"Have you tried to escape this death loop before?"
Kiana fumbled to find a weapon, wanting to resist those rampaging Honkai Beasts, but Evan was talking to Kallen.
He had already noticed the annihilation spreading continuously from the edge of the city, that hazy boundary. Everything was gradually disappearing. Before long, this place would return to cold data, then once again become a stage to perform the same show from the beginning.
Evan's abrupt words made Kiana, who had been a little anxious, show a dumbfounded expression. This idiot still hadn't noticed the difference between Kallen and the other virtual personalities.
Kallen revealed a powerless smile and looked into the distance. There, a Honkai Beast was gradually approaching.
"I tried. I tried to stop Otto in advance, and I also tried to dodge the fatal strike of the Honkai Beast that would kill me. But they all failed. At the wrong time, I couldn't do extra things. When I wanted to stop Otto in advance, I found I couldn't contact him before today. When I wanted to avoid that fatal attack, I found that attack would repeat until the moment I was exhausted and unable to resist."
So Kallen had never thought of running away while ignoring the Honkai Beasts, even after she discovered the anomaly here.
The Honkai Beast in the distance was getting closer and closer. Kallen, who still had energy left, didn't stand up. She sat on the ground a little wearily.
"When did it start, I wonder? I discovered that the people and things around me were cyclically performing scripts that had already been set. At the end of the script, I would be killed by a Honkai Beast. When I woke up again, I would find myself back to the day before, just captured by Schicksal's people and locked in a cell."
The Honkai Beast was already close at hand, but Kallen ignored it and continued talking.
"After going through countless cycles, I found I was just an actor in this looping performance. I wanted to change it but couldn't. Until you appeared—Evan, and Kiana. You made this cycle full of difference. Thank you."
Turning her head to look at that familiar Honkai Beast, which represented the end of her life, raising its claws, Kallen closed her eyes.
She suddenly hoped that Evan and Kiana could appear in the next cycle, but quickly dismissed this thought.
She was just an unknown entity trapped in this city, whose life could never exceed two days. Those memories of unknown origin had become blurred and unfamiliar in this constantly repeating cycle.
The Far East, and Yae Sakura—that place and that person, she had never even been to or seen.
The real Kallen's story was wonderful, but her own story ended here. Evan and Kiana probably had no interest in repeatedly reading a brief story. It was time for them to leave.
Feeling the wind from the Honkai Beast's claws swinging at her, Kallen, with her eyes closed, smiled faintly.
This different story would become a memory she couldn't forget. After all, this was something she truly experienced.
"What I want to bring you is not just a difference in one cycle. It's time to write a new story, Kallen."
Hearing Evan's voice and feeling that wind suddenly disappear, Kallen snapped her eyes open.
Then, she saw that Evan now held a weapon in his hand—a katana, affecting everything around it in a way invisible to the naked eye.
This space was about to collapse completely. The people, Honkai Beasts, and buildings in the distance had all disappeared. What remained was only the area where Kallen was, and that Honkai Beast about to end Kallen's life. With Kallen's death, everything would return to nothingness and start the next cycle.
But Jizo Mitama changed everything.
The so-called "Jizo" originally referred to the one who governs reincarnation. Since the master willed it, reincarnation should naturally be rewritten.
[Jizo Mitama] was a Divine Key left by the previous civilization for future generations, made from the Core of the Herrscher of Corruption as an anti-Honkai weapon. Although the [Jizo Mitama · Void] held by Evan seemed to have a different meaning, at this moment, in this virtual space about to collapse, it was the true [Jizo Mitama].
Erode, then take control.
The power of the Herrscher of Corruption possessed by [Jizo Mitama] began to devour this weak space on the verge of destruction. The originally stable program was defenseless before a more powerful force. When a controller with higher authority appeared, everything began to be rewritten.
The Honkai Beast that was destined to bring death to Kallen had already disappeared. The annihilation in the distance continued, but with Evan holding [Jizo Mitama] as the center, a radius of ten meters became a pure land separated from the world, no longer affected by external destruction.
Kiana already showed a dazed expression due to this development beyond imagination. Evan extended his hand to Kallen, who sat on the ground with a similarly bewildered expression.
"I don't know what your true identity is, but I can confirm that you are not a virtual personality like the other people in this space. You are a special existence. Do you want to see a wider world? Perhaps I can take you there."
Looking at the hand so close before her, Kallen, who had been prepared to welcome death, gradually showed hope in her eyes. She tremblingly extended her own hand, and Evan's voice continued.
"Perhaps you will fall into a deep sleep. Perhaps you will still be trapped in a small area, because I can't perfectly control this weapon yet. Its form of existence is also very special. But this situation won't last too long. I can guarantee it. So, have you made up your mind?"
Kallen's hand, extended halfway, paused briefly, then grasped that unknown yet certainly different hope at a faster speed. The girl revealed a smile.
"Yes. I do."
This was the first time in this story repeated countless times, lasting only two days, that the girl showed a pure smile.
Very beautiful.
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