything!]
[This damn Stigmata has imprisoned us for countless eons, and you still want us to give it power? Impossible!!]
"Hmm? I almost forgot to tell you, as long as we can defeat Kiana, we can save the world and set you free from here, allowing your souls to return to the Pure Land."
After saying that, Ryn left that space. He didn't have time to deal with these wraiths. Once they defeated Kiana and successfully converted this Stigmata world into a real world, these trapped souls would all get a chance at reincarnation...
After Ryn left, the wraiths fell into an eerie silence, each soul opening and closing its mouth, not knowing what to say...
[Let's give it a try... what if it's true...]
[Let's take a gamble. If we fail, they'll just end up here too...]
But like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, as one wraith began to extend its hand to transfer its power to Penglaiji Ryn, the other wraiths followed suit one after another.
The soul of a single person may be weak, but what about the power of billions of human souls from an entire world? What's more... humans weren't the only species killed by the Honkai.
The entire Earth, once destroyed by Kiana, all the living beings killed by the Honkai were imprisoned in Penglaiji Ryn's Stigmata Space.
By the time Ryn emerged from the depths of Penglaiji Ryn's mind, the person before him was completely different.
Soul and body are complementary. Boosted by the soul power of all living beings, Penglaiji Ryn's entire spirit had changed, her body emitting faint wisps of golden light.
The Stigmata on the back of Penglaiji Ryn's hand radiated a warm sensation, and the power emanating from it was constantly strengthening her body.
Upon receiving this power, Penglaiji Ryn already understood what Ryn had done.
There was no longer any need to thank Ryn with words. Penglaiji Ryn now knew what she had to do.
With the help of all the living beings of the world, Penglaiji Ryn, who was already blessed by the world, could now command even more of this world's power. As long as she was in this world, it wasn't impossible for her to defeat Finality on her own.
"Sorry to have worried everyone. I accidentally got lost at a crossroads in life just now. But now, the Savior who has found herself and gained new power has returned at full health!"
"Then let's hurry up and go! There's not much time left."
The others, who had already reached the next level through the hole Theresa had smashed in the ceiling, all smiled and extended their hands to Penglaiji Ryn and Ryn, who were still on the level below.
"You two, we've been waiting for you for a long time!"
——————————————
Sin Mal walked at the very back of the group. Although she kept shouting, "I'll stay at the back and cover your rear!" everyone was not a fool and could clearly see that something was wrong with her.
Because everyone thought Sin Mal was avoiding Bronya and Seele, they didn't pay much attention to her. After all, neither Bronya nor Sin Mal knew how to face each other right now.
Ryn quietly slowed his pace to walk alongside Sin Mal.
"How much longer can you hold on?" Ryn asked in a low voice.
But Sin Mal seemed not to hear him, her eyes staring blankly ahead as she walked forward.
"Hmm? Didn't you hear me? Has the Honkai erosion gotten that serious?"
Ryn placed his hand on the back of Sin Mal's neck to check the speed of the Honkai energy erosion.
The Sin Mal of this world had died long before the Great Honkai Eruption, so as long as Sin Mal remained here, she would continuously resonate with the deceased Sin Mal, moving towards the already occurred outcome of death.
Being touched by Ryn, the dazed Sin Mal instantly came to her senses and slapped his hand away.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Just checking your condition... The Honkai energy erosion is very serious..."
"Are you underestimating me? I've long since gotten used to this little bit of pain!"
"This isn't a matter of getting used to it. If this continues, you'll be completely eroded by the Honkai, fully assimilated with this world, and you won't be able to return to the real world. We must have Yiselian cut your connection to this Stigmata Space immediately."
"Cut the crap. Isn't my power indispensable for the final plan? If my power is missing, this world will definitely be doomed.
If the world is doomed, Seele and Bronya will definitely die... The Bronya and Mom waiting for us in the real world will be disappointed in me too...
So I will hold on until the very last moment. Don't worry, the Honkai can't break my will!"
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[This next part isn't part of the plot, consider it a supplement and some words from the author!]
(Time in the soul world is different from reality. One minute in reality could be tens of thousands or thousands of years in the soul world and Stigmata world.
So the actual time God Kiana existed is not just the 42,000 years of reality...
There's a very obvious point in the game about the different flow of time in the two worlds.
Let me tell you a dark joke. In a very short period of time in reality... Kiana was killed by the Will Coordinator in the Stigmata Space at least forty-five trillion times. Her shattered flesh and blood, through her indomitable will, split into at least ninety trillion Kianas...
While being killed by the Will Coordinator, Kiana was also saving all the souls of those killed by the Honkai. In the end, relying on the soul power of countless living beings, she defeated the Will Coordinator.
Speaking of which, I have to mention the text description from this part of the game that I saw back then... it gave me the creeps.
「Delicate souls are like a golden dream」
「A sudden rain of brain, blood, and flesh from a cruel mouth」
「The girl is crying」
Now think about what I said above, about Kiana being killed by the Will Coordinator forty-five trillion times...
Honkai Impact 3rd's Kiana gets beaten black and blue, Honkai Gakuen 2's Kiana gets beaten into pieces.)