Inside the cell, Kallen's hands were bound by shackles connected to iron rings on the wall, severely limiting her range of movement. In contrast, Kiana and Hua Yi hadn't been subjected to such harsh treatment; they were locked inside without any restraints at all.
It was hard to tell if that man, Arthur, still possessed a shred of human kindness, if he was wary of the combat power Hua Yi had previously displayed, or if a standard program simply couldn't react appropriately to such an unexpected situation.
"...Why did you allow yourselves to be captured? If you had wanted to escape earlier, Grandfather Arthur wouldn't have been able to stop you by force," Kallen asked, her eyes fixed on Hua Yi. Even in the posture of a shackled sinner, she maintained a graceful and elegant aura.
"Running away is the choice of a loser. My heart leans more toward striking down every enemy in my path. But to you, those people don't seem to be 'enemies' in the true sense of the word. To avoid hurting them, I chose to surrender."
There was one more thing Hua Yi didn't say.
In this space, Kallen was the only one who felt unique. Everyone else seemed to be more like NPCs following pre-set programs. If Hua Yi recklessly struck down those NPCs and caused the program to produce erroneous results, what would happen?
It likely wouldn't be anything good. A refined program should have error-correction functions. To prevent an error from spreading, the system might delete the save file, reset, or even destroy itself if the loophole couldn't be patched. Schicksal was a massive organization; they wouldn't have forgotten to include error-handling protocols in their Database.
While falling from the sky earlier, Hua Yi had taken the opportunity to scan the entire city. Aside from these few streets, the distant areas were shrouded in a hazy gray. Without a doubt, those were inaccessible zones, much like the invisible walls at the edge of a large game map. This space was essentially a Virtual Reality, though it possessed a strangely high level of interactivity.
"Thank you, but you really didn't need to be caught for my sake."
"Since you didn't want to run, Miss Kallen, we decided to come along. Do you mind chatting for a bit?"
To be honest, having a stranger suddenly approach her, go so far as to be thrown into prison, and ultimately do it just to have a conversation was beyond eccentricit was borderline eerie. However, Kallen didn't show any sign of doubt. Instead, she seemed faintly pleased.
"Sure. What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know more about you."
Hua Yi's words caused Kiana to nod vigorously beside him. She was also quite curious about this beautiful young lady.
"About me..." Kallen murmured softly. She closed her eyes and began to speak in a calm tone. She didn't sound like she was describing her own past, but rather like she was telling a story.
"I am a Valkyrie of Schicksal. Or rather, I was. I led my comrades on the front lines to resist the Honkai, sealing away many Honkai Beasts and protecting the people."
"Then why were you caught by Schicksal, Big Sis?" Kiana asked curiously. She already knew those plague doctors were Schicksal's people.
"Because many things happened afterward. Not long after I became a Valkyrie squad leader, the Overseer decided to launch an Eastern Crusade. The enemies weren't Honkai Beasts, but the humans of the East."
"Eh? Why...?"
"Because human desire is infinite," Hua Yi answered for Kallen. "Schicksal gained an advantage in the fight against the Honkai, and having found a moment to breathe, other thoughts emerged.
The high-ranking officials likely wanted to control more land and protect more people, while simultaneously making more people sing praises of Schicksal's greatness. It was a craving for fame, or perhaps, pure greed for wealth and power."
Kallen nodded slightly, agreeing with Hua Yi's assessment, before continuing.
"The Schicksal army, seasoned by years of fighting Honkai Beasts, advanced with unstoppable force during the early stages of the Eastern Crusade. That is, until they encountered the hegemon of Shenzhou, the Ming Empire. After several skirmishes, both sides fought a decisive battle on the Kipchak Steppe.
Facing a disadvantageous situation, Schicksal didn't hesitate to use extremely dangerous Honkai Energy weapons. This drew out The Celestial of the Ming Empire. Neither the power of the Honkai nor I could withstand a single blow before that Immortal. Schicksal's plan for the Eastern Crusade failed then and there."
"..."
"After being defeated, I began to ponder the meaning of that crusade. Since the Ming Empire was protected by The Celestial, they could resist the Honkai perfectly well even without Schicksal's power. This fact completely contradicted the organization's previous propaganda about 'spreading Schicksal's glory to protect more people.'
Afterward, a series of actions by the organization made me even more certain that Schicksalor at least that specific group of high-ranking officialsdidn't actually use protecting the people as their code of conduct."
Kallen paused for a moment, looking at Hua Yi and Kiana who were listening intently. "Did you see them just now? The patients on both sides of the street?"
"Yes."
"The failure of the Eastern Crusade caused Schicksal to suffer massive war losses. To compensate, Schicksal began issuing 'Indulgences,' claiming that the public could buy them to lessen their sins. They forced the people to buy them, further aggravating the suffering of the masses while the Black Death raged. That is wrong. I believe it is wrong."
"I think so too!" Kiana nodded heavily in agreement, making Kallen smile.
"Later, I discovered that Schicksal was quietly conducting Honkai experiments, using innocent children and Valkyries as experimental subjects. To prevent these horrific experiments from continuing,
and to prevent the [Black Box] from being used by those with ulterior motives, I stole that dangerous experimental tool and fled all the way to the Far East. There, I met someone, and I hurt her. The [Black Box] turned her into a Pseudo-Herrscher. That was my fault."
"Kallen-sis hurt someone? That's impossible. It must have been an accident, right?" In a short amount of time, Kiana had already developed a very high opinion of Kallen.
Kallen shook her head slightly. "Whether it was intentional or accidental, the result is the same. To hurt her in order to save her... to hurt others to save one person... that in itself is a mistake."
"If you truly think that way, Miss Kallen, then we might get along quite well," Hua Yi said.
His words caused a brief look of confusion to cross Kallen's facea strange sort of bewilderment, as if she were contemplating whether the words she had spoken truly came from her own heart. Then, she nodded firmly.
"Yes. I truly believe that."
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