For 'Finality Kiana', things were simple.
The days of bringing Kiana along to play in this world were drawing to a temporary close.
It wasn't for any dramatic reason, really. It was mostly just that the duration for this Herrscher of Finality character card was about to expire.
Starting from the Astral Express, they had wandered through many unique sights. In some places, they lingered for a day or two; in others, three or four. Today, here on the Xianzhou Luofu, would be the end of the line.
'Finality Kiana' took a quick glance at her status panel:
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[Roleplay System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Herrscher of Finality)]
[Lifespan: ∞ + 1 day (Roleplaying)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta, Celenova, Jingliu, Ruan Mei, Sparkle, Hertatomb, Lord Ravager - Jingliu, Young Herta, 'Robin', Artoria, Cipher, Georios, General of the Yuque: Qingque, Huohuo, Silver Wolf, Hysilens, Cyrene - Fuli (Charge: 47.1%), Acheron (Charge: 71.3%), Calypso (Charge: 54.8%), Herrscher of Finality (Active)]
[Available Pulls: 23 (12.4%)]
--+--
She wasn't sure if it was because Kiana's identity was special, or simply because Kiana was more emotionally expressive than most.
Over the past month of wandering together, the harvest of emotion points had been quite substantial, granting her two full pulls.
Counting the ninety-something percent she'd already accumulated, the progress bar had basically been topped off three times over.
This intake was impressive—far exceeding what she usually gathered while playing as anyone else.
The panel didn't offer a specific explanation, so she could only guess that Kiana was just naturally more vibrant.
After all, this was Kiana's first experience traveling to another world; it likely triggered stronger reactions than it would for someone more jaded.
As for the remaining time, though the panel displayed one day, in reality, there was only about half a day left. Whether she settled the transformation now or later didn't make much difference.
She didn't mind missing out on a few system-hours' worth of emotion points.
So, taking advantage of their rest, 'Finality Kiana' suddenly looked over at Kiana and spoke seriously:
"Kiana."
"Hmm? What is it? Why the sudden serious face?"
Kiana blinked, not understanding why the girl had suddenly switched into such a solemn expression.
"It's almost time."
Kiana froze, her own expression quickly turning grave. She looked at her other self, then at Silver Wolf, and finally at their new friend, Fu Xuan.
Who knows what thoughts were racing through her head, but a lonely, bittersweet smile touched her lips.
"Is that so? I see. It looks like my time being 'Ordinary Girl Kiana' again is coming to an end, too."
With a soft sigh, Kiana set down the piece of Originium she had been holding.
"My other self, I'm so happy I got to meet you. Thank you for letting me experience such a wonderful journey. And the other Bronya—playing with you was a blast. It made me feel like I was back in my school days."
"And Lady Fu Xuan, even though we just met today, I can tell you're a truly good person."
"Ah... well, Kiana, you are quite exceptional yourself." Fu Xuan blinked, nodding with a small smile.
Nearby, Silver Wolf's face flushed. She looked away awkwardly, trying to maintain her cool. "Ugh... so cheesy. What's with the sudden drama?"
"Haha~" Kiana laughed at Silver Wolf's shy, cringing reaction. The little Silver Wolf was definitely cute when she was being stubborn.
Then, Kiana stood up from the bench, brushed off her clothes, and walked over to her other self with her hands in her pockets. Her face held a hint of lingering sadness, but she wore a brilliant smile.
"Alright, my other self, let's leave it at that. I might not have time to see Himeko-sensei again, so please, say hello to her for me. Tell her... we'll see each other next time."
"Um..."
'Finality Kiana' pursed her lips and blinked. It felt like Kiana might have misunderstood something.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Silver Wolf was completely caught up in the mood, totally falling for Kiana's "farewell".
Fu Xuan, however, seemed to have realized something; her face was strained as if she were trying very hard to stay expressionless, and the look she gave Bai Ming was incredibly strange.
At this point, Bai Ming felt that if she didn't send Kiana back right now, she'd be wasting the atmosphere.
But the problem was... what she had actually meant was that her roleplay time was up, and she was about to cancel the transformation to return to her original form.
The corner of Bai Ming's mouth twitched. She nodded to Kiana and, without a word, deactivated the character card.
In an instant, accompanied by a faint shimmer, the traits of the Herrscher of Finality faded from Bai Ming's body. She returned to her original appearance, dressed in her white gown.
Simultaneously, the panel updated, and a new round of system rewards arrived:
[Settlement Reward: An excellent performance! You caused the subject's emotions to fluctuate wildly—truly a perfect act! Reward: Authority of the Herrscher of Finality!]
The reward was generous, to say the least.
However, Bai Ming wondered—wasn't the system worried that a "wild" Herrscher of Finality appearing would make the Cocoon lose confidence? It just handed it over like that.
She was now a being capable of wielding Imaginary Energy on the level of an Aeon.
The same authority used by a regular Herrscher versus used by an Aeon-level entity meant an output difference of several orders of magnitude. The consequences would be worlds apart.
This system was certainly bold.
Wait, if she recalled correctly, the Authority of Finality was essentially the sum of the other dozen or so Herrscher powers? Does that mean she could manually manifest a Core projection for Welt?
Welt had died several times, and his power had been nerfed again and again. While he'd gained some power here through his "mission," without a Herrscher Core, it always felt like something was missing.
She decided she'd make one for Uncle Yang later. She'd just have to change the energy source from Honkai energy to pure Imaginary energy.
The influx of system rewards surged out of nowhere. The power of Finality merged rapidly into her body.
Theoretically, at this moment, she should have encountered the Cocoon itself through the power of Finality. Regardless of strength, that was the setting for how a Herrscher of Finality was created—it was the "onboarding process."
But whether it was because of the distance or because the system had intervened again, Bai Ming found no sign of the Cocoon.
So, she really was going to be a total unregistered "outlier," huh?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, a new notification popped up on the panel:
[The Cocoon of Finality's attention has been blocked from this power. You may use it freely.]
"..."
Damn! It even blocked it in real-time. So this reward really was plucked right off the Cocoon? Bai Ming nearly lost it. Still, it was good news.
Bai Ming withdrew her attention from the system rewards and, in her original form, met Kiana's eyes.
Kiana was still staring at her blankly. After waiting for a while without anything happening, she seemed to realize something.
"Wait, wait, wait... If I remember correctly, when you play as someone else, there's a fixed time limit, right?!"
Kiana suddenly pointed a finger at the girl who looked at least sixty percent like her. Her eyes were wide, and she was shaking so much she could barely get the words out.
Being pointed at, Bai Ming nodded with a stifled laugh. "Yeah. Thirty system days. Counting from when I found you, today is the last day. So..."
"So the 'time' being up wasn't my time, it was the time for your transformation into me to end?!!!"
Kiana's voice jumped an octave, and her hair practically stood on end. Not just her face, but her neck and her whole body turned bright red instantly.
One could only say that a young girl's blush speaks louder than words.
Bai Ming held back her laughter and chose to add fuel to the fire: "Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that I was going to show you my real form. As for you, this body was created to stay; it's anchored to you now, so you can come and go whenever you want..."
"AH—STOP! Don't say another word!!! I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening!!!!"
Before Bai Ming could finish, Kiana covered her ears and dropped into a crouch, curling into a ball in an attempt to escape reality.
By now, Silver Wolf had processed what happened. She immediately burst into a fit of hysterical laughter!
"Hahahahaha—!!!!I'm dying!!! Kiana, you—hahaha!!!!Oh man, I—hahaha—!!!"
Silver Wolf was laughing so hard she couldn't even speak. She ended up flat on the ground, clutching her stomach and rolling around, pounding the floor while ruthlessly mocking the overheated Kiana.
But Silver Wolf's relentless laughter was the final straw for Kiana's sanity.
"AAAAHHH!!! Bronya!! Stop laughing!!! I'm taking you down with me!!!"
Kiana's last thread of reason snapped. In a fit of humiliated rage, the "red-hot" Kiana lunged at Silver Wolf, attempting to deliver a "Finality Sanction" via brute force!
Silver Wolf was no pushover, though. She fought back even as she laughed, and the two began scuffling on the ground.
Even the usually stern Fu Xuan was now covering her mouth to hide the upward curve of her lips. Her eyes danced with amusement as she watched the chaotic mess of Kiana and Silver Wolf.
--+--
Meanwhile, on the Moon in the Solar System.
Kiana, who had been peacefully drinking tea, was now just as "overheated" as her body on the other side.
With a loud thud, her head hit the table, and she buried her face in her arms, letting out a cute, muffled wail.
"Kiana? What's wrong??"
Kiana's sudden meltdown startled the two people with her. But Bronya was the first to realize something was off.
"Based on observation, there is a 90% probability that Kiana is retreating into self-isolation due to extreme embarrassment. Perhaps Idiot Kiana did something stupid on the other side? Why not tell us so we can share the fun?"
"I am NOT telling you!!"
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL