Anna, who awakened as Bing Lu, had her face covered with a black veil, and her original appearance could not be discerned. Her hair color and clothing were completely different. Even Chen Tianwu, who had dreamed of Anna countless times, was completely unable to connect her with Anna.
In the original storyline, Chen Tianwu got the information from Youlan Daier only after Tianming joined the war, and learned that Bing Lu was Anna's. But now Tianming's Valkyrie troops are still on the way, and the members of the Snow Lotus team were also saved by Kiana and did not die, leaving no key clues.
As if it was a joke of fate, Chen Tianwu, who was obsessed with Anna, failed to recognize the girl, while Anna, who chose to escape, could only come face to face with Chen Tianwu and become his enemy.
This is their worst nightmare, and now they are trapped in it without realizing it.
Of course, as the mastermind behind this fateful duel, Su Jue was well aware that this was not a so-called choice of fate, but a play carefully prepared by the Ruler of Rule.
As a Herrscher who is familiar with the plot, Su Jue naturally knows the final outcome of these two. There are almost no couples in the Collapse World who have a happy ending, and the story of Anna and Chen Tianwu is a tragedy from beginning to end.
The character flaws of both of them are very obvious. Anna's [escape] prevents her from getting out of the shadow, while Chen Tianwu's [possession] is an important reason that exacerbates Anna's guilt.
During the disaster two years ago, Chen Tianwu invited Anna on a date in order to ease the atmosphere, and Anna did not refuse. Perhaps both of them wanted to comfort each other, but Chen Tianwu mistakenly took it as the beginning of a relationship.
Having lost everything, Chen Tianwu can only rely on Anna, and instinctively wants to possess her. He places all his hopes on Anna, the Valkyrie, not knowing that she is just an ordinary girl of sixteen or seventeen years old.
What's more, the two had only known each other for a few hours. Even if the suspension bridge effect made them quickly develop a liking for each other, it was not enough to support their relationship.
After Anna chose to escape and leave, he continued to chase the girl, actually just wanting her to give him a clear response to his original date invitation.
This is very similar to the relationship between Kiana and Su Jue.
As a Herrscher of the Thousand, Su Jue is in deep despair. His only glimmer of hope is Kiana. The memories of his two lives are intertwined into twisted emotions, which makes him instinctively want to get closer to her.
Chen Tianwu was like a drowning man, desperately grasping Anna as a life-saving straw, until the two of them could not bear the burden and sank into the water together. However, Su Jue, who also fell into the water, chose to act as a stepping stone, silently serving as the nourishment for Qiyana's growth and supporting her to ascend to the throne of Xinyan.
Just like the two sides of a lake, the ice rock was constantly sinking, while Su Jue and Qiyana were constantly rising.
It was because of this that Su Jue chose to intervene and try to change the fate of Anna and Chen Tianwu. His goal was still to obtain the Ice Law Core and Rock Law Core that were about to be born in their bodies, but if possible, he didn't want the two to die with regrets like in the original story.
Standing at the top of the frozen area, Su Jue looked down at the city area wrapped in glaciers, and took in Anna and Chen Tianwu who had already started fighting on the ground.
He must ensure that the Law of Ice does not get out of control and that the Ruler of Rock can be born smoothly.
As for the [rebellious] Raven, it should have just encountered Kiana who was chasing the Ice Ruler. The World Serpent probably could not have imagined that there were not just one Herrscher but three Herrschers appearing on the Coral Island.
It was the interference of the Honkai energy of the three Herrs that caused the disorder of electromagnetic signals in this area, causing Raven and Chen Tianwu to lose contact. And this was already expected by Su Jue.
While Su Jue was watching the battle, Chen Tianwu, who was targeted by the Herrscher, was feeling uncomfortable. Even though his mechanical body allowed him to withstand extremely low temperatures, the frost created by the Herrscher was beyond his endurance limit.
"You must stay calm. The success of the Yellow Spring Staff proves that the Herrscher must have been weakened. We just need to find the weakness." He was not panicked. His persistence in Anna was the belief that supported Chen Tianwu. No matter what, he could not die before getting the answer.
Holding the dagger in his left hand and the pistol in his right hand, Chen Tianwu bit the gun casing and loaded the pistol.
The surrounding ice surface was very smooth, like a mirror. Through the reflection in the distance, Chen Tianwu noticed the momentary pause when the Herrscher created the ice cone.
This was the interference of the Yellow Springs Staff. Realizing this, Chen Tianwu decisively rolled out of the shelter and fired the bullets in his pistol.
The pistol that had undergone the Houkai transformation was extremely powerful. The bullet directly shattered the ice layer several centimeters thick and penetrated into the Herrscher's domain. Unfortunately, before it could get close to the Herrscher, the bullet lost its kinetic energy and fell.
However, Chen Tianwu's marksmanship was excellent. The trajectories of the continuously fired bullets were surprisingly consistent. The bullets arranged almost in a line were like unstoppable arrows. The bullet in front broke through the ice cover, and the remaining bullets followed closely behind.
Click, click.
There was a shattering sound, and the bullet flew past Anna's cheek, bringing up some ice chips.
"It works!" Chen Tianwu felt a little relieved after seeing the results of the battle, but before he could launch the next round of shooting, the overwhelming ice cones attacked again.
Under normal circumstances, relying on a pistol to break the defense of the Herrscher would be nothing but a pipe dream. However, the ice crystal shield surrounding the Ice Herrscher was broken by Kiana, and the two ice candles with terrifying lethality were also shattered. The remaining combat power of the Ice Herrscher was less than one-third, not to mention that the Yellow Spring Staff had successfully taken effect.
The Ice Law, which had been weakened several times, could not completely crush Chen Tianwu, but it still had the upper hand. She floated in the air, her eyes fixed on Chen Tianwu who was hiding here and there, with a gleam in her eyes.
In an instant, the area in front of Chen Tianwu was completely frozen.
The teeth-grinding sound of condensation made Chen Tianwu's heart tremble slightly. He immediately adjusted his movements and approached Anna in an irregular trajectory.
"7, 6..." Chen Tianwu counted the bullets silently with a look of paranoia and madness. He kept shooting to interrupt Anna's attack without stopping.
The number of bullets was limited, and if he wanted to have a chance of survival, he had to hit the Herrscher's weakness in close combat. Only by relying on the effect of the Yellow Spring Staff could he force the Herrscher to retreat.
As long as he could escape from here, the rebellious Raven and the World Snake would no longer have anything to do with him. Chen Tianwu made up his mind to find Anna before the Snow Lotus Team arrived and prevent her from being involved in this dispute.
His eyes were fixed firmly on Anna's heart. Most of the Herrscher's core was located in the chest cavity. As long as he could hit the core, even if he couldn't destroy the Herrscher, he could still give her a chance to escape.
"1!"
After the last bullet was fired, Chen Tianwu only had a dagger left, but he was only a few dozen meters away from Anna.
The mechanical body had already exceeded its load limit, making a harsh sound. Chen Tianwu's eyes became brighter. He raised his left hand to block the icy spikes that were coming at him. The mechanical arm was almost completely broken in the dense impact, but this also quickly shortened the distance between the two.
Staring at the unclear Herrscher opposite him, Chen Tianwu jumped high with a dagger in his hand.
"die……"
boom.
The dagger stopped in front of Anna, but the sharp ice cone went straight through Chen Tianwu's abdomen. His expression froze on his face, and then he was smashed into the ice surface by the ice law.
309
Chen Tianwu, who was hit by the ice law, flew backwards and directly embedded into the thick ice surface.
Broken ice chips flew everywhere, and the broken ice made sharp and piercing creaking sounds, leaving gaps stretching for hundreds of meters.
The unsupported body collapsed to the ground like a broken doll.
The horrific impact caused his prosthetic left arm to bend at a strange angle, and the twisted and deformed artificial fibers inside could still be vaguely seen. The ice spike that pierced his abdomen completely broke his spine. If it weren't for the extensive body modification, this would definitely have killed him.
In a flash, the situation was completely reversed.
After all, the Herrscher of Ice is not a creature without intelligence like the Honkai Beast. Even if the Herrscher's core is suppressed, she is not someone that Chen Tianwu can easily deal with.
The sound of crisp footsteps came into his ears, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and Chen Tianwu, who was lying on the ground, barely raised his head and looked at the pale figure slowly approaching.
With a look of intense pain, he struggled to stretch out his only right hand that he could move, and tightly grasped the dagger that fell beside him.
Facing the Herrscher, his chances of winning were already quite slim, but with the Ice Law weakened so severely, he still couldn't even get close.
The gap between the reality and the reality almost made him despair, and a deep sense of powerlessness filled Chen Tianwu's heart.
It was the same two years ago. The collapse of Manila destroyed everything Chen Tianwu had. But as an ordinary person, he could only collapse in despair in the ruins in the face of the ravages of the collapse, howling like a stray dog.
Even if he wanted to find the whereabouts of his sister after the disaster, he could only place his hopes on the rescue team and pray that fate would favor him.
If Anna hadn't saved him and brought him back from hell, he would have been buried in the ruins two years ago.
"Anna."
The image of the girl appeared in his mind, and Chen Tianwu cheered up again. He gritted his teeth, stabbed the icicle that pierced his abdomen with his dagger, and pulled it out violently.
A horrible hole appeared in the abdomen, and leaking arcs kept flashing. Fortunately, the prosthesis transformed by the World Snake was of good quality, and even with such an injury, it could maintain basic operation.
Without the icicles blocking him, Chen Tianwu, who had regained his mobility, supported himself with his dagger and barely stood up. Intense pain came from the prosthetic nerve connection, and he pressed the energy core on his chest, directly cutting off the nerve connection.
Unfortunately, Binglu is not the kind of NPC who would wait for the cutscene CG. Before Chen Tianwu could stand firm, a huge block of ice smashed towards him.
Chen Tianwu had no way of dodge and could only adjust his angle as much as possible to avoid the frontal impact, but his body was still blown away.
The dagger in his hand flew out, Chen Tianwu coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the whole person crashed into the solid ice wall and fell into the ruins.
The Ice Law was not unscathed either. At least it consumed a lot of Honkai energy when dealing with Chen Tianwu's attack.
But this was meaningless to Chen Tianwu at the moment. All the bullets in his pistol were used up, his dagger had fallen out of his hand, and his body was damaged in many places. He had no ability to struggle at all.
He stood up from the ruins, a look of despair on his face. His vision became blurred, looking at the Herrscher of Ice in the distance, in a trance, Chen Tianwu actually mistook her for Anna.
But when he came to his senses, there was no Anna in front of him, only the terrifying Herrscher of Ice.
Just when Chen Tianwu was in deep despair, his eyes inadvertently swept across the ice wall beside him. The ice wall created by Bing Lu was very smooth, like a mirror, reflecting his appearance at the moment.
Looking at his own reflection on the wall, Chen Tianwu's pupils contracted unconsciously, and a black and white mark appeared on his neck without him noticing.
Chen Tianwu was not unfamiliar with this mark. Just a few minutes ago, he was browsing a website with this mark.
[Qian Jue]
"Has the curse on Chris finally transferred to me?" With a self-deprecating smile on his face, Chen Tianwu leaned against the ice wall with his broken left hand drooping, and gently pressed the Qianjue mark on his neck with the fingers of his right hand.
He took a deep breath and said seriously: “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care who you are, but since you appear in my body, it means that I have something here that is worth your attention.
If you really exist, let's make a deal. As long as you can let me live and see Anna again, you can take my soul with you."
No response.
The ice law was getting closer and closer, and Chen Tianwu, who was talking to himself, was like a dying man mumbling in despair, praying for a gift from God.
"That's right, there have never been gods in this world, only damn Honkai."
As if realizing the ridiculousness of his behavior, Chen Tianwu loosened his fingers and reached out to grab the ice cone beside him.
The Herrscher of Ice in the distance didn't seem to intend to give him another chance. Black ice crystals condensed in the air and aimed at him who had lost his ability to move.
He raised the ice cone in his hand, as if he was raising a sword of rebellion, and the scenes of his time with Anna emerged in his mind, even though in the end, Chen Tianwu was unable to see her again.
But just when the black ice crystals were about to bury him, a weak force suddenly surged into his body, and the broken prosthesis seemed to be connected by some strange silk thread, allowing him to temporarily regain control.
Chen Tianwu was slightly stunned, and before he could think about it, he immediately controlled his body to dodge. He waved the ice crystal in his hand and blocked it in front of him when the black ice crystal attacked.
The fragile ice ridges were immediately destroyed by the black ice, but this also gave Chen Tianwu an opportunity. He used his already broken left arm to grab the ice crystal. In less than half a second, the prosthetic left hand was frozen by the low temperature. He did not hesitate at all and tore off his arm directly.
What’s even more bizarre is that even if his arm is broken, he can still maintain control.
Chen Tianwu had heard of puppet shows. At this moment, he felt like he was controlling his body through strings. He didn't have to worry about the pain or getting hurt.
"Is this Kindred's ability?"
He realized that this was most likely the change that the mark brought to him. Relying on this control ability, Chen Tianwu broke free from the limitations of his body and successfully survived the attack of Bing Lu.
After creating the black ice crystals, the destructive energy in Bing Lu's body, which was already suppressed by the Yellow Springs Staff, was further reduced. Chen Tianwu was also a decisive person. Since he now had the ability to fight back, he had to resolve the threat first.
He didn't know how long this state could last, but he knew very well that his prosthesis was so badly damaged that if he didn't seize this opportunity, complete death would be waiting for him.
Passing through the ice cones created by the Ice Law, Chen Tianwu picked up the dropped dagger again. Whether for Anna or for himself, he must kill the Herrscher.
"I don't recommend you do that."
The voice of the young man appeared in his mind, and Chen Tianwu immediately guessed that this was most likely the creator of the Mark of Kindred. But this was his only chance to kill the Herrscher, and it was also the only thing he could do for Anna, so he couldn't waver here.
"I'm sorry, but I have someone I need to protect."
"I hope you won't regret it."
The power of the Herrscher of Ice was not as strong as before. Relying on exchanging injuries at all costs, Chen Tianwu gradually gained the upper hand in the battle.
At the same time, as Binglu's injuries worsened, Anna was gradually regaining control of her body.
After watching Chen Tianwu's entire battle, she had no idea where the opponent's final burst of power came from, but she was very clear that Chen Tianwu was trying to kill the Herrscher, and dying as a human being was also Anna's own wish.
Determined not to escape anymore, Anna faced her death calmly. Therefore, during the battle, she cooperated with Chen Tianwu intentionally or unintentionally.
Bing Lu's Herrscher consciousness not only had to withstand Chen Tianwu's attacks, but was also disturbed by Anna. In addition, he was seriously injured by Kiana and his core was disrupted by the Yellow Springs Staff. Even if the Honkai Will intervened, it was powerless to save the situation.
Finally, Chen Tianwu seized the critical opportunity and pierced Anna's body with the sharp dagger.
The Herrscher of Ice roared in pain, and his breath quickly faded.
The Herrscher is not so easy to kill. Only by silencing the Herrscher's core can it be completely destroyed.
With his obsession for Anna in mind, Chen Tianwu raised the sharp blade in his hand and brought the blade down towards the location of the Herrscher's core.
"Chen...Tian...Wu"
Anna's voice could be heard faintly in his ears. Chen Tianwu finally killed the Herrscher of Ice, but his own mind and body had also reached their limits. He couldn't even figure out the source of the auditory hallucination before his eyes went dark and he fell into a coma.
310 Interference with Honkai Consciousness
The frozen city area turned into a silent tomb, just as it should have been.
The square was covered with broken ice debris and was full of traces of battle. Dim light shone through the gaps between the floors, through the suspended dust and mist, and shone on the unconscious Chen Tianwu.
Anna, whose chest was pierced by the dagger, fell not far from him, but she did not die. Blood flowed out from the heart pierced by the dagger, forming a scarlet pool of blood on the ground.
Anna, who still had some consciousness, looked at the familiar boy helplessly, and stretched out her hand desperately, wanting to touch Chen Tianwu's cheek again. Her fingers were stained red with blood, but her palm had long been pierced by the Herrscher's ice cone, and she couldn't grasp anything at all.
"Chen Tianwu, I'm sorry."
The Herrscher core couldn't be destroyed so easily, but Chen Tianwu's fatal blow still caused Binglu's Herrscher consciousness to fall into a deep sleep, and Anna was finally able to clearly say his name.
Unfortunately, Chen Tianwu can no longer hear it now.
As if sensing that the connection with the Herrscher's consciousness was cut off, the Honkai Will immediately interfered with Anna after the disorder effect of the Staff of the Underworld ended.
As the erosion continues to intensify, her memory is gradually being taken away. Once the memory disappears completely, Anna's existence will be completely erased, and all that will remain is an icy body controlled by Honkai.
