Her voice stopped abruptly.
The sunlight shifted again, casting long shadows across the floor.
Kiana lowered her head and stared at her hands.
Hands that had once gripped twin pistols and torn through battlefields—now resting quietly on her knees.
"…But every time he came back, he brought me small gifts."
Her voice softened, almost dissolving into the light.
"Sometimes it was a pretty hair clip. Sometimes snacks. Once he brought back a small knife—said he picked it up from some ruins—and told me to keep it for self-defense."
She smiled, real and unguarded.
"He even taught me how to use a gun." Her lips curved a little higher. "His teaching was terrible, but he told me that people from House Kaslana are born fighters. We have to learn to protect ourselves—and we have to learn to protect the people who matter. That's our fate."
Su Yu listened without speaking. The pen in his hand hovered in midair. He didn't want to break this memory.
"The habit of carrying extra ammo on the belt… he taught me that too." Kiana pointed at the diagram, at the dense rows of bullets hanging from the waist. "He said anything can happen on a battlefield. A gun can jam—but you can never have too many bullets. One more bullet… might buy you one more second to live."
She paused, gaze drifting far away.
"Back then I was little. I didn't even know what a battlefield really meant. I just thought carrying all that ammo was heavy."
Outside, a gust of wind stirred the curtains.
"So…" Su Yu began carefully, choosing his words, "the cape… the ammo… they're all—"
"All that idiot's influence," Kiana cut in, grudgingly admitting it. "I keep complaining about him, but my whole body is full of his shadow."
She looked almost irritated at the truth.
"Seriously… I can't shake it off no matter what."
She lifted her head. The dying light of evening reflected in her mismatched eyes.
"But later, that idiot disappeared. I kept looking for him. Asking around. And then I went to Nagazora City, and then…"
Kiana didn't continue.
Because what happened after that—she had already told Su Yu.
"Su Yu."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think… that idiot is still alive?"
"Of course he's alive," Su Yu answered without hesitation.
Kiana's eyes widened slightly. "How can you be that sure?"
"Uh… intuition." Su Yu scratched his head. No way he could tell her, Your dad isn't dead—he's just locked up by your ancestor.
Too many things were still taboo.
And Kiana—this Kiana, who hadn't walked through all those events—might not even be able to feel what those words meant.
If he said them now, it might backfire.
It might make her feel like a deserter who fled into this world… instead of the "Sky Ranger" who became a reverse-falling meteor across the heavens.
"Next one," Su Yu said, sliding out a new sheet and cleanly steering the topic away. "Valkyrie Pledge."
Kiana leaned in for a look, and her smile appeared instantly.
"I like this one a lot."
Su Yu raised an eyebrow.
For the previous suits she'd mostly nitpicked. This was the first time she'd said she liked one outright.
"Looks like a nun outfit," he said, studying it. "Though this skirt… yeah, it's pretty short."
"Mm-hmm. It's based on Schicksal's early standardized Valkyrie uniform." Kiana gestured. "But I had them swap the long skirt for shorts. Way easier to move."
"It looks thin," she continued, "but it's made with Honkai-resistant materials. Better defense than normal uniforms, and it breathes well."
Su Yu typed quickly.
"Schicksal church? So you also do church assignments?"
"Sometimes." Kiana swung her legs. "Schicksal presents itself as a religious organization. Some places need a 'nun' to handle… special situations. This battle suit was made for those missions."
She added, almost proud: "There's a cross hanging from the tassels—super ritualistic. Feels great to use when you fight."
"So you like it because…" Su Yu prompted.
"Because of the word 'Saint.'"
Her voice lowered, shy in a way that didn't match her usual bluntness.
Outside the window, the sky had fully darkened. Streetlights filtered in, painting her white hair in a soft orange glow.
"Whenever I wear this suit, and people call me 'Saint'…" She hugged her knees and rested her chin on them. "It feels… weird."
"What kind of weird?"
Kiana blinked, eyes drifting.
"It's like… being surrounded by something warm. Like… I really could be someone who brings people hope."
She frowned, trying to grasp a memory that wouldn't quite take shape.
"Even though I'm nothing like a real nun. I fight all day, cause trouble, fail culture classes, sneak pudding from the cafeteria… people should call me a troublemaker instead."
"But the word 'Saint' just makes me feel safe."
The room went quiet for a few seconds.
Su Yu didn't demand an explanation.
Some feelings couldn't be explained—like the smell of sunlight on a childhood afternoon, or the first notes of a song.
When they surfaced, they always carried a blurred kind of emotion.
Kiana looked conflicted—like she wanted to laugh but was embarrassed to.
"This suit is kinda… how do I put it… too sacred." She scratched her cheek. "Every time I wear it, I feel like I have to act more 'proper,' or I'm disrespecting the outfit."
"But it's strong, right?" Su Yu asked.
He remembered clearly—back in the early Bloody Abyss days, Valkyrie Pledge was basically a miracle card. No Pledge, and you wanted to clear Abyss? That was basically asking to get crushed.
Even after later updates, she still pulled her weight.
"And," Su Yu added, eyes dropping to the design—shorts, absolute territory, thigh-high socks—his tone turning deliberately pointed, "whoever designed this understood people's hearts. Especially this leg-line shaping…"
"Hey! Where are you even looking?!" Kiana's face flushed as she slapped his shoulder. It didn't hurt. It was closer to a sulky shove than a hit.
"The core is the stigmata power! It can heal allies and bind enemies… it's not for you to stare at my legs!"
"Yes, yes—healing. Healing." Su Yu grinned and typed it down:
Support with damage. Ultimate: time-space lock. Restores allies' HP. Periodic "divine punishment" to apply Weakness.
Primary attribute: holy radiance. Definitely holy radiance.
Kiana propped her cheek on her palm.
"Theresa always says this suit is best for team fights and keeps pushing me to practice… but I think charging in and brawling is way more satisfying."
She laughed at herself.
"Mei always scolds me for rushing in without thinking. Bronya calls me 'idiot Kiana' too. But with this suit, even if I get hurt, I recover fast—so I keep charging."
She spoke more quietly at the end, almost as if it was obvious.
"Because if I'm in front… they won't get hurt."
Su Yu saved the notes.
"A guardian-type suit," he said, looking at her, "paired with someone who always wants to be the first to run forward."
He nodded. "That's your style."
"Of course." Kiana straightened her back, a rare pride showing. "I'm a Kaslana. Protecting comrades is our family's—"
Her voice caught.
Something flickered in her mismatched eyes—complex, like a bruise that had been touched.
But it lasted only an instant.
"…Anyway. That's it." She pulled herself into the corner of the sofa again. "Got anything else to ask?"
Su Yu was about to stand when his gaze swept over the remaining drafts.
The bottom sheet showed a suit in pure white—massive wing-like structures spreading from the back.
"Hold on." He pulled it out. "And this one—White Knight: Moonbeam."
As one of the original S-rank trio, Moonbeam had a lot to say.
Kiana's eyes shifted.
"This one…" Her tone changed.
Not the relaxed nostalgia from earlier, not the evasive flinch of a scar.
Something harder to name.
"Prototype fourth-generation Valkyrie armor," she said slowly. "A godslayer weapon."
"Little KMB?"
"Yeah." Kiana sat up, staring at the draft. "Only S-rank Valkyries were qualified to use it. Final anti-Honkai armament. Compared to the others… it isn't even the same category."
Su Yu noticed the shift in her words.
Not my suit.
That thing.
"Talk me through it?"
Kiana stayed quiet for two seconds, then nodded.
"There are high-speed flowing gamma particles inside." She motioned toward the back. "They spread out from the rear connections and form a pair of huge… light wings."
"Like the wings on the draft?" Su Yu pointed.
"Yeah, but yours aren't big enough. Not dramatic enough." Kiana tilted her head. "When it fully deploys, the light wings extend several meters. Pure white. Bright like moonlight… that's why it's called Moonbeam."
Her voice carried a warrior's admiration for a divine weapon.
"When the floating system activates, I can fly really high. From above, the whole battlefield is under your feet. That feeling… it's like being a god."
Su Yu typed rapidly.
"Weapon loadout?"
"Main weapon is a super-electromagnetic hand cannon, plus a particle heavy cannon. Codename: Gungnir." Kiana mimed aiming. "With Moonbeam's boosters, you rise and strike from above—precision, destructive firepower."
She paused, then quoted, almost deadpan:
"'Before the White Knight's spear of light, all evil has nowhere to hide.' That's what the manual says."
Su Yu snorted. "That's… extremely chuuni."
"It is." Kiana actually didn't argue this time. She laughed once. "But it's also true. It's strong."
She leaned back again.
"There's also 'Light Wing Deployment.' Military long-range extermination mode." Her tone flattened like she was reading specs. "Dozens of gamma particle streams extend from the back. It can lock onto up to fifty targets at once."
"Fifty?"
"Mm." Kiana nodded. "That wasn't the suit's limit. That was my limit back then. That's why it's called a godslayer suit. Against normal Honkai beast swarms, that kind of firepower ends them in one volley."
Su Yu's brain ran fast as he typed.
This suit's performance was leagues above the previous ones. As a "game form," it would definitely become a pinnacle kit.
He asked, "How did you get permission to use it?"
Kiana's fingers stopped.
"…Someone helped me unlock it."
Her voice softened, stiff around the edges.
"Who?"
"…Someone not very likable."
Kiana didn't say the name.
She looked down, fingertips unconsciously pinching her clothes.
Su Yu didn't push. He knew.
He typed instead:
Unlocked via special channel. Details to be filled later.
Kiana looked up, a flash of gratitude passing through her eyes.
The room settled into a quiet pause.
"But this suit is genuinely cool," Su Yu said lightly, looking at the draft. "Pure white armor. Massive light wings. Heavy cannon descending from the sky… the visuals are insane. Absolute poster-child."
"Obviously." Kiana's mood brightened again. "When I wear Moonbeam, it feels like… like…"
She searched, then found the word.
"Like a real knight. A white knight who protects everything."
Su Yu wrote:
White Knight: Moonbeam — one of Kiana's peak forms. Keywords: holy, judgment, moonlight, wings.
And yes, he made a private note to himself: don't forget the iconic spin-shooting sequence.
"In the game," Su Yu said at the right moment, "this will be one of your strongest forms. When you start spinning, it'll look like a gorgeous dance of death."
He turned his head to look at her.
"And I think this suit fits you best—because your name means 'Moon Goddess,' doesn't it?"
Kiana turned toward him and met his gaze head-on.
They were close—close enough to catch the faint scent of the same lemon-scented body wash, clean and subtly intimate.
"…Really?" she asked softly, uncertain.
"I can really handle it? It's so strong…"
"Of course." Su Yu reached out and gently patted her head.
"You're Kiana Kaslana. There's no suit in the world you can't master."
Kiana didn't dodge his hand.
Like a cat being stroked the right way, she narrowed her eyes slightly, shoulders relaxing bit by bit.
"Then…" she mumbled, voice carrying a hint of childish insistence.
"Make it cooler. If it isn't cool, I'm not wearing it. My taste is very high."
"Yes, ma'am, Valkyrie." Su Yu laughed and stacked the drafts.
Right then, the doorbell rang.
"The pizza's here. Extra cheese."
Kiana's eyes lit up instantly—brighter than Moonbeam.
Because no matter the world, the Kaslana appetite was absolute.
....
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