The taste of blood spread through his mouth. Otto's gaze sharpened as he looked down at the white-haired girl in his arms, her eyes currently shimmering with multicolored, rainbow-like hues.
Immediately, the hands tightly wrapping around her slender waist let go.
Flames exploded against his chest.
A fist completely wreathed in raging fire slammed directly into Otto's sternum.
Otto staggered back a few steps, then covered his mouth as a small amount of blood seeped through his fingers.
However, in just a mere fraction of a second, the wounds on his tongue and chest were completely healed.
What's so wondrous about the human body? This Overseer's body is what's truly wondrous.
But Otto was in no mood to marvel at how overpowered his own body was. He looked at the furious white-haired girl and spoke slowly.
"Who... are you?"
He was asking a question he already knew the answer to.
He had already guessed who she was.
It was impossible for Kiana to bite him like that. Therefore, the identity of the person standing before him was obvious.
Yet, a certain malicious, twisted sense of humor caused his breathing to quicken.
Firefly, your first kiss wasn't with Mei... KONO OTTO DA! (It was me, Otto!)
"Ot... to!"
The metallic taste of blood lingered heavily in her mouth, refusing to dissipate. K423 glared viciously at Otto. An extreme, blistering heat radiated from her body, distorting the surrounding space. But a second later, an intense wave of nausea violently churned in her stomach.
Because K423 suddenly fully realized exactly what she and Otto had just done.
She... had just kissed Otto.
"Blegh."
K423 grabbed onto the balcony railing and began to dry heave.
Seeing K423 gagging as if she had just eaten a mouthful of muddy sewage, Otto's eyelid twitched. Come on, Kiana, Fu Hua, and Mei don't find me disgusting at all.
However, this was indeed the most normal, expected reaction from K423.
If she didn't bite him, if she didn't find him utterly repulsive, then she wouldn't be his 'Firefly'.
Meanwhile, K423's stomach felt like the stormy seas. Her breathing was rapid and erratic, and it was gradually becoming difficult to even draw breath.
I actually got kissed by Otto?
I actually got kissed by Otto?!
Because it was extremely important, she repeated it twice in her heart.
This... this could truly be considered her actual first kiss.
A young girl's very first kiss had been stolen.
It wasn't given to Mei, nor was it given to the Class Monitor. Instead, it had been brutally stolen by the absolute last person on Earth she would ever want.
But right at that moment, a slightly sharp voice rang out in K423's mind.
"Sister K423, why did you bite Otto?!"
Kiana had obviously witnessed the scene of Otto kissing K423 from within the consciousness space. Seeing Otto get bitten actually made her heart ache a little.
Though he kind of deserved it. Who told him to go around kissing other girls?
Even though it was technically her own physical body, Otto still should have been able to recognize that it wasn't her inside.
Girls were always a bit unreasonable like that.
But seeing that Otto immediately realized it wasn't her right after being bitten—noticing it so quickly—Kiana actually felt a sweet thrill of delight in her heart.
As expected, he really cares about me.
Huh?
Hearing Kiana's reproachful, almost pouting tone, K423 was dumbfounded. Why does it feel like Kiana is blaming me? Did I do something wrong?!
I didn't just want to bite Otto, I wanted to beat him to death!
But before K423 could say anything else, she suddenly fell backward, her plump rear landing flat onto the floor of the consciousness space.
She had been forcibly pulled back inside. After all, Kiana was the true master of this body.
Taking back control, Kiana immediately walked up to Otto. Looking up at the man who was still covering his mouth, she reached out her right hand and gently placed it over his.
She asked with deep concern.
"Otto, are you okay?"
Even though Sister K423 was her stigmata and might accompany her for the rest of her life...
Otto was the one she wanted to share her blankets with for the rest of her life.
Back in the consciousness space, seeing Kiana actually expressing concern for Otto, K423 wore an expression as if she had just seen a ghost.
Wait, no?
Kiana, why are you worried about Otto?!
And why are your movements so intimate?!
That's Otto, not Mei!
Could it be... is Kiana trapped in the illusion of Fenghuang Down?!
For some reason, a terrible, ominous foreboding swelled within K423's heart.
"I'm fine."
Otto simply shook his head. He pulled her hand away from his mouth, opened his lips, and showed Kiana his perfectly intact, uninjured tongue.
He wasn't angry in the slightest.
Firefly's kiss, huh?
He considered this a massive bargain.
After all, the enmity between Firefly and Otto was something utterly impossible to sever.
Otto had never once entertained the thought of 'conquering' Firefly's heart. With the probability being essentially zero, and without the ability to save and reload, there was absolutely no reason to waste effort grinding her affection points.
Kiana breathed a sigh of relief, but K423 didn't accept the situation so easily.
There's something wrong with Otto's body.
Having grown vastly more experienced, K423 acutely zeroed in on the anomaly. However, the moment she recalled what had just happened, she began to dry heave all over again.
But since she was merely a consciousness inside the mental space, she couldn't actually throw anything up, which only made the phantom sensation infinitely more agonizing.
Watching her suffer with cold detachment, the Queen of the Void scoffed.
Can't even handle this much?
Still, getting to see K423 looking so thoroughly miserable made the Queen's mood remarkably pleasant. Serves you right, you strange intruder, for always suppressing my awakening.
Meanwhile, K423 touched her lips, forcing down her nausea as she carefully recalled the exact details of that moment.
Based on the physical sensation, K423 realized that Otto didn't seem to be using a Soulium avatar. It felt like actual flesh and blood.
But more terrifyingly, when Otto had grabbed her from behind, she hadn't reacted immediately. Because neither her body nor her soul had registered him as a threat.
The connection felt as completely natural and expected as a plug sliding perfectly into a socket.
Or as natural as a leaf falling from a tree.
Furthermore...
K423 clenched her fists. She realized that her own power had grown slightly stronger.
Ever since she became a stigmata, her power had been severely fragmented and broken. Yet now, a microscopic sliver of that shattered power had actually been mended.
It was just like...
K423 thought for a moment before an apt description for Otto popped into her head.
"Tang Sanzang..."
The flesh of the Tang Monk... a supreme elixir.
Otto's blood, Otto's saliva, and Otto's flesh all contained a massive, staggering amount of energy. For Herrschers and Stigmata entities, he was undeniably a supreme, walking tonic.
Moreover, K423 felt that this energy was purer than anything she had ever encountered before.
Was that power really Honkai Energy?
But why would Otto become like this?
The original Otto shouldn't have possessed such a unique constitution.
Her heart was brimming with questions, but then again, even Walter Joyce had appeared as an anomaly. It was probably normal for Otto to have undergone some changes as well.
K423 rationalized it to herself, then peered out through the consciousness space to observe the outside world once more.
But the very next second, her eyes blew wide open.
Because Kiana was currently standing on her tiptoes, her head tilted up and her hands resting on Otto's shoulders.
And then, she kissed him.
It was as if she were trying to thoroughly overwrite the kiss that K423 and Otto had just shared.
Or perhaps... she was simply inspecting the goods.
Checking to make absolutely sure Otto's tongue hadn't been ruined.
Witnessing this scene unfold right before her very eyes, K423, who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor, completely froze.
Eh?!
Why... why am I taking the initiative to kiss Otto?!
K423's brain short-circuited entirely.
After a long, agonizing pause, K423 finally nodded mechanically.
I understand now.
Kiana has definitely been brainwashed by Fenghuang Down.
I have to find a way to help Kiana break free from Fenghuang Down's control!
K423's azure eyes shimmered with multicolored light once more. But upon further inspection, K423 realized to her horror that Kiana was absolutely not under the influence of Fenghuang Down.
Which meant... Kiana's action of kissing Otto was entirely, one-hundred-percent genuine and born of her own free will!
And outside, Kiana and Otto's kiss still hadn't ended.
After all, to ensure the tongue was fully operational, the goods had to be inspected thoroughly and for a very long time.
Holding Kiana in his arms, Otto lowered his eyes. He could feel a certain profound resolve emanating from the tiny body trembling against his.
Because of this, he temporarily pushed all thoughts of Firefly to the back of his mind, even though he knew she was actively watching everything unfold.
He pulled the girl in his arms even tighter.
Pressing Kiana against him so firmly it was as if he wanted to embed her directly into his own flesh.
A long time later, their lips finally parted.
"Done inspecting?"
Otto asked with a soft chuckle. Hearing his teasing words, Kiana's cheeks flushed a rosy red.
"Not quite enough yet."
She beamed with a sweet, radiant smile.
Meanwhile, inside the consciousness space, K423 was staring blankly at the scene with dead, soulless eyes. But suddenly, a spark of life returned to them.
Right! Mei is at Schicksal HQ! Kiana is definitely just using herself as bait to get close to Otto, waiting for the perfect opportunity to rescue Mei!
Yes, that has to be it! Biding her time and throwing herself into the tiger's den!
I'll just pretend Kiana is practicing her infiltration techniques.
K423 desperately scrambled for the clumsiest, most illogical excuses she could find.
She couldn't help it. Watching Kiana intimately kiss Otto felt like being trapped in an endless, waking nightmare.
Because Kiana was K423, and K423 was Kiana.
The sense of immersion and empathy was simply too overpowering.
It truly felt as if she were the one passionately making out with Otto.
And as their lips remained locked, K423 detected another surge of energy transferring from Otto's body, actively nourishing Kiana's physical vessel, and by extension, nourishing K423 as a stigmata.
But she couldn't bring herself to feel happy about it at all.
"Otto."
Kiana finally stepped out of Otto's embrace. She clasped her hands behind her back, the bright, silvery moonlight cascading over her shoulders.
Otto looked down at her quietly.
"I have something I want to tell you," Kiana said softly.
"What is it?" Otto asked with a warm smile. He had already sensed Kiana's deep resolve, but he didn't know where it had suddenly come from.
Did K423 reveal the truth about her origins?
No, if she had, Kiana would never have kissed him just now.
Kiana took a deep breath.
"I can't go with you to Schicksal HQ."
YES!
Stay far away from Otto!
Light flooded back into K423's eyes, even though this completely shattered her previous theory about Kiana infiltrating the tiger's den to save Mei.
"Why not?" Otto asked, still smiling.
There was no anger on his face; he simply looked at Kiana, wanting to hear her explanation.
"Because... I rely on you too much. No matter what happens, the very first thought in my mind is always, 'Otto will definitely be able to fix it for me'."
Kiana puffed out her chest proudly.
"If I stay by your side, I might never be able to truly grow. I'll just keep depending on you forever. I'll just keep causing you trouble and be nothing but dead weight."
"Maybe I'd be incredibly safe. Maybe I wouldn't face a single drop of danger and could just lie happily in your arms every single day. But... I don't want that."
"I want to become stronger."
Kiana spoke with absolute, unwavering certainty. Then, she raised a hand and gently touched her own neck.
"I almost died today. And things like this... won't they happen a lot in the future?"
Otto looked at Kiana, but didn't answer immediately.
"I will protect you properly."
"But I want to protect you too!" Kiana suddenly declared.
What if Otto encountered a danger he couldn't handle on his own?
Besides, she had her own selfish desires as well.
"I want to show you my cool, handsome side. I want you to see the magnificent Kiana Kaslana."
Kiana stepped forward, walking directly past Otto toward the interior of the room.
But her words didn't stop.
"I want to stay at St. Freya and learn. Learn from Sister K423 in my stigmata, learn from Great Aunt, learn from Aunt Himeko."
Kiana stepped fully into the dim shadows of the room, then turned around to face Otto, who was still standing on the balcony. Otto turned to face her as well.
This time, it was Otto whose back was bathed entirely in the moonlight.
"Once I become an S-rank Valkyrie, I will come find you."
"And then, I'll become your Knight."
The Kaslanas were a family of knights, after all.
"Is that okay?"
"Otto."
Kiana asked softly.
Otto stared quietly at Kiana. His heart beat just a fraction faster. Looking into those resolute, unyielding azure eyes, he took a slow, deep breath, and then replied.
"Your resolve... I understand it completely."
Otto truly did understand her determination.
Being nearly strangled to death by Joyce had fundamentally shifted her mindset.
Receiving Otto's blessing, Kiana looked at the blonde man and beamed with a gorgeous smile.
"Hey, Otto."
With her hands still clasped behind her back, a deep, rosy flush crept onto Kiana's cheeks.
"I'm a very greedy woman."
"Yesterday was my birthday. Could you... give me one more birthday present?"
She looked deeply into Otto's eyes.
Both of them subconsciously held their breath.
Parting, to her, still didn't provide enough of a sense of security.
She wanted to extract an absolute, undeniable sense of security from Otto's very being.
"Then... may I claim my birthday present for next year in advance?" Otto asked, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Okay."
Kiana smiled, a breathtakingly alluring expression on her face.
Today's Kiana was exceptionally feminine.
And true femininity—once all the superficial, borderline teasing was stripped away—was simply the purest form of sexiness.
Otto stepped forward.
His back was bathed in the moonlight.
And before him, there was also moonlight.
The moonlight behind him would inevitably fade away as the moon set.
But the moonlight in his arms, even when the sun rose, would still remain.
---o---