"Hmm..."
At that moment, Kiana's expression suddenly shifted. She felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, her vision blurring as if she were seeing double again.
She paused, gathering her thoughts, and soon understood what was happening.
"So that's it..." Time's almost up, huh...
She didn't waste another moment.
Her movements quickened.
Though Fu Hua would later regain her body during the Herrscher of Sentience incident, even returning to her prime condition in one go, still.
Since I'm already here~
Might as well lend her a hand.
And so, Kiana took the feather that housed Fu Hua's entire consciousness.
Extracted the Authority of Sentience!
Combined the Authority of Death with the Authority of Reason to craft the perfect body for a MANTIS.
Brought them together.
And just like that, it was done.
"Hmm..."
The dizziness was coming more frequently now.
Like an incessant pest, urging her on.
She brought Fu Hua to a rooftop below.
Glancing over at Durandal struggling to her feet, an idea sparked in her mind almost instantly.
Truth be told, the situation was clear as day.
Simply put, Kiana had somehow logged into Kiana's account, connecting from the Previous Era to the Current Era.
This time felt like a dragonfly skimming the water—barely grazing the surface.
Like facing a reflection in the mirror, leaving only a faint, hazy trace.
And now, her connection lag was skyrocketing.
The transmission felt like it was dropping frames left and right.
Even her power was growing unstable.
Forget about maintaining a Domain of Binding—even her Herrscher attire flickered like a guttering candle, fading in and out.
It could vanish any second now.
Maybe even in the very next moment.
But even so, Kiana didn't panic.
She was a lady, after all. Even as she teleported right in front of Durandal, she kept her grace.
Durandal watched her warily.
Kiana, though, felt a mischievous impulse stir within her. Before leaving, she decided to have a little fun. She lightly pinched the edge of her skirt and gave a curtsy.
"Hello there, other me of this world..."
"Neither of us, nor this child... were prepared this time..."
"Next time, let's have a proper date, alright?"
She tilted her head and threw in a cute wink.
Leaving Durandal utterly bewildered.
And then, before Durandal could even process it or say anything,
3, 2, 1...
Poof.
Kiana's vision went dark. She'd been disconnected.
"???"
Confused Goose.jpg
What in the world just happened?
Durandal's eyes widened, her mind blank.
She'd already braced herself for the worst, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.
But... this? What was this?
Durandal worried Kiana might be messing with her.
Cautiously, she reached out, like someone afraid of setting off firecrackers being tasked with lighting the fuse. She even tossed a few small pebbles first, confirming that Kiana was truly unconscious.
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
Without the Domain of Binding suppressing her, she recovered quickly. After catching her breath, she scooped Kiana up in her arms.
The Bright Knight: Excelsis armor was destroyed.
She had no choice but to leave the area for now and contact Schicksal later, asking Otto to send someone to pick her up.
"Lord Otto, K423 has been successfully retrieved."
"As expected of you, Durandal."
Meanwhile, not long after Durandal left, Fu Hua was found by Gray Serpent.
Several groups came and went afterwards, searching the area repeatedly before finally departing.
"Principal, Seele and I have found Mei-senpai."
"Good, return quickly."
Bronya let out a sigh. Hoisting the unconscious Raiden Mei onto her back, she had Seele sit in her lap.
With a roar of the engine, the Project Bunny soared across the sky, swiftly returning to the Hyperion.
Back in the main world, Kiana groggily opened her eyes.
Her own room came into view, with Miss Eden beside her. It seemed Eden had been keeping watch here but had grown tired and fallen asleep leaning against the bedside.
Actually, both Eden and Aponia had been taking care of Kiana.
They took turns resting.
A glance at the time.
It was around 11 PM now.
It seemed the time difference between the two worlds wasn't quite the same.
Though it was just one instance, so it was hard to draw conclusions.
But clearly, time flowed slower over there and faster here.
Kiana wasn't in a hurry to move, nor did she want to disturb Eden.
Lying in bed, she began sorting through her thoughts.
"System, what's your take on what just happened?" Kiana asked inwardly.
Thinking back on it, it felt like a fleeting dream—both real and illusory, leaving her still a bit dazed.
But she remembered.
Maybe because she was grumpy from just waking up, or perhaps her subconscious thought she was still dreaming, she'd... moved around a bit over there.
She never really had any intention to kill.
But if someone had actually blown up right in her face, she might have really lost it.
Personally taken out those responsible.
However, the moment she saw Durandal, she sensed something was off.
This girl looks so familiar...
Oh, it's the dumb goose?
Holy crap, it's really the dumb goose?
Kiana understood.
This wasn't a dream—it was the Previous Era?
Oh... the bug's reached her limit, so I'm piloting her account now...
And then?
She didn't necessarily need to know the exact details.
But she wanted to understand how she'd managed to take over Kiana's account. She wanted to keep borrowing it for some fun.
Is that not allowed?
Sure, in the future, it's certain she'll journey to the world of Honkai Impact 3rd's Current Era.
But that's still the future, no matter what.
If she has a chance to interfere in the Current Era now, on a small scale, she can go have fun, enjoy herself. On a larger scale, she can step in early, change more tragedies.
If she remembers correctly, over there, it's already the time of the Skyward Meteor.
And after that?
The Paramecium is still gonna suffer.
No wayyyyy~
So she wants to become the Paramecium's golden finger.
[Host.]
[Since the Cocoon of Finality is a higher-dimensional entity, it possesses uniqueness across the countless parallel worlds of Honkai Impact 3rd.]
[In other words, across any Honkai Impact 3rd series parallel world, the Cocoon of Finality within them all originates from this single Cocoon.]
At that moment, the system had completed its retrieval and analysis, and began reporting the situation.
Kiana was somewhat surprised.
She'd previously thought each Honkai Impact 3rd world had its own Cocoon of Finality.
Turns out it's unique.
She'd actually been slowly figuring it out.
Throughout the immeasurably vast universe of the Tree-Sea, across infinite dimensions, with worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges—or even more infinite—there is, in reality, only one Star Rail Universe.
It's like the Star Rail world is the sole capital, the heart of the nation, while everything else is just rural settlements.
The leaves are still leaves.
But the imaginary barriers separating each leaf have been shattered by the Aeon of Trailblaze.
From the original primordial universe, it continuously expanded, forming the vast cosmos of today—an abstract commonality, like a boundless sea of stars.
The Aeons are supreme.
And so, naturally, they too are unique.
"And then?" Kiana asked.
The Cocoon of Finality is unique—what does that have to do with my sudden dream-jumping?
Or perhaps... it was directly her doing?
After all, if you think about the connection between her and Kiana, aside from looking alike, the only other point is that they both become Herrscher of Finality in the future. Could it really be because of that?
"Calling upon another me to activate substitute mode?"
--+--
T/N: sometimes, displays of overwhelming power gives me chills lowkey
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.