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

After the battle, she would help the local civilians rebuild their destroyed homes, always offering them comfort and hope with a gentle, lotus-like smile on her face. She would bandage the wounded, share her rations with children and the elderly, and play childish games with the children during her rest time, not caring that her beautiful and elegant nun's habit was ruined by the dirty, muddy children. At night, she would give her tent to those who had lost their homes and sit silently by the campfire to keep watch.

She sat on the ground with the farmers and talked about this year's harvest.

She joined the other women washing clothes by the river, rolling up her sleeves to wash the children's clothes.

She played hide-and-seek with the children who looked at her with envy and interest as she dressed neatly.

She sat in the wounded's tent, gently bandaging and changing the dressings for each civilian affected by the fighting, instructing them not to get their wounds wet.

She brought the orphans who had lost their parents in the Honkai attacks back to the nearest town and entrusted them to the local church for upbringing. It should be noted that in the society at that time, being raised in a church was a privilege that not everyone could enjoy.

She is the light in this dark age.

Now, this light is to be hanged.

Before the people whose light once shone.

Arthur remained silent for a long time, then looked up at the position of the sun and pondered without saying a word.

"Lord Arthur!" the executioner's tone became urgent.

"Prepare for the execution." An aged voice came from beneath the mask, revealing an unconcealable weariness.

Suddenly, Kiana noticed that the man in black on the stage had tied a noose around the neck of the motionless Kallen.

"Bronya! Are you done yet?! The execution is about to begin!" Kiana said urgently. "Please hurry up!"

"If I can't finish the preparations in time... I must storm the execution ground right now! So Bronya... give me your answer!"

“It’s done!” Bronya’s voice came from the other end.

"Boom—" The first earth-shattering explosion came from the east side of the execution platform.

"The first sound..." Kiana gripped the edge of her cloak tightly with both hands, her nails almost digging deep into her skin.

"Boom!" The second deafening explosion still came from the east, and it seemed to be even closer.

The guards around the execution platform quickly surrounded it as if facing a formidable enemy, while the surrounding crowd was stunned. When the second explosion occurred, they suddenly pushed and shoved each other to escape.

"A monster...a monster is coming!" The terrified cries of the people echoed through the city.

“Remember, hide in the attic of the building I marked the night before. When you’re executed the next day, I’ll detonate the timed bombs I’ve set in advance one by one.” Kiana recalled what Bronya had told her the day before yesterday. “I’ll detonate the bombs one by one from the east, giving them the illusion that the explosions are getting closer and closer, and that the enemy is getting closer and closer. When the third explosion sounds, their alertness will be at its highest.”

“…This is also the best time for us to make our move,” Bronya said, his calm gaze revealing absolute confidence in his plan. “At this point, they might take one of two actions: one is to face east with all their might, focusing their attention on the blast zone. If that’s the case, their positioning is very likely to be arranged as follows…”

As he spoke, Bronya drew the outline of a square on the ground and drew several lines inside as markers for the guard positions.

“Another possibility is that they are well-trained elite soldiers who would not immediately assume that the enemy must be attacking from the east upon hearing the explosion. Therefore, they would instead tighten their defenses and concentrate their limited guards around the execution platform. In that case…” Bronya added a few strokes to the pattern on the ground, “their optimal position should be like this.”

"In this way, they have fallen into our trap."

"No matter which response they choose!"

"Well... now we can only hope that Bronya's calculations haven't gone wrong." Kiana looked at the guards who, unmoved by the explosions to the east, quickly formed a defensive circle around the execution platform, and slowly stood on the railing of the pavilion, taking a deep breath. "But as things stand, the plan seems to be going very well."

"Boom—" The third explosion suddenly rang out, right at the entrance to the east plaza. This was the direction from which Destiny had brought Karen, leading directly to the Destiny dungeon. Ironically, the number of people there was the smallest in this area.

Kiana gave a confident smile, then leaped from the railing, using the cover of the explosion, and soared towards the center of the execution platform like a bird in flight.

"Now, it's Kiana's time!"

Chapter Eleven: Kiana's Showtime

The moment Kiana fell, all the guards instinctively focused their attention on her, gripping their weapons and assuming a defensive stance.

"It's done!" Kiana felt a surge of excitement. "Next, all we need to do is..."

To everyone's surprise, there was a black object behind Kiana, which only rose to the top after Kiana began to fall.

Then, it erupted!

"Ah—my eyes!" All the guards who were staring intently at Kiana were shocked to varying degrees. Living in the Middle Ages, they had obviously never seen a flashbang directly. After a blinding flash of white light, all the guards were temporarily blinded. Although this crudely made flashbang could only leave white spots in their vision for a second or two, for the Valkyrie, whose physical abilities were several times greater than those of ordinary people, a few seconds was enough to do a lot of things.

“The access to this hidden area is extremely high. Even Bronya couldn’t obtain the permission to extract weapons in such a short time. However, Bronya can use a custom script to trick the main program and bypass the permissions to create some small items.” Bronya’s voice echoed in Kiana’s mind again. “For example… you can use my custom script to make small items like flashbangs to create some raw materials for weapons. The rest is up to you to defeat the opponent.”

"If we follow my plan step by step, then we will only have one problem: the expert you mentioned who can defeat you in one blow."

"Tch, I already said it was just a moment of carelessness!"

"Bronya, you've really got some skills." Kiana had her back to the flashbang, so she wasn't affected by it, but when she saw the guards below reflexively turn their heads and cover their eyes, she knew that the plan had succeeded.

"A typical deception tactic, Teacher Keng talked about it in class." Bronya complained to Kiana while looking towards the center of the square from a distant flagpole.

"First one!" Kiana, taking advantage of her fall from a great height, slammed her foot onto the shoulder of the guard closest to her, the sound of bones cracking clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"The second one!" Kiana used the momentum to dodge to the side, nimbly dodging the guard who was wildly swinging his weapon in the air. Suddenly, she delivered a spinning kick to the back of the man's head, and the guard fell to the ground with a thud before he could even utter a sound.

"The third one!" Kiana rolled nimbly as she landed, dissipating the force, and then braced herself with her hands on the ground. Her feet, like swords piercing the sky, kicked a guard in the chin.

The sounds of cracking bones and dull thuds of blows were incessant. The brief two or three seconds felt like an eternity to the guards who had lost their sight. By the time the three executors on the platform regained their vision, many of the guards below had already been knocked down. Apart from a few who were unconscious, others lay on the ground clutching their wounds and groaning in pain.

"Where is she?!" The executor was both shocked and furious, looking around but finding no trace of Kiana.

"I'm right here!" The voice came from above them.

"When..." One of the executors was taken aback. Just as he was about to step forward to stop Kiana, Kiana suddenly flung the cloak draped over her back in his direction, blocking his view.

At the same time, another executor who was very close to Kiana's landing point was turning around. His right hand, holding a sword, was about to make a standard reverse slash from below, but Kiana preemptively pressed down on his right hand, and at the same time pressed down on his side of the neck with her left hand, and used the impact of the downward slam to the ground.

The executioner didn't even have time to utter a sound before he lost consciousness amidst the cracking of the wooden planks on the execution platform.

At that moment, the executor also slashed open the cloak that was obscuring his vision with a single sword stroke, but he did not see Kiana, who was right in front of him.

Human thinking has a zone of inertia. For example, if something suddenly disappears in front of you, you will subconsciously scan a very small area around where it disappeared to look for its trace, without realizing that it was actually right below you.

Therefore, the object can almost perfectly disappear from your sight if it moves a short distance in the opposite direction of its original trajectory at the very moment your vision is blocked.

In battle, even a fleeting moment of disappearance is enough.

Although Kiana never listens in class, she is a self-taught, naturally gifted combat expert. After defeating the first Executor, she immediately stomped the ground and leaped in the opposite direction. While moving at an extremely fast speed, her body was as close to the ground as possible, like a rapidly crawling gecko. Just as the sword-wielding Executor ripped open his cloak, she flashed to his left, and the torn cloak perfectly concealed her figure.

"Thump..." That was the sound of a fist hitting the lower abdomen hard.

The executor felt his muscles spasm all over his body, and his lungs were convulsing. He couldn't breathe and could only kneel on the ground, letting his body go out of control.

Kiana gently pushed the executor's head, and the executor fell to the ground without any resistance.

"Who are you?!" Kallen looked up in astonishment, her eyes widening in horror when she saw Kiana and the surrounding scene.

"Sister Kallen, it's my turn to save you this time," Kiana said softly, as if afraid of frightening Kallen. Then, she looked intently at the last remaining executor who had been hesitant to make a move. He was the same expert Kallen had previously called Grandpa Arthur, who had knocked Kiana down with a single blow. "Next, all I have to do is defeat you. I won't be careless this time!"

However, Arthur made no extra movements, nor did he assume a fighting stance. Instead, he slowly raised his right hand and pointed to a small alley.

"Huh?" Kiana was completely confused, but she didn't dare to look in the direction Arthur was pointing in, in order to be wary of a sudden attack.

“Go straight down that alley, and you’ll reach the port. I’ve already arranged the ships for the sea.” Arthur’s calm yet aged voice came from behind the mask.

"Huh?" Kiana's brain obviously couldn't accept this magical change of suddenly turning an enemy into a friend, so after thinking it over (about 0.5 seconds), she decided to believe this person. "I didn't expect that you, grandpa, are such a good person."

“Grandpa Arthur!” Karen’s expression turned anxious. “If you let me go, you will…”

“It’s alright,” Arthur waved his hand. “I’m already this old. Even if I’m punished this time, I won’t suffer much. It’s a question whether I can even live to see the end of my prison term.”

“But…but I can’t…” Kallen’s expression was conflicted, wavering between her survival instinct and her mentor.

"Oh, never mind that, let's go!" Kiana, without saying a word, picked up Kallen and headed towards the alley. "Since the old man is so confident, he must have a way."

"Please make sure you protect Miss Karen." Just as Kiana helped Karen pass by Arthur, Arthur said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "...Please."

Meanwhile, Bronya, who was observing, saw that not only had the two sides stopped fighting, but the other side had also pointed out a retreat route. She couldn't help but have a moment of mental blank: "What's going on? Could that person... be an undercover agent?"

But the situation didn't allow Bronya to continue thinking, as the sudden screams and violent impacts pulled her from her thoughts.

Bronya looked in the direction of the sound, her pupils contracting sharply. She quickly opened the remote communication panel, her usually calm tone now tinged with anxiety: "Kiana, can you hear me! Evacuate immediately! I see..."

"No need to say anything, I saw it too." Kiana's voice came from the other end of the communication panel, filled with undisguised disbelief. "Why... why are Honkai Beasts appearing in the town center..."

Long before Bronya's communication arrived, a tremendous crash and collapse sound came from the other end of the square. As a cloud of smoke dissipated, a monster, two or three stories high, appeared. It seemed to be a random combination of all the most vile substances in the world, arranged in the most repulsive way, and composed of all the elements that evoke disgust and negative associations—a monster beyond description.

Twisted and disordered, its existence seems solely for the purpose of pollution, emanating an atmosphere that inexplicably evokes disgust.

This is the Honkai Beast, or more accurately, the primitive Honkai Beast, because they have been extinct for hundreds of years since the modern era. This is because they have evolved into a more powerful, aggressive, and invasive form.

Even Arthur was shocked: "How could a Honkai Beast appear here?! The city is surrounded by a tight security perimeter!"

“Of course it’s because of…me.” Just as everyone was in shock, a young man’s voice rang out without warning.

"Who is it?" Kiana immediately became wary, and her gaze towards the young man became extremely alert.

"Otto! What are you doing here!" It was Karen who recognized the newcomer.

Otto Apocalypse, Karen's fiancé, is also the son of the Archbishop of Schicksal and the heir to the Apocalypse family.

“Of course I’m here to save you, Karen.” Otto’s eyes softened, his gaze filled with tenderness for Karen. “I’ve arranged everything. Now, I’m here to take you away.”

"No... I mean, what exactly did you do?!" Kallen's voice became more serious and anxious than ever before. Her premonition told her that the Honkai Beasts appearing in this town were inextricably linked to Otto.

Karen, who had grown up with Otto and had always received his unseen care in every way, could hardly believe that Otto, who had always been gentle and kind to her, would do such a thing.

“Otto… what… did you do…” Kallen’s voice trembled, and even the look in her eyes as she looked at Otto began to show a hint of confusion.

“Of course…” Otto paused for a moment, his eyes filled with a complex expression, “I’ve come to save you.”

Chapter Twelve: I Am the Shield

"Otto! Answer me!" Kallen's voice trembled with a sob, "These Honkai Beasts... could they be..."

“Oh, you mean that? My father… tsk, that old devil, the bishop, thought his plan was foolproof. He thought that as long as he diverted your old subordinates and the Valkyrie troops, no one could come to rescue you.” Otto waved his hand dismissively, smoothing his blond hair. “But there are countless monsters imprisoned in the cathedral’s underground… He never imagined that these things, with a little guidance, could become a force.”

"As long as I unlock their shackles and lure them out with some scapegoats, the chaos they create will be enough to dismantle all of Destiny's combat forces deployed in the city. Then we can leave with dignity."

“Come with me, Karen,” Otto said, extending his hand to Karen, his gaze lingering on her with tenderness. “I’ll take you away from this place of trouble, away from those pointless factional struggles…”

"You're insane!" Karen's eyes were filled with disbelief. "Do you know how many innocent people this will kill..."