Since the shop wasn't open, Li Wu had to abandon the idea.
As things stood, he couldn't find a single source of backup. Aside from those double-edged plasma weapons that killed a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own, he was entirely on his own.
Companions? A grand plan?
He had none of them.
[Future Loan] seemed omnipotent, but no matter how good a loan was, it was still a loan. It had to be repaid with interest.
Even if he borrowed unrivaled power right now, how would he fulfill the condition of eventually achieving that power? The gap between an ordinary person and the strongest existence was too vast. The karmic burden would likely trap him in an eternal loop, forever unable to break free.
But at the very least, it offered a new path, even if that path was choked with thorns.
"So be it. Let's move."
Li Wu borrowed a sum of money to buy a plane ticket to Siberia.
He now owed a travel distance of 841 kilometers plus an additional 76 kilometers, as well as 5,000 Far East Yen, which doubled every day. If he dragged it out to tomorrow, it would be 10,000; the day after, 20,000...
But Li Wu couldn't care less about debt.
Debt?
You only had the right to repay it if you survived.
If he truly managed to save her, the debt would be nothing but a trivial detail.
During the long flight, Li Wu rested in business class with his eyes closed. He felt none of the excitement or curiosity typical of a first-time flyer.
Rest.
It was the greatest luxury he could afford right now.
It could soothe his wounds. It might not heal them completely, but at least it made the pain a little less sharp.
Soon, Li Wu arrived at his destination.
The Siberian snowfields were eternally grey, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or dusk.
The swirling frost and snow carried an intensely violent energy, savagely battering anyone foolish enough to trespass.
This cold wasn't just physical low temperatures; it carried the lethal authority of a Herrscher.
The last time he came here with Anna, he had felt chilled to the bone despite being bundled in heavy clothes. But now, Li Wu didn't feel the cold at all.
The Babylon Tower stood at the boundary between the snowfield's medium-danger and low-danger zones.
The exact moment he stepped into the medium-danger zone, a blinding white light and a deafening roar erupted several kilometers in the distance.
BOOM—!!
The sudden, catastrophic drop in energy waves instantly leveled several nearby snow-capped mountains, exposing the barren grey earth beneath.
A brilliance like the sun bloomed in the sky, piercing through the blizzard and illuminating the entire snowfield. The violent surge of Honkai energy originated from a black-and-white lance hurled fiercely by a woman. It smashed a massive crater into the snow, easily large enough to house a football stadium.
A casual strike had forcibly altered the landscape itself.
Was this... S-Rank Valkyries fighting?
Li Wu instantly understood what was happening. He sprinted to higher ground until he finally got a clear view of the targets.
There was more than one.
The woman wielding the black-and-white lance was—
Cecilia Schariac!
She had come.
This was outside Li Wu's plans, but not entirely unexpected. After all, according to Anna, her aunt Cecilia was one of the few people who genuinely cared for her.
Li Wu continued to observe.
Cecilia's silver-white figure stood unyielding. Her gaze was piercing as she glared at the two S-Rank Valkyries standing hundreds of meters away.
"Cecilia! Are you insane?! This is a ruling from the Supreme Council of Schicksal! Do you think you can stop this trial by yourself? Anna is guilty! She secretly released a 'heretic,' and absolutely no one can pardon her crime! As a Holy Maiden, she has already disgraced herself!"
"Defying Schicksal, colluding with outsiders, betraying the family... As the previous generation's Holy Maiden of the Schariac House, you should know the rules better than anyone! She must atone for her sins. The moment she chose betrayal, she was destined to suffer this punishment!"
The speaker was another S-Rank Valkyrie from the Schariac House, just like Cecilia.
However, her voice was much sharper, and a mechanical visor obscured her face, hiding her expression.
"Cecilia, we belong to the same generation. I understand you want to protect the younger ones, but Anna has already committed a capital offense. By coming here, you won't just doom her; you'll doom yourself and Siegfried too. Go back. We can pretend this never happened."
The second speaker had white hair and blue eyes—an S-Rank Valkyrie from the Kaslana House.
Standing opposite Cecilia, her battlesuit was massive, lacking front plating, and her eyes were filled with disdain.
The silver-white figure did not retreat.
Cecilia simply hovered in the air, gazing blankly at the pitch-black tower piercing the clouds. Her niece had committed a grave sin, all because of a request she had made...
Bathed in the hazy blizzard, the black-and-white lance automatically flew back into Cecilia's hand, radiating a piercing light.
"I know," Cecilia's voice drifted softly through the air, her eyes betraying a profound sorrow. But a moment later, her gaze hardened with absolute resolve. "This whole thing started because of me. No matter what, I cannot simply watch Anna die. If you consider this betrayal, then so be it. I couldn't protect Kiana, and I couldn't protect Anna... Whether as a mother or an aunt, I have failed more completely than anyone else in this world. I will accept whatever punishment comes after this. But at the very least, I want my children to know that even in my final moments, I never abandoned them. Not a single one."
"Such short-sighted, womanly sentiment!"
Before the enemy could finish her sentence, Cecilia moved.
Like a shooting star, her silver-white figure crashed toward the two S-Rank Valkyries, erupting with a light even more blinding than before.
The three streaks of light clashed once again. The shockwaves of Honkai energy lit up the snowy sky, slicing the snowflakes into foam that violently rose and fell.
Now.
Without a moment's hesitation, Li Wu sprinted toward the shadows of the Babylon Tower, using the blizzard and the shockwaves of the battle as cover.
The fight above the tower raged on. The three figures continuously collided in the sky. Occasionally, spatters of blood would rain down, freezing into tiny red beads the moment they hit the snow.
"Borrow: Plasma Reaper."
[You have borrowed the Plasma Reaper from Nagazora City. You must travel 798 kilometers with this weapon within three days.]
"Just as I thought. If I teleport an item from point A to point B, the price is simply carrying it the distance between A and B."
Li Wu raised the muzzle and aimed at the main entrance. "Wait for me... Anna, wait for me."
As his words fell, a massive beam of energy blasted forth, instantly vaporizing the heavy doors.
At the same time, the volatile energy shrapnel rebounded onto the user.
Li Wu only bothered blocking the fragments aimed at his face and heart. He ignored the rest; the Holy Blood would automatically heal those wounds.
From the gashes torn by the shrapnel, golden blood oozed out like molten gold...
The interior of the Babylon Tower was pitch black, illuminated only by the intermittent flashing of red emergency lights casting eerie shadows on the mottled walls.
Because of Cecilia's assault, the tower had entered a state of high alert. Li Wu walked for quite a while without seeing a single soul; everyone seemed to have taken shelter.
Where they were hiding, he had no way of knowing, nor did he care.
Taking the elevator, Li Wu quickly ascended toward the top of the tower. In the vision shown by [Future Loan], Anna was in the laboratory on the highest floor.
One floor, two floors, three floors...
As the elevator steadily climbed, the sounds of Cecilia battling the two S-Rank Valkyries grew louder.
Even through the thick, specialized steel walls, the muffled roars of combat were deafening.
Finally, Li Wu reached the top floor. Moving swiftly, he used the Plasma Reaper to blast open the laboratory doors.
The lab wasn't brightly lit. Due to the high alert, only a few feeble emergency lights were active.
The silvery daylight filtering through the shattered windows mingled with the red emergency glow, illuminating the cramped laboratory.
Straight ahead, restrained on an examination table, lay Anna. She looked like a Sleeping Beauty utterly drained of life, clad only in a thin white hospital gown. Li Wu could barely even detect her breathing.
She was shackled to the table.
Countless transparent IV tubes pierced her shriveled body from every angle, and bright red liquid flowed sluggishly through them...
There was barely an inch of unblemished skin left on her; everywhere he looked, there were bruises and needle marks from repeated punctures.
Gripping his gun, Li Wu bit his lip and instinctively took a step forward.
The body that had once been so agile and beautiful was now withered and pale. Her ribcage protruded sharply, and her wrists were so thin they looked like nothing but bone. She was completely unrecognizable from the girl who had once stood naked before him.
Her face was as white as paper and severely emaciated, no different from a starving vagrant on the street. If it weren't for her familiar short chestnut hair, Li Wu wouldn't have dared to believe this skeletal figure was that warm, cheerful, idiotic girl.
The silvery daylight grew dimmer, while the red emergency lights seemed to flare brighter.
It was as if even the cold machinery couldn't bear the sight of Anna's suffering and wanted to cast a softer light to make her look beautiful in her beloved's eyes. But no matter the angle, the light couldn't hide the tragic reality of her emaciated frame.
The other ends of those tubes were connected to various transparent vats, which were half-filled with a deep crimson liquid—Holy Blood.
They... they were draining her blood.
Continuously.
They hadn't stopped even though she was on the brink of death.
A monitor on the extraction machine displayed a cryptic countdown: 00:21:14.
Twenty-one minutes...
Li Wu clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his flesh, yet he felt no pain.
Just as he was about to step forward, the faint sound of footsteps echoed from the side. Very soft.
Step by step.
Like the Reaper keeping time.
His expression darkening, Li Wu locked eyes with the tall figure stepping out from the shadows.
She wore a standard white Schicksal Valkyrie battlesuit that almost blended perfectly into the pallid lab. Her long chestnut hair was meticulously tied back, and her pink eyes stared at him with absolute, unruffled calm.
The third S-Rank Valkyrie belonging to Schicksal.
She stood between the examination table and Li Wu, blocking his only path to Anna. She didn't draw a weapon, strike a combat stance, or make any threatening movements. She simply stood there, looking at Li Wu with those watery pink eyes as if he were a rat cornered in a room.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Schicksal S-Rank Valkyrie Angell Schariac. My mission is to prevent anyone from freeing my pathetic little sister, Anna Schariac."
Angell spoke breezily, as if she were discussing the weather rather than a mission.
Li Wu's gaze had never been so ferocious. His brownish pupils constricted, flooding with bloodshot rage until they morphed into golden, serpentine slits, glaring murderously at the woman before him.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not like those two meatheads outside. Though... I suppose there isn't much difference. We all follow orders. Whatever the higher-ups tell us to do, we do—whether it's exterminating Honkai Beasts or purging traitors from within... Even if that traitor is family, there's no room for pity. This isn't the first time, and it certainly won't be the last."
Angell offered a cold sneer before shifting gears. "I assume you're the 'heretic' who made my sister risk her life and betray Schicksal? Li Wu... Hah, quite the fitting name. In Shenzhou, your name sounds like 'gift'... And what a wonderful 'gift' you've brought for me and my sister!"
A violent, choked rasp echoed from Li Wu's throat.
Thinking Li Wu had given up, Angell extended a hand in deliberate provocation. She curled her pale fingers into a fist, extending only her index finger to beckon him. "Don't you Shenzhou people have a saying? 'It is impolite not to return a favor'? Come, let me prepare a grand gift for you as well. To deal with you, I don't even need my armor—"
Before Angell could finish, Li Wu charged. His speed was terrifying; in the blink of an eye, he crossed the distance and was right in front of her. If this were a 100-meter dash, even a world champion would be left eating his dust.
Unfortunately, against an S-Rank Valkyrie, that speed was still far too slow.
Angell didn't even bother to react defensively. She simply looked down at him with cold detachment, curious to see what he would do.
No weapon? Is he planning to use his fists?
What a hilarious joke. Even if his physical specs matched an A-Rank Valkyrie, without the amplification of a battlesuit, a normal blade wouldn't even scratch an S-Rank Valkyrie's skin—let alone a bare fist.
Suddenly, a blinding blue-purple light erupted.
"Borrow: Plasma Army-Breaker."
"Maximum Output!"
A massive combat blade wreathed in chaotic plasma and Honkai energy materialized in Li Wu's hands. The leaking energy condensed into plasma flames that instantly swallowed Li Wu's arms.
Completely ignoring the agony, Li Wu swung with all his might, aiming straight for Angell's chest. Unable to dodge in time, Angell raised her arm to take the blow head-on.
"Not bad strength, but the weapon is lacking, and the Honkai energy density is too low. If that were a Divine Key, I might have actually needed to dodge."
A purple energy shield flared to life over the armor on Angell's arm—a manifestation of pure Honkai energy.
The next second, the Plasma Army-Breaker began to vibrate violently, like a motorcycle speeding over a rocky mountain path, until the energy completely rebounded. The sheer force sent Li Wu flying backward.
Angell sighed, casually delivering a roundhouse kick that launched Li Wu away like a cannonball.
Unable to even react, the immense impact sent him crashing through the wall, embedding jagged steel shrapnel deep into his flesh.