The promised third collapse, where is it?!!

"Sir, times have changed."

As Bronya finished speaking, two beam cannons fired with a roar!

The torrent of light surged forward, engulfing Fu Li and the Shadow Phantom attacking from different directions!

Bronya, however, didn't let her guard down. The eerie smile the phantom showed just before being hit made her realize the opponent had other plans.

"Heavy-duty Rabbit!" she commanded in a low voice.

A cold glint slashed down at the girl, but it was blocked by the Heavy-duty Rabbit that had arrived just in front of her.

Escape Dagger, ten-meter teleportation radius, one-minute cooldown.

The phantom had used this move to evade the bombardment and then flash to Bronya's front!

The Heavy-duty Rabbit required time to switch modes, depending on the complexity of the module being switched.

This slash came too quickly. In her haste, Bronya didn't have time to switch to the corresponding defensive mode, so she could only order the Heavy-duty Rabbit's main body to move forward and block.

Fortunately, it was in time.

"So this is the real body?"

Her gaze locked onto the crystal-blue Fu Li holding the dagger, the girl murmured to herself, finally at ease.

"You guessed wrong, sweetie!"

A voice that should have been blasted to smithereens echoed in Bronya's ear. Another Fu Li, covered in smoke, appeared behind her, completely unguarded!

He had perfectly seized the opening while the Heavy-duty Rabbit was blocking the phantom's attack!

Many wuxia novels have characters shout "Watch out for my hidden weapon!" before throwing one. This isn't entirely out of chivalry; it's also because some hidden weapons have low lethality. If the attack is too stealthy, the target might not feel the pain due to adrenaline, rendering it ineffective.

Shouting loudly, however, is more likely to expose the opponent's weakness, creating favorable conditions for the next attack.

Fu Li was no different.

He, or the Shadow Phantom, was essentially a decoy.

No matter how many targets there were, even if he used his ultimate technique, Seven Swords Split, Nine Paths (Fu Li was ambidextrous, wielding swords with both hands), Bronya at this distance couldn't possibly miss.

This was because the multi-directional assault was part of a scenario meticulously calculated and preset by the girl.

To defeat her, one had to employ special methods that went beyond her thought process.

Thus, Fu Li handed the Escape Dagger to the phantom, allowing it to teleport to evade the bombardment and charge at Bronya.

He himself relied on the defensive shield of the Silver Bloom Seed to withstand the attack, and while the girl's attention was diverted by the phantom, he quickly circled around to her rear.

That's right, a mere phantom couldn't pose even the slightest threat to the Heavy-duty Rabbit.

But after the series of combo attacks that had occurred in such a short time, Bronya would instinctively believe the phantom charging at her was Fu Li himself, and she would unthinkingly order the Heavy-duty Rabbit to brace itself.

At this point, the girl's rear was wide open!

"!!!"

Fu Li's dramatic entrance undoubtedly startled Bronya.

Her pupils constricted, but there was little visible tension.

The girl's confidence stemmed from the eight Star-stone Shields that had been quietly activated. With them, she could let Fu Li hack away with all his might for about ten seconds, and then, under his astonished and frustrated gaze, readjust the Heavy-duty Rabbit and blast him into nothingness, not even a fundamental particle left.

This is what it means to be inherently in an invincible position. If you have the ability, find yourself a well-preserved Anti-Entropy Executor like Old Lady Gan.

Unfortunately, Fu Li knew Bronya very well, perhaps even better than she knew herself at this moment.

"You said times have changed just now, right?"

He raised his long saber and slashed down.

The Crescent Moon, with a slight notch, struck the seemingly tangible force field shield under their equally confident gazes. In the midst of it, one person's eyes turned to horror as the shield 'penetrated' the invincible defense that even silver bullets couldn't breach, with a fluid motion.

Fu Li twisted his wrist, and the back of his saber lightly tapped Bronya on the back of her neck.

The girl's vision went black. She staggered for a moment, but eventually stumbled into a comfortable embrace.

The owner of the embrace brushed aside the silver-gray bangs covering her smooth forehead, examined the angelic little face as she slept, and chuckled, "You're the one who can't keep up with the times, Little Sister Cou!"

This morning, when returning to Changkong City, Kiana had asked Fu Li how he had managed to knock Susanna unconscious without disturbing the Silver Bloom Seed.

The Silver Bloom Seed was a highly advanced automatic sensing type; otherwise, Susanna's jeweler father wouldn't have bought it as a defensive item for his precious daughter.

Fu Li had told her it was called the 'Avada Kedavra Fist,' clearly brushing her off.

The true name of this move was "Divine Punishment," Fu Li's only self-created A-rank skill from his previous life.

While fighting Ling, Fu Li had used many incomplete techniques similar to anti-beast combat methods.

He had learned these by observing and "borrowing" from others. Unfortunately, as they weren't in the same system, he could only grasp about twenty to thirty percent of them.

Engineering Cybernetics, written by the Shenzhou Five Masters' Nirvana, Elder Qian, published by Canghai University of Transportation Press in 2007.

Setting aside how awesome those five masters were, and that they could rival Elder Qian, this book presented an interesting theory:

A complete set of B-rank industrial products, when reasonably and excellently configured, could completely surpass the performance of A-rank industrial products.

If that was the case, why not use this principle to integrate these chaotic and complex incomplete moves and create his own ultimate skill?

Last week, Fu Li thought this, and so he did.

Divine Punishment is the product of this idea.

Divine Punishment, an A-rank active skill, is a slashing attack that rapidly swings an unbound sword qi to strike the target. When attacking, the slash penetrates any type or level of shield to hit the target's core.

A thousand moves and a hundred forms in one night, truly exhilarating!

That being said, Divine Punishment is most effective on its first strike; its effectiveness is greatly reduced once the enemy reacts.

It also cannot deal with enemies with astonishing natural physical defense, such as Ling in her Demon Fox form, whose skin is so thick she's practically unharmable.

Even so, this sword skill is still recognized by the Honkai side as the ultimate assassination technique, and it is also the origin of the title "Divine Punishment: Fu Li."

If you don't dodge Divine Punishment, you're more awesome than the gods.

Bronya, who had Cocolia as a mother, thought she was more awesome than the gods, so Fu Li immediately revoked her driver's license on the spot.

Hilarious, I wonder if she'll cry and throw a tantrum when she wakes up.

Must-Read Shelf Announcement

First, here's a god of wealth.

Then, let's begin the Q&A.

--Q: What was the original intention for writing this book?

--A: The intention behind writing this book is to depict a more complete and reasonable Honkai world, such as connecting stories and myths from around the world and using the identity of Honkai (like the Seed of Light project) to fill in the gaps for them.

Based on the game's narrative perspective, the official Honkai story can only focus on a few main characters.

The author feels it's a pity. What is Honkai? It's a worldview where Honkai can do anything and everything. It would be a waste not to expand on it.

In short, the most important thing is not to rehash old content, but to strive to write something new and something that people will like.

Anyway, this book is already halfway to being a flop, so the author will write it according to their own ideas (laughs).

--Q: Will there be secondary settings?

--A: There will be secondary settings used to fill in plot holes. Which fanfiction can strictly follow the original work?

For example, the significant enhancement of combat power. The author can't have characters break through Emperor-class Honkai Beasts like in the Second Honkai manga, nor have the strongest S-rank Valkyrie Reanna from the Anti-Entropy visual novel run a kilometer in one minute (an S-rank Valkyrie moving at 15m/s is truly too strong!). There are too many plot holes. Forget fighting Honkai, this pathetic combat power would allow even the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to slaughter their way through in organized units in the real world.

Of course, this only refers to combat aspects. Schicksal's A-rank Valkyries have those skilled in other areas, like that transforming Phantom. The author will write about these things later. The rankings are not just combat-oriented. It's just not time to write about them yet, which doesn't mean the author doesn't know.

At the same time, characters will be given certain enhancements and character development assistance according to their status. For example, Cocolia needs to exude the pressure of being the leader of the Reformists, unlike the original plot where there were only a few Titans and some large mechs.

--Q: Regarding setting discrepancies?

--A: The author's settings may conflict with what you know. Feel free to comment and complain in the discussion threads, but once the author writes it down, all settings in this book will be based on the written words, and plot considerations will also follow this. Please do not try to impose other fanfiction or secondary settings from unknown sources onto this book, such as Raiden Ryoma misusing funds to build a plasma projection and being caught by Cocolia.

Also, regarding Siegfried, he didn't appear during the Third Honkai in the original work, which means he wasn't even around at the time. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been indifferent to it. The author knows Siegfried has been following K423, but as K423 matures, he won't always be by her side. Moreover, Siegfried has his own things to do, such as suppressing the berserk Hyper-mutation Factor like in the manga.

Of course, please don't spread the author's personal settings to others. We should keep it to ourselves.

--Q: Rumor issues?

--A: The issues in the previous question are somewhat understandable, but who knows where some people get these outrageous rumors like "99% of Schicksal Valkyries are die-hard fans of Otto" or "Otto is the first love of many Valkyries and Cecilia." Just read these silly stories from wherever you found them and move on. It's impolite to specifically bring them up and post them in the discussion threads.

There are also people who insist on arguing with the author that the transcendent individuals in Honkai Impact 3rd are only Valkyries and special individuals, so they should be referred to as Valkyries, and other special individuals should be called by their names. There's no need to use general terms like "powerhouses." I can only say that the original Honkai setting of Shenzhou having a group of transcendent swordsmen exists. I've posted it once before, and I'll upload it again here. You can click to see it if you want.

--Q: Regarding immersion issues?

--A: The original work has a grade system of S, A, B, C, and D. The author has added a "critical" level between A and S. If you feel this breaks immersion, then there's nothing the author can do.

Some people also find it breaks immersion that the Honkai world has Eastern-style cultivation techniques. Then, the official Record of the Broken Sword in the original work must also be quite immersion-breaking. Schicksal Valkyries' cultivation methods were adapted by Otto from Void Sword Qi, so how immersion-breaking would that be?

As for those sudden strange terms, it's the author's habit to have characters mention them casually when they are not important, so that when they are formally introduced later, it doesn't seem abrupt.

Many readers have indicated that this can easily lead to misunderstandings. Therefore, the author will no longer use this writing style when it's not necessary, hoping not to be accused of "deus ex machina" later.

--Q: Do the words spoken by characters in the book represent the author's attitude?

--A: Absolutely not. The words and actions of characters in the book should be based on their own positions within the story. To give a simple example, if a villain wants to kill an entire family, it absolutely does not mean the author wants to kill an entire family in reality. If a villain says feudal society is good, it absolutely does not mean the author thinks feudal society is good. If a character praises a certain villain, it absolutely does not mean the author is using their words to whitewash the villain.

This is actually basic common sense for reading novels, but with all the "monsters and ghosts" on the internet nowadays who like to make baseless accusations, it has to be written here to emphasize it.

--Q: Daily update word count?

--A: Normally 4k per day. Anything extra will be considered an additional update. If there's a need for a break, it will be announced in advance.

--Q: Will it be completed?

--A: Although not many people are reading it, the author will probably finish it. After all, the first thing the author decided on was the protagonist's name, followed by the book's ending.

--Q: The lottery items in the End-of-World Assistance System have a sense of déjà vu. Why not use the original names directly?

--A: The names were specifically changed to avoid associating them with the original application. Otherwise, there would inevitably be endless arguments like "This skill doesn't have this usage!" or "This skill should be used this way!"

--Q: What's the deal with Little Great-Aunt and Eden's concert?

--A: The Thirteen Flame-Chasers appearing in this book, excluding Kevin, Hua, and Su, who survived from the Previous Civilization, are mostly coincidentally born alternate-dimension counterparts in the current civilization, or you could say they are similar flowers.

The Cocoon of the End's restart of civilization is inherently a cycle, so it's only natural that similar people would appear (more special ones like Elysia and Chijie have their own settings).

Even Dr. MEI has a similar flower in Mei, so it's normal for the Flame-Chasers to have counterparts.

In addition, I am personally very excited to see how the heroes native to the current civilization will stir up trouble in this world of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy. Will they join in or raise a banner of rebellion? I think that would be very interesting.

-- Q: Are there other alternate universe counterparts?

-- A: Yes, it's a Honkai staple, you have to try it.

Of course, I will also set up corresponding identities for the counterparts to make everyone's existence more reasonable.

On a side note, there's a reason for the appearance of counterparts. Why Honkai Impact 3rd gradually shifted from the original work to this worldline will be explained later. Old readers can vouch for my ability to fill in plot holes.

-- Q: Is it a harem?

-- A: I was initially confused as to why this question would arise, only to realize I forgot to tag the book as a harem.

It is a harem.

-- Q: Will you write about the story of Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2?

-- A: I will not write about the story of Part 2, but there is a small chance that popular characters from it may appear early. After all, they are good-looking (laughs).

-- Q: Will there be original characters?

-- A: Yes, they will be positioned as "tool people" and will absolutely, absolutely not become the protagonist.

-- Q: When will the content of the synopsis appear?

-- A: It will appear, don't worry, the plot needs to develop.

-- Q: Besides Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, will there be other factions?

-- A: Yes. After all, in a world that aims for realistic development, it's impossible for ancient, major powers not to have researched Honkai.

Shenzhou in Honkai Impact 3rd has the group known as "Knights," and the Far East in Guns Girl Z even has demon-slaying families. For example, the Tadara Family of the Black Maple White Cherry sisters in Thousand Umbrella Tale are essentially a form of applying and researching Honkai.

-- Q: With so many supernatural beings, can the Cocoon of the End hold up?

-- A: This involves spoilers, so I won't say, but yes, it can.