"Pfft, hahaha! This is killing me. Kallen Kaslana ran off to the Far East again. I really wish I could've seen the look on Otto's face when he found out."
Elias covered his forehead and burst out laughing. The saint whom that fool had gone through countless hardships to finally resurrect might not be the same woman from five hundred years ago, but she was still Kallen Kaslana.
Still, perhaps this really was just Kallen being Kallen.
She had actually run back to this land of fate once again. Though clearly, this Kallen's memories really were damaged. Otherwise, she shouldn't have come to Sapphire City, considering the ruins of Yae Village were in neighboring Nagazora City.
Kallen: - -
To be fair, she was very grateful to Otto for bringing her back to life.
But as for that blond, wife-stealing-braid-wearing Bishop Otto, Kallen genuinely felt absolutely nothing toward him. And considering the things he'd done, she couldn't even bring herself to hand him a "good person" card.
Kallen: "Ahem! Anyway, I secretly brought Theresa... Luna out of Schicksal because I wanted to fulfill her wish and let her see this world... I also wanted to visit the ruins of Yae Village and see the shrine that was the only thing I still remembered."
Elias: "Waiting for the 'but.'"
Kallen: "Uh, but things were far more difficult than I'd imagined. Not long after we left Schicksal, Luna lost control because she hadn't drunk from a blood pack at her usual time."
The Sin Hunter let out a deep sigh.
When she saw Luna being controlled by her bloodlust and attacking humans, Kallen finally realized that the price Luna would have to pay for freedom was far more terrifying than she'd imagined.
And by then, it was already too late to stop her.
For a vampire girl who had never seen the light in her entire life, the instant she finally obtained freedom and entered the outside world, even death itself would never make Luna willingly return to that cage.
Kallen also understood that after escaping Schicksal, neither she nor Luna could simply go back even if they wanted to. In the end, she wasn't the true Kallen Kaslana, and that Bishop of Schicksal would absolutely never forgive such a "betrayal."
Perhaps nothing would happen to Kallen herself.
But Luna would definitely be placed under even stricter control. By then, she might not even be allowed the freedom of a single room. Her ability to move would likely be stripped away completely, and she would be treated as nothing more than a tool.
Yet if they remained in the outside world, Luna's bloodlust would endanger innocent people. After agonizing over it again and again, Kallen ultimately decided to deal with Luna herself.
It was true that her life was connected to the vampire girl's, and that she would certainly die once Luna died, but she didn't care. In Kallen's eyes, she had already been a dead person to begin with.
"Sister, I'm sorry..."
Luna apologized to Kallen. Now that everything had been laid bare, she finally understood the conflict and difficulties her sister had been struggling with.
"In the end, it just comes down to lacking ability."
Elias delivered his sharp assessment while eating a burger.
In his eyes, every tragedy in this world ultimately stemmed from the people involved lacking sufficient strength or capability at the time.
Kallen hadn't exactly done anything wrong, but she hadn't done much right either. Good or bad, everything she did had been half-baked.
Before Elias, she had been the only person to ever give Luna affection. She had once shown the vampire girl limitless tenderness and taken her out of her cage, yet when the situation spiraled beyond control, she chose to "betray" her.
This tragic heroine's capabilities were simply too limited.
She had neither fully realized Luna's wish to see the world with her own eyes, nor managed to respond and make amends in time after things went out of control. The only thing Kallen could do was accept the resolve to repay everything with her life and drag Luna to death alongside her.
"Sigh~~"
Elias couldn't help sighing again. He thought that even if her ability was limited, she should at least have been able to manage one side properly.
Even if Kallen couldn't have everything both ways,
she still shouldn't have ended up with the worst of both worlds.
This was the result of the saint's weakness. She had neither fulfilled Luna's wish nor stopped her from losing control and going berserk.
"I've already said everything I needed to say. Unfortunately, this world isn't suited for Luna and me to live in. If we're forced to remain here, then eventually either we will be hurt, or the world will be hurt. So I... have no choice but to make a decision."
As Kallen spoke, she looked toward Elias. At this moment, she still had no idea that the white-haired boy before her had already accomplished what she could not.
"I don't know how you managed to make Luna like you this much in such a short period of time, but now that you understand our story, that means you're qualified."
"Qualified? Qualified for what?"
"Qualified to choose. There's one bullet in my gun that's lethal to vampires. It's in your hands now, so... you can choose to shoot me, or shoot Luna."
Kallen spoke with guilt in her heart.
She felt that what she was doing was despicable. Because she herself couldn't make the decision, she hoped Elias would make it in her place.
If Elias used the gun to shoot Luna, then the terrifying vampire threatening Sapphire City would be eliminated once and for all.
If Elias used the gun to shoot Kallen, then the Sin Hunter who hunted vampires would die. No one in this world would remain who could threaten Luna, and she would obtain complete freedom.
Kallen stared directly at Elias, wanting to see what choice this mysterious white-haired boy would make.
However...
"This is seriously boring. Choices, choices. Whether it's you or fate, everyone keeps shoving multiple-choice questions in my face all day long. Don't you know only children make choices? Greedy, unreasonable adults have always chosen everything."
Elias looked unhappily at Blooded Saints in his hands.
Ever since coming to this Honkai world, he'd grown more and more sick of multiple-choice questions.
"But fine. Since all of you insist on making me choose between two options, I'll go along with it for once. Only between shooting Luna or shooting you."
"My choice is this!"
As Elias spoke, he raised the muzzle of the gun.
In truth, the moment Kallen told him that the gun contained a bullet capable of killing a vampire, Elias' first instinct had been to crush both the weapon and the bullet inside it.
That was the kind of choice he usually made.
But this time, he didn't.
Bang!
"L-Lady Kallen!"
"Sister!!"
With a loud gunshot, a crimson flower of blood bloomed across Kallen Kaslana's chest. Then the beautiful saint's delicate body tilted sideways and collapsed to the floor.
Luna and Himeko cried out at the same time.
Rosemary and Ai also shot to their feet in shock.
Elias had actually fired!
And without even the slightest hesitation. Kallen stared blankly at her own chest, still completely caught off guard.
Then her body began to look faintly illusory, as though only a few more seconds were needed before she completely disintegrated into nothing. Yet the saint gave Elias a relieved smile.
"Thank you... for seeing your choice through to the end. You accomplished... what I couldn't... So... from now on... Luna is in your hands... You have to take good care of her."
"S-Sister!!"
"All right, all right. It's still too early for you to die."
Elias' expression remained perfectly calm. He casually tossed the gun onto the floor, then unfolded the six wings behind him as both the Gem of Sentience and Gem of Serenity began to shine.
Kallen truly should have died after being struck by that bullet.
However, Elias had already solved the problem known as death.
Death itself was actually quite simple.
It was nothing more than the dissolution of consciousness and the shutdown of the physical body.
(If this were the old me, then for someone who had already died, I would've had no choice but to use a miracle together with the Herrscher of Finality's time reversal to save them. But things are different now!)
Elias had discovered a much simpler method.
Though while it was simple in theory, only he could accomplish it in this world, because... this method required one person to simultaneously possess the Authorities of the sixth and eighth Herrschers after ascension.
In other words, to simultaneously become...
the Herrscher of Transcendent Sentience and the Herrscher of Rebirth.
"Some illnesses can only be cured after dying once."
Elias spoke indifferently. Then the two ascended Authorities enveloped the already "dead" Kallen Kaslana.
The Authority of Sentience, which had ascended from "Sentience" into "Transcendent Sentience," could even capture the consciousness of someone who had only just died. And as long as the consciousness didn't disappear, then the physical body was even less of a problem.
The white flower of creation bloomed over Kallen's "corpse," healing the bloody wound on her chest.
"Human, what exactly are you doing?"
Luna couldn't understand Elias' actions at all. In truth, she wasn't the only one. Everyone else was equally confused.
Why kill Kallen once and then revive her? Surely it couldn't be just for fun. The others might not understand Elias that well, but Ai knew he would never do something like that.
Therefore, there had to be some deeper meaning behind this incomprehensible operation. In the words of the Previous Era—[If Lord Savior is doing this, then he must have his reasons.]
"Don't worry, Luna. I'm just saving your sister. I'm turning her from a subspecies vampire back into a human."
"What! That's actually possible?"
"Why wouldn't it be? There."
Kallen had revived after being bitten by Luna, but in doing so, she herself had become a subspecies vampire. More specifically, this had been caused by those bacteria-type Honkai Beasts.
Once the bacteria-type Honkai Beasts entered the body, they would gradually erode the host's body and turn them into a vampire. But unlike a pure vampire such as Luna, the infected person was still fundamentally human.
After being bitten and drained by Luna so many times, Elias had naturally done a little research into those bacteria-type Honkai Beasts. In the end, he discovered the fastest method for turning a subspecies vampire back into a human.
Make the infected person genuinely die once!
The results of death were very different for vampires and humans.
When humans died, they left behind corpses. Vampires, however, would disintegrate into ash after death without leaving even a trace behind.
Thus, Elias was now using the Authority of the Herrscher of Transcendent Sentience to preserve Kallen's consciousness even while she was in a state of death.
Then he used the Authority of the Herrscher of Rebirth to preserve the body that should have disintegrated into ash. Sensing that its host body's life had ceased, the vampire portion within Kallen's body disintegrated and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a perfectly clean human body.
Elias then returned her consciousness to her body.
And just like that, Kallen Kaslana's resurrection was complete!
Elias: "Unfortunately, this method doesn't work on Luna herself. But Mobius will definitely have another solution. So, how do you feel now? Was dying exciting?"
Kallen: "I-I died? I'm alive? Who exactly are you? How can you possibly do something like this?"
Elias: "Just a passing savior. No need to remember me. Sigh~ Still needs improvement, though. I can revive someone, sure, but only if they've been dead for less than thirty seconds."
Because once thirty seconds passed, even the Authority of the Herrscher of Transcendent Sentience could no longer capture the deceased person's consciousness, or rather... their soul.
Elias: "Anyway, congratulations. You've officially become human again, Miss Kallen Kaslana."