Corona / Battle ...

Corona

Fear. Terror. Chris's eyes widened round as the threat of death burst into his sight, direct and sudden. Shrouded by death, he was like a frozen insect, unable even to control his breathing.

Tears and snot could no longer be held back. Crushed completely by the mounting pressure, Chris revealed his ugliest side. He wailed soundlessly and collapsed helplessly onto the ground.

"Chen Tianwu, what the hell are you doing? Hurry up and finish that guy." A gang member wearing a mask and launching an attack in the distance had noticed Chris as well, shouting at the man pointing a gun at him.

"Tch!" Chen Tianwu clicked his tongue impatiently. He hated it when others spoke to him in a commanding tone, though he had no objection to dealing with enemies.

The flames burned fiercely. Chen Tianwu stood amid the fire, slowly placing his finger on the trigger. The scorching air licked at them both, bringing the man's desperate murmurs—then his movement abruptly stopped.

"Big sister..."

"Big sister..."

Gunfire. Flames. Ruins.

"Big brother... save me... Big brother, where are you?" A girl's voice echoed in Chen Tianwu's mind. His breath caught as unbearable, painful memories swept over him.

Chen Tianwu's frozen state quickly drew his companions' attention. After impatiently finishing off all the police officers, the Thousand Fists Society squad leader shoved him hard.

"You can't even kill one person without struggling. What a useless piece of trash. If the boss didn't value your scouting ability, your corpse would've rotted long ago." The squad leader cursed as he chambered a round and aimed at Chris.

Bang—!

The gunshot rang out, but the bullet struck the empty ground.

The squad leader stared in disbelief at Chen Tianwu, who had pushed aside his gun. Anger slowly rose within him. "Kid, are you trying to betray us?"

Click. Click. Click.

The Thousand Fists Society members raised their guns and aimed them at Chen Tianwu. Yet he still looked unconcerned, merely saying softly, "This guy is a useful tool. The Fanghe Society wanted to use him as a scapegoat, so we'll let him ruin their plans."

The squad leader glared hard at Chen Tianwu, his finger repeatedly settling on the trigger before slowly loosening again. Though this guy was lazy and careless, he did have some skill. Among gangsters, he counted as one of the smart ones.

More importantly, the boss seemed to think highly of him and even wanted to transfer him somewhere outside the West. If that actually happened, then he, a mere regional squad leader, would be nothing more than a chick anyone could crush. He could be buried in some flower bed without anyone ever knowing.

"Hmph!" He snorted, tacitly accepting Chen Tianwu's actions.

Only after the Thousand Fists Society members dispersed to deal with the bodies did Chen Tianwu kick Chris, who was lying on the ground. "Get up."

Unfortunately, Chris's eyes had gone unfocused. He was completely immersed in his own world. Chen Tianwu frowned slightly and pressed the long barrel of his gun against Chris's face again.

"3..."

"2..."

Before the final number could fall, a set of sharp teeth clamped down on the gun barrel. Chen Tianwu inhaled sharply and met those eyes, utterly devoid of emotional ripples.

Despair? Sorrow? No. There was nothing. Chen Tianwu could find no emotion in those eyes. He was like a doll that had been played with until it broke, like a corpse that had lost the fluctuations of a soul, waiting for circling vultures to peck at him, waiting for starving wolves to tear him apart.

Waiting to be controlled by the strings of a puppeteer.

Vaguely, Chen Tianwu seemed to see a hungry wolf shrouded in black mist, howling excitedly from within those eyes.

"Hey, kid. Someone's still waiting for you to come home."

His voice was cold and calm. He did not look at Chris, whose humanity had been stripped away, merely gazing into the distance. No one knew whether he was speaking to himself or to Chris.

The wolf's increasingly excited howls gradually faded. The ancient hunter was captured by an imprint of black and white, gradually going dormant.

But it had not disappeared. It was merely waiting for its next hunt.

No one noticed that a black-and-white mark had already been branded onto Chris's back. Nor did anyone hear the sound of gears turning within the Theater of Domination.

Chris's scattered pupils gradually focused, and light slowly returned to his eyes. Though they were filled with fear, though his body trembled uncontrollably, though he kept retching from the violent nausea.

He still became like a child who had found the way home, with a direction to move toward.

"Go and set this wrong world right."

At dusk, accompanied by the sound of brakes, a white medical van came to a steady stop outside Chris's home. Several figures stepped down, all dressed in matching blue medical uniforms and black leather shoes.

One of them rang Chris's doorbell.

Not long afterward, Corona opened the door, pale-faced and listless. A gust of cool evening wind nearly made her collapse.

Seeing Corona in such terrible condition, the medical staff in charge of this treatment hurriedly supported her and helped her back to her room.

Only after emergency treatment did Corona gradually recover.

"Corona, retired Schicksal Valkyrie. I am Euryca, the person responsible for treating you this time. I must remind you that although we will provide long-term effective treatment, your body suffered severe erosion in the previous battle and requires a long period of rest."

"..." Corona said nothing, only glancing toward her younger brother's room from time to time. She had cleaned the room until it was spotless and had even bought a brand-new gaming setup. Yet even now, the figure she wanted to see had not appeared.

"Chris..."

Seeing how uncooperative Corona was, the support staff responsible for her treatment felt helpless as well. Corona's body was already near the brink of collapse. Even with Schicksal's medical team in charge, she had less than two years left to live.

They had also reviewed Corona's record. As a rare A-Rank Valkyrie, Corona had fought on the front lines almost continuously since awakening at the age of twelve. It was only after her parents died in an accident several years ago that she decided to retire. But by then, the degree of Honkai erosion in her body was already extremely severe, and she could only rely on powerful painkillers every day to maintain a normal life.

A Valkyrie with such outstanding contributions should have received far better treatment, but she gave up a better environment to care for her younger brother. She had even deliberately scheduled her treatments at night so he would not learn about her physical condition. Yet something had apparently changed today. Corona's body had collapsed again, rendering months of treatment nearly wasted.

"Also, please stop taking these powerful painkillers. They do not benefit your body in any way." Euryca put away the candy-like painkillers from the box and spoke patiently.

Battle

The world had never been perfect. There was no pure and flawless paradise here, nor any harbor where the soul could rest. His former self had always drowned in the virtual world, guarding the sacred mountain in his heart alone like a seeker of the path.

There were no troubles, no anger. He tightly bound his own hands and claimed to hate violence, when in truth it was only because he was cowardly.

In this chaotic place, violence had never gone far. It watched him at every moment. It was only that someone had sheltered him from the wind and rain, built him a place to live, and kept all malice at bay.

Family.

No matter what his sister had become, she was still the person closest to him.

"Go say goodbye to her. I have nowhere left to retreat."

Warm blood splashed across Chris's cheeks. Another gang member under the Fanghe Society's influence died beneath his gun. His hands trembled, and so did his soul.

He was afraid. Could he, now stained with blood, still be the same person who upheld kindness?

"Three days ago, a horrifying shooting occurred in the Kalowen District. A young police officer was attacked by gangsters while carrying out his duties and tragically lost his life. This was an extremely heinous incident. The local police immediately launched an operation and, through scattered clues, identified the perpetrator before making an arrest on the second day."

"However, while transporting the criminal, the police were attacked by the criminal's accomplices. Not only did they take the criminal away, but several upright police officers also died in the attack. The appearance of such vicious criminals in our country is simply a disaster. All citizens are asked to watch for the suspect's movements and immediately report them to the police once they are in a safe environment. The police will respond at once and carry out an arrest."

"Additionally, according to information provided by the police, they have already identified the suspect's relatives and may be able to obtain information from them..."

"Chris..." The phone in her hand fell straight to the floor. The number labeled Chris had been dialed over a hundred times. The instant Corona saw the suspect's photograph broadcast in the news, it was as though she had been struck by lightning. Her mind went blank.

After that moment of stunned silence, she quickly came to her senses. No one knew her younger brother better than Corona. She simply could not believe that Chris, who spent all day immersed in games, would commit murder. It was far more likely that the police had targeted Chris to cover for the local gangs.

Knock, knock.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the door. Delight appeared on her face, but she stopped after only two steps. This was not Chris's usual way of knocking.

"Miss Corona, I'm Locke, your neighbor next door. I just got back from a trip to Oaxaca and brought some local specialties..."

There was no answer.

Corona slowly retreated to her room. With a tense expression, she took a handgun from the wardrobe. This had been her backup weapon during her time as a Valkyrie.

She had never used this weapon since retiring, but now—Corona gently stroked the patterns on the pistol, where her surname had been engraved.

This was supposed to have been the coming-of-age gift she had prepared for Chris. But after realizing he preferred anime and manga, she had abandoned the idea. She never expected that today, she would have to pick up this weapon again to protect her family. Corona said nothing, simply ejecting the magazine as she had been taught and checking each bullet one by one.

"Miss Corona?"

The neighbor's voice still sounded from outside the door, but how could Corona, a retired Valkyrie, not know what kind of person her neighbor was?

A butcher who secretly trafficked smuggled dog meat claiming to have brought a gift was a joke no less absurd than all the gangs in this city gathering together just to play cards.

Sure enough, after receiving no answer, the front door exploded with a boom under crude explosives. A man dressed in black kicked aside the shattered door panel and charged inside.

Through the surveillance camera installed by the entrance, she could see that the intruders were not police, but gangsters.

In this city, there was no difference between the police and the gangs. They covered for one another and colluded in wrongdoing. Chris might never have considered such things, but as his sister, she had to. Even the factory where Chris worked was somewhere she had only allowed him to go after investigating it repeatedly.

"Grab her directly. That woman has never left the house, so she must be hiding inside." Someone was shouting orders without caring whether anyone heard him. Corona understood clearly what that meant: they would not spare a single survivor. "The Oaxaca State authorities have sent people to intervene. We can't rely on the local cops anymore. Deal with everyone connected to that guy first, so nothing unexpected happens."

Bang—!

A gunshot rang out. One gang member was instantly shot in the head. Corona breathed heavily. Her body had been severely eroded, especially after Chris's words when he left had wounded her. She was almost at the brink of collapse.

Gritting her teeth, she took several "candy tablets" from her pocket. They were the painkillers Chris had mistaken for drugs. The medical staff had warned her repeatedly, but she could no longer worry about that now.

Bang—!

Another person fell. One against nine—Corona held a huge advantage.

As the fierce gunfight unfolded inside Chris's home, the true police force of Oaxaca State was also rapidly heading toward the area. Not only because this time the victim was related to the mayor, but more importantly because the accused criminal was family to a highly decorated Valkyrie. Ordinary people might not know what Valkyries represented, but those truly high up understood the power wielded by Schicksal, which controlled more than half the world.

A case involving a Valkyrie could not be allowed to go wrong under any circumstances.

Meanwhile, an unlicensed car was also drawing closer. Anyone familiar with it would have immediately recognized it as the car Chris drove to and from work every day.

At that moment, he drove alone. The weapon given to him by the Thousand Fists Society lay in the passenger seat. His heart pounded rapidly, racing alongside the speed of his car.

Only extreme speed could shake off fear. Chris understood that very well.

Fire

Bang—

"Phew... only one left." She kept gasping for breath, her throat burning with pain. The Honkai patterns continued to spread, tearing Corona's skin apart inch by inch.

Corona poured the entire bottle of painkillers into her mouth. Her vision swam. Even powerful painkillers could not suppress the pain in her body.

"Don't worry. Don't worry. As long as I take care of the last one..." she kept telling herself.

But after that, she heard nothing more. It was not until an intense wave of heat swept over her and tongues of fire licked the door to the room that she realized the gangsters had actually set a fire to burn her alive.

The flames around her crackled as they burned. The fire spread rapidly, and the entire living room had already become a sea of flames. Chris's room, where Corona had neatly arranged the manga shelves after he left, had also caught fire, turning that sacred place the man had protected into ash.

"Chris, you need to grow up."

"Because today is your birthday."

The unlicensed car stopped on the road. Fierce flames flickered in Chris's eyes, staining them red.

"Big sister?"

Never had his voice felt so dry. Never had his hands felt so weak. Never had the sister who lived with him day after day, yet always meddled in his affairs, felt so important. Never had breathing been so difficult.

Chris had believed that as long as he was fast enough, fear would not be able to catch him.

But at that moment, he suddenly understood that no matter how fast he was, he could not outrun death.

The next second, Chris charged straight into the sea of flames. Rolling fire immediately swallowed him, scorching his skin. The house had been burned beyond recognition, yet in this home that held more than twenty years of memories, every corner was so familiar.

Gunfire. Explosions. Bullet holes. Corpses. This was the symphony of violence, and also the most direct "gift" violence had bestowed upon Chris.

"Big sister?" "Big sister!"

With much of his skin already burned away, Chris smashed open the final door. Smoke and heat had swallowed the room, and he saw her.

The woman lying amid the flames.

The final bullet had been saved for herself.

The final gift had been left for the family member closest to her.

"To my dearest little brother..."

The letter Corona left on her phone before dying was also her deepest farewell.

Even though his body had been completely burned, Chris could feel no pain. A shadowy wolf crouched around him, baring its teeth and howling at the flames.

Chris picked up Corona and walked step by step through the fire toward the outside.

The sunlight outside was warm and bright.

How long had Chris, who had always stayed at home, gone without feeling sunlight this warm?

He did not know.