Honkai Impact 3: Deadwood

"There won't be a next time, Celine."

"...?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? Why am I trying so hard to drain your strength? There isn't much Honkai energy left in your body, right?"

"So what!? If I want to escape, even the toy in your hand can't stop me!!"

Xilin, who had already walked to the front of the hole, turned around and questioned.

"But without the ability to suppress Honkai, will the true owner of this body of yours allow you to mess up everything and then run away?"

"You said...what?" Xilin, as if she had finally realized something, suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

"Did I not say it loud enough? Then...how long do you want to sleep, Kiana!!"

As the captain's voice trembled slightly, Xilin suddenly felt dizzy, her limbs were stiff, and her body was numb. Every cell that made up this body seemed to be protesting against her. The source of this protest came from the soul of another girl in her body that had successfully awakened.

“Guwu! How could this be…! I won’t… let you take this body… back! This is my… body!!”

Trying hard to suppress the other soul in her body that was trying to seize control of this body, Xilin took heavy steps, trying to step into the hole in front of her.

But...everything had already become a foregone conclusion of his choice.

"Let's get started, Chi Yuan."

The captain spoke very calmly to the consciousness of the deceased in his body.

"Do you really want to do this? This price... is too high for you."

"I also have something I want to make up for. This is... what I really want to do now. And, this is also for Kiana."

"...I respect your choice, Xiaozhi."

"Ah."

After receiving the earnest permission from his old friend, the captain responded softly. At the same time, the two swords in his hands began to emit strange light, and the red kite feathers slowly fell to the land above the sky.

Then, the captain, who had made final preparations, took a step forward, and the clear blue lake surface extended all the way from under his feet. When Xilin was about to touch the hole in front of her eyes, when she took the last step to successfully escape, the hole in front of her eyes suddenly... disappeared.

The dreamlike picture of the endless blue sky and the clear lake extending to the horizon replaced the tragic world of darkness and rainstorm in Xilin's eyes.

The simultaneous activation of the powers of "space" and "consciousness" created this real and false spiritual space, which completely blocked Xilin's understanding of the concept of space itself.

Consciousness was affected, space was rewritten, even for the Herrscher of the Void who possessed divine power, there was absolutely no possibility of escaping from this destined end under such circumstances.

“Here…where is this?!”

Recalling the scene she saw in Kiana's dream, Sirin realized whose heart this pure and clean land of heart came from. Slowly, she heard the voices of a boy and a girl singing the same words from behind.

"The sword is made from the heart, it carries all things and is real, it cannot be relied upon..."

As the two chanted the incantation, ripples began to appear on the tranquil lake that reflected the blue sky, and the "Trace of Nothingness" in the captain's right hand was gradually wrapped with a fierce golden flame that had never been seen before.

“God is the ultimate in change, and he is able to describe all things in a wonderful way. He cannot be described in words…”

As Xilin watched with terrified eyes, the same invisible golden flame immediately climbed onto the dark blade in the captain's left hand. Fueled by precious memories accumulated over a long period of time, the blazing flame ring rolled up beside the boy who was controlling it, and in a second it ignited into a prairie fire that swept across the entire space.

"You! What do you want to do!?"

A desperate expression flashed across the pale face of the Herrscher. She had already sensed that her fate would end here, and she roared and gasped violently, wanting to escape from this space, but she actually knew that she had nowhere to escape.

He opened his eyes that revealed starlight and red dye, and at the same time, he spoke, and the boy, who was embraced by the divine heart flame that was strong enough to burn the throne of God, took a step towards the girl not far away.

"Let everything end... Xilin, whether it is hatred or pain, this world will continue to exist, and people's fate should be decided by themselves."

"I don't want to! I haven't completed my revenge, I haven't completed the mission God gave me, and I haven't made those lowly humans pay the price of destruction!!"

"Then use all your strength to take the sword swung by this lowly "human" you mentioned. I will make the "god" who played with your mind and led you down the wrong path feel it..."

The wings behind him emitted a dazzling light again. The captain, who had pushed the armor to its limit, lowered his body slightly and clenched the two swords surrounded by flames in his hands with all his strength.

"The will to resist fate was born in our human hearts and will never disappear from our hearts!!!"

Then, flames shot up into the sky, and the young man holding two swords flew at full speed into the infinitely extended deep space surrounded by blazing flames.

"Take this, Herrscher of the Void!"

Along with the sound that came into Xilin's ears from every corner of this space, the blue sky dimmed, burning with a dazzling star-like light... The sword of divine essence, which was big enough to cover the entire sky, came through the air with countless sky fires falling from the surroundings. Xilin, who was trying her best to accumulate remaining strength for defense, flew below.

"How could I possibly lose to a mere human!!!"

Increasing her power as a god and the power of her two "Herrser Cores" to the maximum, Sirin opened seven layers of the strongest and final defense above her head, which was composed of the seven "biases" she had towards this world.

In the flaming sword that was filled with the fire of the gods, the boy who turned himself into a sword and the spirit of the girl with red feathers entwined around him each held a sword and launched a final resistance against the gods they had to defeat:

"double---"

"double---"

"————Taixu Sword God!"

With the countless precious memories imprinted in the mind of the burning young man and the ultimate sword of all the fighting skills of the two over thousands of years, it struck the barrier created by the Herrscher of the Sky with all his strength with a brilliance brighter than the annihilation of a star.

"I won't lose. I...I...will not lose!!!"

Silin, who couldn't open her eyes because of the burning light from the sky above, screamed hysterically, but the two people who raised the sword of rebellion together to resist the gods were much more powerful than her.

“Aa ...

“Aa ...

They roared together from their hoarse and numb throats, and completely merged their wills with each other. They thrust out their swords at the same time.

Then, a shattering sound that made Xilin tremble in despair came from the barrier above her head.

Piercing one: "Birth", finally coming to this world full of suffering - suffering

Break the second one: "Freedom" to lure others into the poisonous bait they desire - shackles

The third split: “Charity” is nothing but a false pretense of self-satisfaction—hypocrisy

The fourth point: “Encounter”, the node where all hatred and disputes begin – jealousy

Cut off the fifth: "Parting", no one can promise to accompany me forever - betrayal

Cut into pieces 6: "Death", you and I will eventually be abandoned by evil people - fate

The seventh point: "Love", something people praise but does not exist - lies

With both hands trying her best to release Honkai energy to maintain the last barrier, Xilin looked at the barrier that was about to shatter. She knew she was going to lose, but when she thought of the hypocritical faces of those who had hurt and deceived her, she tried desperately to squeeze some more strength out of her body.

However, the arm that she was using to support the barrier above her head was grabbed by someone in the dim light.

"!?"

Xilin turned her head sharply and looked to her side, only to see the white-haired girl trying her best to pull away the arm that she was using to support the barrier.

"Kiana...you!!!!"

"Give me back my body...my and everyone's future...!!!"

The roar from the other soul in this body finally exhausted Xilin's last bit of strength. The moment she dropped her arms, the last barrier was completely shattered.

Ah... in the end... am I going to lose?

Are we going back to...that place again?

What on earth am I...doing?

Why...why did everything turn out like this?

When the last barrier was completely shattered by the light that was far brighter than the daylight, Xilin asked herself questions, knelt down on the ground helplessly, and took a last look with sad eyes at the boy who was only a few feet away from her.

That was the only desire in the heart of the poor girl...

So, Xilin closed her beautiful eyes that looked down on the world as a god, and accepted her defeat while crying.