Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper

(Continued from the previous chapter)

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The following morning, on the playground of Chiyu Academy, the girl, now a Herrscher of Mimicry, stood before the "Oath of Judah." The owner of this cross and the boy in the unknown armor should be dead, but the cross gave the girl a strange sense of threat. Her intuition told her that she had to destroy this weapon immediately...

"Tsk, what an eyesore." Yuno then controlled a vine and launched it at Judah, but unfortunately the vine bounced off as soon as it hit him. "What? How could that be?"

"Heh, don't waste your energy. The Oath of Judah is made of Soul Steel and was designed to withstand the attacks of the Herrschers." Theresa, fully recovered, slowly walked over from a distance, followed by a sleepy-eyed boy.

"Hey, don't waste your energy. Even a real Herrscher wouldn't be able to leave a single mark on it, no matter how hard they try. You, a mere Herrscher of Mimicry, ha, just give it a rest. I'm so sleepy," Long Qiao said, yawning.

"Oh, is that so? I don't know how you two managed to cure my poison, but your thought processes are truly bizarre. You actually came back to die! I must say, you're quite courageous, hehehe..." Yuno's eyes flashed with a strange green light. "You...you, I was just careless last time!" Theresa said angrily.

"Someone like you, if I get serious, I could easily take you down!" Theresa said angrily, pointing at Yuno.

"Heh, quite the boast. I hope your skills match your boast..." Yuno then clapped her hands and shouted into the air, "Come out, it's your turn..." As soon as she finished speaking, a dozen figures slowly walked in from the side...

"!!!" When Long Qiao saw the approaching figure, her pupils contracted. "This...this, why? Why are you with them..."

"Why? Heh, I said I'd make everyone who hurt me pay the price, so I went after them..." Yuno said angrily, covering half her cheek with her hand. Those walking towards them were naturally the Orphnochs, the otherworldly beings from Helheim, the hybrids, the unknown life forms, and finally, the Greedy Ones—two of each, ten in total...

"Tsk, ten in total? That's a bit difficult... But I'm also a little excited. Headmaster, you fight that Herrscher, leave the rest to me!" Long Qiao's hands trembled, his eyes filled with fanaticism as he looked at the ten monsters, and he said to Theresa behind him.

"Are you sure? You can beat them? Are you sure you can do it?" Theresa asked Long Qiao doubtfully. "Should we call them over?"

"Not sure, but I want to give it a try. It's good to call them over." As he spoke, Long Qiao took out his Faiz phone, ready to transform. Just as Long Qiao was about to rush forward to fight the ten monsters, a voice came from behind him...

"You want to try something? If you die, who's going to collect your body?"

Long Qiao looked towards the source of the sound and saw a white mage wearing a cloak (the boss in the mage series). However, Long Qiao knew that this white mage was actually Qing Mo, and behind the white mage were Kiana and her two companions, along with Men Mo and Zhang Qing.

"Ha, what brings you all here?" Long Qiao smiled at everyone.

Bronya expressionlessly took out a terminal and waved it in front of Long Qiao; a red dot was flashing on it.

"...So there was a tracker, huh? Wait, when did you put it on me?"

"It was already on your Faiz phone yesterday when you went to see the Dean. Bronya invented it not long after we got back. As for why she didn't come yesterday, you understand," Menmo explained. "And according to Bronya, this red dot will jump if you're in danger. When you suffer a fatal wound, the terminal will alert you, and the jumping frequency will increase."

"And besides, when your injuries started escalating rapidly yesterday, Bronya was really worried about you. She kept urging us to come help you quickly, and she almost rushed out herself. But we had a lot of faith in you, and we believed you wouldn't be over so soon," Menmo said with a smile, his arm around Long Qiao.

"That's not true at all! How could Bronya possibly worry about him?" Bronya shouted.

"Hey! I'm telling you, you guys are really ignoring me!" Yuno roared, glaring at the group of people laughing and joking in front of her.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't notice there was a Herrscher here, and some minor monsters too." Zhang Qing's eyes gradually turned cold.

"Hey, I'll say this: there are eleven enemies here, and we have eight. Let's pair up, two in each group, and the remaining three—two for Qiao, and we'll take care of the last one together. How about that?" Menmo said after thinking for a moment.

"No problem, let's start the allocation then. I'll have to ask you to wait a bit, Herrscher," Qingmo said.

————After a while————

Zhang Qing is paired with Kiana, Qing Mo with Theresa, Men Mo with Mei, and Long Qiao with Bronya.

"Well then, Bronya, nice to meet you. Our opponents are those two Orphnochs, right? How about it? I'll use melee attacks, and you support me from a distance. Thank you." Long Qiao took out her Faiz phone and transformed.

"Yeah, okay"

"Henshin!"

"Complete!"

Red photon blood flowed through him, and Long Qiao drew his blade and sped towards the Orphnoch.

"Heavy Bunny 19C, Fire!" Bronya also attacked Orphnoch.

"You can't beat us, surrender!" Long Qiao said, attacking the Orphnochs one after another, finally sending two Orphnochs flying with a single blow.

"Uh...hehe, hehehe, can't beat us? No, you're wrong, it's you who can't beat us, hahahaha!" Spider Orphnoch and Bull Orphnoch laughed maniacally. Then, the two monsters simultaneously took out a small pill and swallowed it. Next, Bull Orphnoch roared towards Long Qiao, arriving in front of her in the blink of an eye. Then, he struck out with his palm, and with a "bang," it hit Long Qiao's heart.

"Whoa...uh..." The next moment, Long Qiao fell straight to the ground. The others looked in Long Qiao's direction after hearing the sound and found that she had been shot in the heart and was lying on the ground. The two Orpheus were also slowly walking towards Bronya...

"Qiao!" x6, everyone cried out in concern as they looked at Long Qiao who had already fallen to the ground.

"Heh heh heh, now you're the only one left. Are you ready to die?" Orphnoch the Spider said disdainfully to Bronya. "The one who posed the biggest threat to us is gone. What are you going to do now?" In the blink of an eye, Orphnoch the Bull was in front of Bronya, grabbing her by the neck.

"Cough cough, give her... give her... put her down, huff... huff..." Then everyone heard a very weak voice, "Cough cough, scum, put Bronya down right now!" Long Qiao trembled as she struck Bull Orpheus with the Faiz blade, but was sent flying by Spider Orpheus, who was watching the show from the sidelines, sending sparks flying. "Bang—" Long Qiao was sent flying onto the grassy field next to the playground.

"Qiao, you don't have to worry about me. Just run, or you'll die," Bronya said to Long Qiao, slightly moved.

Then Long Qiao stood up shakily, "Huff...shut up, you...hurry up...put...Bronya down..." Long Qiao then activated her accelerated form and unleashed her final attack.

"Complete!"

"Time Out!"

Then, Long Qiao installed the Faiz cursor on his right leg and launched the final attack, kicking the spider Orphnoch.

"Crimson Smash"

"Damn it, are you some kind of unkillable cockroach? You're incredibly resilient. I admit you have good willpower, but this attack was useless." With that, Spider Orphnoch launched Dragon Qiao away, then turned to Bull and said, "Give me this little girl, that guy is yours."

Bull Orpheus looked at the extremely weak Long Qiao and said, "You're quite good. It's a pity, you'll still die here in the end." Bull Orpheus's pace quickened, and he charged directly at Long Qiao, his horns piercing her heart and lungs. The moment she was hit, all of Long Qiao's ribs broke, and she was on the verge of death. Bull Orpheus continued to charge at Long Qiao against the wall of the teaching building, and the Faiz armor was forcibly deactivated. After Bull removed his horns, everyone clearly saw a large pool of blood flowing from Long Qiao's feet, and Long Qiao lay lifeless in the pool of blood…

"Hey, hey, hey, this can't be real, right, Brother Qiao!" Kiana and Zhang Qing stared in disbelief at Long Qiao's death.

"Hehehe, little brat, you're next. Are you ready to die?" Orphnoch the Spider said viciously, gripping Bronya's neck.

"It's all because I was too weak, that's why Qiao died... Qiao..." Bronya muttered, looking at Qiao's corpse.

"Tsk, I'm talking to you. Fine, I'll just kill you directly." Just as the spider Orphnoch tightened its grip, and Bronya's face turned red from being pinched, a miracle seemed to happen... Long Qiao's hand moved.

"Scum, stop right now!" Long Qiao lowered his head, slowly getting up while leaning against the wall. A dragon-shaped pattern appeared behind him, flashing with red light, and the eyes on the dragon's head turned yellow.

Meanwhile, the group that had dealt with all the monsters also breathed a sigh of relief, looking in Long Qiao's direction. "Thank goodness, Brother Qiao isn't dead! I was worried for nothing," Mei said, wiping her eyes. She then intensified her attacks on the Greedy One. But only Qingmo sensed Long Qiao's abnormality. "Something's not right. Damn, with Qiao like this, could it be that he's going to..."

"Impossible! Your heart and lungs were pierced, how could you still be alive?"

"I don't know, but I feel a continuous flow of power." Long Qiao raised her head. Her pupils had turned yellow, and strange patterns had appeared on her face.

"This... Could it be... could it be that you are also an Orphnoch?" Bull Orphnoch asked in surprise.

"Huh? What a coincidence, I've seen this before. It happened right after we were rescued by the mysterious person yesterday. It even had blue flames coming out, it looked so cool!" Theresa said, her eyes sparkling.

"Dean Theresa, are you an idiot? You're lucky you didn't die. You should be grateful that you managed to suppress this situation back then, otherwise you would have been finished," Qingmo said helplessly, rubbing his forehead.

"why?"

"Because this is a sign of becoming an Orphnoch," Menmo said, his expression grave as he looked at Long Qiao.

"What? That Qiao Ge..." Kiana and Mei said at the same time.

"Let's pray that the Orphnoch he transformed into isn't too strong, so we can control him. Let's pray he's still conscious. Everyone, get ready," Zhang Qing said to the group after dealing with the monster.

The lines on Long Qiao's face became increasingly clear, and blue flames erupted from his body. Then he roared to the sky, "Ah—" The blue flames then enveloped Long Qiao, and then the blue fire exploded, splashing up puffs of smoke. A figure slowly emerged from the smoke...

Emerging from it was Long Qiao, who had transformed into an Orphnoch. He had the appearance of an Eastern-style dragon head with yellow pupils and shield-like armor on his arms. His body flowed with red photon blood, similar to the Faiz armor. His tail was shaped like a double-edged sword, which could be used to attack enemies behind him. There seemed to be a slit in the middle, as if concealing something resembling a cannon barrel… This Long Qiao was referred to as "Dragon Lord Orphnoch."

After the appearance of "Dragon Lord Orphnoch," everyone broke out in a cold sweat. It wasn't for any particular reason, but simply because the oppressive aura emanating from the dragon Orphnoch was overwhelming...

"Heh..." Just then, Long Qiao moved...

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(Stay tuned for the next episode)