Reincarnate in Honkai as Arthur Pendragon

The afternoon began to be tinged with dark gray as the sun, shy and distant, disappeared behind a wall of thick clouds. The cold increased with each passing minute, and both of their breaths were already coming out in small puffs of steam.

Arthur rubbed his hands, trying to keep some warmth. The hike had been long, and although the scenery was beautiful, his feet were already begging for a break.

"We have to camp soon," she murmured, looking around.

Kiana pointed to a small rise ahead, where a group of trees huddled together as if sharing ancient secrets.

"Over there! We can take shelter from the wind there!"

Arthur nodded. It wasn't a bad place. Although, to be honest, they didn't have many options either.

Upon arriving, they used fallen branches to improvise a campfire, and Arthur was grateful he had bought the matches with the little they had left. With some effort and several failed attempts, including Kiana blowing so hard that she almost extinguished the spark, they managed to start a weak but cozy fire.

They sat together, wrapping themselves in their blankets and sharing the little bread they had left.

Kiana broke off a piece of bread and handed it to Arthur without saying anything. She had slightly flushed cheeks, whether from the cold or the warmth of the fire.

Arthur accepted the bread with a silent gesture. He chewed slowly, savoring each bite.

"Do you know something, Arthur?"

"What?"

"I like this..."

Arthur looked up, curious.

"What thing?" "The bread?"

Kiana laughed softly.

"I... like being with you," murmured Kiana, staring intently at the fire.

Her voice was soft, but laden with unexpected sincerity.

"Before, when I started looking for him... I used to wake up alone, hoping my dad would be there, making pancakes." Even though he always burned them... even though they smelled weird...

She let out a low, sad laugh.

Even so... I was expecting them. I walked alone through the snow without knowing where to go. And sometimes... it scared me. I felt so alone in the middle of nowhere.

She hugged her legs, lowering her gaze.

"But now... even though we are cold, even though we don't have much food, even though we don't know what tomorrow will bring... I don't feel alone." Because you are here.

Arthur looked at her in silence. The flames of the fire danced gently, casting shadows on Kiana's face, which now seemed more fragile... more real.

For a second, he didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to such honest confessions. And even less from someone like her, who always seemed so strong, so determined... so loud.

Of course... no matter how much she is the protagonist, she is still a child.

She cleared her throat, lowering her voice a bit.

"Kiana..."

She didn't look up, she simply waited, hugging her legs.

Arthur leaned slightly forward until their shoulders brushed against each other.

"I didn't know where I was going either." And honestly... I still don't know. But I'm here. With you. And even though I don't have all the answers... I won't leave you alone.

Kiana glanced at him sideways, surprised by his tone, by his seriousness.

Arthur gave a crooked smile.

"Besides... if I let you go, who else is going to stop you from dying by eating dirty snow?"

Kiana let out a chuckle, and without saying anything, rested her head against his shoulder.

For a moment, there were no words. Only the crackling of the fire, the icy wind blowing outside... and the warmth, simple but real, of not being alone.

They stayed like that for a while longer, until sleep began to win the battle against their tired bodies. The snow continued to fall outside, slow, steady... and for an instant, everything seemed to be alright.

But the tranquility was not going to last.

A creak.

Faint. Distant.

Arthur opened his eyes abruptly, still half asleep. The fire had dwindled to barely glowing embers. Outside, the forest felt more... alive. More tense.

DANGER

It wasn't a thought. It wasn't a word. It was a feeling. Pure instinct.

She sat up quickly, her body still numb from the cold, but completely alert. Kiana, who until recently had been awake, was now sleeping beside her, curled up under the blanket, oblivious to the change in the environment.

A creak.

Slight. To his right.

Arthur turned his head. Among the trees, something was moving. Just a flash of dark fur among the shadows. His heart began to beat faster.

Another creak. Now behind.

The night fog concealed the shapes, but the sounds were unmistakable. Branches being stepped on. Snow removed. Low, ragged breaths.

"Kiana..." he whispered, shaking her gently.

She murmured something incomprehensible, until Arthur whispered again with more urgency:

"Kiana. Wake up. Now."

Her eyes slowly opened, blinking against the darkness.

"What's going on...?" murmured Kiana with a hoarse voice, rubbing her eyes as she slowly sat up.

Arthur didn't respond immediately. He raised a hand, asking for silence.

"Listen..." he whispered.

Kiana frowned and fell silent, straining her ears. For a moment, only the soft crackling of the embers could be heard... and then, among the trees, a crackle.

Faint. Distant. But not natural.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, his instinct flaring up like an alarm.

Another creak. Closer.

Kiana looked at him, now fully awake.

"Is it... an animal?" she asked quietly.

Arthur shook his head slowly.

"I don't know." But something is surrounding us.

The forest, once silent, seemed to hold its breath.

Kiana stretched carefully as she stood up.

Arthur swallowed hard.

"Get ready."

Kiana tensed instantly.

Arthur squinted, peering into the darkness beyond the dying fire. The night fog slithered between the trees like long, cold fingers.

One more creak... and this time, a figure.

Thin. Twisted. With an erratic gait, as if its bones were not properly joined.

"That's not an animal..." murmured Arthur, his voice barely a thread.

From the shadows emerged a pale, lifeless face. Violet eyes glowed with an unnatural light. Two more followed him... walking unevenly, as if each step were an attempt to remember how to move.

The three infected.

The same ones as last time.

Arthur felt his skin crawl. He gritted his teeth and stepped in front of Kiana, raising a knife he had bought before leaving the village, cheap, short, and with a wooden handle... but sharp. And now, it was the only thing between them and danger.

Kiana stood behind him, her expression hardened, alert. She didn't ask, she didn't speak. He just watched. His blue eyes shone in the flickering light of the fire.

An infected stepped forward. Then another. His body seemed held together by broken will rather than muscles. The face disfigured by the corruption of the Honkai. Behind, two more followed him with erratic steps, almost dragging their feet.

"Honkai..." I heard Kiana whisper, her voice almost lost among the crackling embers.

I turned to her, still with the knife in hand, my breath irregular.

"Do you... know those things?"

Kiana didn't respond immediately. Her eyes were fixed on the distorted bodies writhing a few meters away, with purple spots faintly glowing on their rotting flesh.

Finally, he nodded very slowly.

"Yes... I've seen things like that before," he said as he stood up and rummaged through his backpack. He pulled out an old silver pistol, marked with the symbol of a stylized star.

"Since when do you have that?" asked Arthur, his eyes wide open.

"Since always," she replied. "I didn't show it to you before because there was no need."

The trees whispered around. The cold no longer mattered. All the remaining heat was concentrated in their heartbeats, in the tension of their muscles, in the adrenaline coursing under their skin.

The creatures emerged from the nocturnal mist: humanoid, deformed, with remnants of what were once human clothes, now hanging like rags over bodies twisted by the Honkai. Their eyes glowed with a sickly purple hue, soulless.

Arthur took a step back. His hand trembled.

Kiana, on the other hand, moved forward.

"Stay back," she said firmly, her voice as commanding as an order.

Arthur swallowed hard. "Hey, wait-!"

One of the infected screamed and lunged at them.

Bang!

The other two infected split up, flanking. One on the left, the other from behind.

Kiana turned fluidly and shot again. The second shot hit one of the creatures in the chest, making it stagger but not fall.

The creature lunged at her, but Kiana rolled to the side, agile as a cat, and raised her arm with surgical precision. She shot.

The creature fell.

The last infected jumped out from the bushes, straight at Arthur.

The world seemed to slow down for a fraction of a second. Her vision sharpened, her body tensed reflexively.

He didn't think. He didn't think.

He simply moved.

He dodged to the side with a movement he didn't know he could make, feeling the claws pass mere millimeters from his face. He rolled in the snow, his hand automatically closing around the knife.

He straightened up, turning with the momentum of his body.

The infected was already turning towards him.

Now!

Arthur plunged the knife directly into its head.

The creature shook violently, screaming, before collapsing.

Silence.

Arthur gasped, his chest rising and falling as if he had run for miles. He had trembling hands, tense muscles... and yet, he felt strangely clear.

As if that moment hadn't been luck.

But reaction.

Kiana watched him with wide eyes. She slowly lowered her weapon, surprised.

"Wow," she murmured, releasing the safety on her weapon. "That was quick." Very fast."

Arthur wiped his sleeve across his face, wiping away the cold sweat. He felt his legs like jelly.

"That was...intense," he murmured with a hoarse voice, fixing his gaze on the stained snow.

Kiana sat down beside him, crossing her legs, still observing the infected corpse with attention, but without the same astonishment as before.

Arthur gave a tired smile. "I never imagined I would end up fighting infected monsters in the middle of a frozen forest..."

"That was incredible, Arthur!" You did fuz and then zaz!

Kiana waved her arms while mimicking the knife movement, clearly excited.

Arthur looked at her with an arched eyebrow, still catching his breath.

"Fuz and zaz?" Is that your way of describing a fight to the death?

"Fight to the death?" You lunged and bam!, right to the head! The zombie didn't even know what hit it!

Arthur let out a low laugh, shaking his head. "We should go to sleep."

Kiana yawned right after, as if her words were an order for her body. "Mmm... yes"

The snow crunched under his boots. The forest remained silent, as if it still remembered the battle from the night before. Among the twisted trunks and frost-covered branches, the space where they had camped before was still there, with the remnants of the extinguished campfire and the blankets still wrinkled.

Arthur knelt beside the small campfire they had built earlier. With hands still trembling from the adrenaline and the cold seeping back under his clothes, he took a small box of matches from his pocket. He opened it carefully, took one out, and lit it after a couple of attempts.

A timid flame sprang up immediately, illuminating her tired face for a second.

With patient and precise movements, he brought the fire closer to a bundle of dry branches. The smoke rose first and then the heat began to grow as the flame fed on the wood.

Kiana, still with traces of emotion in her eyes after the fight, sat down beside him, wrapped in the blanket they shared.

"You make it look easy," she murmured.

Arthur smiled slightly, dropping a couple more branches.

The fire crackled softly, illuminating their faces with warm tones that contrasted with the icy surroundings.

Kiana snuggled against his arm, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Arthur glanced at her sideways.

"Don't you feel ashamed invading people's personal space?"

"Only if I don't like them," she said, closing her eyes.

"And me?"

Kiana yawned. "You are warm. And you don't smell bad"

Arthur let out a soft laugh, lowering his voice out of respect for the silence of the forest.

"Quite a compliment."

The night closed in around them, but the campfire kept the immediate darkness at bay. The warmth was faint, but enough.

Kiana turned slightly, entangling her feet with Arthur's under the blanket.

The wind blew stronger between the tightly packed trees, but they no longer felt it as much.

Arthur closed his eyes, letting the crackling of the fire and Kiana's calm breathing accompany him into sleep. For now, they were safe.

And for tonight... that was enough.