"..."
Kiana awoke from the darkness and saw the helpless crowd.
"I... I failed again?"
She suddenly understood and asked haltingly.
"Yes, you failed again, you silly Kiana."
Bronya delivered a merciless follow-up blow.
"Eh~ How could that be? I only slightly moved the Honkai Energy in my body, and then—"
Before she could shake off the remorse of failure, Kiana thought of something and immediately asked anxiously, "Wait, were the mother and daughter saved?"
"Thanks to you, they were saved, don't worry," Yunduo comforted with a smile.
Kiana was like this; between herself and others, she chose others.
Perhaps, this was the real Kiana.
However, failing so quickly made everyone except Yunduo sigh.
Especially Fu Hua, who fell silent upon hearing her own voice from earlier.
As an immortal safeguarding Shenzhou, her life was unimportant; what mattered was being able to protect the common people of Shenzhou.
But the final, helpless choice—perishing together.
Using Fenghuang Down's Zero-Rated Power to bind their two consciousnesses.
Could this prove that the situation had reached an irrecoverable point?
"I'm sorry, Kiana, I don't even know why I made such a choice."
Fu Hua offered Kiana a sincere apology.
"Eh~ It's okay, Class Monitor. After all, you did it to protect Sky Dome City..."
"Once the Herrscher of the Void awakens, the entire Sky Dome City will be in peril."
"Exactly, what does 'Herrscher persona' mean? And 'again'?"
Kiana waved her hand, not taking Fu Hua's actions to heart.
Fu Hua was very similar to her; both were people who could sacrifice certain things to protect others.
Hearing Fu Hua's voice making that decisive choice just now, Kiana still admired her greatly.
At this moment, hearing Kiana's words, Himeko and Theresa glanced at each other.
Both of their eyes were clear, and they both had their answers.
Now the time had come to reveal the mystery regarding the Herrscher of the Void within Kiana... "Kiana, please stay rational for what I'm about to tell you next."
"This may concern the safety of Saint Freya and even the entire world."
Theresa let out a long breath and, under Kiana's bewildered gaze, began to slowly narrate that past story.
Ten minutes later.
Everyone present fell instantly silent after listening.
"I... the Herrscher of the Void is sealed inside my body?!!"
Kiana muttered to herself, her expression filled with disbelief; this fact was hard for her to accept.
"And the Second Honkai was also caused by her awakening?"
"No wonder... no wonder the Class Monitor wanted to perish together with me just now."
"No wonder the Great Collapse would descend... so I am the culprit?"
Kiana's face turned pale in an instant, her eyes grew dim and lifeless, filled with self-reproach and struggle, and she became completely distraught.
"Listen, Kiana." Seeing this, Yunduo walked to her side and softly comforted her, "The Herrscher of the Void inside you hasn't awakened yet; she's still sleeping. She doesn't know we are currently changing the future. What you saw, including what you heard in the Challenge Space, is just one small branch of the future."
"All of this can be changed, and the death of that person important to you can be prevented. Theresa and Himeko have never blamed you."
"This isn't your fault. On the contrary, it's because of you that all of this becomes possible. To fight for all that is beautiful in the world, right?"
Yunduo's gentle and rational words brushed past Kiana's ears like a spring breeze blowing away the heat. Kiana wasn't someone who would fall into self-reproach and go to extremes, so after a while, she finally found herself again.
"Yunduo is right. If that day truly comes, I will do what I must." Kiana's gaze became resolute once more.
After the group discussed for a moment, Yunduo volunteered to be the second to take the challenge.
After all, she was the winner last time as well.
Bronya stood beside Yunduo, a flicker of worry in her gray eyes: "Sister Yunduo, is it really okay?"
Whether it was known or unknown information, there was only one conclusion she could deduce.
—In fact, Yunduo didn't really want to take the challenge.
If it was truly as she suspected, no one would want to experience those painful events again.
Wouldn't it be too much of a strain?
"It's fine, I've been prepared for a long time."
Yunduo leaned down and lightly stroked Bronya's long hair. As Bronya looked up and squinted slightly, the strands of hair slid through Yunduo's fingertips, were wound once, and then tucked behind her ear.
It was as if she were comforting a startled little kitten.
Then, Yunduo gave a faint smile and stood up to look into the distance.
In the final second before entering the challenge, she turned and left these words: "Some things might happen soon that will be hard for you all to accept. Kiana, especially you, remember what I said."
After speaking, her figure dissolved into nothingness.
The challenge begins!
..."Challenger: Yunduo."
"Mission Objective 1: Resist the awakening of the Herrscher of the Void!"
"Mission Objective 2: To be unlocked!"
Returning to the starting point once again.
Yunduo stood on a street where the lights were dimming.
"A Honkai disaster is currently occurring in the northern district of Sky Dome City!"
"Repeating..."
Inside her ears, the city's crisis alarms rang continuously.
"Is it coming?"
Yunduo's memories began to blur.
It was the same last time, and the same this time.
Only when she truly stood on her former homeland did she realize that she wasn't nearly as calm as she had imagined.
She herself wasn't as strong as she appeared on the outside.
The pain of killing Himeko with her own hands.
The remorse of causing the Great Collapse to descend.
The loss of clearly having a home but being unable to return.
The anger of being betrayed by friends.
The loneliness of being all alone.
That was the Kiana of that time.
And the herself of that time.
Yunduo stretched out her hands; the heavy baseball bat in her grip brought a sliver of comfort to her soul.
"Help! Help me!!!"
Yunduo heard the helpless cries for help from that mother and daughter.
Kiana had decisively saved them just now, which led to the mission's failure.
If she repeated this action, it would inevitably lead to the revival of the Herrscher of the Void, and the mission would fail as well.
They were clearly just phantoms; everything here was virtual.
Perhaps in reality, that child hadn't even been born.
Turning her head, Yunduo noticed that many Sanctum-level Honkai Beasts had already heavily surrounded them.
The stench of blood floated in the air.
"It's just fake."
Yunduo closed her eyes, as if she had heard nothing.
Slowly, she walked through the shadows beside the mother and daughter.
The flow of time seemed to slow down; everything was a bubble on the verge of bursting.
Every step she took toward the distance was etched into the eyes of the watching crowd.
This was a choice concerning the heart.
Knowing it was fake, would she still save them?
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