"..." Kallen replied only after a long silence, "Mn, I'm here."
Irene waved her hand. The Palace of Consciousness shifted from the plaza to instantly form a small room, shielding the two of them. "Is there anything you want to say?"
She didn't ask if Kallen was okay; she wasn't so dense that she couldn't read the atmosphere. Through the Palace of Consciousness, Irene could also feel the deep self-doubt Kallen was currently harboring.
"..." Kallen stood where she was, turning her head to look at Irene. At this moment, Kallen's originally beautiful blue and white pupils had become somewhat dull due to the turmoil in her heart.
She didn't know what she should say, nor did she know what exactly she should do. It felt as if everything she did was wrong.
From the moment she picked up that plane from the corner of the wall and wanted to return it to the young Otto, it seemed as if everything had gone completely wrong.
Kallen had originally thought that the Otto who survived after her death had fully grown into a Saint, guarding this world for 500 years.
Schicksal was clearly so wonderful, and the Valkyries were so wonderful. Why? Why, in Irene's story, beneath that radiance, was there such a heavy accumulation of blood debts? And all of it was for her sake...
Irene reached out to support Kallen. With a thought, two chairs appeared in the small room, and Irene helped Kallen sit down on one.
"If you have anything to say, just say it. Don't worry, Pardo can't hear us; only I will know."
Looking at Irene before her, Kallen fell silent for another long while before finally speaking, "Irene, do you think I shouldn't have known Otto from the very beginning?"
"Is it because of me that Otto became like that? If I hadn't known him from the start, would Otto have been able to... become better?"
"Uh..." Irene paused for a moment. She hadn't expected Kallen's thoughts to slide to such an extent—had she even begun to deny the process of her getting along with Otto?
"Do you want to hear my opinion?" Irene tightly grasped Kallen's somewhat trembling hand. "Kallen, I understand what you are thinking, but you cannot think like that."
"The past cannot be changed. Perhaps if you two hadn't known each other from the start, things wouldn't have developed this way, but Kallen, you must also understand."
Irene's hand was warm and firm. She looked directly into Kallen's ice-blue eyes, which had lost their luster, her voice steady and clear.
"Kallen, you cannot take the responsibility for Otto becoming what he is today entirely upon yourself. That is not only harsh on yourself, but also a denial of the person known as Otto Apocalypse."
Kallen's eyelashes trembled slightly, seemingly wanting to refute, but Irene didn't give her the chance. Her words were like stones thrown into stagnant water, stirring up ripples.
"You ask, if you had never met, would he have become better? Perhaps he would have become a purer scholar, a gentler noble, a person who wasn't so... extreme."
"But you have to know, that is your past. It is the starting point of your initial encounter, the shared starting point of destiny for both you and Otto."
Irene spoke at a measured pace, her gaze fixed on Kallen. "I imagine that must have been a spring morning. He, who had never been loved by anyone, met the first person to speak to him. You were the first ray of light in his heart."
Following Irene's narration, that initial encounter churned in Kallen's mind. It was indeed a beautiful morning. She had merely picked up the plane by the roadside that had fallen at her feet without ever taking flight.
What was she thinking when she said those words? Now, it seemed she hadn't been thinking anything at all; it seemed she had merely been issuing an invitation to a friend she wanted to know.
"You grew up together with him from that moment, laughed together. I imagine you must have done many foolish things, and surely did many joyful things as well."
"That was your starting point, correct?"
"...Yes," Kallen nodded. A hint of light finally returned to her somewhat dull eyes. "That was the beginning of our meeting. Thinking about it now, we really did do a lot of silly things after that..."
Irene leaned forward slightly, her eyes becoming even gentler. "So why deny it? That is your memory, that is your past, and it is the starting point of your growth up to this day."
Listening to Irene's words, Kallen trembled slightly, her eyes widening. She wanted to explain, but the words were swallowed back just as they reached her lips. What did she want to say to refute? Kallen didn't know.
"Yes, just as you said, everything Otto did was for you, but this is not a reason for your self-denial." Irene's voice slowed down. "That was his own choice, not your sin."
"...But what if I want to carry it?" Kallen looked at Irene. "I cannot convince myself not to look directly at Otto's sins, and I cannot separate myself from the 'me' of this world."
"I didn't mean for you to separate yourself either." Irene looked at Kallen and smiled. "Rather, if you simply stated that you were completely cutting ties with this matter, I would actually feel that you weren't you."
Nun of Atonement · Kallen was the Kallen who, after surviving, chose to shoulder the sins. But before that, she was still Saint Kallen.
To say she would completely disregard the sins Otto committed for her—even if it was an Otto from another world committing sins for another version of herself—was absolutely impossible.
"Then go do it." Irene gave Kallen a thumbs up. "Do what you believe is right. Or perhaps, Kallen, is your atonement simply squatting in the depths of my consciousness, thinking that you shouldn't have known Otto from the start?"
"Absolutely not." Kallen's tone carried a force as decisive as chopping nails and slicing iron. "That isn't it at all. The method I want to choose, the things I want to do..."
Kallen turned her head to look at the empty space beside her. There lay Judah, which she had kept close to her hand throughout her silence. Judah's entire body was radiating light.
In fact, when Kallen crossed her destined death, she had already made her decision. That was her sin, so she would go to atone for it. After all, she never prayed to anyone.
She was the Saint put forward by Schicksal at the time, yet she never prayed to the gods. What she carried was the cross crowned with the name of Judah.
When Otto died, she understood that she was the root cause of all those events. At that time, she didn't wallow in self-pity. She retrieved her Judah, traveled across the land, and resolved Honkai disasters.
Until the bright starlight in the sky gradually became sparse, the earth gradually became desolate, and the sky shattered.
Then, it would be the same now. Admit her own crimes, shoulder them, and use millions of times the effort to end the beginning, the origin, and the essence of all those tragedies—the Honkai.
Since the past cannot be changed, then in the future, put forth a thousand, a million times the effort to save, to redeem, and to terminate the origin of this tragedy.
That is the atonement of the Nun of Atonement · Kallen.
"I'm truly sorry. Clearly, I should be your senior, yet I was comforted by you instead." Kallen scratched her head. "But it's okay now. I know what I need to do."
Kallen turned her head, reaching out to stroke the thorn-covered Judah. "Together with the 'me' of this world, Irene, the things we do can truly save this world, right?"
"That's right, we can absolutely save this world." Irene nodded. "We can use our own efforts to make the ending of this world better."
"We will write this world into the ending we want, to write our 'happy ending'."
Kallen wore a smile on her face and nodded. Looking at the surrounding small room, she suddenly spoke, "Oh, right, Pardo. I suddenly became like this, so Pardo must be very worried too. I have to go out and tell her I'm okay."
"Then let's go out together." With a thought from Irene, the walls of the small room in the Palace of Consciousness rippled like water and vanished, reverting to the plaza.
"Kallen-nee! Irene-nee!" At this moment, the Cat was pressed right against the outside of that wall. The sudden disappearance of the wall nearly caused Pardo to fall over. Fortunately, Pardo's body was agile enough to forcibly regain her balance.
After steadying herself, Pardo looked at Kallen. "Kallen-nee, are you okay?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine now. Sorry for making you worry." Kallen looked at Pardo and smiled. "I'm very sorry to have scared you, Pardo."
"It's nothing." Pardo patted her chest. Seeing that Kallen was okay, she breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. "As long as you're okay, Kallen-nee."
"Mn, I already know what I need to do." Kallen nodded. "At least, rather than squatting in Irene's brain wallowing in self-pity, it's better to do something more meaningful."
"It's better than doing nothing, right?"
——————St. Freya Academy · Early Morning——————
This was the sports field of St. Freya Academy. It was currently early morning, and only a few diligent Valkyries had risen early to do some basic training and exercise their bodies on the playground.
While these Valkyries ran laps and did basic warm-up exercises, their gazes occasionally drifted toward the silver-haired figure who was also running on the playground.
How should they put it? It wasn't like they hadn't seen students or teachers who woke up early to exercise before, nor were there a lack of those who fished for three days and dried their nets for two.
However, logically speaking, a stranger exercising shouldn't be able to attract their attention. But they really hadn't seen anyone who could train themselves into that state.
Clearly, when they passed by, they had specifically listened to the other person's breathing. That breathing was absolutely already disordered. Moreover, judging from the other person's pace, she was clearly exhausted to the extreme, her footsteps somewhat unsteady.
Even her clothes were soaked with sweat. So why could she still keep running?
"Huff... huff..." Irene felt the exhaustion constantly transmitting from her body, her mouth panting heavily for air. Yes, the weirdo in the eyes of the Valkyries was precisely Irene.
And at this moment, Irene felt her lungs constantly emitting mournful cries. She even felt as if her hands and feet didn't belong to her anymore, yet she kept running forward.
Heaven knows, after middle school and entering college, Irene had never run like this. Normally, she wouldn't have been able to persist at all. But the Honkai energy inside her body seemed to have been activated, providing Irene with motive power.
This was the only reason she had persisted until now, but this was her limit.
[ No, I can't do it anymore. ] Irene wailed inside her spiritual world. [ I can't hold on any longer. Let's... let's call it a day for today. ]
[ But this has only reached one-quarter of the training volume. ] Kallen looked at Irene's spiritual entity lying prone on the plaza of the Palace of Consciousness.
After all, in the Palace of Consciousness, one could only train combat techniques; physical fitness could not be trained.
Kallen had contributed her family's ancestral training method. Of course, the original version would simply tire Irene to death—she couldn't do it. So the current training method was already a weakened version.
However, Irene had still underestimated that constitution unique to the Kaslana family. Even a weakened version was not something Irene could complete.
"I really can't do it. At least we have to proceed step by step, right?" Irene felt she could no longer lift her feet. With the next step, her weak legs finally failed to support her exhausted body, causing Irene to flop directly onto the playground.
Seeing Irene fall on the running track, the Valkyries who had been leisurely doing warm-up exercises instantly gathered around and helped Irene up. "Teacher Irene, Teacher?"
"Did anyone bring salt water? I feel Teacher Irene might be a bit dehydrated."
"I have some, I have some."
Amidst the somewhat clumsy care of the Valkyries, Irene's breathing finally went from completely disordered to somewhat regular. Seeing that Irene seemed to have recovered her breath, the Valkyries helped her to a nearby chair to sit.
"Should we call a doctor?" One Valkyrie looked at Irene, who was slowly adjusting her breathing. "Teacher Irene, can you still hear us?"
"What's there to call?" Another Valkyrie prepared to hoist Irene up directly and send her to the infirmary, but just as she was about to act, she was stopped by another Valkyrie.
"Hey, be gentle! Teacher Irene isn't a Valkyrie. Support her carefully over there."
"What happened?" Just as the Valkyries were preparing to call the school doctor or carry Irene directly to find a doctor, a steady female voice interrupted their discussion.
"Ah, Lord Fu Hua... cough, Classmate Fu Hua." A Valkyrie turned to look at Fu Hua, who was walking over from behind. "It's like this: Teacher Irene collapsed from exercising. We were just preparing to send Teacher Irene to the infirmary."
"Mn, I understand." Fu Hua nodded. Subsequently, she walked into the crowd, reached out to support Irene, and then looked at the people around them.
"You go do your own things. I will take care of Teacher Irene."
"Okay." The surrounding students immediately nodded. Since Fu Hua was handling the matter, they didn't need to worry. They scattered one after another, allowing the two to leave.
Meanwhile, inside Irene's Palace of Consciousness.
"It seems the training volume still needs to be reduced." Kallen looked at Irene's spiritual entity, which was lying prone in the Palace of Consciousness. "Clearly, it was already reduced by more than half."
"That means it has to be reduced by another half!" Irene's spiritual entity, which had been lying like a corpse, suddenly sat up, her face filled with intense resentment.
This was the first time she had pushed her body so ruthlessly, to the point that she simply couldn't hold on in the end. After falling, her body performed a direct shutdown, which caused Irene to come straight into the Palace of Consciousness.
"Ya! Irene-nee became a zombie!"
"Zombie your head!" Irene reached out and knocked Pardo on the head, then looked at Kallen. "The current training volume is definitely too high. If this goes on, let alone training muscles, I won't even be able to keep my life."
"Mn, mn, I understand, I understand." Kallen nodded immediately. In her heart, based on the performance of Irene's body this time, she silently slashed the training volume by another half.
Seeing Kallen nod, Irene also breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to worry about her unconscious body outside.
"I wonder how my body is doing right now?"
________________________________________
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