Honkai Impact 3: Deadwood

"As you remember, that day, in order to find your father Siegfried who had not come home for a long time, you left the wooden house. After searching everywhere to no avail, you finally went to the edge of the dense forest where the wooden house was located, and then... you I was attacked by a certain beast-type Honkaimon wandering in that snowy field.”

"Beast-type Honkaimon? Is it...?" The captain immediately noticed the subtle connection. If it is the beast-type Honkaimon at that time... I am afraid it is the one that looks like the mythical monster that can swallow up the heaven, earth and gods. The king of wolves…

"Emperor-level Honkaimon: Fenrir...that's what you seem to call it." Sirin continued.

"Sounds unlucky, doesn't it? But what's even more unlucky is that right after that, you were discovered by the troublesome Valkyries from "Destiny" who came to conquer the Honkai Beast. "

"Actually, before Ragnar and the Valkyrie led by her arrived, the Honkai Beast seemed to have been injured, so naturally it was not a big threat. After a siege, Fenrir was Those Valkyries worked together to kill them.”

"..."

The captain did not speak. Although there were many doubts, what Siren said did indeed mention the battle between "Valkyrie Stormtroopers" and "Fenrir". But if Ragna and the others were not as mentioned in the report, , died in order to defeat Fenrir, so what exactly was their death...?

"Human, tell me, if you were Destiny, what would you do if you happened to find an 'experimental subject' that had escaped for a long time? "

Experimental subject…

The cloned experimental subject numbered "K423" is Kiana standing next to him now... Since Sirin calls Kiana this way, it seems that she has had all the memories of her previous life since she was born. I realized this very early on.

Going back to Siren's question just now, it's probably obvious what orders Otto would have given to Ragna and the others who were present at the time...

"Arrest...?"

"Correct answer." Xilin nodded.

"After Fenrir was eliminated, she was controlled by those Valkyries who didn't know the truth. However, both the fashionable and young her and me who was sleeping in her body and had not yet fully awakened knew it very well. Realized the same thing…”

"You must not...be taken away by them..."

Suddenly, Kiana said in a strange tone, but immediately after coming back to her senses, Kiana shook her head fiercely: "What...am I talking about?"

For Kiana, this was almost a sentence that blurted out without any thought. She didn't know why she followed Xilin's words so naturally, but what was more terrifying than this was that she knew that she believed it so much. The correctness of this statement.

"..."

Seeing Kiana's expression getting worse and worse, and the captain's expression becoming more solemn, he wasn't sure if he had thought of the final outcome of this conversation.

In the best case scenario, this is just another lie carefully crafted by Sirin in order to defeat Kiana's consciousness. Then, he only has to do one thing: stop Sirin.

But...if what Xilin said was indeed true and was confirmed by Kiana who was here now, what should I do?

Ragnar Lodbrok…

He had saved the young life of the owner of this name, and had witnessed the girl's growth. In the end... he had personally laid a bouquet of flowers in front of her tombstone more than once.

Reason told him that after knowing the full story of the matter, he didn't care about it, but Kiana would definitely be affected by an impact that even he could not estimate for a while. This would not only be reflected in the stability of emotions or consciousness. superior.

The connection between himself and Kiana, and the position between Kiana and him, it seems that everything will undergo earth-shaking changes as a result.

But he was even less qualified to deny it... or even take the initiative to take Kiana to escape from all this, because the person who died was not himself, but Ragna and her team members.

Only they are qualified to allow themselves and Kiana to do this.

But they are already dead, no one will speak up for this, no one will allow him and Kiana to escape.

For Zhi, this may be a far more difficult choice than solving the problems caused by the "Second Herrscher".

But now, Xilin will never give in. This is also not reflected in her position. For her, she also has choices that must be made and answers that must be sought.

The answer lies in Zhi who knows all this.

"...We must not be taken back by them...Yes, we all realized this at that time, but how could you escape from being surrounded by a bunch of Valkyries when you were just a child? If you want to live...there is only one way. You can go and kill them, or be killed by them."

"I don't think you or Kiana could do this at that time," the captain retorted.

"Indeed, those Valkyries, especially their captain Ragnar... are all difficult guys, but... what if their opponent is not a child, but a Herrscher? Will this still be the case? "

"The Lawyer"? ...could it be! ? "

Suddenly, the captain realized something.

"Herrscher Core".

He should have thought of it long ago. Although the resonance phenomenon of the "Key of God" can only occur if it targets the same "power", what if the source of that "power" is simpler and more direct?

Before that, combined with the information about "K423" obtained from Himeko, he and Fu Hua initially concluded that the reason why the "Key of God" resonates is because Kiana was born after merging Sirin's DNA. , her body and consciousness also contain that part of Sirin. Therefore, when Sirin's consciousness as the "Second Herrscher" awakens, the "Key to Space" that also houses the consciousness will react.

But, if that's all, even if Siren takes over Kiana's consciousness and gets her body, how can she take revenge? After all, Kiana's body, which is only a B-class Valkyrie now, does not have the power to take her revenge immediately.

But if she had possessed her original power from the beginning, that is, the "Herrscher Core", then everything might make sense.

...?

While the captain was thinking this way, another question arose in his mind that was almost ignored by him.

For himself, who is just an ordinary person, it may be understandable that he failed to realize this in time, but... what about his old friend, Fu Hua?

With "Yu Duchen", she has a far better understanding of the level of consciousness than herself. If it were her, it would be impossible for her not to be aware of this. If "Xilin"'s consciousness also has that strange power resonance phenomenon They all come from the "Herrscher Core" in Kiana's body. When she dives into her consciousness for the first time, she will definitely discover the true "source" of Sirin's consciousness.

Is it because of the special nature of "space" power that you didn't notice it? No, it won't, that's only on the physical level.

If the "Herrscher Core" is protected by power at all times and also has the power of "space", when the core is sleeping, the outside world cannot detect the core or what is in the core through the blockage of the "space" power. Honkai Impact can exist.

If his inference is true, then this is also the reason why the "Judas' Oath" in the hands of "Xiaoye" and Theresa, two "God Keys" with high sensitivity to Honkai Energy, have always affected the "Law" in Kiana's body. The reason for the unresponsiveness of the "orator core".

"Chi Yuan... knew this, but didn't tell me on purpose?"

This is the obvious answer.

But why?

The captain didn't feel the need to hide anything from his old friend, unless...

"Have you noticed? Haha, human being, it seems that even the person you care about most is hiding something from you☆~" Sirin looked at the young man and laughed softly.

"That has nothing to do with you, I believe her."

"You have a very firm attitude towards her. Is it because...we have been together for a long time? Or...she has given everything for you?"

"..."

The captain did not answer, and Siren just snorted and did not ask any more questions. After all, it was not helpful to the current topic, and besides, she hated that woman very much, in every sense of the word.

As a result, the focus of the topic once again returned to Ragnar and Kiana.