Chapter 56: "The girl who doesn't trust anyone"

A wise man once said, once a well-laid plan crumbles, then the neglected problems will come one after another.

First of all, she failed to attract Cecilia's soul into the Kaslana stigma space she created. Now, the Will of Honkai has also joined in on the game and making the surroundings very chaotic.

Everything got so messy!

"[I can smell frustration.]"

"Shut up! This is all your fault too!"

K-423 shouted angrily.

Keeping distance from the Will of Honkai. K-423 begins to think hard about a way to get rid of it.

Will the train appear, and fall from the sky again?

"[The train will not appear.]"

As if answering a question that had arisen in K-423's mind, Will of Honkai casually spoke.

"[I am not your enemy.]"

K-423 sneered: "Yeah, those are the words of someone who wants to eat me. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Will of Honkai shook her head.

"[That is not me.]"

"Ah?"

Dumbfounded by the answer given by Will of Honkai. K-423 begins to analyze.

"Which side are you are?"

"[Prometheus, but now it is you.]"

Get answers, but also get question marks. The Will of Honkai immediately explained its origins.

"[Like I said, I'm not your enemy. Ever since I entered your stigmata space, I don't belong to anyone.]"

"[Your stigmata space successfully disconnected me from main consciousness for a while, and gave me some memory feedback of yours. It felt like coming back home.]"

"[Now, I am yours.]"

As if to prove what she said just now. Will of Honkai's form begins to change again, and this makes K-423's eyes open wide.

At first, Will of Honkai's form was that of a clean stone statue. No matter how much she imitated, her form was only a white statue that didn't have the slightest color.

Now, with her body shape constantly changing, her skin is starting to acquire a pigmented tint, and her hair is starting to turn a naturally dyed white. The Will of Honkai figure now almost exactly like herself.

Waiting a few minutes, K-423 saw another [K-423] appear in her front at this time.

"...Even if it's surprising, it won't lower my guard against you."

[K-423] who was on the other side, tilted her head with a smile.

"[I know, so let's use your naive ways to get acquainted with each other.]"

"[As a start of clarification, I will tell you something important. The Will of Honkai isn't your enemy.]"

[K-423] repeated it one more time.

"[I know where that sense of wariness is coming from. After all, a next door game sure is quite wild.]"

"Wait, you can read my memory!?!"

K-423 panics.

"[Correction, we all knew, and from the start, didn't I tell you?]"

"....Really? You mean... All of that..."

"[Yes, all of us.]"

"...."

Found that [K-423] was looking at her with a calm gaze. K-423 feels like her head is going to explode.

She thought that with her experience forming a wall of memory on the stigmata of the kaslana family, her memory would not be stolen by the Will of Honkai. Turns out, she had lost from the start!

Her mental defense was still very weak!

"[You seem to have misunderstood again.]"

"What?"

"[We all already know the contents of the memory in your consciousness not from our first meeting. But, from the time you were born.]"

"...."

K-423 became speechless.

So, is this the saying that is usually called losing from birth?

"Wait a minute, this information is too messy. Let's talk from the beginning. Did you know me before I was born?"

[K-423] nodded her head.

"[Remains of Finality's power from the previous civilization era, gain consciousness, and escape from Kevin's clutches to the stigmata space of the Kaslana family.]"

"...Is this my true identity? Somehow I don't feel surprised."

After all, all the puzzles had been laid out before her so clearly all along.

The reason why she was able to connect to the Kaslana family's Stigmata, the reason why she had the power related to time, and also the tip of her iconic purple hair.

After Will of Honkai said that she was "the other half of myself" all the messy puzzles were arranged very neatly in front of her.

She already knew her identity from a long time ago.

"[Of course, you already knew the answer to this question from the start. You just need someone to confirm your thoughts.]"

With confirmation by the Will of Honkai itself. K-423's true identity is finally fully revealed.

"[You seem quite happy. Is it because you think you're not Araya? Even if you're not her, you're still able to follow her path. After all, you already have all of her foundations.]"

"Shut up! Don't keep reading my mind! Besides, I don't want to be her!"

[K-423] nodded her head.

"[Identity crisis issue, I understand.]"

"What..."

K-423 suddenly freezes.

Was this person in front of her really another part of her? Why is she so understand me?

[Of course I understand your mind. Nameless, identity always fluctuating, doubts about your feelings and yourself. The inside of your heart is quite messy, but you managed to hide it quite deep. Your heart is really very contradictory like a human's heart. ]"

"[As your current situation. You think of Cecilia as your mother from the bottom of your heart, but you have never called her mama on purpose again.]"

"[You also had the opportunity to destroy Cecilia's good side to Sirin in a very quick way, but you let it. You kept hypnotizing yourself that you had a better option, and gave Cecilia a chance. From my own view, you are like someone waiting to be defeated.]"

"...."

"[Also, even though you consider Kiana and Siegfried as your family, you are still thinking about how to leave after all this is over.]"

"... Please stop it."

"[Aren't you tired, how difficult is it to be true to yourself?]"

"[That inferiority complex is your biggest problem.]"

"[In this world, you don't trust anyone.]"

"[You understand what I mean.]"

She clenched her fists tightly. K-423 could not refute what [K-423] said.

Because... everything is true.

"[I don't care about the contradictions in the human heart. But, according to your current situation, this matter needs to be resolved as soon as possible to prevent unwanted things.]"

"[Our enemy is the honkai. I don't want to see you one day joining the honkai's side because of matters of your own heart.]"

"[That would be so pathetic.]"

[K-423] stared at K-423 with a dead fish stare.

"[My current existence now is almost exactly like the another part of you, but with the prefective of an observer. I can give you advice from another prefect if you'll listen.]"

"....Then... please... help me."

K-423 chose to surrender.

For someone who knows herself even better, K-423 admits that her heart simply couldn't take it.

Every her word was too sharp.

Turning her stigmata space into a port. The vast sky appeared, and a light breeze blew the hair of the two of them.

Sitting on a lounger close to the edge of an empty harbour. K-423 and [K-423] sat on the same bench, but still kept a great distance from each other.

One had a sad expression on her face, and the other always had a strange smile, which gave the impression of a frozen smile.

"[The sea is clear, and the breeze is pleasant. Is this a form of expression of your mood? You have a tendency to secretly depress yourself.]"

"Hngh... Stop reading my mind."

K-423 holds her head tightly. She was curled up on the bench, trying to shrink herself.

"[A lot of people can't understand themselves. That includes you too. I'm just giving you a fact so you realize what's wrong with you.]"

"[What you need right now is trust. Trust in yourself, trust in trusting others.]"

"[So, let's start with our first step.]"

"[Why did you deliberately reject all the names Cecilia gave you?]"