Honkai: Strijder
Chapter 444: Probing
The second game ended in a draw.
Sigurd frowned and waved his hand again. The checkers board were replaced by a Go board.
"You had the first move last time. This time I go first?"
"As you wish, my dear friend!"
Otto replied with a smile, meeting Sigurd's calm blue gaze. Sigurd also responded with a faint smile of interest. Unseen by others, a subtle tension filled the air between them.
…
When Fu Hua, Kevin, and Su arrived at the palace, dozens of different kinds of chessboards were floating around Sigurd and Otto. Pieces of every type moved back and forth across them. All the games were locked in stalemate—neither side willing to give ground.
At the same time, Otto's composed smile and Sigurd's tranquil expression carried a faint sense of rivalry.
"Sigurd, the score in these matches is eleven to eleven. The rest are still undecided. Shall we continue?"
"Business first."
Sigurd waved his hand, dismissing all the boards as if it were nothing.
Otto sighed softly, then returned to his usual calm smile, as though he didn't care much about the outcome either.
The two of them looked toward the three heroes who had arrived. Then the clone-Sigurd beside the throne and Hera behind Otto disappeared from the spot.
…
In a surreal world of shifting colors and abstract forms, Sigurd flew ahead holding a golden crystal in his hand, with Hera following behind. The two of them moved steadily in the direction guided by the flow of information.
On the surface they looked serious and focused—until Hera's lips curled upward and she suddenly said:
"Black stone B13. Encirclement complete. Decisive victory.
Chariot forward four, king draws the sword.
Dragon-horse advances one step—checkmate.
Sigurd, that's three points for me!"
Sigurd glanced back at her calmly.
"White stone D14. I'll take one point back. The other two are yours. Six games left—continue?"
"We've got nothing better to do anyway. Your move—please."
"Alright. Chinese chess, game three. I move the cannon…"
…
In the real world, inside the imperial hall, Sigurd and Otto looked at each other and narrowed their eyes simultaneously.
"Being too obsessed with victory isn't good, Otto."
"You're right, my dear friend. Let's keep it moderate. A little amusement is enough."
That was what they said—but the avatars linked to their wills, traveling through the information realm, were still fiercely competing without the slightest intention of yielding.
Meeting a worthy opponent was one of life's pleasures. Since no one else knew about it, they might as well keep competing. After all, there had to be a winner in the end.
"???"
The other three listening to their conversation looked at each other, feeling that something seemed off but unable to pinpoint what it was. In the end they remained silent so as not to interfere with Sigurd's operation.
…
Within the indescribable dimension of information, Sigurd and Hera continued flying while playing their games. Eventually they arrived at a region where massive amounts of informational entities intertwined densely.
"This is it."
Looking at the invisible link between the golden crystal and that dense region, Sigurd stopped in the void, his expression turning serious.
Hera hovered beside him. Her lady's fan vanished from her hand as she lifted her skirt slightly, studying the scene with an increasingly grave expression.
"The structure is incredibly complex… I can barely understand it. How could something like this appear in our world?"
"But it already exists. In terms of time, this power truly lies outside the real world… Hera, you once confronted that being directly. Do you sense any similarities?"
Hera looked at Sigurd, then carefully sensed the presence ahead—a place where infinite information condensed like a black hole. She shook her head.
"It's hard to say. When I faced the Honkai God, it was during the Siberian campaign. Back then I was nowhere near my current level. I can't make a comparison."
"Being unable to compare is also an answer."
"True. After all, they're both things beyond my understanding. Still… it looks beautiful, doesn't it? Like a magnificent sun."
"Compared to beauty, the most defining trait of the sun is its lethality. Alright, there's nothing to gain by observing from outside. Prepare to go deeper."
After the brief exchange, Sigurd closed his hand and absorbed the golden crystal into his palm. He straightened the collar of his uniform and prepared to leave the information dimension.
Hera nodded solemnly, then returned to her calm and elegant smile.
After all, dying once more wouldn't be a big deal. To Otto Apocalypse, his own life was the cheapest expendable resource—hardly worth mentioning.
…
Gold. Gold. Gold everywhere!
The moment Sigurd and Hera stepped into the heavy, pressure-filled space, all they could see with the naked eye was dazzling, brilliant gold. For an instant, it almost made them raise their hands to shield their eyes.
After a brief moment, their vision adjusted. They began examining this golden space where countless golden chains crisscrossed in every direction.
Sigurd transmitted the scene to the imperial hall in the real world, then glanced sideways at Hera.
"What do you feel?"
"Pressure. Not physical pressure, but an indescribably vast amount of Honkai energy, and… and…"
"The oppressive presence of a higher lifeform, like the Honkai God you once saw?"
"I'm not sure. It's probably not exactly the same, but… it does feel a little like that. My intuition tells me we should be more cautious this time, Sigurd."
Hera spoke gravely, her concern plainly visible.
Sigurd nodded. His gaze extended forward, passing through the gaps between the overlapping chains. There he saw a silver-haired girl curled up in the void.
A graceful young girl's figure… gently drifting silver-white hair… and the faint outline of a perfect side profile.
It was unmistakably Kiana's appearance.
The resemblance was so exact that for a brief moment Sigurd almost believed the one sleeping there was his own Kiana—that if he simply called her name, she would open eyes filled with joy and affection, push aside the layers of chains, and leap into his arms.
"Sigurd?"
"It's nothing. Let's test her."
Sigurd lowered his eyes and spoke calmly, suppressing the stirrings in his heart.
Hera stepped forward, flying to the edge of the layers of chains. She extended a pale finger and gently touched one of the golden chains.
"Hiss—just as I thought. It's the ability to eliminate Honkai energy… the Elysion Pedion? No… this is far stronger than my little Theresa's. If this is the kind of barrier she has… then the Honkai energy sealed inside here…"
Hera withdrew her finger, a shadow of worry appearing in her mind.
Then her lady's fan reappeared in her hand. She lightly covered the smile at the corner of her lips and spoke in a soft, elegant voice:
"Honorable Miss Kiana Kaslana, I, Otto Apocalypse, Overseer of Schicksal, together with the King of Humanity, Sigurd, have come to pay you a visit. Would you be willing to come out and have a conversation?"
The response she received was… nothing.
The situation remained unchanged, and the young lady showed absolutely no reaction.
Hera kept smiling. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Then she opened her eyes again—her emerald pupils now shining with brilliant gold.
"So… you want me to invite you out personally?"
As she spoke, a ring of golden ripples appeared behind her. A golden chain shot forward, skillfully threading through the gaps between the existing chains and heading straight toward the girl deeper inside.
It was merely an Elysion Pedion. Others might have no way around it, but Otto had plenty of methods to neutralize the barrier's power and act freely.
"Hm?"
Seeing Hera attack so decisively, Sigurd frowned slightly.
Instinctively, he didn't want a girl who looked exactly like Kiana to be injured before his eyes. But he also understood that Hera's efficient probing action was beyond reproach. Moreover, this unfathomable young lady was certainly not someone who would be harmed so easily.
Sure enough, the chain Hera launched shattered from its tip just before touching the girl's pink pajamas. In the blink of an eye, it disintegrated and vanished.
"Heh! Again!"
Hera smiled and waved her fan. Rings of golden ripples appeared in the air, releasing hundreds—then thousands—of chains that advanced in the same manner.
And then, the girl finally opened her eyes.
Eyes as flawless and brilliant as molten gold.
"Be careful."
Sigurd appeared beside Hera, placing one hand on her shoulder.
The next instant, an immense and indescribable force erupted, shattering every chain in the space and surging straight toward the two of them.
BOOM!!!
After the shockwave passed, Sigurd and Hera's figures appeared again. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, each raising a hand forward to block the impact.
Both of their sleeves had been blown apart—
No, not just that. Hera's shattered sleeve also took with it the lady's fan she hadn't had time to put away.
"Such a pity. The painting on it was dyed by Amber for me—one of a kind."
Hera withdrew her hand and shook her head regretfully. Her torn sleeve quickly restored itself.
Sigurd ignored her deliberate theatrics and looked forward instead. Deep within the drifting fragments of broken chains, the young lady was still curled up in the void. Yet now she had opened a pair of cold golden eyes and was staring at the two of them.
From this angle, she looked even more like Kiana.
"Le…ave…"
The girl hadn't opened her mouth, yet a trembling voice echoed from every direction, even reverberating inside Sigurd and Hera's minds.
Hera lifted the edge of her skirt slightly and gave Sigurd a questioning look. Sigurd shook his head, then faced the young lady directly.
"Friend… or enemy? Give me an answer."
"Le…ave…"
"Such power. Especially after the barrier shattered—this surpasses any existence I've ever encountered. You once warned me not to approach the Honkai God. You also know my deepest secret, and you claim to be Kiana Kaslana… So, are you her from another timeline? In that world, are you also the Finality?"
"..."
The young lady remained silent. Yet the power around her continued to rise, fluctuating unstably.
For Sigurd, that silence was already a meaningful answer.
"What is your purpose? Or to return to the original question—friend or enemy?" Sigurd asked calmly.
What if she was Kiana from another timeline? Just an alternate counterpart. Sigurd had seen many such parallel existences during his travels in the Sea of Quanta. But in his heart, there was only one Kiana. No matter how identical she appeared, the one before him was not his Kiana. Sigurd understood that clearly.
"LEAVE!!!"
The final word erupted with a terrifying burst of golden energy—even by Sigurd's standards. In an instant, it engulfed the two of them.
Before the shockwave struck, Hera instinctively stepped forward, trying to block the attack for Sigurd's avatar.
It was futile.
Moments later, Sigurd's Soulium avatar vanished from the space entirely.
But Hera remained standing. Though her neatly arranged hairstyle had been blown apart, she herself was unharmed. Having come in the body of a perfect Fusion Warrior, what she could withstand far exceeded Sigurd's Soulium body.
"You dare!?"
Although she hadn't been destroyed by the impact, Hera was furious that she had failed in her duty. Her golden hair began to drift upward as Honkai energy—far exceeding that of an ordinary Herrscher—seeped out from every inch of her skin.
Yet compared with the energy radiating from the young lady, it was still insignificant.
What Hera didn't realize was that she wasn't the only one provoked by Sigurd's disappearance. The instigator herself also shrank her pupils.
Then a sharp killing intent appeared in the young lady's eyes.
"Die!"
"Feel free to try!"
The young lady raised her hand. Hera raised hers as well.
Across the void, vast oceans of Honkai energy collided, golden light flooding the entire subspace.
…
Real World — Imperial Palace
Under everyone's gaze, Hera's figure began to appear. After flickering several times, her body fully returned to reality—covered in blood, with numerous bones piercing through the skin, a grievously wounded form barely recognizable as human.
A moment later, the mangled Hera collapsed to the floor and was dragged out of the hall by a mechanical arm.
"Preserve the traces on my body carefully. Those residual energies—I paid quite a price to bring them back. So… does that make up for my little mistake earlier?" Otto said with a smile to Sigurd.
Sigurd removed a small golden-thread sphere from his waist. Inside it was the energy crystal that the young lady herself had once extracted.
The implication was obvious: Sigurd had already obtained an energy sample, so Otto's effort didn't mean much.
Otto's smile froze for a moment. He rubbed his nose and insisted a bit unwillingly:
"The stage was different, so her condition was different. Maybe what I brought back this time is more valuable. Anyway, I'm still reliable, you know. Could you stop looking at me like I'm useless?"
"Fine."
Sigurd nodded and lightly let the matter of Otto failing to protect the avatar pass.
Then he looked around at the three Flame-Chasers present.
At this moment, the entire hall had fallen into solemn silence.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 490: There's Going to Be Trouble[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Strijder/posts/honkai-strijder-161536858
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Strijder/posts/honkai-strijder-161536858