Siegfried clutched his arm and watched Bianka stand before him, hands up, mouth agape, looking utterly bewildered. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing.
Still, it didn't look like she was injured. Siegfried immediately turned to check on the Chariot-class Honkai Beast. Seeing its bisected remains lying in the yellow sand, he quickly assessed the damage and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, Siegfried sucked in a sharp breath and plopped down on the ground, a wry, helpless smile on his face as he looked at his arm.
Sigh, I was faking it before, but now it's for real.
But it was only pain. His entire arm had been uniformly jolted by the shock, likely resulting in some hairline fractures and a good number of torn muscles. The main tendons, however, were mostly intact. If he gritted his teeth, he could still use it.
It was just that using "Judgment" was probably out of the question for a while. After all, using it even at his peak condition would leave him rattled and disoriented.
Thank goodness the danger was over. If he had to protect a little girl with an injured arm, he really—
Siegfried's eyes slowly widened, the wry smile on his face gradually fading.
Something wasn't right... The part of his brain that had switched off was forced to start running again.
A little girl... Was I supposed to be protecting a little girl? I thought she was a junior high or high school student, around fifteen years old?
Puzzled, Siegfried's gaze drifted to the small figure beside him.
She was tiny. So small that her cloak pooled on the ground around her, and she was still standing there with her hands up, like a little robot whose programming had crashed.
Was this little... girl... like this when she first appeared?
Siegfried couldn't focus on her ill-fitting clothes. Of course, it could also be that he hadn't paid any attention to her attire before.
After all, in this apocalypse, it wasn't easy for a child alone to find clothes that fit. Siegfried had seen plenty of people in the shelters wearing clothes several sizes too big.
He was just wondering if he'd misjudged her age again, like when he'd first met Cecilia and mistaken the eighteen-year-old for sixteen, thus not having a single improper thought about her.
Siegfried snuck another glance at Bianka, then shook his head.
No, his eyesight couldn't be that bad yet. The difference between sixteen and eighteen was only a few years, and people are mostly set in their ways by then. Cecilia just dressed youthfully, so he'd made a mistake.
But the growth between twelve and fifteen was a full-on growth spurt. It was normal to change completely in a year. He shouldn't have been wrong...
So what was the reason? It couldn't be that this kid was like those people in Future City who could reverse their age, right?
...
Siegfried felt he had grasped the truth.
That's it! Age reversal!
Siegfried's gaze toward Bianka immediately turned strange.
Don't be fooled by her elementary schooler appearance. She might be just like those old geezers in Future City who love to act young but are actually hundreds of years old!
At that moment, Bianka's brain finally caught up. She had a rough idea of why her body had shrunk.
Though she couldn't see inside herself, Bianka keenly sensed that the output of the Honkai Beast core within her had become abnormally low.
This feeling was very similar to a few months ago when she had just regained control of her body. The Honkai Beast's consciousness was hiding deep within, and the energy in her body had become inert.
After fusing with the Honkai Beast, a large part of her body's functions had become reliant on the core for power. Now that the core's output was low, her body wasn't receiving enough energy...
But her body and the core were not a natural match. Her body wouldn't just sit back and wait to die because the core had changed. So, through some strange ability (an echo of the Authority of Evolution), Bianka's body began to find a way out.
Her body had been stimulated into rapid growth by hormones, and many parts of it were somewhat superficial. This was the perfect opportunity to reforge her foundation and make it more solid.
And so, Bianka's body had shrunk along with the cowering core, eventually settling into this more energy-efficient state.
And there was another important thing—in this state, Bianka found she had an unusually high degree of control over her body. She couldn't feel the violent, bloodthirsty impulse at all.
This was why Bianka had been standing frozen in place until now.
There was no bloodlust, no urge to kill.
Although she could still sense the presence of other humans, Bianka no longer had to struggle to suppress the desire to charge at them...
Even with Siegfried practically right behind her, she didn't have that—
Bianka's body suddenly trembled. She realized something very important.
Why am I still here?
The scrutinizing gaze at her back sent a chill down her spine. Beads of sweat began to form on her smooth forehead.
If I run now, can I get away?
"You..." Siegfried placed a hand on Bianka's shoulder, making her jump.
He spoke to her in a low, somber tone. Ever since he realized the person in front of him might be someone whose age and appearance were severely mismatched, Siegfried had dropped his smile.
Looking at the hand on her shoulder, Bianka wanted to cry at her own hesitation.
It's over!
Bianka closed her eyes, ready to turn and start spewing whatever nonsense she could come up with to face Siegfried's inevitable interrogation.
Suddenly, both Bianka and Siegfried's expressions froze. They looked up in the same direction in unison.
However, as Bianka turned, she tripped on the hem of her cloak, losing her balance. Fumbling and unfamiliar with her new hardware, she fell right in front of Siegfried.
This time, Siegfried didn't reach out to help. He just glanced down at the dejected-looking Bianka and suddenly felt that his judgment might have been wrong again.
But that wasn't the issue right now.
Siegfried's brows furrowed tightly. He took two steps forward, positioning himself in front of Bianka, and gripped the Star of Judgment in his uninjured hand.