Before we could rejoice at finding her, Himeko rushed at Kiana and attacked her with a black sword. Luckily, Kiana reacted quickly enough to avoid dying at the hands of her teacher. But it would appear that Kiana had caused quite a number of grievances with her teacher, as Himeko continued to attack her, as if to avenge all the tests she had to grade for her.
-"Help! Teacher Himeko snapped!"-Kiana started to run around, dodging all the attacks.
-"Calm down. Himeko appears to be under the influence of some force coming from that sword; try to disarm her."-Master instructed them.
-"Don't forget that Himeko is not in the best state; try not to cause her too much harm."-I reminded them.
-"Teacher Hua, Eno! I've encountered a group of Anti-Entropy mechs."-Mei's call made me look at her location.
-"Can you avoid them?"-I asked.
-"No, they detected me."
-"Lead them to the exit; the second team would help you there."-Master quickly arranged for the emergency.-"Kiana, Bronya, you'll have to improvise. With the way back possibly compromised by Anti-Entropy, we can't risk Himeko being attacked."
-"Understood."-Bronya replied.
As the situation on their end was slowly stabilizing, I turned my attention to trying to find out what this place was even about. Looking at the high-altitude photos, I noticed the marks and shapes proving that we were seeing a great formation. But by that alone, I couldn't know what was within. So I had to enter the field myself.
After giving a heads-up to Master and the crew of Kreios, I flew down to where one node of the formation was, trying to find out more by tracing the way it was created. Step by step, I followed the layout of the formation, finding some clues, but nothing concrete. As I was to change my approach, I heard a voice I didn't recognize.
-"Eno? Is it really you?"
Looking around, I couldn't find anyone.
-"Do not look for me; it's already too late. The beast will soon break out."
-"Sadly, my friends got involved in this, so I need to understand the entire situation."
-"That's indeed like you, always rushing around for others. That seal was built upon our memories. I can lead you to the heart, where the answers lie, but that way, the beast will be free."
-"How long can this seal last?"
-"If undisturbed, a few years. If else… days at most."
-"Then there is no need to contemplate. Please, lead the way."
-"Good."
I started to follow the path that the voice pointed out, heading deeper into the formation. As I traveled, I conveyed what I learned to Master, who instantly ordered a retreat, putting Hyperion and Kreios in a state of battle readiness due to the risk of an ancient Judgment-Class emerging.
After a few minutes, I bypassed the still-existing formation and entered deep into the seal. The deeper I went, the more concerned I grew, as all the pieces of the formation suggested that this seal was created to both seal and weaken the beast, but after so long, the beast's energy didn't dissipater, but rather, it was transferred.
When I came to this realization, I knew that the situation was far from what we thought; while the beast was definitely dangerous, more than half of its power existed in a different form; a form that might be hostile as well. I tried to alert my Master, but found that I couldn't contact her at all, proving that I wasn't guided; I was being trapped.
-"So you found out."-The voice seemed to notice my actions.-"Don't worry, I don't want to harm you."
-"You expect me to believe you?"
-"Not now, but soon."-The voice sounded convinced.-"The core is just around the corner."
Despite knowing that it was a trap, I continued forward, and soon, an enormous mass of Honkai Energy mixed with resentment appeared before me. It twisted and morphed before turning into a short young woman wearing a dark battle dress; her delicate face was void of any emotion, and her pale amber eyes were partly covered by short black hair.
-"We meet again, my dear Eno."
-"I apologize, but I can't recount who you are."
-"I know."-She smiled, but that smile looked twisted; it held not happiness, only mockery and hate.-"Jingwei didn't tell you, did she?"
-"Are you talking about my Master?"
-"Yes. She is a fine teacher indeed."-The mockery in her voice intensified.-"Do you want to hear a story?"
I narrowed my eyes, but nodded.
-"It's something that happened ages after my demise; I was able to witness it due to the formation nodes existing within many ley lines all over Shenzhou. There once was a master; she opened a school atop a mountain, accepting talented orphans as her disciples. But there was one special person living alongside her, the inheritor of an ancient martial arts school."
-"The master trained disciples but kept many secrets from them; one day, an accident occurred, causing the death of the inheritor, who was beloved by the master's best student. The student begged the master to save him, but she refused, saying that his fate couldn't be interfered with."
-"Then, the master brought back the next inheritor, but her students quickly noticed that something was wrong. For years, they tried to uncover the truth, finally stumbling upon it by accident, but with the secret revealed, a rift occurred between them and the master. They demanded an end to the tradition of inheritance their master protected, but she didn't budge."
-"The conflict grew bigger and bigger until one day, the best student went to see the inheritor behind the master's back. She revealed the secret, causing him to see through his fate, but before the student could rejoice, the world broke apart. Dark clouds enveloped the mountain as a black rain started to pour down, bringing with it a power from beyond the world."
-"When the rain touched the earth, it erased everything; life, memories, existence, even Honkai were expunged by mere touch with it. But when the inheritor tried to embrace its fate, he found that it didn't harm him; instead, it allowed him to gain unmatched power, one capable of destroying gods. With such power, he could end the plague of Honkai, saving countless lives; something the master lived her whole life to achieve."
-"But when the master saw it, she raised her arms to strike him down; all but one student tried to stop her, but as they were locked in combat, the standalone disciple came to the Inheritor and killed him with a single strike. With that, the battle ended; all but that one student departed. The master once again found a new inheritor, continuing this cycle of death."
-"I ask you, is such a person a master or a jailer? What sins deserve such punishment: to endlessly suffer death, losing all the people important to you, only for them to watch you live again, unable to meet, only to see you from afar? And what hypocrisy is it to train and send to their deaths countless others, yet not use the power capable of ending all the tragedies?"
I stayed silent through the whole story, watching the girl for any traces of lies or deception, but I couldn't find any. I already had suspicions and inklings that there was something strange with not only how Yìxué inheritance worked, but also why so many people knew me, why Otto had such trust and expectations for me, why I found many things familiar but couldn't remember them.
Her story only dispelled my last doubts, but the issue was: what was the power she spoke of? While tempted, I had a strong feeling that something was wrong with it. Her story was too skewed; though she didn't lie, she must have omitted some things or was unaware of details as an observer. But seeing my hesitation, she decided to make the choice for me.
Before I could react, countless memories surged into my mind, causing me to clutch my head in pain. Hundreds of lives played before my eyes. Each similar, yet different; like an endless cycle, no matter what one did, it couldn't change anything. I watched how lovers turned to strangers, separated by death and unable to reunite due to this cruel fate.
I felt the despair of endlessly living the same short life, training just to kill monsters that would return again and again. I experienced the dejection brought by the name being forgotten, turning into one of the nameless inheritors. I understood the true meaning of meaninglessness.
As I felt myself drowning in the impact brought by all the memories, the world around me started to change. The cave floor turned into a surface of water, black like abysses and without any movement, a true abyss where everything rots. My left arm slowly got covered by a red marking, emanating a feeling of meaninglessness and abandonment. Even my hair started to lose its pink color, turning pure white.
The drowning feeling intensified, and as I was about to get consumed by it, a warmth enveloped me. The feather given to me by my Master suddenly emerged, a literal light in this dark abyss. It allowed me to quickly forget part of those memories, but I chose to retain some of them, not wanting to forget all the people I fought side by side with.
Soon the changes started to recede, my appearance returning to what it was, leaving only a small red mark on my hand. The cave around me also returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, but I was well aware that I had just opened Pandora's Box; while not yet visible, the fact that everything had changed was undeniable.
-"You…"-The girl looked at me with happiness, but it was also twisted.-"Finally, we can end this horrid plague."
I observed the girl, but I knew that she was nothing more than a mix of obsession and Honkai; whoever she was before, that person was no longer here. Knowing what she planned to do, I didn't hesitate, raising my left hand, a red crystal sword appearing in it, and slashed at her, cleaving her clearly in half. Before she could react, she ceased to be, disappearing into nothingness. The mark on my hand expanded slightly, but I didn't mind; it was the price I was willing to pay.
I looked at the heart of the beast sealed here, thinking about whether I should kill it the same way, but decided against it; instead, I isolated part of the seal, bringing it out into Master's feather. While it weakened the seal, it could preserve the memories of the person who sealed this beast with me, allowing her to be reborn as Stigmata in the future.
With this done, I tried to contact everyone else, but being unable to do so, I stayed here, ready to strike the beast if it awakened. And my worry proved to be correct, as the earth around me started to rumble, meaning that someone disturbed the seal. As the seal fully broke, the communication between me and others was restored.
-"Eno!"-My Master called out.-"What's your status?"
-"Alive. I'm next to the heart of the beast, but I believe that this is not the only one."
-"You are correct. There are three such hearts. Mei is heading to one, while Kiana seeks the second. Bronya evacuated Himeko and is now dealing with Anti-Entropy."
-"I'll wait for two of them to locate the hearts, and we'll destroy them simultaneously."
-"Eno, I felt a terrifying power from where you are. Did you…"
-"I remember now, not all, but enough to understand what is going on. But don't worry, while I almost got lost, your feather saved me."
-"Please be careful with that power."
-"I know, I don't plan to use it much."
I talked with her to understand some more things, but as she still couldn't reveal much, I made my decision that I'll depart for the Sea of Quanta shortly after this mission. It took an hour for Mei and Kiana to locate the other hearts, but after that was done, killing the weakened beast was easy.
The cleanup was far beyond what we could achieve, so we left it in the hands of other squads and HQ, with Theresa selling the beast's body to her grandfather for some additional income. But I didn't care for that, as I buried myself in my lab, working on the Stigmata Seed I promised, and after two weeks, I managed to create a working prototype, implanting it in Himeko.
While Mei wished me to stay a bit longer, I didn't want to trouble her; or rather, I didn't want her to worry for me after noticing something was wrong. At first I didn't notice, but after some time, I discovered that due to the influence of that power, not only did my sense of taste disappear, but my body temperature also dropped noticeably, so I made an excuse and left, hoping she didn't find the anomaly yet.
After leaving Far East Branch, I began making my preparations to depart for Sea of Quanta, but the biggest problem how do I get there. I couldn't use the 2nd Divine Key as it was still being experimented on, and after going through all the relevant information in HQ's database, only one place met my requirements: an Anti-Entropy 'secret' base known as the Deep.
Its location was in the Mariana Trench, so before traveling there, I decided to make a stop in the nearby Philippines, planning to visit Ana as we hadn't seen each other since the Manila Honkai Eruption. Luckily, despite heavy losses, many members of her squad were saved by Bianka's and my quick arrival, so they didn't require reorganization, remaining stationed there to watch over the cleanup and the resettlement efforts.
As I didn't know how long my trip would take, I sent Kreios back while travelling with my sword flight by myself. On the way, I didn't stop aside from dealing with a few rogue Honkai beasts; thanks to this, I managed to travel the distance in just a few hours.
As it wasn't an official visit, there was no one to greet me when I arrived; instead, I looked for Ana, who was working in the temporary settlement, helping the displaced with their needs. This time, she was in the orphanage, taking care of the children. I approached her without her noticing, allowing me to observe her in a more 'natural environment' than all those dates and meetings arranged by the family.
While at first glance, she didn't possess such great beauty as Bianka or Mei, she had an appearance that grew on you, like a sister from a neighborhood. She also emanated an aura of care that made everyone like her before even meeting her properly; not like the wife feeling of Mei, more like the feeling of a caring mother.
I stood there in silence, listening to the story she was telling to the children, not planning to interrupt. But while she didn't notice me, the children did, and as always, my appearance caused trouble, making some braver children approach me, making Ana turn my way.
-"Eno?"-She asked, not fully believing her eyes.
-"I came to visit you; I hope I didn't interrupt too much."-I nodded.
-"Of course not."-She smiled, her eyes showing a mix of excitement and shyness.-"Let me finish here, and I'll look for you after."
-"Sure, I'll wait."-I smiled back and sat down, causing children to surround me.