Kiana Is Not K423

Hahahaha.

The only response she received was the Gemini's cheerful laughter.

Bronya smiled helplessly, looking at the Arlene sisters hugging each other, with a hint of doting in her eyes.

"Was Sister Bronya doing this on purpose?" Seele whispered.

"Mmm." Bronya took Seele's hand.

Seele suddenly pulled her hand back.

"Hmm?" Bronya looked at her in confusion.

In the dimly lit theater, Seele's lips moved slightly, as if she were talking to herself. "I will not allow anyone to touch Seele's body."

Rita was hiding in the shadows, saw Theresa and her group leave the base and was about to follow when her combat instincts kicked in. She raised her scythe and blocked the katana that came slashing from the shadows.

"Heh, a sneak attack? Miss Mei, that's not exactly honorable."

When Mei met the people of Schicksal again, especially since they were "acquaintances," and heard the words "upright and honorable" from their mouths, Mei felt only irony. What part of Schicksal's experience was "Schicksal and honorable" about Kiana's ordeal?

Rita was very curious: how did Mei know she was secretly following her?

Mei's straightforward explanation revealed that she saw through Rita's trap. Rita praised her wisdom, which also revealed Theresa's doubt: why was Mei alone?

"Delaying time? Hmph, Miss Rita, you're far too confident."

Fueled by rage, Mei made a desperate move. After losing the Gem of Conquest, the gap between her and the S-Rank Valkyrie widened, and she gradually fell into a disadvantageous position in the battle, but she earned the praise of her opponent in return.

Every word Rita said sounded utterly repulsive to Mei.

"In the past, I always hid under the shell of Herrscher, both afraid and reliant on this power." Mei struggled to stand up, her hand holding the katana trembling slightly.

"It wasn't until I lost Kiana that I realized how weak I truly am... so weak that I couldn't even hold her hand or protect her!"

"Now, I no longer need to hide... Kiana, I will protect you!"

Having clarified their goal, Mei and Rita's power gap remained unbridgeable. Mei was no match for the S-Rank Valkyrie in her current state, and after a fierce battle, Mei knelt on the ground.

Rita holds a scythe, exuding ultimate elegance.

"There's no point in trying to be tough."

"When your capabilities don't match your promises, struggling will only lead to tragedy."

Just then, Mei received a message from Theresa in her earpiece, telling her not to linger in the fight. Mei took the opportunity to release a smoke bomb and hide behind the corner of the wall behind Rita.

Notably, a red dot was flashing incessantly on Mei's thigh, emitting a beeping sound.

"Mei ~, I really love you~" Kiana hugged the brain-dead Mei and rubbed her pretty face against Mei's.

When Mei finally realized what was happening, her pretty face turned bright red, and white steam kept rising from her head, almost triggering the smoke alarm.

"Kiana... Kiana, love and all that... this is happening in public." Mei was so shy she wanted to crawl under the seat.

"Love is truly a poison." Himeko Mei, who was usually as elegant as a lady, being teased into becoming a steampunk princess by Kiana's words. She couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

Where exactly is her love?!

"Hey, hey, hey!" Seeing Kiana and Mei's intimate behavior, the younger Rin was somewhat shocked. "Aren't they both girls? How can they..."

Sakura quickly covered Rin's eyes, blocking her view of Kiya. "Rin, don't look, it's forbidden knowledge."

"Hey sis, you've put your hand on my hip!"

Unlike Rin, Blanca was also worried that Griseo's early exposure to these things would have a negative impact on her physical and mental development.

"Griseo ..."

Blanca was even more puzzled when she saw Griseo's calm and composed face, showing no surprise at seeing her so close to Gretchen.

Griseo quietly hid the small backpack behind her.

In Central Europe.

Cecilia stared intently at Yaqing with her beautiful eyes.

"Sister, stop looking at me. I'm just a screenwriter, what do I know about love?" Yaqing felt uncomfortable being stared at. "I'm just following the plot, it doesn't mean I know their progress."

"Hmph, that's for the best!" Cecilia snorted like a little woman.

Seeing that her uncle was completely subdued by her mother, Durandal's mind started to stir again. Don't let her gentle, intellectual, and somewhat dull appearance fool you; when she was little, she was much more mischievous than Kiana.

Because she was forcibly taken away, Theresa kept trying to communicate with the cyborg girl during the evacuation.

"Um... little friend, we're not robbers, you know?"

"Then let me go."

"Uh... I'm afraid that won't work."

"Kidnapper," the cyborg girl blurted out.

"Huh?! We're good people!!"

In the first negotiation, Theresa was ultimately defeated. Unable to bear it any longer, she summoned Bronya and asked Bronya to get the cyborg girl to reveal Kiana's whereabouts.

"The academy head has spent most of his life in education, so he should have more experience dealing with children." Bronya's expression was still blank, but you could still sense a hint of a smile in her tone.

"Most of your life? What are you implying?!" Theresa almost broke down because of Bronya's words. Without thinking, she said, "Bronya is more experienced in dealing with machines."

"Machine..." Compared to Theresa, who was nearly overwhelmed, the cyborg girl fell silent at the mention of "machine," and quietly lowered her head.

"Theresa is still too anxious at this point. Calling a cyborg a machine is tantamount to erasing her identity as a human being." Himeko frowned.

"I...I...I didn't mean to..." Theresa lowered her head.

"The headmistress misspoke because she was too worried about Kiana."

"Yeah, Aunt is probably really eager to know where I am. Wait... where am I now?!" Kiana realized her mistake.

"Oh right! Where is Kiana now? Schicksal is looking for her too, could she be in Anti-Entropy?" Rosalia said.

"Hey, hey, hey, did you guys forget someone? Cocolia, the villain from the second season." Sirin, who was sitting in the corner and worried that someone would steal her snacks, suddenly spoke up.

"It can't be Mom!" Lilia retorted.

"That's right, that's right," Rosalia quickly agreed.

Seeing the topic getting further and further off track, Bronya gave Kiana a meaningful look, since Kiana was the one who first brought up the topic.

Kiana seemed to sense Bronya's gaze and smiled slightly.

"The headmaster said something he shouldn't have."

Bronya's reminder made Theresa realize she had misspoke and tried to make amends by asking for the other person's name, but she was shut down by the reply that machines don't need names.

"Machine? What are you talking about! I was just talking nonsense, I'm so sorry."

Despite Theresa's apology, the cyborg girl's tone remained unchanged.

"Don't feel sorry, because I am indeed a machine." The cyborg girl shrugged. Machines only need coding, not names. She told the other party to call her "humanoid machine".

"Was your modification done by... Gray Serpent? He did such terrible things to you."

The humanoid machine shook its head. Gray Serpent had saved them. In Sky Dome City, everyone had a machine installed inside their body. Completely natural humans were strange. She herself had undergone surgery after the Great Honkai.

At that time, her head had already been Honkai energy. In order to survive, she had no choice but to undergo experiments. In return, she would provide Gray Serpent with internet access and screen information.

"I thought Gray Serpent was the villain. I never imagined he would modify others to save people." Pardo exclaimed in surprise, "Doesn't that confirm that Schicksal is the villain?"

"Pardo, judging a person's character by their appearance," Su said. "Besides, the voice actress for Gray Serpent is Yaqing."

"I always felt that Gray Serpent and Mobius had some special relationship..." Mei thought carefully, "Or perhaps they had some relationship with the Previous Era, or with "us"."

"You don't mean to say that the Gray Serpent is a robot left behind by the Previous Era to help the current civilization, do you?" Mobius glanced at her.

"Why not?" Mei smiled.

After hearing the humanoid machine's story, Theresa remained silent for a moment. Her previously anxious heart suddenly sank. She told the humanoid machine that the Great Honkai four months ago had taken away one of her very important friends.

Theresa slowly recounted why she wanted to become Valkyrie: to protect. However, in her eyes, she had not fulfilled her duties Valkyrie, and the oath of protection she had sworn pierced her heart like a sharp knife.

Cecilia, Himeko, Kiana...

Theresa gazed at the distant night sky.

"Himeko... if you were standing here, you would definitely have a better way of solving this problem than I do..."

"We haven't been able to find you for the past four months. Where are you?"

"Now that we have a lead on Kiana, you... you must be safe and sound too, right?"

Chapter 162 Kiana is not K423

"Himeko..."

The previously bustling screening room fell silent.

Staring blankly at the plot on the screen, with Theresa's voice conveying her inner thoughts in their ears, a sudden stab caught everyone off guard.

Only then did they realize that Honkai wasn't just a simple movie, but a tragedy, and that Himeko and Kiana were still missing.

"We haven't committed any crime, have we? Why did they suddenly stab us?" Pardo muttered to herself, suddenly snapping back to reality as she was pulled back to the mindset of her Final Lesson.

Himeko had a headache. She could already imagine how many former students would call her crying and offering their condolences after the movie ended.

"Eden, you said, Himeko- sensei really..." Elysia leaned on Eden's shoulder, her heart filled with emotion, as if she could see Himeko's fate, yet she still couldn't believe it.

She seemed to be struggling with her own perception of Yaqing; she knew it, yet she didn't believe it.

Eden didn't comfort Elysia; instead, he put his arm around her soft shoulder.

Eden was unaware of the plot, and she couldn't tell Elysia whether Himeko was alive or not, because she knew Elysia would believe her unconditionally, and when the last piece of cloth was torn apart, Elysia would feel an even greater knife.

Even though they had already guessed how the plot would unfold, they were still desperately trying to find even the slightest clue to overturn their own guesses.

"Himeko- sensei..."

Kiana is not Kiana after all. She feels sorry for her character in the story. After learning that "she" was responsible for her teacher's disappearance and caused countless families to be Great Honkai, how desperate must she feel?

More than a creator, she's like an older sister, looking at Kiana, whom she voices, or perhaps observing different developments and her past self.

"Um?"

Kiana suddenly felt her hand being enveloped in warmth. She looked up and saw Mei quietly watching her.

Kiana smiled sweetly.

She is not the same as her.

She didn't have a tragic past, nor was she a K423 created by someone. She had a warm family, loving relatives, her mother, father, uncle, aunt...

She will not separate from Mei.

Bronya looked at Kia, who was radiating a sweet aura, and took Seele's hand.

This time, Seele did not pull away; her face flushed slightly.

"They call you the headmaster, are you a teacher?"

"I guess... I guess so."

When asked this question by the humanoid machine, Theresa could only give this ambiguous answer for a moment. She didn't remember what subjects she had taught, and she didn't know whether she could be considered a teacher.

At this moment, the humanoid machine pointed to the photo in Theresa's hand and asked about the girl in the photo. Theresa nodded, stroking Kiana's photo, and settled the humanoid machine's question.

"She is my most important student." Theresa took this opportunity to ask the humanoid machine again about Kiana's whereabouts.

The humanoid machine also wanted to help Theresa, but without Gray Serpent's permissions, she couldn't access any data.

Just then, Mei sent a message informing them that Rita was the murderer who killed Gray Serpent.

When Mei requested to return to the team, Bronya unusually refused, pointing out that a tracker had been installed inside Mei's Valkyrie armor.

Using a counter-strategy, Bronya instructed Mei to temporarily deviate from the team's route and disrupt Rita's reconnaissance.

"Aunt, I never imagined that I would be your most important student! I'm so touched~" Kiana took the opportunity to hug Theresa's less than 1.5-meter-tall body and took a deep breath, like she was petting a cat.