"Kiana, reality is like this. Sometimes, to gain something, you have to give something up."
Fu Hua stood beside the staring Kiana and advised her softly.
As a warrior of the Previous Era, in order to protect the sparks of humanity, she had sacrificed herself, time, and emotions—those precious existences in the eyes of ordinary people had all slowly faded away in the passage of years.
With Kiana's demonstration, everyone knew that taking that step would result in mission failure and punishment.
And all of this was fake, just bubbles within the Challenge Space.
Knowing clearly it was fake, why still go to save them?
This was a rational decision!
"I know, Class Monitor. It's just... I feel a bit bad. If given another chance, I would still do the same thing."
Kiana shook her head, expressing her understanding.
Beside her, Bronya blinked her eyes and said nothing.
In the image.
Black clouds pressed down on the city, and heavy rain poured.
Raindrops struck the muddy ground, making a pitter-patter sound.
The girl's slow footsteps echoed with the roars of the Honkai Beasts.
The mother and daughter's cries of grief and despair were so helpless.
Bronya knew what was about to happen.
She also knew what kind of choice Yunduo would make.
"Sister Yunduo..."
Bronya murmured, a glint flickering in her eyes.
Everyone held their breath; Yunduo continued to walk forward silently.
It seemed the roars of the Honkai Beasts were truly too noisy; she finally reached an open area and stopped.
"Tsk~"
The girl made an irritated sound, not looking at the mother and daughter kneeling on the ground.
She didn't even give them a glance, as if even a single look would give rise to hesitation.
"I'm not saving people. I just don't like the look of these Honkai Beasts," she whispered to herself.
After speaking, the girl gripped her baseball bat and blocked the path of the Sanctum-level Honkai Beasts.
Just like Kiana, their choices were the same.
Except the latter was a bit more tsundere about it.
Seeing this scene, Bronya revealed a faint smile without even realizing it herself.
This was the Sister Yunduo she was familiar with.
Gentle yet resolute, lazy yet decisive, and occasionally a little tsundere.
At the same time, Fu Hua froze for a moment, then silently said: "Kiana, you two are really alike. My perception was flawed."
"Ah? It's fine. Actually, I knew she would do this, but I didn't expect her to be even less honest than this lady," Kiana tilted her head, "Only, has the mission failed now? Why hasn't Yunduo come back yet?"
"After I did those things just now, the last thing I saw was a pair of golden eyes, and then my body lost control."
"Eh? Why is there still an image?"
After listening, everyone instinctively looked at the screen that had suddenly turned dark and was now flickering with light.
It was true.
Unlike the progression just now, Yunduo hadn't failed yet!
She didn't use too much Honkai Energy to block the Honkai Beasts' attacks.
The Herrscher of the Void could not successfully awaken.
Instead, she had constructed a fictional space, delusional that Yunduo would submit...
The girl had once heard others say...
That when one is on the brink of death,
Everything experienced in the past would flash before one's eyes like a revolving lantern.
However, now, only pitch-black darkness remained before her eyes.
"...Why am I still alive?"
Is it because I have committed too many sins and need to live on to accept fate's punishment?
Is it because I thought I could resist the Herrscher persona, thinking I still had a chance to save everything?
Or is it because a final sliver of fantasy still exists in the depths of my heart, hoping that all of this is just a nightmare, and after the classroom bell rings, everything will return to normal?
She had no way of knowing.
Only darkness remained before her, an endless darkness... The girl awoke from the darkness, and painful memories shattered and rushed in like a tide.
"Subject number, K-423."
The girl opened her tired eyes; her surroundings were an illusory space.
Beside her was a virtual silhouette.
The Schicksal Overseer, Otto Apocalypse.
At this moment, he was like a set program, gazing into a void corner and whispering to himself, as if something existed there.
"The donor cells come from the direct descendants of the Kaslana Family and the Schariac Family, into which the genetic material of the Second Herrscher has been transferred."
"Same as the previous subjects, although the embryo has completed development, it remains in a vegetative state without any autonomous activity."
"However, this time, after inserting the herrscher core, K-423's EEG began to produce regular fluctuations..."
"...This is?"
Seeing this scene, the girl was stunned, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"This is your birth."
The surrounding space produced a series of ripple-like fluctuations, and a cold female voice reminded her.
"To be precise, it was the day I was brought back to the human world."
"No."
The girl was unwilling to believe it.
"You are just a vessel, a cage used by humans to bind me. Your name and your entire past are all fabricated lies."
"They never belonged to you."
The Second Herrscher's ridicule swirled in the air, like a noisy flock of crows circling a dying person.
She wanted to drive the girl to despair so that she could successfully take control of the body.
And the girl also knew that this was true.
She was just an experimental subject, constructed from Schicksal's herrscher core... Outside the Challenge Space.
Kiana, watching all of this, could hardly believe her ears; it was like a bolt from the blue, or like a bucket of cold water poured over her from head to toe, leaving her entire body numb.
"I—am fake?" A tiny sound squeezed out of her hoarse throat.
The Great Collapse descending, the Herrscher of the Void awakening—these things were already hard enough for her to accept.
But Kiana could console herself; she still had Mei, Bronya, and her other friends.
She had Aunt Himeko's trust and the company of her Aunt Theresa.
These were everything that supported Kiana's conviction!
Now, however, even her own existence was being denied!
It was all fake.
She was an experimental subject, a person who shouldn't have existed in this world in the first place.
That warmth and encouragement were all because of Kiana, not her, K-423!
The reason the Herrscher of the Void could live again was because she had the Herrscher of the Void's core inside her!
The reason there was a core was because she herself was an experimental subject, a vessel created to contain the core!
Everything made sense now.
"Kiana!"
Theresa saw Kiana's face as pale as wax paper and felt a sharp pang of heartache. Although she also found it difficult to accept for a moment that her beloved little niece was an experimental subject,
She was Kiana after all, and Theresa would not just stand by and do nothing.
"Kiana, no matter what, we will always be with you. You are the most important person to us."
Mei took Kiana's hand and spoke firmly.
"Remember what Sister Yunduo said just now, Kiana. Think back carefully."
Bronya's calm voice rang in her ear.
Before Kiana could recover her senses, the images inside the Challenge Space suddenly changed.
This time, the scene arrived at the familiar St. Freya Academy.
A red-haired woman with a heavy sword on her back said slowly:
"Let me introduce myself. I am Murata Himeko. Starting today, I will be your instructor."
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