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

"Now we can fight, right? Is it okay now?" Kiana was already rubbing her hands together, eager for a fight. "Who should we fight first?"

"...Release the reconnaissance aircraft first! Idiot!" Keng Huo's face twitched, feeling his blood pressure rise to an all-time high. "Everyone else hopes to encounter fewer enemies, why are you always thinking about fighting!"

"We're going to have to fight sooner or later anyway!"

"...I can't refute it..." Keng Huo was speechless, so he changed the subject. "Now let me tell you about the battle plan. First, you need to destroy the small settlement located at 423 in the east and 19 in the north. Dandelion's reconnaissance results show that there is a tank-class Honkai Beast, two melee-specialized scythe-wielding zombies (hereinafter referred to as scythes), and three ranged-specialized archer zombies (hereinafter referred to as archers). The estimated battle time is forty-two minutes. The place is remote enough that it will not easily attract the attention of other small groups."

"Go beat him up, right? I'll remember that!" Kiana pulled out the modified Colt Defender that was originally stuck in her waistband, checked the powerful shock grenade attachment module that the Equipment Department had repeatedly emphasized, and said confidently.

Keng Huo rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply: "You and Mei will first approach from the left and right flanks respectively. Bronya will use the [Markov Type A Cannon] for a barrage of fire at maximum firing range. Mei, focus on intercepting that Tank Honkai Beast; absolutely do not let it get close to Bronya. At the same time, during the gap between the Tank Honkai Beast and the zombie horde, Kiana, you will flank and intercept the zombie horde. Use the buildings for cover to separate the zombie horde from the Tank Honkai Beast. You will use the buildings as cover to temporarily engage the zombie horde. Bronya will provide long-range support to Mei. After you two kill the Tank Honkai Beast as quickly as possible, quickly support Kiana. Remember to maintain voice communication at all times. That's all, begin the operation!"

"Yes, sir!" Kiana turned around and winked at Mei. "I've wanted to say this for a long time, it feels amazing!"

Mei reached out and gently tapped Kiana's head: "Seriously, don't always think about playing when you're on a mission."

Kiana ducked her head, playfully stuck out her tongue, and darted like a gust of wind into the buildings on the flank to find cover and quickly moved toward the pre-arranged ambush position.

“Bronya, don’t push yourself…” Mei hesitated for a moment before speaking to Bronya, “I can already feel the burning sensation of the strong Honkai energy on my body… If the group of zombies gets too close, or if something unexpected happens, retreat quickly.”

“Bronya understands.” Bronya simply held the Homu doll expressionlessly, and the huge, red and white painted half-body heavy armored bunny 19C slowly emerged from the air behind him. “Trust Bronya.”

"Then I'll go too." Mei turned around and disappeared into the ruins in a few leaps.

Bronya stood quietly in place, at a high point in the area. The debris from the collapsed houses piled up at her feet, forming a natural platform that offered her an exceptionally good view.

It also stands out like a target.

Bronya opened a hidden compartment on her right arm guard, took out a pair of contact lenses, and placed them on her eyes. After preparing, she looked up and said softly, "Heavy Bunny, activate the [Tank] combat support system."

"Drip..."

If an outsider were to observe from here, they would notice that Bronya seems unchanged, but her eyes are constantly darting left and right, as if there is something unseen in front of her.

This is the [Tank] Combat Support System. Originally, it existed as an auxiliary system for the standard armor of heavy fire support Valkyries, along with the [Tank] armor. However, due to Bronya's unique characteristics, the carrier of the combat support system and the armor that provides additional protection for heavy fire support Valkyries became less important. Only the Tank Combat Support System was retained. Its command terminal is located in the red and white painted metal arm guards on Bronya's two forearms, while the main program is installed in the main control core of Heavy Bunny.

Because the battlefield role of the Heavy Support Valkyrie differs from that of the Assault and Reconnaissance classes, their equipment serves a completely opposite purpose. Support Valkyries need to carry extremely heavy firepower capable of posing a lethal threat to Honkai Beasts, often consisting of heavy artillery weighing hundreds of kilograms or even tons. Furthermore, they need to select different artillery pieces or laser cannons depending on the battlefield situation. Therefore, the equipment of the Heavy Support Valkyrie can be described as extremely cumbersome. While the other two classes of Valkyries can operate with lighter equipment, the full set of equipment of the Heavy Support Valkyrie, when piled up, is practically like a tank.

Therefore, the main function of the [Tank] long-range specialized combat armor is to provide logistical support and recoil reduction for the wearer.

The [Tank] Long-range specialized combat armor is equipped with a miniature imaginary number conversion device. It can contain the Valkyrie's heavy artillery, energy magazines, and physical shells in the form of imaginary data in the imaginary space. It is described mathematically in the form of a "concept". When the Valkyrie needs to use firepower, it will cut off this continuous "description", causing the heavy artillery to fall from the imaginary level and fall into the material layer, thus achieving an effect similar to a space bag. This eliminates the need for these Valkyries to carry three or four huge cannon barrels on the battlefield to fire. After all, such unnecessary weight would greatly affect the mobility of heavy firepower supporters, which are very important on the battlefield.

Another important function is recoil cancellation. The [Tank] type armor can form a support-like structure through the connection and anchoring of the exoskeleton, which allows the wearer to transfer most of the recoil to the ground when firing, thereby greatly reducing the recoil of the artillery, improving its accuracy, and effectively reducing the probability of the Valkyrie straining her back due to excessive recoil.

But Bronya... doesn't need any of that.

The enormous, mysterious mech named "Heavy Bunny 19C" hovering behind her could provide her with all these functions.

This ferocious mechanical beast has only a humanoid upper body. Its head resembles a medieval knight's full-face helmet, with a streamlined shape. Its forehead is covered in red paint, seemingly for intimidation, and its lower jaw is painted into a gaping maw. Furthermore, the ends of the mouth's paint conceal optical sensors that glow red, resembling eyes. All these features make its head look like a grotesque human face. Below its head is a pure white alloy breastplate with several pressure relief holes to protect the core. The engine's stability is paramount, yet the lower part of this chest armor features a metal chain that sways like a spine. On either side of its body, one side is a mechanical arm that floats in the air yet seems intimately connected to the body. On the back of this arm is a shield as thick and wide as a door panel. The tips of its five highly anthropomorphic fingers are energy cannon ports, and its palm, like Iron Man's, has an energy cannon output port. The other side is more accurately described as half an arm, as the forearm has been replaced by a massive [Markov Type A Heavy Cannon].

Therefore, Bronya, who used the Heavy Bunny to fire in her place, did not need to worry about any recoil, nor did she need to wear the turret-style armor that greatly hindered her movement. Moreover, the Heavy Bunny itself had excellent defensive capabilities, and the defensive capabilities of that huge alloy shield were far superior to those of the Valkyrie standard armor.

Furthermore, the exoskeleton-like smart armor covering Bronya's legs provides her with an anti-gravity levitation system during combat. Therefore, although Bronya's mobility is not as good as the other two Valkyries, with the assistance of the jet-powered emergency evasion system and the latest time fracture system, she can easily create enough safe distance when enemies get close to seek support from her teammates.

Therefore, Bronya only needs to wear arm guards equipped with the Heavy Firepower Aiming Assist System, the Ballistic Correction System, and some other battlefield analysis software.

The single shoulder pad she wore was something she requested to keep, and it served no purpose whatsoever.

"Combat deployment complete, Bronya requests permission to fire." Through his specially designed contact lenses, which are part of the combat armor of the [Vehicle], Bronya can see various real-time battlefield readings, target lock, ballistic correction parameters, and a series of other necessary data.

The contact lens in her right eye can also play this year's new anime series. Although she doesn't know what the purpose of this is, it's an additional feature that Bronya strongly requested.

Keng Huo glanced at the operational map. Kiana and Mei were already in position at their designated combat locations, and the surrounding drones did not issue any warnings.

"Request for unconditional kill approved."

Chapter 59 Amaterasu

“Dynamic trajectory calculation complete, target movement path prediction complete, ballistic correction complete…” Bronya slowly raised her hands, palms facing forward, as if something was jumping wildly in her palms, and her arms trembled as if they were under some enormous pressure. “Heavy Bunny, Fire!”

Three large-caliber shells, as if fired from a siege cannon, suddenly exploded in front of the Heavy Rabbit's cannon muzzle, creating a white sonic boom, and bombarded the group of suicide soldiers thousands of meters away with rolling air waves and astonishing force.

The tank-class Honkai Beast seemed to sense something. Its huge and clumsy body slowly turned around, and a red light suddenly flashed in its small eyes, which were completely disproportionate to its massive body. It slammed its two huge and heavy forelimbs into the ground, creating two deep craters. Even the nearby group of assassins was startled by the tremor and caused a commotion.

The upper body of the tank-class Honkai Beast lowered slightly, as if gathering power. A gust of wind slowly rose and rushed towards the mouth of the Honkai Beast.

The Honkai Beast maintained its inhalation posture, its chest and abdomen slowly swelling. Just as the swelling was about to reach its peak, it suddenly thrust its head forward. From the small, cherry-like mouth below its head, a surging wave of sound and air erupted violently. In that instant, the airflow disrupted the air density in the area in front of it, distorting the propagation of light particles to a visible degree. In the visually observable scene, this manifested as a large fan-shaped area in front of it being distorted.

The process sounds long, but it actually only takes a second or two.

The two forelimbs standing upright in the deep pit supported the body of the tank-class Honkai Beast like a gun carriage, preventing it from falling over under the powerful reaction force.

The three cannonballs, hurtling towards them with astonishing force, seemed to be kneaded by an invisible giant hand amidst the rolling shockwaves. They exploded violently in mid-air, and the scattered shrapnel and shockwaves, carried away by the roar of the Honkai Beast, caused no damage whatsoever to the group of zombies on the ground.

Fortunately, the roar of the Honkai Beast seemed to inflict more damage on the group of zombies than the expected effect of the cannonball explosion.

"Decoy operation complete. [Crimson] prepares to ambush the Honkai Beast." Keng Huo frowned slightly after seeing the destructive power of the Honkai Beast. "We can't give it time to leap. [White Comet] is ready to provide support at any time. If the Honkai Beast fails to separate from the group of assassins, quickly support [Crimson] and cover its withdrawal from the battlefield towards [Tank]. Execute Plan B, while covering the Tank's withdrawal in the East 23 North 62 direction and carrying out the Hit & Run tactic."

“【Crimson】Received.” Mei answered softly into the communicator, and Keng Huo could almost hear her adjusting her breathing.

The Honkai Beast seemed to assess the distance between itself and the enemy, and lowered its body again, but unlike before, this time it seemed to be preparing to jump.

"It's too late! Now's the time!" When Mei saw the Honkai Beast's prepared stance, she immediately realized that the enemy wanted to use the Honkai Beast's unique attack method, [Leap Attack], to quickly approach Bronya.

How could Mei let the Honkai Beast succeed so easily? With a shout, she sprang out from the ruins like a ghost and rushed to the back of the Chariot Honkai Beast with lightning speed.

"12th Style: Iai!" Mei's figure was almost invisible to the naked eye as she rushed forward. A flash of white light appeared, and Mei had already passed under the Honkai Beast. She lightly leaped up, turned around in mid-air, sheathed her sword, and landed, leaving two deep skid marks on the ground.

Only then did the hind limb of the Chariot Honkai Beast, which was far too slender for its size, belatedly split open with a huge wound, almost severing the entire hind limb. Strangely, however, no blood flowed from the wound; only some blackish-purple light particles lingered around it, as if they were constantly overflowing.

"Seventy-Four Style: Demon's Wrap!" Mei gave the Honkai Beast Chariot no chance to catch its breath. After landing and adjusting its balance, it nimbly flew around the Honkai Beast Chariot, riding the gust of wind created by the swung forelimb. Another flash of light appeared, and several more wounds appeared on the forelimb that the Honkai Beast was swinging. However, the size of the wounds was far smaller than the wound on the hind limb, and the blackish-purple particles emerging from these wounds were obviously more numerous than those on the hind limb.

The Honkai Beast Chariot was injured in one of its hind legs, making it somewhat inconvenient to move, especially when turning around. Mei seized the opportunity and kept adjusting her position so that the Honkai Beast could not face her directly.

Bronya wasn't idle either; her second wave of long-range bombardment support had arrived. Two shells exploded violently between the Honkai Beasts and the group of zombies, and the shockwave from the explosion pushed the group of zombies further away from the Honkai Beasts.

Amidst the smoke and fire, a white figure suddenly darted out from some unknown corner. The figure leaped nimbly as it ran, announcing its arrival with a fierce flying kick, like a sharp sword: "Take this Rising Dragon Fist!"

"And there's Yuri Oriole! Oni-yaki! Take this Orochi-chan!"

A large, bulging vein suddenly appeared on Keng Huo's forehead: "Kiana, stop messing around! We're on a mission! And what you're doing is clearly a leg kick, why are you calling it a Rising Dragon Fist?!"

"Sunflower Three Styles!" However, Kiana didn't listen to Keng Huo's words at all, or rather, she didn't listen at all. Instead, she was happily humming and laughing as she fought, "Eat my Earth Throw!"

Fortunately, she did not forget her duty. Under her shouts, the group of suicide soldiers, who had just been bombarded by cannon fire and could not find the enemy, seemed to have found their target and rushed towards Kiana in a swarm, completely unaware of Mei who was fighting with the tank Honkai Beast.

"You can't catch me, you can't catch me, hee hee hee!!" Kiana led her five assassins like a train, running towards the complex ruins.

Keng Huo breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze to the monitors of Bronya and Mei.

At this moment, Bronya is fully activating the jet-powered emergency evasion system to approach Mei, while also using artillery to provide long-range fire support to distract the tank Honkai Beasts. As for Kiana, Bronya is not providing much assistance, fearing that the suicide soldiers, distracted by the artillery fire and explosions, might lose control and disrupt the planned formation.

"Bronya, how are you feeling right now?" Keng Huo connected with Bronya's one-way communication.

"Bronya doesn't understand what the definition of 'feeling' is." Bronya's answer was always so concise, powerful, and...rigid.

"I mean, have you felt the corrosive effects of Honkai energy?" Keng Huo sighed, feeling that he should put writing the book "How to Communicate Effectively with Bronya" on his agenda this morning.

"...The anti-Honkai suit is not damaged, the body has not been corroded, and the exposed skin has a slight burning sensation, but it has not yet caused substantial damage to the body. If the Honkai energy concentration remains unchanged, it is expected that the anti-Honkai suit will begin to break after twelve hours of continuous combat, at which time the corrosive effect will be more significant."

"Understood. Let's finish this quickly. Kiana might need your help."

"Yes, sir."

Bronya constantly harassed the Honkai Beast with heavy firepower. The explosions of the cannons rang out on it from time to time, making it unable to concentrate on dealing with Mei. The damage caused by those heavy cannons far exceeded the damage that Mei caused to the Honkai Beast.

Finally, the tank-like Honkai Beast seemed to realize that this little guy who kept harassing it from a distance was the key factor affecting the battle. It turned its head and roared angrily at Bronya, causing many bricks and tiles in the nearby ruins to fall with a rustling sound.

Besieged on all sides, the Honkai Beast frantically swung its forelimbs, temporarily forcing Mei back. Then, it braced itself on its two forelimbs, assuming a stance ready to launch a [Leap Attack].

Mei's height limited her perspective, preventing her from seeing the Honkai Beast's full form, but her intuition told her that something seemed amiss. Nevertheless, she seized the opportunity when the Honkai Beast paused, forcefully pushing off with her right foot, leaving a deep stomp in the ground. Using the recoil, she swiftly moved to the rear of the tank Honkai Beast, delivering a precise slash that struck the injured hind leg that her Iai Slash had almost severed earlier.

However, the results were not optimistic. The hind limb, which was almost severed, had almost recovered in just over ten minutes. Mei's attack only cut the wound back to a state similar to the original injury, but did not sever the hind limb.

Severing and cutting off are two completely different concepts. If cutting off this hind limb might cause the Honkai Beast's leap attack to lose balance and deviate from its target, severely damaging this hind limb will only make the Honkai Beast charge up for a little longer. This is because, structurally speaking, the Honkai Beast's leap attack is actually powered by its thick forelimbs.

Keng Huo's eyes sharpened as he observed the surveillance footage, having already deduced the Honkai Beast's next move. He glanced at Kiana's surveillance footage and seemed to see something extraordinary, causing his expression to change.

Immediately, Keng Huo gave Bronya the following instructions: "The Honkai Beast is about to leap and attack, targeting Bronya. Bronya, attack from the spot. After the Honkai Beast jumps, activate the [Time Fracture System] to escape its attack range. Mei, what is your current charge level?"

“56 standard units, enough to use [Amaterasu].” Mei’s reply was very hurried, as if she had just taken a moment to glance at the charging gauge of her armor.

Because Honkai Beasts have extremely strong regenerative abilities, Valkyries engaged in Honkai Beast extermination operations often find it difficult to eliminate them through attrition tactics. Therefore, the most reliable and successful way to kill Honkai Beasts is to continuously attack and create a sufficient number of wounds, thereby reducing the Honkai Beast's self-healing and mobility to a certain extent, and then use a highly explosive attack to kill it in one fell swoop before it can recover from its injuries.

These highly explosive attacks have a fatal flaw: they often require charging up, or rather, a large amount of energy, even exceeding the Valkyrie armor's capacity. Otherwise, attacks that are hastily unleashed are unlikely to pose a real fatal threat to Honkai Beasts.

These weapon-like modules mounted on armor are called finishing moves, abilities that can only be used in the final, decisive stage of a battle.

The second-generation Valkyrie standard armor of Destiny solved this problem to some extent by taking a different approach.

The Valkyries' armor is equipped with energy recovery modules that can absorb Honkai energy in the air in ionized form on the battlefield, or recover various types of energy released during combat. Typical examples include the recoil of heavy artillery and the heat and Honkai energy released at the moment of explosion.

As for why the Valkyrie armor is not fully charged before battle, one reason is to consider the wear and tear on the armor's lifespan due to its energy capacity. Another reason is that even a fully charged Valkyrie armor cannot provide enough energy to use the ultimate skill module. Therefore, a full set of armor at the time of actual combat can only maintain the normal combat needs.

The energy recovery module continuously absorbs and stores energy during battle, storing it in the armor's energy pool in a short-term overload mode. Then, when the time is right, this excess energy, combined with the original energy in the Valkyrie armor, is used to activate the ultimate skill module, unleashing extremely strong explosive power to kill the enemy.

The ultimate attack module equipped with the [Crimson] II melee-specialized armor worn by Mei is called the [Amaterasu] energy shaping attack module. Once activated, the armor's energy pool will connect to the Valkyrie's weapon through the Valkyrie's hand armor, and the weapon will be used as a carrier to unleash a huge Honkai energy blade that is several meters long, with extremely astonishing destructive power.

Furthermore, as it is an energy-shaping attack module, it has a low energy dissipation rate, making it a very practical and popular weapon-like module.

"After Bronya is out of range, you take advantage of the moment when the tank Honkai Beast is stunned upon landing and use [Amaterasu] to attack its main body."

“But…” Mei hesitated visibly for a moment, “the damage we’ve inflicted on the Honkai Beasts right now isn’t enough to kill them…”

"Do as I say, there's no time to explain!" Keng Huo's tone became urgent. "The Honkai Beast is about to jump! Be careful to avoid the turbulence!"

As soon as Keng Huo finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly swept in, and the chariot-type Honkai Beast rose from the ground like a siege boulder thrown up by a catapult. The strong wind it generated made Mei almost lose her balance.

"Pilgrimage trajectory calculation complete, landing point calculation complete, effective attack range defined." Bronya raised her head, her gaze fixed on the Honkai Beast flying towards her. "[Time Fracture System]...Activate."

The whole world is quiet.

Centered on Bronya, a dark ripple swept across the world at an indescribable speed, and beneath this ripple, the entire world seemed to turn into an indescribable gray hue.

Everything was slowed down thousands of times, except for Bronya.

She could feel the surging waves created by the leaping Honkai Beast.

She could see the trajectory of the dust in the ruins being swept up by the wind.

She could see the Honkai Beast's eyes; red light flickered between the tiny gaps in its carapace, like neon lights in a city at night.

What a kind of loneliness it is, as if the whole world has stopped and stood still, and only you are unmoved.

It was a loneliness of being abandoned and isolated by the whole world.