Reincarnate in Honkai as Arthur Pendragon

Emilia knelt, staring intently at the gravestone in front of her. The snow fell silently, slowly, covering everything with a white and soft layer, as if the world were trying to wrap the pain in something purer. His breath came out in small clouds in front of his face, and his fingers barely sank into the snow covering the freshly turned earth.

The cold pierced his bones, but he didn't move. He felt that if he moved away now, something would break inside him.

The silence of the snowy forest was so dense that even the distant crack of a branch under the weight of the frost seemed too loud to him. He knew that Arthur and Kiana were nearby. They had always been close since that day.

But at that moment... it was just her, the snow, and the emptiness that the gravestone couldn't explain.

"Today it's been a week," she whispered with a trembling voice, through clenched teeth. "Arthur told me that the body goes... but the rest doesn't, that what remains here," she touched her chest with a gloved hand, "that doesn't go away."

The tears burned her eyes. He didn't know if it was because of the cold or the memory. Maybe for both.

For a moment, I could have sworn I smelled the hot tea the grandmother used to make, the creak of her old armchair, the hoarse voice saying my name. But it was just that: an echo in his memory, and yet, it was enough.

With effort, he stood up. The wind blew harder, lifting flakes that clung to his clothes.

He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath.

"I'm going to keep going, I promise."

When she turned around, Arthur was already waiting for her a few steps away, standing in the snow, with his scarf up to his neck and his cheeks red from the cold. Kiana was by her side, with her hands in her pockets, looking at her calmly. Neither of them spoke.

And it wasn't necessary.

Emilia walked towards them, leaving footprints in the snow. Her world had changed forever...

XXX

We left the small cabin a few hours ago, and the world seemed to have become even quieter since then.

The path we were walking on sometimes disappeared under the fresh snow, forcing us to navigate by the trees and the direction of the sun, hidden behind a gray and heavy sky. Emilia said nothing. She walked between Kiana and me, wrapped in her coat, with her hands clenched inside the sleeves and her gaze fixed on the ground.

With each step, she felt the cabin drifting further away... and with it, her grandmother's voice. The warmth of that last night. The promise he had left me.

I looked back once, just in case. But nothing could be seen anymore. Only the trail of our footprints, which the wind would soon cover.

"Are you okay?" I asked her quietly, without stopping.

Emilia didn't answer right away. Then, she nodded slowly.

It wasn't true. But it was what she could say now.

Kiana didn't look at us, but I knew she was listening. She always did. As if her attention never fully slept, that gave me peace.

"Novosibirsk is two days away," I said quietly, more to remind myself than her. "If we make good progress, we could find shelter among the trees before nightfall."

Emilia didn't respond. She walked in silence, with her gloves pressed against her chest and her gaze lowered. But it wasn't just sadness that she carried on her shoulders. It was a kind of silent decision. As if each step were more for herself than to reach a destination.

We moved for most of the day in silence, with the crunch of the snow under our boots as the only constant sound. At times we talked about simple things: the direction of the wind, whether the sky would get worse, or how much food we had packed. But they were just words. The important thing was inside.

At sunset, we found an improvised shelter: an old cart overturned in the middle of the forest, with the roof still intact and a bit of dry wood underneath. It wasn't much, but it would do for us. Kiana skillfully lit the fire. I prepared the small stew that we had left. Emilia sat by the fire, in silence, watching the flames as if she were speaking to them with her eyes.

When we ate, she barely took a bite. I offered her a blanket, and she curled up under it without saying a word. I sat nearby, and for a moment, I thought she had fallen asleep. But then I heard her.

"How is it done?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

"What?"

"Continue"

I took a while to respond. I didn't have a good answer. There were times when I didn't even know how I did it either. But lying to him didn't help.

"One step at a time," I finally said. "And then another, even if you don't know where you're going"

She nodded slightly, her eyes still fixed on the fire.

Kiana said nothing, but she approached and left her own folded coat next to her feet. Emilia looked at him, and for the first time all day, she smiled just a little.

That gesture, so small, stayed etched in my mind.

That night, we slept huddled against the cold, with the snow falling outside. It wasn't much. But it was enough.

XXX

What is this?

Finally, you decided to show up.

DING!

A shrill and completely out-of-place sound exploded in his head like a cursed bell.

PENDING REWARD! System delivery initiated... with delay!

Thank you for your patience!

We had a small setback in the offices of the Divine Judgment. A couple of system administrators were arguing over whether your "purification" of the infected qualified as a heroic act or just as accidental homicide.

But don't worry! Bureaucracy always delivers!

It appeared before his eyes, floating like a mirage in the cold air, a small flickering sign.

Here is your reward for your success, dear host!

Honkai Resistance – Level "You Almost Died, But Not Quite!"

For eliminating a Honkai creature without turning into a weeping statue or an ambulatory destruction machine.

And also because, uh... you turned out to be slightly infected. Oops.

Congratulations, champ! You did better than expected! Technically, you shouldn't be alive, but look at you, walking, breathing, inspiring moderate confidence...

So take this before you start glowing purple or floating face down.

That's all, host! See you at your next reward!

Tip of the day: Remember to stay hydrated!

"..."

And so my day begins...

THWACK!

A direct hit to the face pulled him out of his thoughts. Arthur barely had time to lift his head before the world turned upside down from a completely unexpected kick.

Kiana, meanwhile, continued sleeping as if she were an innocent angel... if angels delivered flying kicks while dreaming.

"But what...?" Arthur stammered, still processing the blow, with the boot mark still red on his cheek.

He slowly got up, blinking.

"Am I... under attack? Has another Honkai invasion already started and no one told me?"

She looked at Kiana.

She murmured something under her breath, completely oblivious to the chaos she had just caused, as she settled more deeply into her blanket with a placid expression.

"Does this count as sleep aggression or a loving attempt at murder?" Arthur rubbed his face resignedly.

The morning progressed, cold, silent... and dangerous. Especially if you shared the ground with Kiana Kaslana.

Arthur still had a red cheek when he heard the faint crunch of snow beside him. He turned cautiously (in case another flying kick was coming) and saw how Emilia, still half asleep, was sitting up, rubbing her eyes with the sleeves of her coat.

"What was that noise...?" she murmured, her voice hoarse.

"Nothing," Arthur replied quickly, sitting down with feigned dignity. "Just... the snow moving, by the wind or something."

Emilia blinked, then noticed the reddish mark on his face.

"Was that... the snow too?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Arthur maintained his stoic expression for exactly three seconds.

"The snow sometimes... hurts, a lot." Especially when it comes in the form of a foot.

Emilia let out a giggle she couldn't contain, covering her mouth with her hand. Kiana, wrapped like a mummy in her coat, continued sleeping a few meters away, completely unaware of her nocturnal crime.

"Did she kick you while you were asleep?"

"More or less," murmured Arthur, while discreetly rubbing his cheek. His dignity, it seemed, also needed consolation.

"Good morning, by the way," Emilia added, stretching a little.

"Good morning," replied Arthur, discreetly rubbing the cheek where he still felt the mark of the blow.

For a moment, silence fell. Only the faint crunch of the snow when Emilia shifted her position and the gentle whisper of the wind among the trees.

"Does it hurt a lot?" asked Emilia, pointing with her eyes at the reddish mark.

"It's nothing," replied Arthur, crossing his arms with false dignity. "I've survived worse things."

"Now, why don't we make breakfast instead?"

Emilia nodded and stood up, shaking off her cloak a bit to remove the accumulated snow. The wind continued to blow gently, bringing with it the crackling of branches and a cold that seeped into the bones.

"I hope this time the water doesn't freeze before it boils," he murmured, searching through the bags.

Arthur was already gathering some dry branches they had saved from the previous day.

"How about we make something hot?" suggested Emilia, rubbing her arms as she watched her breath come out in little clouds.

Arthur was already checking the things they had in the backpack. "We have oats and bread, with a little water, I can make something."

Arthur took out a pot from his belongings without saying anything. The air was cold, and the snow crunched softly under their feet as they moved. Next to him, Emilia knelt without a word, taking the canteen and carefully filling the pot while he prepared a small hole in the snow to keep the fire's base stable.

It wasn't the first time they had done this together.

Arthur stirred the oatmeal calmly, without hurry. Sometimes he cast a brief glance at the flat stone he had placed around where the bread began to warm. Emilia, meanwhile, held a thin twig with which she removed the edges, carefully turning the bread.

"It's not as frozen as yesterday," he said, just to break the silence.

Emilia nodded. "The wind has changed."

Arthur didn't respond. It wasn't necessary. In its own way, that was also conversation.

A murmur from the pile of blankets made them turn.

"More oatmeal again...?" came Kiana's sleepy voice, still curled up like a little ball.

Arthur barely managed a smile.

"He wakes up because of the smell, but he complains anyway," he murmured.

Emilia shrugged with a slight curve at the corners of her lips. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it was something.

Soon, the three of them were sitting around the fire. Kiana, half asleep but already with a spoon in hand; Arthur serving with concentration; Emilia, in silence, chewing slowly.

"Thank you," said Kiana, almost in a yawn.

Arthur nodded.

Emilia said nothing, but she returned the spoon with a small gesture of approval.

And so, for a moment, the cold felt a little further away.