Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 334 Departure, Take Control of Your Destiny

A person dies three times in their life.

The first is death in the biological sense: the body ceases to move, and life activities stop. The second is death in a social sense: through funeral farewells, social relationships gradually dissipate. The final death is when existence is completely forgotten. When people can no longer remember what the deceased said or did, then he is truly dead.

Through his meticulous planning, Lithost achieved his third death. His methods made it seem as if he had never existed. His work documents were destroyed, his portrait was burned, and those who knew him instantly forgot his appearance and everything about him the moment he was pierced by the Dome.

However, unforeseen events can happen at any time...

"Nahera, why are you doing this to yourself?"

【…】

Looking at his increasingly ethereal friend who remained silent, Lithost smiled bitterly.

For him, only death was the end of his responsibility. And only death could atone for his sins; in his view, death was the best end for him.

Then, his dead dragon friend showed him what it meant to be unable to live and unable to die...

Generally speaking, Nahera's Dragonscale Life Pact merely extracts the souls of the victors of the Ten Arts War from their bodies and binds them to the Tower of God. As long as the tower exists, the souls will not be destroyed, and the reserve knights will not truly die... But Lithost is different.

Because he wasn't the victor of the Ten Arts War, and given his identity as the Shadow Rider of God, he wasn't bound to the tower, but directly to the gathering shadows...

At this moment, Lithost could neither be called human nor ghost. His body, formed from shadow, offered him the possibility of utter death: once he exhausted his shadow power, even a god couldn't save him. However, with such a large-scale use of shadow power, it was impossible for Leera not to sense it. If she came out of curiosity to investigate and discovered him, and her mind was just right... then everything would be over.

Nahera did not answer Lithost's question. She looked at the rocks on the horizon of the Trial Grounds—on which her reincarnated body was placed.

You succeeded, Lithost. He's here...

"so what?"

Don't you want to see what he chooses?

------------

"set off!"

In order to save Soldier Pine Sparrow, Sora ultimately chooses to cross the vortex and meet the god.

As for working for Mars God? That's impossible. This trip is just to catch sparrows.

"Is this... inside the tower?"

The moment she crossed the vortex, Qiong's figure appeared inside the tower—the first thing she did after climbing the tower was to touch the back of her neck.

Kiana said that she could sense Sora through the Stigmata, and once inside the tower, Sora could try to communicate with her using the Stigmata to let her know she was safe.

Kiana also said that if the gods went mad and captured him to be a laborer, all he had to do was touch the Holy Mark and shout "Wife, save me!" three times, and the Great Sage Qitian would descend from the sky with divine punishment and heavenly fire to clear away all obstacles for him. However, Qiong didn't want to do that...

What a shame!

Regardless, after reporting that he was safe, Qiong opened his eyes and prepared to begin exploring the tower. He looked around; inside this tower…

No, this is a tower?!

When Qiong casually glanced around, he was completely taken aback: before him lay a misty grove of trees...

Yes, that's the grove where they forced him to do a trial.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

The surroundings were eerily quiet, and no one responded to his shout.

"Pine Sparrow, are you here?"

The surrounding silence was deafening.

A waning moon hung in the sky, casting shimmering spots of light on the ground. Qiong looked around, but the voice that had called him to the trial did not appear, so he had no choice but to proceed cautiously.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from deep in the woods, like people talking in hushed tones—had they encountered living people? Qiong clenched her fists and cautiously approached the source of the sound.

Parting the dense branches, he saw a familiar figure—Lithost.

At this moment, Lithost appears somewhat ethereal, talking to a semi-transparent girl.

"Lithost? You're still alive!"

Qiong's exclamation received no response from "Lithost," nor did it stop the girl from approaching her sobbing voice.

"Why? Why hasn't the war stopped? We've lost our reason to fight. When will this meaningless bloodshed end?"

"Sinadia?"

It was only then that Qiong noticed that the red-haired girl was Hinadia.

"The war will not stop; it will continue forever."

Lithost, holding a sharp sword, turned around. Several bandages were wrapped around his shoulders. His cold, iron-like gaze swept over the surroundings, and Qiong was stunned.

"Because they will never change, never... disgustingly, never."

"Hey, you guys..."

Before Qiong could finish speaking, the two figures disappeared.

"This is... a shadow? An image of their past?"

Qiong was completely bewildered. Was this also a scheme set up by Leiera? To make him feel the greatness of Sinadia, to make him worship Sinadia as the sun, and then to ask, "Where are you, sun?" and finally to do everything in his power with Leiera to save Sinadia.

If that's the case, then it's hopeless. Because there's only one sun in Qiong's heart—or rather, isn't it possible for anyone to only have one sun in their heart?

Oh no, Vivian might not be. She's probably a triple-sun formation: Ling on the left, Zhe on the right, and Ies in the middle.

"What the hell? Is this really inside the tower? There's not a single person here!"

Qiong frowned. She had expected there to be a guide or something, but there wasn't even a single person.

"That god, could he be living alone in this tower, reminiscing about the past every day?"

Although she had more doubts in her heart, Qiong continued to walk forward while muttering to herself.

You've arrived...

As soon as Qiong finished speaking, a soft female voice came from ahead. Qiong recognized the voice; it was the one that had guided him into the dream and the so-called two trials.

"It's you? The unreliable fortune teller and voyeur!"

[A voyeur...?]

The owner of the voice seemed somewhat puzzled.

"You know perfectly well why I'm asking this!"

Qiong cautiously clutched her clothes and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Stop hiding. You're the one responsible for receiving me, right? Aren't you going to show your face?"

[Well... strictly speaking, I'm not human.]

Qiong: ?

[Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Welcome, visitor from outer space. It's truly remarkable that you've come here to be knighted...]

"Not human? Then what are you?"

Qiong received no answer.

Come forward, you can make the final preparations and get all the answers...

The voice seemed to have a magical power; as she finished speaking the last word, the end of the grove suddenly appeared before Qiong's eyes.

As they walked through the woods, Qiong saw something completely out of place: Can you believe it? In this godforsaken place full of trees and rocks, there was actually a dilapidated train carriage?

"Why would there be a train carriage in a place like this?"

Qiong stared in astonishment at the dilapidated carriage, his doubts growing stronger. Just as he approached, a sound suddenly came from inside the carriage.

"Leave here...you know what that means, right?"

Qiong could tell that this was the "voyeur".

"Yes, I know, that's why I came to ask for your help. But it's not fair to you."

It sounds like this is a recording of a "voyeur" chatting with Sinadia about moving? Considering Sinadia's previous conversation with Lithost, is it to get away from the Martian civilization's war zone?

"I don't know how long it will take us to find a suitable planet..."

"Then you should know that I never refuse your requests. After all, I still owe you a wish..."

"Wait, how did we jump to another planet?! This train carriage... is it a pioneer?"

Mars is a very special and mysterious planet. Whether it's the shadow of a god turning into a calamity, or Lithost, the knight of the gods, helping the weak and gaining praise in Baiji while simultaneously indiscriminately killing innocents and being held responsible by Chenxue for the murder of his own blood, and even deliberately running headlong into the head of the Flame Spear to his death… Qiong feels that these are all facts that defy common sense and are incomprehensible. Add to that Hinadia, the "Alien Migration Project," and the dilapidated train carriage…

Since arriving on Mars, Qiong's doubts have only increased: first, the sudden appearance of "mochi," then the power to destroy her destiny that could break through shadows, not to mention Sinadia and that Leera... oh, and the fake medicine she drank from Ajeta, her own memories, her diary about March 7th's madness, and many other things... including today's big one, Qiong feels like she has entered a huge maze.

Qiong sighed softly. How should he put it? He felt like he had as many doubts as the needle marks on Kogoro Mouri's neck...

Forget it, let's pray to Akivili for protection first—even though he wasn't born a billion years ago.

Like you, we are not from the planet Luo...

A figure approached from afar; it was a voluptuous woman with dark skin and light blonde hair. She had golden eyes, and curved horns on either side of her forehead. Her gaze was calm and deep, as if concealing countless secrets. She wore a long white dress that contrasted sharply with her skin tone, yet she exuded an ethereal, otherworldly aura…

The only problem is that she is almost transparent.

Perhaps out of courtesy, she placed her hand on her chest in greeting to Qiong.

Welcome, Pioneer. I am Nahera, the Immortal Child, the Traveler of the Universe, the Star Dragon of Destiny. My name was given to me by Sinadia, meaning "the eternal river flowing peacefully."

Qiong frowned but didn't say anything.

Nahera didn't care about Qiong's attitude at all. She smiled slightly and extended her hand to Qiong.

Come in with me, all the answers you're looking for are here.

"How did you know what I wanted to know? Where is the sparrow? Where is she?"

Qiong hesitated for a moment. Although his curiosity was very strong, reason told him that finding someone should be his priority.

Besides, as the famous saying goes, curiosity killed Avi!

[Pine Sparrow...she is indeed here.]

Nahera was surprised by Sora's focus. Shouldn't Sora be prioritizing that she and the others were also aliens and thinking, "I want to go home"? Her first concern was actually that intruder?

But if you want to take her away, I want you to complete one last trial...

Come again?

Upon hearing the word "trial," Qiong got goosebumps. That heaven-defying script didn't even have a skip button; wasn't that going to kill him?

And wasn't the second trial interrupted?

"Can't you just skip all this fancy stuff and let me see the sparrow directly?"

Qiong pressed for an answer, but Nahera shook her head with her back to Qiong.

[Sorry, these are the rules. Only by passing the trial are you qualified to take others with you... Besides, you don't want to never see them again...]

Qiong gritted her teeth. If she didn't want to endure mental torture, it seemed her only option was to seek help from Kiana...

Should we call out to her? Is it really necessary?