I Am the Saintess of Destiny Chapter 18

She grabbed True Kiana, who was about to turn and leave.

True Kiana's face was terrifyingly dark at that moment.

The experiences K423 had gone through—True Kiana had lived through them too. That was exactly why she knew how terrified K423 must have been back then.

"Calm down!!"

She shouted loudly, her hand still pressing down on True Kiana's shoulder.

She couldn't let True Kiana leave this space.

"How can you tell me to calm down!!"

Even though K423 only knew how to cry, and True Kiana sometimes found that crybaby annoying, after all these days together, she had long come to see K423 as a little sister.

The cold experimental table, the blindingly bright shadowless lamp, the needles slowly piercing into the skin... Even thinking about it now filled True Kiana with fear.

If she were forced onto that experimental table again, she couldn't guarantee her emotions wouldn't shatter.

K423's crying continued, and it wasn't hard to hear the fear and unease in her sobs.

True Kiana bit her lip and turned around.

"K423..."

"I know all that!!! But what good does waking up now do? Screaming at the monitors in the room? Can you leave your room? Do you know where K423 is being held? Do you have the power to do anything to Otto?"

Faced with her barrage of questions, True Kiana's anger faltered.

"I want to kill Otto even more than you do!!"

She could feel K423's fear and helplessness even more acutely than True Kiana could.

"...But we can't lose our heads, or none of us will be able to save K423!"

If it came to anger, she was even angrier than True Kiana.

K423, with the adjacent serial number, was her real little sister.

True Kiana had lost her reason because she had been through the same ordeal and felt the same pain, but she—as the master of this space—could directly sense K423's emotions.

That was also why K423, even though she couldn't understand her words, could grasp what she meant.

She was even furious at herself for not noticing K423's condition sooner.

Seeing True Kiana gradually calm down, she finally let go of the hands pressing on her shoulders, turned around, and pulled the still-crying K423 into her arms to comfort her.

"We can't do anything right now. Otto has you locked up in the headquarters, but do you even know where you are? Same for K423—only Otto knows where she is."

True Kiana pursed her lips. "So we really can't do anything?"

"...Not exactly. At least we can comfort K423. Come here—she's our little sister. Aren't you, as the eldest, going to comfort her?"

"This is so frustrating."

At that moment, True Kiana wished she could pin Otto to the ground and beat him.

"I feel the same... This is something we have to go through. But for now, we just have to endure."

"You've bitten your lip bloody, and you still have the nerve to tell me to calm down."

True Kiana glanced at her, then reached out and gently stroked K423's little head.

"Really nothing we can do?"

"That's right. The idea of 'three cobblers beating Zhuge Liang' isn't happening here. No matter how hard three little brats try, they can't cause Otto even a bit of trouble."

She wiped away the blood from her bitten lip. After all, this space wasn't reality—even if she got hurt here, nothing would happen in the real world.

But the state of reality did reflect in this space.

The needle marks on K423's arm might not be that many in reality, but she had indeed endured cruel treatment. In fact, she hadn't expected Bishop Otto to be so eager to start experimenting on K423.

After all, she herself—having activated the Schariac Bloodline Power—was a much better research subject than her little sister K423.

Yet in reality, her own days were quite comfortable.

Even the tests had only started recently, when she was called to a lab to test her manipulation of Honkai Energy after they discovered she had activated the Schariac Bloodline Power.

After the test, they had drawn blood once.

The treatment she faced was clearly far less brutal than what K423 had endured.

Looking at True Kiana's face, full of unwillingness, she smiled bitterly. "For now, all we can do is turn our grief and anger into motivation. Use the power of the Schicksal organization to strengthen ourselves. No matter what happens, we have to endure it first—until the day we grow strong enough to no longer fear the Schicksal organization."

If this world were just an ordinary one, she and True Kiana wouldn't even have a chance to take revenge on Schicksal.

But this Honkai world allowed a single individual to possess terrifying combat power that could surpass tanks and fleets.

"When that day comes, we'll definitely repay today's frustration."

With that, she began soothing K423 again.

"Mom... save me... Mom..."

"Don't cry, don't cry. Big sis is here with you."

"...Aurora, Bella... where are you..."

The K423 held in her arms murmured unconsciously.

"There's big sister here, don't cry, big sister is right here."

"Big... sister... it hurts... save me..."

"Mm, sister's here too, Little Crybaby, don't cry, okay? Once we escape from here, I'll take you to eat something delicious."

With her and True Kiana's combined soothing, K423's crying stopped.

Or rather, she cried herself out in her arms and then fell asleep like that.

True Kiana had now fully calmed down.

Years of experimental life, aside from making her prone to withdrawal, had also caused her mentality to mature significantly.

But no matter how mature an eight-year-old girl was, she wouldn't be that mature.

Feeling the anger and resentment radiating from True Kiana, she helplessly reached out and patted her little head.

"You need to hold back your anger. Don't let Otto notice anything. Even if Otto finds out we can communicate with each other, you have to insist you don't know about it."

"Understood... K422, you're really amazing."

After calming down, True Kiana naturally realized that if she had lost her temper and returned to reality just now, she still couldn't have escaped the room she was locked in.

"I'm not amazing at all. The ones who are truly amazing are you two."

Her own experience was ultimately much better than True Kiana's and K423's.

But in her eyes, she had taken the treatment that rightfully belonged to True Kiana, and made K423 endure the cruel experiments in her place.

"No, you're already amazing. Even though you were so angry your face twisted, you still managed to calm me down."

As she spoke, True Kiana placed both hands on her face and gently rubbed it.

"We have to smash that dog Otto's dog head."

"Of course. When the time comes, we'll bring K423 along too..."

"Mm, the three of us sisters together."

This was also the first time True Kiana had spoken of her and K423 as sisters.

One night passed. Sensing that she was about to wake up, she didn't forget to remind True Kiana to stay calm.

Though her eyes weren't open yet, her consciousness had already returned to her body.

"Stay calm, stay calm... Just like usual, just like usual."

She kept telling herself.

"Kiana, you're awake?"

"Mm, I'm awake, Lia."

To her little maid, she showed her usual sweet and adorable smile.

Afraid that even a trace of anger-related emotion would appear on her face.

After washing up, she had breakfast in the candidate dormitory's cafeteria, then changed into a tracksuit suitable for movement and headed to Training Ground 11.

Many candidates were gathered outside Training Ground 11, since the news that the Assault Team would serve as Kiana Kaslana's instructors had already spread.

On one hand, they were naturally envious that Kiana could receive guidance from the Assault Team and came to Training Ground 11 to see their idols; on the other hand, they wanted to catch a glimpse of Kiana undergoing training.

Of course, quite a few girls came with the feeling of mothers watching their daughters participate in a sports meet.

Training Ground 11 was an indoor training ground, with a fifty-meter distance between the ceiling and the floor, which wouldn't affect the aerial mobility of individual Valkyries.

The walls made of special alloy could withstand the firepower output of a heavyweight chariot, and could even hold up if an A-rank Valkyrie fought with full force.

But today, only two people were receiving training in Training Ground 11.

"Kiana, you're here early... I remember your class starts at 8:50."

In the training ground, Ragnar, who was stretching with a new member of the Assault Team, said with a smile.

Today, she wasn't dressed in a maid outfit but had also changed into a tracksuit for easy movement.

"It hurts, it hurts, Captain... pull any more and it'll snap."

"Himeko, I haven't even used any force yet."

"Instructors, good morning."

She politely greeted the Assault Team members in the training ground.

Of course, not all Assault Team members were present today, since her training had just begun and only basic training was needed, which didn't require many people.

The Assault Team had originally come back with the mindset of taking a break. Even after receiving the appointment letter, they had gotten dead drunk last night, and even the members who showed up were occasionally rubbing their temples.

"Good morning to you too, Kiana."

Captain Ragnar replied, then yanked hard on the two arms he was firmly gripping.

With a crisp cracking sound, the red-haired woman he had on his back let out a scream.

"Aaaaaaaaahhh!!!"

"How pathetic."

After a few stretching exercises, Captain Ragnar let the red-haired woman go, but his words showed no mercy.

"Ugh... I thought my arms were going to break."

"Human arms don't break that easily. You just don't exercise enough, tsk tsk."

Captain Ragnar couldn't help but look down on the red-haired woman who refused to get up from the ground.

"Ah, Lady Kiana, I'm truly sorry you had to see our rookie in such an unseemly state."

"Captain Ragnar, please don't be so formal. Just call me Kiana."

She didn't want to sour her relationship with this Captain Ragnar.

Besides, how strong she could become from now on depended on how diligently Captain Ragnar trained her. Getting on good terms with him naturally worked to her advantage.

"This child is so polite."

"Exactly. Not only did she arrive at the training ground half an hour early, but she's also this courteous."

"Ugh, just thinking about Lady Kiana not having a mother makes my heart ache for her."

"I feel the same. I heard someone secretly started a Kiana Support Association, saying they want to provide maternal love for motherless Lady Kiana. I wonder how to join."

"Why is the captain shaking?"

"Oh, that. The captain's probably holding back from hugging Lady Kiana."

A few Assault Team members standing a short distance away whispered among themselves.

Just as one of them said, Captain Ragnar couldn't resist and pulled the white-haired little girl into his arms.