Chapter 13: Everlasting Flames I
After calming down Shiki, who was on the botherline of going full yandere, Fu Xuan sighed wearily and collapsed back onto his bed.
Stretching his hand into the air, a paper materialized and fell into his grasp
[World Quest Scroll: Use this scroll to go to a parallel or other worlds at will and complete the assigned tasks to get rich rewards.]
'Hmm. Can I try this now?' Xuan pondered, glancing at Shiki, who was engrossed in watching TV.
At the very least, now she's aware of their situation, she wouldn't take any rash actions without him.
Despite her child-like demeanor, she could be surprisingly mature, as she had been in the game as well.
"Shiki, I'll be back soon."
Xuan said, standing up and grabbing his jacket from the sofa near the bed. He put it on and glanced at Shiki, who simply waved without looking at him.
"Have a safe trip." She said nonchalantly.
Xuan offered a weary smile, a sweat drop forming on his forehead. Shaking his head, he held the paper scroll before him and tearing it.
Tearing it, a luminescent light enveloped his body, and he felt himself deconstructing into particles.
The scenery around his eyes changed rapidly, with iridescent colors flashing by like those scenes from space sci-fi movies when they wrap from one location to another with their spaceship.
That was how it felt.
Suddenly, the scenery shifted again, and Xuan groggily opened his eyes to find himself in a new location.
[Mission: Remaining Flames]
[Mission Objective: Help Kiana Kaslana subdue the Herrscher of Domination who has been limitedly strengthened by the Honkai God.]
Xuan opened his eyes to find the system panel in front of him before glancing around.
The sky was painted in a mix of purple and blue hues, with structures hanging abnormally in the air.
In the distance, he spotted a building with a tower clock and a four-pointed halo.
Not only that, the buildings surrounding that particular building that stood out were in ruins. "This scenery... the theatre of domination?"
'This mission... if the system is giving me this, then, as expected...'
With this in mind, Xuan retrieved the [Sword in the Sheath] from the Key of Oblivion, which was the Herrscher of Sentience's divine key.
Riding on it, he went straight towards the building.
Kiana was likely battling the Herrscher of Domination at this very moment, and Xuan couldn't help but wonder if his presence had also influenced this parallel world.
Arriving at a massive structure, Xuan reached out towards the partially opened door, which emitted a bright light.
'Ugh... this transition effect.' Xuan winced, feeling a wave of nausea as the scenery shifted once more.
CLANG!
Opening his eyes, he found Kiana surrounded by Puppets.
Gripping the [Sword in the Sheath] tightly, he was tempted to intervene, but doing so might impact the birth of Flamescion.
With no other choice, he opted to observe from hiding. Using the [Taixun Mantra], he suppressed the Honkai energy within him to avoid detection by the Herrscher of Domination.
—Kiana.
Kiana skillfully evaded an incoming attack from one of the puppets, contorting her body to dodge before retaliating with a swift kick that sent the puppet flying.
As two more puppets lunged towards her, she agilely dodged, causing them to collide with each other.
However, unbeknownst to her, a third puppet approached from behind, its hand outstretched in a grabbing motion.
"Tsk!" With a frustrated click of her tongue, Kiana gritted her teeth and turned to face the puppet.
Using the broken great sword in her hand, she lunged forward and stabbed the puppet.
Despite her efforts, the Herrscher of Domination continued to overwhelm Kiana in this way, Kiana who couldn't use the Herrscher of Void's power was at a disadvantage.
Pinned to the ground by the relentless assault of the puppets, Kiana struggled beneath their weight, her once bright blue eyes now dulling with exhaustion.
Just as Kiana was about to give up, a figure that had accompanied her since she was a naive schoolgirl flashed before her, emanating a bright red aura.
That is the path she insisted on for a long time. It was to pursue this person that she met during her time as a naive schoolgirl.
"He and them....."
"They...."
"They never gave up!"
A radiant blue brilliance returned to Kiana's eyes as the bright red energy swirled around the broken greatsword....
.... And then, another figure appeared beside her, swirling around her body, healing her injuries at a quick pace.
"And now... it's my turn, I have to do what I must do."
"And then tell him.... that the path he chose... was the right one!"
Along with those words, radiant light burst out from the sword, sending the puppets flying away.
Kiana slowly stood up in the dazzling light. as a gem that glowed orange appeared on the slot close to the handle of the broken greatsword.
"Are you done?"
"What?"
"It's my turn now. Hope you're fine with that!"
Familiar words came out from Kiana's mouth, making Xuan, who was hiding, sigh softly in reminiscing. 'Good ol' days.'
Focusing back on Kiana, he could see a transformation occurring within her body. Kiana wouldn't have noticed because she was engrossed in her fight.
But Xuan saw it well. 'If I were to put it in words.'
'Like the legendary phoenix reborn from ashes, blooming with dazzling light.'
'How fitting....'
Wielding the greatsword in her hands, Kiana's eyes also lit up with a different brilliance.
Running towards one of the incoming puppets, she thrusted the greatsword forward, slicing through it like butter.
As the other puppets also followed suit, they all met the same fate.
"Why do you keep getting up!"
Perhaps, thinking better of it, the Herrscher of Domination decided to launch another simultaneous attack.
"No amount of struggle, can change the result!"
Several threads and puppets shot towards Kiana, but she burnt them all down with the flames from the greatsword.
However—
"Ack—!"
Some puppets, using others as shields, got to her, restraining her hands and feet again, immobilizing her, followed by many other puppets who also jumped on her in the same manner.
But in that same moment....
.....
PZZTS——!
A blue light flashed by, destroying the puppets that had lunged towards Kiana.
"Huh?" Both the Herrscher of Domination and Kiana looked in surprise at the direction the beam came from.
"Kiana... Doesn't care about that."
Surprisingly but not surprisingly, it was Bronya, who lay weakly on the floor, but then, this didn't stop Bronya.
"Because she's stupid, and a stupid girl like her, doesn't give up!"
She has to help Kiana with what she needs to do.
As Bronya's words fell, a blue light from her body converged and swirled on the greatsword in Kiana's hand, turning into a blue gem on an empty slot near the handle of the greatsword like the orange one.
On Kiana's pupils, a pattern appeared, along with a phantom of the Herrscher of Reason, Bronya, appearing beside Kiana.
"Fire!"
As Kiana and Bronya gave the command in unison, blue cannons constructed by the power of reason fired wildly.
A great number of puppets destroyed in that instance. Seeing the destroyed puppets, the Herrscher of Domination reconsidered; it knew the puppets alone wouldn't be enough.
So....
The whole Theatre changed, as if shedding its skin.
The walls of the enclosed space opened up, revealing only iridescent mixes of blues and purples along with boulder and pillar-like constructs hanging in the airspace above would now be floating platform.
Using the strings attached to the main giant puppet, she controlled the strings to wrap around the pillars, sending them towards Kiana, who stood on the floating platform.
Kiana, who didn't have time to dodge, was instantly overwhelmed, but in the next second, a glowing feather fell gently on her.
"She changed me."
"She changed many."
"And I'm sure of it, from now on, she will continue to change many. I want to live until that day comes."
A gentle voice resounded. The Herrscher of Domination looked towards Fu Hua, but the girl was leaning quietly against the stone wall with her eyes closed, her face relaxed.
Seemingly realizing something, the Herrscher of Domination looked up to see a ball of feathers that had appeared out of nowhere, its dazzling soft red light bursting forth.
From within the feather emerged Kiana, along with a phantom of Phoenix Hua.
"Since when?" The Herrscher of Domination's eyes flashed with a glint as Kiana descended like a comet blazing through the starry sky.
The Herrscher of Domination also launched an attack, using mechanical arms to block Kiana's descent. "Your ideals can never be realized."
"Because this world..."
"Has always been ugly!"
The Herrscher of Domination seemed to be at its wit's end as it shouted those words aloud to Kiana, who refused to give up.
But—
"—No!"
Kiana burned the giant mechanical arms holding her down, as the gems on the greatsword lit up even more.
Bathed in flames, her clothing changed, and the flames around her roared with new intensity as she charged towards the Herrscher of Domination.
In the midst of it all, Xuan, who was hanging from a pillar, still watching everything in 4k, looked at the blue panel in front of him strangely.
'Uhmm... System, in this way, it seems the original protagonist is going to solve the problem.'
...
——
Editor's note:
Wait... Here me out.
Read the remaining two chapters first.
Was supposed to release the three yesterday, but I got lazy, so I decided to release him today instead, would try to release of Friday too.