Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 195 Kiana in a Coma

However, the Herrscher of Knowledge does not want to launch a direct attack right now. After all, Fu Hua's body has not been fully repaired yet. The Herrscher of Knowledge, who is used to Fu Hua's body in its prime, clearly dislikes the current body, which is still riddled with holes.

So she shifted her consciousness outside and began to wander around, in order to prevent the Honkai consciousness from noticing her existence when catalyzing the Herrscher.

Then she saw Durandal talking to an unexpected person, Maria Shaniat, that was the name of the person Durandal was talking to.

She is also the current saint of the Shaniat family and the cousin of the former saint, Cecilia Shaniat.

However, she is still far inferior to Cecilia, who was completely modified by Alto, but she can still be considered one of the top in her generation.

Out of curiosity, the Herald of Knowledge approached the two and began to openly eavesdrop on their conversation.

"How many times have I told you, Maria-senpai, you really don't need to be so nice to me. I'm just an ordinary S-class Valkyrie. The combat techniques in the database are enough for me. There's really no need to teach me your Shaniat family's exclusive combat techniques."

"But those are all moves that go with Black Abyss White Flower, and I think it's still very necessary for you to learn them."

"But as far as I know, those techniques all require the use of the Saria family's Stigmata, right? I am indeed a born Stigmata Awakener, but what I awaken may not necessarily be the Saria family's Stigmata, right? Otherwise, why hasn't your family contacted me even once in all this time?"

"You can definitely learn it! After all, you are...!"

"What am I?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Interesting," the Herrscher of Knowledge remarked after reading Maria's memories.

Unexpectedly, Maria in this world was able to investigate and find a clue on her own, and she actually deduced Durandal's background.

What was even more unexpected was that she actually wanted to teach Durandal those moves that only Saintess Shaniat could learn. Wasn't this clearly telling Otto that she already knew Durandal was the real Kiana?

To be honest, the Herrscher of Knowledge is really looking forward to seeing how things develop. Meanwhile, Benares came to the Captain and Kiana's side and let out a few sobs. Kiana could clearly feel Benares's complicated emotions at this moment.

She slowly reached out her hand, and Benares cooperated by placing his head near Kiana's hand. Feeling the familiar touch on his head, Benares couldn't help but let out a happy roar, and Kiana's tightly furrowed brows relaxed at that moment.

The captain breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this. It seemed that even though Kiana was repulsed by the identity of the Herrscher, she still held enough goodwill towards Benares.

So the captain suggested, "Kiana, should we take it back to the nest? It can be a good security guard."

"But do the others agree?"

"Tesla will definitely have objections, but it shouldn't be too difficult to persuade her. Kevin, I think as long as you can guarantee that Benares won't attack humans, I think he won't mind."

Kiana was undeniably smitten. Ever since meeting Benares, a voice inside her had been urging her to spend more time with it, and it would be wonderful if she could bring it back to her nest.

"So that's why you brought it back?!"

Inside the conference room, Tesla's eyes twitched, and he roared at the Captain and Kiana, who both looked innocent.

“But don’t you think it’s quite pitiful?” the captain said.

"Pitiful? It's a Honkai Beast! You say it's pitiful?!"

“But it’s really pitiful,” the captain said.

"What's so pitiful about the Honkai Beasts! If they launch an attack, can we still guarantee our safety here?"

“But it’s really pitiful,” the captain said.

"Can we not talk about how pitiful it is?" Tesla said, covering his face.

"Oh, but it is really pitiful."

"Enough!" Tesla raised his hand to interrupt Kiana, who said wearily, "I don't want to hear your explanations anymore. Do whatever you want."

Kiana felt a pang of guilt seeing Tesla's exhausted expression, but at least Benares Tesla had agreed to take it in.

On the other side, the captain looked at Kiana with a proud expression. When Kiana turned her gaze to him, he didn't forget to raise his head, and with a smirk, he showed Kiana a boastful smile.

Kiana shook her head helplessly at the captain's loot-collecting antics. Seeing that Kiana wasn't praising him, the captain wisely stopped, quickly adjusting his expression before speaking.

"In short, with Benares, a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, guarding the nest, ordinary Honkai Beasts probably won't come over anymore. After all, the relationship between Honkai Beasts is like a collective consciousness, with higher-level Honkai Beasts controlling lower-level Honkai Beasts."

"Is that how it is?" Kiana asked in surprise.

"Do you really not learn any theoretical knowledge at all?" Tesla said helplessly.

"Hehe! Otherwise, I wouldn't have to retake so many exams." Kiana laughed awkwardly.

"You're getting arrogant, aren't you..." Tesla sighed, deciding it was better not to dwell on this too much. "Just like the captain said, Honkai Beasts are managed through a cluster consciousness structure. The Assault-class and the Chariot-class are of the same level and are both governed by the Temple-class. Above that, the Emperor-class governs the Honkai Beasts below, and so on. The Judgment-class, as the pinnacle of Honkai Beasts, only governs all the lower-level Honkai Beasts. It is said that there is an End-of-Dharma-class above the Judgment-class, but this is only recorded in the documents of the previous civilization. The current civilization has not yet seen a true End-of-Dharma-class."

"So you mean that our current civilization once had Honkai Beasts that could potentially reach the End of Dharma level?" Kevin asked.

"Vishnu, an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, possesses the ability to strengthen itself by devouring other Honkai Beasts. It once reached the Judgment level, but was ultimately defeated by the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal at the time."

Kevin's expression turned to one of reminiscence. He hadn't expected that Vishnu would also appear in this modern civilization, which reminded him of the recruit he had once scolded until he cried.

"What happened next? As far as I know, Vishnu didn't die so easily."

“I didn’t expect you to know this.” Tesla thought for a moment and said, “But it makes sense. That Honkai Beast was named after a Honkai Beast with similar characteristics that we found in the literature of the previous civilization. It’s probably the same type of Honkai Beast.”

Tesla continued, "The next step was that Destiny retrieved Vishnu's remains and conducted detailed research on them. What was chilling was that even though it had been sliced, its cells remained active and were even evolving and expanding. In order to prevent it from being completely resurrected, the research institute at the time immediately decided to completely incinerate its cells, leaving only a small portion for research."

Kevin's eyes flickered a few times before he asked, "What about the remaining cells?"

"Let's continue the research. After the research was completed, it seems that Alto used it to create artificial humans."

"An artificial human?" Kiana asked.

"It's Theresa," the captain reminded him.

"Oh right, Auntie was created using the genes of the Kaslana family and Honkai Beasts. Who was the provider of those genes...?"

Kiana closed her eyes and thought, "Strange, I remember my period telling me about this before, but I can't remember it now?"

The captain and Kevin exchanged a furtive glance. Just moments ago, they had sensed a faint burst of Honkai energy erupting from Kiana, which vanished in the blink of an eye. The captain then continued to reply.

"It's Kallen, Kallen Kaslana, the strongest Valkyrie five hundred years ago, who was also the Chosen One at that time, and Otto's fiancée."

"Yes, yes! It's her. I remember when I failed my exam, I even used a stealth device to watch her history."

"Let's leave this conversation here," Kevin said. "If there's nothing else, let's call it a day. Captain, you stay; I have something to say."

Soon, only Tesla, the captain, Kevin, and Mei remained in the meeting room.

"Only Kiana is obedient. Are you all so eager to work overtime?" the captain said helplessly.

"Don't change the subject. Tell me honestly, has Kiana's condition worsened?"

"How could that be! Don't worry, Kiana is perfectly fine!"

The captain spoke casually, unaware that his voice had unconsciously trembled slightly. Finally, under the pressure of Mei and Tesla's gazes, the captain admitted it.

"Well, Kiana's situation might not be so optimistic."

"What exactly happened?" Mei asked worriedly. "Is it because Kiana couldn't remember anything about the headmaster just now?"

"It's hard to say whether it's related to this," the captain said. "The fact that Dean Theresa is a clone or android created using Kallen Kaslana's genes is something that most people close to her know. After all, she has long since become indifferent to this matter. If you ask her and you are close enough, she will most likely tell you. Kiana couldn't possibly not know this."

"Couldn't it be because Kiana wasn't listening attentively and therefore didn't remember it?"

"Do you remember how many times Kiana asked Theresa similar questions?"

"..."

Mei didn't answer. In her memory, Kiana had asked this question at least three times already. The key point is that this was only what Mei remembered; Kiana had probably asked it several times in other situations, such as when they were alone together.

Once or twice is fine; you can just assume you didn't listen carefully and didn't remember. But if it happens more than three times, it can't be explained by simply not remembering.

"But can the symptoms of Honkai erosion cause memory problems?" Mei asked.

"As far as I know, no. More importantly, I sensed a Honkai energy on Kiana that did not belong to her or Feather Dust. Although the fluctuations were very weak and the duration was short, I think it was definitely not my imagination."

The captain replied, and Kevin agreed. In Kevin's memory, only the Eighth Herrscher, who controls the power of consciousness, could manipulate memories with Honkai energy. But how could Honkai energy affect memories before the Herrscher of Consciousness was even born?

Kevin looked at the captain with a puzzled expression. The captain wasn't in much better shape either. He frowned and carefully considered all the possibilities, but none of them could explain Kiana's memory problem.

Could it be that I was really worrying too much?

For a moment, the captain began to doubt his own judgment. No! The Honkai energy fluctuations he had just sensed were clearly felt by Kevin, so it must be true. But then he thought there was another possibility to explain it, but could that really be the case?

The captain pressed his lips together, trying his best to deny that possibility, but now this was the only possibility that could explain the problem.

"What if—and I mean what if," the captain said in a deep voice, "what if something goes wrong with Kiana's Feather Dust?"

"Are you serious?"

Kevin stepped forward and asked, his eyes filled with seriousness. After all, the Feather of the Crossing on Kiana was related to Fu Hua's consciousness; if something went wrong, it wouldn't just be Kiana's problem anymore.

"I also thought it was impossible for it to be such a coincidence, but this is the only way to explain Kiana's memory problems."

“Staying here won’t solve anything. Let’s go check it out,” Tesla suggested. “At worst, we can just drag Kiana to the ship for a checkup, and everything will be clear then.”

"That's right, let's get going without delay!"

Then the group arrived at Kiana's temporary residence in a grand procession. Upon opening the door, they saw Kiana lying on the ground.

Seeing this, Mei immediately stepped forward to help her up, but the captain was faster. In one swift motion, the captain caught Kiana in his arms and frantically called out Kiana's name, but no matter how the captain called, Kiana did not wake up.

At this moment, Kevin had already searched Kiana's body and found the feather that carried Fu Hua's consciousness. The feather, which was originally red and white, had now completely turned black and red and was emitting an unusual aura.

Fortunately, Fu Hua was conscious, which secretly relieved Kevin.

“It seems we’ve been set up.” Kevin stood up and said, “The Captain and I originally thought that the Honkai consciousness would catalyze a Herrscher from Fu Hua’s unconscious body, but it seems that it didn’t do so.”

As Kevin spoke, he showed the black and red feather to everyone present, and Tesla's Herrscher detection device also issued a sharp alarm.

"The good news is that Kiana and Fu Hua's consciousnesses are fine; they're just trapped in their respective dreams."

"So what should we do now? We can't just sit here and wait, can we?" Tesla asked.

"There's still a chance." The captain stood up and said calmly, "Because the Honkai energy here is insufficient, and this feather hasn't been replenished with energy for some time, the Herrscher consciousness forming within the feather isn't very strong. As long as we can eliminate it before the Herrscher consciousness fully forms, there won't be any problems!"

"That sounds nice, but how do we actually do it?"

"Captain, please give the order! I'm willing to pay any price to save Kiana and the squad leader!"

Mei stepped forward and volunteered, saying that now was no time to hesitate and that she was willing to pay any price to save Kiana from her crisis.

"It's really one problem after another."

The captain took a deep breath and began to assign tasks. He had to admit that the next plan would be an adventure in a race against time. If anything unexpected happened, the only outcome for this world would probably be the successful completion of the Stigmata Project.