Where's the Third Honkai We Were Promised?!!

--Q: The battle scenes are really padded.

--A: To be fair, writing battles is far harder than padding out dialogue or everyday scenes. The author doesn't even like writing them—they take time and effort, yet readers can skim through them in seconds, then curse in the comments that it's another padded chapter while missing all the details hidden within.

The destructive power corresponding to each rank has a reference list on the author's end. Writing it means checking that list and paying attention to the descriptions. It's a massive pain.

But if the story needs it for dramatic effect, it will still be written, because battles are also part of the story. If you think fights should always be wrapped up in two or three sentences and that the author is just making excuses to pad the word count, then there's nothing the author can do about that.

--Q: Comment etiquette?

--A: Personal attacks mean an immediate mute and deletion. Profanity, trolling, baiting fights, and comments that stir up conflict may be deleted depending on the circumstances; repeat offenders will be muted outright. Reading should be enjoyable, not frustrating, so maintaining a clean reading environment is necessary.

--Q: Why was the North American aircraft carrier that appeared at the beginning called Belobog, a name from Slavic mythology?

--A: Because it belongs to the aerospace combat sequence under Cocolia, leader of the Reformists. That will be explained later.

--Q: What about Schicksal's setting?

--A: For Schicksal's specifics, refer to Honkai 2. It has an Elders' Council and a Tribunal, and like Anti-Entropy, it has been massively strengthened overall. It won't be like the original, with only two or three stray cats around. At the very least, it needs to match its standing as one of the world's two poles.

--Q: Why does K423 call the protagonist A Li? Wouldn't that be more intimate?

--A: A Li is not an intimate form of address. It is more like Westerners calling someone directly by their given name; it only looks affectionate after being localized.

Western names put the given name first and the surname last. A Li is not much different from someone directly calling you by your surname. Calling him "Li" outright would actually sound more suggestive.

And in terms of personality, Kiana did not actually dislike Fu Li. As written in the story, he had helped many people in the past in accordance with a childhood promise he made to the real Kiana, Bianka—for example, Asakura Miyuki. He could be called the embodiment of Kaslana knightly spirit, and that really struck a chord with K423.

Fu Li merely suffered from being an ordinary person, and the same was true for Mei. If he had entered the Honkai world earlier, the romance route would have been unlocked long ago.

--Q: I'm really curious about the protagonist's talent.

--A: On the previous timeline, the Third Honkai occurred on March 28, 2014. After that, he was sent back to Shenzhou by St. Freya, then spent nearly another year officially entering the Honkai world in mid-2015. Two months later, he reached B-rank; a year later, A-rank; in 2017, he broke the A-rank limit, was captured by the Herrscher of Domination, broke through Critical, and after that, you know the rest.

On the normal route, assuming no accidents occur, from the moment Fu Li officially enters the Honkai world, he will steadily reach Star Creator in six to eight years—that is, the End Level in this book's setting.

There was no body modification involved. The protagonist simply had the highest possible talent by design. All he lacked was time.

Also, at the end of every volume, there will generally be two or three free bonus chapters. Their content will usually involve hidden main-story threads or small anecdotes, such as little stories from certain points in the previous timeline.

--Q: What's with Fu Li having sex over a million times?

--A: Spoilers. Not telling. If you have ideas, discuss them in the comments. In any case, it definitely isn't a bug.

--Q: How did the bounty turn out?

--A: Monthly tickets: 422, four extra chapters;

Recommendation tickets: 2,975, three extra chapters;

Blades: 214, two extra chapters;

Tips: 7,000. Including the remaining excess, that counted as one extra chapter;

One chapter is 2,000 words, making 20,000 words in total. No problem. It'll all be paid back at light speed within three days after premium release, not including the regular daily 4,000-word updates.

That was about it. Any future questions will be answered in Q&A form at the end of each volume, provided they do not involve spoilers.

Lastly, here's another God of Wealth. I'd also like to ask all you Gods of Wealth to support the first premium chapter.

"Cocolia: Changkong City Seems a Little Too Urbanized"

A fierce wind swept across the battlefield, carrying away the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air.

This was perfectly normal. Large-scale bombardment by thermal weapons continuously heated the air. That heated air rapidly rose due to thermal expansion and contraction, while colder air from outside rushed in to fill the gap. The convection between high and low pressure thus formed a rather fitting wind.

Fu Li put away the shattered Silver Bloom Seed. Crystalline blue threads formed from Shadow Blade wrapped around the unconscious Bronya, binding her like a little sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Or rather, a female—cough—a puppy?

The dignified Ural Silver Wolf and the little sheep who became sailors' victims in the Middle Ages were not even the same species.

Lowering his head to inspect his spoils, Fu Li reached out and cleanly tore off the girl's hair ornament, collar, and thigh ring.

Freed from their restraints, her silver-gray hair cascaded down, adding a touch of fragile gentleness and serenity to the unconscious Bronya.

"Eight Star-stone Shields. I've wanted to complain about this for ages. This little duck is seriously loaded."

Spinning the thigh ring embedded with a Star-stone around his finger, Fu Li slipped it onto his own arm.

It was a little loose, but the ring itself was elastic, so it fit well enough.

"Three people, one each. Perfect."

Fu Li whistled happily, slung the girl onto his back, and ran in the direction Kiana and the others had gone.

He had not originally planned to bother with Bronya. A-rank strength was enough to protect herself in Changkong City after the Third Honkai broke out. He had no need to worry about her at all.

But she was such a nice person that she insisted on delivering herself right to his doorstep, so Fu Li could only accept this fragrant roast duck with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Duck-butt was treasure, after all!

Outside the Yae Village ruins—

Amid a series of sharp braking sounds, a brand-new Yangwang U8 came to a sudden stop at the top of the mountain road with an "Awoo!"

The rear door opened from within, and a foot clad in knee-high military boots stepped onto the road with a thud.

"Executor Cocolia!"

The golden-orange-haired girl acting as temporary adjutant hurriedly rose from the driver's seat. To her, it seemed that allowing the owner of those boots to step on the ground was practically a sin.

"It's fine."

The sexy, mature woman with blonde hair and violet eyes paid it no mind. She strode to the edge of the road and rested both hands on the guardrail preventing pedestrians from falling into the deep valley.

Mountain mist lifted the hem of her military uniform, which carried a distinct Soviet Russian flavor. Gazing down at the thriving international metropolis, she spoke in an ethereal tone:

"Changkong City seems a little too urbanized."

No one answered Cocolia, and Cocolia did not care.

After she used fabricated charges to imprison Raiden Ryoma, the Anti-Entropy Conservatives had openly entered a near-break with her.

Quite a few people among the Executors knew exactly what Cocolia intended to do next. Even if they could not publicly oppose her for various reasons, they still distanced themselves from her in private.

Satellites, military resources, networks... she faced restrictions in every area. Einstein, who was temporarily acting as leader, had even frozen her access privileges to the super artificial intelligence Phyllis.

This directly resulted in Cocolia having pitifully few forces available. Setting aside ordinary fighters below B-rank and the mech units, only Bronya, a single A-rank, had accompanied her to Changkong City this time.

It was not that Cocolia had never cultivated trusted subordinates above A-rank. Rather, within Anti-Entropy, Critical-level powerhouses already counted as public assets of the organization.

Not only did their status automatically rise to shareholder level, mobilizing them required joint approval from at least three Executors.

The headstrong Cocolia obviously could not find two other Executors willing to help her. Therefore, she could only personally travel to the Yae Village ruins to investigate why strange Honkai reactions had appeared here.

As for what exactly Cocolia intended to do that made the other Executors so wary that they would rather cut off contact with the Far East than acknowledge her existence—

The answer was simple: a large-scale experiment.

However, in the researchers' and subordinates' imaginations, this large-scale experiment was something like injecting Honkai-series drugs into a group of people, then observing the test subjects' reactions and resistance.

But the real large-scale experiment was to artificially trigger the Third Honkai with Changkong City as its center.

Yes. Whether before Fu Li's rebirth or in the present, the true culprit behind the Third Honkai that erupted in Changkong City was this blonde beauty standing atop the mountain.

She was the one who would erase millions of humans from existence and wipe an international metropolis off the map in the blink of an eye.

Did that sound terrifying?

Cocolia thought it was fine. Perfectly fine.

Because this was the Far East, where people lived quite comfortable little lives.

To put it bluntly, if the experiment were conducted here, let alone a single city dying, even if every person across the four Far East islands perished, Cocolia—who knew World War II history and came from a northern great power—would not hesitate in the slightest. She might even clap and cheer.

How did that saying go? If there were a button in front of you that launched nuclear weapons at the Far East, what would you do?

Among the more than one billion people in the neighboring eastern giant, there were at least tens of millions—well, to be conservative, a few million—who wished they could drop nuclear bombs on every major city in the Far East. She was merely helping them realize their dream of nuclear peace.

The people of that country deserved such suffering.

Besides, Cocolia did not think she was doing anything wrong. Having personally experienced the Second Honkai, she knew very well what kind of catastrophe a fully developed Herrscher would bring to human society.

That was why she came up with the idea of using the Conquest Gem—a mysterious energy core extracted from the Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void—to create a Herrscher.

According to calculations, even if the Third Herrscher were truly born by her hand, the Great Honkai caused by her underdeveloped state would at most affect the surrounding hundred miles.

According to historians' reconstruction of the truth from fifty thousand years ago, the Third Honkai in the Previous Civilization not only turned the four Far East islands into a demonic hellscape—Sakura's homeland fell because of it—but its aftershocks even reached the Shenzhou continent across the sea, such as Canghai City in Shenzhou where Hua was located, turning its southeastern coast into a boundless purgatory teeming with monsters.

Trading one Changkong City for the safety of the Far East, Shenzhou, and even all of East Asia, Cocolia felt that the Far East government and the civilians who survived the disaster should be thanking her properly.

Sacrificing several million to save one or two hundred million—was that a bad deal? No! Where was the loss? The world had always worked this way, okay? Don't just make things up with your eyes open! It was hard for those of them at the top to make these choices too!

Those who thought it was a bad deal should reflect on whether they had been protected too well and look for the reasons within themselves, all right?

Besides, although you sacrificed your lives, you also gave us precious data on the birth of a Herrscher!

Once you go to hell, you can hold your heads high and tell King Yama, who judges you:

"My entire life and all my energy were devoted to the world's most magnificent cause—fighting the Honkai for humanity!"

"Raiden Mei, the Two-Dimensional Original Beauty"

Research by Honkai scholars of the current civilization had found that only sufficient population and prosperity could attract rewards from the big boss of Honkai, supporting the eruption of a Great Honkai and the birth of a Sequence Herrscher.

That was one of the main reasons Cocolia chose Changkong City.

Another reason was that after more than a decade of Anti-Entropy's persistent efforts, this place had become an unspoken enclave. The local government officials had all returned from studying in North America, making it extremely difficult for the Far East authorities to extend their reach here. That made things much more convenient for Cocolia.

As the key element for nurturing a Herrscher and triggering a Great Honkai, the Conquest Gem was undoubtedly the core of this plan.

That thing was currently hidden inside Raiden Mei's body.

Raiden Mei was a rare natural Stigmata awakener.

She awakened that power when she was still a tiny, adorable child.

Such excessive power naturally backlashed against the girl serving as its host. To save his precious daughter, her father—Raiden Ryoma, also an Anti-Entropy Executor—had no choice but to seek help from the Anti-Entropy leader, who had not yet disappeared at the time.

Upon hearing of it, the leader generously gave the Conquest Gem to Mei, using it to suppress the rampaging Stigmata within her body.

Honestly, when Cocolia first learned that the Conquest Gem was inside Raiden Mei, she thought the whole thing was fucking absurd.

The girl already had a nuclear bomb inside her body, and they shoved a Honkai fission bomb into her too. Were they afraid there would not be a chain reaction later?

Now she really had become a two-dimensional original beauty.

Jokes aside, once Cocolia received the information, she organized comprehensive surveillance on Senba Academy while preparing the conditions required to trigger the Third Honkai, as well as various methods to capture the Herrscher afterward.

To ensure Raiden Mei's actions would not slip out of her control, she even played her final trump card.

That was her most outstanding daughter, exceptional among A-ranks in every aspect—a veritable five-A scenic attraction of the new century!

With Bronya leading the team, along with technological creations such as the heavy drones stored by ME Inc. and Titan Mechs, unless they ran into someone at Critical, the chance of them failing was zero!

One hundred percent zero!

How could they lose with a flying dragon in their faces!

If they lost, she would eat noodles while standing on her head!

After capturing Raiden Mei, they would take her back to ME Inc. and use prepared methods to stimulate the dormant Conquest Gem inside her.

Changkong City would become Hiroshima in 1945. It would be a beautiful explosion!

Beyond that, the data on a Herrscher's birth was especially important.

It was like how scientists had long dreamed of creating a large particle collider to observe the various reactions of fundamental particles.

Herrschers were the only ultimate life-forms currently known to humanity. Once such data was obtained, even the world's most prestigious scientists would forsake sleep and food and act without regard for anything else.

Its value exceeded trillions. It could even be called an invaluable supreme treasure.

Not to mention that, according to Cocolia's expectations, this operation might even allow them to capture a newly born, completely intact Herrscher of Thunder.

A living Herrscher!

During the Previous Civilization, the doctor known as Infinite had created the prototype of the Stigmata humanity now relied upon to fight the Honkai merely by dissecting Herrscher corpses.

If they could bring the Herrscher created from Raiden Mei under their control, Cocolia could barely contain herself just imagining such a scene.