Collapse Bomb / Explosion

But a duel was not something you could win just by risking your life. Unless you could utterly crush your opponent, you always had to be wary of them doing something unexpected.

Swift as a blade, Mei's flashes of movement compressed all of Su Jue's room to maneuver beneath the rain of slashes. Then, amid those razor-sharp edges, her long sword came crashing down.

"You lost."

"No." Their eyes met, their bodies inches apart. Beneath his half-mask, Su Jue curled his lips into a crazed smile. "You lost."

His katana turned sideways in an attempt to block Mei's slash, but when she truly brought her blade down, her expression changed drastically. Su Jue had never intended to block it head-on. Instead, he let go of the katana, making her strike feel as though it had hit a wad of cotton.

The momentum of her blade continued downward, cutting across Thousand Calamities's shoulder. Blood sprayed through the air, and Su Jue's smile became even more unrestrained.

Bang—

A heavy punch slammed into Mei's abdomen. Before the force from that blow had even faded, he followed it up with a headbutt.

With her head buzzing, Mei dropped to her knees. The katana in her hand flew several meters away, clanging against the ground. Though Su Jue's injuries looked more severe, the final victory still belonged to him.

"Skill alone can't make up for the gap in combat, Herr—..." Damn it, he had nearly copied Thousand Calamities's line too.

"Despicable!" It took Mei a long while to recover. Her pale violet eyes brimmed with rage, and she wished she could tear this underhanded bastard to pieces.

"Hm? You look pretty unconvinced."

Raiden Mei said nothing, but her expression plainly said otherwise. Over the past half month, she had trained herself like mad day and night, only to lose now because of a moment's carelessness. Of course she could not accept it.

Clack—

With a light flick of his toe, the katana Su Jue had taken from Mei landed in his hand. He flicked his wrist and drove the blade straight into the concrete before her. "If you're not convinced, I'll give you another chance. If you win, you can take the sword back. If you lose, you'll have to agree to one condition."

Raiden Mei fell silent for two seconds before finally gripping the hilt. Taking a deep breath, she yanked the katana free. Her familiar weapon had returned to her hands, but Mei felt a trace of humiliation, because she had not reclaimed it herself.

But now that the opportunity stood before her once more, she would never let it slip away.

Su Jue, empty-handed, began his second duel with Raiden Mei. This time, it was the fighting style that truly belonged to Thousand Calamities.

"Come! Let me see your resolve!" Su Jue shouted wildly. He had no intention of defending and launched straight into an attack.

He was incredibly fast, even much faster than when he had wielded the katana. Mei tightened her grip on her sword and slashed swiftly, trying to force Su Jue to evade. Only then could she use the advantage of her weapon to suppress him.

Unfortunately, she did not know that injuries would only drive Thousand Calamities madder. As the blade fell, Su Jue merely used his palm to deflect some of its force. As long as it was not fatal, he could accept it.

Clearly, Raiden Mei had never seen such a suicidal fighting style before. Trading wounds for wounds put her at an extreme disadvantage. She could only do everything she could to widen the distance, but she also did not know that once she developed the intention to retreat, she would completely fall into Thousand Calamities's rhythm.

Bang—

Slash—

Fist met flesh, blade met spraying blood. After the final clash, only one person remained standing.

"Is this your resolve, Raiden Mei?"

Mei, sent flying by a punch, clenched her teeth and tried to force herself back to her feet. But the pain wracking her body made her tremble uncontrollably.

The wounds on her body were nowhere near as severe as the blow to her spirit. Before, she could still blame Su Jue for using a dirty trick. But now, even with the advantage of a weapon, she had still suffered a crushing defeat. What, then, had all her desperate training been for?

"What am I..."

"Wait!! We can talk this out." Su Jue jolted in alarm and hurriedly interrupted Mei's muttering.

A bleak smile appeared on Mei's face. She lifted her head and stared straight at Su Jue. "I admit that you won, but I will never let you humiliate me."

Humiliate you, my ass. I'm afraid you'll lose the password.

"Raiden Mei, I didn't bring you here just to see you looking so weak. You haven't forgotten what the message said, have you?"

Prompted by Su Jue, Raiden Mei suddenly came back to herself. She had come this time for Kiana. The message Su Jue had sent said that Kiana was about to face a life-or-death crisis.

She no longer thought about whether she could do it or not. Kiana's safety was what mattered most.

"You know where Kiana is?" she asked urgently.

"Of course. We came to find you because of her."

Hearing Su Jue's words, Mei immediately caught the key point. "We?"

"Yes, we. An organization formed by survivors saved by Miss Kiana. Among us are people who suffered Honkai attacks, people persecuted by Schicksal, and even people who were simply abandoned by society before she rescued them."

"Every one of us has received her kindness. We gathered together to protect her in secret, and we have devoted our lives to Miss Kiana." Su Jue introduced his organization with a perfectly straight face, even taking off his mask of his own accord.

Mei looked at the completely unfamiliar young man before her and said nothing. She did not immediately believe him, but at the very least, judging from Su Jue's behavior, they bore Kiana no ill will.

"All right. What do you need me to do? But before that, I need to know where Kiana is."

Honkai Bomb

The sky gradually darkened. Kiana had already prepared herself to be hunted by World Serpent, yet strangely, there had been no movement all day. Rather than reassuring her, it filled her with a heavy sense of unease. And she was not the only one feeling unsettled. Even Fu Hua, residing within Feather Dust, was somewhat restless and sent Kiana a warning.

"What's wrong?" A voice suddenly came from beside her. Kiana came back to her senses, eased her tightly furrowed brows slightly, and gave Su Jue, who was looking at her curiously from the hospital bed, a forced smile.

"It's nothing. I just have a bad feeling."

With a soft sigh, Su Jue closed the book in his hands, shook his head at Kiana, and advised, "If you feel uneasy, then investigate it. You're a powerful warrior. You should trust your instincts even more."

"But what about you?" The unease in her heart made it impossible for Kiana to stop worrying about Su Jue, bedridden as he was. She could vaguely sense that this crisis might be anything but ordinary.

Thinking back on her past experiences, she had felt the same intense unease when she killed Griseo before. But at the time, she had not thought that much about it, and had thus committed a sin that could never be undone.

Seeing Kiana's worried expression, Su Jue instead showed a relieved smile and said softly, "I'll protect myself. I definitely won't become a burden to you."

"That's not what I meant." Hearing Su Jue's words, Kiana thought she had hurt him. She hurried to explain, but the book in Su Jue's hand pressed lightly against her lips.

"Kiana, this is what I should do. If you truly consider me your companion, then please respect my choice, and respect your own choice as well." His gray eyes glimmered beneath the hospital lights, filled with unwavering determination. It reminded Kiana of the same look in his eyes beneath the dim yellow light that day.

He had never been a failure who needed someone else's protection. From beginning to end, he had always known what he needed to do and understood what he was doing.

The unease between Kiana's brows completely faded. Once again, she remembered what had drawn her to this young man in the first place. Was it not precisely this unyielding will?

He was her companion, not some weakling hiding behind her and needing her protection.

"Mm." All her misgivings vanished. Kiana stood and solemnly nodded at Su Jue, like a warrior about to depart on an expedition, bidding farewell to her family.

"Go. Seek the truth of this matter, and save this world."

The distant sun was about to set, dividing the world into two halves of light and darkness. As night approached, great swathes of dark clouds had already drawn near Sky City, as though even they knew that a disaster capable of shocking the world might occur tonight.

Atop the signal tower in the center of Sky City, countless steel frames had appeared at some point. A huge, specially treated porous sphere sat mounted within them. Induction-frequency injectors, modified and calibrated many times over, were fixed onto the sphere. Once this engine sphere exploded, the Honkai Energy it produced would spread across the entire city at a special frequency, subjecting the millions of residents of Sky City to the Stigmata induction experiment in an instant.

"Four hours until the experiment begins." After confirming that all preparations were complete, Jackal and Raven both relaxed slightly. Schicksal's forces would not arrive for at least another ten hours, more than enough time for them to complete the experiment.

"Don't let your guard down. Schicksal's Valkyries are still wandering this city, not to mention the greatest variable of all, the Herrscher of Void." Compared with Jackal, Raven was clearly much more cautious. More importantly, she had already consulted Gray Serpent. There was no executive named Crimson Snake in the organization. She had a feeling that the red-haired woman who had appeared before her that day would show herself again.

Adjusting the dog-head mask on her face, Jackal said disdainfully, "We've completely cut off Schicksal's signals, and Gray Serpent has monitored all network information in the city. How could they possibly know our plan? They're probably still hiding in some corner like rats, smugly thinking they escaped our pursuit."

"..." Raven took a deep breath and gave up trying to persuade her. That was simply Jackal's personality. As long as the plan proceeded smoothly, she would let her be.

As they spoke, Raven had already opened her tactical display. An overhead map of all Sky City was clearly marked, and dense clusters of red dots covered the area around the signal tower. These were all of World Serpent's remaining mech forces, lying dormant atop buildings. Even if Rita and Kiana discovered the plan, they would never get through the mech defense line easily.

Now that the setup was complete, it was time for them to retreat. The activation signal for the Stigmata Project would affect them as well. But World Serpent had better testing grounds for its executives. Such a crude activation method was simply too dangerous.

Just then, Raven keenly sensed an unfamiliar gaze fall upon her. She snapped her head around and saw only a flash of dark gray short hair.

"Who?" Raven had already dashed out as she spoke, but the eavesdropper was fleeing frantically. She could only barely recognize that familiar combat uniform. It belonged to a member of Blade of Immortality.

"That crow-mouthed Cleo. I definitely can't let her talk next time." Cursing inwardly, Raven quickly gave chase.

Alvit, whose eavesdropping had been discovered, had lifeless eyes as she fled under Su Jue's control. Rita and the others naturally did not know World Serpent's purpose, but Su Jue had long since set his sights on World Serpent. As the final step in his plan for this city, how could he possibly fail to pay special attention to them?

Alvit's purpose was to leak this information. After all, Kiana had not yet gone through the incident of being captured by Jackal, so naturally she did not know about their plan to plant a bomb.

The longer Raven chased, the more wrong it felt. Alvit was only an A-rank Valkyrie, so how was she running so fast? Just as Raven was about to lose patience and use Seven Thunders of Retribution to snipe her, Alvit finally reached her destination.

"Vice Captain! World Serpent is preparing to install a bomb in the signal tower and use everyone in the city for experiments!"

Rita, who had been frowning deeply, once more came face-to-face with Raven. This scene felt strangely familiar to her, but the situation before her left no room for further thought. She immediately activated her Umbral Soul armor and fought Raven again.

Alvit, still fleeing for her life, stumbled toward the vicinity of the hospital and happened to collide with Kiana, who had just emerged from it.

"Her... Herrscher of Void, they're going to detonate a bomb, the plan..." Before she could finish, she fainted.

Catching Alvit's falling body, Kiana furrowed her brow tightly. The information she had received was limited, and she still did not understand the situation. Fortunately, Fu Hua was also within her body. The two of them successfully found a recorder in Alvit's clothes, containing Jackal and Raven's conversation.

"It's the Stigmata Project. World Serpent still hasn't given up!"

Explosion

The moment the term Stigmata Project appeared, Kiana swiftly recalled the files she had seen on that computer at Shencheng Pharmaceuticals.

Those inhuman experiments and insane plans had each trampled human dignity and life ruthlessly beneath their feet.

The memories buried deep in her heart began to ache again. Griseo's miserable state was still vivid in her mind. Kiana clenched her fists, and her breathing became hurried. Moreover, the other soul in her body gradually began to awaken because of those memories.

Humanity's crimes had never ceased. The tragedy of the Tower of Babylon had never disappeared. It would only play out again and again.

"Kiana, steady yourself. Don't forget that you still have a chance to make things right." Sensing that the Herrscher of Void's consciousness was showing signs of awakening again, Fu Hua reminded her softly.

Kiana's chest rose and fell. Only after taking several deep breaths did her emotions gradually settle. She clenched her fist, her voice stern. "I have to stop them. There are still four hours until the experiment begins. I still have time."

Unfortunately, although Alvit had brought news of World Serpent's plan, she had not recorded where they intended to detonate the bomb. Kiana still needed to investigate further.

Worse still, the long-dormant Herrscher of Void had already begun to awaken. If Kiana tried to fight at full strength as she had before, she would very likely lose control.

No matter what, she had to act first. Kiana wasted no time and immediately began investigating World Serpent's recent movements.

At the same time, Jackal activated the countdown for the Honkai Bomb atop the signal tower.

A period of energy coupling was needed to achieve perfect activation. That period was exactly four hours.

After multiple failures, Jackal had learned to be smarter. Aside from the countdown, the Honkai Bomb would also rapidly detonate upon coming into contact with a high concentration of Honkai Energy. This was to prevent the Herrscher of Void from tampering with it during that time.

Once Kiana used her spatial abilities, it would inevitably trigger Honkai fluctuations, and the Honkai Bomb would detonate immediately. Though that would not achieve the perfect awakening effect, it was at least better than failure.

"Begin."

As Jackal's words fell, violent explosions suddenly erupted throughout the center of Sky City.

Kiana, moving through the streets, suddenly halted. The roar of wild wind came from overhead. A billboard frame struck by an explosion had snapped and was toppling down toward the street.

The more alert people on the road immediately noticed the falling frame overhead and began running in every direction.

But the city was densely populated, and many people fell amid the crowding. As the billboard frame was about to hit the ground and cause a disaster, Kiana suddenly leaped upward. Leaving a deep footprint in the ground, she launched into the air. The heavy metal frame immediately twisted beneath her support. It was impossible to catch it by force, so Kiana could only turn her body and slam the frame against a nearby wall, using friction to slow it down.

A constant screeching rang out as the welded steel structure shifted and broke apart. But Kiana had already achieved her goal. Seeing that the crowd below had scattered, she released her grip. Under the dumbfounded gazes of the pedestrians, Kiana rolled to bleed off the force and landed safely.

Behind her, the heavy billboard frame finally struck the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Get out of here quickly. It's not safe around here." Faced with everyone's stares, Kiana looked somewhat awkward. She was afraid that someone would recognize her, recognize her as the Herrscher who had brought ruin upon the world.

So, after confirming that there were no immediate issues, she quickly left, leaving behind only her silhouette for the survivors who had just escaped death.

"It's Magical Girl Kiana! Mom, that's Kiana!" While most adults did not recognize Kiana, some children had recognized her long ago. The legend of Magical Girl Kiana had already spread throughout children's social circles, replacing the Warriors of Light as the figure children admired.

The explosions continued without end. In order to delay the authorities and Schicksal, World Serpent had completely disregarded the safety of ordinary people. This undoubtedly delayed Kiana's investigation considerably.

"Pay attention to controlling the Honkai Energy. Do it as I taught you."

Facing the Herrscher of Void's corruption once again, Fu Hua had chosen last time to make Kiana restrain her power and leave those people alone. But this time, she proactively taught Kiana what to do. Even as the Honkai corruption grew more severe, she still kept her promise and did not say a single extra word.

Those two different attitudes had also led to a different relationship between them. With Fu Hua's understanding of Taixu Sword Qi, Kiana successfully separated and redirected the excess Honkai Energy, greatly slowing the progress of the corruption.

The Honkai Bomb crisis was already imminent, but Kiana could not bring herself to abandon these citizens either. Making the same mistake once was enough. She did not want to see anyone else suffer the pain of losing family.

More and more citizens were saved by Kiana. Combined with the white-haired girl having saved many people over the past month, tales of Magical Girl Kiana began spreading widely across Sky City's internet.

There was even an account called Qian Jue that perfectly captured footage of her, recording every scene of Kiana saving people from all sorts of strange corners and posting them online.

Using explosions to drag ordinary people into disaster.

World Serpent's move was undeniably vile, but it was effective. Kiana, running herself ragged, unknowingly wasted two hours.

"Kiana, the help Taixu Sword Qi can provide your body has nearly reached its limit."

Only after confirming that no more explosions were occurring did Kiana land on a rooftop to rest briefly.

Her breathing was extremely labored. Her stamina had been heavily drained by the uninterrupted exertion, and the Honkai cracks that had not appeared for a long time surfaced once more. Fortunately, her experiences during this period had strengthened her will considerably, so the Herrscher of Void's consciousness would not break through so easily.

"But I can't stop yet. There are still people in this world waiting for me to save them." After a brief rest, she leaped high from the edge of the rooftop, soaring toward another building like a bird.

However, while she was in midair, a patrol mech hidden atop the building had already locked onto her.

Whoosh—

Several grenades trailed long tails of flame as they blasted toward Kiana. Her expression changed, and she immediately used her power to construct a platform in midair to push off from.