Ryn shook off Theresa and didn't dare to go back. He decided to head home to find Kiana.
He opened the door and ran right into Kiana, who was about to leave.
But at this moment, Kiana didn't seem to be in a good mood. Kitty Kiana's face was sullen, and even her eyes had turned heterochromatic.
"Kiana?! Why are you wearing White Knight: Moonlight?"
"Heh."
Kiana sneered, then pounced on Ryn, pinning him against the wall.
"You have the scent of other women on you..."
As Kiana spoke, she traced lines on Ryn's body with a Lance of the Void, as if looking for a place to stab him.
"Uh, I can explain. Also... where's my Kiana?!" Ryn gently pushed away the Lance of the Void. If that thing really stabbed him, today's banquet would turn into a funeral feast.
The Queen tossed the Lance of the Void aside and held Ryn's face with both hands.
"What? Am I not Kiana anymore? Or... am I not worthy of your love?"
With a hard push from Kiana, Ryn fell backward. A portal opened behind him, and in the next second, they appeared high above St. Freya High School.
Suspended in mid-air by Kiana, Ryn's playful mood vanished. He seemed to have missed something... if the power hidden inside Kiana was also that of a Herrscher, then whose Herrscher was it?
"Herrscher of the Void... Sirin?!"
"Mhmm, yes and no. But I'll still give you a reward~"
Sirin lifted Ryn's chin and kissed him, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile.
"But being wrong also comes with a punishment~"
A Lance of the Void materialized behind Ryn and pierced his thigh from bottom to top. Bright red blood spurted out along the lance, splashing onto Sirin's face.
"I am the Honkai!"
Sirin licked the blood from the corner of her mouth and kissed Ryn on the lips.
Ryn took the opportunity to break free from Sirin's restraint and hugged her. Using his authority, he changed their gravity, and they plummeted from the sky.
Feeling herself accelerating downwards, Sirin ended their deep kiss and looked at Ryn playfully.
"What? Planning to die with me?"
"Yeah... I can't bear to hurt you or Kiana, so let's just become Ryn-sauce and Sirin-sauce together, never to be separated."
"Hehe, my other half, you're truly a madman. I love it!" Sirin smiled and flipped over in mid-air, positioning herself underneath Ryn to break the fall.
"Then let your Kiana die with you! Let's become meat paste together, completely fused into one, never to be separated again!!!"
Sirin had inherited that person's dark side, and naturally, she had also inherited her loneliness. The idea of Ryn wanting to die with her made Sirin overjoyed.
But she was afraid of pain, so she'd let Kiana take it. The golden eye of Sirin's dimmed and returned to ice blue. Sirin returned control of the body to Kiana.
Seeing Kiana's eyes turn ice blue, Ryn brought them to a sudden stop in mid-air, about fifty centimeters above the ground.
The wound on Ryn's leg was also healing at a rapid pace, completely closing up in just a few seconds.
"Dumb Sirin, if a Herrscher could actually die from a fall, we'd both be nailed to the pillar of shame."
Ryn was just bluffing the pufferfish Sirin, betting that the personality of the Sirin recorded in the database wouldn't be too different from this self-proclaimed Honkai Sirin. Otherwise, Ryn would have had to knock Sirin out with a slap, but that would have hurt Kiana, which wasn't worth it.
With Sirin gone, White Knight: Moonlight lost its energy supply and dissipated, but Kiana did not wake up immediately.
"Cortana! Cortana!! Get out here and tell me what happened to Kiana at Welt's place!" Ryn stomped his foot, striking the ground to summon the ever-responsive Cortana.
Cortana first poked her head out of the ground, looking at Ryn hesitantly. What she knew from underground was a bit explosive, something that would shatter Ryn and Kiana's worldviews.
"Uh, basically, Kiana went to ask Welt about the Second Honkai War... and as Welt was telling the story, Kiana suddenly summoned White Knight: Moonlight and punched Welt, knocking him out... After that, she was about to leave when she ran into you."
"Is that so... Maybe the Second Honkai War triggered the Sirin inside Kiana. But why would Sirin be inside Kiana..."
Ryn picked Kiana up princess-style, preparing to take her to the infirmary.
"Cortana, go investigate the Second Herrscher Sirin, and Siegfried Kaslana. I feel like there's more to this than meets the eye..."
"...I'll look into it..."
Cortana watched Ryn leave, then lay sprawled on the ground. Investigate what... she already knew everything. The problem was how to tell Kiana and Ryn... If she told them directly, Kiana would be the first to break down.
After living for so long, suddenly one day someone comes up to you and says you're a fake, that everything you have rightfully belongs to someone else.
"Forget it... I'll just put off Ryn's task for now! I'll first check if the real Kiana is still alive, and while I'm at it, I'll look for a way to separate the two...
What way! They're both consciousnesses on the core... The Herrscher core has gained sentience, how do I separate that..."
"Ahhh, how did I end up with these two masters... I'm just an AI!!"
The world is in tatters, and Cortana is patching it up. This family would fall apart without her.
————————
In the infirmary, the doctor said Kiana was fine and just needed some rest. Ryn propped his chin on his hands and just sat quietly by the bed, watching Kiana.
Sirin's existence was more like another personality of Kiana's. But why would Kiana's other personality be the Second Herrscher, Sirin...
Is Kiana Sirin? But when the Second Honkai War broke out, Kiana was only two years old. The timeline doesn't add up...
Ryn couldn't figure it out. For now, he could only wait for Cortana's investigation results.
As Ryn's thoughts wandered, Kiana woke up.
Kiana's eyes were half-open as she slyly assessed the situation. Although she didn't know why she was in the infirmary, Kiana felt perfectly healthy.
"Boo!"
Kiana made a funny face, trying to startle Ryn. But Ryn had already seen her eyes half-open and was wondering why she didn't just wake up. Turns out she was preparing a surprise for him.
Ryn patted Kiana's head, then gave her a flick on the forehead.
"You little dummy, I knew you were pretending to be asleep."
Kiana put her hands on her hips, puffed out her cheeks, and pouted angrily.
"Hmph, hmph, Operation Ambush Ryn is a failure. Next time, I will definitely succeed!"