The warm morning sun sprinkled into every corner of the white room. Kiana Kaslana squinted in the light, looking at the golden cross by her bed and the white-haired loli sitting atop it.
"Why do you have Li Xuan's cross? And where is this place, shorty?" Kiana asked with a serious frown.
"Shorty?!!" the other girl repeated, seemingly stunned.
The white-haired loli lowered her head, hiding her expression from Kiana, but the veins popping on her forehead were a dead giveaway.
"Click!" The white-haired loli snapped her fingers. A crisp twang echoed from the sides of the golden cross beneath her. Several chains of what looked like pure light shot out and, before Kiana could react, bound her limbs.
"Aah!" Kiana cried out in alarm. Her hands and feet were now restrained by soft yet tough chains of light. The ends of the chains were tipped with spearheads made of high-purity obsidian, which pierced through the mattress as easily as a knife through tofu.
"Thud!" A small foot in a black high-heeled boot stepped onto the railing of the white hospital bed. The little white-haired girl's snowy hair, tied back slightly with a black and white headband, swayed gently. She extended a hand towards Kiana.
"Who are you calling shorty, you little brat! And also… this 'Judah's Oath' has always been mine. It doesn't belong to some Li Xuan."
The white-haired loli patted her small chest with her pale hands, speaking with a hint of pride. "My name is Theresa, and I'm the head of Schicksal's Far East Branch!"
"Entering a Honkai zone without even using a fake name, completely unafraid of the danger—" Theresa's azure eyes fixed on Kiana. "Were you hoping to get your old man's attention? Siegfried's daughter~ Kiana Kaslana."
"You know my dad?" Kiana's eyes widened. Four years ago, her dad had vanished without a trace after saying he was "going to find the truth of the Honkai," as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth…
"Ah, he's an old acquaintance of mine," Theresa said, leaping down from the bed rail. Her small feet landed on the soft duvet. She crouched down with a faint, enigmatic smile, resting her delicate face on her slender, pale hands as she met Kiana's gaze. "I even know where he is right now~"
The warm sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the two girls on the bed. They had the same hair color, the same delicate features… Kiana's heart began to race the moment she heard this woman mention her father.
"Where is he?!" Kiana shouted, unable to contain herself.
"Such an impatient one… just like your father," Theresa remarked with a sigh. "He's in a very dangerous place."
"Going to find him in your current state would be no different from suicide."
"This little injury is nothing! Hurry up and let me go find him!" Kiana yelled excitedly, spittle flying from her mouth.
"Sigh~" Theresa's delicate face was filled with helplessness. She squinted and sighed softly, her expression turning serious once more. "I'm not talking about your injuries."
"Your current abilities are too weak. You struggled against a single Honkai Beast. At this rate, you'll be meeting a gentle God before you ever see your old man."
"It wasn't just one Honkai Beast! It was a whole swarm! And a Thunder God-class Honkai Beast! Who could possibly take that on?! Even Li Xuan failed!" Kiana retorted, her neck flushed red.
"Li Xuan? Who's that?" Theresa asked curiously. She had heard Kiana mention this name twice now.
"Alright… wait, there's more. Your friend, Raiden Mei, has something even more dangerous hidden within her. If that thing appears again—"
"Do you think you have the power to save that girl?"
"Tch!~" Kiana lowered her head, her azure eyes glaring with hostility at the white-haired loli before her. To think she knew about Mei's condition…
"Well then, allow me to propose a new offer!" Theresa said, suddenly breaking into a warm smile. This caught Kiana off guard. "Huh?!"
"Aaaand~ that~ is~ to join our St. Freya High School and train to become a Valkyrie." The white-haired Theresa leaned in close to Kiana, their faces less than ten centimeters apart. "I will personally train you to become a warrior who can stand on her own."
"St. Freya High School?" Kiana asked, puzzled.
"That's right. It's the world's only institution dedicated to training warriors who fight against the Honkai—in other words, 'Valkyries.'"
"Oh, right! Your two friends, Raiden Mei and Bronya Zaychik, have already agreed to enroll~ Kiana-chan~" Theresa said with a sly, fox-like smile, her eyes narrowed and hands clasped together.
"Wait, besides Mei and little Bronya, what about that guy Li Xuan?! He's so strong." Kiana asked, confused.
"Li Xuan?! Who's that? Was there such a person?" Theresa put a finger to her lips and gazed up at the ceiling, feigning confusion.
"...Li Xuan….. is missing!!!" Seeing Theresa's clueless expression, Kiana finally realized the gravity of the situation and screamed.
"Achoo!~" Standing in the washroom, Li Xuan suddenly sneezed for no reason.
"What's going on? Did I catch a cold?!… No, with my current constitution, that's impossible," Li Xuan thought, rubbing his nose. His current physique was strong enough to kill a bull.
"..." Li Xuan focused his attention back on the back of his right hand, where the red Taiji symbol was flanked by four smaller marks.
As a nerd who had read countless fantasy novels, he had heard of the 'Four Symbols'… The so-called Four Symbols represented the Four Holy Beasts that protected the heavens and the earth from the four cardinal directions. They were: the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise…
The marks on his hand now were clearly the Four Symbols. The dragon sigil corresponded to the Azure Dragon, the tiger sigil to the White Tiger, the fire feather to the Vermilion Bird, and the turtle shell to the Black Tortoise.
So the question was, what new abilities did these new Stigmata marks grant him?
"Phew~" Li Xuan took a deep breath. How could there be any new abilities? Could he conjure a fireball out of thin air? Things like the neili and zhenqi from novels… who knew if they were real or fake?
"But still…" Li Xuan paused for a moment. He extended the index finger of his right hand, closed his eyes, and quietly imagined a flicker of flame appearing on his fingertip.
Li Xuan closed his eyes. It felt as if countless particles of light were swirling in his mind. He tried to act like a chuunibyou, continuously thinking about concentrating fire elements onto his index finger.
"..." In a daze, he felt a warm current flow from within his body towards his finger.
"...Did it work?!" Li Xuan could clearly feel that warmth. Could that be the legendary neili or lingli?!
"..." Li Xuan opened his eyes, his dichromatic pupils staring at his empty fingertip. He felt his intelligence drop once again. Getting my hopes up… I'm so stupid, he thought with self-deprecation.
"Poof!" A flame, as thin as a strand of hair, suddenly erupted from his fingertip.
The air seemed to freeze…