It was the fourth day since the Honkai outbreak.
On a street in Nagazora, a white-haired girl held the hand of a black-haired girl as they sprinted down a road crowded with zombies.
"Out of the way! You're dead—stop blocking us!" Kiana shouted.
Bullets were no longer a concern. Ever since Kiana formally apprenticed herself to the Verna, She had taught her a nifty trick: condensing Honkai Energy into bullets. Normal twin pistols couldn't handle the technique—but Kiana's handguns were anything but ordinary.
Verna had gifted her a pair of handguns, Key of the Void—those seemingly plain guns in Kiana's grasp.
Kiana kept trying to pry out the Verna's true identity, desperate to understand why someone so powerful lived inside her—and why she treated her so well.
Each time, the Verna brushed her off. Even so, Kiana had pieced together her own guess—one she simply refused to accept, always looking the other way.
After all, how could she be a Herrscher herself?
—Back to the story. Kiana's twin guns dealt lethal damage to every Zombie in her way, every shot a headshot. Even carrying Mei, she felt no strain.
With a boom, a colossal Honkai Beast barreled after them, toppling a small house. Kiana and Mei spun in perfect sync, shotgun and twin pistols roaring at the monster.
Kiana and Mei directly poured their fire power into the Honkai Beast—but it was all useless.
They hadn't expected the creature to be so tough. Surprise flashed across their faces, Kiana's far more suprise.
She'd enchant her bullets with Honkai Energy—yet they'd only chipped a sliver of its Shell. Was that normal?
It was.
Kiana was basically a blank slate, low-level; hurting that thing would be a miracle.
"Mei, watch out!" Seeing the beast raise a claw, Kiana yanked Mei into a back-flip. The moment they left the ground, the claw smashed the spot they'd just stood on.
"Our weapons barely scratch it," Mei said, eyes locked on the monster, her face grave.
"Give me a break—this stalker won't quit!" Kiana snapped. She wasn't about to cry for help again: "Help me, other me!" Just to beat one Honkai Beast? No way.
She had to prove herself. Always relying on the Verna would make a mockery of all the Void queen's teachings.
"Teachings": one night of tutorials plus a not-yet-maxed weapon, then being thrown at Elysian Realm-grade mobs—figuratively speaking.
Right above the Honkai Beast, Bronya leapt from a rooftop, calm as ever, calling out her stan-, Mech.
"Project Bunny."
Kiana and Mei looked up, delighted. "Bronya!"
A titanic robot re-formed behind Bronya—shield raised right, cannon left—dropping from the sky to spear the Honkai Beast.
As the monster crashed down, Bronya landed lightly, hugging a Homu doll she'd looted from a supermarket last chapter. Behind her, Stand—Project Bunny—phased back into quantum state and vanished.
"Mission complete."
"Perfect timing, Bronya—thanks!" Mei walked over to thank her, which instantly soured Kiana. If she hadn't trained for only one night, she'd never have needed a rescue.
"What's to thank? She jumped in swinging—nearly got me caught in the cross-fire! Useless little runt!" Kiana's jealousy surged into the mindscape; Verna hugged a pillar, long used to the routine.
"Kiana safety priority: zero. System deems her well-being irrelevant," Bronya stated. After all, Kiana housed a top-tier god; danger was impossible.
"You want to start a war?" Misinterpreting, Kiana's vein popped as she jabbed a finger at Bronya.
"If opponent is Kiana, Bronya victory probability: 99.9999%." Facing a mere Paramecium, Bronya couldn't lose—unless Kiana cheated and called the Herrscher.
Then it'd be three hits for the Void queen, Bronya's funeral on day seven. Kiana caught the jab, claws out. "Then I'm one hundred percent—no, one thousand percent.
Mei watched the squabbling pair with fond exasperation, then turned to the Honkai Beast's corpse, worry flooding her.
Why had such a creature appeared? Was Honkai concentration still climbing? How long before swarms of them showed up? Mei stood with her back to the girls, face creased with anxiety.
Bronya noticed Mei's unease at once and floated over. "Is Mei-nee injured?"
Mei turned, lifting a hand with a smile. "It's nothing—just a scratch."
On her fair arm a crimson gash bled freely. Kiana's jealousy instanly evaporated.
The mindscape quieted. Verna slid off her pillar, flopped onto the sofa, legs crossed, and watched the TV screen.
Watching Kiana lick Mei's wound—only for Project Bunny to level a cannon at her, leaving Mei flustered—the Herrscher yawned.
"Boring. I want rivers of blood~" she drawled lazily, conjuring an iced cola, popping the tab one-handed, and taking a swig.
...
Night fell.
The trio found an unoccupied apartment whose door still worked; Kiana tested the lock, then nodded to the others.
Once inside, Bronya shut down across Mei's lap, falling into baby-like sleep. Youth was wonderful—head hits pillow, out like a light. Mei stroked Bronya's hair, her own body gradually relaxing.
"Running all day—finally a break," Mei murmured, leaning against a sliding door, eyes closing.
"Liar."
Mei opened her eyes to Kiana hugging her knees beside the sofa, cheeks puffed, still brooding over the day's events.
"How dare she nap on Mei's lap—should've left her behind," Kiana muttered. She'd only had Mei's lap once herself!
"Don't be like that. Without Bronya we wouldn't have made it this far."
Kiana couldn't argue; technically she packed the strongest ace—Heaven-rank technique: Ghost Possession—but wanting to stand on her own kept Bronya the steady MVP.
Without her, their escape from Nagazora would take twice as long.
"Fine—Bronya's amazing, Mei loves Bronya best," Kiana said with an eye-roll. So what if she was jealous?
Mei merely smiled, fond and soft. "And I love Kiana most of all."
A straight pitch down the middle—our Kiana KO'd...