Honkai Double Transmigration, Taking Xilian to Honkai Impact 3

"Drip—"

Where was it coming from?

Why was the sound so clear, so crisp, right there by his ear, as if a god were standing beside him?

"Drip—"

"She broke her promise."

The sound of the dripping liquid and the girl's gentle, bone-deep voice converged at this very moment.

Ah, ah.

He could no longer deceive himself—

—It was blood.

"But, we won't repeat the same mistakes."

"You have already proven it to me, Cheng-jun."

Her words paused subtly here, the tail end of her sentence so light it seemed ready to shatter in the wind, impossibly soft.

"There are no more square frames around us. Watermelons can grow freely now. There is no one to blame the watermelons, so if one were to still eat a square watermelon, then... it must be the watermelon's own fault, right?"

It was the girl who was being worn away bit by bit.

Yet it felt as if he were the one suffering.

"I, from the very beginning, never helped you with anything. Coming back to see you wasn't because I held any expectations—"

"I had merely heard someone else's voice, and like a stray dog on the side of the road, I crawled over. The first time I saw you, I even thought you were someone from outside the school coming to bully me."

"Everyone disliked me. People I knew before couldn't wait to walk over and kick me. Even a guy dressed as strangely as you, I assumed, would be no exception."

"But, you weren't like that at all."

"From the start, you believed in me more than anyone else, and understood me better than anyone else. Feelings I couldn't even articulate, you seemed to empathize with as if you were in my shoes. You were hurt by the Honkai energy I radiated, yet you endured the pain. It was... it was clearly so difficult, wasn't it? That was a pain like being sliced by a thousand knives... and yet you..."

"Even though Kiana had already pointed out that you were in agony, I refused to believe it. I even started to escape into myself, afraid to accept the truth. I truly hurt the only person who cared about me. So... I acted very strangely afterward, didn't I? I was sad one moment, then suddenly started making sarcastic remarks. And during the battle later, the way I fought... it was truly, incredibly cruel."

"Ah, I've said so much nonsense. In any case... thank you so much for being willing to trust someone like me~"

The flashing blade and the gentle words.

Though it was lightning, at this moment, it became mere accompaniment.

Peach-colored, cherry-pink. It was a rose-colored world that only appeared in legends.

"A-Cheng's catchphrase has been forcefully occupied by Xilian, so please allow me to call you..."

"—Cheng-jun."

Jiang Cheng could glimpse the light in her eyes; it was so bright, so very bright. He had never seen such luminous eyes before.

It was like a grand stage, with everyone cheering and dozens of high-powered spotlights focusing all their brilliant rays on the heroine. And that heroine was looking only at him; no matter how scorching the daylight, it could not cover the fervor in her gaze.

The girl's joy came too quickly, like a tornado, impossible to fend off.

If only... if only it were truly just a stage.

The blood, the wounds...

None of it mattered anymore.

Jiang Cheng could clearly see her smile—a smile that only naturally appeared when one was extremely happy.

That expression could never be faked.

It was the kind of thing that felt hollow the moment one tried to disguise it.

Jiang Cheng finally understood why Raiden Mei had acted so heavily after that one time he reached out, and why she could even say in the future that she would fall into darkness if it meant he could return to the light.

This was never about being saved by someone else in a crisis; it was about grabbing the only warm hand held out among the countless lanterns drifting on the shore, the only hand reaching toward her.

He forced himself to stand, picked up the revolver from the ground once more, and fired at Bronya—

"Bang! Bang! Bang—!"

However, such actions were meaningless.

He couldn't hurt Bronya at all, nor was there any opening to be found.

Even with low Honkai resistance, Bronya's physical capabilities were at least at the level of a B-rank Valkyrie, enough to skydive from the stratosphere without a parachute.

His actions couldn't even hinder her; Jiang Cheng wasn't even graced with a second glance from those eyes.

He was judged as—zero threat!

24. Kill her, Kiana: In your dreams! (Revised)

"Hurry up and activate the Honkai energy! If you truly feel happy about this, then hurry up and activate it!"

"It's not about triggering the Great Honkai, just utilizing the Honkai to a greater degree! As long as you do that, we can win!"

For the first time, Jiang Cheng shouted, unable to bear it any longer.

He allowed his emotions to be easily swept away by anger.

"You still have a very long time. You can walk this world as the Herrscher of Thunder, as a Herrscher who possesses human consciousness. You can live any life you desire, be respected and worshipped by thousands, or even establish a religion and proclaim yourself a god. As long as you are willing, you could easily achieve all of that."

The request was denied without a moment's hesitation.

Why—there was no longer any need to ask such a question, no need to keep repeating the same inquiries.

"Because, you see."

"Of all Jiang Cheng's requests, this is the only thing I absolutely cannot do."

"Ten years, three years—it absolutely cannot be shortened any further."

"But you can give me resistance right now!" Jiang Cheng instantly seized upon the loophole in her words.

"But I truly cannot guarantee that next time, three years won't instantly become zero. This disease, it clearly only accumulates over time!"

And so.

Jiang Cheng could only watch as the misery before him continued to unfold.

A kind of groundless rage, as if burning within his heart, seemed ready to swallow his very self.

The next moment, a screen appeared out of thin air before his eyes.

The figure reflected on the screen was Cocolia. That character who occupied a significant position in all three games.

Brown pupils met emerald eyes.

The latter was terrifyingly contemptuous at this moment.

She looked down from on high, gazing upon everyone present as if she were an omnipotent deity.

"Your weakness truly adds much amusement to my day. I must commend your tenacity, as stubborn as that of a cockroach."

Jiang Cheng took a deep, heavy breath, hiding all his emotions within the shadows.

It had not yet reached the worst-case scenario.

The opponent neither knew the true combat power of a Herrscher, nor did she know he possessed the qualification to call out Grey Snake at any time or enter the safe zone of the Elysian Realm in the name of Xilian.

His current predicament was nothing more than the result of his own greed—wanting to obtain Raiden Mei as a combat asset, wanting to remain in Nagazora, and wanting to secure the Stigmata and the Divine Key before Theresa arrived.

"Not speaking? And so what?"

"You don't actually think you can still escape, do you?" Her voice was arrogant and insolent.

"Cocolia, I have no need to evaluate your character."

"Heh—" She gave a cold laugh.

"You are merely little bugs who stumbled into my laboratory and accidentally took away my prize, Raiden Mei. Even my daughter, Bronya, could easily send you to your doom. What right do you have to question me? In the face of the great cause of resisting the Honkai, what right do you have to stand here?"

"—Bronya."

With absolute firepower, she had suppressed the self-restrained Herrscher of Thunder—Raiden Mei. Bronya, whose expression had remained unchanged from beginning to end, nodded gently.

"Bronya is here."

Cocolia issued her command with haughty arrogance.

"—Kill him."

The moment the order fell, Bronya, whose very will had been tampered with, activated Project Bunny without a moment's hesitation—

Raiden Mei stepped forward instantly.

Lightning flickered beneath her feet, as if every step trod upon thunderbolts above an endless sea of clouds.

The distance of several hundred meters did not even require a single instant.

Jiang Cheng getting hurt—that was absolutely not allowed—

—Slash!

A heavy steel fist struck fiercely from the side; her body's instincts could not ignore such an attack.

Subconsciously, she slammed the foot she had originally extended forward into the earth, twisted her waist, and rotated her wrist. The girl swung her blade backhand in a horizontal sweep toward her side—

"Rip!"

The iron fist forged of steel was torn apart like tattered cloth. The blade wreathed in lightning remained unstoppable, yet the pupils of Raiden Mei did not relax for even a second.

Because what met her eyes could no longer be called an end; within her immediate line of sight, Titan Mechs seemed to carpet the plains, imminent and overwhelming.

Even a strike with all her might could, at most, shatter thirteen Titan Mechs at once.

Facing hundreds or thousands of them, this number was negligible.

Unless she released her restraints and attacked regardless of friend or foe, but if she did that, Jiang Cheng would die instantly. Even if she survived tonight, it would be meaningless.

"Zzzzt—"

Her own power was the very thing that needed to be suppressed most of all.

Even though her fingertips were already congested and swollen, no longer jade-like and delicate, and blood was already seeping from between her fingers.

[...F*ck your mother, Cocolia!]

Even the voice within his heart, the power of a shonen manga protagonist, no longer engaged in any form of bewitchment.

Should he shout for Grey Snake immediately?

This thought rose abruptly in Jiang Cheng's mind. At the edge of his fading vision, he could seemingly already see that lance charging forward once again.

However—

Just as that sharp silver gleam arrived, at the very instant it seemed it would pierce through Jiang Cheng's forehead.

"—Keep dreaming!"

The abruptly appearing, incredible voice brought with it an equally incredible thing—

A fist.

A fist formed by five clenched fingers, which looked weak from any angle, aimed without hesitation at the tip of the lance.

"—Bang!"

It was a dull sound, as if steel had collided with steel. Jiang Cheng stared blankly at the scene before him—

"Don't worry, this young lady isn't that weak. How could mere steel possibly rival my physical body?"

"Boom—!"

The cannonball that had yet to be fired from the muzzle was forced back by those five fingers. A pair of long, slender legs appeared in his peripheral vision, followed by the safety shorts beneath a skirt, and finally, the person herself—

The girl named Kiana was pitting her flesh and blood against a machine forged of alloy.