"Don't worry, no need to panic. This situation is within my expectations. A few injections of Holy Blood will do."
Looking at Kiana, whose body had already begun to display Honkai Beast traits, Mobius' eyes gleamed with excitement, unblinking.
It was obvious that Kiana had already successfully adapted to the Chimera genes.
Back when Mobius experimented on herself, she couldn't even reach this stage. But she knew very well how to deal with this kind of uncontrollable cascade state.
The answer was, of course, Schariac Holy Blood.
The power of Holy Blood could tame Honkai Beast genes. If the goal was to create a perfect Chimera, then possessing Schariac Holy Blood was practically a necessary condition.
Unfortunately, Kiana had not awakened the power of Holy Blood. To Honkai Beasts, her blood was like bitter melon juice to a normal person—unpleasant, but far from reaching the level of Elias, Durandal, or even Ana Schariac, whose blood could directly annihilate Honkai.
Thus, she was nowhere near being able to tame the Honkai Beast genes within her body through Holy Blood alone. Fortunately, what she lacked could be supplemented externally—and Mobius' laboratory happened to have plenty of cloned Schariac Holy Blood.
"Huh? It actually worked... I feel fine now."
The effect of Holy Blood was immediate. Kiana's eyes widened in surprise as the Honkai Beast tissues on her body receded, and the genes within her gradually stabilized.
Just as everyone let out a sigh of relief, believing that all that remained was to wait for Kiana's complete fusion and celebrate the birth of the third Chimera MANTIS in this world—
Boom—!!
"W-what's going on?!"
"Gahhh! N-no, something's wrong! The balance inside my body—it's breaking! My power is going out of control!"
"What? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
At the very moment Mobius thought success was guaranteed, a terrifying aura burst out from Kiana. The Chimera genes that had just stabilized suddenly erupted again.
This scene was completely beyond Mobius' expectations. She could not believe that such an anomaly would occur at this stage. After fifty thousand years, she had already considered every possible scenario.
But whether this was an accident or fate, one thing was certain—if this continued, Kiana would be in grave danger.
Her power was increasing every second, but correspondingly, more and more Honkai Beast tissues were appearing across her body.
"Quick! Increase the dosage of Holy Blood!"
"It's no use, Doctor! It's not working!"
"I-it's fine! I can endure it! Even without Holy Blood, I can get through this if I just hold on!"
Kiana bit down so hard her lips nearly split.
The sensation of having her soul devoured by countless feral beasts was unbearable. Yet despite being someone who usually feared pain and loved to act spoiled, at critical moments, Kiana was more stubborn and resilient than anyone else.
The Chimera genes had already adapted. So as long as she endured—
As long as she held on until the fusion was complete—
"Next time you do something this dangerous, tell me first. Otherwise, I'll really get angry."
"Huh? E-Elias?!"
Seeing the white figure suddenly appear before her, Kiana froze, thinking for a moment that she was dreaming. Somehow, this person always showed up exactly when she needed him most.
Almost instinctively, Kiana reached out toward Elias. For a moment, she even forgot the pain wracking her body.
And Elias embraced her.
"L-little lab rat, what are you doing here?" Mobius was also shocked, but soon felt a sense of reassurance.
"Heh~ You made such a huge commotion—how could I not notice? I just didn't expect Kiana to be undergoing Chimera surgery. Honestly... that was way too reckless."
"S-sorry..."
"Mm. Later, both Mobius and paramecium will be punished—prepare yourselves mentally. But for now, let's deal with this crisis first. Let me take a look."
Elias activated the analysis ability of the Herrscher of Reason and began examining Kiana's condition. It didn't take long for him to find the cause of the anomaly in her Chimera surgery.
He turned to Mobius with a strange expression.
"Mobius... why did you splice Imaginary Construct genes into the Chimera genome?"
"Huh? I—I did?"
Mobius' eyes widened in shock.
Elias sighed and shook his head.
Not only had she spliced it in, but the integration was flawless—no bugs whatsoever. It was a fully functional Chimera genome. Truly worthy of Mobius.
Judging by her reaction, she probably hadn't even noticed it herself.
Which made sense.
After all, she had compiled tens of thousands of Honkai Beast Meta-Morph factors into a single genetic sequence. It wasn't strange that an Imaginary Construct slipped in unnoticed.
Fortunately, only one type had been mixed in—Imaginary Construct: Nihilius. If even Quantum Shadows had been included, Kiana might have literally exploded.
After all, simultaneously containing both Imaginary and Quantum powers was a feat that, so far, only Elias—chosen by both the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta—could accomplish.
Moreover, Imaginary energy was a higher-order form of Honkai energy. As a Herrscher, Kiana could accept it more easily. The only issue was that Schariac Holy Blood had no effect on Imaginary Constructs.
"Leave the rest to me."
Elias' expression turned serious. In the next moment, six white wings unfurled behind him, along with a golden Imaginary halo. He invoked his authority as an Imaginary Pseudo God and directed it toward Kiana.
He suppressed the Imaginary Construct gene from the outside, forcing it into submission, allowing it to gradually merge with Kiana.
As a Pseudo God of the Imaginary Tree, Elias naturally held overwhelming authority over all Imaginary creations. And the Imaginary Construct in Mobius' lab was, in fact, his pet.
Thus, under Elias' command—its master—the Meta-Morph factor derived from Imaginary Construct: Nihilius fully merged with Kiana.
The same applied to the other Honkai Beast Meta-Morph factors.
"Now, Kiana!"
"Yeah! With Elias here, it's like I've got the strength of a hundred people! This is going to succeed!!"
At this moment, Kiana completed her transformation. She successfully turned the power of tens of thousands of ferocious beasts into the foundation of her being, her form like that of a goddess descending upon the world.
The clothes on her body were crushed into fragments by the surging Honkai energy, revealing her graceful and slender figure—her body, as flawless as a work of art, laid bare in the open air.
Her beauty could not even be described as perfect. Every inch of her skin seemed to glow. Her waist was so slender it seemed as though two ribs were missing, and her long, straight legs were exquisitely proportioned.
At this moment, the girl named Kiana Kaslana truly resembled the moon goddess her name represented—sacred, beautiful, and impossible not to admire.
"Y-yeah! I did it!!"
Unfortunately, the moment she opened her mouth, the goddess aura vanished...
"Good, good. Not bad at all. Very impressive. Kiana finally got an epic-level upgrade. Since you succeeded, I'm heading back to sleep. Haaah~ I'm exhausted."
Elias applauded while yawning, then turned to leave, preparing to return and continue sleeping. His calm attitude instantly turned Kiana's expression blank. She hurriedly summoned the Flamescion battlesuit to cover her body and chased after him.
"Thank you, Grandma Mobius. I'm heading back too."
"Damn it! Get back here, you brat! Let me check your artificial cascade and all your data first!"
"Next time for sure—wait for me, Lia!"
...
Inside the Valkyrie dormitory, in Elias' bedroom.
Kiana skillfully slipped under the blanket, looking just like a ragdoll cat trying to sleep beside its owner.
Elias had no reason to refuse. After all, someone willingly offering themselves as a body pillow—why not?
Though as a body pillow, this Kiana was a bit too slim. When Elias wrapped his arms around her, he missed her waist entirely and ended up holding his own arm instead.
Compared to that, the soft and plush Miss Pink Elf definitely had the best hugging feel.
"Umm... Lia, I clearly got stronger, right? So why do you look... unhappy?" Kiana asked carefully, curling up in his arms.
"No, I'm happy. I'm really happy. My Kiana has truly become stronger. Even without me strengthening you, you found your own way to grow stronger."
Elias gently stroked her head. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating their white hair, making it shimmer like silver. Together, they looked like a prince and princess of the moon—perfectly matched.
"But... you really don't look happy..."
Even though Kiana had already become a Chimera MANTIS capable of destroying worlds, in front of her caretaker, she remained just as obedient and timid as ever.
Elias wrapped his arm around the Kiana so close to him. After a moment of silence, he sighed softly.
"Because you were in danger just now. Because I saw the pain on your face. Kiana, I don't want you to suffer at all just to become stronger."
Recalling the painful expression Kiana had shown while enduring the transformation from the Meta-Morph factors, Elias felt his own heart ache. The joy he had felt earlier had completely vanished.
But he was self-aware—he knew he was the least qualified to say such things, because he himself had done this kind of thing more than anyone.
"Lia... thank you for caring about me so much..." Kiana nuzzled her head against him, moved.
"Mm. Because I like you, Kiana. I liked you even before I came into this world. And when I arrived here, I decided I would protect you properly. So... don't do things that make you suffer. With me here, you don't need to carry any heavy responsibility or fate."
Elias kissed the girl's forehead.
"Sometimes I don't really understand what you're saying, Lia. But even someone as dumb as me can feel how much you care about me... so I want to become someone worthy of you."
Kiana tightly embraced the person in front of her.
Back then, when Otto publicly revealed her origins, she learned that her name was fake, her identity was fake—even her past was fake.
She had fallen into despair.
But Elias accepted the "Kiana Kaslana" formed from lies. He accepted the artificial human K-423, acknowledged her identity as a human, and gave her his love.
At that moment, Kiana felt like a puppet that had finally found its heart. She even felt that if there was any reason she should have been born into this world, it was to meet this white-haired boy.
It was Elias who allowed her to accept herself—and who allowed the world to accept Kiana Kaslana.
And so...
She wanted to become someone he would like.
She wanted to gain the power to help him.
She wanted to protect this world that had him in it.
She wanted to stay with him forever.
"You silly Kiana. Of course we'll always be together. And don't think about whether you're worthy of me or not. Those are meaningless thoughts. The only thing I want from you... is for you to be happy every single day. That's all."
As for the difficult battles—he would fight them himself.
Elias didn't need Kiana to become the Queen of the Void. He didn't need her to become the Herrscher of Flamescion, nor Finality, nor even a Chimera.
To others, it might seem like Elias had taken away the trials Kiana was meant to overcome, taken away the growth she was supposed to achieve.
But so what?
After all, growth does not come from gaining—but from losing.
Elias did not need Kiana to become a battle-scarred hero like in the original story. He understood the grand ideals of saving the world better than anyone—because he himself had once fought, battered and bruised, for the sake of the world.
But precisely because of that, he could not bear to let the ones he loved carry that burden.
In his heart, compared to this beautiful world... they were more important.
Just like what Mei once said in another timeline—
If rescuing you is a sin, I'll gladly become a sinner!
As long as the girl before him could live freely and happily, unbound by fate, Elias was willing to pay any price for that freedom.
"Lia, look—I can now freely control the Honkai Beast genes inside me. I can even do something like this."
As she spoke, Kiana formed a pair of cat ears on top of her head, styled just like Pardofelis', only with white fur.
"Mm~ so cute. As expected of my universe's number one cutest Kiana. You're the best."
"Hehe. Oh right, Lia... I know this is a bit greedy, but can you grant me one more wish?"
"Of course. Do you want the stars or the moon?" Elias joked while playing with her cat ears.
"I don't want something that exaggerated. I just... want you to say our magic words to me every day. Is that okay?"
There was a deep longing in Kiana's eyes. Elias paused for a moment, then agreed without hesitation.
"Of course. Then here's today's... Ich liebe dich, Kiana."
"Mm! Ich liebe dich, Elias."