Bronya was sent to Ai Enma's world.
Kiana Kaslana mobilized the Honkai energy of the Houkai Universe, opening a passage to an entirely new world.
Good news: the new passage was far more stable than the one that led to Ai Enma's world.
Bad news: the other side of the passage connected to a modern human world.
Humans in the modern world were not like those of the ancient eras—ignorant and easily deceived.
If monsters resembling zombies from movies suddenly appeared, they would immediately be contained, captured, and dissected for research.
In such a world, finding a human suitable to become a Herrscher's vessel would not be easy.
In Ai Enma's world, there existed spiritual power. Women who possessed spiritual energy and beauty were naturally excellent Herrscher vessels, capable of adapting to Honkai energy.
Men who possessed spiritual power could theoretically become Herrscher vessels as well, but Kiana Kaslana disliked them—her Honkai energy instinctively rejected males.
To her, humans of the modern world all seemed the same—ordinary, without any extraordinary qualities.
To find a Herrscher vessel, she would have to trigger a Honkai Eruption. Those who survived and absorbed Honkai energy would then be the proper vessels.
"This is... an alien fleet disguised as old-era battleships?!"
Kiana Kaslana observed the new world and immediately sensed something strange. The warships sailing on the seas had glowing lines of various colors running along their hulls.
They looked like ancient battleships on the outside—but their weapons were far too advanced.
The mysterious Fleet of Fog.
A great war.
They had sealed off and occupied the oceans, cutting off all communication between nations.
She gathered all the key information.
The Fleet of Fog was immensely powerful. Modern humanity, even with nuclear weapons and every form of thermal armament, could not penetrate their defenses and were being utterly crushed.
If the Fleet of Fog decided to invade land, human civilization would perish within a single day.
Watching the beautiful girl-like shipgirls of the Fleet of Fog, Kiana Kaslana could already guess the direction this world's story would take.
Surely, there would be traitors among the Fleet of Fog who would side with humanity and fight against their own kind.
Otherwise, this world's humans were doomed to lose.
To prevent such a tragic self-destruction among the shipgirls of the Fleet of Fog, the ever-kind Kiana Kaslana decided to occupy all of this world's land.
There were no spiritual energy users here, nor any of those strange gods and monsters.
Finally—she could trigger a Honkai Eruption.
...
The Arpeggio of Blue Steel World.
Far East.
Tokyo.
In this world-class metropolis, people still went about their daily lives—working hard, commuting to and from their jobs. The Fleet of Fog's occupation of the oceans had greatly affected them. They now had to work even harder just to survive.
With international maritime trade halted, the global sea market had shrunk drastically. Fishing boats could only operate near the coast; venturing even slightly farther out risked being sunk by the Fleet of Fog's warships.
As a result, prices in the Far East skyrocketed.
Still, life continued. Ancient times had far harsher living conditions, and humanity had endured even worse before.
Among all nations of the world, the most desperate were those like this one—a maritime power surrounded by ocean on all sides. Landlocked nations still had vast territories and could trade with neighboring countries to sustain their economies.
Kiana Kaslana dispersed diluted Honkai energy across Tokyo—just enough for ordinary humans to endure.
Each person who inhaled even a trace of Honkai energy would see it naturally grow within their body. Unable to withstand it, their physical strength would gradually fade until death—then they would transform into the lowest form of zombie.
Even lower than Vigiles—barely different from cinematic zombies.
Among them, those with better aptitude could absorb ambient Honkai energy and evolve further.
Each day, more Honkai energy spread through the city.
By the ninth day, the number of the sick and weakened had grown sharply.
Doctors at the hospitals, observing the identical symptoms among numerous patients, realized it was likely a new and highly contagious virus.
They reported it to the government.
Upon receiving reports of a new infectious virus, the nation's top officials convened an emergency meeting.
Because of the sheer number of infections, they could not ignore it.
After half a day of discussions, they finally arranged for people to contain and quarantine the infected, and to trace the origin of the virus.
No matter how hard they tried to contain and quarantine the outbreak, new infections continued to appear throughout the city.
A month later, hospitals were overflowing with patients.
In the early stages, the infected began developing purple lines across their skin, which turned increasingly pale.
Under Kiana Kaslana's deliberate control, most of the infected remained in a state between life and death.
Even if they died, she restrained the Honkai energy within them, preventing the transformation into zombies and keeping them from rising to attack others.
If they were to become zombies and start attacking people, the entire situation would change.
It would no longer be an unknown viral outbreak—it would be a full-scale biohazard event.
The government would then resort to extreme measures to exterminate the infection source.
Kiana Kaslana had chosen the Far East for two reasons.
First, if this world had a protagonist, they would most likely be in the Far East.
Eliminating the protagonist was very important.
Her only possible failure would be if the protagonist joined forces with the Fleet of Fog to oppose her.
Second, the Far East was geographically isolated from the rest of the world. Its domestic land forces were relatively weak. Even if she conquered it, the outside world wouldn't immediately know what had happened.
And even if the news did spread—
The Fleet of Fog could take the blame.
With their advanced technology, creating a human-targeted virus wouldn't be difficult at all.
This would also help further strain the already tense relationship between humanity and the Fleet of Fog.
The Fleet of Fog's technological level was exceptionally high. Kiana needed to establish a firm foothold in this world before confronting them.
For now, her focus was on dealing with humanity and stabilizing the two interdimensional passages.
She anchored her connection point in Tokyo.
If Tokyo's Honkai source were destroyed, the anchor point would vanish.
The invasion would fail.
Honkai energy existed as a form beyond physical matter—unless bound by spiritual will, it could not be controlled through any physical means.
In this world, which had no prior experience dealing with Honkai phenomena, people who came into contact with Honkai-infected individuals were utterly confused.
Why does this virus produce such immense energy reactions?!
But soon, they began to suspect something.
No... this isn't a virus of human origin.
The Fleet of Fog must be behind this!
Are they trying to completely annihilate humanity?!
Just as Kiana Kaslana expected, humanity's suspicion fell squarely on the Fleet of Fog.
The number of Honkai-infected continued to rise.
As the accumulation of Honkai energy reached critical levels, it surpassed the threshold for triggering a Honkai Eruption.
Kiana Kaslana began the eruption.
Across the entire city, the concentration of Honkai energy surged explosively.
The infected transformed one after another into zombies, attacking the living.
Those who had not yet been infected soon succumbed as well—the overwhelming density of Honkai energy ensured that becoming one of the dead was only a matter of time.
Different worlds required different conquest methods.
This one had no gods or monsters to worry about, so she could begin directly with a Honkai Eruption.
Within the city of Tokyo, she created Honkai Beasts—an unending source of Honkai energy from the city's core continuously fueling their birth.
The army of Honkai Beasts would soon be raised.