Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper

(Continuing from the previous episode, everyone was tricked by Otto, and in order to cover for everyone, Long Qiao went alone to lure away the Honkai Beasts. What will be Qiao's fate?)

"Tsk, there are quite a few, a bunch of monstrosities, it's exhausting to kill them all," Long Qiao said after slaying one of the Honkai Beasts with her blade. "This is troublesome enough, there's no other way but to activate speed mode and clear them out." Long Qiao then pressed the switch on her Faiz watch.

"Complete!"

As the transformation sound effect played, Faiz's chest armor unfolded, revealing its core. The red photon blood on its body turned silver, and its eyes changed from yellow to red. Faiz's accelerated mode was activated—"Alright, now it's my turn. Honkai Beasts, prepare to die!" Long Qiao inserted the Faiz instruction memory into the Faiz Blade and pressed the timer switch.

"Start Up!"

"Sparkle Cut!" (Red Blade Slash)

Long Qiao watched as the numerous Honkai Beasts leaped into the air. As red cone-shaped pointers appeared, the Honkai Beasts met their final moments.

"Time Out!"

The ending sound effect rang out, and Long Qiao reverted to his basic form and deactivated his transformation. "Phew, finally solved. Speed-up is definitely more useful. Let's continue to the next place." Just as Long Qiao was about to set off for the next location, he glanced at the side path and noticed that Karen and the others were not far from him. Moreover, Karen seemed to be injured. "? Didn't I tell them to leave? Why are they back? Let's go check it out." Long Qiao drove his Motorized Pegasus towards them.

"Uh..." Kallen was stabbed by a Honkai Beast while protecting the little girl behind her.

"Hey! Let her go!" Kiana attacked the Honkai Beast, but was slapped against the wall and seriously injured. She then looked at the fallen Kallen.

"Damn it! If I had weapons, I could help too!" Kiana said angrily. Meanwhile, Bronya, perched on the flagpole, was operating the system, "I need to crack the system of this area and materialize weapons so Kiana can help as well." However, a Honkai Beast saw this and went over to shake the flagpole. Bronya lost her grip and fell.

"Damn it! Bronya! Quick, Brother Mo, we have to save Bronya right now!" Zhang Qing, who was at the very back, said to Men Mo.

"Holy crap! Bronya's falling from the sky!" Long Qiao exclaimed in shock as she saw Bronya fall, then sped off again. But Bronya was rescued by a mysterious woman who appeared out of nowhere – Otto!

"Oh dear, I really didn't expect a few kittens to sneak in," Otto said.

"Hey! Bronya, are you alright?" Zhang Qing and Men Mo asked as they rushed to Bronya's side.

"Don't be too nervous, she's fine," Otto said, glancing at Zhang Qing and Men Mo. "Huh? Otto? What are you doing here?" Long Qiao, who had rushed over, asked. "Brother Qiao, you're here?" Zhang Qing looked at Long Qiao and asked. "Yeah, so, Otto, what are you up to now?"

"Don't be too nervous, I mean no harm. Although I was a little angry at first when you trespassed into my backyard," Otto said slowly, looking at the group. As they listened to Otto's words, they realized that the woman in front of them was actually... not a virtual personality!

"But your actions (to rescue Kallen) have deeply moved me, and your friend reminds me a lot of Kallen... Her name is Kiana... right?" "Oh, right, doing these dangerous things in this virtual world, if you die, there's no going back, so what should we do? I've got it! Perfect for testing that thing they're developing!" Otto said, tossing his hair. "And the Honkai Beast horde has all gathered here. Good luck, little kitties~"

Later, Otto operated the system for a while and said to the group, "All done. Now, the treasure room door is unlocked. Please accept my little gift, hehe, enjoy it!" After saying that, Otto walked away and disappeared from everyone's sight...

"What is this?!" Bronya exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the weapons displayed on the system screen. There were four suits of armor...

Just as the Honkai Beast was about to launch its final attack on Kiana, an electronic template suddenly appeared in front of her, displaying the message "Loading..." "What is this?" Amidst a flash of light, Kiana's White Knight, Moonlight, appeared, and the three people standing nearby also underwent a transformation...

"This...we actually turned into our final forms? And I'm even in my Kamen Rider Gaim form! And I can even use 555's Burst! How did that old schemer Otto get our data?" Long Qiao said, looking at his and the other two's transformations. "I don't know, but I feel like I could take on ten of them," Men Mo said, wiping his card-box sword. "Indeed, this feeling is really great," Zhang Qing said, assessing his strength. That's right, the three brothers each received a buff that turned all their Riders into their final forms (except for Decade, which didn't turn into God 21 because it was too weak).

Long Qiao took out the Arcanine Orange DJ Gun, rotated the DJ wheel to load bullets, and then fired in all directions, instantly annihilating a large group of Honkai Beasts. "Damn! The final form is definitely stronger!" Afterwards, Long Qiao deactivated his virtual armor and looked at Kiana's battle.

Zhang Qing then installed the Descent Card into the Dragon Summoner II, and a giant red dragon suddenly appeared behind him. This was the Survival Dragon Rider's exclusive contract beast, the "Dragon Rider." Zhang Qing then loaded the Shooting Loader into the Dragon Summoner II, and the two of them unleashed a barrage of attacks on the Honkai Beasts, clearing them out completely. "Holy crap! That's the feeling! Awesome! So satisfying! I want to get the final form soon!" Zhang Qing then deactivated his virtual armor and looked at Kiana.

After the two finished their battle, our Menmo also reached the end of his fight. Menmo directly used the K touchscreen to summon nine of his final-form Rider predecessors. The summoned Rider predecessors followed Menmo's movements and bombarded the beast horde. "Yosh, I've finally taken care of things here. Time to watch the battle."

Meanwhile, Kiana, having acquired a temporary new armor, overwhelmingly defeated the Honkai Beast with her absolute power. "Is this the weapon Bronya teleported me with? It's amazing!" Kiana murmured to herself, looking at her hands. "Hehe, well then, it's time for the protagonist to make her appearance!" With that, Kiana soared into the sky, unfurling her "Light Wings." Just as her words fell, a barrage of photon rays instantly swept towards the Honkai Beast horde, annihilating them in a flash.

After resolving the battle, Kiana removed her armor and landed in front of everyone. "So tired, but finally, we've taken care of those Honkai Beasts." Bronya, standing nearby, was thinking, "What exactly were the armors Kiana and Choco wearing? According to Choco, their armor was their final form, but what about Kiana's? I can't find any relevant information in the Schicksal database."

Kiana glanced to the side; the critically injured Kallen sat there with her head bowed. Then the group walked towards Kallen. "Hey! Bronya, you said this is a virtual world, right? So the real Kallen died over 500 years ago..." Kiana asked Bronya. "...Yes, the real Kallen Kaslana died 538 years ago. Even if we save the illusion before us, we can't change history," Bronya replied.

“…I know all that, but…” Kiana said, walking up to Kallen. “Miss Kiana…” Kallen called out to Kiana, “Sister Kallen…you can rest assured now. Those monsters have been defeated, and you are free…” Kallen then took Kiana’s hand, looked at the three people beside her, and said gratefully, “Thank you so much. Even though I’m just a virtual personality, you’ve all treated me so kindly. Thank you so much.”

"! How could this be? How did you know..." Everyone was shocked by Karen's words. "Hmm... When did I find out? It should be when I started to realize that everyone around me was acting out a pre-ordained script. At the end of the script, I would be killed by those monsters, and when I woke up again, I would be back to the previous day. After experiencing countless cycles, I realized that I was just an actor in this performance myself." Everyone listened quietly to Karen's words.

"I've tried everything to escape this performance, but I couldn't, until... your arrival. When I saw you descend from the sky, the performance changed... Hey, Cho, how long has it been since Kallen died in the real world?" Kallen asked Cho. "Ah? It seems like more than 500 years have passed." "Is that so? I am a personality reconstructed from Kallen's memories. In Kallen's memories, before she died, she sealed away the person she loved most, Yae Sakura... Now that she's become a Herrscher, she shouldn't be dead even after more than 500 years. If the seal is broken and she returns to this world, she probably won't know anyone. How lonely she would be... Cho, Ms. Kiana, I can't leave this virtual world anymore. If you have the chance to meet Yae Sakura outside, please pass on a message for Kallen Kaslana. This message has been buried in her heart for more than 500 years." Then Kallen spoke those words to the four of them...

"This area has begun to crash. Initiating logout," Bronya said to everyone while operating the system. "Well then, goodbye, Qiao, Miss Kiana, Zhang Qing, and Brother Menmo," Kallen said with a smile as she saw everyone off, and they slowly awoke from the virtual image...

"Wow, this was really exciting! But who was that man in black who came with Qiao? He helped us a few times and then left," Menmo said, taking off his hood and scratching his head in confusion. "I don't know, but he helped us, right? Kiana?" Long Qiao said.

"Heh, my ancestor really was a fool," Kiana remarked with a touch of melancholy.

----split line----

(To be continued!)