Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 343 Qiong's Iron Fist

"Speaking of which, I thought you'd add 'Za Warudo!' after all, aren't you the one who loves to show off? Just kidding, cough cough!"

Under Qiong's astonished gaze, Kiana patted off non-existent dust from her body and cleared her throat in a pretentious manner.

However, upon hearing Kiana's statement, a slightly relaxed Qiong did have a fleeting thought of saying "Za Warudo!"—but only for a moment.

On one hand, when he saw Fu Li (Memory Version), he saw a massive stream of memories in his mind. Those memories were incredibly clear—so clear that he could count the number of people eating together, what Pam/Mei cooked, and even how many grains of rice he ate in one bite! Those memories were still there, but whenever he thought about them, he would easily get a headache and go crazy… He had almost been driven to the brink of collapse by the overly detailed memories, so naturally he had no intention of showing off.

On the other hand, Zawarudo did seem incredibly cool when he didn't understand it, but when he was overwhelmed by mostly useless memories and suddenly remembered that "Zawarudo" was actually "the world" in Far Eastern English (Far Eastern English uses "r" to represent "l," so it's "za warudo"), which is the so-called "world"...

Well, to put it simply, when he remembered that shouting "Za Warudo" (in English) was the same as shouting "Walter" (in German), his enthusiasm vanished...

"Alright, alright, you two go back first. Qiong and I will go and handle this."

Kiana said seriously, pointing to Matsuki and the clueless Nana—she, who had been dealing with the crisis with a playful attitude in front of the others, now had a serious expression on her face.

This time it wasn't really because she wanted to have some time alone with Qiong; it was entirely because the inexperienced Xiaolong and the purely moody Songque would only be a burden in the battle against the Martian God—bringing them along would only require Qiong and herself to be distracted to protect them, so it was better not to bring them at all.

"Oh? Really? That—but..."

Hearing Kiana say that, Pine Sparrow was tempted, but then felt it wouldn't be right to abandon his friends and run away...

"No! Sister Rice Cake, Little Leiera is in danger! Nana has to go help too! Nana promised Nahera that she would bring Leiera back!"

Kiana frowned. This was a disobedient brat. Even more disobedient than the rest of them were back then! At least they had a clear sense of self-awareness back then!

"Qiong, wait a moment."

Hesitant between leaving and staying, Matsuki and Nana, determined not to leave, remained rooted to the spot, refusing to budge an inch. However, after Kiana snapped her fingers, the two were suddenly enveloped in a purple halo. The halo then forcibly wrapped Matsuki and Nana into a ball and flew off in the direction they were supposed to go.

Kiana, what's going on?

"Send them to see Teacher Bai... Don't worry, I've left them a portal to Langqiu!"

As Kiana spoke, she put her arm around Sora's waist.

"Don't move! Otherwise, I can't take you flying—oh dear, Teacher Bai will protect them, and it's too dangerous here. They'll only cause trouble if they stay, right?"

Kiana was secretly delighted by Sora's averted gaze. However, dealing with the Martian god was more pressing than anything else, so she didn't bother with any romantic gestures...

The most troublesome thing is that she cannot directly attack the god himself, not to mention whether she might kill the god... If she really kills Leiera, then both the level of energy she uses and the aftershocks of Leiera's death will cause the entire planet of Luo Xing to suffer a catastrophic disaster, the course of history will be greatly changed, and they may not be able to find their way back.

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Disordered shadows spilled out of the tower, and the completely out-of-control shadow deacons emerged from the shadows. Most people scattered and fled, escaping from Rimu and even from Elysium, heading to the lands not yet covered by shadows.

But can simply running away deal with a shadow fueled by fear that has completely spiraled out of control? Lithost is perhaps the most qualified to answer this question—even Vilayella herself has.

Lithost knew perfectly well that the entire planet Loth was about to be completely swallowed by the surging shadows. All the light on Loth was being extinguished, and people would never see the sunrise in their lifetime…

Not far from the tower, the shadows had already reached past the ankles of the distraught Lithost. If he hadn't been a former Shadow Rider of God, whose life now depended on shadows and who could absorb them into his body, he would already be dead.

"Shadows become curses, calamity descends upon the world?"

Self-blame, remorse, and regret bombarded his mind in turn. He hoped that Leiera would become a mature, just, wise, and loving god, not the "curse in the shadows" that Leiera jokingly mentioned!

"Sennadia, Nahera, what have I done?!"

The thought of his dead friend intensified Lithost's anguish. Reason told him he should do something to salvage the situation, but his thoughts were consumed by despair: with Leera's shadow power collapsed, what could he, a half-dead, inhuman former knight, possibly do?

"What can someone like me possibly do?"

Perhaps, nothing can be done? Lithost smiled bitterly. What he wanted most now was to find a safe place (does such a place even exist?) and hand the embryo over to a reliable person to hide, and then "atone for his sins with his death"—but he knew that was impossible.

He can't die because of Nahera's dragon flame inside him. If he really dies, the shadow centered around him will lose control and definitely join in devouring Luo Xing... He really is a bastard, harming people while alive, and harming people even after death...

"Woof—woof—woof—!"

"Baiji, has this dog gone mad? Or did it detect someone here... Ha, Litost? You're still alive!"

"Ok?"

The barking of dogs and the angry voice of a woman came from his ear. Litost looked in the direction of the sound and saw his dogs Donegal and Luo Chenxue.

However, Donigor didn't look well. Its fur was messy, and because it had crawled into the shadows to find him, its originally white fur was almost completely stained with the black of the shadows... Even for an ordinary spell, this was painful and deadly, but Donigor still tried its best to run towards him.

Donegal ran to his feet, tearing at and dragging at his black robe—a stubborn, reckless tug. It didn't understand why the world had turned black, nor what a shadow monster was, and it didn't care about the black shadow that was causing it so much pain. In its simple dog brain, almost completely filled with shadows, only one thing was absolutely clear: its master, that bastard master who had suddenly disappeared, it had found. And it had to take him away from here, away from this awful place filled with black shadows that made it so miserable.

The shadow that submerged Lithost's ankles became half a body when it reached Donegal. Lithost tried to examine his dog—he saw its teeth bared as the puppy struggled, the fur on its neck bristling from the pain and stained black by the shadow, and the fresh, rapidly festering wound beside its small, beady eyes, bleeding from the shadow…

"Donigor..."

A pain sharper than any wound pierced Lithost's heart, and an indescribable fear surged through him.

He wanted to call it away, to push it aside, so that it could escape this deathly place with Luo Chenxue, who was approaching from afar due to the poor shadows. But he couldn't push the stubborn puppy away, nor could he utter a coherent sound; his language system had temporarily collapsed…

"Uncle Lithost, is that you?"

In the midst of Lithost's confusion, a beam of light dispelled the shadows. Though the light was brief, it erased all the shadows around him (except for himself).

The temporary kind.

"This is……"

Lithost looked toward the source of the light, where the petite Seraphem was holding a man-made magical artifact.

"It's just a 'tool' left behind by my friend. I originally intended to use it on the competition field, but..."

Before Bai Ji could finish speaking, more shadows surged in, trying to stop Luo Chenxue from fighting Lithost to the death.

"There's no time for explanations and reminiscing, we need to get out of here right away!"

As Saffra, who was on guard at the rear, spoke, she rushed forward and grabbed Donegal's fate by the back of the neck after he was illuminated by the light and experienced a brief moment of lucidity.

"You may leave. I am a sinner of Luo Xing..."

Lithost was still wallowing in self-pity when the shadows quickly filled the void that Seraph had just cleared. Shadows surged in from all around, and even more shadow creatures emerged from them, lunging at them.

"Watch out, enemy attack!"

Saffra drew her rapid-fire crossbow and engaged in combat with the approaching figures. Serapem also continuously used her "weapon" to emit light, dispelling the approaching shadows, but the light's duration was getting shorter and shorter.

"Uncle Lithost, it'll be too late if we don't leave now!"

"Lithost, what are you thinking?!"

"Waaaaaahh ...

Suddenly, a short, distorted scream rang out in mid-air, growing louder and louder as it approached...

The group instinctively looked up and saw a purple sphere flying out of the tower and falling towards them.

"what is that?"

"It seems so..."

"Scatter!"

At Shafulai's command, the group quickly dispersed, clearing a large area that had just been cleared. Chenxue, oblivious to Lithost's presence, covered Serapem's eyes to prevent her from witnessing the impending tragedy. Lithost, for some unknown reason, shoved something into Baiji's arms and then stretched out his hands—seemingly trying to catch the impossible orb of light? However, Baiji held him back, preventing him from moving.

boom! ! !

With a dull yet loud thud, the ball of light crashed into the open space where everyone had been, then spread outwards, dispelling the shadows. Next, a small dragon with mosquito coil-shaped eyes and a sparrow lying on its back appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Nana's head is spinning..."

"Rice cake... couldn't you... have told me first?"

……

The tragedy that Chen Xue had anticipated did not occur. A few seconds later, Song Que stirred.

She sat up groggily, shook her head vigorously, looked around blankly, scratched her head at the acquaintances staring at her, and gave an extremely awkward smile.

"Hi... good evening everyone... I'm... oh dear! Did I scare you all? Lithost? What are you doing here?"

"..."

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"Wow, this island is quite big!"

Neither Sora nor Kiana expected there to be such a huge floating island atop the tower. If Kiana hadn't been able to carry Sora, Sora really wouldn't know how she would have gotten up there...

"It's so dark here..."

At this moment, Qiong and Kiana were hovering above the floating island. It seemed that they had broken through the false sky, and the light here was actually quite sufficient, although the sun was a bit ugly—just like the blazing purple sun that Qiong had seen in the second trial.

The island below, completely shrouded in shadow, appears to consist only of rocks, nothing else.

"Qiong, I heard her voice..."

"sound?"

Qiong was somewhat puzzled. Since time had clearly stopped, what kind of sound could there be? A voice in someone's mind?

Kiana closed her eyes and listened intently.

"Loneliness, only loneliness! Hinadia... that's about it."

"If you're lonely, find some friends! What kind of nonsense is this, dragging everyone down with you?!"