First Aid / Consolation ...

And finally, he would bring the girl back from the darkness in which she had drowned.

He leaped into the depths of her consciousness. The Herrscher's power lit a faint glow for him, and then he caught the girl's hand.

"Found you."

The faint light illuminated the girl's azure eyes.

Emergency Treatment

The choking stench of burning gasoline filled her nose, while a piercing buzz flooded her ears. Thick smoke and dark clouds obscured her vision. Pain scorched every nerve in her body as Kiana slowly awakened amid the ruins, the suffocating sensation making her cough continuously.

She turned her body in confusion. She was still clutching the boy's hand, but its owner lay beside her now, showing almost no signs of life.

Bright red blood had soaked his entire body as though it cost nothing, and a long trail of blood stretched beneath him. Kiana realized that before losing consciousness, he had likely crawled forward again and again until he finally caught her hand. It was that strength that had shattered her consciousness space and saved her from the sea of despair.

But now, he was no longer moving.

"Su Jue!"

The girl's fingers trembled constantly. She did not dare let go of Su Jue's hand, afraid that the moment she did, he would leave her forever. She could only desperately drag herself toward him. Even as sharp rubble cut her skin, she forced herself to reach his side and used her other hand to check his breathing.

The tension on her face quickly turned into the joy of surviving a disaster. Su Jue's breathing was extremely weak, but it was still there.

"Thank goodness... you're still here."

But because of the massive blood loss, his body temperature was gradually turning cold. The faint cracks spreading across his skin also showed that he had suffered Honkai corruption. Yet Kiana somehow found the strength to struggle to her feet, tear strips from her clothes with her teeth, and carefully bandage his wounds to stop the bleeding. But that could only delay things. Su Jue was just an ordinary person, and his physique was even weaker than most. What he needed now was professional treatment.

"Su Jue, don't die!" Looking at the boy's pale face, Kiana was like a drowning person clutching at a lifeline, praying over and over.

Yet there was nothing around them but ruins. Everywhere bore traces of the Herrscher of Void's rampage. No one could answer her.

Only charred corpses and collapsed buildings formed an apocalyptic scene. Even the cries of survivors were gone. Kiana knew all too well that while she had been unconscious, the Herrscher of Void had probably slaughtered everyone. Su Jue's wounds were clearly the Herrscher of Void's doing as well.

But now was not the time for guilt. The entire world had abandoned her, yet Su Jue had awakened her when she was at her most desperate. Now it was her turn to save him.

Her legs shook constantly as Kiana dropped to one knee, hunched over, and carefully placed the unconscious Su Jue on her back. Then she used all her strength to stand and staggered toward the edge of the district.

There was not a single living person in the entire district. Only smoke and flames stood alongside the collapsed buildings on either side of the road, watching as the stumbling girl carried the badly injured boy farther and farther away.

Roar—

But not everything was as silent as the ruins. Even though all the survivors were dead, Honkai continued to rage.

With a thunderous crash, Shencheng Technology's concrete wall was suddenly smashed apart by a huge figure. Flying rubble punched holes through the surrounding facilities as a Chariot-class Honkai Beast burst through the wall in a frenzy.

It leaped high into the air and crashed down, denting the entire road. It wanted nothing more than to tear that fragile human apart, but the Herrscher aura surrounding Kiana made it utterly afraid to approach.

Its instinct for destruction still drove it onward. After leaving the Herrscher behind, it began attacking the surrounding buildings.

Under the impact of its massive body, the ground was covered in craters. Buildings knocked down by the Honkai Beast collapsed across the street, blocking Kiana's path.

Just as the Honkai Beast prepared to ram through the overpass ahead, its body suddenly froze. Then, carried by the momentum of its charge, it split into countless pieces.

Silver-white hair hid Kiana's face, but an inviolable light burst from her golden eyes. This was the authority of the Herrscher of Void—the power of a god's apostle.

Blind cowardice could save no one. Endless escape could never atone for sin. Without power to support her, she could accomplish nothing.

And now, to save someone important to her, Kiana chose for the first time to actively embrace the authority of the Herrscher of Void.

"Get out of my way!"

Her voice was weak, yet it sounded as though she were delivering a supreme judgment. The rampaging Honkai Beast was sliced apart by invisible space, and the collapsed ruins ahead were annihilated along with it.

Even such tremendous power did not earn a second glance from Kiana. She turned to look at Su Jue's profile, his eyes tightly shut against her shoulder, and a resolute expression appeared on her face.

The emergency room light was still on. Kiana sat in the corridor, clutching her hands tightly. She did not even have time to wonder why the hospital was still functioning normally after the Herrscher of Void's rampage. She could only desperately beg the doctors to save Su Jue.

After a long wait, the emergency operation was finally complete. Kiana raised her head and stared in the direction of the ward.

"Are you the patient's family? No, wait. You're badly injured too. Why aren't you receiving treatment?" The doctor who had finished the surgery looked at Kiana, whose condition was also far from good, with confusion.

But Kiana automatically ignored the latter half of his question. "Yes. He... how is he?"

"I'm sorry."

It was as though a bolt of thunder had exploded in her mind. Kiana's thoughts went blank, and just as she was about to ask again, she heard the doctor continue, "Although we've saved his life, there seems to be some indescribable energy in his body that has been preventing him from recovering. His legs have suffered severe corrosion. I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to walk in the future."

Only after hearing that his life had been saved did Kiana let out a breath of relief. As for Honkai corruption, she understood it even better. Ordinary people who came into close contact with a Herrscher would immediately become infected and turn into zombies. The fact that only Su Jue's legs had been corrupted was already a blessing amid misfortune. Schicksal had many methods for treating this kind of corruption. Even if he could not regain the ability to walk, his life would not be in danger.

Once her power became a little stronger, she would charge straight into Schicksal and forcibly seize treatment equipment. If that failed, Theresa would definitely have a solution. What she feared most was that Su Jue would not survive this time.

"It's fine. I'll take good care of him from now on."

"That's good, then. I've seen plenty of young couples abandon each other once one of them becomes disabled. Sigh, people these days..."

The doctor continued rambling, but Kiana could no longer hear him. She had already seen Su Jue being wheeled out on a stretcher by a nurse. His eyes were tightly closed as he slept, peaceful as a child.

Comfort

By the time dawn arrived, the storm clouds from the previous night had completely dispersed. The first rays of morning sunlight filtered through the leaves and into the ward, illuminating two figures.

Tormented by pain and exhaustion, Kiana leaned against the bedside. Su Jue, lying in the hospital bed, had actually awakened long ago and was staring blankly at the sleeping Kiana.

He had planned yesterday's performance for two whole months. Though there had been many unexpected twists, he had ultimately achieved the desired result.

Only those who had seen the heaviest despair could understand the beauty of the world. Only those who had reached the deepest darkness would crave the light even more. Kiana was a strong girl, but that strength needed to be nurtured and maintained. It also needed constant tempering.

This world had never been kind. Kiana had borne the world's malice ever since she was born. As a chosen Herrscher of a Thousand, Su Jue had been swallowed up and destroyed by that malice in his previous life. More than anyone, he understood the sinister nature of the human heart.

So he had used all of Sky City to build a stage for her, giving her the heaviest pain and the deepest salvation. Only then could she become like steel that had endured hammering and forging—filled with strength and resilience, no longer lost in the life ahead.

Only then could she become the sharpest weapon with which he would tear away this world's hypocritical veil... and the flame that would illuminate the darkness of the Theater of Domination.

Now, through Su Jue's series of maneuvers, half of Shencheng Technology had been destroyed. The Honkai Beast created from [Mother] had also fulfilled its final mission after Kiana killed it. Shencheng Technology would inevitably face Schicksal's investigation next, while World Serpent, hidden behind it, would certainly retaliate.

As for Rita and Raven, after fighting for so long and realizing neither could do anything to the other, they would likely retreat for now.

Rita would naturally find Eos and call for reinforcements, using the Immortal Blade Squad to investigate all of Sky City.

Raven, meanwhile, would return to Shencheng Technology to upgrade her equipment. With Jackal, a scientist, on her side, as well as the home-field advantage of Shencheng Pharmaceuticals, she had no reason to fear Schicksal's people.

Of course, sending those two away had been for the sake of arranging last night's setting, giving him and Kiana a space to be alone so the girl's temperament could transform. Su Jue knew full well that Kiana still had many knots in her heart, but as long as she no longer rejected the Herrscher of Void's power, she would one day become the strongest Herrscher.

Otto could cultivate a Durandal in order to resurrect Kallen. It was hardly unreasonable for him to cultivate a Herrscher of Void on his side.

"So you must turn this world into what I want it to be..." Su Jue murmured softly as he watched Kiana in the sunlight.

While Su Jue's thoughts drifted, Kiana seemed to sense the glaring light as well. Her lashes trembled slightly, and then she opened her eyes.

"Su Jue, you're awake." Seeing that Su Jue had awakened, Kiana did not even bother wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth. She hurriedly raised the bed a little so he could lie more comfortably. "Does anywhere still hurt? Should I call a doctor for you?"

Looking at the anxious girl, Su Jue shook his head and forced a smile. "I'm fine... Pour me a glass of water."

Su Jue's face was pale. The aftereffects of his massive blood loss had not yet faded, and Honkai Energy corruption had temporarily paralyzed his body. His legs were completely numb, and he might have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

"Okay." Though he was asking her for help, Kiana was happy. What she feared most was Su Jue waking up without saying a word to her, because that would mean he still held a grudge against her. She hurriedly poured warm water from the dispenser, found a spoon in the cabinet, and fed it bit by bit to the immobile Su Jue.

But after he had finished drinking, the two fell silent again. Su Jue stared absentmindedly out the window, at the birds chirping atop the branches, at the distant sky, his eyes filled with longing.

Kiana, who had been watching Su Jue the whole time, immediately caught that expression. Her heart ached. Su Jue must have realized that his body could not move now.

Forcing a smile, Kiana interrupted his gaze and tried to distract him with her words. "It's okay. The doctor said you've only temporarily lost your mobility. As long as you recover properly, you'll definitely get better."

But even she was uncertain. The doctor had told her something else besides the blood loss and corrosion. Su Jue had an undetectable strange illness in his body, one that had drastically shortened his lifespan. And for him to recover his limbs fully, it would take at least several years.

Even with continuous treatment and care, it would be difficult for him to return to his former health.

"Mm." Su Jue's voice came lightly from his throat, and then he fell silent again.

Kiana grew anxious in the face of Su Jue's silence. Because of her own experiences, she knew that this state of mind was definitely a sign of self-denial. But she had no idea what to do. Teacher Himeko had once been able to comfort her, but now that it was her turn to comfort someone else, she could not force out a single word.

After a while, Su Jue, who had been lost in thought for a long time, seemed to finally emerge from his confusion. He withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at Kiana once more.

"The sunlight outside is nice. How about you take me out for a walk?" His voice was soft, but Kiana caught it immediately. She promptly borrowed a wheelchair from a nurse and took him out of the ward.

Because of the Honkai incident last night, there were quite a few injured patients in the hospital. There were also many people who, like Su Jue, had lost the ability to walk. Shencheng Pharmaceuticals had voluntarily covered all treatment costs from this Honkai disaster. Even people without the financial means, like Su Jue, could receive treatment, earning the company a great deal of public goodwill.

But that could not ease the pain Honkai had brought to people. As Kiana pushed Su Jue through the hospital's public garden, many emotionally shattered patients wailed because of their disabilities, while many others had simply lost their loved ones. Though the weather was bright, it felt even more oppressive than inside the ward.

Sensing that something was wrong with the atmosphere, Kiana quickened her pace.

"Were they... buried properly?"

Her footsteps abruptly stopped. Kiana's hands on the wheelchair trembled slightly as scenes from last night resurfaced one after another. She suddenly remembered that Su Jue's mother and Griseo were both dead.

They had died by her hand.

So... he had seen it.

She had thought she could still leave Su Jue with the will to live, but now the final thread of hope in her heart had snapped. Kiana fell silent. She closed her eyes, and tears slid down her cheeks onto Su Jue.

"I'm sorry."

Flamescion Has Ignited

"Why are you apologizing?" Su Jue's voice was calm, as calm as a dead lake without the slightest ripple.

Kiana said nothing, but tears as large as beans kept falling. The boy's voice held no hatred at all, yet her heart felt as though it were being torn apart.

"I'm sorry." The dry words squeezed out of her throat. She clearly had so many explanations she could offer, yet all she could say were three meaningless words.

If apologies were enough, there would not be so many tragedies in this world.

"Say, you said you were a Valkyrie, right? Back then, you had the ability to save her, didn't you? So why did you still... still..." His voice broke from trembling. Sorrow and anger were carefully hidden beneath his calmness as Su Jue raised his head, his gray eyes fixed on the girl's. "Griseo... she shouldn't have died that way."

"At the very least, she shouldn't have died by your hand."

Everyone living in this world was helpless in their own way, and everyone would eventually die. Some deaths merely made people feel that fate was unfair, but others carved into the soul and brought endless pain.

Though the sunlight was bright, Su Jue's disappointed voice was like a chisel striking Kiana's newly healed heart again and again, chilling her to the bone. If Su Jue had hated and cursed her, Kiana would not have suffered this much. But because she understood his nature, because she knew he would only swallow all his pain himself, she understood even more clearly just how intense the suffering beneath that calmness was.

"I'm sorry." She offered no defense. Although many factors had contributed to Griseo's fate, it was a sin Kiana could not escape.

If she had thought things through a little more before leaving, if she had discovered Shencheng Pharmaceuticals' scheme earlier, if she had recognized that girl during the battle, would everything have turned out differently?

But reality had no ifs. One mistake often required even greater effort to make up for, and in the process of trying, one would make even more mistakes. The moment the first choice was made, fate had already decided everyone's destination.

The wheelchair stopped in the hospital garden. At some point, everyone around them had already left, leaving only the forked path ahead, waiting for the two of them to choose.

The path beneath the trees was covered in vast shadows under the shelter of their branches.

Intense pain turned into a heavy sigh. Su Jue turned away and no longer looked at her. "Apologies are meaningless. Go. You're a powerful Valkyrie. I don't know whether you're Kiana or Sirin, and I don't want to know anymore. Treat this as a nightmare. Now that the dream is over, it's time for us to part ways."

As his words fell, it was as though their worlds had been torn completely apart. One was the powerful Herrscher of Void, while the other was merely an ordinary person with paralyzed legs. They should never have crossed paths in the first place, and this mistaken journey had come to an end.

The girl's body trembled slightly, but her grip on the wheelchair tightened. "I won't leave. This is a mistake I made, and I'll repay it with my life."

But those words seemed to completely shatter Su Jue's composure. The calmness vanished from his face and finally turned into anger. "Enough! Don't you understand? We're just ordinary people. We just want to survive. Even if we're like ants raised in captivity in this world, doomed to be toyed with by it, we still only want to leave behind a trace."

"I'm like a moth newly born into darkness. The moment I get close, your heat will burn me to death. Everything you've gone through can easily destroy my life."

"This world has never been good. It is full of unfairness, full of darkness, and I have no power to change it. Any disaster can shatter my life into pieces. But you're different. You have your own life and path. You have the power to change all of this. What you will face are enemies I can never hope to reach."

"This is the sorrow of ordinary people, and the despair of the weak. Now my mother, my family, all of them have left me. This was an ending destined long ago. I just never imagined it would come so suddenly."

"Kiana!"

"What I hate isn't you. It's this unfair world!"

"So leave. I have nothing left, and I'm not worth your staying here. You have the power to change all this, so you shouldn't stop here."

"..."

The boy clenched his teeth. He wanted to break free from the world's malice, yet now he could not even move. He could only be a useless cripple, cursing this damned world meaninglessly. It was the cry of someone powerless, and the heaviest sorrow of all ordinary people.

He cried. Tears filled his eyes. This time, it was not only Su Jue's sorrow—it was also the sorrow of the Herrscher of a Thousand. Every one of them had once been a failure trapped deep in the mud. They had faced this world with kindness, only to endure its most crushing malice.

Just as Su Jue lost control of his emotions, the white-haired girl took his hand and gently rested her forehead against his. They were so close that they could even hear each other's heartbeats.

"One day, I will turn this imperfect world into the world we hope for."

Two people tormented by the malice of this world could only cling to one another like travelers seeking warmth in winter. Kiana gently wiped the tears from Su Jue's eyes, and wiped away her own as well. Their sorrow and pain no longer suffocated them, instead turning into a more fiercely burning flame.

The blazing Flamescion was only a tiny spark now, but one day it would set the entire sky alight and drive away every winter.

"Let me stay with you, okay?"

Her voice was gentle. Their eyes met, each reflected in the other's pupils.