『 Looking at the slot on the elevator control panel in front of her, Kiana thought of the card she had found earlier. She pulled out the card and inserted it into the slot.
"Please… you have to work…" 』
『 ....』
〘Hanabi〙: This prop guidance is quite well done; everything links together perfectly.
〘Otto Apocalypse〙: I did make three generations of games, after all.
....
『 Under Kiana's expectant gaze, the screen on the control panel changed once again, turning into a game interface she was familiar with.
"It worked! As long as I beat this game, I can restart the elevator."
To save her mother, Kiana performed beyond her usual limits. Before long, she cleared the game, and the elevator started up once again.
Kiana hurriedly got into the elevator. The elevator, which had clearly run at a normal speed before, now seemed as slow as a turtle.
There was clearly no more time to waste.
Just as the elevator reached the halfway point, a loud noise came from above, accompanied by a violent tremor.
(Could it be… Mom has already started fighting the Herrscher…)
Kiana looked up at the floor where the noise was coming from, where dust and smoke were already billowing.
(Damn it! Faster… just a little faster… please!)
Once the elevator stopped, Kiana immediately rushed out. The previously tightly shut door was now wide open.
(The door to the upper floor is open… I have to catch up to Mom!)
Along the way, the corpses of the Deadbeats became Kiana's best guideposts. She ran anxiously, thinking as she ran.
(Damn it! Damn it! If Theresa were here, it wouldn't be like this… If I hadn't wasted so much time, it wouldn't be like this…Just what have I been doing… I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll never be willful again!) 』
『 ....』
〘March 7th〙: So despairing…
〘Kiana Kaslana〙: It was me who killed Mom… because of my willfulness, I wasted time… I…
〘Raiden Mei〙: It's not your fault, Kiana.
〘March 7th〙: That's right, that's right! It's all Otto's fault. He exploited your love for Cecilia.
〘Kiana Kaslana〙: But…
〘·HI3· Himeko Murata〙: Kiana, I believe Lady Cecilia wouldn't want to see you like this. You don't need to blame yourself. What you need to do now is become stronger, and then demand a clear explanation from Bishop Otto.
....
『 (Ich☆liebe☆dich… Ich☆liebe☆dich…)
(Please let Mom be safe… That's my only wish!)
When Kiana reached the end, she saw Cecilia collapsed on the ground, with a purple phantom standing opposite her.
Floating in the air, the phantom looked down at Cecilia at her feet and sneered, "Hehe, I didn't expect you to break so quickly too."
"How disappointing."
"MOM!!!" Seeing the fallen Cecilia, Kiana screamed.
The phantom looked in the direction of the voice. "Oh? Another one."
"I've certainly run into a lot of white-haired people today."
"You bastard, get away from my mom!" Kiana threw a punch at the phantom.
The phantom merely raised her right hand, and Kiana felt an invisible force blocking her advance.
"Mom? Are you referring to this corpse?"
"What are you talking about? How is that possible? Mom…"
"Hehe, how pitiful."
"But don't worry, I'll send you to reunite with your mother right now!"
With that, her attacks grew even more intense. Kiana grit her teeth, resisting.
"No… NO!"
"I won't let it end like this!"
With Kiana's angry roar, the screen began to transition to white, and Kiana found herself back in the safe house.
Kiana looked around in confusion at the familiar surroundings. "This is the safe house."
She then walked forward and looked at the elevator. "The elevator… It's locked by Mom… what's going on?"
"Was everything just now a dream? Thank goodness… Mom isn't dead yet…"
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Kiana quickly shook her head. "No, now is not the time to celebrate. If I don't hurry, Mom will still be killed by the Second Herrscher!"
"I can't go this way; there must be another path!"
Thinking this, Kiana came to the hole from earlier. Adopting a 'desperate times call for desperate measures' attitude, Kiana crawled inside. 』
『 ....』
〘Stelle〙: So that's how it's used.
〘·HSR· Welt Yang〙: This also shows that everything is under Otto's control. These three props all allow Kiana to keep moving forward, and they all appear at just the right moments.
〘Otto Apocalypse〙: Hmm… watching my future self's plan play out is indeed a fascinating experience.
....
『 After crawling through, Kiana found that it was a narrow passage. She crawled out along the path, and upon exiting, she looked at the familiar iron door in front of her.
"I didn't expect that child to dig a small path inside the safe house. This is… the entrance to the laboratory?"
"Which means, she managed to escape in the end. That's great…"
"No, there's no time to be sentimental. I have to hurry and help Mom!"
Stepping onto the familiar path once more, she saw no corpses of Deadbeats. Kiana became even more convinced that everything before had been an illusion.
But before Kiana could rejoice for long, many Deadbeats appeared to block her path. Kiana swiftly dealt with them and pressed forward in the direction of her memory.
(…Mom, I will definitely come to save you!)
But when she reached the spot where the Second Herrscher and Cecilia had appeared in her illusion, they weren't there. Kiana decided to search deeper.
She followed the stairs to the second floor and found an iron door marked with the same symbol. She opened it and found a long corridor inside.
There was a laser trap in the middle. Kiana successfully bypassed the lasers using the control panel on the side. When she walked out of the corridor and looked down, she saw the figures of the Second Herrscher and Cecilia. She quickened her pace.
"I see Mom! Oh no, she's in danger!"
Cecilia knelt on one knee, leaning on the Abyss Flower. Looking at the Second Herrscher in front of her, she panted, "Oh no, she's gotten even stronger."
"Heh, you've got some skills."
"Totally different from those guys before."
The purple phantom flashed a healthy smile. "Come, make this fun for me!"
Bang—
A bullet pierced through the Second Herrscher's body. She turned around in surprise.
She saw Kiana pointing a gun at her, white smoke still rising from the barrel.
"Get the hell away from Lady Cecilia, you bastard Second Herrscher!"
The Second Herrscher looked at the presumptuous Kiana and snarled, "…You brat!"
"Mom, now's the chance!"
In the next instant, Cecilia took up the Abyss Flower and thrust it toward the Second Herrscher.
The Second Herrscher cried out in pain, "Ugh…"
She fell to her knees, the data streams on her body starting to become unstable.
"Damn you, just you wait!"
Leaving these words behind, she vanished.
Cecilia looked at the spot where she had disappeared and let out a breath. "Phew~~ She escaped."
"But, why are you here, Kiana?" 』
『 ....』
〘March 7th〙: I feel like things won't be this simple…
〘Stelle〙: I have a bad feeling about this.
〘Belle〙: Indeed… things are going too smoothly right now, and Otto's shadow is all over the place.
〘Kiana Kaslana〙: Come on, let me see just what kind of scene could make this young lady lose control.
....