The roaring accompanied by intense tremors came, but it was blocked outside by a warm embrace and could not harm Shun inside in the slightest. Shun raised his head in confusion. What met his eyes was not blazing flames, but a refreshing green.
Spreading trees enveloped the figures of the two. Outside were raging fires and scorched earth, while inside were pleasant spring breezes and green fields.
Shun blinked and shifted his gaze upward, meeting a pair of worried and concerned azure blue eyes.
"Thank goodness, you're alright!" The person pulled him tightly into her arms. With her movement, a flash of white passed by.
White hair, blue eyes, and that familiar yet strange voice—Shun already knew who had saved him from the Honkai energy fission bombs.
"Tha…" The word "thank" didn't leave his mouth. The slight trembling coming from the embrace left Shun frozen in place.
"It's so good that I could save you in the end." Cecilia closed her eyes and gently rubbed Shun's head. The fragile expression she showed did not look at all like Schicksal's strongest S-rank Valkyrie.
He was actually being thanked… Clearly he was the one who had been saved, yet it felt as if Cecilia had received redemption. Shun did not dwell on this too much, because Cecilia was simply that kind of person, which was why she was loved and respected by all Valkyries.
At the same time, the Abyss Flower that Cecilia had thrust into the ground restlessly rubbed against Shun. The breath of life once again enveloped him.
Shun felt the dormant blessing from the Holy Lance's Welwitschia mirabilis inside his body activate once more.
Shun looked at the Abyss Flower with a complicated expression. If he guessed correctly, this Divine Key definitely had some connection with him, such as… the Previous Era.
"Thank goodness…" Cecilia continued to murmur on the side. From another perspective, since the bombing had been initiated by Schicksal, as a Valkyrie, saving as many people as possible was also a form of self-redemption for her.
Cecilia was somewhat afraid. If it weren't for Abyss Flower's life detection picking up this child from far away and continuously conveying the information to her, she would not have been able to save him at the last moment.
Time rewound to when Cecilia and the others were still at Schicksal's airport. She had heard an unbelievable piece of news from Shigure Kira.
"What? Lord Bishop wants to use all the Honkai energy fission bombs in the arsenal to bomb Siberia?"
"I'm sorry, Lady Cecilia. Lord Bishop said that with hundreds of thousands of Honkai beasts existing in Siberia, if we don't deal with them, we won't be able to subjugate the Herrscher."
What Shigure Kira said was not wrong. Even if there were hundreds of thousands of pigs scattered across Siberia instead of Honkai beasts, it would be extremely difficult to kill them all at once.
"But… what if there are still people inside who haven't evacuated?"
In reality, within the hundreds of kilometers centered around Moscow, the possibility of any living people remaining was extremely slim. The Second Eruption had arrived too suddenly. The hundreds of thousands of Honkai beasts that appeared in an extremely short time had become butchers wandering the snowy plains.
"Kira, how much longer until Lord Bishop launches the missiles?" Cecilia had made up her mind. Even if no one was alive, she still had to go there to investigate. Otherwise… her conscience would not be at ease.
"There's still half a day… Eh, Lady Cecilia!" Shigure Kira reached out, wanting to pull back Cecilia who had suddenly run off, but unfortunately, as an A-rank Valkyrie, she had no chance of stopping the strongest S-rank Valkyrie.
"Kira, don't stop Cecilia. Once she makes up her mind, no one can stop her. Besides, she has Abyss Flower with her. Grandpa's Honkai energy fission bombs can't harm her."
Theresa stepped forward, stood on tiptoe to pat Shigure Kira's shoulder, and comforted her.
This was roughly how things had unfolded… Riding on Schicksal's transport plane, Cecilia arrived in Siberia. She searched from the edge of the area affected by the Second Eruption but found no signs of life.
Just as Cecilia was about to fall into despair, Abyss Flower suddenly gave her information that it had detected a life sign.
She didn't dare to think further. She only tightened her arms a few more degrees.
"Mm…" Shun's vision went dark. What was covering his eyes? Help me, I can't breathe!
Fortunately, Cecilia quickly noticed the abnormality in her arms and hurriedly loosened her grip, allowing the nearly suffocating Shun to catch his breath.
He was speechless. If he hadn't died from the Honkai energy fission bombs but instead died from a chest-kill incident, that would be too ridiculous.
Having nearly died twice in just a few short minutes, Shun felt rather helpless. How could Cecilia look so dazed? Could someone like this really take good care of Kiana?
"Don't worry anymore, child. You're safe now." Cecilia straightened Shun's slightly messy hair and said gently, "I'll take you to a safe place later. Do you still have family?"
Shun thought for a moment: Ana was still so young right now? It wasn't convenient to mention the others for the time being. The only family he had left in this world was probably Sirin, but he couldn't just reveal everything directly.
"Hey, the Herrscher of the Void you're going to subjugate is my only remaining family." If he said that, even the kind-hearted Cecilia might inevitably think of using him to threaten Sirin.
So Shun shook his head decisively: "No."
Cecilia pressed Shun's head with some sadness. That made sense. After searching for so long, she had only found Shun as a living person. Even if he once had a happy and complete family, it was probably gone now.
"I'm sorry, child. If you're willing, you can call me 'Sister'." Cecilia felt a pang of sympathy. If she had saved many people on this trip, she would probably have placed this child with high Honkai energy adaptability into the St. Freya Academy she planned to establish at most.
But now, after rushing about for so long, she had only saved one child. This also made her feel a sense of fate and gave rise to the idea of taking him with her.
Call Cecilia "Sister"? Wouldn't that mess up the generations? However, if he could build a connection with Cecilia right now, the chances of finding Sirin would increase significantly.
After weighing the pros and cons, Shun nodded with apparent difficulty and, acting like a child matching his appearance, called out, "Sister."
After a while, Shun had some basic exchanges with Cecilia. Only when the roaring sounds outside had weakened did she release the protection of Abyss Flower.
"This is Cecilia…" It seemed something was said in the earpiece, but the voice was too soft and Shun didn't hear it clearly. Cecilia immediately spoke with an apologetic tone: "Sorry for making you worry. I rescued a boy at Red Square in Moscow. Kira, can you help me hand him over to Theresa later?"
Theresa? Shun heard this familiar name. Was he about to meet Theresa from fourteen years ago? He hadn't seen her yet…
Oh, wait. Actually, Theresa from four years ago still looked the same as now.
But the person communicating with Cecilia seemed to be Shigure Kira?
I missed you, Herrscher of Death.