Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"What the hell!"

Mikael cursed under his breath. Without hesitation, he solidified the space beneath his feet as he fell, instantly transforming into a beam of lightning.

Hua had no idea what was happening. First, a series of continuous tremors echoed in the distance, like a construction crew driving piles. Then, the ground beneath her feet suddenly disappeared, and the entire area collapsed inwards.

"Ah!"

She only had time to let out a cry of surprise before she started falling uncontrollably into the abyss.

Books were definitely misleading. She didn't have time to recall anything before death. Her mind was completely blank-- or so Hua thought.

"Whish, whish…"

She heard the sound of pages turning. Something touched her right hand, and she instinctively gripped it.

As for her other hand, she reached out aimlessly towards the direction she was falling from, as if trying to grasp something. But her body was tumbling in midair, and she quickly lost her sense of direction—beneath her, the abyss was bottomless.

Above her, the night was pitch-black. The boundaries between the two merged and blurred, making it impossible to distinguish them.

Only a few stars peeking through the clouds seemed to guide her.

But as she fell, the stars, which had been within reach, became more and more distant until the dense clouds covered them again, and she completely lost her sense of direction.

"Is this the end?"

She slowly closed her eyes.

"Then so be it."

Just like she couldn't understand why the expected sadness didn't well up from the depths of her heart, the fear and unwillingness that should have been present in the face of death weren't as strong as she thought they'd be.

It wasn't that they were absent; it was that they just weren't that intense.

"But you're different. You've had very little from the beginning," he had said. Maybe that was true. Because she had so little, she wouldn't feel much reluctance before death…

"So… will you come save me?"

The moment that thought popped into her head, Hua realized it was a vain hope.

She had probably already guessed Mikael's true goal on this trip. The vacation was a lie. Hua didn't believe that someone with Mikael's personality would have the "leisurely" time to go on a vacation. Now, it seemed his real goal was that man...

Yes... she was just an ordinary girl, not even a soldier. She didn't have Vill-V's and Mobius's genius, Sakura's reliability, Elysia's charm and strength. She was even less capable than Pardofelis, who was good at gathering information and bringing good luck—

When he had left Fire Moth, he didn't even consider her. She had just impulsively followed him...

So, among the few people whose importance surpassed all others, the ones who could make him overcome all his doubts and move forward--she shouldn't be included, right?

When he talked about Elysia, his eyes seemed to light up... Even when he spaced out, he would unconsciously enter Elysia's phone number…

So, the three times he had saved her before must have been coincidences.

"Rumble, rumble!"

First, she saw a flash of purple lightning. Then, a sudden clap of thunder echoed through the entire abyss. The electromagnetic waves sent high-frequency vibrations into the air. In her daze, Hua thought that every cell in her body was vibrating—

No, it wasn't vibration, it was shivering.

That abrupt thunder, that purple light, made her recall the evening of Shanghai City.

"Is this… is my memory bleeding into reality?"

She had a premonition that in the next moment, her head would hit the ground, and then her skull would shatter.

This was the sign before death. Perhaps her soul had left her body before her flesh, and that was why she was seeing the deepest fears of her memory as an illusion.

Then, the back of her head did collide with something… but it wasn't the cold, hard ground. It was a familiar and warm palm.

After that, there was a series of dizzy spells, as if she was passing through layer after layer of space. Then, the sensation of falling slowly disappeared—she realized he was using continuous phase shifts to reduce the strong inertia of the fall, in order to avoid... injury.

"Clink!"

She heard the crisp sound of someone's boot nails hitting the ice.

Then she realized, they had arrived.

Her thoughts became a jumble. She remembered that she seemed to be holding something in her hand, but a huge wave of fatigue and dizziness washed over her, and she quickly fell into darkness.

When she woke up again, she didn't know how much time had passed. All she knew was that she had been woken by bright light.

They always said that the frog in the well only saw a small part of the sky. Based on the tens of seconds it took her to fall, she should be in a very deep pit. Therefore, the sky she could see should only be the size of a normal sun, or maybe even as small as a pinhole...

But although it was a pit, it was too big. Hua turned her neck blankly, and couldn't see the pit walls she expected.

The sunlight streamed in unhindered, as if this was just an ordinary surface—that's all.

Layers of crystals surrounded them, forming tall walls. While radiating a chilling aura, they also reflected the dazzling sunlight, which was blinding.

"The collapse area was over one hundred kilometers, so this place can no longer be considered a pit. It's more accurate to describe it as a basin. I took a look around, and this entire 'basin' is made entirely of ice—that's right, ice."

Hua was startled. It was only then that she realized that the things reflecting the sunlight weren't crystals, but ice crystals. Even under the bright sunlight, they showed no sign of melting.

She was wrapped in countless layers of cotton blankets. Even her head was covered with two hats. She thought it must have been Mikael's way of keeping her warm. Unfortunately, he had been too rough, and she was wrapped up like a caterpillar.

But even so, the cold still penetrated to her very bones. She didn't even dare to take a deep breath. Every breath, from her mouth to her trachea to her alveoli, felt like swallowing a thousand needles.

She was still a little dazed. The fall seemed to have scrambled her brain, to the point that she felt a little… slow.

She struggled to form words and finally said after a long while:

"Aren't you going to find that man?"

"Oh? Don't worry, he shouldn't be able to die."

Hua pursed her lips, not holding out much hope.

This was a fall of more than a kilometer. Even an iron ball wouldn't come out unscathed after a fall like that, right?

Mikael suddenly gestured, and an electric pressure cooker appeared between them. He pointed his index finger at the ice and moved it around. An invisible force cut the ice. Then, he hooked his finger, and the ice was thrown into the pressure cooker.

He pinched the plug with his fingers. As a purple arc flashed, the pressure cooker started to work.

Seeing Hua staring at him blankly, Mikael smiled. "I'll get you some hot water to wash up with, and we can even drink the rest."

But Hua's gaze never left the purple arc that was constantly snaking across the plug.

Her eyes gradually changed from dazed to fearful—

There was no mistake, there couldn't be any mistake!

The lightning and thunder from last night were not an illusion; it wasn't an illusion!

That fear, buried deep in her heart, was awakened again. Her teeth chattered. She panicked for a moment, unable to untangle the blankets she was wrapped in. She could only twist her body, desperately distancing herself from Mikael.

It all made sense now, everything was connected:

The ability to construct things on a whim, the ability to move through space, and the purple lightning that she knew so well...

There was no mistake!

"Mikael... who... who exactly are you?"

"No, what exactly are you?"