Honkai Star Rail: My Death Feeds Their Madness — Chapter 98

Chapter 98: If the Price is Falling into the Abyss

“Lord… Kagashi…”

“We are sorry… we have brought shame upon you…”

The light in Mianxue and Qinghan’s eyes was gradually glazing over, their final words spilling from their lips in broken, blood-choked fragments.

The shadows that normally veiled Kagashi’s expression completely vanished. Looking down at their ruined state—their bodies half-devoured and broken beyond natural repair—his heart seized in a violent, suffocating grip.

“To have been able to follow you all these years… and to fight for you until the very last moment… it is my honor…” A faint, trembling curve struggled to lift the corner of Mianxue’s mouth.

“It is also… my honor.” Qinghan smiled, the expression blooming across her pale face like a blood-soaked blossom.

Kagashi’s mind shook.

“Fighting for me…?”

“Yes…”

In that instant, the space around Kagashi seemed to grind to a halt. The passage of time stretched, becoming agonizingly slow. He clutched his head as countless chaotic consciousnesses drove into his mind like rusted spikes, bringing a sudden, blinding agony intense enough to shatter a mortal’s sanity.

Without a second thought, he raised his fist and shattered his own skull with a single, brutal punch. Blood mist and bone fragments erupted outward, splattering the ruined earth like a bursting melon.

Yet, in the very next second, the ruined flesh and blood at his neck writhed with grotesque vitality. Tendrils of muscle snapped together, bone knit smoothly, and a completely new head regenerated in the blink of an eye. His expression remained terrifyingly calm.

“If the price is falling into the abyss, are you still willing to fight for me?”

Hearing his gentle voice in the final, fading moments of their lives, the memories of Mianxue and Qinghan flashed before their eyes like a dying lantern, dragging them back into the distant Remembrance.

…Star Calendar Year 6285.

Qingyun School. The first day of the new term. Night had fallen, accompanied by a torrential downpour.

The sprawling academy grounds were empty, the halls hollow and quiet. At the exit of the main teaching building, two little girls sat huddled together on a wooden bench, staring blankly at the heavy curtain of rain that seemed to drown the entire world.

After an unknown stretch of time, a tall, straight-backed figure noticed the two silhouettes in the gloom and slowly approached.

“You two. The late evening bells have already rung. Why haven’t you gone home yet?”

Although it was their very first time meeting him, the two children recognized his uniform. He was a teacher.

“Teacher, our umbrella is gone.”

“…Are your parents very busy?”

“Great Aunt said they went to a very distant world for trade,” the older girl murmured, “and won’t be back for many, many years.”

“…Then what about your Great Aunt?”

“A year ago, a Cloud Knight brother came to the door. He said Great Aunt died on the battlefield.”

Kagashi’s heart trembled slightly beneath his ribs. Having once been a Cloud Knight himself, he was all too intimately familiar with the weight of those visits.

Quietly burying the flash of deep pity in his eyes, Kagashi knelt down in front of the two orphans, keeping his voice soft and measured.

“How about I take you home?”

As for the little thief who had stolen their umbrella, he would not be hard to track down. He would deal with that tomorrow.

“There’s no need to trouble the teacher. My sister and I will just wait for the rain to stop.” The gray-eyed girl looked up, her small, dirt-smudged face revealing a clean, innocent smile.

“Silly child. Taking care of you is the duty of a school teacher.” Kagashi reached out, gently rubbing the crown of her head. With a flick of his wrist, a wide umbrella materialized in his grasp. “Shall we go?”

“…Then we shall trouble you. Mianxue and my little sister thank the teacher.”

Beneath the heavy curtain of rain, three figures—one large and two small—walked into the storm. The umbrella was tilted sharply to the side, leaving Kagashi’s shoulder soaked while keeping the two children completely dry.

When they finally reached their cold, empty apartment and stepped out of a hot bath, they froze. Steaming hot food was already laid out perfectly on the dining table. The teacher was nowhere to be seen, having left only a small, encouraging note before quietly departing into the night.

That evening, Mianxue and Qinghan ate what should have been an ordinary dinner. The biting chill of the wind and rain, which the hot bath had failed to wash away, was entirely replaced by a thick, overwhelming warmth welling up from the very bottom of their hearts.

…Star Calendar Year 6289.

Mianxue and Qinghan had grown taller, their faces losing their childhood roundness as they finally entered the senior class taught by Kagashi. Over those four years, their minds had matured. They fully understood now that their parents were never coming back.

But they also knew that there was a teacher at Qingyun School who had watched over them, protecting their growth year after year like an older brother.

In Star Calendar Year 6291, they graduated from the academy.

In Star Calendar Year 6292, they returned to their alma mater, carrying carefully wrapped gifts for Kagashi’s birthday. To give him a proper surprise, they had deliberately avoided contacting him.

As the setting sun dipped below the western horizon, casting long golden shadows down the corridor, Kagashi stepped out of his office and paused. Seeing the two young women standing there with exquisitely packaged cake boxes in their hands, his eyes softened. He understood instantly.

“That is very thoughtful of you both. Actually, you could have just called me.”

“If we told you we were coming, there wouldn’t be a surprise, Teacher.”

“How so? During the time I spend waiting for you to arrive, I would be just as happy.”

“…Oh, but my sister and I are participating in the Cloud Knights Reserve Army selection this year. So… we might not be able to come visit you next year.”

Kagashi stood there, looking slightly dazed as the words washed over him.

“Teacher? Teacher?”

“Teacher, what’s wrong?”

“…It is nothing.” He offered a faint, melancholic smile. “I wish you both get what you desire.”

“Then we will take your auspicious words to heart! Little sister—”

“Respected Teacher Kagashi, we wish you a happy birthday!” The two girls spoke in perfect unison, the light in their eyes brilliant and full of hope.

…Star Calendar Year 6298.

“…Teacher, we passed the adulthood exams. We also passed the Cloud Knights enlistment assessment. We’ve officially joined the army.”

“Teacher, the General has given us… highest-level mission orders…”

…Star Calendar Year 6299.

“Teacher… the black lines on the Training Phantom’s body are too thin. Can a person really cut through this line accurately in the middle of a fight?”

“On the battlefield, life and death are decided in a fraction of a breath. Only by being more intimately familiar with the body structures and weaknesses of the Abominations than they are themselves can you sever the enemy in one strike.”

The Valiant Guard, having returned to the army himself, stepped up behind the short-haired recruit. He placed his right hand over the back of her hand, gripping the hilt of the heavy blade to physically correct her posture.

“Different weapons demand different optimal power stances. A soldier’s real-time judgment and precision will always be affected by exhaustion, strength, and reaction speed.” His voice was calm, ringing clearly over the sounds of the training grounds. “Through thousands of brutal refinements, you must force your body to know that feeling better than your brain does. Only then can you kill efficiently. Only then can you survive.”

He tapped her leg with his boot. “Plant your feet firmly into the earth. Core tight. Watch the angle of your waist. Yes, exactly like that. Strike!”

The Modao flashed forward, accurately slicing through the black line on the phantom without a millimeter of error.

“…I did it…”

“That is the feeling. Carve it into your bones.”

“Thank you for the guidance, Tea— Lord Valiant Guard!”

…Until… Star Calendar Year 6300.

The nightmare-like Crimson Demonic Star descended. The Undying Giant Tree erupted from the earth, its endless, writhing branches blotting out the sky. In a life-and-death moment, when the crushing weight of the Abundance threatened to consume them entirely, a thousand blinding sword-lights pierced through the suffocating dark. The brilliant strikes shredded the nightmare, violently reclaiming them from the confinement of the Undying Giant Tree.

During their decades serving in the Yaoqing, through countless blood-soaked deployments, he had pulled them back from the very jaws of death time and time again.

The sisters’ lives had long since ceased to belong to themselves. They belonged to him.

…And now, Star Calendar Year 6338.

Thick, dark blood dyed the entire battlefield. Amidst the ringing auditory hallucinations in their dying minds, there were only desperate roars, shrill screams, and hopeless wails. Yet, through the fading darkness, they saw that familiar, gentle light once again. They watched as the Abominations that had devoured countless comrades—and half of their own bodies—were utterly annihilated by his overwhelming power.

In the final, fleeting moment of their lives, they could finally speak the absolute truth hidden in their hearts with total sincerity.

Yet he was asking them—if they were still willing to fight for him? Even if it meant falling into the abyss?

The answer had always been obvious.

“Willing… for all eternity, without regret…”

“Willing… for all eternity, without regret…”

Only a final, fragile trace of consciousness remained for Mianxue and Qinghan. Their voices were as faint as a passing breeze, yet perfectly, beautifully in unison.

Kagashi slowly closed his eyes. He knelt in the blood-soaked mud and gently pulled their ruined bodies into his embrace.

Blood wove into flesh, and flesh knit into bone.

Everything that had been violently torn away from them began to rapidly restore. Yet, as their bodies healed, they were joined by something dark and ancient—something that did not originally belong to them, something that would bind them to him for the rest of their immortal lives.