Under Su Jue's precise control, the bullet forcibly struck his arm. Blood sprayed out, splattering across Kiana's face.
"Su Jue!!"
The instant she saw Su Jue get hit by the bullet, Kiana felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her mind went completely blank.
Clang.
Before the puppet, a brass casing struck the ground as the next bullet was chambered.
Bang—!
After the gunshot rang out, not another sound remained in the silent checkpoint.
A small bullet hole had been left in the concrete floor where the two had been.
At the instant the second bullet arrived, Kiana finally unleashed her potential. She forcibly drew upon the Herrscher Core's power and teleported away with Su Jue.
In the distance, the puppet that had lost Su Jue's control gradually lost the light in its eyes. The sniper rifle slipped weakly from its hands, falling from the rooftop and crashing onto the concrete below.
A pale hand reached out from the void, seized the puppet's body, and dragged it into the Theater of Domination.
A few minutes later, another transport vehicle bearing the Ouroboros emblem stopped at the checkpoint.
Dense footsteps rang out as a better-equipped squad swiftly sealed off the scene.
Men entirely shrouded beneath black trench coats stepped down from the vehicle. A pale mask covered his face, replacing every expression. Two dagger-like markings crossed over the center of the mask, like a hunter waiting for prey. His left eye was concealed beneath the mask, while his crimson right eye looked particularly strange.
Despite the clear skies, the man held an open black umbrella. A heavy robe concealed his entire body, and against his tall, gaunt frame, he looked especially like a venomous creature—a snake.
"Not even ten minutes, and not a single survivor was left behind." The man's voice was hoarse, distorted by an indistinct electronic filter that made him difficult to identify.
He first glanced at the completely destroyed surveillance equipment. Only after confirming that no information could be recovered did he use his flickering red prosthetic eye to scan the chaotic battlefield, recording all the data and transmitting it to Shencheng Technology's computational terminal for analysis.
Once the red glow dimmed, he slowly raised his head. Every bullet trajectory became crystal clear in his eyes. Following the direction the bullets had come from, he looked toward the sniper's position.
Naturally, it was empty now, with no trace of human activity.
"Clean up the battlefield. Bring all the test subjects back. Remove the bloodstains and make it look like a Honkai Beast attack." After giving the order in a low voice, Gray Serpent took a step forward and headed alone toward where the sniping had taken place.
The first thing caught by his crimson snake eye was naturally heat.
He bent down, put on gloves, and gently picked up the sniper rifle. The fall from such a height had loosened the outdated bolt-action rifle somewhat. Yet the warmth of its barrel honestly told him that this was the weapon that had slaughtered his squad.
There were no special markings on the sniper rifle. Such nearly scrapped old firearms were obsolete whether in Schicksal, the military, or Shencheng Technology, and were not difficult to obtain.
More importantly, there were no fingerprints on the trigger, not even any residual body heat from someone holding it.
He raised his head, his gaze settling on the rooftop. His snake eye caught faint marks from impacts.
But when he reached the rooftop, he saw only scattered wood chips. Not even the scent of someone once lying there to snipe remained.
The Evening Breeze Far from the Clamor Brought Peaceful Days
Darkness. Heaviness. Her memories were like intertwining holes spiraling downward, woven together into an abyss called pain.
Stinging. Tearing. Her body seemed to have been forcibly ripped apart, every inch of flesh and every bone sliced open.
"Am I going to die?"
Hanging upside down in endless darkness, the girl kept sinking, like a shipwreck victim forgotten in the deep sea.
Chaotic, jumbled fragments of memory flashed continuously, recounting the life of lies she had lived. She saw her friends from St. Freya Academy—Theresa, Mei, Bronya, Class Monitor Fu Hua, Teacher Himeko...
They had clearly been smiling in her memories. They had been her closest friends, her most dependable companions.
But now, there were no smiles on their faces—only resentment and fear.
"Your life was nothing but a prewritten script."
"Your name is nothing but a fabricated lie."
"Your existence is only an illusion. A test subject numbered K423, foolishly dreaming of having a life of her own."
"You are merely a vessel, a vessel meant to contain the Herrscher of Void. Everything you have experienced was nothing but emptiness."
"..."
The girl remained silent as Sirin's voice echoed endlessly beside her ears, lingering within this silent deep sea of consciousness.
Only after a long while did the girl seem to finally give up resisting. The flashing memory fragments gradually faded away, and the holes in her consciousness slowly vanished.
"Very good, K423. Give this body to me, and I will join you in taking revenge on this filthy, hypocritical world."
Within the space of consciousness, Sirin's phantom gradually became solid. She kept using her words to disrupt the girl's heart, unable to wait any longer to claim this perfect host.
"Are you finished?" Unexpectedly, what she received was not the girl's despairing descent, but a sharp retort.
Floating in the gloom, her brilliant blue eyes shone brightly. There was no longer any trace of the despair that had once filled her with pain. Having shattered once, the barrier around her broken heart had instead become even more solid.
Though painful memories clung tightly to her, her consciousness was not shaken in the slightest.
"How is that possible? How can you still maintain your sense of self after being corroded by the Herrscher Core?!"
Sirin, having failed once again, could hardly believe it. This time, Kiana had forcibly broken through the Herrscher of Void's Core, and nearly half her body had been corroded by Honkai energy. By all rights, her consciousness should have long been lost within Honkai's chaos...
"Are you surprised? Are you confused?" Kiana, whose consciousness had fully recovered, stopped her falling body and quietly floated within the abyss of her deepest consciousness.
Sirin gradually appeared before her, and the two faced each other in silence.
"Foolish girl, have you forgotten? Your friends all betrayed you."
She cried out resentfully as the space twisted without end, transforming into a pure white maze. Sirin snapped her fingers, and phantoms of Theresa and the others emerged in the white labyrinth.
"Look. In their eyes, you have become a monster. The only way to save you is to kill you."
At Sirin's gesture, Kiana's friends from St. Freya Academy launched attacks against her.
"I'm sorry, Kiana." Mei's phantom repeated the words as her blade mercilessly slashed toward Kiana, cutting a deep gash into her body.
"See? See? All they want is to kill you!"
"You..."
Bang—!!
Before Sirin could finish speaking, Kiana punched Mei directly in the stomach. The immense force sent Mei flying backward, and before she could hit the ground, she shattered into fragments and vanished completely.
"Have you gone mad? She was your best friend, and you actually killed her yourself?!" Sirin, who had always lurked in Kiana's heart and understood exactly what St. Freya meant to her, was truly shocked this time. She had considered the possibility that her mental corrosion might fail, but she had never imagined Kiana would truly strike at the person most important to her.
"Heh." Kiana sneered after taking out Mei's phantom with one punch. "A fake is still a fake. Someone who has never been trusted probably cannot understand what it feels like to have someone place their hopes in you."
"..."
"Besides, wasn't it you who said they had already betrayed me? Why should I hold back?"
For a moment, Sirin was rendered speechless. She stared fixedly at Kiana, trying to find the reason she had changed into this person.
"I understand now. It was that bastard. That bastard, wasn't it?"
"I'll kill him. I definitely will!"
Her voice grew weaker and weaker until it disappeared entirely. In the pure white maze of consciousness, Kiana was the only one left.
She stood silently in place, lowering her head to look at the fist she had just thrown. A flash of pain crossed her eyes. She had never imagined there would come a day when she would strike at her friends. Though she had spoken as if she did not care, Sirin's words had still torn open wounds in her heart. After attacking Mei's phantom, that grief reached its peak.
However, trust was the best medicine for betrayal.
There was still someone who trusted her. There was still someone who hoped for her.
Then she should not fall in a place like this.
Crack—
The space of consciousness shattered apart, and Kiana's consciousness slowly sank before gradually becoming clear again.
"You're awake?"
A smile rested on the young man's face. The crimson setting sun in the distance slanted across them, stretching their shadows long. Su Jue sat slumped beneath a large tree, looking somewhat exhausted, while Kiana, who had fallen asleep after using the Herrscher Core, lay on the grass with her head resting on his thigh.
The evening breeze gently brushed through the treetops, and the old tree rustled softly. Dusk scattered gold across the empty meadow, coating it in an ambiguous hue. Beyond the distant horizon stood a brightly lit city, and the two seemed far removed from every worldly clamor, having cast aside all their pasts. Time felt eternal, paused at this very moment.
Lying flat on the grass with her head on Su Jue's lap, Kiana stared blankly for a moment. Her white hair was swept up by the wind, intertwining with the young man's short gray hair until they nearly blended together. Her mismatched gold and blue eyes reflected in his plain gray ones, so clear and so distinct, as if she were the only thing in his eyes.
She gradually closed her eyes and enjoyed this brief peace.
The Girl Who Painted Stars
"Ahem, could you get up first? I... my leg is a little numb." Su Jue could not hold on any longer. His body had never been in good condition, and after the spatial transfer, he had simply waited for Kiana to wake up. He had waited from daytime until evening, and now his leg was nearly numb from being pressed down. He had finally waited for her to awaken, only for her to close her eyes again. Was she planning to go back to sleep?
Hearing Su Jue's voice, Kiana's little face reddened. She hurriedly rolled over and got off him. Her memories rapidly came flooding back. Why had she used the Herrscher of Void's power in the first place? Right—Su Jue had been injured.
"How is your injury?" She looked worriedly at Su Jue's arm. It was now wrapped in bandages, which looked like the young man had applied them himself.
"It isn't too serious. The bullet didn't hit cleanly; it's only a flesh wound." He stubbornly raised his arm, but a sharp pain immediately shot through his mind, making his entire face scrunch up.
"And you call that not serious!" Somewhat angrily, Kiana pressed down Su Jue's arm and carefully began unwrapping the messy bandages around his wound.
When she saw the wound on his arm, where a large chunk of flesh was almost missing, Kiana's nose stung and tears gradually welled up. But she knew this was not the time to be sad. Though the bandages Su Jue had tied one-handed had stopped the bleeding, they were not conducive to healing.
"I'll help you take off your clothes. It's not breathable tied up like this." As she spoke, she reached for Su Jue's clothes.
Su Jue jumped in fright and hurriedly stopped her. "Just leave it tied like this."
"...All right." Giving Su Jue a puzzled look, Kiana could only pull his sleeve up as far as possible, clean his wound, and rewrap the bandages.
Having narrowly escaped disaster, Su Jue's heart pounded wildly. The black-and-white Thousand Laws mark over his heart rose and fell with every heartbeat. This thing was the core mark of his Herrscher of Domination. If Kiana discovered it, his identity would definitely be exposed sooner or later.
Although Kiana had often failed her academic classes at St. Freya Academy, she had still mastered medical knowledge. In just a few minutes, the bandages Su Jue had tied into a lump became comfortable and breathable, complete with a cute bow.
Only after nodding in satisfaction did Kiana shift her gaze from Su Jue to their surroundings.
Ancient trees and grassland—it looked like a vast prairie somewhere, yet the tall buildings in the distance told her they were not far from the city.
"This should be a ranch on the outskirts." As he spoke, Su Jue pulled out a phone. It was an old model from years ago, its screen cracked and tightly wrapped in tape.
That was right, this was the phone he had swiped from one of his subordinates. Now that Kiana Company had Little Lei, it had begun expanding into the comics industry, so making money was not difficult. After replacing his subordinates' phones with new ones, their old phones naturally became his own equipment. Such a considerate boss would make even philanthropists go vegetarian and chant praises for a living Buddha.
Kiana fell silent as she looked at the battered phone in Su Jue's hand. Though Schicksal's Valkyries faced many dangers, their basic equipment was always top-tier, and their phones were always the newest models. Unfortunately, her own phone had long been destroyed in the previous Honkai eruption.
"The map's location function still works. We're still within Sky City." Su Jue handed the phone directly to Kiana. He hesitated, but ultimately said in a low voice, "That, um... teleportation ability of yours must be really hard on your body, right? If possible, you should try not to use it."
"Aren't you afraid? That sort of ability isn't something a normal Valkyrie should have." After the gloom in her heart had faded, her fear of the Herrscher of Void was no longer as intense. But to ordinary people, a Herrscher was still the most terrifying existence. Kiana had dozens of ways to deceive Su Jue, but this time, she did not want to lie.
Su Jue lightly scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed. "I am a little scared, actually... Would you hurt me?"
"No!" Her answer was crisp and immediate, without the slightest hesitation.
The embarrassment quickly faded from Su Jue's face, replaced by a relieved smile. "I believe you."
The sun gradually sank into the earth, its afterglow staining the sky red. The two walked side by side across the ranch, as though on a romantic journey.
Unfortunately, neither of them felt romantic in the slightest.
"Grrr~~"
A strange sound came from their stomachs. The two people, nearly faint from hunger, exchanged awkward looks before they could not help laughing.
Once the sunlight disappeared completely, the stars across the sky began to glitter one after another.
Without the light pollution of the metropolis's neon signs, the starlight was especially bright over the grassland.
The two starving people crossed the ranch, then stopped.
Beneath the vast starry sky, a girl painting stars gradually came into view.
The girl stood barefoot upon the cool grass. A large solid-wood easel stood before her, hiding most of her petite body.
Starlight and moonlight reflected one another, pouring down upon the girl without restraint and making her seem like an elf born of the stars.
Her pale violet eyes focused intently on the paper, occasionally lifting to gaze at the stars. Her left hand gently held a paint-covered palette, while the tip of the brush in her right hand hovered above a canvas with a deep blue background, refusing to fall. Paint dripped from the brush, staining her white dress before smearing everywhere with the girl's movements.
"What color are stars?"
Unaware of the dripping paint, she was so focused that the world seemed to contain only this sky. She did not notice the arrival of the two uninvited guests at all.
After observing for a long time, the girl finally made up her mind and lowered her brush. But the paint had already fallen away, and the stars she painted into the night sky became rough blotches.
"Ah."
The girl let out a soft cry and withdrew her brush in frustration. In the end, she still failed to paint the sea of stars.
She took down the canvas, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the trash bin beside her. Then the girl slowly packed up her painting supplies. Only after everything was put away did she notice the two who had been standing nearby for quite some time.
The instant she saw the strangers, the girl froze slightly before panic filled her face. She did not even have time to take her supplies, instead running barefoot across the grass toward a small house nearby.
Before you continue