Lu Xing was startled by the voice in his head.
After he used [Appraisal] on this behemoth that had suddenly sought him out, he understood with chilling clarity what "my fate is decided by heaven, not by me" truly meant.
This "Leader" and "Variant," which shared the same affixes as himself, was a Level 60 Variant Honkai Emperor.
Not only was there no chance of victory, but he couldn't even escape.
While Lu Xing was still pondering how to reply to the Ice Emperor in a way that wouldn't seem too abrupt, a new voice once again echoed in his mind.
"Old friend."
"Now that you have awakened, come with me."
"..."
"?"
Hold on!
What kind of archaic, pretentious words was this fellow spouting?
What the hell was an "old friend," what did "awakened" mean, and where was it planning to go with him?
A flurry of question marks instantly appeared in Lu Xing's mind.
Fortunately, his train of thought was still relatively clear. The words "translated" into his mind by the Honkai Emperor were definitely not without purpose.
Since the other party mentioned "old friend," it meant that he definitely knew the Ice Emperor... This was impossible!
Lu Xing could count the number of Variants he had met on one hand.
Unless he had reincarnated in this world several times, there was no way he would have such a "grand" friend—and if the story truly took such a fantastical turn, it shouldn't be a Honkai Emperor telling him this.
This big fellow was indeed ridiculously strong.
But no matter how much it tried to embellish itself, it still couldn't escape the limitations of being a lower-ranking Honkai Beast.
Considering his current appearance...
The greatest possibility Lu Xing could think of was that the other party knew the "Absolute Zero Knight Captain" who had entrusted its final power to him.
Lu Xing's aura was extremely similar to the Knight Captain's. If not for his glowing horns and the somewhat special Honkai energy halo, it wouldn't be impossible for him to be mistaken for the same individual.
Following this line of reasoning, the "awakening" mentioned by the Ice Emperor should refer to the birth of the "Variant" affix.
The Knight Captain, at the final moments of its life, had indeed awakened the "Variant" affix.
Lu Xing didn't know the conditions for a Variant's birth.
However, judging by the Ice Emperor's meaning... the Knight Captain's appearance in Mount Isa had reasons remarkably similar to those of humans—both were likely for experimentation. One wanted to turn intelligent life into controllable Deadmen, the other wanted to turn Honkai Beasts into intelligent life.
Moreover.
Although the Knight Captain was esteemed as a "Leader," its level of intelligence was clearly not high enough, or rather, foolish enough, to experiment on itself.
In other words.
The Honkai Emperor's contribution was very likely indispensable in this.
"Hmm?"
"Has the transfer of the Honkai Core caused problems with your memory?"
While Lu Xing was still contemplating how to respond, the Ice Emperor's voice resonated once more.
The other party had clearly not overlooked Lu Xing's life-form composition, which was distinctly different from that of an ordinary Knight-class—after all, Lu Xing's Honkai Core was condensed in the heart of his "puppet" form.
Judging by the Honkai Emperor's words.
Even after awakening, Honkai Beasts could retain the consciousness from their nascent period; that is to say, the other party believed that even if the Knight Captain possessed self-awareness, it would most likely choose to leave with it.
"In that case—"
Voom!
Completely defenseless!
Lu Xing's mind began to churn violently; nausea and pain assaulted him simultaneously!
Just as Lu Xing thought this was some kind of mental attack, the surging sea of his psyche swiftly calmed down, and a few memory fragments appeared in his perception.
At the same time.
The Honkai energy Lu Xing had previously expended on Ange was almost instantly replenished—faced with Lu Xing, who possessed no mental defense capabilities whatsoever, the other party, using Honkai energy as a medium, had effortlessly sent memory fragments into Lu Xing's mind.
"If that had been a mental attack..."
Lu Xing thought with some lingering fear—if the Ice Emperor had harbored malicious intent, that previous move could have directly killed him. This made Lu Xing, who had been having a relatively smooth run recently, become cautious once again.
He possessed many "physical" means.
But against insidious and unpredictable mental attacks, he was completely undefended.
Although this was the first time he had encountered a Honkai Beast with such an ability, Lu Xing had a rather strong impression of similar, and even stronger, entities—psychic-perception-type Fusion Soldiers, and, a few Herrschers who had yet to appear.
It seemed there were still many areas where he needed to improve.
Setting aside Lu Xing's lamentations about his weakness.
The information within the memory fragments sent by the Ice Emperor instantly clarified his thoughts.
To put it simply:
This Ice Emperor was a Servant of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast, "Ice Pig (actually elephant)," Parvati.
After a bloody battle with Fire Moth on a certain occasion.
The great leader Parvati was brutally killed by humans, its frozen corpse even taken away for experimentation. It was then that the Ice Emperor, having awakened as a "Variant," escaped during its own capture and transport, taking advantage of a lapse in human guard strength.
The rest was relatively simple: endure hardship to nurse vengeance, rally the remaining forces, and counterattack the humans.
The plot progression was a perfect protagonist template.
As for now... the Ice Emperor had mistaken Lu Xing for its Servant, the Knight Captain, who was suffering from after-effects of awakening due to problems with its Honkai Core.
"..."
Lu Xing's heart was filled with a mix of emotions.
The Level 60 Ice Emperor was clearly a very powerful backer; but once Old Ancestor Kevin made his appearance, this fellow would instantly transform from a backer into a background prop.
The Honkai (Beast) is about to die, its... it still has use value!
Voom.
A crystalline long spear materialized from the void.
The bloodthirsty weapon was held in Lu Xing's single hand, its sharp tip distantly pointed towards the Ice Emperor.
Silence reigned.
The Ice Emperor seemed unconcerned.
But the edges of the rhombic floating wings rotating around its body already condensed a purple radiance far exceeding that of moonlight. As a "Variant" itself, the Ice Emperor knew very well that "kin" with different modes of thought were not always easy to talk to.
A good beating usually solved the problem.
However, just as the Ice Emperor was preparing to persuade him physically.
The weapon condensed by Lu Xing's [Honkai Lance Projection] was turned by him and placed horizontally before himself—
"?"
The Ice Emperor's movements paused.
It possessed considerable intelligence, true, but it still lacked sufficient understanding of life's behavioral patterns.
"Then..."
Crisp cracking sounds came from both ends of the crystal.
"There is only one answer!"
Towards the Ice Emperor, Lu Xing transmitted his will—the adaptive "translation" function inherent in Honkai energy ensured Lu Xing didn't need to worry about the other party failing to understand his meaning.
Clack!
Scattering, drifting crystal shards, a long spear broken in two!
"I shall pledge my allegiance to you!!"