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

Later, when she skipped work and wandered alone in the Far East, her family found her and took her home.

"You're back? Why didn't you tell your family?" an elder from the Zong family said to her.

She didn't return for the Colorless Clan; she had simply left the returning troops after completing her mission and wandered aimlessly in the Far East for a few days. But they swarmed around her like hyenas smelling blood.

They tirelessly explained these principles to themselves, emphasizing family tradition, virtue, integrity, and propriety.

"The Colorless Clan has protected this world from the shadows for generations. Huihuo, you are our pride."

No, it is not.

"We are born into this society and are protected by it from the very beginning. When we grow up, we should also protect it. This is not about repaying a debt, but about repaying a debt of gratitude."

No, it's just a lie.

"Huihuo, the Colorless Clan carries an unnamed curse. We are born to hide in the shadows and eradicate the disease from the world that gave us birth and nurtured us. Perhaps all of humanity will not remember us, but some will remember us, our descendants will remember us, and the gods we worship. As long as the Colorless Clan continues, the stories of all the Valkyries bearing the name of Colorless will not perish."

No...you...you are all just...

“Huihuo, if you feel tired, come home. We will always be your family.”

……fraud.

……

The sect leader sighed. This junior had become completely disrespectful since leaving for Destiny. As an elder in the family, he couldn't say anything to her: "Huihuo, I'm sorry we didn't tell you about this, because we really didn't know how to bring it up with you."

Wu Se Hui Huo paused for a moment while swiping his finger on the phone screen, as if he was using all his brainpower to understand what the other person had just said.

She didn't want to waste any more of her energy on this matter; she didn't want to get involved in anything related to this family. She had only come here to swing on the swings and see her mother.

Silence reigned in the room.

The sect leader picked up the tea in front of him, but then slowly put it down: "Before Chunxia leaves, she has something to give you."

Wu Se Hui Huo was stunned for a moment. She hadn't heard her mother's name in a long time, and hearing it now felt strange.

The sect leader clapped his hands, and the shoji doors of the main hall slid open gently, accompanied by the pleasant sound of fibers rubbing together. A servant walked slowly to the side of Wu Se Hui Huo, knelt down, and respectfully pushed a letter in front of her before rising and leaving.

The envelope was unsigned and thin; you could even vaguely see the ink inside.

Wu Se Hui Huo slowly tightened her grip on the phone, her gaze fixed on the envelope, but she didn't open it.

She raised her head and stared into the sect leader's eyes. Her usual lazy demeanor was now revealed in a sharp and piercing way. Her eyes seemed to be locked onto the sect leader's head through a scope, giving him a stinging sensation as if he had been suddenly stabbed in the eyes with needles.

"Oh, did you go on vacation?"

The sect leader responded with silence.

The colorless radiant fire's gaze returned to the letter. Her heart raced, and her breathing became unsteady. Her knuckles gripped the phone so tightly they turned white, and her hand ached from the thin body of the phone, but she didn't let go.

The biting cold froze her completely.

"I'll take you to see her."

"No need." The colorless radiant fire stood up, not even taking the letter, and turned to walk towards the door. "I'm going back to sleep."

The servant outside was startled by the sudden opening of the shoji door, but since the sect leader hadn't said anything, she should naturally follow the young lady's wishes and take her back to her room to rest.

The two walked one after the other through the narrow corridor, passing by the dry landscape garden that she used to love the most, but now she felt that the garden was full of affectation and pretentiousness, and was disgusting.

The door opened, and the furnishings inside were much the same as before, but she had no interest in observing the room. She stiffly closed the door, loosened her belt and shimenawa rope, and the uniform of Destiny slid off her smooth skin. Colorless Kaguya hurriedly changed into the pajamas placed beside the bed and stiffly crawled into the covers as if on a mission.

It's cold in bed.

……

Perhaps because the room was too dark, Time seemed to pass very slowly for Colorless Flame. She closed her eyes, but couldn't fall asleep.

She came back just to swing on the swings and see her mother. Since her mother isn't here, she'll see her next time; at least this time she can still swing on the swings.

And so, time seemed to pass for a long time, until there was a knock on the door.

"Young Miss, it's time for your meal."

Meal?

She arrived in the Far East in the morning, and it wasn't until halfway through the morning that she found the residence of the Colorless Family. Now someone is telling her it's time to have a meal.

In other words, not much time had actually passed, and there was still a long way to go before the next day she hoped for.

The servant outside the door did not leave. After a sound like something being placed on the floor, the voice rang out again, but this time it carried a tone that made her very uncomfortable.

"Young Miss, please don't blame yourself. Madam didn't blame you at all. On the contrary, when she was leaving..."

"Boom-"

A loud bang abruptly interrupted the servant's words. The servant instinctively stopped talking, because the bang seemed to have come from the other side of the shoji door. The entire shoji door bulged, almost hitting her head.

On the other side, Wuse Huihuo instinctively crouched down, clutching her foot. The kick she had just received brought back a long-forgotten pain. She wasn't a Valkyrie known for her physical prowess; this was a characteristic of the Wuse family's sacred mark—the [Crimson Radiance] didn't enhance the wielder's physical attributes in any way.

"Shh-"

The servant instinctively looked up, only to see the young lady's condescending and indifferent face.

The colorless radiant fire stared at the unfamiliar servant, as if giving orders, or as if discussing a trivial matter.

"roll."

The servant lowered his head, bowed, and backed away until he disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

The colorless radiant fire's gaze fell, eventually landing on the plate containing lunch.

Her gaze did not fall on the food in the dishes, because that snow-white piece had drawn all her attention to it.

Colorless Flame suddenly felt a wave of nausea. She kicked the side of the plate hard, sending it flying.

Miso soup spilled through the air, and salads adorned with seasonal vegetables rolled across the pebbles of the dry landscape, leaving a trail across the ripples between the stones. Tempura hit the rocky artificial hill, bounced off its own elasticity, and rolled among the moss, leaving a green stain.

Only the white rice seemed to be naturally integrated with the pebbles, hidden among these much larger, alien creatures.

But that letter was different. It was blown by the wind, and its speed of falling was slower. It landed leisurely on the gravel in front of the colorless glowing fire.

Colorless Firefly wanted to go back to sleep, but the pain in her toes prevented her from taking a step. The letter, soaked with miso soup, lay conspicuously on the gravel. Colorless Firefly stared at it intently, as if afraid that if she looked away even slightly, she would never see it again.

The December wind was cold, making Morohiko shiver. The last time she shivered at home was when her mother forced her to try on that twelve-layered kimono. Everyone around her said that the young lady was very suitable for Japanese style, but she only remembered herself shivering from the cold, holding an umbrella covered with a layer of snow, walking slowly and laboriously in the courtyard, like a disabled person with underdeveloped motor skills.

She walked slowly forward, limping, her bare feet treading on the gravel. The stones were colder and harder than she had imagined, something she had never felt as a child.

The letter was blown by the wind, tumbling and rolling a few times on the gravel, as if trying to escape towards the corner of the wall. Colorless Radiant Fire instinctively quickened its pace, ignoring the pain in its feet, and caught up with the letter, stepping on it before the wind could blow it away again.

The colorless radiant fire bent down somewhat flusteredly, picked up the letter, shook off the little soup that had actually gotten on it, and looked rather bewildered.

She clutched the letter in her hand, crumpling it so tightly it was almost torn. Only then did she realize how painful the pain in her feet was. She took a step, hissing and gasping for breath as she walked towards her room.

The short journey felt like a trek across mountains and seas. Wu Se Hui Huo closed the door, lit the room's lamp, and slumped onto the bed.

She felt a little cold, but even wrapping herself in the blanket didn't make her feel warm.

She didn't want to read the letter; she could even imagine what her mother might write in it. But if she didn't open it, she would never know its contents.

She had seen more dead people than living ones, so forcing herself to calm down wasn't difficult for her. She steadied herself and tore open the envelope with trembling hands; she didn't even know if her trembling was due to the cold or something else.

The contents of the letter were completely different from what she had expected, yet she was able to understand exactly what the writer wanted to express.

Wu Se Hui Huo buried her head deeply between her knees. She didn't know what was wrong with her. A strange feeling was brewing in her chest. Her hands slowly tightened, crumpling the letter into a ball.

No crying was heard, perhaps because she had long forgotten that crying requires making a sound.

————————————————————————————————————

She once possessed color, even if it was just untouched white. Mother must have also once possessed color, but lost it for the same reason.

The letter contained only a few words, with nothing but the opening "My beloved Huihuo" in handwriting, not even a signature. The part that should have been the main text was simply a glaring red outline drawn with a brush.

Thick as blood, fiery as fire.

That was a red she had never seen before.

Parasitism (Part 3)

She had no particular favorite things, yet in order to possess a human-like "personality," she chose something to like. Whether it was her mother's favorite yabuki flowers, her favorite poems, or her favorite sweets, Colorless Kaguya never felt that her mother truly liked these things. Just like the fragments in Colorless Kaguya's memories, she simply thought, "They're pretty interesting, I guess."

Colorless Radiant Fire felt like she was being driven crazy by the inexplicable memories that kept popping up, leaving her feeling physically and mentally exhausted. The reason she always recalled so many memories when thinking about home was simply because she really had nothing left to reminisce about.

She longed for the color of being an "ordinary girl," yet she didn't even know what that color was. Seeing more of the outside world might give her more to talk about with others, but because of her job, she could only stay on the sky island of the Destiny Headquarters, and any trips she took were merely for missions.

The closer she got to this place, the more memories she had, but they were always the same few fragments, as if her life had only lasted for a few short hours before it abruptly ended.

She didn't want to ask those people how her mother left, because even if they didn't tell her, she could guess the general idea.

Organs age and fail, leading to death from old age.

In some ways, it could even be called a peaceful death, if you don't consider that she was over forty years old.

……

She knew, she had always known, ever since she left the Far East and arrived on the continent of Europe she knew her fate and what the Colorless Clan really was.

Because of their inherited bloodline, girls from the Colorless Clan possess exceptional Honkai energy adaptability, even without innate Holy Marks, making them capable of undergoing artificial Holy Mark modification surgery.

As a result, the Colorless Clan reached an agreement with Destiny, changing their original surname to "Colorless," becoming a spear hidden in the shadows, fighting against the Honkai like ninjas in the shadows.

However, the Colorless Family simply could not refuse this deal.

Perhaps there really is some strange curse at play. The Colorless Clan suffered a devastating collapse in the Far East and never recovered until they were discovered by Schicksal. Schicksal and the Colorless Clan signed an agreement: the Colorless Clan would continuously supply Schicksal with suitable candidates for Valkyrie. In return, Schicksal would provide the Colorless Clan with financial assistance.

After that, countless people from the Colorless Clan emerged who wanted to break free from their destiny and revitalize the clan, but they all ended in failure.

The reason is simple: they seem to fail no matter what they do. They lose money investing in the business world; they lack political power in politics; and when they entrust their money to trust funds, the funds are often absconded with.

Perhaps it really is a curse, perhaps it isn't, but no one dares to guess what the reason behind it is.

If they reach behind them and find nothing, that's fine. But if, by chance, they accidentally touch the devil's hand, perhaps the devil won't play such a gentle game with them anymore. At least for now, the Colorless Family's situation isn't bad; in fact, it could be considered quite comfortable.

As long as they don't dare to touch their own back.

The Colorless Clan may have started out out of necessity, but they gradually accepted their situation and took the practice of sucking bones to new heights, taking pride in it.

The children studying in business school meticulously drafted contracts, the eloquent children negotiated with fate, the children studying design rebuilt ancient houses, and those children who flocked to Europe like moths to a flame became the fuel that sustained everything.

The Colorless Clan began negotiating with Destiny, proposing different levels of aid based on the Valkyrie's rank, and also demanding pensions based on the Valkyrie's age at death. The younger the Valkyrie at death, the higher the pension, because they could have provided more financial support to the Colorless Clan during their longer lifespans, and could have returned home to marry and raise children after retirement.