Seriously, dude? You actually survived that?
I threw a whole combo at him—"Mirror Image + Nihilus + Abzu + Deathrattle of Obsession"—and I still couldn't take him down? Is this guy's plot armor made of neutron star material? Is his HP bar just a suggestion at this point?
Don't tell me the only way to actually kill him is for me to just stop writing and go on an indefinite hiatus?
GAHH! You annoying bastard! Just die like a good little protagonist so I can clear my schedule and write a new book already!
Since when was the Shu + Innocence combo so broken? He's basically on life support and he still managed to elbow-drop my Abzu into oblivion...
Wait, my Abzu wasn't even elbow-dropped to death!
He was "understood" to death by this absolute piece of work!
This "Rising Sun" of a protagonist actually managed to manifest the power of "Understanding" into my cute, slightly dorky Abzu!
Are you kidding me?
What do you mean my Abzu suddenly unlocked the "Today I Finally Realize Who I Am" achievement and then just drifted off with that dying Mirror Shu?
Listen up, kids. Shu is way too OP. Let's just drop the book.
Waaaah, my poor Abzu~
My little celestial goofball~
That's it. No one gets to live.
Shu, you better watch your back in the next volume. You're dead meat.
Alright, with a heavy heart, let's move on to the Q&A session:
Q1: Where did the Volume 10 wrap-up go?
Well, the end of Vol 10 was super intense. The appearance of Mirror Shu meant an inevitable clash with the original Shu. I felt like it would be a crime to break the immersion with a meta-summary right in the middle of that cliffhanger. So, the Vol 10 summary ended up getting "eaten" by the Vol 11 summary.
The struggle for survival among summaries has always been this brutal. It's not my fault, Vol 10! It's the plot's fault!
Q2: When the residents of Nagazora "revive," won't there be "duplicates" of people in the world? Like clones of Otto?
Actually, no. I won't go into the boring details, but it has to do with Imaginary Information. Basically: Imaginary Information is unique. You can have two branches growing differently on a tree, but you can't have two branches occupying the exact same space at the exact same time.
If you need a better explanation... just blame me. Yes! It's a headcanon! There will not be two Keys of Enlightenment, and there will definitely not be two Ottos so that one can go to Shu and one to Kallen!
To the Otto/Shu shippers: I have brought you destruction!!
Q3: Is there still a chance for Otto to be the female lead?
...
Sigh. Get out.
Q4: Any big plans for Future City?
Oh, absolutely. You can always trust Future City.
There are "Three Miracles" of Future City. So far, the White Cells have received rave reviews like "I'm literally crying and shaking," successfully evolving from a "Demon King's toy" into something actually worth their price tag.
Even though Sirin is still the strictest mother in Future City.
Three strikes and Joyce is out! Call me Queen Joyce!
As for the remaining two "Miracles," [EDEN] has only been mentioned in passing until now. And while everyone hypes up the Zero Sequence, everyone's focus seems to be on that "Tree" I mentioned earlier.
Yes, I admit the tech tree in Future City is a bit... skewed.
But I can reveal a new bit of info today—
[EDEN] is that Tree.
Congrats! That's one less mysterious threat for you to worry about! Happy? Surprised? Shocked?
Q5: Is Abzu so obsessed with its "suicide opportunity" because it's immortal?
Not really. Abzu never actually thought about suicide. Its "robotic" nature isn't because it's lived too long.
This Honkai Beast has been in "calculator mode" since its birth. If it encounters something, it calculates. If it doesn't, it stops. It never does any "extra" thinking. All its memories are just archived data.
It's like current AI. If it's not running a task, it doesn't act. It only boots up when it gets a clear command.
So, androids don't dream of electric sheep, and Abzu doesn't dream.
It kills when commanded, it fights when encountered.
Its life had no direction; it was just led by those hard-coded rules.
It wasn't until this AI "crashed" in front of Shu that Abzu finally began to "think."
Sadly, that thinking came a little late.
And it wasn't a good fit for an immortal being.
Because it was lonely.
For humans, loneliness is walking down an empty street or waking up at night with no one to talk to. This is the loneliness of "having had something and now missing it."
But Abzu's loneliness was different.
Abzu's loneliness wasn't "losing something," but "never knowing what it felt like to possess anything."
From the supernova at its birth, it had nothing.
It was taken in by the Dream Civilization, given the concept of "home," asked if it "dreamed"—it received it all, stored it all, but never understood it.
It was like a hard drive with infinite capacity, storing massive amounts of data on "warmth," but never running the program to read that data.
This is a loneliness more thorough than "loss."
The most cruel yet gentle part of this text is that it actually possessed everything all along; it just only understood it at the very end.
It's not a tragedy.
It's the story of a being that never learned to swim, finally understanding the gentleness of water the moment it began to drown.
Now, it's time for my "Artsy Writer's Mood" session.
What were the themes of these two volumes?
Volume 10's theme was obviously "Dreams."
Yun Mengxi's dream, Yun Feng's dream, Ryusuke Murata's dream...
I wrote about countless dreamers, countless ways of chasing dreams, and many different endings.
Sakura wanted to cure Rin, so she gave up almost everything.
Rin wanted her sister to be happy, so she ran away.
Joachim wanted Arahato to beat the HOMU IP, but eventually gave up for a higher goal, letting Arahato become the villain in the world's eyes.
Ryusuke wanted to explore space, but he "hit a wall" and chose to pass the dream to the next generation.
And the dream Yun Feng abandoned was picked up by Yun Mengxi, making it shine brighter than ever.
I said before that "dreams don't exist in reality." Why?
Because I'm an idiot.
I'm like that chimp from The Darwin Incident—I thought of a cool-sounding question and couldn't wait to share it for headpats.
Even though the conclusion is mostly correct, my thought process then was completely different from how I see it now.
An individual's dream doesn't exist in reality because a single person cannot reach the limits of their imagination within a lifetime without loss.
But that doesn't apply to "Humanity."
Dreams can be inherited and combined.
One person's dream can be split among many, with everyone doing their part. When those parts come together, you get a space rocket.
Dreams do exist; they just don't belong to a single person.
What about Volume 11's theme?
Still Dreams!!
But while Vol 10 discussed if dreams exist, Vol 11 is about what dreams do.
Like, can they actually kill Shu? (Maybe next time.)
Anyway, as you saw, both Shus had dreams, but their dreams ultimately led to destruction—that is the "Honkai."
Ordinary people and the fans of various characters have dreams too. Some succeeded, some failed, but they are still full of drive.
Only Abzu had nothing.
It couldn't even dream, so even though it was powerful enough to be a deus ex machina, it couldn't trigger a "miracle."
Logically, it had everything: massive power, a solid foundation, rich experience, and the perfect timing.
It had all the ingredients for victory, and I even gave it so much "backstory" screen time that it looked like it was about to have an awakening...
But in the end?
Its final answer was: "I still don't understand."
Wait, what?
It still had no dreams, even when it started dreaming.
Its final performance wasn't even as good as Gu Chu's—at least Gu Chu always fought up from a position of weakness.
So, you have to think first.
Then you go and make it happen.
I don't want to talk too much about dreams because I feel like there isn't much to say.
Dreams are a matter of talent. People willing to fight for their dreams are born with that "unity of knowledge and action"; it's hard to learn later in life.
Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't legends who suddenly wake up one day and decide to give 100%.
I'd rather tell you about my discarded drafts and character designs.
First, thanks to a certain reader for the "Past" inspiration. I never intended to have Yun Mengxi play a "revival match" because her curtain call was already perfect.
But that reader's prompt was just too good.
A "hallucination" covering a whole city where time loops endlessly.
That reader's solution was brute force—using a power opposite to the culprit's to neutralize it.
I felt the story could be more than that.
So I suggested a different way: make that Herrscher a good person who misses the past, like a Lugiel who wants to stop time.
Then have the interloper prove as "Ginga" that the future can be better than the past.
The world that was supposed to be destroyed when the countdown hit zero instead lights up with fireworks, and the screams turn into laughter...
The future is better than the past, and the future of the future will be even better...
With that ending, the Herrscher lifts the illusion and dies in peace.
That was my suggestion.
Then someone—maybe me, maybe a reader—said: "Yun Mengxi would be perfect for this."
And I just couldn't help myself.
I, Edison, the Dreamer in the Mirror, decided to go full tyrant. I seized that character setting and made it my own! I stole all that reader's inspiration to make them experience the darkness of this world! Muhahaha!
And so, "The Past" was born.
When "The Past" was first born, it was a single-track narrative. The people entering weren't Kallen or Fu Hua, but Kiana, Mei, and Bronya.
But then I realized—don't Himeko and Fu Hua have way too little screen time?
Especially Himeko; she was starting to feel like the late-game Honkai Impact 3rd canon where she's just MIA.
And I haven't even brought in Yae Sakura, Cheng Lixue, or Welt yet! I can't just dump them all into the Future City arc, right?
Otherwise, my Van Gogh, Edison, Ji Xuanyuan, Lianshan, Joyce, Jiuxiao, Lunli, Newton, Planck... and some of those "grandpa" tier legends wouldn't get any screen time!
I can't let that happen!
So, let's put all these "niche" characters into this "bonus dungeon"!
Then I realized another thing.
In this dungeon, you can see people from the past.
How would Fu Hua react to seeing the Seven Swords of Taixu?
How would Natasha react to seeing "Vakh," who became an "Evolution"?
How would Himeko face her biological father?!
Holy— isn't this all great stuff to write? Isn't this rich enough?
Subplots! Subplots everywhere!
Just thinking about the Welt and Yae Sakura lines got me hyped.
So why was the final output a bit underwhelming?
That brings us to the "Welt Line" I had to tearfully scrap.
I don't know if you've seen that "Ultraman" short film about a young man in an Ultraman suit who helps the weak and fights bullies, but becomes weak and doubts himself because of a betrayal.
In his doubt, he goes to the rooftop and takes off the suit, revealing his ordinary face.
But when a cry for help rings out again, he immediately "becomes" Ultraman again and looks back toward the sound.
When I saw the edit with the battle cry and music, seeing the "fake" and "real" Ultraman overlap... I felt that was the best embodiment of the Ultraman spirit.
I was going to give Welt that exact framework, just replacing "Ultraman" with "Arahato."
But I scrapped it because "The Past" was an emergency insertion, and the loop was only 24 hours.
That storyline needs a full emotional arc. I couldn't have Welt be confident in the morning, betrayed at noon, and then standing for the people again by nightfall.
Actually, I could.
But that would be a completely separate story with almost zero interaction with the main plot.
Welt Yang failed to transcend the "Evil Hand of Narrative," and even Arahato got stolen by Kallen. Sigh...
Losing that line made me feel terrible. I was writing like a zombie—just "abba abba" and "crack crack." A lot of the quality in "The Past" arc suffered.
I am a sinner.
I deserve to be kicked into the horizon by an Arahato Rider Kick.
What do you mean Shu became Arahato?
The second big change was the Herrscher of Mirrors.
I'd planned this Herrscher from the start, but the two Shus in the final version are totally different from the draft.
In the first draft, a fake Shu appeared, and everyone mistook him for the real one, driving the real Shu away.
Then my "Pure Love" radar and my conscience started beat-boxing on my brain.
Whoever came up with that idea is an absolute beast! (Wait, that was me.)
I immediately decided—without a nanosecond of hesitation—that the one being driven away would be the fake one.
Then I worried again.
If the fake one was recognized and kicked out by a certain white-haired tuna's "Shu Radar" from the start, what was the point of this Herrscher? Just to be annoying?
Well, that's not...
Cough. That definitely wouldn't work. So, I decided to make this "imposter" the main POV, letting you believe along with him that you were the one abandoned, that you were the real one.
Then, after all that suffering, you'd find out at the end that you were the fake one all along...
Wait.
Then what's the difference between that and being the real one?
I remembered a scene from Punishing: Gray Raven.
"I am a fake, but that doesn't stop me from truly fighting for that belief."
My brain exploded. I watched a bunch of "imposter" edits and extracted the emotional core.
Yes, I am a fake.
So what?
I am still "The Commandant" / "Shu."
I am just glad that I exist and can actually do something.
And so, the final version of the Herrscher of Mirrors was born.
You are all real. You don't have to face the cruel truth of being a fake. You don't have to have the resolve of "I know I'm fake, but I'll do it anyway"...
...Or do you?
Heh!
I'm going to make you suffer anyway!
By the time I finished the core of the Herrscher of Mirrors, it was right around the time I decided I wanted to kill Shu for real.
So I added a cruel development to this character meant only to build up "Shu."
Thus, the Planetary-class Honkai Beast arrived to give them despair.
Whoever won would be the "fake," forcing them to find the resolve to negate themselves.
Nihilus came just to mess with the other Shu.
And to set up the Herrscher of the next volume—Obsession.
As for the two Shus living together and opening a shop...
That was a temporary idea from the intermission teaser "What do you mean Shu is out there fan-boying for Kiana?"
Suffer! Suffer! Suffer!
Wait, what do you mean you're enjoying this?
I don't allow it!
I'll make you feel pain! Jie jie jie...
The third change...
That was Abzu.
It was originally going to have no will, just a mechanical god.
But I felt it could have one.
Alright, next should be the exciting teaser, but... because the next volume is special, I'm only giving you one sentence.
But before the teaser, I have some "bad" news.
Shu is actually starting a band.
After this book ends, I'll start or continue a side story. I mentioned it before: a social-anxiety-ridden Shu is picked up by Kiana to be the band's keyboardist, composer, and arranger. A cozy daily-life story of performing and eventually sharing the stage with Eden.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, I'll release "Golden Courtyard: 2026 New Year Edition" in my other book as a special, and Shu's band will make a cameo. You can consider it a teaser for the side story.
Now, for the Next Volume Teaser!
[Next Volume Teaser]
"If a thing like this can decide your future, decide your life or death... then I, Kiana Kaslana, can do the same!!"
"If you really don't know what to do with your future... then just give everything you have to me! You idiot, Shu!"
"...Okay."
"Wait, what?"