A journey of Shadowverse and Honkai Impact 3rd

"Mr. Orange, please help keep an eye on Xilin. Remember not to let anyone disturb her sleep."

After leaving the mysterious spiritual realm with the Mud and Dust Colossus's "hmm-hmm" response, Sera returned to reality and had to put on the difficult shackles again, being bound in her tortured body like a sinner.

That night, the frost outside was bone-chilling. I couldn't tell whether the icy blue night was the changing light of the snow or the melancholy glow of the lonely moon in the sky.

In the room, the unused radiator sits quietly in a corner. Its inconspicuous appearance and other ordinary furnishings together constitute the girl's ordinary living space.

The wheelchair was empty and fell beside the bed. The doll was speechless and leaned alone against the headboard.

The silver-haired child stood up silently. Her thick pajamas were common winter clothing, and her blue eyes reflected a calm light. She leaned against the only window in the room and looked out at the vast world, but she could not see the end of everything.

The wind that no longer flows will not bring people any news from afar. The completely different environment does not seem to be full of vitality at all. The reality where the evil energy radiation is always lingering is not like a lush forest. In terms of feeling, it is probably not even as good as the grassland that allowed her to first enter the threshold of the magic path.

However, even in a reality with particularly poor ratings, there are precious kind people and small and warm daily lives belonging to individuals.

The transparent blue eyes blinked, and the unusual vision opened up for a moment and then disappeared. From the unique perspective of dreams, Sera saw some unusual "dreams".

Dreams are inherently strange and indescribable, but as an intelligent being, the overflowing dreams should not be completely chaotic. The inexplicable impulses are filled with extreme colors, which are particularly dazzling to Sera.

"..."

In addition to the pain, an unusual sour feeling suddenly appeared. Sera touched her pupils with her right hand despite the severe pain, and gradually accepted the reality.

Ah, why, the world outside has become so blurry.

33. Death Soldier

In the dark night with snow flakes flying, a faint shadow is moving. Its hunched body is like a person with spinal disease, and its tattered clothes can still vaguely reveal its former dignity as a human being.

The ghosts wandering the world, or the evil spirits in strange stories and legends, apart from these two, all witnesses find it difficult to give an accurate description.

But in the quiet snowy night, not a single witness warned the people in the town.

Until a strange gaze came towards it, even though it was emotionless, it couldn't help but feel a shudder.

With a thrill of excitement and a strange low howl, it changed its target, ignoring the family that was about to be killed, and headed towards the east of the town.

Behind me, the howling night wind was making a strange sound, like the wailing of living creatures.

…………

Her vision became blurred, like looking at flowers in the fog. The strange filter effect did not improve even after rubbing her eyes. After a while, Sera stopped the useless movements.

Glancing around the ordinary room, the speechless girl felt tired as she saw that everything was hazy, giving the viewer plenty of room for magnificent imagination.

Why do my eyes become fragile after just looking at it a few times?

The sour feeling was like a small insect, crawling around on the nerves connecting her eyes. The traces left behind made even the strong-willed her shed turbid tears. Her vision became even more blurred, with various simple blocks of color stacked together, which made her very uncomfortable.

Only after experiencing pain can you know the happiness of painlessness, and only after losing your healthy eyes can you experience the joy of normal vision.

Sighing in her heart, Sera closed her eyes and tears of sadness flowed down her face, which were then wiped away by the warm little hands.

At this time, she also sensed the traces of the strange creature.

The extraordinary spirit is giving a warning, emitting a piercing burning pain for the ominous things that are about to be encountered, and the sharp blade called threat is already hanging over the head.

It’s already here.

In her heart, Sera expressed her heartfelt emotion.

Even without opening my eyes, I was aware of the dim moonlight. The only window in the room, the gateway for the night and the moon, was already covered by an ominous shadow.

Outside the second-floor window, a shadowy, ferocious-looking evil spirit drilled through the wall and climbed up with its deformed claws. The two scarlet eyeballs embedded in its shriveled face were glaring ferociously at the girl in the window.

"If you don't shower regularly, the smell coming from you will surely kill anyone who wants to get close to you."

The sound of shattering windows and Sera's sweet voice rang out together, but the sudden whistling cold wind did not rush into the house, and the evil spirit's claws that could slaughter ordinary people without any suspense were also blocked by Mana.

The mysterious and translucent circular pattern is filled with blue light spots, and the complex runes are arranged in an orderly manner. The nested structure shapes the mana into a hard shield, blocking the attacks of the evil spirits head-on.

Manalya Defense Formation.

"Death, despair..."

Loud collision sounds rang in her ears one after another, and the evil spirits that attacked more and more violently let out manic screams in Sera's ears, which instantly awakened the people who were about to wake up from their dreams and opened their frightened eyes. As the attacked person, Sera also had a general understanding of the enemy's situation.

Organisms that are possessed by malevolent energy radiation have a single mode of action and low intelligence, but their physical fitness does surpass that of ordinary people.

Is this the death squad that Xilin told me about?

If a living being eroded by Honkai energy is not qualified, it will become a tool-like killing machine. Animals will become Honkai beasts, and humans will become death warriors.

"Pitiful."

Inside and outside the room separated by the defensive formation, Sera, who had been facing sideways, turned his head, his dim blue eyes reflecting the hideous-looking assassin, and calmly expressed all his evaluation of him.

jingle.

From the inside of the magic circle that had been defending against the minions' attacks, silk threads flew out through the air. Multiple dominant threads stood upright like swords, each targeting the claws, arms, neck, head and other parts of the body. The formation, which aimed to kill silently, was difficult to capture with the naked eye due to its slender body and extremely fast speed.

Like a hot knife cutting through oil, there was no hindrance. Mana, which was originally difficult to coexist with, gained an advantage on a larger scale when it touched the dead soldiers' Honkai energy defense. The headless corpse that was dissected instantly fell to the snow in a tragic posture.

The girl closed her eyes and gathered her mana. With a calm expression, she felt the cold wind blowing in. From the beginning, it was cold and sharp, and then it gradually turned into a light breeze. She sighed softly, expressing her condolences for the damaged windows of her house.

Oh, it looks like it will be hard to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Listening to the sudden bustle of voices, even on the second floor, she could feel the various movements happening on the first floor. Sera lay back on the bed, covered herself with the quilt, and stopped thinking about the various troubles in the outside world.

"Good night."

The voice spoken to oneself fell silent. Although the quiet room was inevitably noisy from the active outside world, as long as the mind was calm enough, it would not stir up waves that disturbed the mood.

"What is this!?"

"It looks like he fell from upstairs!"

"Call the police first. Everyone, don't gather here! It's nothing serious. Something just fell from the roof!"

"..."

The calm shouts of the adults echoed in the snowy night. Curious children and young adults were escorted back to their rooms one by one by the few caregivers. However, due to negligence, some rumors that seemed true or false had already spread among the energetic group.

"I saw it! It's a headless demon. Even though it has no head, it has four arms and three legs!"

"Really? But what I saw was a thing that looked like a human being, except that its hands and head were separated."

"Hey, I bet that wasn't a demon. It must have been a goblin from the forest. It came to the orphanage to steal the children, but it didn't have the skills to do it and fell to its death!"

The chattering and bragging either happened on the way back to the room or in a room with multiple people. Even if they were covered with thick quilts, it could not suppress the vigorous imagination of children and young adults.

…………

The next day, the police car that drove in stopped on the ground not far from the crash site. The area that had been cordoned off was being used to collect evidence, and some snow residue like water still remained on the cleared road.

The policeman holding the walkie-talkie said a few words, then walked in from outside across the cordon. Like a small leader, he carefully checked the scene, looked up, and then called the person in charge here.

"Father Capton, please allow us to conduct further investigation..."

"Well, we need to check outside a room on the second floor. That's where this thing should have fallen."

34. Different forests

Filled with worry, the priest's quick and heavy steps revealed his inner emotions. After quickly walking up the stairs to the second floor of the orphanage, he saw the policeman and the girl in the corridor.

The dignified man showed a kind expression from the heart, and chatted with Sera from time to time. Although it was a routine investigation and inquiry, it felt like a nagging family chat.

After seeing the scene, hearing the sound, and understanding the situation, Capton relaxed, but facing an unusual case, he still needed to make some preparations.

"Good morning, Officer Johnson."

The police officer holding a cup of coffee turned his head and nodded.

"Father, the specific situation is this: the thing did fall from the window of this girl's room. It seemed as if it wanted to climb up and invade the room, but something unexpected happened."

Capton walked over and first took a close look at Sera in the wheelchair, and then responded to the police officer's answer.

"I see. I've heard about the murders in this town before, and now another strange case has occurred. I hope something like this won't happen again."

"It's hard to say. We've already reported the specific situation to our superiors. The body will be sent to the city for an autopsy as soon as possible. We still need your help with publicity for the entire town."

"In my opinion, there will be even greater twists and turns waiting for us in the next few days."

The police officer took a sip of the fragrant coffee and spoke with a heavy tone. From the perspective of an old policeman, what he said was not without reason.

The previous unsolved murders and the current strange unknown creatures easily reminded him of some previous unsolved cases.

A hunter who lived off the land and the forests was lost in the deep mountains. The search and rescue team searched back and forth but only found blood-stained fragments of clothing and other things...

"Well, luckily there were no casualties this time, but the noise kept everyone from getting a good night's sleep."

Capton changed the subject with a smile, and his natural words attracted the police officer's agreement. Before long, the two men's topic really shifted to the nagging family matters.

"Hey, this kid is much better than my brat. He'll be fine if he's taken care of more. I can see that little Sera is a strong child."

After finishing his coffee, the old police officer waved his hand and then went into Sera's room, apparently to supervise the work of the new police officers.

"Father."

The light greeting echoed in the air. As always, the girl was wrapped in a thick cotton-padded jacket, and her sickly tone was heartbreaking.

"Everything was fine last night."

He expressed his concern. No matter what the police officer explained, the real situation had to be known in person. Capton pushed the wheelchair and asked as he walked, moving Sera away from the scene of the crime.

"It's okay. That thing is very ferocious, but it's no match for me."

There was an endearing softness in Sera's words, but the fact that she didn't explain it to the police officer was particularly shocking.

"That's good. I didn't expect something like this to appear here. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with these things after I retired."

The priest, walking steadily, also revealed a little-known fact. With calm footsteps, the two men walked along the lighted corridor in the orphanage and arrived in front of an office.

The priest took out the key and unlocked the door. A pleasant and elegant fragrance immediately wafted out from the room, making people feel soothed.

If I study here, my efficiency will definitely be very high.

Sera was pushed in with dim eyes, and in this world composed of blurry and single blocks of color, she used her imagination to come up with a study that was simply decorated but extremely lively, and in fact, the furnishings of the office were indeed like that.

The click of the door locking threw away all external worries. After doing all this, the priest pulled out a chair and sat down in front of Sera in a relaxed manner. In the office with the curtains drawn, both of them were bathed in the pale silver light of the sky.

"Sierra, your eyes?"

"I couldn't see clearly for a moment, probably because I saw something I shouldn't have seen."

Facing each other with no one to interfere, they spoke much more directly. The kind priest asked Serra about the condition of his eyes, and Serra also asked about the priest's past.

"Father, have you ever been a soldier?"

"Well, I served as a technical soldier for a while, but I didn't go to the front lines much. I didn't see many monsters called death soldiers. I saw more of the huge monsters called Honkai Beasts."

A look of reminiscence emerged on his calm face, as if a much younger priest was recounting his experiences in a nostalgic tone. There was no pride or sadness in his calm words, only plain gentleness.

"Now that something like this has happened, what are your plans, Sera? If things get worse, I'll have to use my connections as an old friend to call in some special forces."

"By then, I'm afraid your situation will not be very good."

Her sight focused, trying her best to fall on the familiar yet unfamiliar color block in front of her. Her bright eyes were no longer dull, and Sera, who had thought a lot, spoke.

"I'm ready to leave here. Thank you, Father, for your care these days."

Melancholy and reluctance coexist, but it has to be done. When this sentence echoes in the room, the sinking air brings a solemn atmosphere.

"Where are you going?"

"A city? Or a small country town?"

The priest asked, as if trying to complement Sera's incomplete plan with his own wisdom.

“Actually, I want to come.”

Sera answered weakly, but the answer she finally came up with was beyond the priest's expectations.

"But a forest far away from civilization might also be a good option."

"It's primitive but not boring. You can put your heart into it without worrying about whether your identity will be exposed."

In fact, I was more attracted to the forest where Arisa, Latica and my cheap teacher Thrandal were.

Life is comfortable and quiet, and the breeze praising life is always around your ears, giving you a feeling of being recognized. You don’t have to worry about anything, nor will you be attacked by monsters for no reason.