Honkai Impact: Starting from Wandering with Kiana

Bronya finally crashed heavily to the ground.

Xing had no intention of letting Bronya off so easily; she stomped hard on Bronya's calf while yelling.

"No! No! You can't do this!"

Bronya buried her head, clenching her teeth, offering no resistance and making a sound. She knew Seele was just around the corner; she could hear Seele's trembling breaths.

Two years ago, when Bronya saved Seele, she made a vow that she would never hurt anyone again...

She would never forget the image of herself covered in blood, Seele trembling, her eyes filled with terror as she called her a demon, begging her not to come near. This was probably the only thing Bronya and Xing had in common...

--------

The Anti-Entropy x10 experimental base, in the underwater laboratory.

"In this test, these children showed the best Honkai energy adaptability."

Has anyone been found whose mind has been contaminated by Honkai energy?

No, nothing was found.

"Then let's begin preparing for the next phase of the experiment. This is all for the sake of reversing entropy, for the sake of saving humanity."

All I wanted was for my children to survive in this broken world, nothing more!

Cocolia looked at the children on the screen. Bronya and Apricot's avatars were lit up, while Seele's avatar had been marked with a question mark.

Chapter 27 Silver Wolf and Demon

After receiving news of Bronya's injury, Cocolia rushed back to the orphanage from the experiment, where she was personally bandaging Bronya's wound.

Why did he fall down the stairs?

"It was Bronya who wasn't careful enough." Bronya's lips curled slightly as she looked at Cocolia's mother, who was carefully bandaging her right leg, but she still chose to hide the truth.

"Oh? What are you hiding, Ural Silver Wolf?" Cocolia tightened the bandage slightly as she finished, causing Bronya to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

After Cocolia finished bandaging Bronya, she sat down next to her and looked at her.

"With your skills, you shouldn't be unable to even go down the stairs properly, right? Or... did someone push you down?"

But if it were you, wouldn't it be possible to snap that person's neck the moment you were pushed down?

"Bronya tripped and fell while going downstairs." Bronya looked at Cocolia and repeated her previous explanation.

"I see... If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." Cocolia stood up to leave, handing Bronya a list as she did so. "Take care of yourself. The experiment is coming up soon, and I don't want it to be affected by your injury."

"Bronya will take good care of herself."

Bronya looked at the list and saw herself, Xing, and Seele on it.

"And...don't forget to say goodbye to Seele. Don't leave any regrets..."

"Yes...Mother."

After Cocolia left, Bronya stared at the list for a long time, finally choosing to face it. This was an experiment she already knew about, as did Anzu, but Seele didn't. Cocolia's mother didn't intend to tell Seele, nor did she intend for Seele to know herself.

After all, she agreed to participate in the experiment precisely so that Seele wouldn't have to.

At night, Bronya returned to her room, the one she shared with Seele. It was a simple room with two single beds.

Bronya didn't see Seele, but there was a huge box in the room, and Seele's voice kept coming from inside. Seele kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Bronya knew Seele was hiding in the box. Seele was a coward; whenever she was scared, she would crawl into the box and lock herself inside.

Once this box is closed, it can only be opened from the outside. In the past, Cocolia would open the box to find Seele, but now it's up to me to open the box and find Seele.

Bronya unlocked the box, opened it, and saw Seele huddled inside, sobbing with her head in her hands. She threw away her cane, grabbed Seele's hands, made Seele look into her eyes, and then hugged her.

"I'm sorry... Bronya... I clearly saw Anzu do that to you..."

But I was so scared I couldn't move.

"It's alright...Seele...Bronya thinks Seele is fine as long as she is like this."

Bronya looked at Seele and smiled. Bronya was an assassin; she was usually expressionless to everyone else, only showing a smile to Seele.

"As long as she's with Seele, Bronya doesn't feel any pain at all."

"But...but...Bronya is so amazing...it's all my fault..."

"No...this is not Seele's fault."

Bronya held Seele in her arms, and both of them couldn't help but think of the past.

The Second Honkai Impact wrecked many families, leaving wives and children separated. The military took in many orphans and trained them to be child soldiers. Bronya Zaychek was one of these child soldiers. She was trained as an assassin, committing murders and earning the title of "Silver Wolf of the Urals."

While on a mission to assassinate a witch, Bronya was captured by Cocolia. Cocolia looked at Bronya as if she had met an old friend. In the end, she didn't kill Bronya, but instead left her at the orphanage.

Two years ago, Bronya had just arrived at the orphanage. While the witch Cocolia was away, some armed terrorists kidnapped Seele.

Bronya Zaychek, only 12 years old, tracked down Seele's location by herself, following the trail left by the kidnappers, after learning that Seele had been kidnapped.

Surrounded by heavily armed kidnappers, Bronya disguised herself as a drifting prostitute and strangled the sentry with her stockings when he lowered his guard.

He took the other party's weapon and then silently killed all the fully armed kidnappers.

Finally, Bronya, covered in blood, found Seele huddled in a corner. Seele was in tears, her face filled with terror. Bronya removed the tape sealing Seele's mouth, only to hear a sentence that was hard to accept.

"Demon! Don't come any closer...don't come any closer..." Seele cried as she writhed and leaned back.

Bronya thought the person was talking about her and froze on the spot. But Bronya was unaware that behind her stood a dark figure wielding a massive scythe, its eyes gleaming crimson.

After that, Bronya made a promise to Seele that she would never hurt anyone again.

Chapter 28 The Demon Has Emerged

Late at night, Bronya was already fast asleep, exhausted. Seele got out of bed and stood beside Bronya's bed, looking at her, her mind filled with many thoughts.

"I didn't expect that Bronya would still remember... the time Seele called her a demon."

At that time... Bronya promised me that she would never hurt anyone again...

"Heh, too bad your sister Bronya doesn't know that when you saw her covered in blood, what surged in your heart wasn't fear, but excitement..."

"From that moment on, I, the true self within you, began to awaken..." A dark figure emerged from the darkness, embracing Seele from behind, like a demon from the abyss, whispering incessantly in Seele's heart...

"No...no...no!" Seele covered her ears, but the demon's whispers still echoed in her mind.

The shadowy figure pointed to the calendar on the wall, where a date was circled with a small heart in red pen, making it stand out.

"Next week was supposed to be the day you were looking forward to going swimming at the beach with Bronya, but now..."

"It's all because Xing hurt your sister Bronya's leg; now she can't go."

The shadowy figure embraced Seele once more, gently stroking her with both hands, a strange smile curving its lips.

"I'm telling you, Seele... don't you want to avenge her? If you don't, Bronya will suffer even more in the future. It'll be from that girl Anzu."

Seele's mind flashed to Xing's cruel smile. Her eyes vacant, she said, "That's right... we must protect Bronya..."

At this moment, Xing stood in the hallway outside her room, holding the notification letter for the X10 experiment, which bore her and Bronya's signatures. Unlike her arrogant demeanor during the day, she now trembled with fear as she looked at her and Bronya's information on the notification letter.

"Damn it, I'm about to participate in the experiment. I'm still really scared... but I don't want to lose to Bronya even more."

Although Anzu said that, she was secretly relieved that she had injured Bronya's leg. This way, Bronya wouldn't have to undergo the experiments, and she would bear all the burden instead... She was so cool... But she was still very scared...

“Apricot Mar”.

Suddenly, someone called her name from behind. Xing was startled by the sudden shout, her eyes widened, and she broke out in a cold sweat...

Xing turned around abruptly and saw Seele. Seele, who usually only dared to stay behind Bronya, was now looking at Xing as if she had made up her mind.

"Tch, I thought it was someone else. It's you, you crybaby... Get out of my way, I'm in a really bad mood today."

Xing was happy that Xi'er came to find her, but she really wasn't in the mood to pay attention to Xi'er.

"No...Seele won't leave...Seele saw you push Bronya down the stairs!"

If you don't want Cocolia's mother to know about this, then stop hurting Bronya!

This was the first time Seele had ever spoken so loudly and so much. Her face was flushed red, and she was panting heavily. Seele thought Xing would stop there, but Xing revealed her shark-like teeth and looked at Seele with a cold smile.

"You keep calling her 'Sister Bronya,' you two must have such a good relationship... Two orphans who don't even know who their parents are, what kind of sisterly love act are you putting on?"

That's... absolutely disgusting.

She liked Bronya and Seele very much, but neither of them liked her, and now they kept referring to each other in front of her. Since she couldn't have them, she might as well destroy them.

With a thud, Xing tackled Xi'er to the ground, pressing her down tightly with both hands to immobilize her.

"I get angry just looking at your face. You always put on such a weak and vulnerable act. Are you trying to escape that experiment?"

Since that's the case, I might as well destroy you too, as a souvenir to take to hell!

Anzu licked her lips, unbuttoned Seele's clothes, revealing the second largest breasts in the entire orphanage. (The largest is Cocolia's, lol.)

"Huh, what is this... a birthmark? I've never noticed it before..." Xing had been staring at Seele's face, enjoying Seele's struggles, but now, looking down, she saw a strange red tattoo on Seele's chest. It was Seele's Stigmata, the power she awakened two years ago.

Illustration.