Ryn crouched down and gently hugged the crying little Sirin.
"Get away! I don't need your hypocrisy!"
Sirin headbutted Ryn in the chest, pushing him away, but Ryn held on to her tightly, not letting go no matter how much she pushed.
Because Ryn knew that if he let go, Sirin might really leave...
"She has everything... (sob)... friends... family... the whole world..."
*And I only have her... and you...*
Sirin closed her eyes and bit down hard on Ryn's shoulder. The pain was Ryn's, but the tears streamed down from the corners of Sirin's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm not good with words, and what I said was harsh and hurt you. But my initial intention was just to play a little joke..." Ryn held Sirin tightly, softly whispering his apology. "I'm sorry, Kiana..."
"I'm not Kiana!"
The moment Sirin heard Ryn call her Kiana again, she thought he was apologizing to this body, still blaming her for occupying it.
"No, you are..."
Ryn sat up straight, cupped Sirin's face in his hands, and looked intently into her eyes, which were darting around, trying to escape his gaze.
Sirin wanted to deny it again, but looking into Ryn's calm, earnest, sincere, and gentle eyes, she slowly calmed down.
"Sirin is your name, and Kiana is also your name. Even if you aren't the other Kiana, you can't deny that Kiana is your name. You are Kiana.
Mr. Siegfried knows you exist, knows that there are two consciousnesses in this body... He not only acknowledges that Kiana, but he also acknowledges your right, Sirin, to be Kiana."
Sirin reached out and stretched Ryn's face in all directions. "If you can't talk properly, then don't. Stop talking nonsense here, I don't believe that Siegfried acknowledges my existence! That bastard is the one who destroyed everything I had! My name is not Kiana, it's Sirin!"
"But this name was given by Siegfried. As your father, what in this world is more valid than a name given by a parent?
Even if everyone denies it, says you are not Kiana, says she is not Kiana. What does that even mean? You and she are both Kiana. A name is the most sincere and precious treasure a parent gives to their newborn child, just as you cherish your past life's name, Sirin..."
"Heh, what do you mean? So, Ryn, are you trying to say that everything you said before was just a cruel, cold joke?" Sirin said with a deadpan face, mocking him.
Although Sirin felt a little flutter of joy inside, because if Ryn considered her as Kiana, then she could imagine that his previous words were meant for her. But something felt strange... something wasn't right.
As Sirin expected, Ryn shook his head at her thought, not agreeing with her assumption. The Kiana he was talking about then wasn't her, but the owner of this body, Kiana...
Ryn stroked the loose strands of hair by Sirin's ear and said, "Of course not. You are you, and Kiana is Kiana. Our lives make our names, not the other way around. Even if you and Kiana share the same name, you are completely different people."
"Alright, alright... after all that, you're still saying you're going to blame me for occupying your little girlfriend's body, is that it!"
Ryn: "Of course not. You and she are both masters of this body. It's not for me to decide who is to blame... Besides, what's real and what's fake, little Sirin, do you want to guess which of my previous words were for you, and which were for Kiana?"
"I'm not guessing!"
"Fine, don't guess..." Ryn rubbed his head awkwardly.
If Sirin really were to guess, it would be more troublesome. Because initially, Ryn was just thinking of playing a little joke on Sirin to confirm her feelings, to formulate his future attitude and plan towards her.
But the joke went a little too far. It wasn't a good joke for Sirin...
"Ryn, I didn't understand what you meant, but I think I've figured one thing out... At least, I have a place in your heart.
But I'm sorry, even though I really, really want to be with you, but..."
Sirin took a deep breath, and then, taking advantage of Ryn's inattention, she pushed him away, fell backward into a spatial portal, and disappeared from before Ryn's eyes.
"Don't..."
Ryn reached out to grab Sirin, but space was ever-changing, and this was Sirin's world...
Sirin left, trapping Ryn alone in the Imaginary Space.
———————————————
Schicksal's alarms were now blaring nonstop.
One reason was that Fu Hua had forcefully burst into Otto's office, triggering the security system.
The second reason was...
"Alert, Honkai energy concentration above Singapore is rising sharply!"
"Alert, Honkai energy concentration has broken the threshold!"
"Alert, Honkai energy has reached a level sufficient to trigger a Great Honkai Eruption!"
"Warning, Honkai energy concentration is still rising... It has exceeded the instrument's detection range..."
Otto and Fu Hua watched the information detected by the instruments on the screen with grim expressions, as well as the image that took up the entire screen, a face that could only be seen clearly via satellite...
A sky-blotting entity that plunged the entire Southeast Asian region into darkness...
「death spot」
Sirin's figure was floating right below the death spot, her hands raised towards it.
In the Imaginary Space, she had re-formed the core of the Second Herrscher and re-fused with the Gem of Serenity. Although she still didn't have even a tenth of her former power...
She was not that Pufferfish Herrscher who started the Second Honkai War. She was the continuation of Sirin, the other side of Kiana...
The world held many beautiful things, but none of them belonged to her. She carried the painful memories abandoned by Kiana, buried deep within Kiana's memory... the life of one named Sirin, and Kiana's negative emotions...
Heh... of course Kiana wouldn't be jealous.
Because she had long since sealed away all the unacceptable, painful memories deep within her mind...
So Sirin had been jealous for a long time... so long that she, just like Kiana, had fallen hopelessly in love with Ryn.
"But... dreams will eventually shatter and one must awaken." Sirin shook her head and sighed.
All Herrschers are connected to the Imaginary Space and have an endless supply of Honkai energy, but there is one thing they don't know: the Imaginary Space was created by the Herrscher of the Void.
And now, the passage to the Imaginary Space has connected with the death spot in the sky! Endless imaginary power was being converted into Honkai energy, filling the death spot. At the same time, the death spot was drawing all the Honkai energy from Earth.
As Honkai energy was continuously supplied and the death spot continued to absorb, the Honkai energy on Earth had nearly vanished.
After a long while, as if giving a signal, the death spot bloomed with a purple light more dazzling than the sun, enveloping the entire Earth.
"The time has come... The final bell has tolled. Let us listen together to the final wail of civilization."
Sirin's hands clenched into half-fists as if grabbing something. Then, she forcefully swung her arms down towards the earth below.
And so, the death spot in the sky bloomed with a destructive purple light, beginning to erupt with a pressure that would destroy everything, and came crashing down towards the earth with a deafening roar.