When the little Senti's sidelong glance threw out a subtle provocation, Fu Hua simply remained silent and stared.
After so many clashes, she already knew the girl wasn't in the mood to hear so-called reasoning right now.
"Hmph—"
Seeing Fu Hua's indifference, the little one became even more convinced of her own correctness. Smugness welled up inside her, and she couldn't help teasing, imitating a parent lecturing a child:
"I'm not saying this to criticize you, old granny, but back then, couldn't you have just not gone straight in and scolded people?
You kept saying 'you're not Fu Hua, you're not Fu Hua'—couldn't you think a little more about my feelings~?"
Fu Hua's brow twitched; she could feel the other party's words piling up dangerously.
Sooner or later, she'd leap right onto her's head and tear the roof off.
"Alright, alright—my bad. I was just imitating your usual grumbling style. You're not gonna take it seriously, are you?"
Who could have guessed—the Herrscher of Sentience had predicted her reaction, and the moment Fu Hua's brows twitched, she had already bowed her head to apologize.
It almost gave Fu Hua the illusion…
Could she… read my mind?
Fu Hua began to suspect, her gaze growing slightly wary.
"Without realizing it, we've already beaten so many Herrschers in the game…" Kiana said softly, a little nostalgic as she looked back at the farewells she'd seen in the game's scenes.
Even though in reality, she was still in touch with most of those people at the academy.
"That's right. Just looking at the list collected by the Valkyries, the battles were unusually intense," Bronya said evenly.
She still remembered how, at the very beginning of the game, the Valkyries' biggest enemy—the Herrschers—had suddenly started showing up inside the Valkyries' own mechs.
Not only had that trend not been curbed, now even Herrscher mechs existed without Valkyries, which was a bit outside the players' expectations.
After all, if even the Herrschers themselves couldn't hold out, how could you convince people you could save the world?
"Yeah, and in reality, St. Freya Academy has basically merged everyone together now… I mean, in classes," Mei said with a small smile.
Wendy, Sirin, Anna, the little Senti… well, Anna probably didn't really count as a current student.
If you combined the academy and the company's veteran group, you'd probably have truly gathered every single Herrscher.
"In the final moment, it's worth pulling out even the ones who've passed on, to give them a little nudge," Luo Mo said with a similar smile, as though recalling something amusing.
If you looked at this process of suppressing the Herrscher powers as a journey, it was naturally romantic and meaningful; if you saw it as a matter of crushing force, well, her smile was equally pragmatic.
"I'd like to think of it as getting all of them to agree with me—linking all the Herrscher cores together to share the same Finality …" Kiana suddenly sounded a little expectant.
"Well, that depends on what you mean by agreement. Sirin will definitely refuse outright."
"Yeah… true. That airhead of a second sister always says one thing and means another," Kiana admitted without argument. After all, Sirin was stubborn to the core.
"Rare to hear the airhead Kiana calling someone else an airhead," Bronya muttered, giving her a sideways look.
"That's what you call switching titles, muddying the waters, mixing things up—now 'airhead' doesn't only mean me anymore," Kiana said with mock pride, hands on her hips, unconsciously blurting out her thoughts.
"It's really… hard to imagine you're the same person as the one in the videos," Kongming remarked helplessly.
"That's because this is the real her," Luo Mo said with a smile.
---
In the Golden Courtyard.
"Didn't think Corruption would be first… I wonder if it still likes me in the end? But as expected, one Elysia in the world is more than enough ♪~" Elysia blinked and smiled.
"Rare for me to agree with you," Mobius said with an approving nod.
This time, she could actually stand on the same side as the other person. One of her was already enough trouble—if there were another, even Mobius would struggle to handle it.
"She really doesn't understand at all… Seeking the truth is fine, but truth doesn't mean forever. No matter how beautiful something is, there will always come a day when it fades away ♪~" Elysia sighed.
"Like the peaceful ice breaking into pieces?" Mobius snorted coldly.
"Mobius really isn't in a good mood today, not even a little bit of warmth~" Elysia poked her own cheek with a finger, glancing with slight confusion at the green-haired loli beside her. That girl clearly had a big opinion about her—why was that? Could it be because she hadn't chatted with Mobius much lately?
"...Hmph." Mobius said no more.
Maybe it was because the story was nearing its conclusion—indeed, a ripple stirred in her heart, leaving her a little irritable.
----
In the game.
Kiana passed through yet another gate.
A pitch-black, lightless stage set, scattered with tangled white threads and broken, incomplete puppets tossed haphazardly into the corners. In the ground was driven a massive, ash-covered greatsword whose flames had long since gone out. The sins once committed here were unmistakable.
Yet there was also a hidden warmth, like the glow of an ember beneath the surface.
This place held the memories she least wished to revisit—but also the person she most wanted to see one last time.
The fire that lingered in the final moment had once aided her; the words spoken that night still shone faintly in the unknown galaxy above.
Kiana slowly walked up to the dim greatsword, quietly staring at the blade standing alone here. She raised her hand; the flame washed away almost all of the gloom. She planted her own sword here—
to remember,
to offer,
to etch.
She would be with her still.
Like the stars in the night sky, always watching her in silence.
...
Passing through the stage's black-as-ink gate, beyond lay a small town of flowers and grass, with a history of five hundred years.
Statues rose quietly, of Durandal, Rita, the skirted figure, and the Saintess Kallen from the history books—women who had once fought alongside them, and later turned from foes into friends.
Most striking of all was a statue of a man kneeling on one knee, dressed in the solemn robes of the Archbishop. His expression was frozen in the moment of devout worship, one hand braced on the ground, head bowed toward the earth, as if repenting and praying before the statue ahead of him.
In the past, he had caused her much trouble—indeed, had been the mastermind behind all malice, the villain of the world. He had replayed his obsession and madness toward the world in his own way.
But when the sunlight rose again and shone upon him, everything he had carved dissolved into nothingness.
From above drifted a paper airplane of shimmering gold, swaying and tilting as it flew farther away. That fragile paper plane was like a lone traveler, carrying an unknown mission, passing through space and silence, circling back in the gentle wind.
As it passed Kallen's statue, the golden glow wrapped its entire form. The statue of Kallen faintly gained a breath of new life.
Kiana silently watched them. These too were traces she had left along her journey. Along the way, they had defeated Herrschers, confronted malice, faith, and divergent paths. They had endured despair—but had never yielded, making it here today.
They would prove—to this world, to their enemies, and to themselves—
that this world was still beautiful.
They would fight for every beautiful thing in it.
---
In the recording room.
"The Herrscher of Domination, and Otto..." Kiana murmured, slightly distracted.
Even among the many villains in the game, Otto was the one she found most complicated. Of course, she would never hope for him to rule the world, nor wonder curiously what might happen if time truly rewound five hundred years...
Yet sometimes, she couldn't help but imagine—if he were resurrected, what miraculous changes would unfold in the world.
Of course, just like the online jokes said, she would certainly try her best to nail his coffin shut.
They could sigh over Otto's life, but they did not wish for him to return from the dead.
"Now, the Herrscher of Domination is Su Lu, and to this day we still don't know what her puppet form looks like." Luo Mo hid a malicious guess in his heart.
Would her puppet form resemble her at all?
Come to think of it, he and Su Lu—one had become the Herrscher of Domination, the other the Corruption —were like the two greatest villains teamed up. One had to admit, that was a kind of fate.
In the end... there was no way the players' curses would actually take effect.
[You never know~♬]
A playful loli-like voice echoed in his head. It felt a little strange, but definitely more pleasant than the system's notification sound.
Luo Mo thought idly to himself.
"Puppet, huh? Sister Su Lu's puppet... the first one she's gonna attack is you."
Kiana shot him a sideways glance, then, as if remembering something, curled her lips into a sly grin.
"Exactly. Looks like she also knows how important I am."
"...Or maybe, it's all just Sister Su Lu's personal feelings influencing her."
"Absolutely impossible. I was the one who promoted her, and she's in charge of a major part of the game. That's a level of trust that speaks for itself."
Luo Mo was already deep in the process of convincing himself, even though his eyes kept darting around nervously, he still answered with a straight face.
Mei could only let out a helpless, bitter smile, while Bronya shot him a look of disgust.
"You can even fool yourself!"
Senti stared at him in shock, even beginning to doubt her own power's reliability.
---
In the Golden Courtyard.
"When summing up such a long story, it always feels like it passes so quickly. In the blink of an eye, Kiana has gone from leaping down from that battleship to becoming this mature, composed woman."
"She can dive deep into her heart to hear the voices of suffering, and she can calmly face the past, bearing witness to everything and moving forward to give the world a certain answer."
"Kiana... Kaslana, truly a beautiful name ♪~"
Elysia gazed at the scene before her with a slightly dazed look.
"Otto—he must have, in some other world, left countless indelible marks. Even here, there's still a statue of Kallen... really..." She sighed helplessly.
These feelings outweighed even the weight of human civilization in the hands of that ruler. She didn't know how to judge it. She herself could be swayed by emotion over reason at times, but had never considered doing something so mad.
What they called 'serving the greater good'—in Otto's heart, Kallen was the greater good.
"Truly a villain who would stop at nothing." Mobius frowned slightly under her brows.
She simply felt it was a pity—there was still so much infinite possibility to create, and yet... all for a single woman.
Her gaze fell upon a certain pink-haired woman—someone who, even in the apocalypse of civilization, had wished to fall together with her as a hero. Only then did her heart loosen slightly… perhaps she could understand, after all.
"It's rare for Mobius to call someone else a villain for once," Vill-V chuckled softly.
"He will atone in hell, but not out of repentance," Aponia said gently, a faint trace of sorrow on her face. Perhaps she had done far, far too little. Compared to those who had carried forward the existence of others, the other party had undoubtedly done much more.
"It seems the story is about to end. Kevin… what kind of ending will you face?" Eden swirled the wine in her glass. Her cheeks were flushed, the light intoxication plain on her features. She was a little curious as to how this story would choose to bid farewell—and even more curious about how, in reality, Icarus would meet his end.
"To be freed," he replied calmly.
Just like fifty thousand years ago—in that reality, he too had wanted nothing more than to meet death.
---
In the game.
When all powers converged and connected, she returned once more to the very first point of power's origin.
She walked upon rippling waves of light; each step sent small ripples across the surface. The dreamlike, pink-colored night sky and the enormous swan-feather curtains covered the entire world. In that sky, the constellations traced their slow arcs, the horizon meeting the mirrored water below. All the beauty that symbolized humanity's finest dreams was displayed here.
She kept moving forward.
Behind her, the sky bloomed with a radiance of every color—like a magnificent rainbow spanning the horizon. Each falling star represented the power of a Herrscher; over a dozen stars approached in parallel from afar, shining like dazzling gemstones scattering brilliant light.
Kiana stopped, her heart stirred.
Those stars had once represented enemies or friends—and now they all came to stand behind her.
The next moment, they merged into her body.
Then she soared upward, flying toward a certain destined direction.
Purple and blue light took shape as Mei and Bronya. The two exchanged a smile, and from behind her, they reached out their hands—pushing her forward, lending their own strength to help Kiana.
More lights followed, surrounding the three of them. One after another, phantom arms supported Kiana from behind. For an instant her vision blurred, and in her mind flashed countless fragments:
Bronya clasping the core of reason, passing on humanity's flame;
the endless sky flashing with lightning;
a cocoon breaking into the butterfly of Truth…
and finally—Elysia's smile.
The great pink statue cradled her in its palms, sending her off with blessings and a secret message to her final destination.
Above her was a sky full of stars, meteors encircling it like rings. Below, turquoise waves stirred, the dreamlike blue water like a mirror reflecting the true world.
There was no wind here; space itself felt still, as if it shared the same thought-space they once walked through—a place that did not exist in reality.
As she reached this point, Kiana felt a cool freshness wash over her. She lifted her hand and looked down: the white gloves she had worn were now black. She blinked in surprise as she noticed her outfit had changed.
What had once been fiery in color had now condensed into a deeper violet. Jewels adorned her chest and waist, reflecting an enchanting light. Life itself seemed to pulse in the air; she could feel all the Herrscher powers revolving around her.
She sensed she had changed greatly, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
Not far away, Mei and Bronya appeared. What lay ahead was the final trial tied to humanity's fate—the ultimate test of this era's civilization.
More important than the breathtaking scenery was the enormous cocoon like-pupil before them. Purple Honkai energy condensed into its surface; its gaze shifted slowly, finally stopping, cold and divine, fixing on the three small figures.
That massive eye stared at them—as if questioning them.
—Who are you?
—You are not Raiden Mei.
—You are not Bronya Zaychik.
Before them condensed a figure of white light, its braid at the back of the head much like Kiana's original appearance.
"I am Kiana Kaslana, an ordinary Valkyrie."
This time, Kiana could answer calmly. In the past, she had chased this answer endlessly, a name that had not originally been hers, until she had engraved upon it the one mark that truly belonged to her.
She had never bowed to fate—only added her own meaning to that name with her will.
"I am also K423, an experimental creation of Otto. You could even call me… a continuation of Sirin."
She smiled, speaking naturally.
"Of course, more than that—I am Siegfried's daughter, Theresa's niece, Durandal's younger sister, and Himeko's student…"
Without even realizing it, she had formed bonds so deep with this world.
---