Sirin curled into the pile of charred rubble, arms raised to shield her head and face.
Through the gaps between her fingers, those golden pupils locked onto the man standing over her — his expression unreadable.
Humiliation? More torment? Or... was the unkillable madness about to begin again?
She watched Su Yu's lips move, as if he was about to say something.
She immediately arched her back like a startled cat and cut him off first, her voice coming out slightly slurred from the swelling in her cheeks — but still straining to hold that razor edge that belonged to a queen:
"You want to humiliate me? Hmph! That's all you're good for, isn't it! I can't kill you, but you can't kill me either!"
She expected to see that deranged grin split across his face again.
But it didn't come.
Su Yu only looked at her. Those black eyes held no madness. No anger.
Only that thing Sirin hated most — that look, as though he had seen through everything and arrived, despite himself, at a kind of helpless pity.
That look made her tremble more than any fist ever had.
"It seems you still haven't grasped your own situation, Your Majesty."
The title, coming from his mouth, carried no mockery. No sarcasm. Not even irony.
He simply said it, calmly. And it was precisely that calm that made it more insulting than any tone could have been — because it meant: you're no longer worth the effort of mocking.
He took a step forward. The sole of his shoe crunched down on a piece of charcoal.
Sirin instinctively shrank back.
"You saw what Kiana looked like just now, didn't you?"
Su Yu crouched down, bringing his eyes level with hers.
"The next time you decide to pull another stunt like that — do you think that state she was in... will come back?"
Sirin's pupils snapped tight.
The terror of being pinned to the ground, fists raining down on her like hail, flooded back in an instant.
"Didn't you feel it?"
Su Yu's voice dropped lower, carrying a cold, piercing quality.
"Your two consciousnesses were colliding at full force. You were moments away from mutual annihilation. That sensation... was pretty clear, wasn't it?"
He leaned in closer toward Sirin.
"Do you want to die, Sirin?"
The question drove straight into the deepest seat of her fear.
"Don't you dare threaten me with death!" she screamed, her voice shaking in a way she couldn't hide. "You can't do it! You can't kill me in here! Not ever—"
"I told you. I understand you."
Su Yu cut her off. His tone held no threat — only statement.
"I know what you think of this world. I know you despise humanity more than anyone."
"But I also know... what you're even more afraid of. Dying without having done anything. Without having accomplished anything. Dying in disgrace, having amounted to nothing — that's it, isn't it?"
Sirin's breath stopped for a beat.
"Every time you pull a stunt like this and torment Kiana, you're only accelerating your own end." Su Yu continued. "And do you still not understand?"
He raised one hand and gestured at the dreamscape around them — already dimming, already crumbling at the edges.
"This world has not a single trace of Honkai energy."
"Even if you somehow managed to actually seize Kiana's body — then what?"
Su Yu looked at her, his eyes carrying a clarity that was almost cruel.
"You might be able to cause considerable casualties with a Herrscher's physique. But without Honkai energy backing you up, do you honestly think your body of flesh and blood could withstand a missile? And if you could withstand missiles, what about nuclear weapons?"
"Especially you —"
Su Yu looked her up and down. That gaze made Sirin flush with humiliation.
"Someone who only knows how to use her Authority, whose real-world combat technique amounts to barely three moves. You think you could destroy this world?"
He shook his head and gave a short, derisive laugh.
"Don't make me laugh. That's wishful thinking. Pure delusion."
Sirin opened her mouth to retort — and found her throat sealed shut, as though something was lodged in it.
She remembered Kiana's assault just now, driven by nothing but raw force and sheer will. She remembered that pervasive, inescapable sense of helplessness she had felt since waking in this peaceful world.
Su Yu drew a long, slow breath — as though he was exhaling every last remnant of the pain left behind by countless deaths.
"Let's get your position straight, Your Majesty."
He stood up and looked down at Sirin, slumped on the ground beneath him.
Firelight caught the side of his face, throwing a long shadow that fell over Sirin entirely.
"In this world — so peaceful it could make you weep — you, the Herrscher of the Void, are nothing more than... a parasite. A parasite who can only survive by clinging to Kiana."
"Every single time you decide to make a move," Su Yu said, one word at a time, "you are accelerating your own death. This is not a threat. I am simply stating a fact."
Sirin's eyes went red.
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Her lips moved twice, like a fish gasping for water.
Humiliation.
It burned from the soles of her feet all the way to the crown of her head.
But what was more terrifying than the humiliation — was that every single word he had said was right.
She had no Honkai energy.
No Authority.
No Subspace Lance. No void rifts. No armies of Honkai Beasts to command.
All she had was a body that didn't belong to her, and a Host whose mind might shatter hers in a collision at any moment.
She was a parasite.
That fact had never been spoken aloud like this before — this bluntly, this mercilessly, like someone grabbing her by the head and grinding her face into the mud.
Then she heard Su Yu ask:
"Do you want to go back?"
Sirin's head snapped up. Those golden pupils were filled with pure disbelief.
"Back to that Honkai world?"
"You — do you know what you're saying?" Sirin's voice was dry and rough. "If Kiana were to go back... then..."
"I know." Su Yu picked up where she trailed off. "Once Honkai energy is restored, you'd return to what you were — all-powerful, untouchable. You could tear open Imaginary Space at will, summon the Subspace Lance, and... continue your revenge."
He paused.
"But so what? I said if. I said possibility."
Su Yu bent down and drew close to Sirin again, those black eyes looking directly into hers.
"And every time you make a move right now, you're throwing away that if. That possibility."
Sirin's breathing quickened. Going back... returning to a world saturated with Honkai energy... The thought ignited like wildfire inside her.
But close on its heels came a deeper suspicion.
"You're right — I can't kill you here."
Su Yu straightened up and slid his hands back into his pajama pockets.
"And I'm not the kind of scum who finds pleasure in tormenting people. Bullying a... well, a fallen queen who can barely stand right now — it gives me zero satisfaction."
He tilted his head slightly.
"So. I'm going to help you."
"Help me?" Sirin's eyes went wide, her swollen cheeks making the expression look faintly absurd. "You said you're going to... help me?"
She wondered if her head had been beaten in, or if this human had lost his mind — no, he'd always been insane. How many times had she killed him? A hundred? Two hundred?
Even Sirin herself had lost count. And yet this madman was now saying... he would help her?
"You're insane."
Sirin said.
It was the second time tonight she had used those words for Su Yu.
But the tone was different from before.
Before, it had been fear and rage.
This time — this time it carried something she hadn't noticed herself: a faint, bewildered blankness.
"Don't misunderstand."
The expression drained from Su Yu's face, leaving only a kind of near-indifferent seriousness.
"This is nothing but a reluctant compromise. Because letting you keep spiraling out of control benefits no one — not Kiana, not me, and not even you."
He looked out toward the ruined dreamscape, already turning translucent at the edges, and his gaze grew distant.
"And because I believe —"
"I believe that in the not-too-distant future, Kiana will find the strength within herself to truly defeat you. To defeat the Herrscher of the Void."
Su Yu turned back to look at Sirin.
In that moment, his face wore an expression she had never seen from him — not madness, not pity.
It was an almost unshakeable, pride-laden trust.
"Because she is Kiana Kaslana."
"The girl I see as the most resilient, the most courageous — and the most... deserving of this world's gentleness."
Sirin shuddered.
She stared at the light that flickered in those black eyes as the man spoke of Kiana.
It was a kind of regard — a kind of trust — she had never experienced, had never been given by anyone.
Warmth?
No. It was more blinding than warmth.
Like noon sunlight falling on frozen ground that had never known anything but shadow — it didn't bring a thaw. It brought a deeper, searing ache, and... confusion.
She understood now.
She had lost.
This night's battle — she had lost it completely.
Not in terms of power. Not because of the madman's unkillable body.
She had lost because... as long as this man still stood. As long as he looked at Kiana that way — no matter how much Sirin tormented her, manipulated her, or tried to corrode that fool with despair...
Kiana would always be pulled back from the edge of the abyss, again and again, by this man's own hand.
Just like what had happened moments ago.
Silence spread through the burning ruins.
Only the occasional crackle and pop of the flames.
After a long time, Sirin heard her own dry, hoarse voice rise:
"...What do I have to do?"
It came out low. Low enough that, if you weren't listening carefully, it would be swallowed whole by the ambient noise of the consciousness space.
Her teeth caught her swollen lower lip for a moment, and she winced at the pain.
"Human."
That was what she called him.
Not "insect." Not "madman." Human.
It was a subtle concession — one she likely hadn't even noticed herself making.
"Don't think for a moment that this is over."
She added it, a last thread of defiance still woven into her voice.
"Once we return to that world, I will tear Kiana to pieces..."
She didn't mention Su Yu. Even she didn't know why she hadn't — perhaps she felt that tearing the man in front of her apart wouldn't be enough to satisfy her rage.
Or perhaps —
Su Yu looked at her, and smiled.
It was a simple smile. Even, somehow... easy.
"Sure."
He gave a single nod.
"If you can manage it —"
"Then go right ahead and try."
He turned and walked toward the fading edge of the dreamscape, his back to Sirin, giving a casual wave of one hand.
"Though personally, I think the one who wins in the end —"
"— will always be Kiana Kaslana."
Behind him, Sirin curled on the cracked ground, her right eye fixed unblinking on that slowly receding figure.
Within those golden pupils, the small flame of pride flickered.
It didn't go out.
But it no longer raged the way it had before, desperate to burn everything to ash.
It simply burned there, quietly.
Like a lamp that didn't know which direction it was meant to illuminate.
Lost. Adrift.
A notification panel popped into view.
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to look at it anymore.
But the corner of his eye still caught a few keywords — [Taming the Arrogant Queen · Phase One Complete], [Herrscher of the Void Fear Index risen to 73%], [Will not initiate consciousness invasion in the short term].
Beneath those, in smaller text: [She's been scared half to death by you and Kiana! Keep up the good work!]
Su Yu's eyelid twitched. He reached out and swiped the panel to the side.
As the ruined dreamscape faded further into the distance, Su Yu didn't exit the dream directly — instead, that familiar force guided him, drawing him back once more to that space.
Su Yu felt the ground go soft beneath his feet, and nearly lost his footing.
The hollow exhaustion of coming down from intense psychic combat — like finishing a marathon, his very soul adrift.
He opened his eyes.
On all four sides: bamboo walls. The light filtering through the cracks was not lamplight — it was moonlight.
Moonlight fell against the bamboo, sliced into long, thin white strips, laid across the floor like piano keys.
The air carried the scent of tea.
A low table sat at the center of the room.
On it, two tea bowls. Fenghuang sat on the other side of the table.
Cross-legged, spine straight, both hands resting on her knees.
A tea bowl sat before her, still releasing wisps of steam.
Su Yu stood in the doorway and took in the space for a few seconds.
...Your taste is considerably better than that queen's.
Unlike the real-world Fu Hua he knew — the one in the convenience store uniform, almost always with a faint furrow between her brows — the figure before him radiated a timeworn gravity, as though an uncountable depth of ages had settled into her.
He walked over and sat down on the other side of the low table.
Fenghuang didn't respond to his comment.
She pushed the tea bowl on his side of the table a little closer toward his hand.
Su Yu picked it up and took a sip.
Hot.
Even tea drunk inside a consciousness space could scald your tongue, apparently.
He drew a quick breath through his teeth and set the bowl back down, the tip of his tongue carrying the characteristic astringency of rough-brewed tea.
Fenghuang looked at him.
"...Thank you, Su Yu."
She spoke.
Her voice was quiet. The steam rising from the tea bowl swayed gently with her words.
"If not for you, Kiana might have already... vanished. Or fallen apart entirely."
She paused, her eyes dipping slightly.
"At the same time, I want to say something to you. I'm sorry."
Su Yu blinked.
He hadn't expected this figure, who looked as though she'd stepped out of an ancient painting, to open with something so direct.
"You are only an ordinary person," Fenghuang's voice took on a note of quiet pain, "and yet you have been asked to shoulder this. What happened to Kiana — I bear direct responsibility for that as well."
She was referring to being deceived by Otto, betraying Kiana, the events that ultimately led to Teacher Himeko's death.
And to what happened in Arc City — failing to protect Kiana, leaving her to carry everything alone.
Su Yu looked at this self-reproaching "ancient relic" before him, and felt the irritation and exhaustion that had been building up from System missions and countless deaths ease, just a little.
He exhaled, and — unlike in any TV drama — didn't immediately wave it off with "It's fine" or "It's not your fault."
"Squad Monitor," Su Yu said, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness, "hold off on apologizing for a moment. Let me tell you something first."
Fenghuang raised her eyes, looking at him with mild puzzlement.
"Do you know what this world's Fu Hua — your Counterpart — is doing right now?"
Su Yu didn't wait for Fenghuang to answer. He kept going.
"She works at a convenience store."
Fenghuang's eyebrow moved slightly.
"Night shift. Five days a week. Running the register, stocking shelves, mopping floors, restocking display cases, calling taxis for drunks — whatever it takes."
Su Yu's fingers left the rim of the bowl and traced a slow circle on the table's surface.
"She's the youngest grandmaster the Tai Xu Sword Sect has produced in a hundred years. The most gifted sect leader in a century. Her father left her a run-down dojo — three thousand square meters, sounds impressive, but the roof leaks, the wiring is ancient, and the tax bills could feed someone for three years."
"Her disciples — she's got a few who can actually fight. But not one of them can make money. The Eldest Senior Sister manages the accounts for her, and every month when the profit sheet comes out, the red ink outweighs the black by three to one."
Fenghuang listened in silence.
Su Yu's pace was unhurried. Like someone describing a neighbor's life.
"She has very few friends. Especially people her own age."
"Because her seniority is too high, her ability too strong, she speaks too directly, and she's too inflexible in how she does things. Classmates invite her out to karaoke, she won't go. They invite her for bubble tea, she says it's too expensive — not because she really thinks it's expensive, but because she did the math and the cost of one bubble tea equals half a day's electricity bill for the dojo."
Su Yu's fingers stopped on the table.
"But she has never once complained."
Fenghuang's fingers relaxed on her knees.
"She believes this is her responsibility. The dojo was her father's dream. The Tai Xu lineage cannot be allowed to die on her watch. Even when the path ahead looks endless. Even when the whole world thinks traditional martial arts are a joke — she still gets up at five every morning to train. Then goes to work at the convenience store. Then comes home and teaches a few rich kids how to throw a punch."
Su Yu looked at Fenghuang.
"She's a fool."
"The same kind of fool as Kiana. The kind that locks onto one thing and throws herself at it completely — no bending, no cutting corners, no allowing herself even a moment's comfort. Ask her to help someone else, she'll agree without a second thought. Ask her to buy herself a new scarf, and she'll stand in the mall for half an hour before walking out empty-handed — because the old one can last another two years."
Fenghuang listened quietly, the light shifting faintly in those crimson eyes.
She seemed to understand what Su Yu was trying to say — but wasn't quite certain.
"Why are you telling me all this..." she asked softly.
"Because I want you to know," Su Yu said with a quiet laugh, a note of feeling in his voice, "Old Squad Monitor — even though you may have only formally met me today, I've known you for a very, very long time."
"Long enough that I started hearing your story in my previous life. Fifty thousand years guarding Shenzhou. Fenghuang, the Immortal... Those legends — I've heard them so often my ears have practically grown calluses."
He scratched the back of his head, as though searching for the right words.
"I know that coming from someone who's only lived a few decades, this probably sounds like an ant telling an elephant 'I understand you.' Fifty thousand years — I can't even begin to imagine how long that is. My entire lifespan next to yours —"
He flicked the rim of the tea bowl lightly with one finger.
A clean, clear ring rang out.
"Utterly insignificant."
"But there is still one thing I want to say."
He held Fenghuang's gaze and spoke, one word at a time:
"Thank you, Ah Hua."
"Thank you for guarding that world. Until the very last moment."
"Thank you for Arc City — for helping Kiana, again and again, even at the cost of burning away Yu Ducheng, even as your consciousness faded."
"If not for you," Su Yu's voice was quiet, but it carried weight, "I would never have had the chance to meet Kiana in this world. And I would never have had... the chance I have now. To try to save her."
Fenghuang's lips moved slightly, as though she was about to say something — but in the end, no sound came.
"I know," Su Yu drew a slow, deep breath, as though pressing down all the tangled emotions packed inside his chest. "No matter what I say, the guilt you carry — that sense of responsibility for not having protected everything — won't diminish by even a fraction."
He paused for a few seconds. Then gave a single, firm nod.
"But —"
"Even so, I still want to tell you."
Su Yu looked at the figure before him — one who had carried responsibility on her shoulders across worlds, across time, even across the boundary of life and death — and wore a smile that was perhaps a little foolish, yet utterly and completely sincere.
"You've already done more than enough, Ah Hua."
The bamboo house fell quiet.
Moonlight dropped through the cracks, falling in long strips along the floor.
The tea had stopped steaming. The surface of the water was still as a mirror, reflecting the bamboo ceiling above — and the silhouettes of two people, sitting across from each other.
Fenghuang sat there.
She did not cry.
Fifty thousand years. She had long since forgotten what crying felt like.
But her hand —
That hand which had always rested, steady, on her knee. The hand that had gripped countless sword hilts. The hand that had never once trembled in fire or blood —
Reached out and lifted the tea bowl.
The rim rested against her lips.
She drank.
And when she set it down again, the base of the bowl struck the table.
A little heavier than before.
"...Mm."
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