Siegfried's gaze lingered on Shiraha for just a moment longer. So Anti-Entropy's got some promising seedlings too, the thought flickered through his mind and vanished.
Shiraha spoke softly, every word crisp and deliberate: "Siegfried, if you can't raise a daughter, why not give Kiana to me?"
Toward the end, he deliberately weighted his tone. In the normal storyline, Siegfried still had a full year of wallowing ahead of him before K-423's quiet resilience would slowly warm him back to life.
If he'd never come here, he could've just let it be, wished Kiana and Siegfried luck and moved on. But since he was here, he had to do something.
Huh? Little Kiana froze again. She looked at the side of Shiraha's face, then at her dad's expression. Her brain completely gave up. Maybe it was just because the room was warmer than outside.
Siegfried froze too. "What did you call her?"
"Kiana." Shiraha lifted his chin, his gaze unwavering. Then he repeated it: "I called her Ki-a-na."
Shiraha wasn't backing down an inch. Siegfried was a good man at heart, after all, and Shiraha himself was branded as a second-generation Anti-Entropy kid.
And even in the absolute worst-case scenario, if the story's characterizations went completely off the rails, he still had Elysia-nee. This was not the moment to flinch.
The arm he had wrapped around little Kiana tightened slightly.
Kiana stumbled forward with the pull, her shoulder pressing against Shiraha's arm. She tried to wriggle free, but couldn't. Elysia wasn't being difficult either, she just held both kids firmly in place.
The air went still for a few seconds.
In the end, it was Kiana who spoke first, her voice small and tentative: "Dad… let's go home."
Siegfried stayed silent.
He was starting to consider the possibility of just handing the test subject over to Anti-Entropy.
Kiana kept struggling to break free, but she didn't have the strength. Shiraha wasn't indulging her wishes.
"What about your other daughter?"
Shiraha spoke again.
The atmosphere in the room went ice-cold. Or maybe it was just that the second-floor window had shattered and the heat had long since seeped away.
Siegfried stared at Shiraha. The emotions in those deeply sunken eyes were impossibly tangled.
At last, he let out a broken laugh. "Fine. 'Kiana' is yours, then."
Tesla and the others would figure it out.
They were parting ways anyway. Let the test subject have the name Kiana as a little lie. The real Kiana had been dead for a long time now.
Little Kiana's pupils quaked. Something in her young heart seemed to shatter completely. She wanted to say something, but no words came. Her body went weak.
The disappointment on Shiraha's face only deepened. Sure, Siegfried was never top-tier in the later story, but the current Siegfried, still with both arms, actually still had value worth fighting for.
But it seemed like he had truly, thoroughly given up.
Thinking back on the story, he'd been a wreck for years, and later, after Sirin emerged and he lost an arm, he went to North America to recover. After that, it seemed like he never stood back up again.
Shiraha decided to push Kiana a little, see if he could still provoke some emotion out of Siegfried.
"You hear that? He said he doesn't want—"
Wait. Why are your eyes turning gold?!
Shiraha's pupils sharply contracted. His instinct screamed at him to let go, but thankfully, his Nee-chan hadn't reacted yet and still had her arms around them both.
That gave Shiraha a moment to recover. The young transmigrator straightened up instantly, his voice softening considerably: "He's not much of a father. Why not come with me instead?"
Kiana said nothing. The faint gold in her eyes kept deepening, slowly bleeding into what should have been sky-blue irises. The light grew brighter and brighter.
"Yeah. He's not a good father. Not a good husband either. Couldn't protect his child, couldn't protect the woman he loved."
The voice was low. Amid the test subject's plummeting emotions, a long-dormant Herrscher stirred awake once more.
Not yet sure who was speaking, Shiraha tightened his arm around her. "But I'll be a good brother."
Sirin didn't resist right away. Her eyes stayed lowered. The reason she could still wake at all was simple, she wanted to be held one more time. To feel that warmth again. To hear her voice again.
Elysia finally sensed something was wrong. Her expression tightened. Even though no one else could hear her, she instinctively dropped her voice to a whisper: "Are you sure you still want to hold her, little Shiraha?"
She had a feeling that if he kept holding on, little Shiraha was about to kick the bucket.
The one with the biggest headache right now was Siegfried. That danger, he knew it all too well. And with Welt Yang as a precedent, he genuinely believed a Herrscher could resurrect herself from a single core.
I mean, fine, Anti-Entropy came looking for me, whatever. But why the hell did you bring your prized prodigy along too?
Shiraha gave a tiny nod, so small it was barely there. Elysia's lips twitched. Typical Fog Serpent kid, nerves of absolute steel!
"I'll do my best to keep you from dying, little Shiraha."
Elysia wasn't sure how much of her full power she could still bring to bear, but handling an incomplete Herrscher probably wasn't out of the question. The problem was, the distance was way too close. If it came to blows, little Shiraha would almost certainly go down with her.
He was the savior she'd found for this civilization. He couldn't fall here.
"Why aren't you leaving?"
Shiraha kept pressing Siegfried, chasing him with mockery like a true brat.
Siegfried: ….
God, I hate clueless little shits like this.
"He's scared."
Sirin picked up the thread.
"What a useless father. So scared you'd throw away your own daughter?"
Shiraha's tone didn't waver.
A smile spread across Sirin's face. Not bright. Not warm. Nothing but pure, destructive desire.
Right. I woke up because I wanted to hear her voice one more time. Feel her warmth one more time. But Cecilia is dead.
And Schicksal is still alive. Schicksal still exists. And the useless wreck in front of me. And that traitor, the First Herrscher, his scent is nearby too.
Everyone who should pay the price is still alive.
She tilted her head suddenly, brushing her cheek against Shiraha's. Shiraha blinked, then nuzzled back against the girl in his arms.
"Let me go."
Sirin spoke softly, but a familiar note of command had crept into her voice.
Shiraha hesitated for a moment, then his arm tightened even more. His voice was steady. "You can't go with him. The way he is now, broken like this, there's no way he can be a proper father."
Siegfried: ….
Still mocking! STILL mocking! Kid, do you even know who you're holding right now?!
"If I make it out of this alive, I am definitely making your father kick your ass!"
Sirin laughed, quietly at first, but it grew and grew, wilder and wilder, until it became full-blown, unhinged laughter.
She managed to free one hand and reached up, stroking Shiraha's cheek. Her expression was twisted beyond words.
"This world is so filthy." Her voice dropped soft, like she was sharing a secret. "How much more pain does someone like you have to live through if you keep going?"
Shiraha paused, puzzled, just as always. His poker face had been forged under the 24-hour scrutiny of the Fairy Miss herself, after all.
"It's okay. I'm here. I'll take good care of you from now on. Don't be scared, Kiana."
He tilted his head, pressing the little hand she'd placed on his cheek against his shoulder.
Siegfried had already reshaped the Shamash. Scorching heat radiated from the blade but he couldn't strike recklessly. Anti-Entropy had finally produced a promising kid. He wanted to wait, see if there was still a way out of this.
Sirin's smile abruptly vanished. In her golden eyes, Shiraha's expression was mirrored back at him. "I grant you the right to live in the new world."
"Provided.... you're still alive to see it."
The Second Eruption. Breaking out once more.
Ripples of imaginary energy spread from the base in all directions, like a vast net unfurling across the sky, drawing the gaze of every soul within a hundred miles.
Right on its heels, the half-release of the Judgement of Shamash, gave everyone else a fighting chance to survive.