Honkai Impact 3rd: The Girl Who Chases the Flame

"Huh? Isn't it great? Look at those executives, they seem to be breathing a sigh of relief."

Mebius, sitting on the sofa, pressed bubble wrap in response.

"Doctor, please stop hiding it from me..."

Klein smiled wryly.

"You must have hit a bottleneck in your research and don't know how to proceed to the next step."

Those executives probably never imagined that even Mebius would occasionally get stuck on a project and do nothing but stay home in anger, frantically popping bubble wrap to vent his frustration.

Although the higher-ups interpreted this positively as "even Dr. Mebius needs a break" or "that woman finally realized how inhumane her research was," etc.

But Klein knew...

Impossible.

"Hmm... this time is a little different."

Möbius thought for a moment and said,

"It's not that I'm stuck, I just want to think about it myself."

"Think? Think about what?"

"Do you still remember our lovely Melutina?"

"No matter what, I will never forget my few former colleagues..."

Klein wiped the sweat from his brow.

Do you remember the Honkai Beast she fused with?

"Are you referring to the Honkai Beast 'Sagara' that you fused with her without her permission?"

Klein was aware of this matter, because Möbius rarely kept things from her.

"The higher-ups had already guessed this... After all, she's now a warrior on par with Kevin and Alicia, so your fabricated report can no longer fool anyone."

"So what if you know... Rather than that kind of thing, Klein, do you know the meaning of the name Sagara?"

"Mebius asked."

"Hmm... it's 'Dragon' and 'Sea,' I guess. I understand the dragon part, but shouldn't Sagara be a fire-attribute Honkai Beast?"

Klein scratched his head.

"Yes, but the sea that Sagara symbolizes is the 'Salt Sea,' or the 'Dead Sea.' In seawater with extremely high salt content, it is difficult for any living thing to survive; it is a 'forbidden zone' for life."

Mebius explained.

"This is indeed the first time I've heard of such a subtle symbolic approach from the Doctor."

Klein said in surprise.

"After all, it's a low-level Honkai Beast, so I can't determine its full appearance... Klein, you can't reveal what I'm about to say to anyone."

"I know."

"...Sagara is almost 'immortal' and cannot be truly 'killed' by any of the 'known means' currently available."

Mebius said, enunciating each word clearly.

"What...what are you saying?!"

Klein shivered violently.

"Wasn't it severely injured and killed by Kevin using Heavenly Fire?"

"...It didn't die; it's still alive now."

“…Doctor! You, you, you…you wouldn’t…”

Klein pondered the meaning of those words for a moment, and his whole body trembled.

"The strongest known Honkai Beast, the Honkai Beast with the highest known 'density'."

Möbius's face was flushed; he seemed very excited.

“You know what, Klein? If you look closely at that scale with the world’s most advanced microscope, you’ll find that you can’t see a single pore.”

Even the densest material known in the world is insignificant compared to the body of the Sagara. What's most terrifying is that its theoretical density is disconnected from the concept of "mass".

Logically speaking, a substance of this density should have an enormous, unimaginable mass to match it, but such a hard and dense substance maintains a mass within the range of common sense.

This violates common sense in physics and cannot be explained by current science.

It should be said that the concept of "density" is merely the closest one to it; current biology, and even Honkai energy, cannot explain this.

"........."

Klein was dumbfounded.

"Therefore, its name is Sagara, the dragon king who rules the sea of ​​death. The heavenly fire, an attack that defies common sense, only shook its interior and failed to penetrate its body to kill it."

I have reason to doubt that Sagara can truly be defined as a "Honkai Beast." It may even be some kind of alien species, rather than an apostle of Honkai.

It can even function as an independent spacecraft, venturing into outer space on its own—a true marvel of biology.

With a "rip," Möbius tore the bubble wrap to shreds.

"And Klein, the only one, the only one who can match it, lives in this world! Although he is my assistant... but Klein! I can't do it! I can't let this opportunity slip through my fingers!"

Yes, it's undeniable that Melutina does need to take certain risks, but so do the other Honkai Beasts... Why not take a gamble? Klein! Why not take a gamble?! Those who survive will be in the form of "Newtypes"!

Mebius gripped Klein's hand tightly, his eyes devoid of any semblance of "rationality."

"..."

Klein remained silent. She understood the Doctor, perhaps the only one who could understand her. So even though everyone else would condemn Möbius the moment they heard about it, she alone would remain silent.

“I know you won’t condemn my Klein…”

The flush on Möbius's face gradually faded, and she sat back down on the sofa.

"Sagara's consciousness is still engraved deep in its genes; it has not rejected Melutina, nor has it actively influenced her."

It was because it had not yet fully evolved that it was defeated by Kevin, but it saw potential in Melutina and in "humans," perhaps because it met Kevin.

And Melutina, whose Honkai energy resistance was comparable only to Kevin's in this world, became its ideal... "symbiotic partner."

"So, there's no such thing as an 'adaptor,' but rather a 'selected one,' right?"

Klein understood.

“Yes… Sagara chose Melutina, so she will succeed one hundred percent. The risk I’m referring to is that, even if the probability is very small, there is still a possibility that Sagara might try to take control of her body.”

Möbius nodded.

"However, it seems that what I feared has not happened."

"Won't that happen afterward?"

"My dear Klein, if you were Sagara, would you have made your move when Melutina was a child, or waited until she had grown into a strong warrior?"

Mebius smiled slightly.

“Merutina has passed the danger period, and she has satisfied Sagara, so... it has chosen 'symbiosis'.”

...............

PS: Unimportant science information:

1. Sagara Dragon King, translated as Sea Dragon King, also known as Sagara Dragon King, is the principal deity in ancient rain-summoning rituals and one of the twenty-eight attendants of Avalokiteshvara. Sagara Dragon means "Dragon of the Salt Sea".

2. Melutina possesses the ability of a second "collapse," but because it causes her to lose her rationality, she has kept it a secret and rarely uses it.

Its first use caused a "massacre" in a pre-civilization, resulting in it ranking only ninth among the heroes.

This is dedicated to the memory of the thirteen heroes.

"I am not actually a hero, but I can only play the role of a hero until I die."

—The first one, Kevin, the savior

"People always try to justify good deeds and become suspicious of them. But people can also have unfounded kindness that never needs a reason."

—Second place, the true self, Alicia

“Fate did not give me the power to choose, nor did I have the power to choose fate. I prayed and struggled, but I sank deeper and deeper into the cage.”

—Third, Aponia of Discipline

"If one day an era is destined to perish, then I choose to offer a lament for it at the last moment and disappear with it."

— Fourth place, the Golden Eden

"A genius idea should be cheered. Things that have been predicted are not achievements. The real magic is the miracle that is given to the times."

—Fifth, the Spiral Velvet

"If the world is chaos and people are trash, then a truly clear-headed person should say this: Look inward and outward, kill everyone you encounter!"

—The sixth, the Thousand Calamities of Annihilation

"The future of the next era is chosen by the people of the next era. No one has the right to choose the future for them, not even 'we'."

—Seventh, Tianhui's Su

"Stained with blood, burdened with hatred, even all of these combined cannot compare to the weight of a girl. In truth, my sense of justice is only that heavy."

—Eighth place, Setsuna, Sakura

"Perhaps it's because I've walked in the shadows for so long, so long that I've never looked up. Successor, can you tell me what 'hope' is?"

—Ninth, Melutina of Purgatory

"Life is not perfected by death, but rather evolves by transcending death. True beauty comes after that."

—Tenth place, the infinite Möbius

"No one is born a hero; we are just ordinary people forced onto this path."

—Eleventh, Floating Life, Hua

"I love drawing. I used to draw, and I will continue to draw... It's just that no one will be there to draw with me anymore."