27: Chapter 26 The End of Thunder

Kaiwen lay in Raiden Mei's arms, unable to move at all.

The bones throughout her body felt as though they had been cruelly taken apart and pieced back together; the sensation coming from her body was no longer pain, but a terrifying numbness.

She could no longer feel whether her arms were still there.

The sky overhead was completely swallowed by dark clouds, with occasional flashes of electricity shimmering deep within the clouds, illuminating the tear-stained face of the Herrscher of Thunder.

Meanwhile, the Herrscher of Thunder knelt amidst the pile of rubble, gently holding her in her arms.

Those dark red eyes gazed down at her, and Kaiwen could perceive a near-frantic possessiveness within them.

"Stop struggling, Kaiwen."

The voice of the Herrscher of Thunder resumed that gentle tone, just like coaxing a disobedient child.

She extended her index finger, and purple electrical light once again surfaced on her fingertip.

"You won't get hurt this time, I will be very careful."

Kaiwen could no longer speak.

The power of the Stigma had been exhausted just a moment ago; now, let alone resisting, she struggled even to open her eyes.

The fingertip of the Herrscher of Thunder slowly approached Kaiwen's forehead.

Purple electrical light danced between the two of them, illuminating Kaiwen's pale face.

"Rest assured," the Herrscher of Thunder whispered, her tone so gentle that it didn't seem like she was doing something cruel, "It won't hurt, I promise. When you wake up, everything will get better, and by then you will stay by my side completely, living a good life together with me."

The instant her fingertip touched the forehead, Honkai Energy once again surged into Kaiwen's body like a tidal wave.

But this time, it met with no further obstruction; the Stigma had exhausted its power.

The Honkai Energy drove straight in, wrapping around her brain strand by strand like silk threads.

Kaiwen felt as though her brain had been immersed in ice water.

Her thoughts began to grow sluggish, and her Remembrance also became blurred, as if something was being rewritten bit by bit.

She forced her eyes open.

Even though her vision had grown somewhat hazy, she still clearly saw that face close at hand.

The Herrscher of Thunder looked at Kaiwen tenderly, a trace of a smile even hanging on the corners of her lips, as if everything was proceeding according to her wishes.

But Kaiwen felt her other hand, the hand that was currently embracing her shoulder.

It was trembling slightly.

Exactly identical to that pair of hands placed on the knees in that hospital room.

It was Raiden Mei.

"...Hey."

Kaiwen spoke up.

The Herrscher of Thunder paused for a moment and looked down at her.

"Want to turn me into a vassal and keep me by your side completely?" Kaiwen looked into those dark red eyes and softly said, "Anyway, I... can't move now anyway, do whatever you want with me."

The Herrscher of Thunder narrowed her eyes, seemingly not expecting her to have this kind of reaction.

There was no fear, no pleading, not even a trace of panic.

There was only a suffocating calmness, as if she had already prepared herself to accept her own end.

"Aren't you afraid?" the Herrscher of Thunder asked, a hint of imperceptible hesitation in her tone.

"I am." Kaiwen did not deny it.

Her gaze shifted away from the face of the Herrscher of Thunder and looked up at the swirling dark clouds overhead.

"I've always been afraid."

"From the very first day I came here, I've been afraid—afraid of getting caught up in dangerous things, afraid of getting hurt, afraid of dying. So I frantically disguised myself, putting on the ugliest makeup, wearing thick clothes, hiding myself outside everyone's line of sight."

She paused, a sudden wave of pain striking her chest, and after easing up slightly, she continued.

"Wuh... I avoided you... because of this too."

The fingertip of the Herrscher of Thunder trembled slightly.

"I knew you were carrying something very dangerous, so I didn't dare get too close. Thus, I acted smart and wanted to be an outsider, desperately pushing you toward Kiana. I thought that as long as I retreated far enough away, nothing would happen."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, her vision had grown somewhat scattered, but deep within those blue eyes, a trace of stubbornness still lingered.

"But I have never thought of betraying you."

"Nor have I ever thought... of abandoning you..."

The Herrscher of Thunder looked at her, the electrical light at her fingertips still slowly infiltrating Kaiwen's body, but from the pulsing of the electrical light, it could be seen that the Herrscher of Thunder was not all that calm.

"...Are you done talking?" the Herrscher of Thunder asked.

"Pretty much." Kaiwen's voice grew lower and lower, "Turn me into whatever you want... Now, I don't care anymore."

She closed her eyes, with no expression whatsoever on her face.

Much like someone who had said everything they wanted to say, a death row inmate quietly awaiting execution.

But this calmness made people's hearts panic more than any weeping and struggling.

The Herrscher of Thunder looked down at the closed-eyed Kaiwen, her lips moving, but she couldn't say a word.

She suddenly found that she didn't know what to say.

She had originally thought of many things to soothe Kaiwen's potential fear, or to deal with any resistance Kaiwen might put up.

But looking at the attitude of Kaiwen in her arms—letting her do as she pleased—she seemed to have no way of coping at all.

"...Enough——!!"

Deepest within her mind, a voice suddenly rang out.

That voice was very small, carrying a tremble, like someone whose mouth was covered yet still desperately shouting.

"Enough! Don't keep going!!"

That was the voice of Raiden Mei.

It was the frantic, hysterical cry of an ordinary human.

"Did you see that!" Mei's voice screamed deep within the mind, "Her look! Did you see the look she gave me just now!"

The Herrscher of Thunder did not answer.

"That's not fear! That's despair! She has despaired of me! You said so!"

Mei's voice became increasingly sharp and out of control.

"Even if you turn her into a vassal, so what! She will stay by my side, but she will never look at me with that kind of gaze from before again! That gaze when she looked at me under the old sandalwood tree, that gaze when she ate the apple I peeled for her in the hospital room... none of those will ever exist again!!"

"What you are returning to me is not Kaiwen! It's a corpse named Kaiwen!!"

The fingers of the Herrscher of Thunder began to tremble violently.

"Shut up."

"I don't want to! Stop! Take back the power!!"

"I said shut up!"

"You clearly know this isn't what I want!!"

The Herrscher of Thunder clenched her teeth, and the lightning radiance at her fingertips began to flicker uncontrollably.

She knew; of course she knew.

How could what Mei truly wanted possibly be a puppet on strings?

What Mei wanted was the person who, when she was isolated by the whole school, would sit down beside her and say "Aren't we friends?"

The person who would quietly chew on the apple she peeled in the hospital room.

The person who, even when her lips were pressed by a finger, would be too nervous to move an inch.

And now, she was personally erasing these things, strand by strand.

"Enough——!!"

Amidst Raiden Mei's final, nearly-ripping scream, the Herrscher of Thunder finally couldn't hold on any longer.

The Honkai Energy seeping into Kaiwen's body was forcefully severed.

"Ah————!"

A painful scream tore through the night sky.

Raiden Mei's body violently arched, her hands clutching her head, and purple electrical light exploded in all directions from her body in a completely chaotic manner.

In the sky, those dark clouds enveloping the entire Changkong City began to slowly dissipate, as if losing support.

Countless purple light motes drifted down from the sky along with the dissolving clouds, falling onto the ruins, onto the scorched earth, and onto the bodies of the few people.

In the ruins of the riverside garden, Raiden Mei knelt amidst the rubble, panting heavily.

She slowly raised her head, those eyes having changed from dark red back to deep purple.

Raiden Mei had returned.

Her gaze fell upon the person lying quietly in the pile of chaotic stones before her.

Kaiwen's complexion was extremely pale, almost merging with her hair, and her clothes were already tattered, revealing large patches of scars on her skin.

The rise and fall of her chest was also extremely weak, as if it was about to stop at any moment.

Mei looked at her, her lips beginning to tremble.

"Kaiwen...?"

There was no response.

"Kaiwen?"

She reached out and touched Kaiwen's cheek.

Very cold.

Mei's hand jerked back abruptly, and then immediately pressed back onto her; this time she hugged Kaiwen's head, trying to warm her with her body temperature.

"Kaiwen... look at me..."

Her voice was trembling, uncontrollably trembling.

"I'm sorry... I don't want you to become a vassal anymore... Please wake up..."

Tears gushed from her eye sockets, smashing onto Kaiwen's face drop by drop.

"Didn't you say... you never thought of abandoning me... Then wake up..."

There was no response whatsoever, as if speaking to a lifeless object.

Mei hugged her into her arms, holding her tightly, as if clutching the last complete thing in this world.

Her shoulders trembled violently, crying so hard that she couldn't even make a sound, only tears falling continuously, incessantly.

"Miss Raiden Mei."

A dry voice sounded a few meters away.

Bronya covered her forehead and swayed as she stood up from behind a pile of rubble.

She glanced at Mei, who was crying bitterly while holding Kaiwen, and then glanced at Kiana, who was likewise unconscious beside her, complex emotions surging within her gray eyes.

"Kaiwen-jiejie's vital signs are continuously dropping," her voice was flat and calm, but her speaking speed was a bit faster than usual, "If rescue isn't provided soon, she will die."

Mei's body stiffened for a moment.

She slowly loosened her embrace, looking down at Kaiwen's bloodless face.

Then, she clenched her teeth, carefully lifting Kaiwen's body up and holding her in a bridal style.

"I'm taking her away!"

Her voice was very light, hoarse beyond recognition, but her tone carried a stubbornness that left people unable to refute.

"No one is allowed to touch her."

Bronya was silent for two seconds.

"Kiana-jiejie also needs—"

"You take care of Kiana." Mei did not look back, "Kaiwen... leave her to me."

Bronya opened her mouth, and in the end, didn't say a single word.

She watched Mei holding Kaiwen, stepping over the rubble and scorched earth covering the ground, walking step by step toward outside the campus.

The moon revealed a corner from the scattered clouds, and moonlight fell upon Mei's thin figure, drawing the shadows of the two people very long and stretched out in the ruins.

Mei lowered her head, her lips pressing against Kaiwen's forehead, her voice so light that only she herself could hear it.

"This time... I will protect you."