Bang! A Honkai Zombie was sent flying as if hit by a train, its back slamming into the wall of an abandoned house and creating a crater full of cracks. But it wasn't dead yet; it continued to let out meaningless roars, struggling to get back up.
The perpetrator of this scene, as if by magic, produced a pitch-black pistol in his right hand. He slowly raised the gun, and an electromagnetic beam instantly condensed at the muzzle and shot out.
"Roar~!" The Honkai Zombie's roar was cut off as if its neck had been snapped. Its pierced head didn't bleed or spill brain matter; the instantaneous high temperature of the super railgun had already vaporized it. The Honkai Zombie's tenacious life force allowed it one final twitch before it died, unwillingly.
Li Xuan casually walked over to the dead Honkai Zombie and touched its body as if to confirm something. The small pouch at his waist jingled like a wind chime with his steps.
Not far away, Mei and Kiana watched this scene without much thought, assuming he was just casually checking it. However, under the bandages on Li Xuan's right hand, the crimson Taiji Stigmata seal glowed imperceptibly when he touched the Honkai Zombie. A translucent azure Crystal quietly formed in Li Xuan's right hand, but it was immediately stored in his ring in the next moment, as if nothing had happened.
Phew, I've collected almost two hundred Crystals today. Right, I need to collect more quickly, make a wish, and find a way to resurrect my sister!
Li Xuan thought to himself, rubbing his ring.
"Hey, Kiana, Li Xuan's Gun Kata has gotten pretty good, huh~" Mei remarked, watching Li Xuan face three Honkai Zombies and skillfully take them down one by one.
"Hmph~ Of course! This is an ancestral secret art of our Kaslana family. If it weren't for Li Xuan's ten cans of beef, I wouldn't have taught him," Kiana said, tilting her head up, displaying a textbook example of tsundere pride and her foodie nature.
"Yes, yes, Kiana is the best~" Mei said with a smiling, squinted-eyed expression. She was genuinely happy to see her companion's growth.
"Of course! My family's Gun Kata can take on ten at once!" Kiana began to shamelessly boast, puffing up her family's reputation. Then, she started courting disaster by dragging Bronya Zaychik into it. "Hmph, I could easily handle someone like Bronya Zaychik and dismantle her little bunny! Yup, just like that," Kiana said proudly.
"The Bronya calculates a one hundred percent probability that Kiana cannot remove even a single screw from Project Bunny 19C," Bronya Zaychik stated expressionlessly, refuting Kiana's claim.
"Aah~ Says who? I could do it with a flick of my finger—" Kiana continued her shameless boasting, completely oblivious to the darkening expression on Bronya Zaychik's face. To Bronya Zaychik, Project Bunny 19C was her closest companion… ahem, well, Homu too, of course. So she would not allow anyone to insult it!
"Project Bunny 19C," Bronya Zaychik said flatly. A flash of electricity appeared behind her, and a massive figure materialized with the light. It held a giant shield in its right hand and a cannon in its left, its imposing form resembling a knight from the Middle Ages protecting a princess. "…Target locked: Kiana Kaslana," Bronya Zaychik said, taking a stance as if ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Gulp~ Kiana stared at the huge, dark cannon aimed at her and quietly swallowed. Of course, as a member of the Kaslana family, she wouldn't back down!
Two flashes of light, one blue and one blood-red, erupted from Kiana's hands. In her left hand, the blue light condensed into a pistol, Mjolnir! In her right hand, the blood-red light formed a shotgun, Lucian's Secret!
For a moment, the two faced off, the atmosphere turning tense and deadly.
Just then, the captain of the firefighting squad, Raiden Mei, stepped in to save the day. "Oh~ Li Xuan is back~" Mei said, trying to divert their attention. It had to be said, Mei's method was highly effective, especially when dealing with a careless, carefree girl and a somewhat withdrawn, emotionless loli.
"Yo~ Li Xuan, what's that in your hand?" Kiana asked, pointing her Lucian's Secret at the multi-colored stone in Li Xuan's hands. She held Mjolnir next to her chin, not at all concerned about it accidentally going off.
"…" Bronya Zaychik stared curiously but said nothing, though Project Bunny 19C behind her had already lowered its cannon.
"Oh? This? It's the Stone of Stellar Resonance," Li Xuan said. He had wished for it by chance earlier and hadn't had time to study what this strange thing did. But now, in his quest to find a way to resurrect his sister, he took it out during his free time to have a look.
However, he still hadn't figured out what it did. After all, what the hell did "Divine Core Awakening" even mean? So he just took it out to look, not really caring about Kiana and the others' curiosity anymore.
"I don't know what it does either," Li Xuan said as soon as he saw Kiana open her mouth, effectively cutting her off before she could speak.
"Fine," Kiana said, rolling her eyes. She walked over and, holding her two guns, curiously tapped them against the Stone of Stellar Resonance that Li Xuan was holding. "Hey, hey~ don't touch it randomly," Li Xuan said helplessly.
"Tch~ where did you even get this… huh?" Before Kiana could finish her sentence, her eyes widened as she stared at the two guns in her hands, which had suddenly started to vibrate violently. "Hey, hey~ what's this…" Kiana looked at her guns in shock, at a complete loss.
'Messing with other people's things never ends well!' For some reason, this sentence, spoken by her jerk of a dad years ago, suddenly popped into Kiana's head.
Her Mjolnir and Lucian's Secret transformed into two beams of light and, with a powerful force, broke free from her grasp.
The two guns fell to the ground, and within the light, the faint outlines of two young women began to form.