"Papa! Papa!"
A warm, large hand rested on her head. Kallen Kaslana looked up in a daze, meeting her father's gentle, almost lazy smile.
He thoughtfully brushed her sweat-dampened bangs aside and wiped the perspiration from her face before asking softly, "What's wrong, my little Kallen?"
"Mmm... Papa! I've finished all of today's training tasks. Can I go out and play now?"
"Er... Ha..."
Her father covered his face, a wry smile playing on his lips. He chuckled twice.
"Kallen, I know you're a very talented child, and I know you always complete your training goals ahead of schedule. But, it doesn't look good if the other children see this..."
Although it wasn't the first time she'd heard such an answer, Kallen pouted unhappily.
"What's not good about it?"
"Well... for example, Eleanor might think you're slacking off."
"But I clearly finished my training goals! According to the rules, I can go out and play early!"
"But Kallen, you're still young. You don't understand jealousy yet. Even though it's a fact that you achieved your training goals, what does that really prove? Once someone is prejudiced by jealousy, they'll disregard everything and come up with all sorts of reasons from their own perspective. For instance, I set the training subjects, and as my daughter, you're naturally more familiar with them..."
"But that's not true! That's not how it is at all!"
"Well now—"
Her head was gently patted again.
"Be that as it may, facts are what humans care about the least. Humans are also unwilling to believe facts; they only believe what they want to believe. Comparatively speaking, it's a bit better with children; children are just prone to jealousy. But jealousy brings estrangement and isolation. Kallen, haven't you noticed that among your peers, apart from Eleanor, almost no one wants to talk to you? And even Eleanor's attitude towards you is rather inconsistent, isn't it?"
"Uh... I don't understand... What should I do then? Should I just become a little 'worse'?"
"Mmm... It's okay if you don't understand, you're still young after all! As for becoming 'worse,' hehe, that's useless. Children aren't jealous of excellence, but of being special. Both excellence and inadequacy are forms of being special, and both lead to estrangement. If you don't want to be estranged and isolated, generally, you can only try to blend in with the crowd."
"Then what's the point! If I'm the same as everyone else, am I still a Kaslana?"
"Er... That's not quite how it is... But Kallen, there's really no harm in practicing a bit more..."
Seeing her father's placating expression again, Kallen pouted once more.
This was a silent understanding between father and daughter. In the past, Kallen had been refused by her father like this many times. As long as she expressed her dissatisfaction this way, even if her father didn't agree to let her leave the training ground, he at least wouldn't lecture her further.
But this time, her father seemed determined to say something, words of admonishment that Kallen disliked the most:
"Kallen, although I'm not very willing to say this myself, you do bear the Kaslana name. It brings you not only honor, talent, and wealth, but also a responsibility you must bear."
"I understand—to eliminate the Honkai!"
"No, you don't understand. Eliminating the Honkai isn't as simple as saying it, nor is it as simple as completing training goals on the field. The struggle between humanity and the Honkai began the moment humanity was born, and it's been going on for tens of thousands of years, conservatively estimated. This is by no means a problem that one person or one generation can easily solve. That's why the Kaslana family has passed down the responsibility of killing the Honkai from generation to generation. In other words, Kallen Kaslana, the true value and meaning of the rest of your life lie in fighting the Honkai—from a grand narrative perspective, that's how it is. So, this idea of resting early after achieving training goals... essentially doesn't exist..."
"Papa..."
"Hmph..."
This was the third time Kallen's head had been stroked. She had never seen her father speak with such a solemn expression.
Her countenance quickly dimmed. Though young, she wasn't incapable of understanding her father's underlying meaning—since all the meaning and value of her life lay in fighting the Honkai, then so-called rest didn't really exist.
"But... Kallen..."
Her father's tone suddenly shifted. Kallen looked up again, only to hear him say softly:
"Precisely because the rest of your life will be spent on the path of fighting the Honkai, I hope that while you're still young, right now, you can enjoy more of the happiness of being human."
"Papa means..."
"That's right. Go and play, Kallen."
"Papa!"
The late spring breeze gently swept by, as tender as the bright morning sun.
A strangely shaped, bird-like winged object rode the wind, landing steadily on Kallen's shoulder.
"Eh! This is—"
Kallen cupped the thing in her hands and looked in the direction it came from. There stood a high wall, not particularly tall for her.
"Hmm! That place... Is it him?"
"Eh, Papa, is there something... over there?"
"Ah, there's a child about your age. This is most likely his handiwork... How about this: you return the thing to him, and then take him out to play with you, what do you say?"
And what happened next was the first meeting between the young girl and the young boy.
"Hah! So that's when you met him? Damn it, if I had known, I would have been more serious that day, then... Hmph!"
The sudden intrusive voice yanked Kallen across a decade, back to the time and space where she belonged.
But as her consciousness returned, the first sensation her body relayed to her brain was—cold!
Her whole body shivered uncontrollably. In the pitch darkness, she thought it was the severe chill from excessive blood loss. She gasped for air, her mouth wide, only to inadvertently swallow a mouthful of icy snow.
"Damn it! What is this... Tch! So cold!"
As Eleanor's cursing voice sounded beside her again, Kallen's consciousness finally returned to the present moment. She opened her eyes, somewhat dazed and bewildered. The first thing she noticed was that it was a little brighter than before.
Was the solar eclipse finally ending?
No, she soon realized that the light wasn't new. It was just that the rampant ice and snow covering the land reflected the faint light of the eclipse ring to its extreme, making her eyes perceive the surroundings as much brighter.
But honestly, it was just an illusion.
"What on earth happened just now..."
Kallen pressed her left hand to her forehead, her right hand still tightly gripping the spearhead of the Abyss Flower, feeling the chill of the metal shaft.
"Tch! Are you asking me? How would I know? I was just fine, channeling Honkai Energy into that thing in front of us, then suddenly everything went black, and then it was your memories. You think I wanted to watch?!"
"Er..."
Kallen's eye twitched slightly. Although... although the memories replayed earlier didn't really contain anything that needed to be hidden, memories were, after all, the deepest part of a person's heart. For Eleanor to have pried into them so easily, and given her current reaction, it felt a bit like she was rubbing it in after getting what she wanted.
However, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible. The power emanating from that "peacock" behind them was somewhat strange; it was easy to get dragged into memories by accident...
Fortunately, the awkwardness of this episode was soon replaced by a deeper confusion—
Before the two of them, the massive body of an unknown monster was frozen solid in layers of cyan ice. Even the spearhead of the Abyss Flower was encased. Trying to channel more Honkai Energy into it was blocked by the seemingly ordinary ice. Trying to pull the spear back was impossible; the surrounding wind and snow cut like knives, and the metal shaft of Abyss Flower was so frigid that after holding it for a while, her fingers and palm felt numb, unable to exert any strength.
"What in the world is this thing!"
Eleanor stomped hard on the ice beneath her feet. Even with the heel of her shoe, which concealed an armor-piercing spike, she could only create shallow cracks on the ice surface. Normally, a stomp like that from her could collapse a three-story stone building in an instant.
"Hah..."
A sudden gasp startled the two girls. Eleanor hastily turned around; she had almost forgotten that the "old bird" was still behind them.
"Er... Mmm..."
When she turned, the green peacock had already reverted to human form. Su took a few steadying breaths, then his eyes snapped open.
"Mm... Mm! This is!"
He raised his hand to catch a snowflake. His expression quickly became one of utter shock, yet after just one breath, he exhaled deeply, as if things weren't entirely unexpected.
"Ah, yes, such ice and snow... it could only be Kevin Kaslana."
Another young, chilling female voice spoke. Eleanor and Kallen once again turned around in alarm. They heard a loud "bang" from behind. The ice encasing the monster's corpse shattered in an instant. Black sludge, green lightning, and cyan ice shards flew everywhere. Amidst the dust cloud from the explosion, Eleanor still tried to grab the Abyss Flower, but when she reached out based on her memory of its position, her hand grasped nothing.
"Oh my, are you looking for this?"
A small figure emerged from the dust and smoke, holding the Abyss Flower, which was taller than her.
"You are..."
The wind and snow quickly tore the smoke and dust apart. A remarkably young-looking girl stood before them. She had just been speaking to them, yet her gaze remained fixed on the Abyss Flower in her hand.
"Alright, Mobius, now is not the time for games."
Su silently stepped in front of the two girls. Although he had already made his decision, didn't he know Mobius's temperament?
To avoid further complications, he wouldn't let his guard down.
"Tch, whatever makes you happy."
The Abyss Flower spun once in Mobius's palm and was suddenly thrown fiercely towards Eleanor.
"Ah—"
At such close range, Eleanor hadn't even reacted before the Abyss Flower was upon her. But the spearhead ultimately stopped less than half an inch from her brow. Su waved his hand, and the Abyss Flower slowly circled in mid-air before returning to Eleanor's grasp.
"Mobius, are you looking for another fight?" Su asked in a low voice.
"Tsk, of course not. I just happened to see his and that woman's descendant, and I couldn't help myself."
"Hmph..."
Su bit his lip. That reason was truly Mobius's style.
"Speaking of which..."
He had just begun to ask something when suddenly, with a "BOOM," a colossal sword that pierced the heavens tore through the clouds in the distance and struck down, only to shatter into countless pieces in an instant.
"That's... Fenghuang Down's First Rated Output... No, it's not. This is Taixu Sword Qi. And it's not Hua either..."
Before Su could figure out what had happened during this time, an indescribable feeling of dread welled up in his heart. He hurriedly looked up. The moon, which had been obscuring the sun, after a long period of stagnation, had begun to move again.
But that wasn't what truly astonished him. Mobius seemed to have noticed his unusual reaction. She also looked up and asked in a grave tone, "What happened?"
"You don't know? Michael didn't tell you?"
"What makes you think that idiot would tell me his future plans!"
"Hmph... Kevin just used the Second Divine Key. The teleportation destination is..."
"New Atra?"
"Mm."
"Hehe..."
Mobius let out a cold laugh and turned to leave.
"What's wrong?"
Su looked at her retreating back, uncomprehending.
"What are you waiting for if not leaving now? Our mission is complete. Regardless of whether things proceed according to Michael's expectations or not, at the very least, we have no means to reach the moon within the next two hours. Not leaving... What, are you planning to stay in this dump?"
"Dump?"
Su seemed to have been jolted awake. He blinked, looking around in a daze. This was supposed to be the Central European Plain, caressed by gentle spring breezes. But all he could see now was an endless, lifeless ice field.
"Honestly... Two men who wanted to save the world, and this is the result..."
Su pressed his lips together. Cold sweat trickled down his temples, only to be frozen by the biting wind and snow.
He took a dazed step, then heard a familiar voice call out from behind him:
"Wait a minute!"
Su turned back, somewhat at a loss. Undoubtedly, it was Eleanor.
"You... You're just going to leave like this?"
Su pressed his lips tightly, unsure how to answer.
"What exactly happened here... Who did all this... All of Kolosten is destroyed! At the very least, you owe us an explanation, right?"
Su opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
"Tsk, little Schariac girl, are you blind? Isn't it obvious what happened here? As for who did it? It's rather ironic, actually..."
"Mobius!"
Su knew what she was about to say and wanted to interrupt her, but she just waved her hand dismissively.
"What? They want to know the truth, and they should know the truth, shouldn't they? Hey, you two, remember this well. The two men who turned this place into this, one is an ancestor of the Schariacs, and the other is an ancestor of the Kaslanas. And considering the marriage alliance between your two families... hehehe, they're both your ancestors, you know."
"How could that be... Then you should at least give us an explanation! At least tell us what we can do to return this place... to return Kolosten to how it was!"
"Pfft! Hahahahaha! Why should we explain anything to you?"
"You... They were both your former comrades, weren't they? For the mistakes they made, even if you don't help fix them, you should at least..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... So naive. Are all Schariacs as naive as that woman? Listen up, Eleanor, was it? It was you who begged Su, and that Kevin, to come save this, hmm, Kallen Kaslana. If you hadn't acted as the catalyst, they would still have met, of course, but not necessarily in Kolosten, do you understand? You bear half the responsibility for this place becoming like this."
"I... Don't you try to change the subject! You caused quite a bit of damage yourself earlier... Urgh!"
Eleanor's expression changed rapidly. She suddenly shouted, thrusting the Abyss Flower forward to attack Mobius. But Mobius merely snapped her fingers. Green arcs of electricity flared out of thin air. Eleanor didn't even last a second before she collapsed, gasping for breath, completely drained.
"Sigh..."
Su let out a long sigh. He knew things would turn out this way. He walked back to Eleanor's side and lifted her from the frozen ground to prevent frostbite. Then, he took the Abyss Flower and gently pricked its tip into Eleanor's body, healing her already minor injuries completely.
"Thud—"
Hearing a sound beside him, Su sighed again.
Unsurprisingly, Kallen had knelt to the ground. Her expression was filled with unconcealable grief, yet also an unprecedented determination:
"I know, I am primarily responsible for this. If I hadn't been so naive, none of these disasters would have happened. But... I can't just watch so many innocent people die because of my naivety, nor can I watch this once prosperous land turn into a disaster zone ravaged by blizzards. I want to save this place... I beg you, I am willing to pay any price!"
Mobius's expression softened slightly. She wanted to say something, but it eventually turned into a sigh.
It couldn't be helped. Su had to take over:
"It's not that we are unwilling, but... we are also unable."
He wasn't lying. Neither he nor Mobius was the Herrscher of Finality; they didn't have the power to turn back time. And beyond that, to achieve what these two young girls wanted, they could only rely on three Divine Keys.
For example, they could use the Fourth Divine Key to disperse the abnormal climate in this area caused by Kevin's power. The Fifth Divine Key could do the same.
But unfortunately, the Fourth Divine Key had long been damaged from fifty thousand years of operation, and being in space, it was impossible to retrieve and overhaul it with the current level of civilization. And the Fifth Divine Key had been modified, becoming their "Ark" to escape the end fifty thousand years ago, so naturally, it couldn't be used for this either.
Of course, the most important point was that both these Divine Keys could only solve the climate problem here. To restore life to this place, to allow the tens of thousands of severely injured and dying people here to live, there was actually only one option.
Su's gaze fell upon the Abyss Flower.
Although her body was still weak from the paralysis, Eleanor was sensitive enough to follow Su's gaze to the weapon that her family had inherited from a much more distant past.
"Abyss Flower..."