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

But all of this vanished like smoke, unclear and indistinct, like writing on the beach, gone in an instant, leaving not a trace.

The only things that remained were a few indelible scenes from all her memories.

The first scene is the village where Karen grew up. There are four cats and two dogs in the village. One of them, a gray cat named Eklee, always likes to rub against her trousers in the afternoon sun, or quietly sit at her feet after Karen finishes eating. Karen will then secretly leave half a bowl of porridge to feed it to Eklee after Maria finishes her meal. Maria sees this a few times, but doesn't say anything. She simply lifts Karen up high and tells her that she is a kind and loving child.

Those days always passed quickly and simply. This monotonous life was the most peaceful and happy time of Karen's life. There were golden wheat fields where the wheat rippled like waves when the wind blew. Karen and Maria sat under a tree, Maria doing needlework, Karen playing house with her teddy bear, and the villagers at the edge of the field dancing to celebrate the year's bountiful harvest.

Sometimes Karen would go to Kuchi's workshop to play. There were many strange and wonderful things there. Karen had heard that Kuchi was a carpenter who could make many, many things. Most of the wooden products in the village were made by Kuchi. This made Karen very curious and admiring. She begged Kuchi many times to let her learn the craft of carpentry, but Kuchi refused on the grounds that carpentry was not suitable for girls.

Although young Karen was very puzzled by this and even sulked at Kuchi, Karen could now clearly see that when she was young, she pestered Kuchi to teach her carpentry, Kuchi first looked at his old hands covered with calluses and wounds and with thick knuckles, then looked at Karen's delicate and fair little hands, before firmly refusing.

As a child, I didn't understand the villagers' care for me, but now I can clearly feel the pampering those honest and kind farmers have shown me.

It was a precious treasure that I had enjoyed but never realized.

The second memory is of her exile to the Far East Island alone, carrying the sealed Box of Honkai. Severely injured, she fell into a deep sleep in the darkness. In that desolate abyss, her only companions were the countless whispers of the demons in the box and the biting cold and hunger.

In that deep, long, seemingly endless darkness, she doubted herself countless times, wondering if she had made a mistake. She even nearly collapsed, almost submitting to the ever-present whispers of the demon in the box. Yet, there was always a voice calling to her from who-knows-where. The voice was gentle, carrying a hint of concern and anxiety. Although the voice was infrequent, it was the only pillar that helped her temporarily escape the demon's temptations during her long nightmare.

The voice, which came from an unknown source, reminded her that she was still alive.

In that seemingly endless nightmare, she had also imagined the source of that voice. The owner of that voice must have a pair of soft and warm hands, a pair of gentle eyes, and a pure smile. Her hair would be gently scattered in the breeze, like the tassels on an oriental bride's wedding dress.

Finally, in the unknown daylight, a glimmer of light slowly appeared before her eyes. Though faint, it shone brightly in the pitch-black dream space, like night itself. She reached out, trying to grasp the light, wanting to keep it with her.

But what she grasped was a pair of hands, a pair of soft and warm hands.

She opened her eyes and saw a pair of gentle eyes in front of her, beneath which was a pure smile. In the morning breeze, her long pink hair was gently swayed like tassels.

That was the end of my life, which had once teetered on the edge of the abyss, and the beginning of the most unregrettable period of my life.

But this beautiful memory, as lovely as springtime, was ended by my own hand.

All that was left for her was the inescapable nightmare and torment of sealing away the one she loved most with her own hands.

However, after the fleeting beauty came the most painful and least memorable experience of her life.

It wasn't the day the village that held Karen's six beautiful childhood years was destroyed by its own inhabitants, nor the day she learned of Maria's passing, nor even the moment she personally used a spear forged from soul steel to pin her beloved to the ground, because compared to this experience, these pains were far too blissful.

That was when he was captured by Schicksal and brought back to the European headquarters. After he announced in the first trial that he had fallen in love with Yae Sakura, he was imprisoned in a high-security cell that only crossbow-level Honkai Beasts could enjoy. The man who appeared in front of him was withered, his once lustrous white hair had lost its luster, and in just a few days he looked as if he had been tormented by purgatory, instantly aging like an old man in his twilight years.

This father carefully protected his childhood with beautiful lies.

This father, who disregarded his aristocratic reputation, insisted on building a cenotaph for the commoner Maria next to the grave of his first wife, Christina.

This was her father, who diligently taught her how to use her power correctly and guided her to use that power to protect, not to fight.

This is the father I admire, who always commands thousands of troops to fight on the front lines of saving the people and fighting against collapse.

The father, who in his memory was always as steady and unshakable as a mountain, gripped his collar with his hands like iron clamps through the thick iron bars, pressing tightly against the bars. He roared like a wild beast trapped in a desperate situation, a roar mixed with pain, sorrow, despair, and repression. Almost every indescribable negative emotion rushed towards him through the iron bars.

Karen knew that the pain Francis was carrying in his heart was a thousand times greater than the despair that was coming at him.

"Karen! Tell me! Why!" the father roared hoarsely, two streams of hot tears streaming down his cheeks.

"How can you face Thomas, who died from overwork this past year?!"

"How can you face those subordinates and people who trusted and respected you, who spoke up for you even during your exile, disregarding their own positions?!"

"Tell me! How can you do this?! How can you face your own mother?! How can you face Maria?! How can you face the two lives they gave you?! Twice!"

"They saved you from the clutches of the collapse! And this is how you repay them?!"

"Do you live up to the oath you once swore? You said you would protect your people! Fight against the Honkai! Save those who suffer because of the Honkai! But now! You say the Herrscher is innocent!"

"How can you face the people who were displaced, separated from their families, and heartbroken because of the collapse?!"

"You! Do you still dare to call yourself Kaslana now?! Tell me!"

"Karen! Tell me!! How could you do this to them!!" Francis's desperate roar, laced with tears, echoed for a long time in the dungeon, reverberating in Karen's heart like the tolling of a bell.

Karen opened her mouth, but the words never came out.

She wanted to say, "Father, forgive me."

Because she knew she didn't deserve it, and had no reason to be forgiven.

Besides, at that time, I no longer had any reason to live.

After an unknown amount of time, a glimmer of light gradually appeared before Karen's eyes, and the sounds of the outside world were finally able to reach her ears, just like the day she was awakened from a nightmare while in exile on the Far Eastern island.

She tried hard to distinguish it, and finally discerned Kiana's voice in the faint sound.

The light gradually expanded, and Karen could see everything clearly before her.

Azure sky, wildly flaunting white clouds, warm sunshine, and a face that resembles my own, yet is soaked with tears.

“Kiana…” Kallen felt a sense of relief. Although she herself felt deeply guilty, the fact that someone was willing to cry for her on her deathbed gave her a sense of peace. “Little girl…”

"She's alright..." Kiana replied, her voice trembling with tears. "A large fragment of the wall created a small space, and she wasn't injured... I've also eliminated all the Honkai Beasts; there's no one left..."

"No one will get hurt anymore..." Kiana's tears fell on Kallen's face, warm and cool at the same time.

Yes, no one will get hurt anymore.

Except for you.

You, who protected them, are going to die.

"Kiana...don't cry for me..." Kallen, with her last ounce of strength, raised her hand, trembling, trying to wipe away the tears from Kiana's eyes. "I am...a sinner who betrayed humanity..."

"No... I don't want you to say such things!" Kiana grasped Kallen's blood-stained hand that was wiping away her tears and pressed it tightly against her own face.

"Kiana...so beautiful..." Kallen's gaze swept over the wings of light behind Kiana. Although Kallen didn't know where Kiana's outfit, which was radiating strong energy, and the wings of light behind her came from, they were very beautiful.

The face with tears streaming down her face, tears shed sincerely for others, and the six-petaled wings of light swaying gently behind her, made Karen momentarily think she was seeing an angel.

However, Kallen could barely hear Kiana's voice anymore. Her brief moment of lucidity had exhausted almost all of her life force, and images of her sixteen years of life began to flash before her eyes once again.

Kallen felt Kiana's warmth and smiled gently, as if the fatal piercing wound wasn't on her own body: "I remember now..."

"I don't know when it started... but all of this is repeating itself over and over again like a cycle... a thousand times, ten thousand times... I don't know how long I've been in this hellish cycle... dying again and again..."

"Until you appeared...you are the only difference in this cycle of hell..."

Kiana's eyes were filled with shock; she knew that the Kallen in front of her was just a program.

But did Karen herself know that?

"Don't look so surprised... I can probably guess what my situation is like..." Kallen smiled weakly, playfully pinching Kiana's cheek with the hand that Kiana had pressed against her face. "Kallen... I mean the real... Kallen, how long has she been dead..."

Kiana paused for a moment, but still answered softly, "It's been over five hundred years."

“More than five hundred years…” Kallen’s eyes momentarily glazed over. “I never expected to encounter a descendant of the Kaslana family…”

"Huh?" Kiana's shock deepened. "You... how did you know..."

"Look at your... silly look... I knew it..." Karen's eyes began to slowly close, and her voice grew weaker and weaker.

“There’s something else…I don’t know…if it’s alright…” Karen’s voice trailed off from her hesitant lips.

"Say it! I will definitely do it!" Kiana's hands had begun to tremble slightly. She could feel that Kallen's body temperature was much lower than normal. These were probably her last words.

“The lifespan of a pseudo-Herrscher… should be very long…” Kallen’s eyes were almost closed, and only her last breath was keeping her alive.

"Five hundred years... If she were to awaken from the seal... and find that everything... everything familiar... has vanished... how utterly devastating that would be..."

"If... I mean if... you met... someone named Yae Sakura..."

"Could you... please pass on a message to her for me...?"

Karen suddenly began coughing violently, blood seeping into her throat, making it almost impossible for her to finish her sentence.

Kiana pressed her ear to Kallen's lips, afraid of missing a single syllable.

"Oh, right... there's one last thing..." After telling Yae Sakura what she was supposed to say, Kallen's will to live seemed to suddenly weaken, as if she were about to pass away at any moment.

But she still held on, using the last of her strength to shout out at the top of her lungs.

Despite speaking with the intention of shouting, it only made the airflow in his throat move a little faster.

Although the voice was still barely audible, the sheer intensity of her emotions made Kiana truly hear Kallen's words.

Kiana...may you...have a love that you will never regret.

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Monument in the World of Testicular Pain

In a vast, white virtual space, two people sat facing each other. One of them had long golden hair and wore a magnificent robe, sitting languidly in a chair.

The person sitting opposite him, with an impatient expression, was none other than Keng Huo, who had been offline for most of the game.

"Let me be honest, you're probably the most boring person I've ever met," Keng Huo said earnestly. "All the idiots I've ever met combined aren't even a fraction as boring as you."

Archbishop Otto, sitting opposite Keng Huo, raised an eyebrow, seemingly unconcerned, and simply chuckled: "Then you must have met a lot of idle people."

"That's right. I've seen people watch a movie dozens of times because they like it, but compared to you, who have watched the same video over and over for five hundred years, that's nothing. You are a monument in the world of testicular pain, an immortal legend, a living epic, the Moses of the world of testicular pain. One day you will ignite the divine fire and ascend to godhood to become the God of Testicular Pain. With just one thought from you, all the men in the world will experience testicular pain for seven days every month."

Otto wasn't angry at those words; instead, he just rubbed his temples, looking a bit annoyed. "How come I never noticed you were so sharp-tongued before?"

“Because you’ve never tried to communicate with me before,” Keng Huo replied decisively.

“I’m very sorry, I didn’t expect the executors below to misunderstand me. My initial order was indeed to ‘bring that person’s knowledge over.’”

"So those Valkyries never thought the simplest way would be to invite me over." A ruthless glint flashed in Keng Huo's eyes. "They only wanted to take my knowledge, nothing else. Of course, they left nothing behind. I don't think this can be explained by a mistake in the transmission of information between the executor and the commander. It can only mean that this is your consistent style."

“I’m very sorry about this,” Otto said, without a trace of apology in his voice, “but I didn’t call you here specifically to talk about this.”

A look of astonishment immediately appeared on Keng Huo's face, his eyes seeming to be looking at a strange old man with a peculiar hobby: "So you really invited me to watch that little movie?"

Keng Huo's expression grew increasingly strange with each sentence, even showing a hint of pity: "The lonely old man, unable to bear the loneliness, asked his subordinates to appreciate his unspeakable quirks to pass the time?"

The veins on Otto's forehead were clearly bulging in a grid pattern. Since he became the Archbishop of the Destiny Organization, Keng Huo was the first person who dared to speak to him like that.

Otto sighed, ignoring Keng Huo, and said to himself, "You have passed the test for the first batch of experimental imaginary weapon materialization devices. The first batch of [prototype anti-Honkai weapon materialization devices] will be finalized and sent to St. Freya Academy before next month. I hope you can complete the testing work smoothly. If you can make some improvements or find some problems, that would be even better."

Keng Huo sneered: "Is this some shameless pirate manufacturer who, having discovered a technical problem they can't crack, is seeking help from the original owner of the technology?"

"What pirate manufacturer? I've never heard of them," Otto replied with a light laugh, his eyes revealing no negativity.

"Anyway, these are all technologies you developed from my stuff. Now that you've finished researching them, how about giving them back to me?" Keng Huo sneered. "You don't need them anyway."