Sa: A Warrior Should Face Death Without Fear

Xia Ling angrily smacked Kiana on the head.

"Oh, I see..."

Seeing that the important business seemed to be over, Kiana's hands started to wander again.

"Xia Ling, since our bodies don't need to sleep anyway, why don't we..."

"You bastard, I take back what I just said..." Suppressing the strange feeling coming from her body, Xia Ling gritted her teeth, her face flushed, and said, "You're not only an idiot, you're a horny idiot!"

After a long night and morning, on the afternoon of the second day, Vita, who had not appeared as promised, stared resentfully at Kiana and Xia Ling, who were grinning.

"You two..." Vita emphasized the word, "You're really so affectionate..."

"Hehehe... Isn't it because Xia Ling is too cute?"

Kiana hugged Xia Ling, a silly smile on her face, completely absorbed in love.

"Tsk, love-struck..."

Vita pursed her lips, inexplicably thinking of the seven Little Vita and Griseo at home.

"Well, I'll go back and see them after this mission is over..." Vita suddenly had this thought.

"Alright, now that you've all rested, let's go tour the Salt Snow Holy City."

Although she regretted arranging Kiana and Xia Ling to stay by her side yesterday for easier monitoring, Vita was too late to back out now, even though she had confirmed that the two were indeed no threat.

Therefore, Vita, who is very good at finding joy in hardship, chose to start fulfilling her duties as a tour guide.

Maybe they'll behave themselves at night once they're tired of playing?

Vita looked forward to it with great optimism.

So, on the second night, Vita suffered from insomnia again.

Because Vita had a very strange impression of Xia Ling and Kiana from the beginning, she never suspected that the two of them were hiding their talents. Therefore, she really treated the two as friends. Later on, Vita even got used to Xia Ling's pleasant voice.

This peaceful and harmonious life as a tour guide continued for a month, until...

"Is this the place? Abnormal Stigmata 0014..."

With two artificial intelligences, Mithril's "non-human" team successfully arrived at the World Bubble where the last Exotic Stigmata was located.

"This World Bubble seems a bit strange, and the existence of the Abnormal Stigmata 0014 is not stable. According to the test, she may have a tendency to split."

The inorganic voice of Prometheus XVII rang out from the side.

"If I remember correctly, that Abnormal Stigmata 0014 should look just like Seele, right?" Little Ther's expression was a bit strange. "Could it be that split personality is a characteristic shared by all those with the name Seele?"

"According to the data, most isotopes follow the same path, which is not surprising."

"Now, I think we should go to the tower first and find that..."

Halfway through his sentence, Pudding Duck's voice suddenly stopped as if he had a choked voice.

"What's wrong, Number Seventeen? Are you also experiencing a system crash...?"

Before Mithril could even tease Pudding Duck a few times, she too was stumped.

"This is... Kiana and Xia Ling?!"

How did they get here?

"They should be isotopes, right?" Remembering that Xia Ling had specifically told her to keep their itinerary a secret, Little Ther quickly said, "After all, there's already a Seele here, so it's reasonable for Kiana and Xia Ling to appear as well, right?"

"Is this... is this really reasonable...?"

Pudding Duck felt her brain was going blank. If it was Kiana, she knew that Kiana's main body was still on the moon, while her clone was at Schicksal Headquarters.

But if we're talking about isotopes... As a backup plan to Corruption Honkai Will of Honkai, Pudding Duck stored a considerable amount of data on the observations of the Tree of Imaginary and the World Bubble.

Therefore, she pays close attention to the name Kiana, because no matter which world she is in, she is definitely not an ordinary person.

Xia Ling is even more of a heavyweight. In the latest observation data, she did find quite a few isotopes that are suspected to be Xia Ling, but this one is even more different. She is simply a protagonist attractor.

No matter which world she's in, she seems to attract several people who are fond of her at the same time, and most of these people are in extremely troublesome vortexes.

So, if these two people really are the counterparts of Xia Ling and Kiana... just thinking that these two "masters" have gathered in this small World Bubble at the same time, Pudding Duck suddenly had an ominous premonition.

Just like Heavy Armor Rabbit sees Bronya getting ready to go play with Kiana, but discovers that Bronya hasn't finished her work yet—in this situation, Bunny usually takes over the work.

"I think we need to get going as soon as possible."

Pudding Duck said seriously.

"Otherwise... we might get caught up in some serious incident."

Meanwhile, at the same time that Pudding Duck discovered himself and Kiana, Xia Ling also discovered them.

"Time flies... In the blink of an eye, Rabbit and the others will be here."

"So..."

A thought flashed through Xia Ling's and Vita's minds at the same time.

It's time to put an end to this...

Chapter 42: Warriors Should Be Undeterred by Death

"By the way, Xia Ling."

As she walked home, Ling'er casually Vita.

"You've been here for about a month now, haven't you? I remember when you first arrived, you said you'd only stay for a month before leaving?"

"Yes, but the scenery here is really nice, it makes you want to stay."

Xia Ling knew exactly what the other person wanted to say, but this was a good opportunity to tease Vita, so Xia Ling naturally didn't follow her lead.

"I'll listen to Xia Ling!"

Kiana raised her hand.

"But you get tired of staying in one place for too long, right? The scenery in Salt Snow Holy City is beautiful, but we've already explored almost the entire Salt Snow Holy City in the past month, haven't we?"

Vita crossed her arms and tried to continue persuading the two.

After all, she wouldn't want to take action unless it was absolutely necessary... Apart from arguing a bit at night, these two guys were pretty good people, and Vita didn't want to ruin things unless absolutely necessary.

"However, I heard from the citizens that there is a special place in the Salt Snow Holy City, where the dead are said to remain temporarily, waiting for the Sage to resurrect them..."

As Xia Ling spoke, she secretly observed Vita's expression.

"So, we're thinking, should we stay a few more days and try to find that world? Even if we can't find it, we think our actions might attract the sage's attention, right?"

"Well..."

After hearing Xia Ling's words, Vita sighed helplessly.

Based on her understanding of Xia Ling, if the other party said such a thing, it was most likely that they were already preparing to take action. In other words, the other party not only did not intend to leave, but seemed to want to cause even more trouble in this world.

At this juncture, it's a small matter if they make a fuss, but if Mithril takes a closer look at Vita, that would be a real problem.

Therefore, this means that Vita may have no choice but to use the last thing she wants to do: forcefully expel the two.

However, even if she decided to fight, she definitely couldn't fight here. Thinking of this, Vita said with a grin.

"So that's where you wanted to go. You should have said so earlier, so I, Little Vita, could have taken you there."

"Huh? So this place really exists?"

Kiana was taken aback; she thought Xia Ling had made this up on the spot.

"Of course, I'm the all-powerful Little Vita! As long as we're in Salt Snow Holy City, wherever you want to go, Little Vita can take you there!"

Vita blinked, then suddenly stretched out her hand.

With a sudden shift in light and shadow, the sunlight around the two vanished, replaced by a cluster of soft moonlight.

"Well, this is what the people of the Holy City call the afterlife, or you can call it— the Shattered Kingdom."

"Of course, generally speaking, only the dead will appear here."

"Oh?" Xia Ling tilted her head. "So, our Little Vita Wei is finally giving up on pretending?"

"Now that you've all figured it out, there's no need for me to continue playing the adorable tour guide, right?"

Vita gave a smile that was unusual for her.

"Of course, considering we spent a month together before, I can pretend I didn't see it now that I'm leaving this World Bubble, okay?"

"What if we don't want to leave?"

Kiana suddenly had a pair of pistols in her hands.

On this body, which doesn't come with many powers, the Kaslana family's gun-fu style is clearly more suitable for its use.

"Then I'll have to... give you two a little punishment~"

A wing appeared on Vita's back.

The aid from Sa has been projected onto her; although it's not particularly strong, it should be enough to deal with these two.

Vita thought to herself with great confidence.

A moment later...

Vita, who was thrown out by Xia Ling by her wings, looked completely bewildered and asked So for power again.

Although the energy levels in these two individuals are not particularly high, their physical attributes and the precision of their energy manipulation are exceptionally high. Their control over Honkai Energy gives them a sense of ease, as if they were not natives.

Poor Miss Vita hadn't experienced much combat. Even though her strength level was slightly higher than theirs, Xia Ling's abilities were too complex, and with almost every attack being a kill on first strike, Vita quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.

But it's alright, as long as the power of the Saha is released, everything will be alright.

Even as she flew upside down in mid-air, Vita still believed the advantage was in her hands.

Of course, So also sensed Vita's condition. After discovering that Vita was not exaggerating, So quickly and generously transferred power and authority equivalent to that of a normal Herrscher to Vita.

The problem is, this time, Kiana has also joined the battle.

Less than five minutes later, Vita was thrown out again.

She simply couldn't understand why Kiana's body was so resilient. Her powers seemed completely unable to affect her, and any attempts to interfere with her status were like throwing a stone into the sea – utterly ineffective.

Is this guy's body really that of a normal person? Vita couldn't help but have some doubts.

After this setback, Vita, who had been a little overwhelmed, gradually calmed down.

She realized that if she were to request power from Sa again, her previous plans would become completely useless.

Because of his current power, it seems that if he were to advance to the next level, he would reach a point where he could find a way to break free from Sa's control and act independently.

If we were to translate that into Earth's terminology, it would be roughly equivalent to a level slightly stronger than Ascended Herrscher.

So now...

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Vita once again requested support from So.

This time, So responded as quickly as ever. After all, Vita was created based on So's template, so So didn't even need to choose powers for her.

Kill them...

Along with the surging power, the will of Sa also arrived.

"Kill them? Fine..."

Vita raised an eyebrow slightly. Although she had never intended to kill Kiana and Xia Ling from the beginning, now that So had given the order...

So naturally she still wouldn't kill him.

Just kidding, these are the "benefactors" who helped her escape control. She loves these two guys so much, how could she possibly kill them?

However, a symbolic fight is still necessary, because she also needs to take this opportunity to master and become proficient in this new power, and then... break free from Sa's control.

Thinking of this, even though she had already been knocked away twice by the two, Vita still raised her head like a proud peacock.

"Thank you both for your hard work, which has given me the power I have now... I am truly grateful."

"However, considering our previous travels together, I'd like to offer a heads-up before the battle begins—"

"Even in this state, I am not yet complete..."

"That's enough to kill Herrscher, isn't it?"