The Collapse Double Traverse, Taking Xilian to Honkai Impact 3rd

Kiana was brimming with aggressive energy, looking almost like a wild cat baring its claws.

"My apologies~"

Xilian offered a sincere apology at once—

This girl, who was adorable and exquisite from every perspective, bent her slender waist, leaning toward them like a willow branch drooping over the water.

Her jade-white fingers were pressed gently together in front of her.

They obscured half of her face.

While maintaining a sense of mystery, they also perfectly showcased those eyes without reservation.

Her beautiful eyes, clear and blue like a fresh spring, were filled with ripples, as if the bright sky were reflecting off jagged, shimmering shadows.

"Miss—Jiang Cheng is not suited for this type of transport, so we failed to give a timely warning."

Kiana instinctively cast her gaze over, meeting those eyes in an unreserved stare.

And just by seeing this girl, her beast-like, bristling posture vanished in an instant.

"...Ahahaha."

She scratched the back of her head. "So it turns out your health isn't great; I thought something had happened! In that case, I'll forgive you!"

"Are you really alright?"

Xilian gave a light wink with her right eye.

"It's fine, it's fine! My body is as tough as nails."

Kiana patted her chest firmly, finding the spare energy to give a thumbs-up.

"I see... you lot don't look like the type to follow traffic rules, either." She put her hands on her hips, fully indulging her personality as someone who was easily swayed by a pretty face.

"Did something just happen? If you hadn't happened to bump into me, anyone else might have been hurt."

"We have a very important matter at hand."

Jiang Cheng, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. His voice still carried the lingering effects of motion sickness, making it sound exceptionally deep and concise, stripped of any excess.

"The life and personality of Miss Raiden Mei are being threatened by others, and she herself harbors certain hidden dangers that must be addressed in a safe location."

—That legendary Senior Mei.

It was the first time Kiana had heard that name outside of school, and her gaze was drawn to the driver's seat.

Purple hair, just like in the legends.

Even from the back, one could sense a certain proud softness.

Raiden Mei clearly felt as if she were being scanned from top to bottom, inside and out, from her scalp to her toes, without a single inch being missed.

"That kind of thing is just too despicable."

Kiana raised her eyebrows and said loudly.

"If even Senior Mei's privacy and safety are being threatened, how could I just sit by and watch?"

"—It's decided, I'm joining in too!"

Acting on her own accord, she instinctively reached for the car door.

The strength she possessed, enough to kill a cow with a single punch, nearly ripped the door Jiang Cheng was leaning against right off its hinges.

"Wait—!" Jiang Cheng hurriedly tried to stop her.

"The problems you carry are no smaller than Raiden Mei's. If the two of you are paired together, unless the Great Honkai breaks out right this second, we will easily be captured."

"Eh?" Kiana tilted her head in a daze.

"I am not at liberty to speak about the truth regarding you, but I can tell you this—"

He rolled down the semi-transparent window and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Raiden Mei is the Third Herrscher who is about to emerge."

"—What!!!"

Kiana's eyes widened abruptly.

Her gaze, which had already swept over Raiden Mei once, fell upon her again, involuntarily.

It was no longer the observation from before.

This was a gaze that even the person in question could feel—a shock so intense it bordered on disbelief, and...

Vigilance.

"You said someone is threatening Senior Mei's safety, so you intend to take her outside the city..."

"Could it be that you..."

"—Are trying to actively trigger the birth of the Third Herrscher?"

Kiana: I will be the one to kill the Herrscher of Thunder!

Jiang Cheng was pinned by Kiana's gaze. Her usual carefree and unreserved demeanor had shattered completely, replaced by a sharpness in her eyes that even the other two girls could feel.

The down-and-out young lady furrowed her brows.

She was supposed to have a relatively carefree personality back at school, but now...

Am I really such a dangerous existence?

Then why...

Reflected in Raiden Mei's deep purple eyes was Jiang Cheng, who was currently arguing his case with Kiana.

...A-Cheng?

Why?

Jiang Cheng knew that this young lady from Northern Europe, who had traveled alone across the entire continent, currently held no illusions about Herrschers.

"What if I told you that a Herrscher possesses humanity and can be swayed to the side of humanity?"

"Ha, what kind of fairy tale are you spouting? Even I know that Herrschers are natural disasters."

Kiana had not yet attended St. Freya, so her understanding of the Honkai was quite shallow, but she still knew that the birth of a Herrscher was always accompanied by the destruction of a city...

"So, you brought Mei-senpai outside the city... because you had this in mind?"

"Are you going to deny Raiden Mei's future just because of the title of Herrscher?"

Jiang Cheng looked at her, enunciating every word with resounding impact.

This kind of argument was most effective on good-natured people.

"----"

As expected, Kiana faltered, her hands, which had been stealthily reaching toward her waist, freezing in mid-air.

Those beautiful azure eyes closed gently.

Even without any emotional buildup.

Without having gone through the stories that would turn a young lady into a wreck, to recklessly deny someone else's existence...

--She couldn't do it.

So--

"I won't just easily deny Mei-senpai's future, but I am going to follow you. If the Third Herrscher appears and becomes uncontrollable, then it will be me--"

"Kiana Kaslana."

"--who kills her!"

Jiang Cheng looked at Kiana, who had drawn her dual pistols from her waist. She looked earnest, much like Sasuke declaring, "I will kill that man," or "I have mastered the technique to kill that person"—her expression was grave and determined.

Choosing to follow Mei's path was already greedy enough; if he were to bring Kiana along as well...

"This kind of thing..."

"If I lose control, then don't hesitate to kill me."

The words he hadn't yet spoken were intercepted once again—Raiden Mei, in the driver's seat, had reclined her seat to the maximum angle to create space. She turned around immediately, inserting herself into the line of sight between the two.

"Don't go making such messy promises on your own." Jiang Cheng's gaze fell upon her instantly.

"Death is a terrifying thing, and so is pain. I don't want you to make such decisions without knowing—"

"--But!"

The girl, who had exhausted all her sincerity and courage during a long period of bullying.

Only at this moment did she look up, completely unafraid.

The posture she held as a young lady in the past, that sharpness known as the Thunder Queen, seemed to reappear in this instant.

"A... A-Cheng, you also said that while the power within me is great, it is also dangerous. Protagonists in hot-blooded manga occasionally go berserk and hurt the people important to them. I don't want to..."

--I don't want to hurt you, the person who appeared out of nowhere and trusted me for no reason.

The second half of the sentence remained unsaid, too difficult to voice.

However, the first part alone was enough to force Jiang Cheng to swallow his dissuasion.

"Then, let's make a pact."

Kiana's beautiful eyes watched this girl, who was called a Herrscher, yet stood tall with a fierce aura at this very moment—

One side made a pact without knowing the truth.

And the other side nodded in agreement, equally unaware.

The Three Houses, who were meant to become the closest of friends, had instead established a pact to kill one another the moment they appeared.

Could such a twisted relationship truly evolve into the kind of friendship where they could talk about anything?

Jiang Cheng felt a sense of unease regarding this.

At that very moment—a voice that seemed to pause subtly, as if dissolving into the wind, arrived softly.

"The nickname 'A-Cheng' is exclusive to me, you know~?"

"Miss Raiden Mei, please do not use it so casually~ Otherwise, I might get angry."

It was a gentle, warm sound, brushing against the ear like soft, silken velvet.

Yet, there was a foreign element mixed within that softness, grinding against the eardrums like a sharp iron nail.

The gazes of the three, especially the gaze of Raiden Mei, whose name had been singled out, turned instantly toward the left side of the back row—

Xilian.

The first thing to catch their eyes was the adorable girl with her hands pressed together, smiling like a blooming flower; the next was...

--Terrifying.

That distinct, mixed-in sense of something foreign was manifested with particular intensity at this moment.

It was like looking at a blurred world through a thin mist; a certain groundless pressure, a sense of oppression, drifted over them. It felt as if they had suddenly been cast into the eye of a typhoon.