Honkai: Strijder (Patreon)

Chapter 103: First Encounter

Wendy drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Sigurd had one arm around her waist, the other entwined with the "Key of Thunder" arm armor, holding the "Judgement of Shamash," turning his eyes to the peculiar vortex in the sky.

The effect of the "Key of Thunder" activated, granting him a strange high-dimensional perspective. Combined with "Intellect from a Higher Position," a large amount of information flooded his mind.

"Temporal distortion, traces of the quantum world. Is it utilizing the gem power on her body?"

Sigurd looked at Wendy in his arms and whispered.

A phantom, vaguely appearing outside the vortex, its true appearance indiscernible. However, the mere appearance of the phantom caused the surrounding frigid air to intensify rapidly.

Even Rita, sitting on the ground, felt her breath stagnate. It was not only because of the excessively low temperature but also due to a kind of indescribable terror she sensed—instinctive fear, much like how ants instinctively fear dragons.

Sigurd glanced at her, rotated the hand holding the sword, and the flames surged, warming the surrounding air, melting the snow in large patches.

"Is it the Sire—"

Boom!

A remaining Gray Serpent puppet, unable to control its joy, made a sound but was incinerated by Sigurd with a casual move.

Then, he turned towards the phantom, lifting the flame sword.

"Kevin Kaslana, your boundless power is needed to defeat the force of Honkai. But now is not the time for your return."

For this senior who had been trapped in the quantum world for a thousand years, Sigurd's greeting was a surge of overwhelming Honkai energy.

Boom!

Even before the energy was induced, it created scorching waves, melting all the visible snow in the area.

This scene was probably impossible to ignore even from a hundred miles away, not to mention Rita, who was close. She felt like she had transitioned from severe winter to midsummer in an instant, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

The next moment, Sigurd swung the sword.

The movement was ordinary, and the expression of his face as he swung it remained as indifferent as ever. However, the air distorted on a large scale at that moment, and black scorch marks appeared on the surrounding ground.

Rita felt the Valkyrie armor on her body burning, scalding her skin.

Then, a pillar of flames engulfed the vortex.

Rita saw, before the flames reached, ice inexplicably formed out of thin air. It collided with the enormous flame pillar, holding for a few seconds before crumbling and disappearing.

When Sigurd lowered the sword, the distorted vortex slowly faded away.

"Is it over?"

Rita sighed in relief, pressing her twisted left arm, feeling grateful.

However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred. Several slender fingers pierced through the center of the vortex, suppressing the fading of the vortex.

It was as if someone on the other side of the vortex extended their hand, attempting to forcibly pry open the center of the vortex, opening a portal.

He indeed succeeded, opening a hole in the center of the vortex, revealing half of a finely carved face and an indifferent pair of blue eyes.

"The signal... is disappearing..."

"Just a bit more..."

“....It's too late…”

“You... stopped me?”

His voice was slow, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time, a bit unaccustomed and stammering. However, the cold and ruthless tone imposed immense psychological pressure.

Sigurd looked at him, maintaining eye contact with the revealed eye. He spoke indifferently and calmly:

"Your sword is very effective. I will hold onto it until it’s the right time for your return, until we meet again."

"...Alright."

Kevin's gaze showed no ripples, leaving only this word, ultimately disappearing completely from the real world.

Before disappearing, Kevin looked at this unfamiliar yet familiar home, feeling neither angry nor upset due to being stopped from appearing unto the real world. On the contrary, he felt gratified about the unknown and powerful boy in the real world.

A new force to resist the Honkai had emerged; this fact made the burden on his shoulder lighter.

...

"Hiss—hoo—"

Rita suddenly took a deep breath.

Between the conversation, two terrifying auras clashed, surpassing her understanding. Being on the edge of the clash, she unconsciously forgot to breathe.

When she snapped out of it, although she had resumed breathing, she still felt unable to move even a finger.

"Is this what the real world is? Have I been too comfortable staying at the headquarter?"

Rita's eyes reflected confusion.

She was undoubtedly in a sorry state, severely injured, and this trip had been quite frustrating. However, looking back, she felt it was all worthwhile.

She had witnessed enemies she had never seen before, experienced the power of a Herrscher, and witnessed the true heights life could reach. After this journey, she had completely broken free from the comfort and arrogance of being a Valkryie from Schicskal headquarters.

The vastness of the sky, the size of the world, made Rita realize how ignorant and ridiculous she, who was proud of her S-rank reserve status, had been— to save the world, one needed the strength to stand tall in front of Sigurd and that unknown powerhouse!

"Can you still stand?"

Sigurd, holding the unconscious Wendy in one arm and the flame sword in the other, approached Rita. He looked down at her from a higher position, a scorching aura enveloping her.

In the sky, the belated swarm of bees seemed to come from all directions, surrounding him like an endless army in the sky, as if guarding a king.

On the ground, behind Sigurd, an countless Titan legion, marching with neat and heavy steps, crossed the mountains like a vast and surging black stream, bringing an overwhelmingly oppressive aura.

Rita's lips moved, and under the gaze of his seemingly unchanging blue eyes, she nodded slowly, trembling as she stood up.

She clutched her twisted left arm, lowered her head in awe before Sigurd. At this moment, she vividly understood why this boy who seemed to be only twelve or thirteen years old could attain such high-ranking titles and positions, even gaining the deference of the Archbishop.

Because, he truly deserved it!

...

Sigurd's experiment concluded, and the conflict came to an end.

The bad news was that the surrounding damage was severe.

The good news was that there were not many casualties, but luck played a significant role.

The worker bees crafted a sturdy metal seat, and the "Judgement of Shamash," still unaltered, leaned against it. The "Key of Thunder" was still wrapped around Sigurd's right hand. He rested one hand against his cheek, crossed his legs, and sat on the seat, gazing into the distance.

He was reflecting on himself.

The plan to trap the "World Serpent" was his idea, but in the later stages, his attention was entirely focused on his fusion experiment. Combined with the mental fatigue from prolonged sleep deprivation, many things were left unaccounted for.

For example, he didn't consider the possibility of the "World Serpent" triggering the device with the Honkai energy, underestimated the actions it could take, didn't deal with the signal device inside the raven's body in advance, didn't strategically allocate the combat power of the "Black Armor" trio, and failed to develop additional combat capabilities for the orphanage.

The result was acceptable, but there couldn't be a next time.

"Sig!!!"

A certain white fluff pounced over, rubbing against his face incessantly and making sucking noises.

"Haaaa~haaaa~"

'It's Sigurd scent!'

Kiana felt all her cells rejoicing, even the strands of hair on her head swaying joyfully.

The previous Sigurd, due to lack of sleep, became quite terrifying, and strangers were advised to keep their distance. Kiana didn't dare to approach him casually.

Now, she hadn't been so close to Sigurd for a long time. Finally, she could fully replenish her Sigurd energy!

Kiana greedily breathed in Sigurd's scent, and then he pushed her face away.

"Get away, annoying."

"Don't be like that! Don't be shy, let me hug you a bit more!"

Kiana shamelessly tried to get closer to Sigurd, but the current Sigurd was no longer the frail researcher. With the strength of a fusion warrior, his physical power surpassed even the monstrous strength of the Kaslana clone.

In the end, Kiana didn't succeed. She ended up sitting like a duck at Sigurd's feet, puffing up her face with a disgruntled expression. She didn't speak; instead, she stared at him with big eyes filled with reproach.

Sigurd, indifferent to her antics, felt a sigh of relief deep inside. A long-suppressed shadow finally dissipated. From now on, regardless of whether the little fluff erupted with Honkai energy or suddenly fell under the control of the Herrscher of Void, Sigurd wouldn't be easily affected or burdened by the self-blame of this little troublemaker after injuring him.

On the contrary, no matter how she danced around, Sigurd had absolute confidence in pressing her down. There was nothing that could force Sigurd to let go, and he could keep this little silly girl by his side without any reservations.

Sigurd rubbed the white head beside him, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Kiana's initial reaction was to enjoy the touch with half-closed eyes, but then she suddenly shivered.

"Wait a minute! What are you up to? Did I do something wrong again? Speak up, at least let me die with understanding!"

Kiana gathered her courage.

Sigurd couldn't be suddenly so gentle; there must be a storm brewing. However, Kiana pondered for a moment—well, there were too many things she could have messed up that Sigurd could be mad about. Even if she suddenly received a beating, she wouldn't be able to tell why.

Thunk!

Sigurd flicked her forehead with his finger.

"Ouch!"

The girl cried out tenderly, covering her forehead and pouting, blinking her big eyes with a look of grievance.

Then, she happily laughed again.

Although she didn't know what happened, it seemed like Sigurd wasn't angry. That meant everything was fine.

...

Behind the two, countless worker bees and Titan robots cooperated to build a new headquarters. Since the old one was destroyed, rebuilding a larger and more robust one was only natural.

Beep—

"Titan No.13 and Worker Bee Team No.23 over there, your actions are too slow! Speed up, or do you not want to eat!?"

Bronya, wearing a small safety helmet and a child-sized jumpsuit, blew her whistle with an expressionless face, playing the role of a foreman—she seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Seele, Rozaliya, and others were busy in the kitchen tent, preparing dinner for everyone.

Everything seemed calm, as if nothing had happened.