Redemption

Sheng Jiu charged toward a Honkai Beast chasing civilians and swung a punch at it. Seeing that the black-robed, masked figure before it was unlike the cowards who were running for their lives, the beast lost interest in pursuing the fleeing people. It raised its massive fist and charged at Sheng Jiu instead.

Their fists collided, unleashing a powerful shockwave. The Honkai Beast, as tall as a small truck, was sent flying. Sheng Jiu staggered back several steps, then watched as it slowly climbed to its feet, pink blood spilling from its mouth. "Tsk, tougher than I expected. All right, bring it on!" He charged forward again, and the two clashed once more.

Unlike Sheng Jiu, who relied purely on brute force, Kiana and Kallen fought with considerably more finesse. Kallen wielded a spear, striking down a Honkai Beast and severing its foreleg. The moment it fell, Kiana seized her chance and drove her sword into its heart, ending the fight.

"Pant, pant... Big Sister Kallen, are you okay?" Kiana slashed at a dog-like Honkai Beast as it pounced, glancing back to check on Kallen, who was fighting just as fiercely.

"I'm fine, Kiana. Are you all right? Tell me if you can't keep going, and I'll help you!"

"I'm fine, Big Sister Kallen. I can still fight!"

The three of them fought desperately against the Honkai Beasts and managed to kill most of them, but as time passed, their strength was nearly spent.

Sheng Jiu sliced off a Honkai Beast's left arm, then punched through its torso and pulled out its core. At last, unable to go on, he leaned against a wall and panted heavily. His black robe had long since been torn into strips, and his Raven Mask was shattered. "Pant... This is harder than I thought... Cough, cough..."

"Hey! Are you okay?" Kiana dashed over to Sheng Jiu and crouched to examine his injuries. His body was already covered in cuts of all sizes, and blood was slowly seeping from them. A deep crack ran across his Raven Mask, its left eyepiece gone, and the twin swords in his hands were broken. "Wake up, you idiot! You can't die!" Tears welled in Kiana's eyes as she gently helped him up.

"I'm fine... Why are you crying...? This is a virtual space. I can't die..." Even seriously wounded, Sheng Jiu still seemed as cheerful as ever. But the more he acted that way, the guiltier Kiana felt. He had ended up like this because she had wanted to save Kallen. She never imagined that the person who usually seemed the least reliable would refuse to take a single step back when danger came, bearing so much of the pressure for Kallen and her...

"Look... Go save Kallen!" Sheng Jiu suddenly interrupted her thoughts, pointing ahead as he shouted.

Kiana turned around and saw Kallen being impaled through the torso by the claw of a huge Honkai Beast as she protected a little girl. Blood gushed from the wound, and Kallen's sturdy frame crumpled to the ground. "Run... Run!"

Kiana set Sheng Jiu down and rushed at the Honkai Beast, but it smacked her into a wall. She coughed up blood. "Ugh—"

Bronya wasn't idle either. Hanging from a flagpole, she frantically worked to crack the firewall, but she still needed more time to hack all the way in. "Damn it, I have to make it in time!" As Bronya tapped rapidly on her tablet, the contents of a hidden message on it came back to her: it contained just one short sentence—Kallen had been killed by a Honkai Beast while protecting her people during her execution...

As if by some strange impulse, a Honkai Beast on the ground looked up and spotted Bronya on the flagpole. A nasty grin spread across its ugly face. It seized the pole with its foreclaw and shook it violently, quickly unbalancing Bronya. She began to fall, but just before she hit the ground, someone caught her.

"Well, well. I didn't expect to find a few adorable little kittens and puppies here~" The blue-eyed, blond man smiled as he set Bronya down.

"This person... No, wait! He isn't a virtual personality!" Bronya quickly realized something was wrong.

"Don't be nervous, adorable little kitten~ At first, I was a little annoyed that you'd broken into my backyard, but your effort to save Kallen really moved me." The man, who looked like a larger version of Otto, brushed the blond hair off his left shoulder and smiled before continuing, "Your friend reminds me a lot of Kallen, though... Her name is Kiana, right?"

"And that male classmate of yours really opened my eyes. Someone who can go toe-to-toe with an original Honkai Beast isn't something you can achieve by randomly picking a Valkyrie from headquarters~"

Ignoring Bronya's suspicious stare, the man went on, "If you die in this world, you really won't be able to go back. So what should we do?"

The man brought up a screen beside him. "What should we do? Why not test out something good that's still in development?" He tapped the screen, and the words "Access accepted" appeared before Bronya's eyes.

"I've opened the treasure vault. Accept my gift, and I'll see you again!" The man vanished into thin air before Bronya.

At the same time, two beams of golden light descended from above, enveloping Kiana and Sheng Jiu at the other end of the battlefield.

The light gradually faded. Kiana now wore a sleek, futuristic-looking white Valkyrie armor. On her chest was the Kaslana family crest, made of pure gold. A pair of wing-shaped earpieces adorned her head, and three pairs of luminous wings spread from her back, their light streaming from the joints as gamma particles surged through them.

Meanwhile, Sheng Jiu had changed into a suit of pure black armor, covered in plates of all sizes. Dark blue electrofluid coursed across it, and a full-face helmet enclosed his head.

A terrifying aura radiated from the two of them. Many of the Honkai Beasts on the battlefield turned and fled.

Kiana opened her eyes, her gaze instantly sharpening. She shot into the air with the booster wings on her back and hovered there, her lips moving. "Light Wings—Deploy!" As soon as she spoke, the six gamma wings behind her expanded, splitting into countless tiny beams of light that pursued the fleeing Honkai Beasts. Those they caught were swiftly pierced through the heart by high-powered lasers and killed instantly.

Sheng Jiu walked slowly toward the only Honkai Beast left on the field: the leader that had just gravely wounded Kallen. He gave his right wrist a small twist, and a sword hilt appeared in his hand. The armor covering his right hand opened, each section ejecting a small blade. The blades swiftly joined together into a single, complete sword blade and locked firmly into the hilt.

Knowing that escape meant certain death, the Honkai Beast leader decided to fight to the end. It threw back its head and howled. The dark red glow surrounding it deepened, and then it lunged at Sheng Jiu.

A dazzling blue light flashed across the visor of Sheng Jiu's helmet. He gave the katana in his hand a light swing, sending an invisible sword wave toward the Honkai Beast. The moment it made contact, the beast's movement slowed until it came to a complete stop. Sheng Jiu didn't even glance at it. He turned and snapped his fingers, and the Honkai Beast instantly shattered into pieces...

The three of them gathered in front of Kallen. The armor worn by Sheng Jiu and Kiana had already disappeared as the battle ended. Kiana looked at Kallen, who was leaning against the wall, unable to speak. Bronya gave her the answer first. "That's right, Kiana. This Kallen is a virtual personality. The real Kallen died five hundred years ago..." Kiana raised a hand to stop her. "I want to talk to her one last time... Is that okay?"

Sheng Jiu took off his badly damaged mask. "Take as long as you need. We'll wait."

Kiana walked over to Kallen, who was leaning against the corner. Her condition was dire; her chest had been pierced, and red blood was slowly welling from the wound.

"Big Sister Kallen... It's okay now. We defeated the monsters..."

Kallen weakly took Kiana's hand and managed a strained smile. "Thank you... Miss Kiana... Even though I'm only a virtual personality... you've still treated me so kindly..."

"How...? You already knew?" Kiana's voice trembled.

Kallen gave a self-mocking smile. "When did it start? I began to notice that everyone around me was repeating a script that had already been written. At the end of it, I would be killed by these monsters. After an unknown number of loops, I finally realized that I was just another actor in all this. I tried everything I could think of, but I couldn't escape. Then, this time, I saw you descend from the sky, and the performance finally changed..."

Kallen coughed up blood, then continued, "Yae Sakura... She became a Herrscher... She should still be alive five hundred years later, right? If... she's broken free of the seal, then she should have returned to the human world..."

"But... she doesn't know anyone there. She must be lonely... The moment I thought of Yae Sakura, I finally understood why I was created... Miss Kiana, I can't leave this virtual space, but you can..."

"If... you meet Yae Sakura after you get out, please pass along a message from Kallen Kaslana. Those words have been buried in her heart for over five hundred years..."

Kallen leaned closer to Kiana and whispered in her ear. Kiana looked at her again, tears filling her eyes, and nodded.

At that moment, the virtual space began to collapse. Sheng Jiu stepped forward and said softly to Kiana, "It's time to go." Kiana wiped away her tears and turned to leave with Sheng Jiu and Bronya. As they reached the exit, she looked back one last time. Kallen was still leaning against the wall, waving goodbye to the three of them...

The scene before their eyes blurred. When they opened their eyes again, the three of them had returned to Bronya's bedroom.

The three of them took off their helmets and exchanged silent looks. Kiana gazed at the helmet in her arms, unable to let go of what had happened. My ancestor... What a fool...