That last exclamation mark—she pressed it hard.
Like if she pressed hard enough, the wish would come true.
The chat fell silent for a few seconds.
If this were a galgame, this would be the key option that locked you onto the True End route.
[AAA Customer Service Xiao Xiang]: …
[AAA Customer Service Xiao Xiang]: A happy life… Even if there's only a tiny chance, you still want to grab it. That feeling is… kind of dazzling.
"Changing your life, huh…"
Bai Qian leaned back in his chair and stared out at the starry sky.
Who didn't want to change their life?
Sakiko wanted her pay docked less. Rin wanted to win the Holy Grail War. Talulah wanted the Infected to stop suffering from Oripathy.
miHoYo really did have no heart.
But he did!
He was the Heart-Thief Crew's Lao Da!
Sure, the "Heart-Thief Crew" currently had exactly one member—him—but he could still tear false gods apart and kick Adam into the dirt!
What was the point of only he being happy? He'd make the whole group happy!
He'd build the Heart-Thief Crew here—the one he never managed to truly assemble even after beating a false god in his own world.
Ten-year veteran thief—blood still hot!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Alright. I got your request!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Since you're a member of the Heart-Thief Crew, then as the Heart-Thief Crew's Lao Da, I'll give you a hand!
[Want Campus Springtime With Mei]: Thanks, Lao Da! Wait—when did I become a member?!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: The moment you yelled "My name is Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da," I knew you had potential!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Just wait—I'm about to grind out your entire first-half "life cutscene" right now!
Talk was cheap—he was doing it.
Bai Qian pressed the S.E.E.S.-standard Evoker to his head.
"Come on."
He raised his hand and pulled the trigger.
Blue flames unfurled soundlessly behind him, and his Persona appeared again—only this time it wasn't the white godlike figure, but a blood-red demon.
"Arsène!"
[Image: Arsène / Raoul]
"…Man, it's been a while."
Bai Qian sighed, half amused, half nostalgic.
"Even though I mostly just use you as a printer for Mementos these days… I still missed you, Lao-sène. Or I can call you Raoul. Either works."
Arsène was the true Persona he'd awakened with—the one that had accompanied him the longest back when he was "doing time."
Back then, he'd relied on Arsène to farm combat experience like mad in Mementos. Even after he got Izanagi-no-Okami and Messiah, he still dragged Arsène along to wander the depths.
He wasn't just an Arsène user—he was an Arsène specialist. A real technique player.
Back then he still believed skill was everything.
Right up until the day he stayed too long in Mementos and ran into the Reaper—absurd damage, absurd HP, an actual monster. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn't win.
And in a moment of despair, he accidentally switched to Izanagi-no-Okami.
Two turns.
The Reaper evaporated.
That was the day he walked down the path of pure power and never came back.
Sorry, little Arsène. Big bro Bai had no choice!
"You're perfect for drawing comics, at least."
Bai Qian flicked open a fountain pen and tossed it to Arsène.
"But yeah—outside of moments like this, I honestly can't think of when you'd ever get to come out."
He laid a blank sheet of paper flat.
Arsène took the pen, and the nib touched down.
The ink flowed across the page like it was alive.
The first stroke was snow.
Siberian snow.
If Bai Qian remembered correctly, Kiana had gone to Nagazora City chasing rumors about Siegfried.
If he wanted to explain why her father left, and why the Herrscher of the Void was inside her, the cleanest way was to start by drawing the Second Honkai.
The pen scratched fast—shashashasha.
Black lines appeared on the white page: a girl curled in a corner, heavy strokes carving hatred into her eyes.
Bai Qian's hand paused—then pressed harder.
Sirin.
The Second Herrscher.
The source of Kiana's nightmares.
The beginning of everything that was "Kiana Kaslana."
The image shifted.
He drew a woman with a gentle smile—Cecilia.
He drew a man who always seemed unserious, yet threw himself in front of his wife when it mattered—Siegfried.
Flames. Explosions. Blood.
And then Otto.
Otto launched a Honkai fission warhead, blanketing Siberia—trying to kill both Siegfried and Sirin in one blast, because he couldn't control them.
And Cecilia… held Sirin tight.
So that in the final moments of Sirin's life, she could feel warmth.
The pen tip tore through the paper, leaving a deep scar.
"Making Kiana see this is going to be brutal," Bai Qian muttered, raking his left hand through his hair. "But some things—if you don't face them, you can't cross over them."
Arsène's hand was steady.
Bai Qian's own drawing skill topped out at stick figures, but with a Persona behind the pen, as long as the scene in his mind was clear enough, the lines printed themselves with ruthless precision.
"This isn't some wholesome family-friendly stage play."
Bai Qian stared at the page as it took shape, lips twitching—but he couldn't make himself smile.
After that came Siegfried's investigation.
His discovery of K423.
And the real Kiana Kaslana—once she learned the truth—decided to take the girl and run.
They boarded a transport craft.
The story should've ended there.
Wouldn't that have been nice?
The craft lifted off. Clouds sped beneath them.
Then gravity took over.
Pressure snapped.
A violent suction tore at everything inside the cabin.
Siegfried lunged forward—one hand grabbing a safety strap, the other gripping K423 with iron strength.
And the real Kiana… half her body was flung out into open air.
Falling.
A white figure like a kite with a cut string—shrinking rapidly, swallowed by the clouds below.
How many kilometers? An eight-year-old Kiana survives that, gets treated, and renamed Durandal—and you're telling me that's "eight"?
"Eight-year-old Kiana is fearless," huh? Yeah right.
The scene switched to the snowfields.
Siegfried survived with K423.
Life went on. It had to.
But Siegfried became an alcoholic.
If his wife and daughter could come back just to scream at him… that would've been nice too.
He stumbled through a numb life in the snow.
He wasn't cruel to K423. He just… never called her by name.
Or rather—he never intended to give her the name "Kiana."
Because he knew she wasn't his real daughter.
So every year on his daughter's birthday, he drank until he blacked out.
But one birthday, when Siegfried collapsed again, K423—trying to protect him—picked up the Judgment of Shamash and fought a Honkai beast.
She got herself into danger.
And Siegfried saved her.
That was the day she received the best birthday gift of her life.
Her own name.
Then came the flames.
Kiana lost control. Siegfried activated the Judgment of Shamash.
Maybe that weapon was forged to destroy everything.
But this time, it burned itself down as kindling—to protect.
With one arm gone, Siegfried left Kiana behind.
Kiana chased his shadow all the way to Nagazora City.
And after that—she met Raiden Mei.
Cocolia pushed events from the shadows.
The Third Honkai erupted.
Bai Qian gathered the finished stack of pages and weighed them in his hand.
This had more weight than any "truth" spoken out loud.
And for a moment… he hesitated.
Was he really going to send this?
For the current Kiana, would this be medicine that hit too hard, too fast?
Then he glanced at the group chat.
Kiana was still spamming excited stickers.
[Want Campus Springtime With Mei]: Lao Da, Lao Da! Is it ready?! I bought sunflower seeds and cola and everything—ready to watch! This is definitely a bright, positive, wholesome story, right?!
…Forget it.
There was even worse later.
If he weren't worried she'd choke on it, he'd draw Final Lesson, Meteoric Salvation, and Sinner's Requiem too.
If he remembered correctly, current Kiana had no memories from before age nine. And since Siegfried never told her, she didn't even know her mother's name—she was still foggy on what "Schicksal" and "Honkai" really meant.
He picked up his phone, photographed the whole stack, and formatted it into a comic you could flip through like a slideshow.
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Here it comes. Don't cry, okay?
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Why you're the Herrscher of the Void. Why you're connected to Raiden Mei. Why Siegfried chose to leave you—it's all in here.
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: Take it, Kiana! This is the first knife you'll ever have to swallow in your life!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da]: If you're going to blame someone, blame miHoYo's writers! I didn't do this to you—miHoYo did!!
[Heart-Thief Crew Lao Da] uploaded a file: "Honkai Impact 3rd: Siberia & Nagazora City Arc.pdf"
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