In the original comic plot, the crises reserved for Kiana were mostly related to the Herrscher. More than ninety percent of her death flags stemmed from the personality of the Herrscher of the Void awakening, seizing control of her body, and going on a killing spree.
Upon waking and being unable to accept the fact that she had slaughtered innocent civilians, Kiana would choose to end her own life—a plot point inspired by the game scene where Kiana points a gun at herself in Meteoric Salvation.
But before that point, the Kiana in the comic was a lovable, lively, and adorable troublemaker who never had a single worry. If she did, it was only because Mei was angry and wouldn't cook for her.
The plot had shifted too much, especially regarding Kiana...
While Mei's behavior and way of handling things had changed significantly, she at least faced the same crises.
As for Kiana... the crises from the comic wouldn't be missing, but there would likely be additional ones outside the original plot—like whatever she had been about to tell him.
Li Wu looked up. The light shining on his face was as piercing as ever, making it hard to keep his eyes open.
"Reality truly... doesn't always allow things to progress toward the best-case scenario automatically."
"At least it's a good start; now I know something is up. The crisis event for tonight has been dealt with in advance, so I'll take a break for today. My arms..."
Li Wu tried to lift his arms, only to find they felt like they were weighted down by dumbbells. Once he raised them past ninety degrees, the muscle soreness became agonizing. It was like being punished with a lap of "frog hops" around the playground back in middle school—the kind where, the next day, you had to grip the handrail with both hands just to crawl up the stairs step by step.
It would likely take several days to fully recover.
"Li Wu, are you going to finish your run or not?! You're the only one left," the P.E. teacher called out, walking over when she saw him standing still.
Li Wu looked at the full lap remaining on his progress bar, his lips twitching. His legs were killing him...
But...
He had a goal now. Time to move.
"I'm running now!"
Li Wu pushed off. The price of his earlier high-intensity sprint manifested in full.
Instead of running, it was more like a toddler's first steps. With every stride, his body wavered like a leaf in the rain—leaning left one moment, tilting right the next.
The rest of the class had long since finished. They were off enjoying free time, playing basketball, or heading back to the classroom.
The playground was vast and empty, leaving only Li Wu and the P.E. teacher. Li Wu rounded the track with an incredibly awkward gait, countless beads of sweat sliding down his forehead until his gym shirt was nearly soaked through.
The P.E. teacher frowned, sighing repeatedly as her gaze followed his slow progress.
Inside the classroom, most of the students were chatting in the air-conditioned comfort.
Compared to being baked by the sun on the playground, the cool classroom was a paradise.
Raiden Mei sat by the window, silently watching the tiny, stubborn figure on the playground. A delighted smile played on her lips. Even with the bright sun outside, her violet eyes had never shone so brilliantly, as if illuminated by a stage spotlight in the dead of night.
"..."
Kiana said nothing. Her seat was also by the window, giving her an easy view of the playground.
She still held that copy of Klingsor's Last Summer. To better digest the material, Kiana usually kept a pen in hand to mark passages and jot down reflections.
Only this time, her focus was gone. She couldn't stop her eyes from drifting toward that lonely, persistent figure on the track.
Unknowingly, ink began to drip from her pen, forming a dense black blotch that soaked through a corner of the page. She didn't even notice.
"What are you looking at?"
Raiden Mei walked over and snatched the book right out of Kiana's hands. She quickly scanned the underlined content:
My life has had only one grand summer; since that summer, the moon has fallen. I use every subsequent summer to depict that moon. I am jealous of its uniqueness, yet I adore its tenderness. The world grows more beautiful, and I am quite content alone. I seek nothing else but to be soaked through by the sun. I crave maturity, prepared to die and prepared to be reborn. Winter will cycle back, and those meant to meet will meet again.
In all the text on those two pages, only this passage was heavily marked.
The act of taking the book made the rest of the class gasp.
Has Raiden Mei lost her mind? She actually dared to snatch Kiana's book?
The Kaslana family, even from far away in Europe, could dismantle ME Corp in its prime with a single word, let alone the diminished version that existed now.
Kiana didn't show any anger. She sat there like the world's most exquisite doll—aloof, beautiful, yet lacking the spark of meaningful emotion.
She simply held out her hand, her voice flat: "Give it back."
"Of course. It is your book, after all." Mei returned it, her tone shifting as she narrowed her eyes playfully. "The weather is quite nice today, don't you think? Otherwise, you wouldn't be having such a hard time focusing on your reading, constantly looking outside."
Facing this breezy, outspoken version of Raiden Mei, Kiana opened her mouth but then closed it. Her lips pressed tight together as she dropped her gaze back to the book, refusing to respond.
This scene left the other students dumbstruck.
Are you kidding me?!
Though they didn't understand the subtext, Kiana's aura had clearly been suppressed by Mei. How was that possible?!
This was the eldest daughter of the Kaslanas. She was nothing like the nobles of their remote, small island nation. The Kaslanas were one of the top three noble families in the world. Any member of that family was a socialite or a Knight of Honor, if not fabulously wealthy—beyond anything their petty local capital could compare to.
Despite racking their brains, the onlookers couldn't understand why Kiana was afraid to answer.
Only Raiden Mei knew the truth...
The Kaslana family tradition.
She had learned of it accidentally from her father.
In response to the call of the high-and-mighty Overseer of Schicksal, Kallen, to ensure "bloodline purity"—
The children of the Kaslana and Schariac families could only marry within the two clans. Any attempt to "dilute" the bloodline would be met with the highest form of punishment, something far more terrifying than a simple death.
Currently, very few people knew this. Even in an age of total information, this rule hadn't leaked out, which showed how seriously the two families took their protocols.
If her father's intelligence was correct, Kiana Kaslana's betrothed should be the most powerful member of the younger generation from the Schariac family. The name, if she remembered correctly, was... Anna Schariac.
An A-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal.
In these political marriages, gender didn't matter. With their technology sufficiently advanced, that mad Overseer only cared about producing the most powerful offspring. Ethics, morality, and feelings were all things to be trampled upon.