Xin Yu sat within the void, gazing at the colossal, iridescent tree before him. He looked at one of the countless worlds it carried, at that world's innumerable points in time. He extended a single finger and gently toppled a standing tower.
From that moment on, the high tower known as the Tower of Babel had already collapsed at the very beginning of the timeline. All the evil it had wrought was overturned in that single instant.
The girl named Sirin did not become a Herrscher, but instead lived a happy life with her healthy mother and father.
Cecilia did not sacrifice her life because of the 2nd Honkai War. Siegfried was not left to wander and grieve. The two of them lived a peaceful life together, raising the daughter they had brought into the world.
And at the very moment the timeline shifted, a certain blond-haired man who received Xin Yu's special attention also recalled all his memories. He ceased all his plans and went back to being a proper Overseer of Schicksal and a loving grandfather.
Bronya's mother did not die because of the Honkai. She successfully gave birth to her daughter, and she herself was not harmed.
According to how things should have developed, a certain future protagonist ought not to exist. Yet, as if from thin air, a girl named Kiana Kaslana was born.
She had a happy and blissful family. Her mother was Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, Cecilia Schariac. Her father was Schicksal's strongest warrior, Siegfried Kaslana. She had an older sister named Bianka Kaslana.
The girl's life was wonderful. Although her parents and older sister were terrible cooks, everyone in the family truly loved her, and she had what she considered to be the most wonderful and happy childhood.
Xin Yu watched a nearly imperceptible thread extend from the altered timeline, stretching towards the trunk of the Tree itself.
"The story of the 2nd Honkai War has been rewritten. Next is the 1st Honkai War."
Xin Yu allowed that thin thread to grow ever fainter as it spread, until it eventually disappeared completely. He then made his move again, intervening in another segment of that world's history.
However many people died, that is how many shall live. Those who should have existed, shall exist. And the power that should have existed, will naturally appear.
The Herrscher Cores that should have been created by a great Honkai Eruption were, under Xin Yu's intervention, simply born into existence. And since the Honkai Eruption that should have created them now had its 'effect' already present, the 'cause' was considered complete and would thus not occur later.
This was a case of first the effect, then the cause.
Even though the 1st Honkai War never erupted, and the will of those who died to create the Herrscher of Reason never appeared, the Herrscher of Reason was still born. The first Herrscher of Reason, Welt Joyce, still appeared.
Xin Yu looked at the young man who was now looking at the world with the eyes of a blind man, and with a smile, he connected the threads of causality. He established a causal link for the Einstein duo, who, due to the timeline changes, should never have met Welt Joyce. Before long, the two parties would meet again through a series of coincidences and become acquainted.
At this moment, Xin Yu was like a spider, mending all the divergent and unexpected plot points caused by the changes in time and events, as if patching the holes in a web.
Then, he took the originally separate 1st and 2nd Honkai Wars and re-merged them into the timeline, allowing the two previously independent time periods to connect and then completely overwrite the world's future.
"Stitching and mending... I feel like weaving causality is like being a tailor, putting the right thread in the right place to create the right clothes... Okay, I take that back. Right now I feel like a programmer, and I have to make sure there are no bugs in the code I'm writing."
As he worked on weaving causality, trying to ensure that the people who were supposed to appear in the future wouldn't vanish because of his manipulations, Xin Yu scratched his head. Staring at the tangled mess of threads before him, he suddenly felt the pressure was a bit much.
But he couldn't just leave it. After all, he was the one who made this mess, so he had to be the one to solve it.
Xin Yu could only maintain his seated posture and begin to weave that tangled ball of yarn from outside the world.
Inside the world.
A blaring alarm clock shattered a young girl's sweet dream. She reached a hand out from under the covers, fumbling around blindly until she finally, with great difficulty, found the incessantly ringing clock. After shutting it off, the pale white hand drooped limply, and the girl sank once more into a dream.
However, this dream was destined not to last long. The bedroom door was flung open violently, and a woman's voice rang out.
"Get up, Kiana! Today is your first day at St. Freya Academy! It's not good to be late on the first day. Besides, the headmaster is Aunt Theresa. If you're late, you'll be disrespecting our dear aunt, and Mom and Dad won't be able to help you then."
The girl in the bed, hearing her older sister's nagging, finally managed to crawl out from under the covers with great effort.
"I know, sis."
Kiana, her hair a bit of a mess, let out a yawn and forced herself to wake up. She looked at her older sister before her, this person who had been abnormally hardworking since she was little, whose daily life was as disciplined as a robot's: Bianka Kaslana.
Truthfully, Kiana really admired her older sister. From a young age, without any supervision, Bianka had always been strict with herself, maintaining good habits in her life, and she never slacked off in her studies or training, always achieving excellent results.
"But what's the point of Sis trying so hard? The traces of the Honkai have been disappearing from this world for decades now. Even if one or two pop up occasionally, most of the time the Valkyries don't even need to go to the front lines. We have the latest Schicksal mechs for that."
Although Kiana didn't understand, she respected her sister's choice. Maybe her big sister just enjoyed this kind of life.
Kiana hurriedly finished her breakfast. For the past month, her parents had been busy with something and weren't at home.
It was a good thing they weren't home. Otherwise, her mother would occasionally get a whim to cook for the family. But since everyone in the family was hopeless at cooking, the things they made could only be described as meeting the 'Kaslana family standard'.
You could eat it, but Kiana would much rather have something more normal.
After finishing her meal, Kiana took the wireless maglev train developed by Schicksal. It didn't take long to cross the city and arrive at St. Freya Academy, which was located in the city's outskirts.
Standing outside the gates of St. Freya Academy, Kiana looked at the school she had visited many times since she was a child, and for some reason, she felt a strange stirring in her heart.
"Strange, why do I suddenly feel this strange sense of familiarity? It's like I've attended school here before."
Kiana couldn't quite understand it. Just then, she noticed another girl standing nearby. She turned her head and saw a girl with long, purple hair.
The first moment she saw the girl, Kiana knew she had met someone who was incredibly important to her.
The girl also noticed Kiana's gaze. She turned her head slightly, smiled, and said, "Good morning, Kiana."
"Huh? How do you know my name?"
"..."
The smile on the girl's face gradually faded. She looked at Kiana with an expression that was impossible to describe—it was like disappointment, like confusion, and yet also like acceptance.
"Then let's get acquainted again. My name is Raiden Mei."
"Hello, my name is Kiana Kaslana."