"Little Kiana, close your eyes and get ready. Something amazing is about to happen."
"Oh! Big brother, what are you going to do? Is it a surprise?" Kiana obediently closed her eyes.
The next second, the white-haired girl felt a cool breeze rush past her face, and everything around her suddenly became vast and open. Curious, she opened her eyes, only to be left completely stunned.
Just a moment ago, she had been at home, yet in the blink of an eye, she was now in the sky. Kiana kept looking around, her beautiful eyes sparkling with excitement.
The golden hues of the sunset painted half the sky, casting a fiery glow upon the clouds, making them look as if they had been set ablaze. Instinctively, Kiana reached out, as if trying to grasp them. Meanwhile, the other half of the sky had already been adorned with twinkling stars, a breathtaking celestial display that seemed almost within reach.
"Amazing! Big brother, are you a magician?"
"Haha, if little Kiana thinks so, then I am."
Elias ruffled the fluffy white-haired girl's head, feeling a strong urge to have one just like her at home.
At this point in the simulation, he had already lost count of how many storylines he had changed. Sirin survived. Cecilia survived. Cheng Lixue survived. Welt had not repeatedly perished. It was practically a perfect ending where no one had been harmed.
He could no longer predict what the world would be like when he returned to his original timeline. But…
Since he had already changed so much—
Then a little more wouldn't hurt!
Leaving little Kiana in Schicksal would likely mean that she would become Otto's hostage to threaten Cecilia and the others in the future.
So, Elias figured that while he still had the chance, he might as well rescue this little girl from Schicksal.
Who would have thought that the massive army of tens of thousands of Honkai Beasts attacking Schicksal was merely a diversion?
"Yay! Yay! Big brother, I want to go inside that cloud over there. Can you take me?"
"Haha, of course! But you have to hold on tight, okay?"
Holding Kiana in his arms, Elias flew through the sky with Durandal, constantly teleporting through space. The little girl wasn't the least bit afraid; instead, she was cheering excitedly.
At the same time, Elias noticed that she was holding a yellow rabbit plushie—Homu.
"I really don't understand what's so cute about this yellow rabbit… Eh? Little Kiana, do you like this?"
"I love Homu! But actually, I like cats even more. But Mommy said I'm still too young, and that keeping a cat would be dangerous, so I have to wait until I grow up."
Kiana pouted in mild dissatisfaction.
"...That's true for normal kids, but for a Kaslana child, I think the one in danger would be the cat instead."
Elias blinked and made a factual statement.
"Also, this Homu was given to me by a blonde big brother. He said it was a gift from Mommy… But honestly, I don't really like this Homu that much." Kiana frowned cutely and tugged at Homu's arm.
For some reason, she instinctively felt a bit of dislike towards this Homu, but since it was a gift from her mother, she decided to cherish it anyway.
However, upon hearing this, Elias' expression changed.
A blonde big brother?
"Little Kiana, let me take a look at that."
"Eh? Oh, okay!"
"…Otto, you—!"
Taking the yellow rabbit plushie, Elias squeezed it slightly and immediately felt something hard inside. Without hesitation, he tore open the plushie and pulled out the hidden object within.
"Huh? There's something weird inside Homu's belly! Eh, big brother, why did you break it?"
"Kiana, don't move! Haaah!"
Elias' expression changed drastically.
He pulled out a glowing red transmitter from inside Homu's belly—but that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was the mini bomb inside, radiating the same energy as a Honkai Fissile Bomb.
And it was already in the process of detonating. At this point, neither using the Herrscher of the Void's power to teleport it away nor simply throwing it would be fast enough.
Elias shielded Kiana in his arms as much as possible with one hand while tightly gripping the mini Honkai Fissile Bomb with the other.
Boom—!!!
Even a micro-bomb infused with Honkai energy was more than ten times as powerful as C4. Elias, already in a near-death state, and the Kiana in his arms were blasted away—
Like birds struck by a hunter, they plummeted from the sky.
…
The two crashed into a dense forest.
Elias' left arm had been completely blown away, but he paid it no mind. His only concern was Kiana.
Feeling the warmth of fresh blood soaking his right hand, Elias was certain—it wasn't his own.
He had already lost so much blood that even if someone cut his veins now, barely anything would flow out.
"Cough… cough! Kiana? Little Kiana? Are you okay…? Damn it!"
Although Elias had used his left arm to absorb most of the explosion, some shrapnel still managed to pierce through and hit Kiana at such close range.
And on top of that, they had fallen from thousands of meters in the air…
"Damn it, I won't let the timeline correct itself here! There's no way I'm letting you die!"
Elias growled angrily.
In the original story, Kiana had also fallen from thousands of meters, struck in the head by debris from an aircraft, and crash-landed into the depths of a snowy mountain—yet she had still miraculously survived.
But that was years in the future.
Right now, Kiana was only two years old! Without hesitation, Elias activated the Herrscher of Death's power at full force to heal her.
Fortunately, even on the verge of complete exhaustion, the power of a Herrscher was still a Herrscher's power. As long as the person wasn't instantly killed and had even a sliver of breath left, he could drag them back from the brink of death.
Kiana's wounds stabilized immediately.
But at that moment, footsteps sounded from nearby.
"Tch!"
Elias clicked his tongue but didn't look up, staying focused on healing Kiana.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel frustrated. In other novels, whenever someone crossed into the world of Honkai Impact, Otto either became dumber or handed over victories too easily. But reality wasn't a power fantasy novel.
Only after facing him firsthand could one truly understand—
Otto Apocalypse was a terrifying enemy.
"Herrscher of the Void, we meet again."
"Your Excellency, please be careful. I still—"
"No need to worry, Amber. Can't you see? This benevolent Herrscher is using the last of his strength to heal Kiana Kaslana. Even if we do nothing, he has no energy left for anything else."
Otto gestured for Amber to lower her weapon. The Honkai energy detector in his hand confirmed that the Honkai energy concentration in this so-called Herrscher of the Void had dropped to an absurdly low level.
Even the weakest of Honkai Beasts was now stronger than Elias. Otto even began to wonder—
Was Elias truly using Honkai energy to heal Kiana?
Or was he sacrificing his own life force?
The treatment soon came to an end.
Elias, his expression calm, held little Kiana in his arms as he leaned against a large tree and sat down. He gently patted the white-haired girl's head before lifting his gaze toward Otto.
"..."
"..."
The two stared at each other in silence.
Surprisingly, it was Otto who looked away first. Not because he felt guilty or ashamed, but because…
The young man before him was pure, untainted, noble, and flawless. Otto couldn't help but feel that, as a villain, merely looking at Elias was an act of desecration. Even allowing his gaze to rest upon him felt like a filthy stain.
"Here and now, Otto Apocalypse offers you the highest respect, Herrscher of the Void."
"…Otto, you are the most contradictory person I have ever met."
Otto smiled. "Indeed. But distortion and contradiction have always been synonymous with Otto Apocalypse. Still, do not mind it. Though you and I are fated to be mortal enemies, that does not prevent me from offering you my praise, my admiration… and my envy."