Within the consciousness space, Kiana and the Queen of the Void stared at each other. It was the Queen who broke the silence.
[Kiana, if you are here, then who is that outside!?] the Queen shrieked.
Just moments ago, she had been on the verge of a full awakening, like a person finally about to climb out of a deep well. But just as she neared success, a hand had slammed down on her head, shoving her right back into the well.
This should have been impossible! The current Kiana should have been completely unable to stop her awakening.
"Ehe," Kiana scratched her head and gave a silly laugh, one reminiscent of a certain Durandal (same CV as Venti).
She didn't know either.
But Kiana touched her abdomen. Right before entering the consciousness space, she had seen a pattern appear on her stomach. It looked like a heart, and also like a burning flame.
At that moment, a deep and steady voice echoed through the consciousness space.
It was Kiana's voice, but completely different from the Kiana of now.
"After I help you through this crisis, I will return the body to you."
It was not Kiana, nor was it the Queen of the Void. It was a third party speaking.
"Oh, well, thanks for that," Kiana said, tilting her head. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed through her mind. She clapped her hands together.
"Are you my third personality? Wow, so besides having a super queenly side, I can also be this mature and cool!"
This young lady really has a lot of personalities.
"..."
The voice fell silent for a moment.
"Hmm, was I really this ditzy in the past?" the voice muttered to itself.
[Dammit! You damned outsider, how dare you seize my body!]
Unlike Kiana, the Queen was filled with hostility. She realized that it was the owner of this voice who had ruined her plans.
"It has been a long time."
But in contrast to the Queen's sharp antagonism, the voice was tinged with nostalgia.
Like seeing an old acquaintance who was thought to be long gone.
"However, now is not the time for us to reminisce. We will have plenty of time in the future."
Yes, there will be plenty of time.
"Leave the rest to me. You can watch closely. You will learn something."
The voice continued.
From within the consciousness space, it was possible to observe the outside world. This was how the Queen and the Herrscher of Thunder watched the world.
And what Kiana and the Queen saw was a face filled with astonishment.
---o---
Joyce's eyes were wide with shock. He stared at the girl whose neck he was choking. The frailty on her face was gone, replaced by a will as solid as rock.
Her azure eyes seemed to sparkle with starlight.
A searing heat erupted from Joyce's arm. He released his grip on her neck and leaped back two steps.
"You..." Joyce stared at the white-haired girl before him, whose entire aura was now completely different. "Who are you?" he asked, bewildered.
A figure rushed to the scene. Otto, having burst out of the underground chapel, stopped and stared at the girl confronting Joyce.
Because the feeling she gave him was utterly different from the innocent and brave Kiana he knew.
It was as if she had grown up immensely.
His eyes narrowed as he noticed the mark on her abdomen.
Is that... a stigmata?
But that shouldn't be possible.
Although the location of Kiana's stigmata was a bit strange, the existence of stigmata itself was not. Both Mei and Seele possessed them; Seele's was on her chest, and Mei's was on her left hip.
But the Kiana before him was a clone, K-423. Even if the real Kiana had a stigmata, a clone shouldn't have been able to replicate something like that. If it could, Otto would have had no need to research artificial stigmata; he could have just mass-produced clones.
So, how did my Kiana get this stigmata?
And...
Otto's gaze shifted to Joyce. He knew that face. It was Walter Joyce.
The man who had punched him in the face decades ago.
But shouldn't he be long dead?
And now this revenant had returned, clearly standing on the side of his enemies.
However, for the simple act of harming Kiana, Otto would never let him go.
Since you've been resurrected, I'll just have to kill you again. And again, until you can't come back!
---o---
The white-haired girl heard Joyce's question. She first turned her head, her gaze sweeping over the grounds of St. Freya Academy.
"I never thought I'd see St. Freya Academy again."
"All of my most beautiful memories were made here."
The girl revealed a smile that could topple nations.
But then her brow furrowed in confusion.
"If this is the time of the Anti-Entropy invasion, then... where is Mei?"
She glanced around briefly.
Otto subconsciously ducked out of her line of sight, hiding his figure.
When the girl saw the fiery red figure battling the Titans in the distance, a crystalline light shimmered in her eyes. A thousand words were condensed into a single form of address.
"Teacher Himeko..."
"Hah." But after letting out a breath, she turned back to Joyce. The face of the man before her was also different from the one in her memory.
"I am K423," the girl said to Joyce, answering his earlier question. Her expression was carefree. The moment she ignited her flames, she had already let go of the past.
"K423?" Joyce frowned slightly.
"Are you an enemy?" K423 asked. She touched her own neck; the cervical bones of this body had been nearly crushed. "It seems so."
A bad feeling rose in Joyce's heart.
Flames ignited. A fire appeared in K423's hand. She reached both hands behind her head, using a ribbon made of fire to tie her long hair up high.
A long cape of roaring flames materialized behind her.
This made the secretly watching Otto's eyelid twitch.
Why does my little Kiana look like a firefly?
The Gem of Pestilence was still in Schicksal's possession. Where did she get this fire power? Was it from that stigmata?
Dammit, as expected of the protagonist. Even after her fate was overturned, she still gets a new power-up.
"Are you ready? It's about to heat up," K423 stated faintly. Joyce could feel the surrounding air temperature spike instantly, a dry heat parching his throat. He frowned and extended his right hand toward K423.
He tried to usurp her power.
But nothing happened.
"I have encountered a similar power before. Yours has no effect on me."
A Saint is never defeated by the same technique twice.
Moreover, she hadn't even been defeated the first time.
"Who in the world are you?" Joyce retreated two steps. The authority granted to him by God had actually failed.
"And who are you? You don't look like a clone made by Cocolia," K423 asked, wreathed in flames.
"I am Walter Joyce!"
The true Walter Joyce!
But K423 slowly shook her head.
"I heard that name from Dr. Einstein once. But the feeling you give me... is not like the person she described."
"The feeling you give me... is very much like that man, Otto."
In the consciousness space, Kiana, who was watching the outside world, blinked, but didn't think much of it. After all, this was her third personality; it was normal for her to know Otto.
But Otto is a hundred times better than this man!
Hearing K423's words, Joyce's face changed slightly, his gentle and refined appearance twisting for a moment.
"How... am I in any way inferior to that imposter!?" he gritted out.
Imposter?
Otto, hiding in the shadows, was puzzled. But he already had a guess as to the identity of this "Joyce."
However, K423 did not speak to him further. She raised her right hand, and a greatsword of fire materialized in it.
The sword in her hand was not heavy at all. It was warm.
"I say, would you like to join us? Join the side of the Honkai," Joyce asked.
But his answer was a wave of oncoming flame.
"By this fire, sever all!"
Joyce did not dodge.
The greatsword of flame cleaved him in two.
His bisected body twisted and then completely disintegrated, leaving not a single trace behind. His original plan had failed, but he would not give a certain someone the chance to capture him alive.
"Only one-thousandth of his power?"
The flaming greatsword dissipated. K423 let out a breath, and the fiery ribbon and cape vanished, her hair falling loose once more.
She looked around.
Mei, Class Rep, Great Aunt, Bronya... none of them are here.
I really wanted to see them.
But what's happening here is different from my own experience. Could this be a parallel world, or a world bubble?
No.
K423 had a feeling in her heart.
This was her world.
Could it be... I've returned to the past?
The time of the Imaginary Tree has been affected, causing the world's history to be reversed. Just as that person once tried to do.
Oh well. It's none of my business. My story is already over.
Now, I am merely a will within a stigmata.
But... perhaps I can prevent the tragedies of the future from repeating.
K423 closed her eyes, relinquishing control of the body. My past self really was naive, handing over her body just like that. What if I had been a bad person?
Her unconscious body tipped backward.
And fell into the arms of a golden-haired man.