Meanwhile, at the cabin…
Reina stood alone in her room, her gaze fixed on a hologram that floated silently in front of her.
The projection shimmered with faint light, showing what looked like a television screen suspended in the air. And on that screen… a man's face appeared.
He bore an uncanny resemblance to Reina—snow-white hair, blue eyes as clear as the sky. A calm expression rested on his face.
"Is that your decision? Are you sure about that?" the man asked with a tired sigh.
Reina lowered her head slightly. "I'm sorry for ignoring your order…"
The man sighed again, though his tone remained gentle. "I'm not mad at you… I'm just asking if you're sure."
Reina raised her head, eyes resolute. "Yes, I'm sure. At first, I only wanted to see Kiana—the main character of this world—before continuing what I was supposed to do. But after living with her for these past few months… it's been really fun. Her antics, how cute she is… especially how stubborn she can be." Her lips curled into a soft smile.
The man on the screen looked at her for a moment before smiling in return. "Alright. I understand."
"Really? You'll let me stay in this world?" Reina's expression lit up with hope.
"Yes. I'll let you do whatever you want. I understand how you feel."
"Thank you, my ori—" Reina began, but he interrupted her before she could finish.
"But remember, as my duplicate, you only have half of my power. You don't have any Primal Beast power inside of you, or any of our other equipment aside from your Opus weapon. And as we know… the Honkai world is far more dangerous than a normal one. Can you handle that?"
Reina nodded, fully understanding what he meant.
As a duplicate of the original in front of her, her purpose was to search for their home world after ending up in Granblue Fantasy. But unlike the original, she could only use six wings instead of twelve, and relied solely on her Astral abilities.
But remembering Kiana and Herrschers of Void inside her, she's sure she can handle everything even that simp Otto and making sure everyone have a happy ending.
So for now she need to lay low at least until Nagazora, where they can meet Mei the Herrschers of Thunder.
"I'll be fine," she said with quiet certainty. "Thank you for worrying about me… even though I'm just your duplicate."
"Of course I worry," the man replied gently. "Even if you're only my creation, I care about all of you. And honestly… it's not just you. A few other duplicates decided to live for themselves too. They're staying in the worlds they landed in."
He gave a warm smile. "I'm glad all of you are making your own choices instead of blindly following mine."
"REEEIII! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WE NEED TO GO!" a sudden voice called out from offscreen—an energetic woman's voice.
The man turned his head and shouted back, "Alright, alright! Just tell the others I'll be there soon, Rias!"
Then, looking back to Reina, he softened again. "If you ever need help, just call me. I'll lend you my strength if things get rough. Farewell, Reina."
With that, the hologram flickered once… then vanished, leaving Reina standing alone in silence.
But even so, her heart felt lighter.
She had made her choice.
And she wasn't going to back down.
After that, Reina went back to her usual routine while waiting for Kiana to return.
She headed to the small garden beside the cabin, crouching down as she gently pressed her fingers into the soil. "Still damp… but this spot's already drying up," she murmured, frowning a little at the heat of the day. After making sure everything was watered properly, she picked some herbs and vegetables for later.
Then, she moved back inside and began preparing ingredients in the kitchen—chopping, sorting, neatly storing everything she might need later. Once done, she grabbed a cloth and started wiping every corner of the house, cleaning windows, shelves, floors… even the picture frames on the wall.
Hours passed like that.
By the time she was done, the entire cabin sparkled with cleanliness. Not even a single speck of dust dared to remain.
"Phew… that took longer than I thought," Reina muttered as she wiped the sweat off her brow and glanced around the spotless living room.
She paused, looking up at the clock.
It had already been three hours since Kiana left.
That was odd. Kiana usually came back much sooner, especially when Reina mentioned making tuna. She always came back smiling, with light footsteps that practically skipped toward the door.
But now…
Reina suddenly froze. She could feel it—someone's presence approaching the cabin.
Her expression shifted.
"…Kiana?"
She didn't even need to open the door to know who it was. That presence could only belong to her because of the barrier that surrounded this place making it no other people can found this place.
But something was wrong.
"She's not skipping this time… her steps feel heavy. Like they're filled with sadness and disappointment."
Concern flashed in Reina's eyes.
Without hesitation, she walked straight to the front door, to check what happened to her.
Not long after, the front door creaked open.
Reina turned her head and saw Kiana entering—but the sight of her was nothing like usual.
Her head was down, eyes glued to the floor, her shoulders slumped low. The usual spark of energy that danced around her like sunlight was gone. The warm, reckless aura that Reina had gotten so used to… was nowhere to be found.
The air around her was heavy—so heavy that Reina couldn't help but wonder what could've possibly happened in just three hours.
"…Kiana, welcome home," Reina said gently, choosing to greet her like always.
Kiana slowly looked up at the sound of her voice. Reina was standing in the entryway, still wearing an apron, her black hair tied up in a neat ponytail. A few beads of sweat glistened on her forehead—clearly, she had just finished cleaning or cooking.
Usually, Kiana would've thrown herself at her by now, hugging her and playfully whining for food the moment she saw how pretty Reina looked.
But today…
Today all Kiana felt was an unbearable weight in her chest.
"…What happened, Kiana?" Reina stepped forward and took her hand. "Come here—sit down first."
She guided her gently to the sofa, sitting beside her and never letting go of her hand.
"You look so sad… tell me everything. Did someone bully you?" Reina asked softly, brushing her fingers through Kiana's long white hair.
But the more she stroked her hair, the more tears began to well up in Kiana's eyes… until they finally spilled over.
"…Uaaahhh… Reina…!" she sobbed, suddenly throwing her arms around Reina and burying her face in her shoulder.
"Woah—what happened??" Reina's eyes widened in confusion. Everything had seemed fine just this morning, so how did it end up like this?
"Did someone do something to you in the city? What did they do to you? Just tell me—I'll make them pay."
"Sniff… No… it's the city… The city got attacked… by Honkai beasts…!"
Reina's expression froze.
Her arms slowly wrapped around Kiana, holding her tightly as the girl continued to cry in her embrace.
"…I see," Reina murmured, her voice lower now.
She gently rested her chin against the top of Kiana's head, her hand still running through her hair as Kiana's sobs quietly echoed through the room.
After a few moments of crying, Reina could see Kiana starting to calm down, so she decided to ask what happened.
And so, Kiana explained everything—starting from when she left the cabin and saw the city getting attacked by Honkai beasts.
She tried to rescue as many people as she could before finally finding Anne, the little girl from the uncle and aunt who always gave her free meat.
But now, both the uncle and aunt were in really bad condition—especially the uncle, who was likely going to die from his injuries.
She didn't know how to tell Anne the news, so she decided to leave for a moment, leaving the girl sleeping, and came back to see Reina.
"Honkai beasts…" Reina hadn't expected to hear that the city was under attack.
The problem was she didn't feel anything from here, even though the city was within the range of her detection ability.
Until she finally realized the reason.
'The barrier… the barrier blocked the Honkai energy. Kiana only sensed it when she left the barrier,' she concluded in her mind.
It was a mistake on her part—but one she didn't regret, since it was meant for their safety.
She would need to fix it, but for now, she focused on comforting Kiana until she finally fell asleep.
Kiana, still exhausted, let her eyes flutter shut, her breathing slow and steady as sleep finally overtook her.
Reina carefully scooped Kiana into her arms in a princess carry, making sure she was comfortable before carrying her to her room. She tucked Kiana into bed and whispered softly, "I'll be back soon, Kiana."
She bent down, pressing a gentle kiss to Kiana's forehead, before standing up and disappearing from the cabin.
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The next day, early in the morning—something rare happened. Kiana, who usually never wakes up this early unless Reina wakes her, was already standing in front of the tent where Anne was.
It seemed like they had decided to use this place temporarily for patients, since the city still had radiation, and the other city was too far away.
Kiana stood there hesitating, unsure whether to enter or not. She didn't know how to tell Anne about her parents' condition.
She remembered her promise to bring both of her parents back… but in the end, she couldn't keep that promise at all.
Kiana took a deep breath and let it out slowly a few times, trying to calm herself down.
Suddenly, someone touched her shoulder, making her jump in surprise.
"Ehkk!?" Kiana jolted and quickly turned around—only to see the same doctor from yesterday.
"Sorry for startling you, but you've been standing here for 15 minutes. Why aren't you going in?" the doctor asked, looking confused.
"Doctor? Ah… what about uncle and auntie? Is there any update on their condition?"
"Eh? What do you mean?" The doctor looked genuinely puzzled by her question.
"What? I want to know about their condition. Yesterday you said the uncle didn't have much time, and the auntie needed her right arm amputated."
"Huh? I did say something yesterday, but I never said the husband was in critical condition."
"All I said was that both of them were lucky—their bodies weren't exposed to radiation for too long. They can be discharged after resting for the night."
Kiana's face froze in disbelief. She was sure she heard differently yesterday. But before she could ask more questions, the doctor excused herself, saying she had many patients to check on.
In the end, Kiana stood alone, deep in thought. Something definitely wasn't right.
"Now that I think about it… I haven't seen Reina at all this morning…" she murmured.
Even someone like her could tell—something was obviously off.
And whatever it was, it had to do with Reina, who hadn't been in the cabin since she woke up.
"Hahhh… I'll ask her about it later. For now, I should go see Anne."
After stepping inside the tent, Kiana saw the same place from yesterday—but there was something different.
"Reina?" Kiana spotted her sitting on the bed, with Anne sleeping peacefully on her lap.
"Welcome, Kiana," Reina greeted her softly with a smile, careful not to wake the girl.
"Reina? You're here too?" Kiana's surprise was clearly written on her face.
"Yeah. It's not just you—I also know Anne and her parents. After hearing your story yesterday, I decided to come and see what happened," she replied, her gaze soft as she looked at Anne still sleeping peacefully.
"Oh, yeah… did you already eat the food I left on the table? I'm sorry, it's from last night. I didn't have time to cook something fresh for you."
"Ye-yeah, I already did. I was just curious where you went… I didn't see you at all this morning," Kiana said as she sat down beside Reina.
She sat there nervously, and Reina could clearly see there was something Kiana wanted to ask her.
Reina knew this would happen if she helped everyone. Yesterday, after disappearing from the cabin, she went to each person exposed to the radiation.
She absorbed every trace of Honkai radiation, converting all of it into energy for her wings. As an Astral, she had the ability to manipulate energy, and she used that power to heal every one of them.
Then, she mind-controlled everyone involved, altering their memories so they would recall it differently. Instead of remembering that people had been seriously exposed to radiation, they would remember that everyone was fine and hadn't been exposed for too long.
It took her hours to do all that, especially since she only had half of the original's power. If she had the power of a Primal Beast, she wouldn't have even needed to leave the cabin.
"Did you… do something yesterday after I fell asleep?" Kiana asked hesitantly.
She was afraid—afraid that asking this question might change everything between them.
She loved their current relationship: constantly proposing to Reina, living together every day.
Waking up to her smile in the morning, being dragged to the bathroom so Reina could make her brush her teeth, eating her delicious breakfast, lazing around while cuddling, and helping out around the cabin—whether it was grabbing stuff from the city or climbing the mountain.
Every day felt so fulfilling. That's why this one question scared her.
But all Reina said was, "Yes."