Chapter 19 - The Girl Who Paints The Stars

"Cough cough, can you get up first? My… my leg is a little numb." Ren was starting to lose it. His body wasn't in good shape to begin with, and after the space teleport, he had been waiting for Kiana to wake up. He had waited from the day until the evening. Now his leg had gone numb, and finally she woke up, but the moment her eyes opened, she closed them again. Was she planning on sleeping a bit more?

Hearing Ren's voice, Kiana's face turned red. She quickly rolled over and got off him. Her earlier memories rapidly returned. Why had she used her Herrscher of the Void powers? Oh, right, it was because Ren was injured.

"How's your injury?" She looked at Ren's arm with concern, but it was now wrapped in bandages. It looked like he had done it himself.

"It's not serious. The bullet didn't hit a vital spot, it was just a minor flesh wound." He raised his hand a little, but the sharp pain quickly shot through his brain, making his entire face contort.

"You call that not serious!" She angrily pressed down on Ren's arm. Kiana carefully unwrapped the bandages that were haphazardly applied to his arm.

Seeing the wound on the boy's arm, a chunk of flesh was almost completely missing. Kiana's nose tingled, and tears began to well up. But she knew that this was not the time to be sad. The single-handedly applied bandages had stopped the bleeding, but they were not conducive to healing.

"I'll help you take off your clothes, it's not breathable when you wrap it up like this." She said, about to take off Ren's clothes.

Ren was startled, and quickly stopped her, "Just leave it like this."

"…Okay." Kiana looked at Ren with some confusion, and could only try to pull up his sleeves as high as possible, cleaning his wound and applying new bandages.

Having just barely escaped from danger, Ren's heart was pounding. The black and white mark of the Thousand Judgements was rising and falling with his heartbeat, this was the core mark of his Herrscher of Dominance powers. If Kiana found out, she would definitely expose him later.

Although Kiana often failed her classes when she was at St. Freya, she still had a good grasp of medical knowledge. In just a few minutes, the bandages that Ren had put on had turned into comfortable, breathable wraps, and she even tied a cute bow on them.

Nodding in satisfaction, Kiana turned her gaze from Ren to her surroundings.

Ancient trees, grass, it looked like they were in some sort of wide prairie, but the tall buildings in the distance told her that they were not far from the city.

"This should be a ranch in the suburbs." Ren's voice came as he pulled out a phone. The phone was an old model from several years ago, the screen was cracked, and held together tightly with tape.

That's right, this was the phone he had taken from one of his subordinates. Now that Little Lily had joined Thousand Judgements, it had begun to expand into the manga industry, making money was not difficult. After giving his subordinates new phones, the old phones naturally became his. Such a caring boss, any philanthropist would have to start eating vegetarian and chanting the Buddha, calling him a living saint.

Looking at the tattered phone in Ren's hand, Kiana was a little silent. Although the Valkyries of Schicksal had to face many dangers, their basic equipment was always top-of-the-line, and their phones were always the latest models. Unfortunately, her phone had been destroyed in the previous Great Honkai.

"The map's location can still be used, we're still within the borders of ARC City." He handed the phone directly to Kiana. Ren hesitated, and finally said quietly: "That kind of uh, teleport ability, it does a lot of damage to your body, doesn't it? If possible, it's best not to use it if you can help it."

"Aren't you scared? That ability isn't something a normal Valkyrie should have." After the dark cloud in her heart dissipated, the fear of the Herrscher of the Void wasn't as strong. But for ordinary people, the Herrscher was still the most terrifying thing. Kiana could think of dozens of ways to fool Ren, but this time, she didn't want to lie.

Rubbing his cheek with his fingers, Ren showed a somewhat embarrassed expression, "Actually I am a little scared... Will you hurt me?"

"No!" Her voice was crisp and clear, without any hesitation.

The feeling of embarrassment quickly dissipated, and a relieved smile crept onto the boy's face. "I believe you."

The setting sun gradually sank into the earth, the afterglow dyeing the sky red. The two walked side by side on the ranch, like a romantic trip.

Unfortunately, as the parties involved, neither of them felt it was romantic at all.

"Grumble~"

A strange sound came from their stomachs. The two people who were about to starve to death looked at each other awkwardly, and then couldn't help but laugh.

When the sunlight completely disappeared, the starry sky began to shine.

Without the light pollution of the metropolis' neon lights, the starlight was particularly bright on the prairie.

The two hungry people finished walking across the ranch, and then stopped.

Under the vast starry sky, a girl who was painting stars gradually came into view.

The girl was barefoot on the cool grass, a large wooden easel stood in front of her, covering most of her petite body.

The starlight and moonlight shone together, showering the girl in their light, making her look like a star spirit.

Her pale purple eyes were focused on the drawing paper, and she was constantly looking up at the stars. Her left hand gently held a palette covered in paint, while the tip of the paintbrush in her right hand was raised and suspended over the dark blue canvas, hesitating to fall. The flowing paint dripped from the brush, staining her white dress, and then, with the girl's movements, it was smeared everywhere.

"What color are the stars?"

She didn't notice the dripping paint. She was so focused, as if the world only had this sky, completely unaware of the arrival of the two uninvited guests.

After observing for a long time, the girl finally made up her mind and dropped her paintbrush. But the paint had already dried up, and the stars depicted in the night sky became rough spots.

"Ah."

She called out softly, and put away her paintbrush with a little frustration. In the end, she still couldn't paint this starry sky.

She crumpled the canvas into a ball, and put it in a nearby trash can. The girl slowly began to tidy up her drawing tools. When she had tidied everything up, the girl finally noticed the two people who had been waiting for a long time.

The moment she saw the strangers, the girl was stunned. Then, in a panic, she didn't even have time to pick up her drawing tools and ran barefoot back to a small house not far away.