Chapter 55: Uncle Yang: The Honkai Didn't Let Me Go in the End
Rekka stared at the medical pod, mentally pulling up the files on the horned girl inside. For those unacquainted with the chaotic cosmos, the names Rozaliya and Liliya might not mean much. But piecing together the fractured data made the picture agonizingly clear.
Soothing a manic Rozaliya was a monumental headache. Especially this specific variant. This Rozaliya had already lost her twin sister, Liliya. The only faint trace of Liliya's consciousness clung to existence within the mechanical appendage of Rozaliya's tail.
They were just kids. Immature, chaotic children dragged from a universe far crueler than most. They had both undergone brutal modification surgeries. Rozaliya survived the process intact. Liliya did not, left comatose on a cold hospital bed.
And now, the Liliya belonging to this specific Rozaliya was entirely gone.
The loss drove Rozaliya into violent, manic episodes. She constantly felt as though Liliya was right there, standing just out of sight, yet no matter how frantically she searched, she could never find her. That agonizing grief manifested into a highly volatile ability. By mixing her unstable emotions with raw Honkai Factors, she produced a viscous, neon substance resembling graffiti paint. Anything it touched suffered a barrage of debilitating status effects. In a fight, Delta's combat style was a chaotic explosion of color, rivaling the Galaxy Ranger Rappa's penchant for splashing neon paint across the battlefield.
A sharp crack shattered the silence of the medical bay.
Rozaliya smashed her fist through the reinforced glass of her pod. Fluid spilled across the floor as she dragged herself out, her legs wobbling violently beneath her.
"Can't sleep..." she mumbled, her voice a ragged rasp. "Can't pass out... Li... Liliya..."
She fought a losing battle against her own heavy eyelids. The brightly lit room spun. The concerned faces of Rekka and March 7th fractured into dizzying double images before her knees buckled, plunging her into complete darkness.
"Three, two, one," Rekka counted down calmly.
Thud.
Her body hit the floor. Rekka simply waved a hand. A ceiling-mounted mechanical arm whirred to life, gently scooping up the unconscious girl and depositing her into an intact Treatment Pod.
"Hmm..." Rekka stroked his chin, watching the pod seal shut. "It might be necessary to call Uncle Yang over for a consultation."
"Lili... ya... don't... go..."
The girl's clawed fingers scratched futilely against the glass from inside the Restoration Fluid. She reached out, desperately trying to grasp a phantom that had long since dissipated into the void. Her breathing hitched, growing rapid and shallow. Her eyelids twitched violently. She was trapped in a terrible, suffocating nightmare.
"She is having a nightmare." March 7th pressed her hands against the glass, her bright eyes clouded with pity. "Should we wake her up? She looks so miserable like this."
"We can't." Rekka shook his head. His fingers flew across the holographic console, rapidly adjusting the fluid composition to increase the dosage of sedatives. "What she needs right now is absolute rest. If we force her awake in the middle of a panic attack, she will only become more manic."
March 7th fell silent, watching the pink-haired girl slowly relax as the sedatives took hold.
Rekka stared at the scrolling data streams, his brow furrowing into a tight knot. This situation was far from simple. The physical damage was manageable, but the core issue lay entirely on the mental and conscious levels. Liliya's remaining consciousness, anchored to the tail, was dangerously fragile.
To Rozaliya, it felt as though she had drifted through an endlessly long, suffocating dream.
When her eyes finally fluttered open again, the blinding anxiety and explosive anger had dulled to a manageable ache. Her initial waking moments were still highly unstable, her instincts screaming at her to fight. But then Rekka made a promise. He told her she could stay aboard the Hyperion, resting until her physical condition completely stabilized. And more, he promised that given enough time, they could awaken Liliya's dormant consciousness.
Hearing that, Rozaliya immediately went silent.
"Don't move," Rekka instructed, his tone calm but firm. "This is a specialized device. It periodically injects Honkai Energy Inhibitors directly into your bloodstream to prevent your body from collapsing due to cellular rejection from Liliya's modifications."
He snapped a sleek metal bracelet around Rozaliya's wrist. It locked into place with a quiet hiss.
"Alright," Rekka said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "From now on, you are my temporary crew member. I won't ever force you to stay. But until Liliya's consciousness fully wakes up, you follow my orders. Understood?"
Rozaliya stared at the metal band on her wrist. "...How long?"
"What was that?"
"To wake up Liliya," she repeated, her voice hoarse but steady. "How long will it take?"
Rekka crossed his arms, genuinely considering the variables. "I am not entirely sure. Her consciousness is incredibly weak right now. It needs time to be carefully nurtured back to a stable state. If we get lucky and the process is fast, maybe a few days. If it is slow... it might take a few weeks."
"A few weeks," Rozaliya echoed, the words tasting heavy on her tongue.
"Right," Rekka nodded. "And during those weeks, you need to fully cooperate with the treatment plan. You eat on time, you sleep on time, and you absolutely do not go around smashing my expensive medical equipment like you just did." He pointed an accusing finger at the shattered remnants of the first Treatment Pod lying in the corner.
Rozaliya glared at him, her eyes flashing with a dangerous, feral light. "...If you dare to make fun of me using Liliya's situation... if this is a trick... I will definitely kill you."
"Got it, got it. Message received loud and clear," Rekka replied, waving a hand dismissively.
Despite his incredibly perfunctory attitude, Rozaliya felt the tight knot in her chest loosen just a fraction. Against all her survival instincts, she felt an unexpected sense of trust toward this chaotic stranger.
"You actually managed to abduct her back just like that. You really are something else." Stelle leaned against the wall of the parlor car, offering Rekka a highly approving thumbs up.
"So I guess this makes me a veteran crew member now," Stelle declared proudly.
"What kind of veteran are you?" Rekka shot back, raising an eyebrow.
"What is wrong with claiming that? I got on the train before she did. That makes me her senior."
"Rozaliya is merely hitching a ride. She is not officially on board the Astral Express," Welt Yang corrected gently. He adjusted his glasses, stealing yet another complicated glance at this uniquely fused version of Rozaliya.
Deep in his mind, a single, exhausted thought echoed on a loop: 'Why hasn't the Honkai let me go yet?'
He already understood the specifics of her tragic situation, but seeing a face from his old universe dragged into this new cosmic mess was exhausting. Forget it. He sighed internally.
"What is wrong with hitching a ride? Hitching a ride still means she is sitting on our train," Stelle wagged her finger in a gesture of absolute authority. "Besides, she literally fell out of that weird circle Rekka made. What a massive coincidence. If we round up the numbers, she is practically half one of our own already. By the way, Rekka, did someone put you in charge of recruiting people for the Astral Express?"
"It really does seem like it," March 7th chimed in, her hands on her hips. "Rekka has only been on board for a few days, and he has already recruited two people to become Trailblazers."
Hearing those words, Dan Heng crossed his arms, his stoic expression twisting into something deeply complicated.
"Two?" Stelle blinked, looking around the room. "Who else? Rozaliya is just hitching a ride, right?"
"Nanook," Dan Heng stated flatly.
"Nanook?" Stelle tilted her head, her face a mask of pure confusion. "Which Nanook?"
"...The Aeon of Destruction," Dan Heng clarified, his voice heavy.
Whenever this particular incident was brought up, Dan Heng felt an overwhelming urge to massage his temples. Rekka really was an absolute anomaly. The sheer absurdity of his existence was staggering.
"Eh?" Stelle's jaw dropped. "Rekka pulled the actual Aeon of Destruction onto the train?"
"Yes," Dan Heng nodded.
"And then what? Did he stay on board?"
Dan Heng fell completely silent for two full seconds, staring blankly at the wall. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because he turned into Rekka's exact appearance, stayed on the Astral Express for an entire day doing absolutely nothing, and then turned back at midnight."
Stelle's brain visibly short-circuited. She held up both hands, trying to process the sheer scale of the cosmic absurdity. "Wait, wait, wait. You are telling me... the literal Aeon of Destruction turned into Rekka and just hung out on the train for a whole day?"
"Yes."
"And did absolutely nothing destructive?"
"Yes."
"Then just packed up and left?"
"Yes."
Stelle slowly turned her head, looking at Rekka with a completely new, terrifyingly reverent gaze. "Bro. Teach me. I want to learn this too."
"Learn what?" Rekka asked, taking a cautious step back.
"Pulling Aeons onto the train!" Stelle declared, speaking as if abducting cosmic gods was the most natural hobby in the universe. "I want to abduct three or five Aeons onto the train too. Think of the utility!"
"Theoretically, you do not need to learn how," Dan Heng interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Because sometimes Rekka himself might just turn into a certain Aeon, or manifest a physical part of an Aeon."
Dan Heng found the entire concept painfully abstract just thinking about it. Rekka had casually mentioned to him earlier that, while aligned with the Path of Destruction, he could semi-actively and gradually transform his physical vessel into Nanook.
After processing Dan Heng's grim narration, Stelle stood in absolute silence for three full seconds. Then, she whipped her head back toward Rekka, her golden eyes practically sparkling with unadulterated worship.
"So you are basically carrying around an Aeon Trial Card? You can just log in and turn into Nanook whenever you want?"
"Theoretically, yes," Rekka corrected, raising a finger to temper her dangerous enthusiasm. "But in practice, the risk is astronomically huge. Because I am not actually Nanook. I did not ascend to godhood through the proper cosmic channels. I used a massive shortcut to cheat the system, which is exactly why there are severe operational problems."
"Oh, I get it," Stelle nodded sagely, slamming her fist into her palm. "So it is exactly like borrowing a max-level account, but being way too much of a noob to actually know how to play the class, right?"
Rekka stared at her, utterly defeated by the flawless gamer logic.
"...Pretty much. In short, a true Aeon's actions are completely unrestricted by the universe. But when I log into an Aeon's account, my actions are heavily restricted by my own mortal hardware."
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