Honkai Impact 3rd experience, starting with a thousand Herrschers

"cherry?"

Kallen looked at Yae Sakura with some confusion. The colors on her body were trembling rapidly, and her originally white clothes were now covered with a layer, like the phantom of a nun's robe.

"Yae Sakura! Stop running away! The Kallen you know died 500 years ago!"

"Shut up!"

A crimson light appeared in Yae Sakura's eyes, and her shrine maiden robes were stained with blood. The bright, white moon that was once high in the sky turned into a crimson moon.

The original guests present also vanished like bubbles under the crimson light, turning into phantoms.

And in the crowd, Theresa's figure, which had been blocked by the sea of ​​people, finally appeared. At this moment, the people of St. Freya Academy were finally all gathered together.

However, no one had any intention of reminiscing. The murderous intent, like a wave crashing out from the battlefield, was locking onto everyone present, and the woman, whose face had originally been peaceful and gentle, now had a ferocious and terrifying expression, just like that of a prajna.

"Why? Why is it always a group of people like you who come to destroy my beautiful life... First it was my father and those foolish villagers, and now it's you again! I've already lost so much, and now I don't even have the right to dream?!"

"Has this world become so intolerant of a dream?!"

As Yae Sakura roared, her entire face grew fur, making her look like a fox with sharp fangs. She had now transformed into a fox-headed, human-bodied monster.

Everyone watched Yae Sakura, who had been demonized, with wary eyes, ready to fight at any moment. However, Bronya noticed that the gray-haired man with his eyes covered by a cloth had not disappeared under the blood-red moonlight.

Kallen, however, was frozen solid under the crimson light, though even when frozen, her color was gradually fading.

Yae Sakura drew her demon sword directly, and the undisguised killing intent made it clear to everyone present.

This battle will be a fight to the death.

"Then let me have a go at you."

At this moment, the Herrscher of Thunder drew a purple longsword from who-knows-where, and then transformed into a swift bolt of lightning, rushing straight forward.

As their blades clashed, one transformed into a swift purple lightning bolt, and the other into a crimson phantom, both colliding at speeds exceeding the limits of human retinal motion capture.

Both sides abandoned technique and engaged in a stalemate based solely on pure strength and speed. Yet, even in this brutal fighting style, a unique aesthetic was revealed amidst the high-speed combat.

However, the people present were somewhat at a loss for what to do, since no one would be fully armed when attending a banquet; they had basically brought no equipment with them.

At that moment, Bronya summoned her Heavy Bunny 19C from behind her, which rushed towards the gray-haired figure. She then commanded the Heavy Bunny to punch down forcefully.

The man seemed to notice Bronya rushing towards him, and his entire body transformed into a wisp of black mist, disappearing from his original spot to another location.

"I didn't expect you to be the first one to come find me, Bronya."

The man's tone seemed particularly relaxed, completely lacking the solemnity he had when reciting the oath, and instead filled with a strange sense of frivolity.

Bronya gritted her teeth, looking at the man with disgust, and said coldly, "Selene! Don't speak to me in his voice!"

"Ha ha……"

The man smiled and then removed the cloth from his face. At this moment, the previously vague impression became clear. Looking at those clear black and white pupils and that familiar face, everyone present was somewhat taken aback.

"...Cheng Xing?"

How could the priest look exactly like Cheng Xing?

Chapter 131: That's all

"Originally, I was planning to completely disguise myself as him, then quietly approach you to gain enough trust, and then surprise you during the final battle! Of course, you could also say it was a shocking fact in his own words."

Although the man's voice sounded the same as Cheng Xing's, his tone was always full of a playful tone, as if he could say anything strange.

"It's a pity that when I try to completely impersonate him, I always get inexplicably distracted... or you could say it's a cognitive bias. The more I try to completely imitate him, the more ambiguous my imitation becomes. My current clothes, hairstyle, and hair color are the closest I've ever come to imitating him."

He sighed and smoothed his long gray hair, then looked at the two women fighting and said, "So I've lost an opportunity to have some fun. You don't need to look at me so warily. I won't interfere with what's going on here. That would be very boring. I'm just a guest star, understand?"

"...Who exactly are you?"

Kiana was a little annoyed that she hadn't brought any weapons to the banquet, which made her rush out when something happened. Now she didn't have a handy weapon, and even if she wanted to fight, she would probably have to rely on her own body.

"Me? Didn't you already hear it? Bronya called me Selene. Have you already forgotten that name in just a few days?"

"Impossible! She clearly!"

"It's clearly a woman, isn't it? It's clearly someone who looks extremely similar to Kiana Kaslana, isn't it?"

After saying that, the person disguised as Cheng Xing simply turned around and transformed into a white-haired woman wearing a priest's robe. Her appearance was similar to Kiana's, only slightly more mature.

Where is Cheng Xing?

Bronya pointed the cannon at her.

"Don't worry, that guy used his ability before his sword could immediately break the barrier. I think you should know what that ability is. Oh dear, that battle over there is really intense. If it goes on like this forever, it'll get boring."

Selene noticed the fierce battle between the Herrscher of Thunder and the beast-transformed Yae Sakura. Although the two had clashed hundreds of times in the short time they had been talking, neither of them had suffered any physical damage.

Judging from the fact that neither of them seems to be slowing down, this battle will probably last a long time, which could be quite boring.

"This time, the Dream Realm isn't just about Yae Sakura... Why don't you all take a break and come back to check it out when they've finished fighting?"

"Wait a moment!"

Bronya suddenly sensed something was wrong. A huge, rusty scythe suddenly appeared in the Heavy Bunny's hand, and then she charged forward as if she had a rocket booster, swinging the scythe and slashing down directly.

But before the scythe could touch Selene's body, a snap of fingers plunging everyone present into darkness.

Of course, this excludes the two people who are still fighting.

Selene looked at the group of people lying unconscious on the ground and moved her hands to completely protect their bodies from the aftershocks of the battle. Then she looked up and saw the blood moon in the sky becoming increasingly dazzling. She then muttered to herself, "So far, a total of 1000 students from St. Freya Academy have been forgotten because of the beautiful illusion. They have sunk into reality. Only a few dozen people remain, still struggling in the illusion."

"Yes, it seems that most of the time, humans prefer to escape rather than face difficulties and pain."

Selene could see countless dreams through the moon, countless corrupted students with eerie yet serene smiles on their faces, sinking into their own dreams, but there were still dozens of ordinary students struggling in pain, trying to get out of the dream, even though it contained the beauty they longed for.

"Even though reality is incredibly cruel and unreasonable, they still want to return to my real world. What is it that sustains their belief? What makes them so persistent? I'm really curious."

Kiana opened her eyes in a daze, and then found herself leaning against a big tree, wearing a white long dress, with a girl lying next to her.

She was a girl who looked very similar to herself.

"Mom? What's wrong? Why did you fall asleep while I was telling you a story?"

"Oh! Maybe he's just too tired."

Kiana smiled and patted her child's head, then watched as the dark-haired man walked out of a house not far away, smiling and waving at the two of them.

"Okay, let's go back quickly, Dad has already prepared the food."

"Yay! I'm going to eat all of Mom's portion! And then I'll snatch Dad away from me!"

"You naughty child."

Kiana smiled gently, but for some reason, she felt as if she had forgotten something important.

…………

Bronya lay on the beach, with Seele sleeping peacefully beside her. The purple-haired pufferfish was soaking in the seawater, trying to learn to swim.

She turned her head and looked at the black-haired man who was busy in front of the barbecue grill, a satisfied and happy smile on her face.

What puzzled her was why there was a rusty scythe lying quietly nearby. Where did that thing come from?

……

Raiden Mei was busy in the kitchen. Listening to Kiana and the others arguing and playing outside, a happy smile involuntarily appeared on her face. This was the life she had been dreaming of. The Honkai was over, and everyone could live peacefully like this from now on... right?

…………

Himeko looked at her father not far away, and smiled and waved to her. She saw the captain, who had long since died, standing beside her, with his arm around her shoulder like an older sister.

"...But I know all of this is fake."

Himeko looked at her father, whom she had never seen smile before, now smiling gently at her, and at her captain, who had died long ago and died without any regrets.

"I won't let myself sink here! My students are waiting for me to come back!"

Himeko was dressed in fiery red, and a greatsword with solidified flames was burning in her hand, thus unfolding this false dream.

She's long past the age of dreaming, and she's long since stopped running away from things.

……

"Cecilia!"

Theresa lay on her friend's lap, happily recounting all the good things that had happened to her that day. Seeing the guy's disgusted and annoyed look only made her happier.

"Alright Theresa, don't take up so much of my wife's time."

"Hmph! I won't listen to you!"

Theresa started arguing with that jerk again, but neither of them seemed very serious; it was just another day in their thousands of daily routines.

This is the life she has always dreamed of.

……

Fu Hua felt as if she had returned to that year, to that naive guy who was pretending to be a doctor, now happily buying himself all sorts of snacks, constantly introducing and talking about them... just like a child.

"Cheng Xing, I still have things to take care of."

"Do you need any help?"

"Um, please help me wake up."

"........."

The man simply smiled nonchalantly, and then everything around him vanished like smoke.

The flames tore through space, creating a passage that brought them directly back to this place. The woman in red armor, wielding a flaming greatsword, was frowning as she looked around.

Meanwhile, in another place, a sandstorm inexplicably arose, and then a woman dressed in ancient Chinese martial arts attire stood there quietly like a knight-errant.

Selene looked at the two people who had so quickly escaped the beautiful dream she longed for and said with some surprise, "I didn't expect you two to get rid of the illusion so quickly."

"After all, this old auntie is long past the age of dreaming like a young girl... So, give my students back to me!"

"Sure, but are you sure they really want to wake up?"

"..."

"Right, if there really were a completely safe place where you could indulge in a wonderful dream without any consequences, are you sure those people would really want to wake up? If they really had a strong conscious desire to wake up, they would have left here long ago. But as you can see, apart from the two of you, I haven't seen anyone wake up on their own."

"What exactly is your purpose in doing this?"

Selene gave a gentle yet charming smile and said, "I just want to understand humanity, nothing more."