(Volume XI: Year of Honkai)
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The young woman planted a foot on the Honkai Beast's shoulder and launched herself into the air. Mid-spin, she fired three consecutive shots. The specialized bullets exploded the instant they struck the Honkai Zombies' heads, leaving three headless corpses to sway in place.
"Hah!"
A Honkai Beast below her swung a long spear that was fused to its arm, the bone-white tip slashing straight for the girl in the air. Her eyes scanned the attack, and before her brain could even decide on a course of action, her body had already reacted instinctively.
She reached out to grab the incoming spear, her palm parallel to its sweeping path. The moment she grasped it, she rotated her hand forward, using the Honkai Beast's own momentum to launch herself even higher, soaring to the height of a three or four-story building.
In the air, she curled into a ball, then somersaulted downward. Just as she was about to make contact with the Honkai Beast, she gracefully extended her body. Her long legs straightened, one in front of the other, nearly forming a perfect split. But the pose was anything but graceful—at least, not from the perspective of the Honkai Beast below her.
She brought her heel down in a powerful axe kick. Although the girl's previous actions had already demonstrated her incredible physical prowess, to any observer, her slender leg would still seem fragile compared to the Honkai Beast, which was twice her height.
However, there were only two observers here, and neither of them held any such doubts.
"Neko—Charm!"
A giant, translucent mechanical cat paw descended from the sky. The Honkai Beast raised the spear on its arm to block, but the weapon was instantly shattered in two—
BOOM!
The girl landed lightly on the tips of her toes, hopping off the mangled corpse of the Honkai Beast. Her heels tapped against the tiles emblazoned with the St. Freya High School insignia. She stared proudly into the dark night ahead of her, then pouted slightly.
"Just a bunch of small fry. You think this is enough to trap me?"
"Hehe, it seems you do have some skill. But…"
Before her, space rippled like water, and a hazy human figure gradually materialized.
She was close enough this time. Kiana could finally make out the figure's details. Her hair was down, her feet didn't touch the ground, and she floated in mid-air. The faint outline of a wing could be seen behind her right shoulder, which unconsciously reminded Kiana of the Third Herrscher she had seen in Nagazora City.
The memory flickered—that had been more than two years ago. The Third Herrscher's rage was a thing of the past, but Kiana would never forget that single wing. It was something she had once torn from the Herrscher with her own hands. Surely it couldn't be…
She quickly shook her head, dismissing the thought. This woman, from her voice to her appearance, was completely different from the Third Herrscher, though her arrogant and eccentric personality was quite similar.
Wait a minute. Now that she thought about it, that voice sounded a little familiar…
Whatever. Did she really need to think about it? Why not just capture her and interrogate her?
"But my ass!" Kiana roared defiantly. She lunged forward, her left hand expertly reaching for the wing, only to grasp at empty air.
"Hehe… Hahaha! You're still a long way off."
Space rippled once more, and the blurry figure dissipated, leaving only a trail of mocking laughter in Kiana's ears.
"Damn it! I am Kiana Kaslana! Don't you underestimate me!"
The voice's owner suddenly sounded as if she were being choked, and her laughter came to an abrupt halt.
"Kiana? Kaslana? So that's how it is?"
Her low murmur echoed from all directions. Then, the wild laughter returned.
"Hahahaha… I see! I see! No wonder! No wonder at all! Kiana… Kaslana, how pathetic. Your life has been a complete and utter lie from the very beginning…"
"Aaargh! So annoying! Can you stop speaking in riddles?!"
"It seems you're quite eager to learn certain truths. Then keep chasing me. You have to catch me… Only by catching me will you earn the right to know the truth."
"You…"
"Hahaha… Come on!"
Hordes of Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies materialized around her. Kiana clawed at her hair in frustration before redirecting her anger and pain onto her enemies.
Strangely, her fighting tonight felt exceptionally smooth. hulking beasts that were usually difficult to handle were now easy prey. She could effortlessly predict their movements and pinpoint their weaknesses for a fatal blow. It was as if…
It was as if she had done all this before.
The absurd thought lingered in Kiana's mind for less than a second before vanishing. How could that be possible?
"It must be because I've gotten stronger! Becoming Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie is just around the corner, bwahahaha!"
"Sigh…"
Perched atop a distant replica of the Arc de Triomphe, Michael let out a weary sigh.
Kiana's intuition was quite sharp. I guess it's true what they say: when God closes a door, he opens a window. For Kiana, he'd definitely slammed the door on intelligence, so maybe this was the window He'd opened instead.
Unfortunately, such intuition was useless in the face of absolute authority.
Michael clenched his fist, then slowly relaxed it. A golden feather vanished in his palm, repairing the small crack in the dream that had formed due to Kiana's intuition.
He then rested his chin on his hand, watching with a hint of boredom as the girl chased the phantoms he had left behind in his own past. A mix of emotions churned within him.
"Back in my day, I didn't have anyone to play with me like this."
He received no reply.
In truth, no one could reply to him.
In this dream, his presence was not meant to be detected at all.
"Still, from the looks of it, Kiana should be able to catch up to her this time. I can only hope she doesn't say too much at once. That would just be a pain for me to clean up… Yawn…"
Bang!
The final bullet took down the last Honkai Beast. Kiana raised her right hand, twirled the pistol around her index finger, and stylishly holstered it at her waist.
"Alright, the small fry are all cleaned up. You'd better not be mysterious this time, or don't blame me for knocking a few bumps on your head!"
"Tch!"
The scornful laugh arrived before the figure. Kiana frowned in annoyance, but she was counting on this coward who wouldn't even show her true face to tell her some "truths," so she decided to hold her tongue for now.
"Congratulations, congratulations, my dear Kiana!"
For some reason, the voice emphasized the name "Kiana" heavily, almost as if she were grinding her teeth.
"It wasn't easy catching up to me, was it? Alright, as a reward, you may ask me one question. Whatever you ask, I will answer. I'm very generous, you see."
Who are you? The question was Kiana's first instinct, but she quickly shook her head, suppressing her curiosity about the figure's identity.
She hadn't forgotten her original goal. From the day she left Siberia, her mission had been to find her father, who had suddenly disappeared.
Though she understood how important a freely-given question was, she didn't hesitate to ask—
"About my stupid old dad…"
"Ohhh—"
The figure dragged out the sound, as if she wasn't surprised at all.
"Siegfried Kaslana. That name just never seems to go away. You remember what happened two years ago, don't you? During the Honkai Eruption in Nagazora City, your precious Mei was chosen to become an apostle of Honkai destruction—the Third Herrscher. Although… she was just a crude imitation. But if there's a third, there must have been a first and a second…"
"Huh? Really? Why?"
Kiana's sudden question made the voice pause for a good ten seconds. Even Michael, who had silently appeared on the lawn nearby, facepalmed.
"You don't need to know why. You just need to know that sixteen years ago, a similar Honkai Eruption occurred in Siberia. The Herrscher born then, the Second Herrscher, was so powerful that…"
The voice paused, as if choosing her words carefully. Or perhaps, she was just embarrassed from boasting about herself?
Michael had no doubt it was the latter. He crossed his arms and propped up his chin, unabashedly enjoying the spectacle of this first meeting between a certain "himself" and himself.
Under the protection of his Herrscher authority, he could walk right between the two of them, and as long as he wished it, he wouldn't be discovered.
He wasn't a pervert, but there was something oddly satisfying about this feeling of voyeurism.
Yeah… he probably wasn't a pervert.
"…that Schicksal had no choice but to deploy its strongest S-rank Valkyrie—its only S-rank Valkyrie. A one-time-use anti-Honkai weapon, and also your… 'mother,' Cecilia Schariac. And at that time, your father, Siegfried, was also on that snowy plain, fighting side-by-side with your mother."
"Huh?"
Kiana's brow furrowed.
"Don't tell me my mother…"
"That's right. Your mother died in that Honkai Eruption. But do you know who killed her?"
"W-Weren't we talking about my stupid old dad?"
Kiana scratched her head. Michael could only think that her denseness granted her an unusual level of stubbornness. She wasn't easy to distract…
He quickly jotted that down in his mental notepad.
"We were," the figure admitted freely. "But aren't you curious? About how your mother really died?"
"I am," Kiana nodded emphatically. "But didn't you say I could only ask one question?"
"…Did I say that?"
"Didn't you?"
Kiana's stubbornness was starting to get on the figure's nerves. She threw all caution to the wind and declared loudly:
"Your mother, she was killed by—"
The voice cut off again. But this time, it wasn't just the voice that stopped. The entire dream world froze with it.
"Sigh… I knew she wouldn't be able to resist telling her that."
Michael let out a half-exasperated, half-amused sigh and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
"Ow!"
A piece of chalk flew through the air in a perfect parabola. It zipped past the textbook Mei had placed on Kiana's desk to block Michael's view and accurately struck Kiana on the head. Just before it hit, the girl's snoring had already drawn the attention of the entire class.
"Ki—a—na! Sleeping in my class again!"
Michael tossed the remaining half of the chalk in his right hand while his left pushed up the glasses on his nose in a scholarly gesture.
"While a Valkyrie's duty is to eliminate the Honkai through combat, and the Valkyrie ranking exams place the most weight on combat assessment, you cannot become an A-rank Valkyrie if you fail the theory portion. A strong fighter without a brain is just that—a fighter. A-rank Valkyries are expected to lead squads of B-rank Valkyries, and that requires more than just knowing how to fight."
"Tch! I know, I know. You say the same thing every time. You probably learned it from Principal Theresa… And besides, why does someone with perfect vision like wearing glasses anyway…" Kiana "muttered" nonchalantly, already standing up with practiced ease before Michael could even respond.
Seeing her dazed, half-asleep expression and hearing her loud complaints, the classroom filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
"Alright, Kiana, look at the blackboard!"
Michael bent his index finger and tapped the board under the conspicuous line of text that read "1999-2000."
"Same old rules. Answer the following question, and I'll let you sit back down. You can sleep all you want, as long as you don't snore."
"And if I don't get it right?"
"Then you'll keep standing. What else did you expect?"
Kiana slumped helplessly. This was the brilliant excuse she had come up with after being made to stand countless times!
"But… Teacher Mi…chael, if I stand here, the students behind me can't see the blackboard!"
"So now you're worried about disturbing others? Didn't think about that when you were snoring, did you?" Michael retorted, arms crossed, mercilessly exposing Kiana's true colors.
He then spread his hands in a teasing gesture. "Besides, Kiana, please don't treat your classmates like idiots."
This comment clearly resonated with Bronya, who was sitting next to Kiana. She nodded in satisfaction, adding an assist for Michael: "Indeed. The only idiot here is you, Kiana."
Kiana shot her an angry glare. Mei tugged on her other sleeve, and from behind her came the sound of a desk scraping. She turned to see the student behind her habitually moving their seat the moment she stood up. Not that many students sat behind her anyway—only those who couldn't get other seats and were too shy to ask to share a desk with someone else.
St. Freya High School was quite different from Chiba Academy. Chiba Academy was a standard middle school where everyone had an assigned desk. St. Freya was more like a true academy, where students simply brought their textbooks to the designated classroom and found their own seats.
As for Kiana, everyone had known her for two years now. How many classes did this idiot manage to stay awake through, and how many times did she not get caught? And of all the times she was caught, how often did she actually answer the question correctly and avoid standing in the corner?
At this thought, another round of cheerful laughter filled the room.
"Ahem! Quiet!"
A cool female voice suddenly emerged from Mei's side. Though her voice wasn't intentionally raised, it easily reached everyone's ears. Her tone was flat, but it was like ice water dousing a flame. The entire classroom fell silent in an instant, leaving only the soft rustling of cloth and the scraping of chairs, like the continuous sizzle of steam rising from an extinguished fire.
Michael turned his head almost imperceptibly toward Hua's seat and smiled faintly. She, however, did not return the sentiment. Her pen spun listlessly in her hand for two turns before she turned to look out the window.
Unconcerned, Michael shook his head and pointed back to the blackboard. "Come on, Kiana. Tell me, what happened in Siberia during this period?"
"Oh! I know, I know!"
Seeing the familiar time and place, a grin quickly spread across Kiana's face.
"What happened was… uh? What did happen again?"
Kiana's eyes went wide. She instinctively raised a hand and pressed down on the ahoge on top of her head.
The question was definitely familiar, but why couldn't she… remember the answer?
"The Second Honkai Eruption, Kiana!"
"Idiot! It's the Second Honkai Eruption!"
"Big Sis Kiana, it's the Second Honkai Eruption!"
"Oh, right, it was the… what Honkai Eruption was it again?" Kiana leaned slightly to the side.
"The Second!" Mei enunciated with extreme force, though she was clearly trying to stifle a laugh, which made her look absolutely ridiculous.
"The Second Honkai Eruption!" Kiana puffed out her chest, filled with confidence.
After all, with the three geniuses next to her all giving the same answer, there was no way it could be wrong!
"Mhm, you got it—righ—t!"
Kiana proudly lifted her chin, but Michael's words weren't finished.
"Mhm, congratulations to Mei, Bronya, and Seele for getting it right. As for you, Kiana… you can keep standing."
"Huh? HEY! Why?! I answered it correctly!"
Michael shrugged, not wanting to argue the point. But Kiana had finally gotten a question so simple that she could understand the hints. How could she possibly let it go?
"Damn it, Uncle Michael! You said I just had to answer it right! You never said other people couldn't help me!"
"I didn't?"
"Did you?"
The two locked eyes, and a dead silence fell over the classroom.
Just as Kiana thought victory was within her grasp and was about to begin her premature celebration, Michael threw up his hands in defeat.
"But isn't that just common sense?"
Kiana was about to argue further, but Michael's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Kiana, what did you just call me?"
Kiana instantly lowered her head and stopped arguing.
Head down, hands behind her back, she reluctantly remained standing.
"Sigh…"
Ever since he'd put on these glasses and become a teacher, Michael felt that his already frequent sighs had increased exponentially.
He scratched his thinning hair, put down his lesson plan, and thought for a moment before speaking again.
"Kiana, I know your squad just perfectly thwarted a Honkai Eruption in Canghai City a few days ago and even brought back an aerial warship as a trophy. Based on that alone, your achievements are on par with some third-rate A-rank Valkyrie squads. But rules are rules. A Valkyrie needs strong theoretical knowledge to complement her combat skills. That way, you know how you should fight and why you fight, instead of just knowing how to fight. Understand?"
Kiana, only half-understanding, buried her head even lower.
"Of course, I also know that these basic history questions are dry, boring, and not all that meaningful. Even I find it annoying to have to lecture you all on this right before exams."
"If you know that, then why are you still teaching it…"
"Huh? What was that?"
Kiana clapped a hand over her mouth, a gesture that screamed guilt.
"If I don't teach this, what am I supposed to do? Wave my hand and let you all go back to your dorms to play video games?" Michael rolled his eyes.
"So, let's try a different approach. How about I tell you all some stories from my own experience, as someone who personally lived through the 'Second Honkai Eruption'?"
Of course, no one objected. Even the best students wouldn't turn down a teacher going off-topic in class.
In fact, everyone was hoping for it. Some even took out their notebooks, ready to jot down the gossip—er, key points—from their teacher's story.
There was only one exception—
Hua's mouth fell slightly agape as she stared at Michael on the podium in disbelief.
She had already guessed what he was about to talk about.
But that wasn't the only thing that shocked her. There was also an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had personally witnessed all of this happen once before.
Was it in a dream?
The sounds around her became distant and viscous. In a daze, she thought she heard familiar yet foreign names like "Irkutsk."
Right
Life is but a fleeting dream, after all.