The Dimensional Codex of Destruction

Chapter 41: Kiana's Past

Should I kill him?

Qin Mo didn't touch the two DISCs himself, instead letting his new Stand retrieve them.

Even equipping a character card with a Stand didn't prevent him from using his own Stand.

Looking at Pucci, who had collapsed like a vegetable, unconscious, Qin Mo decided to deal with him later. He then turned his attention to the Stand DISC belonging to White Snake in his hand.

Should I insert it directly into my brain to use it?

Qin Mo hesitated, looking at the DISC. A person could hold multiple Stands simultaneously, but multiple Stands placed a heavy burden on the user. If they couldn't bear it, the DISC would be ejected.

White Snake was a terrifying Stand, at least to Qin Mo. He didn't fear physical attacks or even death, but he was completely defenseless against mental abilities. Even with the Dog Talisman's immortality, he could still be sealed or controlled.

If he were controlled into removing the Dog Talisman, that would be the end of him.

Therefore, Qin Mo chose the most despicable and insidious method to ambush Pucci.

Let's try equipping it...

After only a few seconds of deliberation, Qin Mo made his decision. White Snake's ability was very useful. As a Stand focused on mental abilities, it could compensate for Qin Mo's current weaknesses.

Equip the White Snake DISC for me...

Qin Mo commanded his Stand, but to his surprise, This Stand, which had no high stats and whose abilities were unknown, did not obey Qin Mo's command. Instead, it raised its left arm.

Qin Mo saw a disc drive-like object pop out from its left arm.

He inserted the White Snake DISC into it, and Qin Mo watched as the White Snake DISC disappeared into the nameless Stand's body.

"White Snake!!!!!!!"

A mechanical voice emanated from within it. Qin Mo noticed that an avatar of White Snake had appeared on the Stand's left arm.

"????"

Wait a minute!? Could it be!?

Qin Mo instantly thought of his Stand's potential abilities, but he needed to test it. And right now, the most suitable place for testing was...

The Ossuary

This was where Pucci and Dio met, and for Pucci, it was the beginning of his dream.

Pucci had hidden the DISC in a corner beneath the Ossuary, and Qin Mo easily retrieved it.

Looking at the familiar, yet useless, pile of Stands in his hand, Qin Mo raised an eyebrow. "I knew it. There wouldn't be any powerful Stands here."

If there were any powerful ones, Dio would have used them to fight against them.

Having his Stand pick up these DISCs, Qin Mo began his first attempt to test his Stand in this underground location. The targets were these DISCs in his hand and the vegetative Pucci on the ground...

3 hours later...

"It's possible to gain a Stand's special abilities by inserting DISCs, but not its stat panel. However, by completely digesting a DISC, one can gain stat panel improvements, but not abilities."

This was Qin Mo's conclusion after experimenting with the DISCs. Both of these methods were irreversible.

Qin Mo didn't absorb the abilities from those DISCs. Instead, he converted them into pure power to enhance his Stand's stats. Since there weren't many usable DISCs, he wasn't sure of the upper limit of abilities his Stand could equip.

However, he discovered that after absorbing a DISC, his Stand didn't perfectly replicate the original ability. Instead, it transformed into a similar ability.

White Snake's original ability was to dissolve the mind, not only creating DISCs but also generating illusions and causing mental breakdowns.

But in Qin Mo's possession, only the ability to extract DISCs and create blank DISCs remained.

Without other samples, Qin Mo couldn't gather more data, but he already had a better plan.

"In that case, its growth potential is unimaginably exaggerated. If it were to devour Made in Heaven, would it also gain the ability to rewrite reality?"

Qin Mo didn't know, but he was excited. While others had to struggle through immense hardship to elevate their abilities, he could achieve it step by step, as if climbing a staircase to heaven.

"Then your name! Shall be! Heaven's Gate!!"

In the end, Qin Mo did not kill Pucci. It wasn't out of sainthood, but simply because it was unnecessary. After all, he wasn't a killer.

He had Heaven's Gate create a blank, false memory and implant it in Pucci's mind.

This false memory wasn't extensive; it simply told him to be a good person, to be filial to his parents, and to be a good priest.

He returned to the hotel alone. It was already late, but Qin Mo was too excited to sleep.

After all, a Stand with such abilities was truly exhilarating. He even wondered if he should mass-produce Stand users and extract their DISCs to strengthen his Heaven's Gate.

But he quickly calmed down. While he pursued power, he wasn't someone who would stop at nothing.

Otherwise, what would be the difference between him and people like Dio?

Knock knock...

As Qin Mo was reflecting on himself, there was a knock on his hotel room door.

"Qin Mo, are you asleep?"

It was Mei's voice.

"Mei?"

Using his Stand, Qin Mo discreetly peeked through the peephole. It was indeed Mei, but so late?

"Is something wrong?"

Qin Mo eventually opened the door. Mei wouldn't come this late without a reason.

"Um... it's about Kiana... she's already asleep, but about what happened in Egypt before..."

Mei pursed her lips, clasping her hands tightly in front of her chest, her heart in turmoil.

"Come in."

Qin Mo's room was a single. He looked around but couldn't find a chair, so he could only let Mei sit on his bed.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but since you've come to ask, I won't hide anything. However, Kiana can't know about this yet. Mei, can you keep this secret?"

"Kiana can't know?"

Mei nodded. She had avoided Kiana to come here alone because Kiana seemed to have no memory of it at all. She didn't want Kiana to worry.

"This story has to start from the Second Honkai. Oh, right, the one in Chang Kong City was the third. The Herrscher born from the Second Honkai was the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin."

Qin Mo recounted a story known to many who understood Honkai, while also revealing many of its hidden secrets.

He could have lied to Mei, or brushed her off with platitudes, but Qin Mo chose the most direct, foolish, yet sincere approach: revealing this unknown history without reservation.

Chapter 42: Qin Mo's Past

Qin Mo spoke of Sirin's origins, becoming an experimental subject, a Herrscher, triggering the Honkai, meeting Cecilia, and her dying wish.

Sirin's life was a tragedy, and tragedies always resonate with others. Cecilia's involvement further elevated this tragedy. The end of the tragedy wasn't necessarily tragic. This saint, who had always treated others with kindness, ultimately moved the Second Herrscher and left hope for the world.

"So... Sirin and Cecilia are both dead..."

After hearing the story, Mei was in tears. Qin Mo wanted to grab some tissues but found the hotel hadn't provided any. He could only take out his handkerchief to wipe her tears.

"They both died. They died in the Honkai energy fission bomb launched by Otto. At the same time, she used the Divine Key Black Abyss White Flower and her own Holy Blood to save nearly 100,000 people from Honkai energy corrosion."

"Then Cecilia is Kiana's mother? And Siegfried is the father Kiana always talks about."

Qin Mo shook his head. "Kiana is, and she isn't. Death isn't an end, but a new beginning."

"Herrschers are special because of the Herrscher Core. Even if they die, fragments of their consciousness might remain within their core. And Otto, for his plan, needed the power of the Herrscher of the Void."

"So, to revive the Herrscher of the Void, or rather, to obtain her power, Otto recovered Sirin's Herrscher Core and created clones, attempting to implant this Herrscher Core into the clones to create a Herrscher of the Void."

"Clones of ordinary people certainly couldn't withstand the power of a Herrscher Core. So Otto chose a special person, someone with the bloodlines of Schicksal's two great families, even with Cecilia's Holy Blood. That person is Kiana Kaslana!"

Mei blinked. It was clear she thought the Kiana Qin Mo was talking about was the Kiana she knew.

Qin Mo didn't explain and continued, "But is it that simple to control a Herrscher Core? Controlling Honkai relies not only on bloodline but also on the power of the mind. Clones without minds almost all died."

"Only the 423rd experimental subject survived, namely K423, a vessel containing the Herrscher of the Void's Core."

"And K423's success was unrepeatable. This wasn't consciousness born from the body itself, but from Sirin's soul within the Herrscher Core. Sirin, before her death, had wished to truly become Cecilia's daughter. Otto's experiment made this wish come true. Therefore, two consciousnesses were born within K423: one was the Herrscher personality inheriting all of Sirin's past memories, and the other was a completely blank personality with expectations for a beautiful future."

As Qin Mo spoke, Mei's expression began to change. She started to realize that Qin Mo had been talking about Kiana all along. She had already felt the power of the Herrscher of the Void.

"When Siegfried and Kiana Kaslana learned of Otto's experiment, coupled with Cecilia's death due to Otto's betrayal, several people became dissatisfied with him. So, the two contacted Theresa, Otto's granddaughter, and together they infiltrated the laboratory, abducted K423, and escaped from Schicksal."

"During their escape, although Theresa drew fire to delay their pursuers, the trio's aircraft was still hit. Kiana Kaslana was hit in the head and fell."

At this point, Mei gasped, "Then..."

She didn't know how to address her, but she still called her Kiana, "Did that Kiana die?"

Qin Mo shook his head. "She's still alive, but that's another story. Siegfried thought she was dead."

"Filled with guilt for his deceased wife and regret for causing his daughter's death, Siegfried remained dejected. K423 also lost her memory during that incident, only believing Siegfried was her father. You can hear the specifics from Kiana later. In short, K423 eventually gained Siegfried's recognition. But that fool, knowing full well that K423 and his daughter were two different people, and not treating her as a substitute for his daughter, still gave Kiana Kaslana's name to K423, who is now Kiana."

"Kiana has Sirin's Herrscher personality within her. Siegfried was the one who left Sirin with immense psychological trauma during the Second Honkai. So, when interacting with Siegfried, the Herrscher personality was very restless, until one day it completely erupted."

"Siegfried sacrificed an arm to repel the Herrscher personality. He also realized that as long as he was by Kiana's side, Kiana would be in an unstable state. And the nascent personality was naturally no match for the Herrscher personality filled with negative emotions. So he bid farewell to Kiana, letting her live alone, while he stayed behind her, protecting her from afar."

"So, Mr. Siegfried, whom Kiana has been looking for, is in Chang Kong City!?"

Mei suddenly realized this. Looking at Qin Mo, she nodded and fell into speechlessness. She didn't know how to evaluate Siegfried's actions. If you say he loves Kiana, he abandoned her without a word, sending her on a fruitless father-finding journey.

If you say he doesn't love her, he sacrificed an arm for Kiana and followed her for years of wandering.

However, after learning about Kiana's origins, Mei felt a little more at ease about Kiana's situation. She had initially thought Qin Mo only had a superficial understanding, but she didn't expect him to know so much. Moreover, Qin Mo seemed completely unhurried, appearing confident and as if he already had a plan.

It was just not the right time yet.

It's just...

"Qin Mo, actually, I've wanted to ask for a while... you seem to know a lot. Are you really from the future?"

This was the doubt that had been lingering in Mei's mind, and she finally asked it now, prompted by Kiana's situation.

Looking at Mei's eyes, Qin Mo's breath hitched.

How should I answer?

This is a question that could get me killed!

Deception? Or honesty?

Lies, in the end, only beget more lies. One lie requires more lies to cover it up.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Mo finally made his decision.

"For the people of this time, I suppose I'm someone who has returned from the future."

"In the original future, I wasn't involved in any of these events; I was merely a helpless bystander."

"I don't know why I've come here, but since fate has given me this opportunity, I want to change everything."

He didn't lay all his cards on the table, opting for an ambiguous approach instead.

However, Mei didn't press for details and instead asked, "Then, in the future that Qin Mo knows... is it a tragedy?"

Is it a tragedy? I don't know!

When Qin Mo transmigrated, Honkai Impact 3rd hadn't concluded yet, and he wasn't a lore expert who had meticulously studied its plot. Still, he had heard that Honkai Impact 2nd's ending involved a world reset, and many speculated that Honkai Impact 3rd would have a similar conclusion.

Coupled with the constant emotional gut punches...

"I don't know too much."

The plot had skipped ahead, and the ending hadn't been revealed yet.

"Although everyone has encountered many sad things and said goodbye to many people along the way,"

Mihoyo was relentlessly delivering emotional blows.

"Everyone has held onto their beliefs, wanting to turn this imperfect story into the one we hope for."

"And that's why I've come."