On this land of Siberia, ten years ago, the Second Herrscher—the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin—was born. Schicksal's Siegfried, Cecilia, Theresa, and others, in alliance with the leader of Anti-Entropy, the First Herrscher—the Herrscher of Reason, Welt Yang, and Anti-Entropy executives Tesla and Einstein, joined forces to defeat her.
Schicksal announced to the world that the Herrscher had gone berserk. They ultimately decided to launch a Honkai Fission Bomb. Schicksal's strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Cecilia Schariac, in order to create an opportunity for the fission bomb, held back Sirin and ultimately perished with the Second Herrscher.
The truth was that Siegfried briefly unleashed the power of the Kaslana Stigmata, severely wounding Sirin. The dying Sirin's final loneliness triggered a rampage of the Herrscher Core. A massive amount of Honkai instantly radiated throughout Siberia. If not stopped, the Honkai would have spread across all of Asia.
Knowing the situation, Cecilia made up her mind. After a brief farewell to Siegfried, she brandished the 6th Divine Key—Abyss Flower. Using Abyss Flower as an amplifier and all of her blood as the material, she unleashed "Holy Blood Liberation - Verdant Bloodflower," instantly clearing the entire Siberian region of Honkai energy. Seizing the opportunity, Siegfried activated the final form of the Judgment of Shamash—Shuhadaku of Uriel, and with one final blow, sealed the rampaging Herrscher Core.
Otto, monitoring remotely from headquarters, sensed the threat that Shuhadaku of Uriel posed to him. Using the excuse that Siegfried might go berserk at any moment and was unable to control his own power, he forced Theresa to retreat and then fired a Honkai Fission Bomb at them.
Cecilia knew she wouldn't survive. She ordered Abyss Flower to protect and contain Siegfried, then held Sirin, sitting in a sea of flowers created by the overflowing life force of Abyss Flower. In the sky above, the Honkai Fission Bomb whistled as it rapidly approached.
"Sirin, you poor child. I saw your loneliness and pain in the illusion.
At that time, I truly wanted to be your mother, to compensate for what you had lost.
Unfortunately, at that time, I couldn't change anything.
At least, in the final moments of your life, let me allow you to feel some warmth.
ich liebe dich."
The light of the Honkai Fission Bomb consumed the entire sky. Sirin and Cecilia ultimately vanished in the light.
"So warm... If..."
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Ten years later, under the influence of the Honkai Fission Bomb, Siberia is home to many stray Honkai Beasts. According to internal Schicksal intelligence, somewhere beneath the solid ice here lies the heavily wounded and dying Judgment-class Honkai Beast—Benares. Schicksal Overseer Otto Apocalypse has ordered the area to be sealed off, but has forbidden anyone from retrieving Benares.
(Honkai Beast levels are: Ranger-class, Knight-class, Ballista-class, Chariot-class, Templar-class, Warlord-class, Honkai Emperor, Emperor-class, Judgment-class, Dharma-ending-class, Planet-class, etc. The power gap between Honkai Beast levels is enormous. Dharma-ending-class is a special type of Judgment-class Honkai Beast, its strength difficult to determine, but it is certainly special. Examples include the endlessly devouring and evolving Vishnu, the Brahma formed from the fusion of countless Honkai Beasts, and the Maheśvara, a colossal being that doesn't leak a single trace of Honkai energy, the absolute ruler of the deep sea, seen only by Elysia, etc.)
At this moment, Ryn and Kiana were fighting against two Assault-class Honkai Beasts. This was truly lucky. Ranger-class Honkai Beasts usually appear in packs, but lately, Kiana had only been encountering them in scattered pairs.
Kiana shouted, "Kiana, sortie!" and then charged forward to fight the Honkai Beasts. Although she wielded dual pistols, she rarely fired them, preferring to use the butts of the guns to strike and to kick.
As for Ryn, he was just a chuuni. His actual combat experience was negligible. However, his body and consciousness, enhanced by the Stigmata, kept him from being completely useless.
"Black Rock Burst Fist!" "Crow Takes Flight!" "Explosion!"—
Ryn shouted out the name of his move with every attack. Although they were just simple punches or flying kicks, at least his morale was maxed out.
Before long, Kiana had taken care of one Honkai Beast. She turned her head to see Ryn wrestling on the ground with the other one, shouting all the while.
"Is that all you got? You were talking such a big game before, I thought you were really strong. Turns out you can't even beat a mob." Kiana laughed as she raised her gun and pressed it to the head of the Honkai Beast pinned down by Ryn.
"Be careful." Then Kiana emptied the clip, killing the small, cute, but very dead Honkai Beast. She helped the still-dazed Ryn up, brushed the snow off him, patted his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, "Weakling."
"Ahem, what's with that tone? How can you call me a weakling? This is called having huge room for improvement, an infinite future." Ryn coughed awkwardly, then asked Kiana with a curious look.
"By the way, you just fired point-blank like that. Aren't you afraid of the gun exploding?"
Kiana twirled the dual pistols in her hand with a grin. "Exploding? What's that? I dunno, I've always fought monsters like this!
Dad said that Honkai Beasts have a slight Honkai field around them. Things that lose their momentum will do very little damage when passing through the field. Only Honkai can fight Honkai. You have to use special Honkai weapons against Honkai Beasts.
Unfortunately, the only Honkai weapon I've ever seen is the Judgment of Shamash in my dad's hands. But if my stinky old dad were here, he'd take them out one by one with the Judgment of Shamash. It would be so convenient."
"Is that so? Then let me borrow your gun for a sec."
"What for?"
Ryn pointed to the Honkai Beast on the ground and said, "It's my first time seeing a real gun. Let me touch it and fire a few shots, so I don't have to start practicing in the middle of a battle later."
Kiana didn't say much, just placed the gun in Ryn's hand and showed him how to shoot, how to load, and so on.
Ryn pressed the muzzle against the Honkai Beast. The cold touch of the firearm made his heart pound. Although he had played many games, this was the first time he had held a real gun. In his original world, firearms were strictly controlled.
Ryn looked up at Kiana, who gave him an encouraging look. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.
BANG—
He touched the parts scattered across his face. Although it didn't cause any real damage, it left a deep shadow in Ryn's heart. The damage was low, but the humiliation was extreme.
"Ah, this... this must be what you call a misfire."
Kiana walked back awkwardly and helped Ryn brush off the broken parts, then slapped her own forehead helplessly and stuck out her tongue.
"I've never had that happen before. Ehehe."
"Then you must be really lucky with your gacha pulls. I thought this gun was modified, that's why you never had a misfire. Turns out this thing is also based on luck." Ryn shook his hand. The effect of the misfire was much more intense than what he'd seen on TV. He didn't know which side's guns were abnormal.
"Next time I make a gacha game, I'll have you do all my pulls."
"Sure thing."