"Scared?"
Sensing Robin's anxiety, Lucian turned his head slightly toward her and asked with a faint smile—his voice low and steady, revealing no emotion at all.
Robin straightened her back at once and shook her head hard, causing the wings behind her ears to sway along with the motion.
"No! I just... I just kind of need to get used to it..." Robin took a deep breath, forcing down the lump in her throat before her gaze gradually turned firm and resolute. "Where should we go first?"
Hearing this, Lucian's eyes fell on a few thin trails of smoke rising peacefully in the distance, drifting upward against the gloomy sky.
"Over there—the temporary shelter."
Even though it was called a shelter, it was nothing more than a few tents barely standing among the shattered ruins, looking fragile and pitiful.
Several minutes later, when Lucian and Robin arrived at the so-called temporary shelter, Robin couldn't help but gasp and hurriedly cover her mouth.
Groans, stifled sobs, and children's helpless cries blended into a symphony of despair, while the thick smell of blood and disinfectant filled the air, making one's body tense up involuntarily.
Robin's heart tightened painfully as she saw a man with a severed arm staring blankly at the gloomy sky, a mother holding her feverish child, too dry-eyed to shed a tear, and an old man curled up in a corner, his wound infected and stinking, flies buzzing relentlessly around him.
Seeing such a tragic sight laid out so vividly before her eyes, Robin almost rushed forward instinctively, but Lucian quickly caught her wrist and stopped her.
"Don't rush." Lucian said calmly, his voice carrying an unmistakable authority as his gaze swept over the chaotic crowd. "Observe first, then act. Blind passion only makes things worse."
With that, he led Robin to the busiest-looking tent, and once inside, they saw a gray-haired doctor in a bloodstained coat desperately trying to keep up with treating the injured, his movements hurried and strained.
"Doctor, do you need any help?"
Lucian's voice wasn't loud, but it somehow cut through the painful groaning noises of the injured.
Hearing such a sudden question in this godforsaken place, the doctor snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes wary at first.
Once he saw Lucian's composed demeanor and Robin's pure, worried expression, however, the wariness faded into deep exhaustion and a faint glimmer of hope.
"You two... are you relief workers? What can you do?"
Gazing at the two newcomers, the doctor asked in a tired tone—his voice hoarse and strained.
"I... I can sing..." Robin took a step forward and said gently. "Maybe... Maybe I can calm everyone down a little?"
Hearing this, a bitter smile tugged at the corners of the doctor's tired face.
"Sing? Missy, what we need here isn't songs..."
Even though he said this, as the doctor looked into Robin's clear yet stubborn eyes, he finally sighed and decided to relent.
"Fine. If you think it'll help, go teach the children to sing. Honestly, the school probably needs something to lift their spirits."
At this, Robin sighed in relief.
Indeed, while what the doctor said—that songs weren't needed—was not wrong, it wasn't exactly true either.
In this despair-laden place, she understood better than anyone that the war victims, especially the children, needed something, some form of entertainment to keep their sanity, and songs were among them, which was exactly why her choice to sing had been right.
With that, Lucian and Robin turned to head toward the local school, but before they left the tent, Lucian suddenly stopped and spoke up.
"If you don't believe in the Harmony, then believe in the Abundance. In desperation, faith is what keeps you going."
Right after saying this, Lucian waved his hand casually, and the next moment, the injured people in the camp were healed within seconds.
"I'm healed...?"
"Wh-What happened? My wounds—they're gone!"
"I'm... alive? I'm alive!"
Witnessing such a miraculous scene directly with his own eyes, the doctor froze in place, staring at his suddenly healthy patients in utter disbelief.
'What's this? Abundance? Was it that Abundance—the one from the IPC's broadcasts, the Abominations of Abundance?'
As this thought crossed his mind, the doctor immediately fell to his knees, facing Lucian's departing figure.
"Thank you, Abundance... Thank you..."
===
A while later, Lucian and Robin finally arrived at the local school.
Unfortunately, instead of a proper school building, ruins surrounded them, with only one classroom still intact.
Inside, three to five dozen children huddled together, shivering.
Surprisingly, no adults were around, which meant they had likely perished, leaving these surviving children behind.
It should be noted that the world of Honkai Star Rail was far too vast, encompassing an enormous cosmos filled with countless star systems, and thus, wars within this world were far too numerous to count, which in turn made pitiful souls like these children equally countless, rendering it impossible to save all of them.
Lucian never wished to save everyone, for he understood that he wasn't some saint nor a hero.
However, if he crossed paths with those who deserved to be helped, he didn't mind saving them if he had the capability.
Right now, meeting these children was fate.
"Big brother, big sister, are you teachers?"
One brave child approached Lucian and Robin, asking nervously.
"Yes, we're teachers. We'll keep you safe." Robin, unable to bear seeing children suffer, squatted down and replied with a gentle smile before grabbing Lucian's hand. "Father, I want to help these kids."
"Do as you wish."
Lucian nodded with a smile.
And so, just like that, Robin became the school's temporary teacher, calming the children's restless hearts with a single song.
Lucian, having nothing to teach and aware that he sucked at teaching, simply played the role of Robin's student—sitting in the classroom with the other children, listening as she taught the children how to sing.
*BOOM!*
Suddenly, another explosion roared once again, signaling that the war had resumed.
*BOOM!*
Unfortunately, a missile struck not far from the school, exploding with a thunderous blast and causing the shockwave to surge toward the classroom.
""AAAAAAHHH—!!!""
As a result, the sound of the explosion drowned out Robin's singing, while the children screamed and curled up on the floor in terror.
"Father!"
Robin cried out in panic.
*Snap!*
Lucian simply snapped his fingers, and in that instant, the immense power of two Paths surged forth, forming an invisible barrier that enveloped the entire school—even when the shockwave hit, it never stirred a ripple inside.
Now that the noise was cut off, peace returned to the classroom.
Needless to say, this was exactly why Serfina and Sunday never agreed to let Robin go to wartorn places like this—it was far too dangerous.
One mistake, and she could be hurt—or worse, die.
Lucian, understanding this, couldn't help recalling the original story.
He remembered that it was mentioned that Robin had once been caught in a battlefield crossfire, a stray bullet piercing her neck—nearly killing her.
"Honestly, I don't give a damn about these foolish wars..." Lucian muttered quietly. "But when they harm my little bird, that's when I give a damn..."
Right after this mutter left his mouth, he rose and left the ruined school under the confused gaze of Robin and the children.
===
Several minutes later, Lucian finally found one of the warring factions and stood alone before the entrance to their military base.
"Stop right there! Who are you?!"
One of the patrolling soldiers spotted Lucian and shouted, which caused a dozen soldiers to immediately surround him, pointing strange thermal guns at his head.
Lucian couldn't help but smile.
"It doesn't matter who I am..." Lucian said indifferently, looking relaxed and composed. "What you should know is the missile that hit near a school—you mongrels fired it, right? Well, dust doesn't need to know my name."
As his words fell, the powers of his two Paths intertwined, then—
*Rumble—*
Centered on Lucian, everything around him was soon reduced to dust by an invisible force—it resembled the Almighty Push from Naruto.
In just seconds, the massive military base was gone, the ground bare and empty.
Seeing his handiwork, Lucian patted his hands, then casually turned and left, as if he had merely set off a firework in the backyard.
===
In another place, the opposing faction's command post fell silent.
Just now, they had seen it all through the surveillance monitors—a young man erasing the military base of their opposing faction in a single move.
Seeing such an absurd scene, their minds couldn't help but go blank in fear.
Because the local rulers had oppressed the people, they, the rebels, had risen to fight back, but who would have thought that after years of endless battles with no victory, today they woke up to find that the war with those rulers was over?
'He's our hero—the one who brought us peace!'
Everyone who witnessed the incident immediately recorded Lucian's appearance in their minds.
===
A while later, when Lucian appeared before the gate of the rebels' military base, the rebel commander rushed out to greet him with enthusiasm.
He knew well that it was better to make friends than enemies, especially with someone who had just obliterated an entire military base of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in mere seconds, leaving nothing behind but dust.
Seeing the rebels' respectful attitude and understanding their justified cause for war, Lucian ultimately didn't say much and only left one line behind.
"I'm Robin's emissary of peace. I don't like wars."
Hearing these words, everyone paused, looking confused.
'Robin? Did he mean the singer Robin?'
As this same thought ran through everyone's minds, they stared in stunned silence at Lucian's fading silhouette.
All that massacre... just for a woman?
He stopped a planet-wide war single-handedly just for her?
Because he didn't like wars, he erased all his enemies?
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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