Honkai Impact 3rd World.
Arc City.
"BOOM!!!"
A sudden, deafening explosion erupted, tearing through the high altitude and unleashing a terrifying mushroom cloud that felt close enough to touch.
The night sky flashed bright as day in an instant.
The piercing shockwave of the blast roared, drowning out all other sound—leaving only silence in its wake.
People looked up, watching as firework-like flames scattered, and a faintly glowing meteor trailed downward.
As for what had just happened—they had no idea.
It hurts, it hurts so much!
Kiana was jolted awake by the pain.
Aaaaaaaah!
What the hell happened?!
She couldn't make sense of it.
She was just happily napping while cuddling with the gorgeous Miss Aponia…
Who the fuck nuked me?!
Damn it!
Especially since her mind felt completely fried.
Being woken up abruptly from a deep sleep—she had some serious nerve!
And on top of that, it didn't just feel like a nuke had gone off—it felt like it had detonated right in her arms!
Since when did Kiana ever suffer such humiliation?!
Taking stock of herself…
The terrifying heat of the explosion felt like a sun had been ignited right in front of her face.
Her eyes refused to open, her retinas scorched as if burned away.
Her whole body felt like a shattered porcelain doll, barely held together by a few stubborn threads…
Are there really people in this world not afraid of death?
Charging at me with a high-yield nuke in a banzai attack, huh?!
"You really think… this Herrscher of Finality has a gentle temper…"
"You… all of you deserve to die!"
She recovered quickly.
Hovering unsteadily in the air, Kiana pressed a hand to half of her face as the Authority of the Herrscher of Death swiftly took effect.
At the same time, her Herrscher battle attire began to manifest.
A white gown, embroidered with patterns of the starry sky.
The deep-colored hem of her dress spread like wings tearing through the firmament.
A divine halo glowed faintly above her head.
In an instant, she became a cold, detached deity—judging the world, putting Heaven itself on trial.
Even with her seemingly slender figure, she radiated power enough to shake the entire world.
Terrifying, dreadful, invincible!
Simultaneously—
"5300HW… 7800HW…"
"13800HW… 19800HW… 28500HW…"
Nearly every device worldwide capable of measuring Honkai energy levels was screaming in frenzy.
Some couldn't handle the threshold.
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
In no time, overloaded without warning, they smoked, sparked, and even exploded outright—injuring many.
By the time all instruments were completely destroyed, the last recorded measurement was—100,000HW!
What did that even mean?!
The more you thought about it, the more horrifying it became!
Those who knew what was happening in Arc City, and those who didn't—alike seemed on the verge of madness.
Gazing up at that sacred, beautiful silhouette in the sky, they felt as if they'd suddenly fallen into an endless hell!
Overwhelming fear washed over them.
Did it matter if they knew something, or nothing at all?
It was meaningless now.
All that remained was deep, utter despair!
On this day, people looked up, as if they could see a pair of eyes—indifferent to all, gazing down upon everyone, watching all living beings like laughable ants.
People looked at themselves, as if they could see threads attached to their bodies—threads of fate. A god watched over all, observing every farce unfold.
This absurd delusion now felt like reality.
Even those who understood nothing could clearly sense it—a great being from another dimension had descended.
As if arriving out of nowhere, catching everyone completely off guard.
"Finality…"
Over at World Serpent, Kevin, feeling that deeply familiar, bone-chilling presence, tensed up completely.
He could tell—this suddenly emerged Finality was somewhat immature, not at full power.
But even so, he wasn't confident he could handle her now.
He didn't understand—an entity that shouldn't appear at this time, with no reason, no warning—had just… shown up?
What happened?
Grey Serpent, standing beside him, seemed to have thought of something and spoke quietly, "Arc City is one of the test sites for our Stigma Project."
"…" Kevin fell silent.
Are you saying… a small experiment in our Stigma Project managed to trigger the Finality?!
Meanwhile, at Schicksal Headquarters, Otto was practically throwing himself at the screen.
Seriously, dude?!
The 4th Herrscher just passed, the 5th hasn't even shown up yet, and we're already at the final boss blocking the spawn point?!
Does that make any sense?!
Even if he didn't care about defeating the Honkai, only about reviving Kallen, this sudden appearance of the Finality…
Wasn't that just ridiculous?!
"Truly, World Serpent!"
Otto gnashed his teeth. "To have such a subordinate—impressive!"
He had been happily watching his own K423 grow stronger, becoming the "Shooting Star that Defied the Sky," carrying the Honkai energy reactor World Serpent planned to detonate, soaring high into the stratosphere.
Although the reactor's explosion would be fatal to ordinary people, for K423, it shouldn't be a big problem.
From Otto's perspective, the outcome was already predictable.
K423 would prove herself, then Durandal would take her away.
After that, he could proceed with experiments related to Imaginary Space.
Wasn't that perfect?
But!
Now Otto wasn't smiling.
The Honkai reactor blew up, and K423 turned into the Finality on the spot.
"Ha…"
What was this?!
Had this godforsaken world finally gone mad?!
Wasn't she just the Herrscher of the Void?! Why is she the Finality?!
Over on the Hyperion, the members of St. Freya and the two doctors from the Anti-Entropy conservative faction were utterly silent.
A conservative estimate of over 100,000 combat power—no, Honkai energy concentration.
Could they even win?
"If I remember correctly, during the Second Honkai Eruption, the peak six-core Herrscher of the Void only reached about 7500HW, right?"
Dr. Einstein smoothed down her messy hair, only to grow more agitated, ruffling it again. Her meaning was clear:
It's hopeless. We're doomed. Goodbye.
With a conservative estimate of ten times the power of the Void Herrscher, even if they didn't know about the Herrscher of Finality, they knew—this was a guaranteed loss.
How could Theresa and the others not realize this was the harsh reality they faced?
But could they just give up?
Hadn't they come here for Kiana?
It's just… this student was really rebellious.
A few months ago, she awakened as the Herrscher of the Void, and it cost Himeko's life to bring her back.
Now she's awakened as an even stronger Herrscher—what were they supposed to do now?
"Would the purification serum still work?" Bronya floated over and asked Tesla.
"I ******* wish it would! But isn't it ******* obvious? Do you expect ******* rat anesthesia to take down an elephant?!"
Dr. Tesla spat out words like rapid-fire, mercilessly shattering everyone's last shred of hope.
"And besides, do we even ******* have any of that purification serum?!"
She let out a sharp, frustrated scream.
"Or are you saying we just ******* declared war on Schicksal, and now we're supposed to run back, kneel, and apologize? That's ******* humiliating!"
"I'd ******* rather die than go beg that ******* Otto!"
"Damn it!"
--+--
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