"Y-you, why are you crying?"
Seeing the tears streaming down Kiana's face, Mo Wang started to panic.
Heaven knows, ever since he was a child, he had always been terrified of girls crying.
"Y-you, don't cry! To be honest, that Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art thing was all fake, I was just lying to you. Can you please stop crying?"
But Mo Wang's words only made things worse. Kiana started crying even harder.
Mo Wang was at a complete loss.
Despite all the smooth lines he usually spouted, his actual experience with girls was practically zero.
His other selves in other worlds were also basically single.
They were either best "bros" or completely straight.
The only one with any experience with girls was the guy from Kivotos.
And every single girl in that place was someone he wouldn't dare to touch.
So now, faced with Kiana's tears, he really had no idea what to say.
"You're still lying to me?! Do you think it's fun to lie to me?!"
Kiana's tears were now soaking the blanket on Mo Wang's bed.
"I..." Mo Wang was about to say something, but Kiana didn't give him a chance to speak.
"I heard everything before! Multiple bone fractures and internal bleeding! I heard that if it weren't for your strong recovery ability, you would have died there!"
Kiana became more and more agitated as she spoke.
"Well... you said it yourself, didn't you? It's just bone fractures and internal bleeding. That's not too serious, right?"
Mo Wang said dryly.
In fact, for people in other worlds, such injuries would probably be enough to kill them ten times over.
But in the world of Honkai, it really was a minor injury.
Not to mention, Mo Wang had all sorts of cheats active. They said it would take a week, but in reality, he'd probably be up and running like new in three days.
But the current Kiana didn't care about any of that.
"Why are all you guys like this?! That bastard deadbeat dad of mine is the same! He just said he was leaving and then disappeared again! Do you know how many years I've been looking for him?!"
"And it's always like this! He just leaves a message and disappears. Will he die if I find him or something?!"
Kiana was getting more and more worked up, even comparing Mo Wang to her deadbeat dad.
"Ah, yes, yes, you're right. That Siegfried guy is a real bastard."
Mo Wang's expression was a little distant.
If he remembered correctly, Siegfried, that legendary master of getting captured, was probably still being held by Cocolia at this point, right?
And he was even cellmates with Mei's dad, Ryoma?
Mo Wang thought about it carefully. Siegfried really had it rough.
As the protagonist's background-character father, he only truly appeared in the game's story at the very end of the first part.
After being chased by Otto, he was captured by Cocolia. And after Cocolia was done with him, it was World Serpent's turn.
He had managed to piss off all three major factions of the first part all by himself.
In the end, it was only because the writers were merciful that they didn't send him and Mei's dad to the grave together.
Otherwise, all three of Honkai's main heroines would have truly been orphans.
(Speaking of which, those two should be locked up in Sapphire City right now, right? I wonder if it's too late to go rescue them.)
Mo Wang had already made up his mind.
After he recovered, he would go to Sapphire City and take a look.
Maybe he could even save Ryoma.
But plans were plans. Right now, he had to coax Kiana first.
"Yes, yes, your deadbeat dad is too much. He ran away from home and didn't even leave you any living expenses."
"Look at you, the little princess of the Kaslana family, having to work several part-time jobs. What kind of father is that?" Mo Wang chimed in, agreeing with Kiana.
"You have the nerve to say that!" Kiana looked at Mo Wang angrily.
"M-me? What did I do now?"
Mo Wang flinched, completely clueless as to what he had said wrong.
"You're usually so afraid of dying, so why were you so desperate to be a hero this time?! What if... what if you had died?!"
Kiana looked at Mo Wang with red eyes.
"Oh, so that's what you're talking about."
Hearing Kiana's words, Mo Wang breathed a sigh of relief.
"If I die, I die. It's not that scary, really."
"Besides, that kind of trash isn't enough to kill me. To kill me, you'd at least need a hero who can slay a world-destroying demon king."
"What do you mean, 'if I die, I die'?! Don't you know how worried I... we were about you?!" Kiana was furious.
"Hahaha! I didn't know everyone cared about me so much."
"But, in that case, doesn't that mean my sacrifice was worth it?"
Mo Wang dropped his usual flippant demeanor and looked at Kiana with a smile.
"You..."
"Did you know, Kiana? A year ago, I didn't feel any sense of belonging to this world at all."
"Everything here felt familiar, yet strange."
"I felt that this world had no hope. No matter how hard I tried, I would eventually head towards that predetermined future."
"But... it was everyone at St. Freya who accepted me, a misfit."
"And after coming to St. Freya and meeting all of you, for the first time, I finally felt a sense of belonging to this world."
"I love this place, where I can slack off as I please. And I love you, and everyone else."
"So, even if it costs me my life, I will absolutely make those who dare to harm this place pay!"
"This is my, Mo Wang's, promise to you, as a student of St. Freya and the captain of the Hyperion."
Mo Wang looked at Kiana with complete sincerity.
This was perhaps the first time he had revealed his true feelings since coming to this world.
The fear of first arriving in this world, the despair of the future crisis, and the loneliness he felt.
All of that had created the Mo Wang who only wanted to slack off, who was full of lies, and who didn't care about anything.
And St. Freya was the only place in this world that he cared about.
"Y-you, what are you talking about?! You idiot!"
However, Kiana's brain had already crashed.
The only thing left in her mind was Mo Wang's sentence: "I love you."
Everything else had been automatically filtered out by her brain.
"You're so seriously injured, and you're still talking nonsense!"
Kiana punched Mo Wang in the stomach, nearly making him cough up a mouthful of old blood.
"What did I say wrong now?" Mo Wang said, on the verge of tears. If he had known he would get hit even after talking, he would have just kept his mouth shut.
"R-really, don't think that just because you saved me, I'll be your girlfriend. I-I haven't thought about the future yet. Things like love are still too early for me."
Kiana was now rambling incoherently.
Her brain, which was basically running on Windows XP with a 2GB RAM stick, was now completely unable to process the current situation.
"You brat, how did you even get to love from that?" Mo Wang didn't know how to respond.
Why did this sound more and more wrong the more he listened?
Kiana lowered her head slightly, a blush creeping onto her cheeks, her voice stuttering, "B-but, it's not like I can't thank you a little. Y-you, close your eyes first."
"Huh?" Mo Wang was stunned. What was this girl up to now?
"Don't worry about it! Just close them!" Kiana was getting anxious, a hint of nervousness in her voice. She clenched her fists, as if trying to summon her courage.
"Oh." Mo Wang nodded dumbly. Although he didn't know what Kiana was going to do, he did as he was told and closed his eyes.
A few seconds later, Mo Wang felt a warm sensation on his lips, and Kiana's scent, like lilies.
He opened his eyes in surprise, and was met with Kiana's clear blue eyes, tinged with a slight nervousness.
Their eyes met, and time seemed to stand still. A hint of shyness was on Kiana's face, but she didn't stop.
And Mo Wang's heart began to race, completely stunned by the scene before him.
His mind was a blank, with only Kiana in his vision.
A subtle tension filled the air, and neither of them spoke.
After a minute, they finally separated.
And Mo Wang was still staring blankly at Kiana.
"L-let's get this straight. Don't get the wrong idea. This is just my way of thanking you. Th-there won't be a next time!"
"A-and, this was my first kiss, so you should feel honored."
As soon as Kiana finished speaking, she bolted out of the room, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
But even so, Mo Wang could still see that Kiana's face was as red as an apple.
"Did I... just get forcibly kissed?"
Mo Wang muttered to himself in a daze.
But the next moment, a goofy smile involuntarily spread across his face.