"By the way, the physical feedback in this space is real. If you die, you really die. If Ryn hadn't been here, you would have died in the mouths of Honkai Beasts. For your brave actions... here's a little reward for you. It's the Valkyrie battlesuit you've been longing for."
With a wave of his hand, Otto brought up a virtual screen and tapped it a few times. Then,
a white light began to emanate from Kiana's body. Data frames appeared around her, displaying a progress bar.
「Access Accepted.」
「Airdropping item.」
「Now loading.」
「Loading complete.」
Image. (In the main text)
Afterward, a pure white Valkyrie battlesuit appeared on Kiana's body. The prototype 4th-generation God-Slayer Valkyrie Armor—White Knight: Moonlight.
"If you want to save her, then you'll have to work hard yourselves. I'll be leaving now." After watching Kiana finish equipping the suit, Otto waved goodbye to Ryn and disappeared from the data space.
Otto wasn't very interested in the life or death of that data Kallen, but he was very satisfied with Kiana and Ryn's choice to save her.
He was especially envious of the power Ryn displayed when he dealt with the Honkai Beasts. If only someone had possessed such immense power five hundred years ago, to turn the tide... that would have been wonderful. Otto shook his head regretfully. Alas, there was no such person...
The White Knight: Moonlight was originally created by Otto for the Kaslana family. If one day Durandal regained her memory and decided to take up the Kaslana name again, then Otto would give her this Valkyrie battlesuit engraved with the Kaslana family crest.
But Kiana's actions made Otto decide to reward her, so he gave the White Knight: Moonlight to Kiana.
As for Durandal, Otto thought it would be better to just customize a new set for her. The name Bright Knight: Excelsis sounded pretty good.
————————
After equipping the new battlesuit, Kiana clenched her fists. As expected of an S-rank Valkyrie battlesuit, Kiana felt like she could take down Theresa now, and even...
"Ryn, Ryn! I feel like I could knock out my old man with one punch right now."
"Siegfried is so lucky to have such a powerful daughter..." Ryn pinched Kiana's little cheek. After equipping this battlesuit, Ryn could clearly feel Kiana's domain intensity increase by several dozen times.
It was a pity these battlesuits were useless to him now, otherwise Ryn would have demanded another set from Otto.
"Alright, let's discuss how to save Kallen... Bronya, do you have a way?" Ryn let go of Kiana's cheek and asked Bronya.
"I'm sorry, this space has already begun to collapse. There's too little time. The Bronya has no way." Bronya looked at the data frame, then shook her head regretfully. "We must leave before the data completely collapses, otherwise we will also be deleted as anomalies during the data reboot process!"
"How could this be..." Kiana clenched her fists. The battlesuit had given her almost infinite power, but she found that power was no help to Kallen at all...
"It's okay. This is enough. You should leave. There's no need to risk your lives for me. It's just a death loop. I'm used to it..."
Kallen pulled Kiana and Ryn, pushed them towards Bronya, then smiled and waved goodbye to them.
"Stop messing around. I said I'd save you, and I will." Ryn grabbed Kallen's hand and said seriously, "Kiana, don't panic no matter what you see in a moment.
Since normal methods won't work, I'm going to have to use some... unconventional means.
Cortana! Full processing power!"
"Level one authority confirmed. Command accepted. Locking target 'Kallen Kaslana'. Insufficient energy..."
Then Cortana quietly appeared in front of Ryn, her hands passing through his chest. Ryn smiled at Cortana, and then the light faded from his eyes.
Ryn was dead.
Kiana hadn't even had time to react to what was happening before two large holes were blown through Ryn's chest, blood pouring out. Cortana remained in the posture of having pierced Ryn, and began to continuously absorb his life force.
"Ryn?!"
Kiana screamed in terror, which immediately turned to rage. Honkai erosion patterns instantly appeared on Kiana's body. Her eyes instantly changed from ice blue to golden yellow. One after another, spatial gates opened behind her, and within the gates, Lances of the Void materialized.
But before "Kiana" could attack Cortana, a massive amount of energy erupted from Ryn's body. Then, the world instantly changed. The original execution ground was suddenly transported to a place of nothingness.
This was the Sea of Quanta!
And Ryn, who should have been dead, had the light return to his eyes.
"Cough, cough, cough."
The resurrected Ryn suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood all over Cortana, then managed a smile at Kiana and said, "Kiana, don't worry... I'm fine."
"Kiana" flickered to Ryn's side. A long Lance of the Void sent Cortana flying. She picked up the fallen Ryn and said, with a hint of a sob in her voice:
"Are you kidding me? How could you be fine! My other half... you have a hole in your chest bigger than my head!"
"Alright, alright... time is limited. I'll explain after this is done... trust me." Although Ryn found this version of Kiana a bit unfamiliar, he decided to put his questions aside for now, because time was indeed tight.
"Kiana" hesitated for a moment, then said to Ryn, "My other half, you'd better not be lying to me. If I wake up and find you're gone, I'll make the whole world burn with you."
After saying that, Kiana fainted and collapsed.
"Oh my... looks like Kiana has her own secrets too..." Ryn quickly caught the unconscious Kiana, then walked over to Cortana's side and pulled the long Lance of the Void out of her.
"You'd better explain this to Kiana afterwards. I don't want to get shot by her again the next time we meet." Cortana looked at Ryn speechlessly. Why should I be the one to get hit for your stupid idea?
"Alright, alright. Are you ready, Cortana?"
"Let's go. The energy should be sufficient now," Cortana nodded.
Then the two of them shouted in unison.
"Zeroth Power—Virtual-to-Real Conversion!"
The energy of the Sea of Quanta began to gather in Ryn's body. Ryn then transferred this energy to Cortana using his own body as a medium. A massive stream of data began to flow through Cortana's eyes, and her whole body began to glow. Then, in the distance, the completely bewildered Kallen also began to glow.
Kallen's virtual data body was beginning to transform into a real body of flesh and blood.