"My story draws to its end, my life will wither here, my existence will vanish, and even that tiny grain of stardust among the countless stars shall fade to darkness." A cloaked figure strolled along the edge of a towering building's roof, chanting softly.
"My soul can no longer sing, my song flows no more like tears, leaving only aridity and silence..." In stark contrast to the mournful words, the figure's voice gradually grew impassioned.
"This is my most arrogant fantasy, this is the dream I most desperately craved, and now I bestow it upon you as a gift—a stranger from afar." The final words were swallowed by the howling wind, leaving only the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground below and the screams of the panicked crowd. Amid the chaos, no one noticed a star in the night sky suddenly flare brightly before fading completely into darkness.
"My name is Snow. No surname. Sixteen years old. I live in the villa district northeast of Nagazora City. I'm probably a transmigrator. I'm a second-year student at Senba Academy. Every day, I have tutoring until 8 PM before I can go home. I don't smoke, and I only drink alcohol in moderation. I go to bed at 11 PM and make sure to get a full eight hours of sleep. Before bed, I always drink a glass of warm milk and do twenty minutes of stretching exercises. Once I'm in bed, I fall asleep instantly and sleep soundly until morning, never carrying fatigue or stress into the next day. Even the doctors say I'm perfectly normal."
The young girl with pale golden hair patted her cheeks, gazing at her reflection in the mirror. Her bright azure eyes sparkled with vitality and energy as she muttered her self-introduction, only to be interrupted by her vibrating phone on the vanity.
"Hello? Uh... Yes, Teacher, I'm not feeling well today, so I've called in sick. Okay, goodbye, Teacher." She answered the call, her lively voice instantly transforming into a weak, sickly tone.
After hanging up, she turned her attention back to the mirror, combing her slightly disheveled pale golden hair straight and tying it back with a blue ribbon.
"Hmm... let me organize my thoughts again. It's been sixteen years since I came to this world. Based on the information I've gathered so far, this is Nagazora City, my school is called Senba Academy, and there's a senior student named Raiden Mei whose family was recently exposed for her father's financial fraud scandal. Come to think of it, I was actually taken care of by that 'married woman' senior before."
"Undoubtedly, this is the Honkai... but is it Guns Girl Z or Honkai Impact 3rd? We can rule out Guns Girl Z's second playthrough since I haven't encountered any Chuunii character named Houraiji Kyuusyou. That leaves only Guns Girl Z's first playthrough and Honkai Impact 3rd." Snow's fingers unconsciously tapped the edge of the sink.
"Hiss... let's hope it's not the first playthrough. I'm not confident I can take down that cunning old fox Cocolia before she gets the chance to say, 'Your parents are dead, Kiana,' thus preventing the world-ending outcome." The young girl's fingers stopped tapping and instead scratched against the sink, making a raspy sound. Just the thought of that goddamn possibility filled her with overwhelming helplessness and anxiety.
"The only good news... no, not even that qualifies as good news," Snow muttered, grabbing her phone from the side and glancing at the date:
March 28, 2014; 2:05:00 PM
"Three minutes until the Third Honkai Eruption. Huff... At least both timelines align on this critical point. So—time to get serious, Snow," the young girl murmured to herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
"Grant me the strength to accept what I cannot change—" The blonde girl turned and left the bathroom, striding down the corridor toward the small building housing her bedroom.
2:06:30 PM: Third Honkai Eruption remaining: 90 seconds
The sprawling villa stood empty. Snow had dismissed the servants with a flimsy excuse and a generous bonus, sending them on vacation across the ocean. Fragmented sunlight filtered through the ivy-draped corridor ceiling, dappling the path as she walked.
Grant me the courage to change what I can. The young girl walked through the corridor, climbed the steps, and ascended the staircase. She twisted the familiar doorknob of her bedroom. Her adoptive father wasn't there; at this hour, they should be resting in one of their residences somewhere in Europe, she thought.
2:07:00 PM - Final Minute of the Third Honkai Eruption
Grant me the wisdom to discern the difference. She opened the hidden compartment beneath her desk and retrieved an oddly shaped folding sword that radiated an icy chill. Activating the blade, a dreamlike sky-blue energy edge materialized before her.
Snow gazed at the strange sword, a trace of fascination in her eyes. Then, in an instant, the world plunged into a brief silence.
2:08:00 PM - Third Honkai Eruption
Immediately afterward, chaos and pandemonium engulfed the sprawling metropolis of millions. The howls of Zombies, the cries of panicked crowds, and the piercing screams of children filled every corner of the city. Emergency phone lines were instantly jammed, and the few lucky enough to connect heard the same desperate howls and screams through the receiver, mirroring the chaos around them. The occasional gunshots that rang out from the streets were completely drowned out by the surging tide of Honkai.
The young, golden-haired girl stared in silence at the drone footage streaming back from high above. Even after countless mental rehearsals and attempts to steel herself for this inevitable scene, the apocalyptic images triggered an immediate surge of physical and psychological distress. An overwhelming nausea and urge to vomit seized her body's instincts.
"Ugh... cough... gag..." The once-determined girl bolted from her bedroom, stumbling into the nearby bathroom, her will succumbing to her body's primal urges.
Several minutes later, the blonde girl reappeared at the bathroom door, one hand clutching her stomach, the other bracing against the wall. Her face was ashen.
"I really pushed myself too hard..."
"Why did I, who's never experienced catastrophe or hardship, have such unwarranted confidence? ...Because of the power I possess, I suppose."
She extended her right hand, her azure eyes fixed on her open palm. There, a snowflake-shaped ice crystal was rapidly solidifying. As the crystal froze, the surrounding temperature plummeted, freezing the tea in a nearby cup and frosting the windowpane.
"I'm still far from the likes of Sirin and Welt's Herrscher-level power... That's not the main reason for my unwarranted confidence. Eliminating other factors... there's only one answer left."
"The arrogance of a transmigrator herself..."
The young girl's expression clouded with frustration. Indeed, she had every right to be arrogant, a trait uniquely her own. From birth, she had possessed ever-growing power, coupled with the precognitive memories of a soul from another world. This gave her an overwhelming advantage, much like the saints and prophets in human religious stories, who received divine revelations and wielded mythic power.
"Never mind. This was a valuable lesson," the young girl said, her furrowed brow beginning to smooth. "At least, aside from a nauseating bout of vomiting, I haven't suffered any unacceptable consequences."
Snow tidied her disheveled appearance, which had been marred by her vomiting, and strode back to her room. The computer screen that had been connected to the high-altitude drone was now blank white, the words "Signal Lost" flashing across the screen.
"The signal base was destroyed? No... perhaps it's worse. Honkai Beasts may have already completed their evolution, using avian-like creatures as their larval forms."
"Regardless of which it is, I need to leave. Staying any longer will only lead to the birth of more troublesome Honkai Beasts... For now, my targets are Kiana Kaslana and Raiden Mei. I must find them and join forces."
"Joining the Protagonist Squad is the optimal solution after multiple simulations and calculations. At least it's better than wandering aimlessly like a headless chicken. Of course, joining them isn't without its drawbacks. As a downside, I'll become an open card on the field, completely exposing myself to Schicksal and Anti-Entropy's scrutiny... No, perhaps even the Serpent hidden in the world's shadows."
The young girl reverted to her initial state, analyzing the pros and cons.
"I don't possess a Stigmata. As an explanation for my power source, this simple excuse can be dismissed. That leaves two possibilities: Herrscher or MANTIS (Fusion Warrior). If forced to choose, I'd lean towards MANTIS. But in this era, where are any publicly known MANTIS? I can indeed sense this energy called Honkai energy, but whenever I try to use it..."
The young girl grabbed her sword and slung her bedroom backpack over her shoulder, filled with pre-packed food and essential supplies.
"It's like controlling a robotic arm with a gamepad, without any real sense of touch... The only advantage, I suppose, is that I won't suffer any Honkai energy backlash." The blonde girl closed her bedroom door, descended the stairs, and headed for the main exit. As the door clicked shut and locked, the young transmigrator formally began her journey.
"...At least having a wealthy adoptive father has its advantages."
Snow stood at the gate, surveying the quiet streets of the villa district. As a residential area for the city's elite, few people were home at this hour. The sporadic screams and zombie growls carried from afar confirmed this: some were present, but they were distant and few in number.
"...Now then, should I go to school? Or perhaps demolish it?" Snow shook her head, secured her backpack, and sprinted toward Senba Academy.
Her figure blurred past burning car wrecks, darting through newly-spawned zombies, leaving bisected corpses in her wake. Soon, her path was blocked by a swarm of zombies crowding the street.
"Tch, a bunch of nuisances."
The girl perched on a nearby car roof, observing the seething mass of corpses ahead.
"There are too many of these things. Charging through would take forever, and besides..."
The young girl's gaze shifted to the sky—a thunderstorm was brewing overhead, with flashes of lightning already crackling across the horizon. The storm's epicenter lay directly above her destination: Senba Academy.
"The Third Herrscher is awakening... Hiss, maybe taking a day off was a mistake. If I were by Mei Senpai's side, at least... No, no point in dwelling on 'what ifs.' If the ground route is blocked, I'll just have to take the rooftops. As for the occasional survivors I might spot, it doesn't matter anymore. If they see me, they see me."
Making her decision swiftly, Snow pushed off the ground with her legs, leaping onto the wall of a nearby building. With a series of agile jumps and flips, she scaled the structure and began vaulting across the rooftops, leaping between buildings with practiced ease.
"Mommy, look! A golden-haired sister is flying on the rooftops!"
"Hush, Little Sora. Don't speak. It's dangerous outside. "The woman, clutching her young daughter, followed the girl's gaze to see a golden-haired girl in a white robe leaping between buildings.
As if sensing their attention, the girl mid-jump paused, turning her gaze toward the pair. Three pairs of eyes locked in a brief, unspoken exchange.
"Survivors? Since I've seen you, I'll lend you a hand." The young girl leaped between buildings, finally landing on the balcony of the floor where the mother and daughter were.
Three pairs of eyes met at close range: the excited gaze of a child who had just witnessed a fairy tale hero come to life; the terrified and bewildered eyes of a woman whose understanding of the world had been shattered by today's events; and the calm yet slightly weary eyes of a girl who had traversed half the city in just thirty minutes.
The young girl's azure eyes scanned the mother and daughter through the glass door, assessing the situation. She then unslung her backpack and placed it on the balcony.
"This contains about four days' worth of food and water. Combined with your own supplies, you should be able to last a week. I can't take you with me—I need to go somewhere even more dangerous. Remember: stay quiet, don't go outside. Rescuers should arrive within a few days."
"Good luck, survivors," Snow said, turning and leaping off the balcony, disappearing from their sight.
"Nagazora City, Block 13, Building 7, Room 603. Let's memorize this address first." Glancing back at the mother and daughter, the young girl continued toward Senba Academy. The thunderstorm above grew fiercer, with searing white lightning flashing across the sky in rapid succession. The Third Herrscher's true descent was imminent.
-
"Huff... Finally made it." Snow stood at the academy's gate. The once-bustling campus was now eerily silent, with only occasional roars reminding survivors of the terrifying creatures lurking within.
"Which building was Mei Senpai's classroom in again?" As the young girl tried to recall where her senior, a year ahead of her, had her classes, a bolt of lightning struck the rooftop of the Academic Building to her left. The thunderous roar of a hand cannon followed, accompanied by a declaration brimming with youthful energy and Chuunii flair:
"Mei Senpai! This savior will liberate you from your delusions of darkness!"
This was immediately followed by furious curses and agonized screams:
"You multi-colored idiot! What the hell are you doing?! That's not Mei Senpai, that's a Herrscher! And you bastard, give me back my Mei Senpai!"
"...Houraiji Kyuusyou?! Is this a new timeline? No... I recognize the child from that mother-daughter pair. That's Little Sora, Raven's adopted daughter from the ruins of Nagazora City in Honkai 3rd. Tsk... no time for theorizing. I need to find some padding first—they're probably about to stage a rooftop jump."
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Spy- Thank you to NKA in the discord for recommending this fic. Im no GGZ HI3 expert so if you see any errors please let me know!
Also join the discord to see me tweak out over random niche honkai terms