Honkai Star Rail: The Archiver

"You."

"Yes?"

"Your scent is strange."

"Huh."

Yuuto gave out a dumbfounded sound as he didn't expect that his first exchange of words with Jingliu would be one where she makes a comment about his smell.

"I think making a comment on someone's odor is not a very good way to greet them..."

"But the scent that comes off his body is unusual."

Luocha wore a stiff smile hearing Jingliu's blunt response and turned his head to Yuuto who wore an equally stiff expression.

"Her current mental state… is not at it's very best so don't take to heart any of the strange things she says."

"...This is the first time someone had spoken to me about my smell during the first meeting."

"It seems like I must be the first then." Jingliu tilted her head as she didn't think much about her words. 

'Okay is she making fun of me or something.'

Luocha looked at the two and didn't know what to do as he saw Jingliu facing Yuuto who tried his best not to scrunch his face.

"Are you guys chatting or have you forgotten about us?"

A deep tone came from Yorte who was stretching his wings in irritation seeing that the people in front of him were lost in their own conversation.

Before he could say more the person who Yorte called 'Bro' took a step forward and began the conversation before Yorte could say anything more.

"Do you have the supplies we agreed on?"

"If you're talking about the ones for your camp then yes. But have you brought your end of the deal?"

"...."

Luocha had a faint smile as he watched the facial expressions of the people in front of him and waited patiently for them to hand over their portion of the deal.

A few meters behind him, Yuuto crossed his arms as he was trying his best to ignore the intense stare Jingliu was giving him.

"I appreciate having a beautiful lady stare at me but aren't you looking a bit too blatantly?"

"You don't seem to give off a feeling of shame when I do it, so I don't see the problem."

"Fair."

"You are free to do the same if you so what."

Yuuto turned his head to see Jingliu looking off to the side but the distance between the two seemed to have decreased compared to before. 

'But it's pretty amazing that she looks even better compared to when I saw her in the game' Thinking about this he wondered just how many people who pay to be in the situation he was currently in right now.

'I wonder what her red eyes look like…' Yuuto wanted to see if she could take off her blindfold but remembering why she had it in the first place. 'Yeah I think I'll pass on it for now.'

As much as he loves women with red flags, he would be crazy if he were to switch the current calm Jingliu to the insane version of herself due to the Mara and possibly killing him.

'Wait, I remembered reading that the cause of Mara is said to be tied to immortality given by the Aeon of Abundance or the accumulation of memories of long lived species…'

Remembering this piece of information from the game, Yuuto's eyes gave out a faint white glow as he assessed Jingliu's [Nexus] and what he saw surprised him.

"There's almost no more space left…"

Compared to Welt's [Nexus] that had multiple fragments floating along its space, Jingliu's fragments were more abundant and had far less open space compared to what he had seen before.

The fragment at its center showed an engraved image of a sword stuck to the ground while a bright moon illuminated its surroundings. 

Looking closer a few dim fragments that were closer to the center gave off a dark reddish tint and small tethered lines stretched outwards and filled her [Nexus]

The more he looked at these fragments, uncomfortable feelings of anger and resentment began to creep on Yuuto but one emotion had more impact compared to the others.

'Sadness huh.'

Yuuto had a weird face as although he hadn't read those red fragments, the aura it gave off gave him a general idea that it was a memory containing a huge loss for her.

As he was thinking about this, Jingliu suddenly turned her head to look at him, causing Yuuto to have a small heart attack.

"..The clear feeling became stronger." 

"Holy shit, don't suddenly turn your head like that. You almost gave me a heart attack."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

"That chilly scent suddenly got stronger so you must have done something."

Faced with Jingliu's words, Yuuto didn't say anything as he began to wonder why she was acting like this. 

'Is it because I'm using energy from the [Memory of the World]?'

Thinking about this theory, Yuuto let out a faint white aura from his hand as if he was taking a memory to store in his mental library and he saw Jingliu's posture relax slightly.

"So it was this huh."

Seeing her change, Yuuto began to spread the aura out more but eventually stopped as he was unable to spread it past his hand. "Can I use something to help spread it out..."

Thinking of what to use, Yuuto suddenly thought of his iridescent mist he had. As this idea seemed plausible he was about to fuse the two when he suddenly felt a dreaded chill run down his spine.

He turned his head and saw how a large spear began to rapidly approach his spot and Yuuto jumped towards the side to dodge the weapon.

"It looks like our deal has failed to follow through."

Luocha quietly spoke as he backstepped to where Yuuto and Jingliu were and stared hard at the two winged people in front of him who were now holding large spears.

"We gave you the item so it was you who failed to comply with our agreement."

"No, the item you have given me is not up to the quality we discussed so I'm afraid I can't give you your supplies unless you give me something of higher quality."

"...."

"See? this is why we can't trust filthy people of the dirt."

Yorte looked at Luocha in disdain while the person beside him gave an equally chilly stare.

"Miss Jingliu, it seems like we have to switch to plan B."

"....."

"Miss Jingliu?"

Luocha looked at Jingliu who was oddly silent before seeing a numbingly cold ice spread from her feet.

"Although brief, it's been many years since my mind had been this clear from this dreaded Mara compared to the effect of that pact..." 

A soft voice came out from her but the two winged people felt their hair rise as they felt like their body would freeze.

"Oh how I wish to vanquish these abominations of Yaoshi with that clear mind for the first time in years..."

"SPREAD OUT AND DIVIDE HER ATTENTION!!"

*BOOOOM

The two winged beings quickly left their spot as what replaced them was Jingliu holding a large sword sculpted from ice and her now covered face bared open.

Her red eyes shined as she looked at the people flying in the sky and the temperature around her began to freeze.

"Did something happen while I was gone?" Luocha asked Yuuto as he noticed that Jingliu was moving with more clearer steps.

"I'm not too sure either."

Yuuto gave a wry smile as he continued to stare at Jingliu who was fighting in the air.

Materializing wooden spears from their hands, the two began to barrage Jingliu with a flurry of spears.

*Clinck!

Drawing the large sword with her, she precisely broke through each of the spears aimed at her and launched a counter attack. 

A large crescent shaped projectile materialized from her sword and rapidly approached Yorte who grimaced seeing it some his way. 

"Shit!"

Yorte cursed out loud as he stretched his wings to dodged the projectile and rolled through the air, balancing himself as he only managed to dodge by a minuscule amount.

The other person quickly materialized multiple spears beside him and taking one in each hand, he used his large back muscle to throw spears that contained much larger power compared to before.

Jingliu was about to cut the spear but suddenly stopped to use the flat of her sword to block the spear.

"How interesting." 

At the last second before impact she was able to see that the spear shifted off its original course, causing her to suddenly shift to a defensive stance.

"What a monster.." The person who threw the spear mumbled as he was surprised to see Jingliu block that one move and it didn't look like her sword took any damage at all.

He calmly looked at his surroundings and his gaze landed on Yuuto and Luocha who were on the ground. 

A sudden idea appeared in his mind as he turned to Yorte. "Get the two on the ground while I distract this woman. Make sure to get the supplies from the merchant after you kill them."

"I understand."

Hearing his words Yorte's disdainful look turned to Yuuto and Luocha who noticed the sudden shift.

"It looks like we're being targeted."

Yuuto mumbled as noticed Yorte arching his back and a large sound erupted as a spear came bolting their way.

"Let's test how strong this mist really is."

A sharp and cold iridescent mist began to erupt from Yuuto as he moved its flow in front of him while moving out of the way.

The mist materialized and a large white crystal formed according to Yuuto's wishes and the spear lodged itself into its material only causing a small dent in it.

 "This looks stronger than what it appears to be."

Seeing its success in blocking the spear, Yuuto spread out his mist and enveloped the area around him and Luocha, making a large diamond like dome protecting them.

"I think this should be alright for now."

Yuuto watched at how the countless spears failed to break through his barrier and wondered if a battle of attrition was happening between them.

"Dammit!"

After failing his countless attempts Yorte cursed as he saw how his spears failed to make anything more than a dent. 

Looking back at the ground he stayed silent for a few moments before basting himself high up into the air.

"I think we need to move now."

Luocha narrowed his eyes seeing Yorte stop his barrage and suddenly urged Yuuto to create a path as he saw a tiny dot approach them.

*BOOOOM

"Finally broke this annoying crystal."

Emerging from the dust Yorte swiped the dirt that was on him and a cocky smile grew on his face.

Using the acceleration from descending high from the sky, he turned his body into a small projectile and using a spear a the tip, he had managed to break through the dome Yuuto created

"You know you pissed me off the first time I saw you."

"Oh it's a great honor to have Mr. Bird brain remember this lowly one."

"This bastard…"

Clenching his teeth , Yorte grabbed another spear and spread out his wings to face Yuuto while the person in question began to run his mind on what to do.

"Are you able to stop him for just a few seconds?" Luocha silently whispered as he held a large rapier at his side.

"Are you able to do something?"

"If you stop him for just a few seconds I can immobilize and trap him."

Hearing his words, Yuuto thought for a bit before nodding his head. "I'll try."

Yuuto looked at Yorte who was slowly approaching him and his eyes began to glow white.

"[Load]"

Loading the memory of his friend's Taekwondo, Yuuto was able to use the footwork he saw and adjusted himself to create distance while also narrowly dodging the spears that came his way.

"Stop moving you rat like bastard!!"

Yorte felt annoyed seeing him suddenly change directions everytime he threw a spear and felt irritation growing inside of him.

"I guess this is what Mr. Bird brain amounts to huh. I can only imagine how disappointed your partner is if your thrust game is this weak."

Yuuto smirked at Yorte whose face seemed to explode at the slightest touch due to how red it was.

"It looks like I hit a sore spot, how unfortunate."

Feeling his irritation reach its peak, Yorte mindlessly charged at Yuuto who had a calm look on his face. 

Seeing a person charging at him, Yuuto jumped up at the last second and flipped over Yorte to lodge himself on his back and place a palm on the base of his wings.

"Kuh"

Sharp mist erupted from his palm and engulfed Yorte in a dense ice freezing the posterior portion of his body.

Seeing that he froze in place, green branches erupted from the ground and wrapped itself around Yorte which engulfed him tightly.

"You did a better job than I expected." Luocha faintly smiled as he looked at Yuuto who was wobbling.his entire body.

"He had a temper that was easily angered so I just used that to my advantage."

"I see."

Luocha watched as Yuuto slid down a tree and fatigue began to appear all over his body.

*BOOOOOM

"It looks like she's about to finish her fight as well."

Yuuto mumbled as he saw Jingliu floating above a huge crater that had her opponent embedded in it.

"I had my fun so I guess it's time to end this." Jingliu mumbled as a heavy pressure surrounded her.

Yuuto was able to watch how a moon began to materialize behind Jingliu's back.

A light blue glow appeared on the sword in her hands and tilting her body downwards, a massive crescent shape projectile rained down on the individual who was still in the crater.

*BOOOM

Watching how her strike killed her opponent, Jingliu stood in place as she let the glow of the moon she created shine upon her figure.

Yuuto watched this whole speculation and his eyes felt glued to the scenery of that moon shining high above the sky.

"How beautiful."

Despite the chilling pressure it gave off, Yuuto found that its moonlight brought upon a beautiful memory that will stay with him forever.