Schicksal Headquarters—
Otto opened a communication channel. "Rita, how did things go?"
S-Rank Valkyrie Rita Rossweisse's elegant, alluring voice came through the channel. "Reporting to Lord Bishop, Dr. Maki has been recovered, but we found no trace of the Gem of Stillness. We attempted to interrogate Dr. Maki, but obtained no useful information."
Otto pondered for a moment, then revealed a cold smile. "It's fine. I can roughly guess where it went. Bring Dr. Maki back. I still need his intellect."
"Yes." Rita ended the call and began organizing the Immortal Blades' withdrawal from the apartment. At that moment, a man who looked utterly arrogant walked in.
"Yo, I was only gone for a little while and you got yourself captured? Hey, little miss, that old man is mine. Mind letting him go?" Waite said bluntly as the gravity around them began to increase.
Schicksal's fourth-generation God-Slaying Armor, Argent Knight: Artemis, began transmission.
"Awaken, master of frost!"
Inside Yae Sakura's Stigmata Space—
Xing, whose consciousness retained its original young-boy appearance, was in quite a predicament. Miko was sitting alone beside the little river, visibly furious.
"Sakura..." Xing cautiously spoke.
"What is it?" Miko turned around, her expression exceptionally "kind."
"I'm sorry. I know I took too big a gamble. Please don't be angry, okay?" Xing apologized to her with utmost sincerity.
"Hehe, Xing, what are you talking about? When was I ever angry?" Miko smiled sweetly, one delicate hand stroking Xing's cheek. Then her tone abruptly changed as she grabbed the boy by the ear, her face darkening. "You know you took too big a gamble?"
"I'm sorry..." Xing said weakly.
"Sorry? From the very beginning, I opposed your plan to use yourself as bait. But then you persuaded me, saying that at the crucial moment, you could call me out to seize the Gem of Stillness and escape with you. I couldn't refuse you, so I agreed. And then what?!"
"When we reached the Gem of Stillness, you told me to let that woman implant it into your body, guaranteeing that it wouldn't suddenly lose control and threaten the lives of Changkong City's residents. Considering that my core could help stabilize the Gem of Stillness, I reluctantly agreed. And then what?" Miko was practically fuming.
"That Dog-headed Woman wanted to perform some Super-Transformation Surgery on you. When I was about to appear and save you, you locked me inside the Stigmata Space with all your strength, babbling about how you needed power! If that man hadn't helped you, you would have died on that operating table!" Miko's voice gradually choked up. "If you died, what would I do?"
Yae Sakura hugged him and cried silently. She had already come to see the boy as Kallen's last remnant. If anything truly happened to Xing, she could not imagine what would become of her.
"I'm sorry, Sakura. I know you want to protect me, but I don't want to see you hurt, not even a little." Emiya had left a deep psychological scar on him back at the Memory Battlefield. Even now, recalling the sight of Miko blocking that sword for him filled him with lingering fear.
"I want to become stronger. Strong enough to protect you, protect Kiana, protect everyone. That's why I need power," Xing said seriously.
Miko's eyes reddened at the corners. "Idiot." That foolish hot-bloodedness—he was exactly like Kallen.
But Miko's anger had yet to fade. "I absolutely will not forgive you!"
Xing panicked. "Don't say that! As long as you forgive me, I'll do anything!"
Miko's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Xing suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
Reality—
Inside the wrecked laboratory, Xing sat on the only intact operating table, his face flushed red as he looked at the clothes Raven had stuffed into his hands. "Do I really have to do this?" he asked.
"You really do." Miko emerged from the void, staring straight at him.
"Fine... turn around first." Xing's voice was softer than a mosquito's. Miko did as asked.
Xing pulled off the strips of cloth tightly wrapped around his body, exposing his fair, tender torso to the air. He hesitated for a second, bent over, and put on the lace panties. The smooth sensation of the fabric enveloping his hips left the first-time cross-dressing boy slightly dazed.
Then came the bra. Xing tried hard to fasten the clasp but simply could not manage it. Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from behind him and gently helped fasten it.
"Sakura?! Didn't I tell you to turn around?" Xing cried out in alarm.
Miko hugged him from behind, her nimble hands gliding across his skin. "Mmh!?" It felt as though an electric current had run through him, and Xing could not help crying out.
"Just as I thought, it isn't very convenient for Xing alone." Miko gently blew hot breath against his ear. "Let me help you."
"Hey?! Stop, you can't touch there!"
(Sorry, I really can't keep writing this! Lord Bishop, that isn't your Kallen! You didn't get cuckolded this time! Put away your Mimic Heavenly Fire Greatsword!)
At Schicksal Headquarters, Otto looked at tonight's dinner. "Rita isn't here, so it's only vegetable salad?" For some reason, the pleasing green before his eyes inexplicably irritated him.
When Raven pushed open the door, the first thing she saw was not the laboratory Xing had smashed to pieces, but the boy sitting on the operating table, neatly dressed, face bright red, steam practically rising from his head.
"Little guy, do you have a fever?" Raven asked with concern.
"Don't talk, and don't come near me. I can barely keep her under control..." Xing answered groggily.
"Hah, who's 'her'? Still, little guy, you look really pretty in that outfit," Raven praised. "Oh, right. Get ready. We're implanting the Gem of Stillness into you."
Xing instantly sobered up. "Fine. Let's go now."
Raven felt that something was off. Wasn't this all going far too smoothly? They had caught him on the road in the middle of the night, Jackal had implanted Hyper-Evolution Factors into him, and now that they were about to implant the Gem of Stillness, he still looked completely calm. Could all of this have been part of his plan?
Raven was amused by her own thought. How could that be possible? How could a child have that much scheming?
Well, these days, the truth was often absurd.
After arriving at Jackal's well-preserved laboratory, Jackal pulled out a helmet and put it over Xing's head. "This is a consciousness stabilization device. It can help you resist the erosion of a Herrscher personality that may emerge during the experiment," Jackal explained.
Xing eyed it suspiciously. "Are you sure this thing is reliable?"
Raven thought for a moment and honestly said, "Hardly any of this woman's inventions are reliable."
Jackal flew into a rage. You can question my character, but not my intelligence! I make my living with my brain!
In truth, that helmet was no consciousness stabilization device. Let us turn back the clock ten minutes—
"An consciousness modification device?" Raven played with the little object in her hand. "You're saying this can turn that little guy into a servant who obeys your every command?"
Jackal said with a proud expression, "Of course. I went through World Serpent's files and created it using the Key of Consciousness as a model. Its functions may not compare to the real Key of Consciousness, but it is more than enough to handle a child."
For some reason, Raven particularly wanted to see a future where Xing was unaffected by the device and successfully became the Herrscher of Death.
Xing stepped into the open cultivation chamber. As Jackal pressed the button, the chamber door slowly closed, and a high-concentration Honkai Energy solution flowed in, quickly filling the chamber. Soaked in the solution, Xing did not feel suffocated—perhaps due to his Fusion Warrior physique. Instead, he felt exhilarated, as every cell in his body eagerly absorbed Honkai Energy.
The bagua pattern on the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet quietly lit up, not passing up this chance to replenish its energy. Though it remained far from fully charged, given enough time, that gluttonous Armed Doll would be able to activate again. Fortunately, the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet could automatically adjust its size according to the wearer's physique. Otherwise, Xing's wrist might have been strangled clean off.
Jackal watched the data flickering across the screen with satisfaction. "Excellent Honkai Energy compatibility! Proceed to the next stage. Gem of Stillness, deploy!"
The gem, glimmering with strange colors, slowly approached Xing. He looked at it, then took the initiative and grabbed it. In an instant, a special kind of Honkai Energy seeped into his body. The Herrscher of Death's core began to merge with him.
"Sorry, but I have no intention of becoming the Herrscher of Death. This core should stay with Seele." Just as Xing was about to have Sakura help stabilize the Gem of Stillness, an unknown force dragged his consciousness into a pure white space.
Within the pure white space, Xing stared blankly at the equally white humanoid figure before him. The featureless body gradually shifted into his appearance. Xing's mind raced. If he had guessed correctly, the being before him was this world's god—the Will of Honkai! (Strictly speaking, this thing probably didn't count as a god. After all, it was far inferior to the Imaginary Tree and Quantum Sea.)
The god held up a purple sphere and offered it to him, as if saying: Come, the authority of the Herrscher of Death is right here. Take it.
Xing stared at it, stepped forward, and reached out to touch the sphere. Just as he was about to make contact, the boy's gaze suddenly sharpened. He swung his hand and slapped it across the face. "Don't make such a punchable expression with my face! What, are you giving handouts to a beggar?!"
???—
A blonde girl in exotic clothing, with a white flower in her hair, watched the image projected on the screen before her and laughed so hard that her stomach hurt. "Oh my, if I hadn't always failed to receive commissions from Honkai ####, I would've wanted to do that too. Well done! My colleague! As expected of people chosen as ####. Even without a Guidance Module, you still dared to go head-to-head with the World Will. Don't be afraid! Our existence is on the same level as theirs, or even higher! Sigh, look at that little girl next door. She cowers at the sight of a mere demon god. And you even have a Guidance Module! You have none of the bearing expected of a ####."
At this point, the girl rested her chin on her hand and pondered seriously. "Come to think of it, one of them is Honkai and the other is Genshin Impact, yet they look so alike. Could they be related somehow? Probably not. We set our own character settings when we transmigrate. Besides, white hair and red eyes are practically everyone's type, right? It must just be a coincidence."
The girl looked sympathetically at the screen. "Sigh, as a #######, I really pity you #### who, unless something special happens, can only stay in one fixed ####. Unlike me, I can travel wherever I want."
A line of text appeared on the screen before the girl: "But they can freely use the abilities they gained in their current #### in other ####."
"Damn, so they don't have to level up all over again in every new #### like I do?"
"By general theoretical principles, they usually will not encounter situations that require them to use this trait."
Back to the current ####—
After Xing threw that slap, the pure white space instantly collapsed, and his consciousness returned to his body. He abruptly opened his eyes, and Miko's panicked voice rang out in his mind. "Xing, what happened? I called out to you just now, but you never responded!"
Xing opened his tightly clenched right hand and found it empty. "Something unexpected happened. Where's the Gem of Stillness?"
"I'm sorry. I couldn't suppress it. It... merged into your body," Miko said guiltily.
Purple patterns spread across Xing's body, while a new mark flickered in and out of sight on his chest.
Jackal stared at the data on the screen and nodded in satisfaction. "The Gem of Stillness has fused one hundred percent. Next, we only need to wait for him to adapt to the Herrscher of Death's power. Then it's time to begin the other experiment." She pressed a button. Atop the ME Company building, a rocket carrying a massive Honkai Energy bomb prepared for launch.
"Using high concentrations of Honkai Energy to stimulate and forcibly awaken the fragmented stigmata within the genes of modern humans, increasing all humanity's adaptability to Honkai Energy, distributing all the Honkai Energy on this planet among every person, and thereby fundamentally preventing the Final Herrscher's descent—the first step of this great plan begins today!" Jackal's eyes burned with fanaticism.
Crash! The sound of shattering glass came from behind her. Jackal turned back in shock. The solution, drained into clear water, flowed from the shattered experimental chamber. Xing had activated the power of his stigmata and forcibly suppressed the Gem of Stillness's agitation within his body. He clenched his fist, removed the helmet from his head, smashed it onto the floor, and said to the stunned Jackal:
"Sorry, but this plan is going to end before it even takes its first step."
Author's Note—
PS: I'm the kind of transmigration-story author who explains why the protagonist transmigrated~
There's probably one more chapter before the Changkong City arc ends, then we'll enter the little side instance I mentioned before.
Before you continue