NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 426: Realization
Clang! Clang! The sounds of clashing metal reverberated through the valley.
Sparks erupted from the collisions between Kiana's spear and the lances of Void, momentarily illuminating the dim surroundings.
"Is that all you've got, Kiana?!"
With a furious roar, Senti slashed downwards with her blade, trying to cleave through everything in her path.
The fully transformed Senti showed no restraint. Her attacks were wild and unrestrained, a completely reckless, injury-for-injury fighting style.
Fortunately, though Kiana's consciousness was somewhat impaired by the black feather of Fenghuang Down, Fu Hua, through the Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Power, had lent Kiana her full strength.
This not only compensated for Kiana's weakened mental state but also provided her with real-time combat experience through their mental link.
At least on the mental plane, Kiana wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
Bang!
The descending blade was intercepted by a volley of intersecting spears. Kiana stumbled, the mountain beneath her shattering from the impact. Debris and dust billowed outwards.
"I don't understand what you're trying to do, but please, leave Fu Hua's body!"
The Herrscher of Sentience was an unknown to Kiana. She didn't understand the Herrscher's intense hostility towards her, nor how she had taken over Fu Hua's body. But now that Fu Hua was awake, the Herrscher had to be expelled.
Kiana clenched her right hand. A rift opened in space beside her, and countless Void lances shot towards Senti.
"Hmph, playing dumb? If you really don't understand, then get out of my way! This is between me and HIM!"
Though Senti easily dodged the attack, her face was grim. The sword she had clashed with Kiana transformed into a lance and plunged into the ground. With a kick to the shaft, the nearly two-meter-long lance spun rapidly, deflecting the incoming Void lances like a shield.
Not only that, but as the lance deflected the projectiles, distant chains abruptly tightened. The massive, forty-meter-long sword at the heart of the mountain was pulled towards Kiana, plummeting downwards.
Senti's initial target had been Ren, but even for the Herrscher of Sentience, dragging multiple Herrschers into the mindscape wasn't easy. Especially since Kiana, through some unknown method, had taken the place of Ren, who should have been the one confronting Senti.
Their showdown had become a one-on-one battle between Senti and Kiana.
While not having to fight two opponents increased her chances of victory, the one she truly wanted to kill was Ren, the supposed mastermind.
"Not a chance!"
"Fine. Then I'll deal with you first." Senti wasn't one for negotiation.
Her logic was simple: fight until the end.
This was the mindscape. The battle was one of willpower, and as the wielder of the Herrscher of Sentience's power, this was her domain. Even if Kiana was also a Herrscher, she would never be a match for Senti here.
The giant sword crashed down, nearly splitting the mountain in two. A manic grin spread across Senti's face, already envisioning Ren's demise at her hands.
Smoke and debris billowed from the shattered mountain, but Kiana's presence, which Senti could sense, hadn't vanished. Just as Senti prepared to strike again, a flash of white light blinded her.
"With this blazing fire, I sever all that binds!"
A clean, white line appeared across the forested peaks, as if drawn by a brush on a watercolor painting. Moments later, a blinding light ignited, spreading like a fuse, detonating everything around it in a fiery explosion.
Amidst the raging flames, Kiana emerged, wielding a greatsword.
With the power of the Herrscher of the Void alone, she wouldn't have stood a chance against Senti. However, the Domain of Incandescence fused not only the powers of Void and Flames, but also Ren's fervent emotions, entrusted to Kiana.
Wielding this sword, she could not lose.
"Let's go. Round two." Kiana looked at Senti, who was falling to the ground, and gently raised her greatsword.
No matter what, she wouldn't allow Senti to drag Ren into this.
…
The battle between Senti and Kiana in the mindscape didn't affect the outside world. With all the Honkai energy absorbed, Taixu Mountain had returned to its normal appearance.
The only one left outside was Ren.
He wasn't overly worried, his gaze fixed on the Fenghuang Down in Kiana's hand. Though he couldn't enter the mindscape, he could gauge the situation inside through Fu Hua's condition.
From what he could tell, Kiana wasn't losing. It seemed the fight wouldn't be decided anytime soon.
The reason he hadn't forced his way in was because he had promised Kiana he wouldn't use his power lightly. Otherwise, he would never have left her to fight Senti alone.
As Ren pondered, his gaze drifted towards Senti nearby.
Senti, outside the mindscape, was quiet, devoid of her usual rebelliousness. She seemed more like the taciturn Fu Hua, with an inexplicable air of grievance about her.
Just a child, after all.
Compared to other parallel worlds he'd observed, Senti in this world hadn't gone through the process of opening up to Fu Hua.
The only time she had received any acknowledgment was during Ren's interaction with her, disguised as Kiana. Even then, it had been as Fu Hua. If Ren hadn't given her the name Senti, she wouldn't even have a name.
Thinking of this, Ren frowned.
It wasn't pity he felt, but a sense that something was amiss about the past few days.
As the Herrscher of a Legion, Ren was acutely sensitive to human emotions. When he had shown killing intent towards Senti, she had reacted not only with anger, but also with a distinct sense of grievance. That didn't seem like the appropriate reaction for someone who had attacked Kiana.
Kiana's unconscious state had made him lose his composure, but even after calming down, he still felt a lingering sense of rage.
Was he being influenced by something?
The Hive Mind was essentially his own consciousness, an ability born from the fusion with the Herrscher of a Legion's power. As the Herrscher with the most intense negative emotions in the current world, the feelings contained within the Legion were unimaginable.
When the despair of the Legion converged, the impact on Ren was significant.
His ability to maintain absolute rationality in his main body was largely due to this.
Ren had long since realized that the core of the Herrscher of a Legion could inversely influence the Hive Mind, so he wasn't surprised by the interference. The key question was: where was it coming from?
Just then, the black feather of Fenghuang Down, discarded amidst the rubble, caught his eye.