Let's Call You Firefly

The destiny of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry was to obey their queen's command and fight the Swarm that plagued the universe, until death.

As one of them, AR-26710 was no different. When the Swarm Disaster ended, and she learned that the Glamoth Empire she served was merely a fleeting illusion woven by others, with the fall of the Glamoth Republic, all meaning tied to her past existence vanished.

She had no comrades left. The last of her fellow Iron Cavalry fell before her eyes during the war with the Swarm. With the 'fireworks' blooming among the stars after the planet-buster bomb detonated, AR-26710 was left utterly alone, the last of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry.

And at this moment, this last Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier was undoubtedly bewildered.

Originally, alone and having lost her purpose, she should have been drifting through space, wallowing in sorrow after blowing up the 'glass sphere' (referring to the planet).

However, while drifting and drifting through space, AR-26710 found that after a moment of distraction, the scene before her eyes underwent a drastic change.

A pink-haired, pointy-eared girl was right in front of her...

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her expression was mischievous, as if she wanted to do something naughty.

Startled and confused, she instinctively threw a punch.

"Ouch!"

A sweet voice cried out in pain.

Elysia, deeply engrossed and with her guard significantly lowered, was caught completely off guard. Thus... what should have been a happy occasion turned into a 'tragic incident'.

Although, as a memory construct, physical harm wasn't as visually apparent as it would be on a real body—no panda eyes, for instance—the impact was undoubtedly painful for a moment.

"Bad Jiang Qiao!" Reacting to this rough treatment, Elysian Realm Elysia instantly switched to 'Angry Elysia' mode, glaring fiercely at the culprit. However, she immediately noticed something was wrong.

"Who are you? You're definitely not Bad Jiang Qiao!"

Although the person indeed wore Jiang Qiao's appearance, the inner self beneath was clearly not Jiang Qiao, but someone completely unfamiliar to her.

AR-26710 became wary, yet also curious and confused by Elysian Realm Elysia's question:

"Uh... Who is Bad Jiang Qiao?"

"Wait... Why do I look like this?" Suddenly, she noticed her hands, her body, and gasped.

Not only was her combat armor gone, but her hands seemed larger, and... her 'front armor' (referring to her chest) had disappeared too.

This drastic change made her cry out in alarm. She instinctively searched for her 'transformation device', but the medium for summoning her assault armor was nowhere to be found.

"...I see... Seriously, forget it... Show me your original appearance first." Elysian Realm Elysia looked at the panicked AR-26710. Having 'acquired' many things from Jiang Qiao, she was naturally aware of his 'swapping' ability. Snapping out of her initial confusion, she understood, rubbed her forehead, waved her hand to instantly fix her own clothes and appearance, and began guiding the other girl.

"...Original appearance?"

AR-26710 looked puzzled. If this were the Firefly, she would undoubtedly be able to manifest her true self with ease.

But unfortunately, the girl before Elysia was not yet Firefly, but Firefly's past—the last Glamoth Iron Cavalry, caught between past and future, having lost her reason for existence.

"Hmm?"

Elysian Realm Elysia scrutinized her, observing the lost expression, and instantly understood, a smile blooming on her face.

Oh my, this seems to be a poor little thing who's lost her way~ And the shape of this inner self... seems like a very cute girl.

"Alright, I can't help myself. Let me help you." Elysian Realm Elysia approached, placed her hands on the girl's slender waist, nodded appreciatively, then leaned closer and gently tapped AR-26710's forehead.

As faint points of light dissipated, the girl's true form was revealed.

"My oh my~ Isn't this just the cutest little beauty~" Seeing the silver-haired girl revealed before her... Elysian Realm Elysia's eyes instantly lit up, sparkling with excitement as she moved closer.

Silver hair, delicate features, eyes full of confusion... like a stray puppy, lost and alone.

The only issue was that she was completely bare, not even clothes...

While wearing Jiang Qiao's 'skin', there was at least something, but after shedding that layer, she was like a little naked piggy.

A man might find his eyes lingering, but Elysian Realm Elysia definitely preferred beautiful girls dressed in pretty little skirts, all dolled up, rather than naked ones.

Though, after several days of intense 'battle', the 'updated version' of Miss Elysia had also grown quite fond of a naked Bad Jiang Qiao. When asked why, the answer was simply 'delicious' and ''very comfortable~'.

"Mmm~ Here, try this little skirt on first~" Elysian Realm Elysia excitedly pulled a pink dress—one she had specially prepared for Mobius—from her wardrobe, eager to play dress-up.

AR-26710, still somewhat dazed, didn't refuse.

While the Glamoth Iron Cavalry were used to being unarmored only when necessary (wearing specialized tight-fitting combat suits when outside their armor), remaining in this state of undress without her armor felt wrong. Even if, as tools of war, they hadn't been instilled with much knowledge regarding ethics or modesty, it still felt awkward, especially in front of this pink-haired woman who seemed to be eyeing her up and down.

Although she didn't seem like a bad person... seeing that intense gaze, AR-26710 couldn't shake the feeling that this strange older sister wasn't entirely virtuous either.

A moment later, Elysian Realm Elysia looked at the white-haired girl wearing the pink dress and fell into doubt:

"Er... While the pink skirt is cute, it... doesn't seem to suit you very well, does it?"

"...Perhaps?"

The silver-haired girl wasn't sure. The concept of whether clothes suited her was clearly foreign; after all, when would a Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier ever need to consider fashion coordination?

"Forget it, that's not important. Tell me your name first."

"Name... I am a Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier from the Glamoth Empire, designation AR-26710."

"?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, no, no! That's completely like a machine production number! A beautiful girl can't use something like that as a name!"

"...Name?"

"Wait, let me think..." Elysian Realm Elysia frowned, looking at the girl. She remembered something and started rummaging through the fragmented memories she had gleaned from Jiang Qiao during their 'battles', trying to find clues about the girl before her.

Though incomplete, consisting of only snippets, she managed to find information related to the silver-haired girl using this 'data' obtained from Jiang Qiao.

"...Firefly... Firefly! See? You already have such a cute name!"

"...Firefly?"

The silver-haired girl looked confused, but as she savored the name, she felt an inexplicable sense of joy, as if it inherently belonged to her.

Yet, she could find no connection between herself and this name.

"Is this name... for me?"

"Hmm... That's what Jiang Qiao called you. Forget it, just consider it a name that bad guy gave you... Anyway, remember, you're not AR-26710. From now on, you're Firefly, okay~?"

"Okay."

"Excellent! In that case, Firefly~ let's get to know each other better~"

Although Elysia was a little unhappy that her fun was interrupted—knowing Jiang Qiao would be leaving soon, she had wanted to savor him a bit more before he left, only for this unexpected change to occur—it didn't matter. Even though she couldn't play with Jiang Qiao, having such a naturally beautiful girl delivered to her doorstep, Miss Elysian Realm Elysia was quite happy to take on the process of 'educating' her~

Therefore...

Let the training of a beautiful girl begin~

Unaware of what awaited her, Miss Firefly was still basking in the joy of receiving a new name. She readily accepted the hand of friendship offered by Elysian Realm Elysia.

After all, without her Glamoth Iron Cavalry comrades, she was already lost and alone. And now... although she didn't know why she had arrived in such a strange place, perhaps this... was a new, good beginning?

...

After handling matters in the Previous Era, Jiang Qiao [Firefly] returned to the Honkai Star Rail universe.

To the starting point of this body: drifting in space.

That's right, when he switched into this body, he found himself literally in space, surrounded by the dust of shattered planets...

And before Jiang Qiao could even sort out the current information, he received Elysia's urgent call for help.

"...So it's this point in time."

Returning to his original location, [Firefly], now once again clad in the Firefly IV Strategic Assault Armor (SAM), surveyed the surroundings. After extracting memories from within this body, Jiang Qiao quickly determined the time period.

After the Swarm Disaster.

However, the troublesome part was that Jiang Qiao's information about Firefly wasn't comprehensive.

Although he had looked into her background before, certain parts weren't examined in detail. Consequently, his strongest impressions of Firefly were her identity as a Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier and her later joining the Stellaron Hunters and journeying to Penacony.

At this moment, the memories stored within [Firefly]'s body only covered the Swarm Disaster... though frankly, these memories were of limited use to Jiang Qiao.

After all, the Glamoth Iron Cavalry were essentially war machines created by the Glamoth Republic, their significance as cheap as 'bullets'.

Filled with the 'falsehoods' instilled in a weapon, there was very little that truly belonged to Firefly herself.

However, Jiang Qiao did sense something special within this body.

Pinpricks of fluorescent light emanated from the mechanical palm covered by the gauntlet... This was undoubtedly the power of a Path.

Yet it wasn't any of the Paths Jiang Qiao had encountered before... Its name was [Propagation].

The loneliness of being the sole survivor after the extinction of her kind, the love, the yearning for life—these gave birth to this power.

This Path was too distant for Jiang Qiao to grasp easily, but by borrowing this body imbued with the power of Propagation, he could touch it, align it with his own will, and wield it.

"Hmm?"

Within SAM's green visor display, he could still scan the faint 'traces' existing in the surrounding space. Orange-yellow gear-like pupils, capable of seeing through everything, emerged silently, analyzing the source of the familiar feeling.

...Insects... and remnants of other Firefly armors.

Although the explosive devices created by Glamoth were undeniably powerful, even pulverizing an entire planet into the dust clouds he now saw, remnants of the Swarm, and by extension, the Firefly armor derived from the same source, still lingered.

They were minuscule, but not nonexistent.

[Propagation], the power that yearned for kin, allowed Jiang Qiao to perceive these traces, remnants that, to most eyes, were already physically dead.

"..."

After a moment's thought, [Firefly] slowly opened his palm.

Although being a Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier was now part of this body's past, he could still sense its lingering attachment to its comrades. If so, it proved that the body's owner, Firefly herself, must still care about their traces.

The power of Propagation resonated with those remnants, purging the chaotic, disordered parts belonging to the Swarm, finally coalescing into a swirling cocoon.

Resurrection was impossible, of course. No matter how you looked at it, they were blown up too thoroughly; even their individual wills had almost completely dissipated. If he had swapped bodies earlier, perhaps there might have been a chance, but now...

While complete resurrection was impossible, using the gathered remnants of the Iron Cavalry, some form of 'continuation' could be achieved.

Speaking of which, this technique was something he learned from Bailu.

The Dragon Transformation Art, he believed it was called.

Although Bailu herself had no memory of it, after briefly possessing her body and unlocking her potential, Jiang Qiao had glimpsed some truths of Immortality.

And Propagation was originally a Path branched off from Immortality. Its application in terms of bloodline continuation might even surpass the Emanator of Abundance flesh used by the past Dan Feng, Imbibitor Lunae.

However, gestation required time.

In this exposed vacuum of space, using his power to shield the cocoon was not a long-term solution.

The immediate priority was to find a place to settle down.

With a clear decision made, [Firefly] piloted SAM towards the sea of stars.

A long while later.

A spaceship arrived tardily.

Inside, a woman with magnificent purple hair sat on a sofa, gazing out the window, lost in thought.

"Strange. According to Elio, this should be the spot."

"Maybe we're early? Should we wait a bit longer?" Beside her, a grey-haired girl in a grey jacket, her hair cut to neck length, suggested.

Kafka held a tall glass of red wine and nodded agreeably.

"Perhaps. Let's wait for a while then."