Interesting...
Otto stood to one side, watching the scene unfold with an expression of cold detachnt.
Around them, the Second Divine Key, the Cosmic Juggernaut, was still humming through its operational cycles.
Yet, the great machine detected nothing—no energy fluctuations, no spikes, nothing.
Kallen's disappearance and the sudden arrival of the real Kiana had happened in the blink of an eye, leaving no electronic signature behind.
But what truly occupied Otto's mind at that mont was the nature of this newcor. Was she truly Kiana Kaslana, or was she... yet another clone?
"Kiana!"
Raiden i dropped to her knees, gathering the real Kiana into her arms. She could sll the acrid stench of gunpowder clinging to the girl's clothes, mixed with the heavy, tallic scent of blood.
Every sense told i the sa terrifying truth: the girl before her had just co from a nightmare of a battlefield.
"i! Let see!" Theresa rushed over, kneeling beside them. Her small hand pressed firmly against the girl's neck. "There's a pulse! It's faint... but she's alive!"
Nearby, Hiko was already on her phone, barking orders to the St. Freya Academy dical departnt. "Prepare an ergency d-bay imdiately! We have a critically injured patient! Yes, we're on the east side of Golden Beach in Sapphire City. Get here now!"
The resident Kiana stood frozen, staring at the version of herself cradled in i's arms. That face—a mirror image of her own—was a map of scars and dried blood.
The girl's eyes were clamped shut, but even in unconsciousness, her brow was furrowed with exhaustion. Her silver hair, once long and proud, was matted with sand and gore. Even her Valkyrie armor was shattered beyond recognition.
Watching this, Kiana couldn't help but whisper, "She... she just said... 'You guys... are still alive'?"
Bronya walked up to Kiana's side, her silver-gray eyes clouded with a complex mix of emotions. "That implies... in her world... everyone might already be..."
Bronya trailed off, but the implication hung heavy in the air.
"Don't talk about that yet!" i snapped, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked up. "We need to get her back! Now!"
In that mont, i thought she heard a hallucination ringing in her ears.
"Herrscher activity detected…"
No, it wasn't a hallucination. Deep within her, the consciousness of the Herrscher had been stirred.
Hiko and Yae Sakura moved in, working together to carefully lift the wounded girl. The others quickly surrounded them, each lending a hand to support her weight as they hurried off the beach.
Under the cold moonlight, the real Kiana's blood-stained face twisted in pain. Even in her coma, she seed trapped in a horrific nightmare.
"Everyone..." Her voice was so thin it was almost a ghost of a sound. "Everyone is dead... Theresa... i... Bronya... The Sovereign of Anti-Entropy... he betrayed us..."
Theresa's footsteps faltered. She ca to a dead stop.
"The Sovereign of Anti-Entropy?" she whispered, her voice cracking with shock.
Theresa knew exactly who the Sovereign was. In fact, she knew he was currently masquerading as a history teacher at her own academy! The others were equally paralyzed by the girl's haunting words.
Everyone is dead? Just what kind of hell had this Kiana crawled out of?
"Get moving!" Hiko's voice was grim. "We'll get the truth when she wakes up."
Back on the sand, Otto watched the retreating figures of the St. Freya group. A thoughtful glint flickered in his erald eyes.
"Welt... a traitor?"
The corners of his mouth curled into a slight smirk, a hint of dark amusent and anticipation dancing in his expression.
Having just watched Kallen die before his eyes once again, Otto was in a foul mood—vile, even. In five hundred years, he had rarely felt a rage this cold. But now, it seed he had found a vent for it.
"How very interesting..."
Rita Rossweisse stepped to his side, bowing slightly. "Lord Overseer, shall I follow them?"
"No." Otto shook his head. "Let them handle it for now. My presence would only complicate things." He wasn't yet sure if this 'Real Kiana' knew anything about his future designs. "Rita."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Continue the intelligence gathering. And ensure you secure a copy of her statents, along with her genetic and blood samples."
"Understood."
As Rita turned to leave, Otto remained on the beach, murmuring to the wind. "Another visitor from a parallel world... and this ti, it seems she cos from one... teetering on the brink of total annihilation."
A short while later, at St. Freya Academy.
"How is she?"
Theresa stood in the dical wing, cornering the doctor who had just finished the ergency procedures.
"Her vital signs are weak but stable," the doctor reported grimly. "However, the Honkai erosion in her system is severe, and she has multiple traumatic injuries. We found traces of standard Anti-Entropy Titan gunpowder in her wounds, along with fragnts of Honkai Beast limbs."
Theresa fell silent. The doctor's report corroborated the girl's delirious warnings.
In another world... had Welt Yang really turned traitor during a mission? Had he killed everyone? Why?
Theresa found it impossible to believe. She couldn't wrap her head around why the man who had fought alongside humanity—alongside Siegfried—would do such a thing.
"You can go in and see her now, but please, do not disturb her recovery."
"Thank you. We appreciate it."
Once the doctor left, the group filed into the room. They stood around the dical pod, staring at the girl inside with a heavy silence. Kiana gazed at the other version of herself, her face a mask of confusion, worry, and a deep-seated, naless fear.
"Principal?" i turned to Theresa, her eyes still red-rimd.
"She's out of imdiate danger," Theresa said softly, trying to offer so semblance of comfort. "But it will be so ti before she regains consciousness."
A collective sigh of relief rippled through the room. But Theresa's next words tightened the knot in their chests all over again.
"Those things she said before she passed out... what do you make of them?"
Silence reclaid the room. After a long mont, Kiana was the first to speak. Her voice was low and hollow.
"She said... everyone was dead. Theresa, i, Bronya... all dead." Her voice rasped. "And she said the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy betrayed them."
Theresa opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated and closed it.
"Let's just wait for her to wake up," Hiko sighed, the weight of the night pressing down on her. "Right now, we're all just guessing in the dark."
No one felt like going back to the dorms. They stayed there in the sterile quiet of the ward, keeping watch over the girl in the pod, their hearts heavy with the shadow of a world they didn't know.
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