Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

The air was deathly silent.

Her heart turned ice-cold.

Her footsteps halted on the bluestone bricks of the London street. A breeze, carrying the scent of dust and burnt char, brushed past her. The skin exposed by the shattered Godsbane Armor – those 'unrepaired' wounds – felt particularly raw at this moment.

As an S-rank Valkyrie, Rita wasn't someone who couldn't endure pain. On the contrary, her pain tolerance far surpassed ordinary people.

Yet, right now, she felt – intense pain.

It wasn't from the burns and abrasions on her skin's surface, but from her heart buried deep within her body.

There was no one in front of her. But where was the person she wanted to embrace?

Now, she was behind her.

For some inexplicable reason, Rita began to contemplate a philosophical question.

Does love, perhaps, disappear?

No.

According to the 'Law of Conservation of Emotion', Miss Bronya had already taken the lead in verifying the law that 'love doesn't disappear, it only transfers'.

And now, it had transferred to someone else.

Rita, frozen in place, turned her head to look at Durandal and [Kiana] intimately close together. The resentment value in her heart directly broke through the resentment meter, seemingly materializing into a physical form.

This 'materialized' resentment finally pulled Durandal, who was somewhat dazed from being attacked by the 'hyper-aggressive younger sister', back to reality. She turned her head to look at Rita, first startled, and then jumped in surprise, somewhat astonished:

"Uh… Rita, are you alright?"

It was hard to describe the Maid's current appearance. Her entire Moonlight Armor was tattered and barely covered her body. The exposed skin was covered in burns and abrasions. By a girl's standards… well, it was a disastrous sight. Fortunately, Schicksal's medical technology was quite advanced, and as long as she rested for a while afterward, it wouldn't be a problem.

Even so, noticing Rita's appearance, resembling a character just after a 'defeat CG' played, still made Durandal somewhat taken aback.

She pondered that it hadn't been long since she left. How did Rita become so miserable?

Hearing this concerned question, Rita felt a surge of frustration.

Do I look like I'm alright to you?

But whether out of courtesy or something else, Rita could only force a smile and say:

"Yes, Rita is fine."

When uttering the word "fine," the Maid exerted so much force that she almost gritted her teeth to pieces.

"Oh, that's good then."

Durandal didn't suspect anything. After all, based on her understanding of Rita, her friend rarely concealed things from her. Since Rita said she was fine, then maybe she really was.

— In fact, Rita, having been treated by the pseudo-incomplete White Flower, was indeed not really in trouble, at least by Valkyrie standards.

But seeing Durandal genuinely dismiss it with just a few words, Rita still couldn't help but rage inwardly – Even though Rita is indeed fine, shouldn't you, Durandal-sama, be a little more concerned?!

However, to Rita's slight comfort, Durandal-sama didn't seem completely indifferent to her condition. She even took the initiative to approach, hmm… was she trying to examine Rita's condition closely?

Although out of a 'sensible' attitude, she didn't want Durandal-sama to worry about her injuries, the nameless fire that had risen in her heart from the earlier neglect suddenly made the Maid want to be willful for once in a long time.

In a flash of thought, Rita planned to pretend to be unwell to attract Durandal's attention and make her focus more on herself.

However—before she could even act, Durandal leaned closer and whispered, "Um… Rita, could you give me some private space? I… um, I want to chat with my sister… just the two of us… you know."

Just the two of us… two people…

The smile on Rita's face gradually froze.

Based on her understanding of Durandal-sama, it was truly rare for Durandal to take the initiative to say something like this. She could roughly understand Durandal-sama's desire to be alone with her sister—with Rita's understanding nature, she certainly wouldn't want to become an 'obstacle'.

But—

Her body was injured, but her heart was in pain… it hurt, it hurt so much!

Even though it was June in London, it felt so 'cold'.

"Rita… understands."

Nodding with difficulty, the Maid watched the golden-haired girl, eyes shining, excitedly running back to Durandal, not even looking back. She couldn't help but bite her lip… Was there really no lingering affection at all?

Silently, tears flowed in her heart.

Kulu xi~

Fortunately, she didn't seem to be completely alone. Perhaps sensing the Maid's 'sadness', the 'refrigerator', which had a little 'spirituality' added during adjustments and leaned towards a Heavy Armor Bunny to some extent, patted the Maid's shoulder, as if comforting her.

Glancing at the refrigerator, and then at the 'refrigerator maker' standing not far away with the golden-haired girl.

At this moment, Rita only felt colder.

Conversely, Durandal felt incredibly warm.

[Kiana], played by Jiang Qiao, perfectly embodied a 'hyper-aggressive younger sister'—her performance completely hit Durandal's hidden sister-complex XP. Especially since the [Kiana] unit also possessed 'cat' attributes.

'Cat' + 'Younger Sister' meeting 'Cat Lover' + 'Sister-Con' = Durandal was ecstatic.

The harmonious sisters walked down the street. Unfortunately, due to the Honkai outbreak, this ancient city, standing for hundreds of years, had become very empty. From time to time, some unsightly 'cars' would pop out to cause trouble.

However, hindering the alone time between the super Durandal-person and her cute 'younger sister' was undoubtedly a capital crime—the dedicated Durandal let the 'cars' experience what it felt like for the Star of Death to shine upon them.

Of course, although the lack of people made the city rather quiet, the buildings standing tall wouldn't change in a short time just because people disappeared.

In a sense, enjoying such beautiful scenery in a two-person, 'sister' relationship was also a unique kind of romance.

After becoming more familiar, Durandal's attitude was no longer so reserved. The only thing that troubled her was that her younger sister seemed even more aggressive than her, the older sister… The feeling of her heart thumping non-stop was truly agonizing.

But if you were to ask Durandal for her opinion, she would only say—it's amazing, bring it on!

As for Jiang Qiao—well, it was a novel experience, suddenly having an older sister.

Also, Durandal's blushing and earnest appearance when teased was very interesting and cute.

They sat together on a park bench, the golden-haired girl in casual military-style clothing leaning against the white-haired girl in light summer attire—this was also the place where they first met.

Coming here wasn't intentional; it was more like… an attraction?

"Sister, are you interested in things from the past?"

Perhaps for the sake of mystery, or for some other reason, last time when she appeared as 'Elysia', she didn't reveal everything, only hinting at a few things. Now, as [Kiana], sitting with Durandal in the sisterly role, the topic of the past became 'perfectly timed'.

Durandal fell into a brief silence at this question.

To say she wasn't interested would be impossible—when she first awakened, she was incredibly curious about what kind of person she was in the past and what kind of relationships she had. However, after Rita's companionship, experiencing so much, and going through the bubble world journey, her current attitude towards the past was more of a 'laissez-faire' mentality.

"Choosing to move towards the future doesn't mean you have to sever ties with the past."

"Kiana Kaslana—daughter of Siegfried Kaslana and Cecilia Schariac, the former strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal. That is your past."

"!?"

Hearing this answer, even though she had prepared herself mentally to some extent, Durandal was still somewhat stunned.

"I am… Kiana Kaslana… the daughter of Siegfried and… Senior Cecilia?"

Siegfried aside for the moment, just considering Cecilia—as the successor of Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie and the Black Abyss White Flower, she had always admired and felt a sense of… closeness to that senior she had never met and only seen in records.

And now learning that she was actually her daughter… How should she put it? Although there was indeed excitement, because the news was so shocking, she couldn't really get excited. Even so, Durandal nervously placed her silk-gloved hand on her black-stockinged, clasped legs.

"Then you…"

"'I' am also their daughter, of course, but specifically, it's a little different." The white-haired girl smiled, quite seriously saying:

"[Project K], also known as [Second Herrscher Revival Project]—'K423' was the 'codename' for this body when it was first born… Um, you and Dad rescued me, but due to various accidents, eventually entrusted the name [Kiana Kaslana] to me."

"But to be more practical—'my' real name should be 'Sirin'."

"Sirin… that's the name of the Second Herrscher!?"

"Don't be surprised~ Let me show you this~" [Kiana] raised a slender index finger and gently tapped Durandal's forehead.

The next moment—a feeling like being electrocuted startled Durandal, and then…

A piece of sealed memory flashed through her mind.

It was a familiar figure—

Former Schicksal's strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Cecilia Schariac.

Durandal had seen her information in the archives, and the surrounding ice and snow… was it Siberia?

Various emotions flowed through her heart, allowing Durandal to quickly understand how 'Sirin' became Cecilia's daughter.

And [Kiana]—Jiang Qiao—was quite interested. This memory was excavated from this unit, something hidden in the 'deepest recesses of memory'.

It was 'Sirin's source of yearning for beauty', the origin point for the birth of the new consciousness 'K423'. In simple terms, it was… the source code that constituted Kiana.

Compared to complete memories, it was naturally fragmented, but if the purpose was just for 'understanding', this extent was enough.

Looking at Durandal waking up from her memories, the white-haired girl whispered:

"The former Cecilia gave 'Sirin' the identity of a daughter, and as Otto's experimental result—I subsequently inherited the same thing from Siegfried… Dad."

"Of course, this is from an ethical perspective—if purely from a physical, or DNA perspective, 'K423' itself is an artificial human created by that Overseer using Sirin's DNA and [Kiana Kaslana]'s DNA. From this level of perspective…"

"Um… 'I' should more accurately be called your 'daughter' in relationship, oh." As she spoke, the girl revealed a mischievous expression.

Undoubtedly, Durandal, who had just been listening to the ethics lesson and hadn't paid too much attention, froze directly after hearing 'daughter'.

…Daught…daughter…?

Already in a mess due to Sirin's memories, thinking about questions about her mother and even the Herrscher revival experiment, Durandal-sama, whose brain couldn't process it all, completely crashed after loading this 'ethical identification program'.

Her azure eyes directly turned into balls of yarn, staring at [Kiana] with an expression of extreme panic.

Younger sister was still okay… but suddenly having a daughter… Even if Durandal wanted to remain calm, it was obviously impossible to calm down!

No matter how strong she was—Durandal's essence was still a teenage girl.

"Hmm~ Should I call you 'Mom'?" Seeing Durandal's confusion, as if she thought it wasn't chaotic enough, [Kiana] playfully pinched her throat and called out 'Mom'.

And this time, it was like a heavy hammer… no, compared to the shock of being called sister for the first time, this 'Mom' was a 'pile driver-like' shock for Durandal.

Super Durandal-person just felt like her whole being was unwell.

"Cough cough… Let's stick with Senior Cecilia and Siegfried… Dad's relationship." Coughing, Durandal said with considerable difficulty—for her, suddenly having a 'younger sister' was definitely more acceptable.

Younger sister turning into 'daughter', and calling her Mom… As a teenage girl, Durandal absolutely couldn't accept this.

Even so, her gaze towards Kiana did change slightly.

Although Durandal frantically brainwashed herself internally 'This is a younger sister' 'This is a younger sister' 'This is a younger sister'.

However, when she thought about what the other person said about 'blood relations', and that the other person was indeed, in a sense, her 'daughter'.

A faint maternal instinct, almost imperceptible to herself, flowed out from Durandal-person's eyes.

Just like the Cecilia of the past… hmm, this is also a kind of inheritance.

While the 'sisters' were having a lot of fun.

In the bushes not far away, Rita was hiding—although she was heartbroken by the blow, with her personality, it was unlikely she would just give up.

Out of worry and curiosity, in short, in all aspects, the Maid was very concerned about what would happen when [Kiana] and Durandal-sama got together.

To avoid being discovered, she could only keep a great distance, so she could only observe through side views and couldn't hear anything at all.

Fortunately, as a professional White Glove, Rita was proficient in lip-reading.

With the aid of equipment, she captured certain keywords.

'Daughter'… 'Mom'?

Looking at these two comparison data in the Moonlight system, Rita was instantly stunned.

What kind of conversation content would include daughter and mom?

Moreover…

Observing through a side view, Rita instantly noticed an abnormal flush on Durandal's face. In her experience, that was clearly shyness…

This directly eliminated the possibility of a discussion about family history. After all, who would blush when talking about mom and daughter? Durandal-sama wasn't the type to be against mothers or rebellious daughters.

Daughter… Mom…

Connecting these two keywords, Rita's face instantly stiffened, and a bold idea popped into her mind…

Could it be… Durandal-sama is talking about…

Illegitimate child!?

Rita instantly thought of this possibility.

But after thinking about it carefully, she felt it was unlikely. She had always known about Durandal-sama's affairs, and with Durandal-sama's personality, how could she possibly have an illegitimate child?

And there wasn't enough time either…

Completely confused and disoriented, feeling it was absolutely impossible, but looking at Durandal-sama, who even faintly revealed maternal instincts, the impossibility in her heart was being frantically shaken.

Could it be… Durandal-sama really has an illegitimate child?!

Thinking of this, Rita's heart instantly turned ice-cold.

She had always considered her relationship with Durandal-sama to be unbreakable, but in the end… she didn't even know about Durandal-sama having an illegitimate child—Durandal-sama had been hiding it from her all along?

She could tell her sister, but not Rita… Misplaced trust!

Unaware of Rita's pain, Durandal, under 'entreaty', finally changed the 'mother-daughter game' back to a 'sister relationship'.

However, she did have something she still cared about.

"Cecilia… Mom, she…"

Through that 'Sirin' memory, Durandal had seen everything.

"Out of fear of the power hidden in the 'Kaslana' bloodline, that Overseer tried to bury everything in that Siberian snowfield with a 'Honkai fission bomb'."

"I think, in Schicksal's records—he should have written it like this: Cecilia perished together with the Herrscher."

"But in reality, he is the real culprit who killed Cecilia Mom."

Durandal's pupils constricted upon hearing these words.

The white-haired girl was quite calm—he could feel the inherent anger of this body when stating this fact. If it were Kiana herself, she would probably be uncontrollably furious.

But for Jiang Qiao, it was still controllable.

"The Overseer, he…"

Durandal's expression became extremely complicated.

Although she had lost her memories, making her feel unreal about the past, when she learned that her mother had died because of the Overseer, she still felt a surge of anger from her heart.

However, what tormented Durandal was that for her now, Otto almost played the role of a mentor, guiding her on her new path after losing her memories.

Because of this, she had always held him in awe, but now… it was truly contradictory.

Seeing Durandal's entanglement, the girl shook her head:

"It's okay, Sister."

"I'm telling you this just hoping you can understand the past, not expecting you to avenge Cecilia Mom."

Jiang Qiao was very clear that Durandal was the type who prioritized the bigger picture.

She might not be unaware of what kind of person Otto was, but Otto, who had been guiding her path, the image of him as a teacher, had always made her refuse to believe that judgment, and because of his identity as 'Schicksal Overseer', she chose to serve him.

Even so, even knowing the past, the choices Durandal would make probably wouldn't change much.

But that was okay too.

Lingering on the 'Sirin's beautiful memories of Cecilia', the white-haired girl whispered, "Follow the path you want to take, that must also be Cecilia Mom's wish."

"As for Otto."

"He will have his own ending."

"…"

Durandal at this time obviously couldn't understand the meaning of this sentence, but she still nodded silently.

However, from these words, Durandal seemed to have also noticed something.

"Are you leaving?"

Durandal was somewhat reluctant. If possible, she really wanted to bring [Kiana] back to Schicksal and be 'good sisters' every day.

But she also understood that there was an irreconcilable conflict between [Kiana] and the Overseer, and this idea was obviously impossible to realize.

"Yeah, it's about time."

"Just take this as a gift, Sister." With a crisp snap of her fingers, the 'Kevin' (i Just use Kevin) ELF, stored in hyperspace, fell down. The white-haired girl, rising from the park bench, said this.

"An interesting sparring partner, roughly that by your standards, um~ I think you will definitely like this little guy."

"Then, goodbye~"

The girl, with a figure that could be described as magnificent by girl standards, leaned forward, smiling, and was 'swallowed by hyperspace'.

And Durandal, sitting in place, looked at Kevin ELF placed beside her, looking in the direction where 'Kiana' disappeared, feeling empty in her heart.

"Oops, seems like I forgot something~"

The lively voice made Durandal instantly excited, and also somewhat puzzled about what exactly she had forgotten. But the next moment—

A hyperspace block unfolded beside Durandal and approached at an extremely fast speed…

An ambush!

Her usual vigilance was completely absent at this moment. The warm sensation imprinted on her cheek made Durandal somewhat dazed. But until the girl's 'hee hee' laughter completely disappeared, Durandal finally realized what had happened after she came back to her senses.

At this moment, the God of war Goose Miss turned into a Braised Goose.