Honkai Impact 3: Deadwood

"here it is!?"

"Imaginary number space, well... to put it simply, this is equivalent to the projection of the real world we live in created by the power of the "Herrscher of the Sky". "

"…I see."

Hearing this, Ji Zi looked around. As far as the eye could see, there was only endless void and scattered pumice stones. It is not difficult to imagine that there would be nothing else in this whole world.

Thick black clouds completely obscured every inch of the sky, turning the blue sky that the two of them had finally seen into a dim sky filled with purple and blood.

Yes, here is——

"Hehehehehe..." Hollow chuckles filled the dark sky, and Queen Honkai, who claimed to be the apostle of "God", strolled from the void.

——Imaginary space, the realm of collapse, a world dominated by the "Second Herrscher" who possesses the power of space.

"Hahaha, humans~ do you think that you can let them escape smoothly by this method?"

Along with the joy of the hunter's harvest, in the random snap of the fingers of "The Herrscher", the broken transport ship, which was tightly wrapped with several white ribbons and whose main engine had been completely destroyed by the Archon Spear, emerged from above the two of them. The void fell down and landed on the wide deck behind the two of them.

"Helios!?"

Seeing that the transport ship only had a lot of scars on the armor but the main body was still intact, the captain couldn't help but gritted his teeth. No wonder Sirin didn't show up in person at the beginning. It turned out to be just for this...

No, or rather, she has other purposes...

"Helios, can you hear me!?"

"...Chang...here is...Lonia...we are fine..."

The intermittent sounds coming from the communication made the captain temporarily relieved. At the same time, he also roughly understood the reason why the Herrscher did this.

"Captain, take Hyperion away and leave this place to me!" Without hesitation, Jizi made her judgment.

That's right...

With previous experience, "The Herrscher" wanted to deliberately separate him and Himeko, so that she could safely seize the "Disease Gem" from Himeko. Moreover, when the Helios engine was destroyed, everyone was treated as a living target. Now, even if he wants to take others to escape, he can only take the entire Hyperion out of the imaginary number space.

And doing so will consume a lot of the energy of the "God Key" that has not yet been fully restored.

"Okay~ Now, what should you do, human being~☆" The Honkai Apostle, who was stepping on the void, looked down at the two people below and said.

"You really went to great lengths to separate us... Siren."

"Hehehehe~ If you don't try harder to escape, your companions will be slowly tortured to death by me like that woman you care about so much~☆"

"!"

His pupils dilated, and his dark gaze suddenly became sharp due to Xilin's obvious provocation. Even Ji Zi beside him had never seen that gaze filled with grief, anger and pain.

"Xilin, you...take Red Kite..."

The right hand holding the sword in his hand trembled, leaving the captain speechless for a moment. He was not so angry because of the provocation by the "Herrscher", but the important person who had accompanied him through thousands of years was already gone. The fact that he died at the hands of others still made him feel great sadness again.

In just a few hours, he had lost two people he cherished in succession, and what tortured him the most was... this pain and separation that felt so familiar to him might not be the last time.

Originally, he and Himeko planned to let everyone on Huberian escape, so that Himeko and he, who were used as bait, could concentrate on fighting with Sirin, but... now the two of them don't even have such a chance. For the sake of the transport ship behind them, Those people, he and she, have no choice.

The captain slowly turned his head and cast his unwavering dark gaze on the woman beside him. Jizi understood what he meant the moment she met his eyes.

"Jiko..."

"...It's okay, captain, take everyone away quickly. Protecting the lives of the crew is your most important responsibility as the captain."

"..."

"Captain...it's true..." Seeing that the boy still couldn't bear to leave her, Jizi smiled softly, pulled the captain to her side, and left a passionate kiss on his scarred face.

"Himeko...?" The soft touch and hot emotion melted from the captain's cheek. The captain seemed not to have expected Jizi's behavior, and there was a bit of surprise on his face.

"This is the kiss of the goddess of victory~ Captain, go and take everyone with you... to survive. We will definitely meet again."

"…Um."

With the red knight's blessing kiss, the captain swallowed up all his anger and sadness, and thrust the tip of the black sword in his hand into the deck at his feet: "Himeko, don't die...don't forget that we still have to go together. Here’s to a drink!”

Jizi smiled, nodded towards the captain, and watched as he and the people she wanted to protect gradually turned into phantoms and fled this deathly place.

In the "Herrscher"'s evil smile, which seemed to say that the plan had succeeded, the deck of the Hyperion under Himeko's feet turned into a floating boulder in the shape of a ship after the ship's physical form disappeared.

When it was confirmed that her companions had left, the smile on the face of the Red Knight gradually disappeared. Jizi turned around, and the determination on her face could not be stronger.

"Kiana..."

Looking at the arrogant Honkai Queen high up in the sky, Jizi's heart ached. She couldn't tell whether this was the erosion of Honkai energy or her emotions.

She didn't know if the silly child sleeping in the body of "The Herrscher" was suffering the same pain as her.

But everything must be brought to an end by someone, and this person can only be Jizi herself who is here now.

At least, she still had that jar of serum...the jar of special Honkai neutralizing serum that Hollander gave her, and she still had this only trump card in her hand.

"Human, this time... no one will come to help you."

Now that the annoying guy who would distract her and the annoying "God Key" are gone, Xilin, who has no taboos, can't help but smile proudly.

"Hmph, you bastard Herrscher, I'll deal with you right now!"

Ji Zi picked up the red giant sword in her hand. She had already prepared all the awareness. Even if she had to fight against the "Herrscher" alone like now, she had already expected it.

Rather, she would have planned to do so from the beginning if the captain hadn't forced himself to get up and stand side by side with her despite such serious injuries.