Shenzhou Calendar, Year 0, Month 0, Day 0...
A flight departing from North America and bound for Singapore was currently stopped over in a city in the Far East.
In first class, a black-skirted girl with a somewhat gloomy expression watched through the small window to her right as the fuel truck slowly drove away from the tarmac.
God, why did You make me go to that place... Yes, I misspoke. I'm sorry!
The girl lowered her head, and an unusual expression resembling embarrassment appeared on her face for once.
After a while, she raised her head again, her overly pale face returning to normal. Her hands impatiently gripped the hem of her clothes as she muttered inwardly about why this damned plane had to stop here for so long.
Just as she was complaining to herself, a young girl's energetic voice came from behind her. "Squad leader, why would aunt think of having us take this to complete... Mmph, Squad Leader, why are you covering my mouth?!"
From that youthful, enthusiastic voice, it was not hard to tell that its owner was a little princess spoiled by many.
Unfortunately, people's joys and sorrows were not shared. Xina only found her noisy.
Before turning her head away, Xina caught sight of the two people approaching from behind out of the corner of her eye.
The girl being pushed forward from behind with her mouth covered perfectly matched Xina's stereotype of a "little princess."
"All right, Kiana. Since we're in a public place, keep your voice down a little. Don't disturb others."
How should she put it? This young lady was quite pretty. It would be even better if she changed those two thick braids to another hairstyle.
Xina silently snarked, then looked at the girl behind the white-haired girl, the one called squad leader.
For some reason, when Xina saw the young woman behind the white-haired girl, wearing red-rimmed glasses and a neat suit, she instinctively sensed something strange. Even the Honkai energy suppressed within her stirred slightly.
It was an indescribably bizarre feeling, as though... that glasses-wearing girl could punch her to death.
Xina's instincts had always been accurate. The moment she sensed something was wrong, she immediately withdrew her amused gaze and instead studied the two clearly unusual girls from the corner of her eye.
"Miss Fu Hua, Miss Kiana, please follow me. Your seats are this way..."
"Oh! So her name is Fu Hua?" Xina murmured. She then raised her head and shook away her unrealistic thoughts, thinking, I hope they won't get in the way of my business in Singapore...
Bzzzz!
As the noisy engines roared to life, the plane, which had been stopped here for quite some time, began operating again. It sped down the runway, took off, and soon vanished into the vast sea of clouds.
Leaning against the soft reclining seat, Xina felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier before she fell into deep darkness.
Within the endless darkness, there was not a trace of light. At a loss, Xina did not know where to go and could only slowly walk forward along the pitch-black path before her.
Gradually, light appeared at the end of the passageway that had seemed endless. Xina walked toward it in delight, only to freeze in shock.
"Mom... Mom?"
"Why are you here? Aren't you already..."
Hearing Xina's words, a trace of disgust flashed through the middle-aged woman's eyes as she gave a disdainful snort.
"Xina, how could I possibly be dead? I merely found an opportunity to leave you. In my eyes, you're nothing but a cursed star who brings misfortune to family and friends!"
"W-What?"
Xina could not believe that her dearest mother would say such hurtful words to her. Several times, she tried to speak up in rebuttal.
But what was even sadder was that she truly could not find anything to say in response.
Was she really a cursed star who brought misfortune?
Recalling her short life, Xina sadly realized that her mother... perhaps... was telling the truth...
Yet the woman within the curtain of light continued chattering on, criticizing Xina until she was utterly worthless.
"Stop it! Stop talking!" Xina raised her head to look at the endlessly chattering woman, gritted her teeth, and rammed headlong into the curtain of light without a care for anything else.
Crash!
The curtain of light shattered. When Xina came back to her senses, it had returned to its original state.
Rumble!
A dull peal of thunder sounded in the distance.
Along with the rolling thunder, large drops of rain came pouring down from the sky.
"Xina, you freak! Stay away from me!"
"Get the hell back home!"
"You're a freak anyway. You might as well die."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at her. Doesn't she look like a ()?"
"Freak! Monster! Hahahahaha..."
Piercing, familiar insults came from within the curtain of light. Several half-grown children had taken her mother's place and were throwing stones at Xina.
The way they looked at her was filled with the same disgust one would show upon seeing a filthy stray dog by the roadside.
Normally, she would have covered her head and fled far away.
But this time, Xina had no intention of putting up with them any longer. She bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and walked step by step toward the bastards who had bullied her for years.
Smack!
Xina raised the stone high, swung it in a beautiful arc through the air, and knocked those little bastards to the ground one by one.
Ignoring their pleas, she repeated her mechanical movements over and over. Only after the crying and begging had completely ceased did Xina toss aside the bloodied stone and slowly rise to her feet.
Lowering her head, she looked at the bloodstains on her sleeves from using too much force. Xina felt an inexplicable sense of exhilaration.
Crack! Crack!
The curtain of light shattered once more. Xina blankly raised her head, wanting to see what she would witness this time.
This time, nothing happened. There were no curses from relatives, nor condemnation from others. There were only images like those in a picture book.
Everyone in those images wore smiles on their faces. Every one of them was so... happy. Compared to them, Xina felt that her own life was utterly laughable.
They were all living lives. Why were others so happy and at ease, while all that awaited her was gloom and pain?
In an instant, Xina seemed to have been drained of all strength and collapsed to her knees.
All the grievances, anger, unwillingness, and secret thoughts she had hidden deep in her heart over the years, thoughts she had not dared to let the world know, all came surging out at once.
After the images had displayed themselves before Xina one by one, they vanished like smoke, and everything returned to darkness.
Only the low whisper of the so-called God echoed by Xina's ear.
"Child, in the eyes of these filthy humans, you are an outcast, forever unable to blend in with them. Yet seeing them so happy, do you not feel anger in your heart? Do you not wish to destroy their happiness?"
"Anger... Am I... angry?" Xina muttered with her head lowered. After a long while, she raised her head and stated, "God, what exactly should I do?"
The moment those words left her mouth, an intense light suddenly descended. It forcefully drove away all the surrounding darkness, making Xina unable to open her eyes.
Only after fully adjusting to the brightness around her did Xina look about in confusion. Within this nearly blank space, she saw a "person."
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a... God beyond human comprehension.
Amid her surprise and fear, doubt and hesitation arose within Xina's heart.
Child, are you willing to become my apostle, bear a portion of my power, and destroy filthy human civilization for me?
"Destroy humanity? Can I do that? I'm only..." Xina hesitated for a moment. Before she could make a decision, God's voice rang out in her mind once more.
It seems you are still not determined or confident enough. But I am willing to give you an opportunity and a small gift. Use every means at your disposal to reclaim ()()()(), and let me see your determination. I will grant you true power!
As the words ended, the light faded. Xina opened her eyes and sat up with a hand on her head. At some point, her gemlike gray-blue eyes had become tinged with a faint golden hue.
"Miss Xina, are you all right?"
The flight attendant approaching her bent down with concern and handed her a warm towel. Xina stiffly raised her hand and accepted it. The moment her pale palm touched the towel—
a layer of pale blue Ice Crystal spread upward at a visible speed.
"Huh?" Xina froze for a moment, then snatched the towel and pretended to wipe her forehead with it. Forcing out an awkward smile, she said, "I'm a little thirsty. Please pour me a glass of water. Thank you..."
"All right, please wait a moment!" The flight attendant withdrew her gaze from the nearby seat, turned around, and walked toward the end of the aisle.
Xina was left staring in disbelief at the white towel frozen into a solid lump of ice in her hands. She murmured, "Could this be the little bit of power God gave me?"
Setting down the lump of ice and clutching her chest, Xina looked around. Seeing no one paying attention to her, she lifted her clothes. Before her eyes, several pink lines resembling blood vessels extended from her chest to her limbs before vanishing.
She felt as though something extraordinary had appeared within her body.
Five minutes earlier, St. Freya Academy, Headmaster's Office.
"Himeko, is there any news?" The Principal, dressed in a tiny nun's outfit, hurriedly closed the comic book on her desk and casually grabbed a document to cover it. She looked at the visitor with a guilty expression.
"The Science Department reported that they just observed an enormous Honkai energy fluctuation over the Southern Shenzhou Sea. Although it lasted less than 0.01 seconds, judging from its energy level, it seemed to be a Herrscher-level fluctuation!"
"Impossible! In theory, only one Herrscher appears in each Honkai eruption. Isn't the Third Herrscher still under our surveillance?!" Theresa strode out from behind her desk with her hands on her hips, looking furious. Looking at the report Himeko handed her, she asked doubtfully, "The Honkai energy fluctuation vanished in an instant? Could the instruments have malfunctioned?"
"This... I don't know either. After all... the energy peak only appeared for 0.01 seconds before returning to normal."
"If you ask me, the Science Department people are reliable most of the time. When it comes to something like a Herrscher, it's better to be safe than sorry. It wouldn't hurt to send someone to investigate."
Himeko spread her hands and spoke helplessly.
"Then have Fu Hua and... Oh, right, Fu Hua already went to Singapore with that girl Kiana to carry out a mission."
Stopping halfway through her sentence, Theresa suddenly smacked her forehead. She grabbed Himeko and said with an ingratiating smile, "How about Major Himeko puts in a little effort and takes two students to check things out?"
"Tsk, our esteemed Principal certainly knows how to order people around!" Himeko held her forehead with her left hand and planted her right hand on her hip. In the end, she still yielded to Theresa's unusually generous verbal promise. "No ban on my drinking for this month once I finish this trip, right? Fine. I'll take the mission!"
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(Any good suggestions are welcome. There may be omissions or mistakes in the plot and setting, so I hope everyone will point them out. The author will listen to all suggestions. If the writing is bad, feel free to criticize me—just go a little easy, okay? The author will correct it as soon as possible.)
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