Honkai Impact 3rd: My Days as a Captain in Schicksal

Even if you don't want to give up hope, you have absolutely no idea where to start.

Karen... is she truly beyond saving?

Kiana clenched her fists tightly, trying not to let her tears fall, but they still stubbornly squeezed out of her eyes one by one, flowing down Kiana's smooth cheeks and dripping onto Kallen's chest.

"Why...why..." Kiana's thoughts were almost stuck in a vicious cycle, "Why should such a good person suffer like this..."

"Good people...shouldn't good people get candy?"

"But why... do I only ever see tragedies like this..."

"Damn Dad... Could it be... that you were lying to me too..."

"Good people... never get any good reward..."

"What do you want?" Suddenly, a voice rang in Kiana's mind, but Kiana did not react to it, unable to break free from her own vicious cycle.

"Do you want power? Power to save everything, power to wipe out this disaster from the very beginning..." The voice seemed to have magic, penetrating Kiana's mind and gradually becoming clearer.

"Power..." Kiana's eyes gradually lost focus, "If I were strong... strong enough to instantly kill these Honkai Beasts..."

"So...do you want power? Open your heart and accept me...I will give you...the power to save everything you desire..."

"I..." Kiana murmured as if unconsciously.

"Kiana..." Kallen's voice suddenly interrupted Kiana's ramblings.

"Kallen! You're awake!" Kiana exclaimed, both surprised and delighted.

"Cough cough... What a sorry sight..." Kallen's weak voice barely escaped her lips, "But... at least I lived up to the name of the Kaslana family..."

"Kiana... I can tell... you're a person full of a sense of justice..." Kallen's voice trailed off, "There are some things... if you ever meet my... family, please be sure to pass this message on for me..."

“Tell them… Kallen… despite being burdened with guilt… has not failed her family’s teachings…”

“I am the shield,” Kallen’s voice was barely audible, “the Kaslana family’s motto… I… have done it…”

Chapter Thirteen Your Name is Karen

Medieval Europe was in the midst of the second collapse, a period during which small-scale collapses could occur at any time and in any place.

Anytime, anywhere, in any form.

People living in this environment live in constant fear and anxiety.

The scene of carnage and corpses was that of a convoy attacked by Honkai Beasts. None of them survived; the bodies were scattered everywhere, and not a single one was intact.

But one baby girl, who was sleeping soundly in the box, seemed to have been chosen by heaven and was lucky enough to survive.

"What is this?" As a ray of moonlight shone into the box, the baby girl giggled. "My God, it's a child! And alive!"

A gasp of surprise echoed through the group of passing refugees.

Refugees, as the name suggests, are people who wander from place to place. Their homes have long been destroyed in the war, and they can only wander on this vast and dangerous land, searching for anything they can eat and for a place to rest.

They happened to discover the wreckage of the attacked convoy. Having experienced several Honkai Beast attacks, they knew that Honkai Beasts only knew how to destroy and did not eat people, or rather, they had no desire for food at all. Any biting was only to kill their opponent. Therefore, they decided to search the wreckage of the convoy in hopes of finding some supplies.

The supplies were not plentiful, but enough to keep these refugees alive for a few more days. Perhaps during those few days, they would be able to find a piece of land where they could cultivate crops and settle down.

"What a poor little thing," a pair of rough, large hands gently picked up the baby girl. In the sunlight, the baby girl could see the wrinkled face clearly. "Smiling so happily... I really hope you can continue to smile so happily when you grow up..."

"In this world that is like hell."

The owner of that face looked up at the full moon hanging in the sky and smiled, "What a beautiful moon. I wonder if we'll ever have the chance to see it again."

"Little one, your name is Karen, how about that?" The old woman stroked the baby girl's smooth cheek with a finger. The baby girl reached out her little hand, grabbed the finger, and sucked on it. "It symbolizes... Oh? Are you hungry?"

"Any women with milk?" the old woman shouted back to the refugees searching the caravan. "We need to take one more person with us!"

Fortunately, on the fourth day, the group of refugees found the ruins of a village with wild grapes, a river, and flat, fertile land. Among the ruins of the former village, the refugees also found some rusty tools.

"Hahaha! I told you little Kallen is our lucky star!" Marshall, the leader of the refugees, was a simple and strong farmer. When their village was attacked by Honkai Beasts, this man decisively led the people who had escaped the village to begin their exile without looking back. Along the way, they encountered many hardships, hunger, thirst, disease, and even attacks by Honkai Beasts, which reduced the original group of sixty or seventy people to only a dozen or so.

Despair and numbness once enveloped the entire team, but they did not affect this man at all.

This man possessed the virtues a farmer should have: he was strong, simple, and kind, and he also had some skill in making simple tools. On this long and hopeless journey, his correct decisions saved the group more than once. It was also during those numb and desperate nights that he brought everyone a sliver of hope for survival with his loud voice and clumsy jokes.

"Hahaha, look what this is?! Black bread!" Marshall laughed. "How long has it been since we've had this? We must let little Karen try it today."

"Are you stupid?" The woman next to him rolled her eyes at him, hugging Karen, who was looking out with wide, curious eyes, tighter in her arms. "How old is little Karen? How could she bite something like this!"

Indeed, the living conditions of commoners in the Middle Ages were very poor. Their staple food, black bread, was so hard that it could only be cut with a special knife. Black bread that had been sitting for who knows how long but had not spoiled could even make a dent in the ground when smashed.

"Hahahaha, then we'll wait until she grows up and we have money, then we'll buy her fancy white bread!" Marshall laughed nonchalantly. Little Karen was the darling of all the refugees, not for any other reason than that she loved to laugh.

It's strange, isn't it? He just likes to laugh.

But for this group of refugees who were constantly in despair, it was an incredible miracle.

When Karen's laughter first echoed through the refugee procession, everyone wore expressions of disbelief: "How long has it been since we've heard laughter?"

How long has it been since we laughed?

On that quiet night, Kallen, who was full and satisfied, was amused by the finger of the young mother who had lost her husband and child in the Honkai Beast attack. Her laughter seemed to have an infectious quality, penetrating everyone's heart.

Gradually, these people, who had long been numb, began to smile.

Gradually, they began to move closer to Karen.

"Maria, let us see the baby too." The farmers rubbed their hands nervously and craned their necks to look into the swaddling clothes.

"No!" The young mother named Maria tightened the swaddling clothes around her. "You roughnecks will scare little Karen. That caravan was a noble caravan. This child must be from a noble family. She's very pampered. All of you, get out of here."

But then Karen started laughing again, and the farmers looked at each other and gradually began to laugh as well.

Instantly, bursts of laughter echoed across the wilderness.

Although Marshall managed the refugees well, they were merely surviving. The pain of losing loved ones, prolonged hunger, and homelessness had numbed and even driven them to despair. Many could no longer be considered alive; they were simply walking corpses.

However, people at the bottom of society are strange creatures. They can be killed, trampled, and defeated, but given a chance, they will rise up like a roly-poly toy and stick to fate like glue until fate knocks them down again. Then they will seize another chance to get up, straighten their spines, and laugh fearlessly.

That night, the laughter sparked by Karen seemed to inject vitality into the lifeless group. When they woke up the next day, a group of refugees, full of hope and energy, appeared on the land, completely different from the group of the day before.

Karen grew up happily in this rebuilt village. Marshall was very good at making small things and would make some small toys for Karen when he had free time. Maria also doted on Karen. In fact, Karen, the only child in the entire refugee group, was the apple of everyone's eye.

These six years were the happiest and most carefree time for Kallen. During these six years, there were no more Honkai Beast attacks on this land, and many migrants from outside joined the village. Gradually, the village grew in size, slowly expanding to a population of about a hundred. People laughed happily every day, and their lives were getting better and better, filled with hope and joy. One day, Marshall even boasted after drinking that he would sell everything he owned to raise a dowry for Kallen on her wedding day. He also said that if the groom bullied Kallen, he would definitely take a sickle and storm into the other party's house to skin that brat alive, winning unanimous agreement from all the men.

This peaceful and beautiful life continued until the "Honkai" descended once again upon this land that had already been destroyed once or many times.

That day, the sky was very blue, the wind was gentle, and the river flowed past the waterwheel at the edge of the field, making a gurgling sound that was as pleasant as silver bells. Karen was flying a kite in the open space in front of her house. It was a toy that Uncle Marshall had made for her, and Karen loved it very much. She would take it out to play with it whenever the weather was nice.

“The weather’s nice today,” Marshall said, sitting on the edge of the field with his hoe on his shoulder, squinting at Karen playing in the open space. His smile crinkled his wrinkles. “It’s warm, the sun isn’t too bright, and the birds are chirping. Days like today are just the way things are…”

Died.

A blood-covered mouth suddenly appeared beside Marshall's neck and bit down hard.

"Ah!" Marshall was shocked and hurriedly began to struggle, but the attacker behind him was incredibly strong, and his hands were like iron hoops, holding Marshall tightly and making it impossible for him to break free.

Marshall, in pain, could only grab the attacker's head with both hands, bend forward sharply, and throw the attacker in front of him.

Marshall touched his bitten neck and looked closely, then was immediately horrified: "Kouchi! What are you doing!"

The man he called Kuchi was the village carpenter. Now, his face was ashen, his eyes were lifeless and unfocused, and there were traces of blood and bits of flesh between his teeth. After Marshall threw him to the ground, he just roared as he got up and charged at Marshall without answering Marshall's questions.

"You!..." Marshall retreated in fear. The person in front of him was someone he had never seen before. A sense of dread rose in Marshall's heart, urging him to run away as quickly as possible.

"Kouchi! What are you doing?!" Marshall made a last-ditch effort to communicate with Kuouchi, who seemed delirious. "Why did you bite me? Don't come any closer! Talk to me! If you come any closer, I'll hit you!"

Kuchi's eyes gradually regained their sparkle, no longer looking lost and confused. Marshall was overjoyed, thinking that Kuchi was about to come to his senses.

Although I don't know what happened, it's good that the other party can still communicate.

But things didn't go as planned. Kuchi's eyes did gradually regain their sparkle, but that sparkle was the kind of sparkle that belonged to a madman with a bloodthirsty nature.

Marshall's hands began to tremble as he slowly began to recall a fact he didn't want to remember: long, long ago, in the dark times before the peaceful days of today arrived, he had seen this kind of gaze, and more than once.

That's... the look in a Honkai Beast's eyes!

Chapter Fourteen: A Beautiful Life

"Uncle Marshall..." Six-year-old Karen skipped towards Marshall on her short legs, "Don't fight..."

"Kallen! Don't go over there!" Marshall instinctively warned when he saw Kallen drop her kite and run towards them after discovering the situation. But it was too late. Kuchi's bloodshot eyes, which were already severely corrupted by the Honkai, turned and saw the little Kallen running towards him. He immediately abandoned the big prey in front of him and prepared to grab the unsuspecting little Kallen.

"Stop!" Ignoring the pain in his neck, Marshall lunged forward, grabbed Kuch's legs, and slammed him to the ground.

“Maria! Run with Karen! Run!” Marshall roared in despair, using all his strength to hold down the struggling Kuchi.

"What are you doing?" Maria came out of the house at the sound of the voice, holding a spatula in her hand.

"Mommy!" Little Karen ran over excitedly, hiding behind Maria somewhat frightenedly. "Uncle Marshall...fought with Uncle Kuchi..."

"Maria!" Marshall felt his insides churning from the impact of Kuchi's struggle beneath him, and he was about to lose control of Kuchi. "Monster! Monster! Run!"

Maria was initially puzzled by what had happened, and upon hearing Karen's words, she wanted to step forward and separate the two. However, after hearing Marshall's prompt, she was startled and met Kuchi's blood-red eyes.

Madness, hatred, tyranny—these glowing red eyes instantly reminded Maria, who had enjoyed six years of peace, of the monster that had taken the lives of more than half the villagers six years ago.

That Grim Reaper, covered in strange limbs, whose roar sounded like muffled thunder.

Maria was startled and took two steps back, bumping into little Karen who was looking over there curiously. She instinctively covered Karen's eyes and looked around for a way to escape the village.

But it was too late. Before they knew it, eight or nine villagers with glowing red eyes and bloodstains on their faces and bodies had appeared.

“God…is this your punishment…but what did we do wrong?” Maria’s legs began to tremble, which amused little Karen, who was clinging to Maria’s legs.

"Mommy, your legs are shaking..." Being blindfolded didn't affect little Karen's lively childlike spirit, but these words reminded Maria that she had to protect the child behind her.

"Karen, come with Mom." Maria tried her best to soften her tone and cover up her trembling voice. By this time, the corrupted villagers had already surrounded the small house.

Maria half-forcefully picked up Karen and quickly retreated into the house, locking the door before little Karen could react.

"Mom?" Karen looked at Maria, who had put her on the bed and started rummaging through her suitcase, with some confusion. She tilted her head and asked, "What are you doing?"