It had been a long time since Kiana had felt those emotions.
Sadness. Anger. Helplessness.
Not since she met Arthur.
Ever since he joined her on her journey, something had changed in her. Before, every step she took in search of her father was filled with an almost sickening urgency, as if time were slipping through her fingers and if she didn't run fast enough, if she didn't move quickly enough, she would lose the chance to find him forever.
But Arthur arrived, and everything became lighter.
Not because he solved her problems or gave her easy answers. On the contrary, Arthur was stubborn, sometimes too cautious, and always put that damned logic ahead of her impulses. But he was also the first to offer her his jacket when it was cold, the one who cooked for her and Emilia without complaining, the one who listened to her talk about her father for hours without interrupting.
The path toward her goal no longer seemed so bad.
Even the hard days, the rainy and cold days, the days when food was scarce and her legs refused to move—even those days were better with him by her side.
But now...
Now Arthur was in there.
In that damn factory.
Kiana clenched her fists. The snow crunched under her boots. The wind bit at her cheeks, but she didn't even feel it.
"He'll come back," Emilia said beside her. "He promised."
"I know," Kiana replied, and her voice sounded hoarser than she wanted. "I know."
But the words didn't ease the knot in her stomach.
That man pointing a gun at them. It was clearly not normal for someone like that to be in an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere.
Kiana remembered how Arthur had stood in front of them. How he had negotiated. How he had offered himself as a hostage so they could escape.
"We could go to the police," Emilia had suggested as they ran toward the exit. "The nearest town is three hours away. If we go fast, if we don't stop..."
"No," Kiana had interrupted her, her voice colder than she intended. "Three hours there. Three back. Plus the time it'll take to convince them to listen to us. Arthur doesn't have that much time."
Emilia had fallen silent.
Clearly, reporting it wasn't an option.
So all that was left was to wait.
Kiana hated waiting.
She had always hated it. When she was little and waited for her father to come home. When she grew up and waited for someone to explain why he had left her. When she began the journey and waited to find some clue, some sign, something that would bring her closer to him.
Always waiting.
"You know," Emilia said, breaking the silence with her soft voice, "when I spent the first week with you guys, I felt scared."
Kiana looked at her. She hadn't expected that.
"I know I'm a little smarter than the average kid," Emilia continued, her eyes still fixed on the factory. "But seeing Arthur… made me feel like a normal person."
"Arthur is weird," said Kiana, not quite sure why.
"Yeah," Emilia nodded.
The wind blew. The snow kept falling.
"He always tried to make me feel comfortable with this," said Emilia, her voice sounding softer now. "With the journey. With the danger. With everything. He never pressured me to be faster or stronger. He just… stayed with me."
"I mean," Emilia added, and for the first time she smiled. "We're kids. We should be playing, going to school, worrying about kid stuff. But here we are."
"And even so," Emilia continued. "With you and Arthur, I don't feel bad. I don't feel like my childhood was stolen from me. I feel… like I'm experiencing something important."
Kiana didn't know how to respond.
"That's why," said Emilia, and her voice grew firmer. "He's going to come back. Because if he doesn't come back, he's not just letting us down. He's letting himself down. And Arthur isn't that kind of person."
Kiana looked at her for a long time.
"You're smarter than I am," Kiana said at last.
"You're just now realizing that?" Emilia replied, and her smile grew a little wider.
Silence settled between them once more.
Kiana looked back toward the factory.
And then, the ground shook.
"An earthquake?" Emilia asked.
Kiana didn't answer. Not because she didn't know the answer, but because something inside her told her this wasn't a natural phenomenon.
It wasn't an earthquake.
It was an explosion.
The factory, which had been intact just seconds ago, was now nothing but rubble and flames.
Kiana froze.
"Arthur," she whispered.
The name slipped from her lips like a prayer. As if simply saying it could make him appear from the flames, unharmed, smiling.
But Arthur didn't appear.
"No…" Emilia said, her voice breaking. "It can't be."
Kiana didn't answer. She took a step. Then another. Then another.
"Kiana!" Emilia grabbed her arm. "You can't go in there! It's on fire!"
"Let go of me!" Kiana struggled, but Emilia wouldn't let go. "Arthur's in there!"
"You don't know that!"
"And you don't know if he's out there either!" Kiana shoved her.
The shove wasn't hard. She didn't mean to hurt her.
Kiana ran, leaving Emilia behind.
"Kiana!"
The scream echoed in the cold air, but Kiana didn't stop. She couldn't. Not now.
XXX
Do you know what it feels like when an explosion hits you? No? Well, I didn't know either a few minutes ago. At first, you feel nothing but something pushing you with all its might, and then numbness. A strange sensation, as if your body were no longer your own, as if you were floating in a vacuum without gravity, without weight, without pain.
But then the pain comes.
Oh, how I would have wished to die rather than endure this pain.
Feeling your leg twist at an angle that shouldn't be possible. Feeling your arm crushed under the weight of something you can't see, can't move, can't push away. Feeling something pierce your torso—something hot, something sharp, something that shouldn't be there.
In fact, I'm surprised I'm still alive at this point. The core beats faintly in my chest, like a distant drum. But it doesn't seem like it will last much longer. The energy is running out. Blood trickles through my fingers, hot, sticky, and I can't stop it.
I'm starting to feel sleepy.
I just hope Kiana and Emilia are far enough away.
Goodbye.
…
…
…
[Congratulations, you have just killed an Emperor-class Honkai beast]
[You have received Avalon, the legendary pod that can heal any physical damage—too bad it doesn't cure its user's stupidity]
Or maybe not.
XXX
Kiana's voice echoed through the rubble, desperate, broken. She ran toward the spot where she'd seen the explosion, pushing aside metal sheets with her bare hands, burning her palms, not caring.
"Arthur, it's me! Answer me!"
Nothing.
Just the crackling of the fire. Just the crunching of the rubble. Just silence.
"Please!" she shouted, her voice breaking. "You said you'd come back!"
Emilia came running up behind her, panting, her cheeks streaked with soot and tears.
"Kiana..."
"Help me look!" Kiana interrupted, pushing aside more rubble. "He has to be here!"
Emilia didn't argue. She knelt down beside her and began to clear away bricks, beams, pieces of what had once been a wall. Her hands were bleeding, but she didn't complain.
"Where is he?" Kiana murmured, more to herself than to Emilia. "Where, where, where?"
There was only rubble.
Twisted metal. Broken bricks. Shattered glass. Nothing else.
Kiana stopped. Her hands, bloodied and trembling, fell to her sides. Her breathing was ragged, uneven, as if she'd been holding her breath for too long.
"It can't be," she whispered. "It can't be, it can't be, it can't be..."
Emilia looked at her. Her sad eyes, glistening with tears that hadn't yet fallen, reflected the same fear Kiana felt.
"Kiana..."
"No!"
Kiana began clearing away the rubble again. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the soot, leaving trails on her skin.
"Idiot," she muttered. "Idiot, idiot, idiot. You said you'd come back. You said you'd never leave me. Don't lie to me, Arthur. Don't lie to me."
And then, something moved among the rubble.
Kiana froze. Her bloodied hands hung in the air, halfway between one pile of rubble and the next.
"Arthur?"
Silence. The fire crackled in the distance. Smoke rose toward the gray sky. And then, again, a movement. Stronger this time. A mound of rubble shifted, and a hand appeared among the debris.
A small hand. Dirty. Bleeding. But alive.
"Arthur!" Kiana lunged toward him, pushing the rubble aside with a strength she didn't know she had. "Arthur, it's me! Kiana!"
There was no answer. Just that hand, reaching out toward her, clutching at the void.
Emilia came to her side, clearing away debris as well, her hands trembling but determined.
"Help me lift him up!" Kiana ordered, and Emilia obeyed without hesitation.
Together they cleared away the debris covering Arthur's body. He was lying on his back, his clothes burned and his face smudged with soot and blood.
"Arthur!" Kiana turned him over carefully, resting his head on her knees. "Open your eyes! Please!"
Arthur blinked slowly. His glassy eyes took a moment to focus on her.
"Kiana?" His voice was barely a whisper, broken, barely audible.
"Yes!" she nodded, feeling the tears finally fall onto his face. "It's me! Come on, we have to get you out of here!"
Arthur tried to smile, but only managed a grimace of pain. His chest rose with difficulty, and a dry cough shook his body.
Emilia knelt on the other side, her hands trembling. Together, carefully, they helped him sit up. Arthur groaned; his legs barely responded, and Kiana felt the weight of his body against hers.
Between the two of them, they lifted him. It was slow. Painful. Every step was torture. Arthur breathed with difficulty, his head hanging slightly, but his feet kept moving, dragging.
I definitely never want to go through that again. Arthur thought.
But even as he thought it, he knew it was a lie. He would go through it again. He knew it. Because if he had to choose between this and letting Kiana or Emilia go into that place... he would choose this again. Over and over. Until his body couldn't take it anymore.
"Lean on me more," Kiana said beside him, her voice hoarse from smoke and tears. "Don't be stubborn."
"I'm not stubborn," Arthur muttered, though every word took an enormous effort.
"Yes, you are. You're the most stubborn person I know."
"You know very few people."
"Shut up."
Arthur almost smiled. Almost. But the pain reminded him that smiling required muscles that, at that moment, preferred not to function.
On his other side, Emilia walked in silence. She said nothing, but Arthur could feel her small hand gripping his waist, holding him up, making sure he didn't fall.
"Thank you," Arthur whispered, so softly he could barely hear himself.
Emilia didn't answer. But her hand tightened a little more.
Avalon. King Arthur's legendary scabbard that accompanied him throughout his reign, until it vanished in the final battle of Camlann. It was said to be capable of healing any mortal wound, even regenerating vital organs like the heart. It was said to grant immortality to its bearer, as long as the scabbard remained by his side. If King Arthur hadn't lost the scabbard on that fateful day, his reign would have continued, his legend would have grown, and perhaps he would never have fallen.
And at this moment, Avalon was working at full power.
The heat enveloped Arthur's chest, slowly spreading through every inch of his body.
Which was good, because right now he was definitely going to need it.
CRACK.
The sound came from the crater.
"What was that?" Emilia asked, her voice trembling.
Kiana didn't answer. Her eyes were fixed on the crater, where something was beginning to rise.
The Honkai energy in that spot, after the explosion, had multiplied.
Enough to spawn something worse.
"No," Arthur muttered, his voice breaking. "No, no, no..."
The birth of a Herrscher brings with it several Honkai beasts.
Figures began to emerge from the crater. Small at first. The size of a dog. Then larger. The size of a car. Then more. And more. And more.
"Shit"