NOVEL WEB Chapter 395: Throne of Ruins
"They know they can't escape, yet they drag innocents into their doom, forcing them to bear the burden of their sins."
"Aagh!"
Blood, the catalyst of chaos. The man's gruesome death shattered the peaceful order.
Witnesses scrambled to escape, colliding with the oblivious onlookers outside. The chaos escalated.
Kiana, an island in this storm, reached out, helpless, unable to touch or influence anything.
"Mama!"
A child's cry reached her ears. A small child, separated from her mother, was caught in the panicked crowd.
The child, barely half Kiana's height, was like a leaf in a hurricane.
Kiana rushed forward to protect her, but passed right through her.
She couldn't affect anything in this dream.
"Get out of the way!"
A burly man shoved through the crowd, too large to be stopped. The child was in his path.
"No!"
Kiana tried to intervene, but could only watch as the child was knocked down.
In this chaos, the consequences were obvious.
"They harbor sin, unleashing their violence upon others, even their own kind."
The cold voice echoed in her mind.
Blood stained the ground, forming crimson footprints. Kiana hung her head, hands trembling.
"Who are you? Why are you showing me this?"
After an eternity, the crowd dispersed, leaving behind a scene of carnage and corpses.
All of this, triggered by one man's death.
The result: a stampede, hundreds dead.
Innocent lives lost.
Explosions and screams echoed from the distance, suggesting similar events unfolding elsewhere.
Kiana looked at the mangled bodies, her voice hoarse. "What… what are you trying to say?"
"That man abused his power, driving his employee to suicide. He didn't know that the employee, whose wages he'd withheld for six months, had a wife diagnosed with leukemia the day before."
"The employee died. His wife died. His child died."
Kiana's breath hitched. She looked at the first man who died. Ironically, his body was the most intact.
He wore expensive clothes, a million-dollar watch, his face serene in death.
"What... what are you getting at?"
"Peace is a lie. Humans prioritize their own interests, a sin ingrained in their nature."
"Thus, I was born."
"We were born."
The boy's voice changed, distorted, layered. The noise returned, assaulting her ears and mind.
Countless voices—men, women, old, young—crying, laughing, cursing, screaming Kiana's name.
Click, click.
Amidst the cacophony, a rhythmic clicking sound, like dry wood knocking together. Kiana pictured marionettes.
"Ugh." The dizziness intensified into pain. Her consciousness, strained by the dream's horrors, was nearing its limit.
But she couldn't give up. She had to know what was invading her dream.
"What..."
Her mind felt heavy. She gritted her teeth, clutching her wrist, fighting to stay awake.
"What are you?"
The noise subsided, returning to the single, cold voice.
"We are humanity's shadows, the wails of the despairing, the monsters humanity created."
The world around Kiana twisted and distorted. Buildings crumbled, the ground cracked, and the bloody corpses dissolved into black dust.
In seconds, the once-grand plaza became a ruin.
The acrid smell of smoke filled the air. Black plumes rose from burning cars.
A civilized city, centuries in the making, collapsed into ruin.
Kiana had witnessed the beginning of the chaos. This was the end.
The apocalypse.
"See? This is humanity's future."
"You can't change it."
The voice was smug, triumphant, having finally shown her what it wanted her to see.
"It's over."
"Ugh."
The dizziness became agony. Kiana's vision darkened, and she collapsed. The dream was reaching its limit.
"Tsk, reached your limit? Very well."
The voice, sensing the dream's imminent collapse, retreated.
Kiana was a Herrscher. It could control her in this dream, but not when she woke.
As the voice faded, the world began to crumble, leaving Kiana lying unconscious amidst the ruins.
"No, I can't fall."
Just as everything was about to fade, Kiana's eyes snapped open. A surge of will filled her, emitting a faint blue light.
Blue Time Motes, like tiny comets, orbited her, while the flames of the Honkai core within her stabilized the collapsing dream.
[Time Fracture]
A clock face appeared, its hands freezing. The collapsing dream stilled.
Without its creator, the dream wouldn't last, but the Time Motes bought her a little time.
"Is this humanity's future?"
Kiana didn't know, and she didn't believe it. What truly bothered her was that boy's voice. It was strangely familiar.
Driven by this feeling, she dragged herself towards the city center, sensing something she needed to find.
The closer she got, the more apocalyptic the scene became. Bodies littered the streets, buildings lay in ruins.
On the highest pile of rubble sat a figure.
"..."
A wave of unease washed over Kiana. As the figure came into focus, her unease became dread.
The figure was facing away from her, but the silhouette was unmistakable.
She approached.
"Ren?!"
The boy sat upon his throne of ruins, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun.
Time resumed its flow. Ren turned, a gentle smile on his face.
But Kiana saw tears streaming down his cheeks.