Bronya and Seele searched the snowy expanse but found no trace of the priest.
However, Bronya realized something: wasn't the relationship between Joachim and the priest much like her own with Cocolia?
There was always an unbreakable bond lingering between them.
At that moment.
Seele grasped Bronya's hand. "Seele will always stay by Sister Bronya's side, just like how you were always there for Seele."
Bronya gave a faint smile. "Thank you, Seele. It's just a small moment of confusion, but Bronya has already decided to face it head-on."
Bronya turned and walked back the way they came. Seele watched her retreating figure, but the smile on her face gradually faded.
An unknown voice echoed in Seele's ears. "Well done, Seele. We're very close to our goal."
"But… is it really okay to do this?"
"It's fine, Seele. Everything we're doing is just to leave this place and return to reality with Sister."
"Seele understands."
[She's not about to backstab, is she?]
[Please use declarative sentences, not questions.]
[Goddamn it, I'm watching a web drama and living in constant fear—afraid this one will get knifed, or that one will get knifed. The worst part is they keep stabbing us out of nowhere.]
[miHoYo's writers have been studying knife techniques lately.]
[It's probably not a backstab. If it was, they'd say to take Bronya out, not to leave with her.]
[Not necessarily. What if that voice is deceiving Seele?]
— —
At that moment.
Theresa's shouts snapped them out of it. "Priest! Priest!"
The two rushed to Theresa's side, only to find the priest's body covered in red cracks.
Bronya's brow furrowed, and she immediately took action.
She headed to the orphanage to get help.
But she hadn't gone far when she encountered Honkai Beasts.
Bronya, now facing a swarm of Honkai Beasts, was gradually overwhelmed.
Suddenly, the Honkai Beasts' movements froze.
As if controlled by something, they sluggishly turned and retreated into the depths of the snowfield.
"What happened?"
Bronya held her breath, sensing an intensifying strangeness in the air.
Then she saw a familiar figure.
"The Eighth Divine Key, Fenghuang Down."
The Phoenix appeared on the screen once again.
She explained the reason behind it all: she was one of the three thousand feathers hidden within the priest's body.
Following the priest's will, she had protected the orphanage from Honkai Beast attacks.
But.
The priest's time was running out, which is why she revealed herself now.
The Phoenix spoke plainly of the current dilemma.
The rift between the priest and Joachim had to be resolved before it was too late—and this was also Bronya's own unresolved knot.
"One day, you will move beyond the past and find your own path."
With her final words, a few feathers quietly vanished into the snow.
— —
The scene shifted.
The priest lay weakly on the bed, with Theresa carefully tending to him.
He forced a smile. "Sorry, Theresa, your bitter melon pie has gone cold."
"Now's not the time for that. What happened? Why were you lying in the snow? Those wounds…?"
"It's nothing, just a small illness. A nap will fix it."
Then Bronya, Seele, and Joachim arrived at the priest's side.
But the irreconcilable conflict between Joachim and the priest led Joachim to reject the priest's gift—the cross on his chest.
This sparked an argument between Theresa and Joachim, and Joachim stormed out, slamming the door.
Bronya immediately followed him.
After some searching, Bronya found Joachim.
By sheer coincidence, they encountered Honkai Beasts again.
But Bronya was stretched thin, and just as a Honkai Beast was about to strike Joachim—
Bang!
A powerful gunshot echoed across the snowfield.
The priest, wielding the Divine Key—Judgment of Shamash—sent the Honkai Beast skyward with a single shot.
He looked at Joachim and Bronya as they approached. "Thank goodness you're both safe."
He gave a self-deprecating smile. "Dodging Theresa was no easy feat…"
The priest staggered and collapsed. Bronya rushed forward and caught him, realizing he had lost consciousness.
[Got to say, this priest is definitely not Otto.]
[For some reason, this world's Otto feels a lot like Luocha.]
[You're both right, but what the heck is up with this Judgment of Shamash?]
[This is a parallel world. Things here are completely different from the main world.]
— —
Bronya struggled to support the priest. This tall man now seemed so frail.
"He's passed out. Come help him; he just saved you."
Joachim sat frozen, trembling. His state ignited a nameless anger in Bronya.
She grabbed the cross from the ground and threw it at Joachim in fury.
"What are you running from?! Your past? The priest and everyone at the orphanage? No—you're just running from yourself, you coward!"
Joachim slowly looked up. "I don't know what's the right thing to do."
"There's no such thing as so much right or wrong in this world… only actions have right or wrong, not people. A person's so-called right or wrong is just the responsibility they bear after their actions.
Bronya knows it's hard. Bronya used to be like you…
If you're scared, say it. Don't stay silent or pretend everything's fine.
Tell the people you care about, the ones who care about you. You still have family—don't wait until it's too late to regret."
[This part is amazing.]
[Isn't this exactly what Bronya wants to say to herself?]
[As always, you can trust miHoYo's writing.]
— —
Soon after.
Theresa and the others from the orphanage brought the priest back.
The next day.
Joachim had left, and the priest gathered everyone to his side.
Lying in bed, he strained to turn toward them. Scarlet cracks spread across his body, as if threatening to tear him apart.
"Theresa, my cross… I think I dropped it in the snow."
"Priest, rest now. I'll find it for you. Next week—no, tomorrow—I'll take you to the hospital in town. You'll get better."
"No need. It's fine." The priest's gaze swept over everyone present. "Joachim's gone, hasn't he?"
At that moment, everyone lowered their heads, their silence confirming it.
"Is that so? I'm the one who made him an orphan."
Theresa wiped tears from her eyes. "It's not your fault, Priest."
"Right or wrong can't answer all the world's questions. I always ask myself if there was another way to save his father back then.
But no matter how I think about it, that day, I still chose to kill him.
Perhaps because in him, I saw the past version of myself… the one I wanted to understand."
"Priest—"
The priest gave a faint smile, recounting his little-known past. He, too, had made irreparable mistakes, but he was redeemed by the Saint.
Perhaps as divine punishment, the Saint passed away two years after they escaped together.
"I once asked her if she regretted it, and now, I'll pass her answer to you."