The Fugitive Trio

"Mei! This way!" Kiana abruptly pulled Raiden Mei aside as her gun calmly aimed at the head of an Assault-type Honkai Beast and fired.

The Colt Python, a double-action revolver designed and manufactured by Colt's Manufacturing Company in the United States, had been specially modified to become her current instrument of survival.

Kaslana's Gun Kata was a battlefield martial art in its truest sense. Combined with the power of firearms and excellent physical conditioning, Kiana was able to protect Mei, who had never experienced life-or-death combat, and survive in this city that had turned into an apocalypse.

The girl had never imagined the Honkai would arrive so suddenly. The decades of peace in this city were shattered into pieces by the Honkai.

Millions of lives instantly turned into Mortals due to Honkai Infection. Her usually strict but kind homeroom teacher, the kind aunt from the convenience store, the elderly gentleman at the entrance with poor eyesight, and her lively classmates all transformed into Mortals.

To allow their corpses to rest in peace and no longer serve as pawns of the Honkai, Kiana killed the Mortals they had become.

This city was full of lovely people, but under the Honkai, everything was as fragile as a bubble—beautiful yet illusory.

What weighed even heavier on the girl's heart were the missing Satou Yunona and Su Qing'an, who wasn't replying to her emails.

She understood that both the missing Satou Yunona and Su Qing'an might simply be lost, their bodies unrecoverable.

Kiana had already exhausted all her strength just to prevent Mei from becoming a Herrscher and escape the academy. She didn't have the leeway to search the entire academy for Satou Yunona.

It was a strange phenomenon. They had been in class right before the Honkai arrived, but after all the humans around them turned into Mortals, Satou Yunona inexplicably vanished.

After attempting to search, their stamina and ammunition were gradually depleted due to the constant harassment from Honkai Beasts and Mortals. They were ultimately forced to flee in disarray.

While preparing to escape, both Kiana and Mei felt a terrifying Honkai Energy reaction suddenly descend near the academy. The girl knew it was undoubtedly a level she couldn't handle right now.

An Emperor-class Honkai Beast, Kiana surmised.

Facing a Honkai Beast of this caliber with her current equipment would most likely result in her death.

Even Temple-class was beyond her ability to handle. Kiana was self-aware; with her equipment, dealing with the tough Chariot-class and Knight-class was already a struggle.

Even a specially modified high-powered handgun was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot against Honkai Beasts of that level.

Fortunately, such a powerful Honkai Energy reaction soon moved away from the academy's direction.

This allowed them to safely leave Senba Academy.

Afterward, during a brief respite, Kiana attempted to email Su Qing'an. The Honkai had only descended upon the city for about two hours, and the signal still supported mobile communication.

However, she received no reply.

Her hand tightly gripped her phone, a birthday gift from Su Qing'an. A cute rabbit charm hung from it, a gift from Satou Yunona that day.

She rarely received gifts.

Really rarely.

Raiden Mei, standing beside her, seemed to understand and hugged the girl. She stroked Kiana's white hair and comforted her, "It's okay, Kiana. The Shopkeeper's martial arts are amazing. He won't get into trouble that easily."

"Mhm," the girl responded, her voice as light as a mosquito's hum.

This was a lie. Both Kiana and Mei knew it.

Men had very weak resistance to Honkai Energy. Kiana's father was a rare exception, but that was only due to the powerful Kaslana bloodline.

In her travels, she had never seen a man survive a Honkai Energy infection. Even if Su Qing'an's martial arts skills were high, Honkai Energy infection was a completely different level of attack. Without corresponding resistance, it was all meaningless.

Kiana had very few friends. Both Su Qing'an and Satou Yunona were indispensable parts of her daily memories. The days spent in Changkong City brought her more happiness than all her four years of wandering.

Yet, in such a short time, everything had been destroyed, and memories could only remain memories.

Su Qing'an, Satou Yunona.

Honkai, Honkai.

The girl murmured these words, pain and anger almost twisting her will. She wanted to cry out loud, to roar, to kill Honkai Beasts, to destroy everything.

But in the end, in Mei's gentle embrace, Kiana felt a maternal warmth she had never experienced since childhood.

Kiana understood that Raiden Mei's inner torment was no less than her own. For a kind girl like her, the more than 2.3 million souls lost in this city were almost crushing her completely.

Self-destructive desires took root and sprouted in her soul. Regardless of whose conspiracy the Herrscher core within her body was orchestrating, for the girl, she had truly shouldered all the deaths of this city.

She was already struggling to breathe, no longer wanting to live, wanting to give up. But it was Kiana who pulled her, already in her Herrscher form, back from the abyss. Therefore, even if only to become Kiana's support, Raiden Mei absolutely could not fall now!

For this reason, the girl, whose mind and will had reached their limits, could still persevere.

Raiden Mei and Kiana became spiritual pillars for each other, preventing their wills from collapsing, allowing them to continue fighting.

Sadness and pain were suppressed deep within their hearts.

But for the sake of the other escaping this purgatory and surviving, Kiana and Raiden Mei overcame immense mental setbacks and continued to fight and struggle in this apocalypse.

After that, she and Mei fled all the way here. Many things happened along the way, and it was a bumpy road.

However, along the way, neither Su Qing'an's usual dojo nor the coffee shop held any trace of him, causing Kiana's will to uncontrollably sink for a period.

"Boom!" A micro-missile directly killed a Chariot-class Honkai Beast. The petite girl descended from the air and landed beside Raiden Mei.

The 14-year-old girl had light gray curly hair and eyes. Her cute face was devoid of any expression. Only the Homonculus doll she held tightly in her arms hinted at the innocence of her age.

She was small in stature, wearing slightly military-style clothing, with detachable exoskeleton armor on her legs.

"Mission complete," the expressionless girl uttered mechanically.

"You appeared just in time, thank you so much, Bronya!" Mei affectionately patted the girl's small head, expressing her appreciation for Bronya defeating the approaching Chariot-class Honkai Beast.

"Hmph. It's nothing special. I could handle a mere Chariot-class on my own."

"You almost dragged me into it, you useless little runt."

Kiana pointed at Bronya, looking exasperated at the two who were getting along so well.

Honestly, Kiana looked a bit like an idiot right now.

But there was nothing she could do. After all, they had just had a life-or-death battle, and Bronya had even brought a bunch of mechs to attack. With such a huge difference in equipment, the battle had been incredibly perilous.

Although, based on their assessment, if they teamed up, Bronya's abilities would give them a better chance of escaping Changkong City, which was why they had formed a team.

But no matter how you looked at it, it was too strange that they had become so close so quickly.

Yet, Kiana herself didn't realize that even though she outwardly disliked Bronya, she didn't truly feel that way deep down.

"Kiana's safety priority... 0. System judges no need to care about life or death."

"Are you trying to start a war!" Kiana bristled.

"Bronya's win probability confirmed at 99.999999%."

"Mine is 100%!" Kiana retorted childishly, annoyed.

Raiden Mei watched the two bickering and found it somewhat amusing.

However, in this kind of hell, how much warmth could truly last?

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