My look shifted between the strange white bat and the Kiana cosplayer up front.
"No, no, no."
Out of all the shocks I received so far, this takes the cake.
January 2012.
The Bianka and Kiana cosplayers.
The big white bat.
If it wasn't the honkai, then what is it?
'Change of plans, change of plans…'
I swiftly stepped away from the crater. I moved closer towards the cosp… no, to Kiana.
Out of everyone here, only she can protect me. I have enough awareness that honkai beast can crush me to death.
Shockingly, my spatial awareness was extremely good. I am able to reach her side in less than ten seconds. The obstacles between us did not matter much. I reacted fast enough to reach her side in seconds.
"I don't know what I did to anger that… bird?" I asked.
She looked at me with nine points of skepticism.
"Please don't look at me like that. I'm homeless. What can I do?"
"...Yeah. You're still wearing my jacket!"
It was my turn to be stunned.
'Me? Wearing Kiana's jacket?'
What in the actual fuck is going on..?
My brain stopped working half a minute ago. It has been numb since yesterday. If it weren't for my willpower to keep myself grounded, I would have thought of everything as a wild dream.
I watched Kiana steadily beat up the large bat.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
Her gunshots did not do much to the bird. Some of them got avoided while some caused cracks on its white shell.
Bam-!
Bam-!
It was her metal rod that sealed the deal.
Come to think of it…
Kiana was already a monster before the Chiba Academy incident. Give her a Valkyrie Suit and she becomes a B Rank Valkyrie.
Thus, I give her the crown of 'novice protector';
I am that novice.
"Aw, crap! The gunshots!"
Our distance of twenty meters did not matter. She easily closed it. She looked at me with a hint of panic.
"Do you want to go to the police station?"
"No..?"
"Let's leave, then!"
I left my body on autopilot, with my arm being dragged away by a human-shaped T-Rex.
*****
My god.
I didn't appreciate pancakes until now.
I carefully sliced a portion of it and stuffed it in my mouth. Opposite me, Kiana had already finished her second plate.
I feel like I am dreaming.
I was homeless an hour ago. Now, I am sitting face-to-face with none other than Kiana Kaslana…
…or her clone, to be exact.
Even so, I like her more. The story she went through, the determination she showed to save her friends…
It was beautiful.
Maybe my eagerness did not escape her sight. She finished chewing on her maple syrup pancakes before she asked me:
"Who are you?"
"Uhm…" I swallowed the pancake before replying, "Shi Tian. Eleven… or twelve years old? I am homeless."
I honestly told her my current situation.
"What else?"
"Uhm… I do martial arts?"
"You're in Shenzhou?"
"No. Hampshire."
"..."
I can feel it oozing on her eyes. Pure disbelief.
"Hidden sects do not necessarily exist only in Shenzhou. Who knows, there would be a few in England?"
"You're not wrong…"
"As for my practice earlier… it went wrong."
I drank half of my apple juice before explaining.
"It wasn't supposed to attract… hm. Do you know honkai energy?"
"Honkai?!"
"So you do know about it."
Thinking of that time she picked up Shamash and fought of a huge honkai beast, I did not feel surprised.
She fell silent for a while. I took it as a chance to finish off my remaining pancake.
"Why are you homeless?"
Her question caught me off guard.
"It's a long story."
I shook my head and refused to elaborate further.
Fortunately, Kiana wasn't as nosy as I thought. She stopped asking about it and carried on eating.
In the end, she treated me to three pancakes with her omnipotent black card.
My lethargy was exorcised after this breakfast.
"Uhm. I don't have much to repay you…"
An impromptu plan suddenly appeared in my mind.
"I can teach you our martial arts."
"Hm?"
"You can give me food for the tuition fee. I guarantee our techniques won't be half-bad."
I refused to let go of the rich woman.
"The thing from before happened because my practice went awry."
Kiana gave me a questioning look. The 'practice going awry' part made her doubt my skills.
But then, the honkai energy I gathered from before must have been convincing.
Although, my practice did go wrong. I didn't know about the existence of honkai energy when I created this auxiliary technique.
The [Two-Phase Art] I made (90% from the golden orb) allowed me to convert different energies in my surroundings into spiritual qi. It costs me nothing. Not mental fatigue. Not physical fatigue. Nothing. It's a strange technique, but I will leave the questions for later.
Anyways, the technique itself is limited to independent work systems.
Think of it as such:
A rock falls into the ground. It does not affect anything else but the ground. When I collect its kinetic energy, there won't be any impact once the rock touches the ground.
That is an isolated/independent system. It is different from an engine working to power up a car. There are two different systems working, thus their conservation of energy is connected.
In short, it meddles with things that won't affect my surroundings much.
Unfortunately, I didn't know about honkai energy at that time. It was free energy. It lies in the scope of "independent systems", hence my unintentional interference of it.
The adjustments I made caused the available energies to briefly emerge before turning into spiritual qi. It must have formed similarities to honkai eruptions and the likes.
I am lucky enough that my [Two-Phase Art] converted it into spiritual qi, and as such, nobody was affected except for me.
As for the rest of the bat-shaped honkai beasts, I am sure Schicksal can take care of it.
Kiana forgot about the cleanup, but I trusted in Schicksal's power to do things.
I haven't forgotten about the Bianka lookalike from yesterday.
It's just that…
'There aren't any cameras in the park. If they trace it back to us, then so be it…'
It took some time for Kiana to give her response.
"Sure. I want to learn a new move."
"Kicks or punches?"
"Kicks."
"Then… Let me recall some of them."
I waited until my breathing was steady. I closed my eyes and thought of the golden orb amidst the darkness.
The sensation of falling off a cliff appeared next.
I opened my eyes to the familiar place.
"I hope my half-baked Taekwondo knowledge can suffice…"
*****
A/N: Here are the rules of [Two Phase Art] to better understand it (from my notes):
It takes energies from independent work systems and converts them into spiritual qi. The rock falling to the ground is an example of it. Once it involves two or more work systems (i.e., engines generating energy for an entire car), it won't work. It is best to get an unused engine, reactor, and such for its generation. Attracting honkai energy as a Herrscher before removing their control is also viable.
In short, only a limited amount of spiritual qi can be converted per village/city. Normal energy is outclassed by convertible honkai/imaginary energy.
PS: It becomes invalid on the work exerted by humans. It becomes invalid on honkai energy "controlled" by Herrscher/Honkai Beast/WoH/Cocoon.