Collapse City, Starting with the Production of an Anime Version of Honkai

Sirin pinched Bella's chin, her pretty face drawing closer and closer.

Bella, who was watching the movie, blushed silently.

"Bella, your model is pretty good," Sirin said, casually patting Bella's smooth back. "It's just that you don't seem very smart, not nearly as smart as me."

Hearing Sirin's praise, Bella's face turned even redder, steam rising from her grayish-white hair.

"Alright, don't bully Bella," Cecilia said, separating the two with a stifled laugh, seeing that Bella was about to faint from embarrassment. She had long seen that Sirin was deliberately teasing Bella.

Sirin made a face.

Cecilia ruffled Sirin's soft purple hair, feeling a little curious. Her younger brother rarely sees Sirin, so how could he know the little secrets in Sirin and Bella's hearts?

Ziegfried wept manly tears, wondering what sins he had committed in his past life to have three daughters and then be left without descendants...

"Queen..." A dazed Bella couldn't tell if she was in reality or still doing voice acting, and subconsciously called out.

This time, it was Sirin's turn to blush, and she hurriedly said, "Hey, Bella, don't say that embarrassing title again! We're just good friends, not some weird master-servant play, okay!"

Realizing what she had said, Bella fainted completely.

Cecilia held Bella in her arms, a maternal smile on her face.

Dr. Tesla put down her phone, her expression frozen. Welt immediately noticed Tesla's strangeness. After inquiring, Welt learned that Sirin had sent an electromagnetic wave signal to Earth ten minutes ago.

"Come to the moon to see me, First Herrscher."

Sirin threatened, "If you don't come, I'll send four meteorites to Earth every 72 hours. Don't keep me waiting too long~☆"

To protect the world and humanity, even knowing that he would be killed by the Second Herrscher, Welt decided to go to the moon. But before going to the moon, he wanted to have a conversation with Otto.

On February 9, 2000, in the Tower of Babylon's main church reception room, forty-five years had passed since their parting in New York. Welt and Otto finally met again, experiencing a "friendly and cordial" exchange.

Welt believed, based on the meteorite structure detected by Einstein, that the technology to seal Honkai energy, which Anti-Entropy had been searching for for many years, was in the ruins on the far side of the moon, so he had to go.

Otto thought the plan was interesting but too risky, but he had no interest in sealing Honkai energy. He wasn't worried about Welt's safety; on the contrary, he always wanted him to die.

Welt looked sideways at Otto's eyes, and said something.

The atmosphere was silent for a moment.

"Hahahaha." Otto's laughter broke the silence. Otto reversed his previous attitude, approving Welt's plan and having Ziegfried fully assist Welt.

Otto swirled the glass of red wine in his hand.

"I didn't expect you to go this far to save the lives of those ants." Otto's tone was full of indifference to human life, and his green eyes were full of playfulness. "You really are a worthy opponent. I apologize for my previous rudeness."

"Respected... Welt II."

"Otto."

Hearing Kallen's tone, Otto's heart skipped a beat.

"I don't like you like this, and I don't want you to become like the character in the movie."

Otto quickly hugged Kallen and comforted her softly.

Otto successfully shifted Kallen's resentment from his own character in the movie to Yaqing.

"Achoo!"

Chapter 24: Always Love Cecilia

In the Tower of Babylon training room, Ziegfried questioned whether his choice was correct. If he had chosen not to save Theresa first, but had chosen to stay and fight with Welt, wouldn't that have prevented the Second Herrscher from escaping, and wouldn't those tens of millions of people have died?

Saving one person with the lives of tens of millions. Ziegfried was stuck in a rut, blaming the deaths of tens of millions of people on himself. Distraught, he could only vent his anger with a watering can.

Walter Yang walked into the training room, told Ziegfried that the conversation was over, and informed him to prepare to go to the moon with him. Ziegfried said with an excited expression, "I've made up my mind, no matter the cost—"

"I will stop her!"

Welt remained noncommittal, ignored him, and turned to leave.

The scene moved to the Anti-Entropy Yellowstone Base. A purple-haired youth saluted Welt. After Welt returned the salute, he took Ziegfried into the base first. Ziegfried and the purple-haired youth exchanged glances.

"Tch, Destiny's Ziegfried, said to be a slacker. I really don't know why the leader values him so much."

"I seemed to have been glared at just now. He looks like a rigid person... Have I offended him?"

Welt led Ziegfried into the base, looking at the familiar giant humanoid mecha, the general-purpose mecha Arahata. Ziegfried's jaw dropped. It was his childhood dream. He excitedly said the famous line from the last episode to Welt, who just smiled slightly.

"Ryoma?!" Mei was stunned. Isn't that her dad's name? When she first saw the purple-haired young woman holding the little girl, she was wondering how she looked so much like her when she was little.

Kiana was still enjoying the movie.

Bronya glanced at Raiden Mei meaningfully.

"There really is an Arahata!" Kevin was a little surprised. As a cross-era special effects work, they basically grew up watching this when they were young, especially the line "I am the tyrant of the sky, witness the shattering of the stars," which can be said to be well-known.

"Piloting a mecha is truly a man's romance!" Su rarely saw himself more excited than Kevin. Studying medicine was just his interest; mechas were his dream.

A man's... romance?

Pardo thought for a while, and the audacious cat actually asked Kalpas, curiously, "Does Mr. Kalpas also like mechas?"

"Hmph!" Kalpas turned his face away. "Asking the obvious."

"Isn't this a copyright infringement?" Mei asked.

"Not at all. This movie is a collaboration between Destiny and Anti-Entropy," Yaqing laughed. "It's a special kind of crossover between Honkai and Arahata. After all, what man isn't interested in mecha?"

"That's right, that's right!" Kevin nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes!" Su nodded excitedly.

"..." Kosma seemed to say nothing, but he said everything.

"Hmph, not bad," Kalpas 'reluctantly' agreed.

The women looked at the men, who seemed to be injected with chicken blood, with puzzled expressions.

[To avoid wasting the remaining time, Welt interrupted Ziegfried's excitement and explained the upcoming moon plan:

After arriving on the moon, first hide Arahata, then let him attract the Second Herrscher's attention. Ziegfried will take the opportunity to collect Honkai steel samples, and then pilot Arahata to rendezvous with him.

Walter Yang was unsure if he, Ziegfried, and Arahata could defeat the Second Herrscher. They only had one chance, so he also set up a Plan B.

The screen suddenly went black, making Pardo's heart jump into her throat. Ziegfried reappeared on the screen, slamming his fist into the wall, causing the metal wall to cave in deeply.

"Tch, is this your Plan B?"

"The choice of which plan to use is up to you."

Walter left with his cane. There were 6 hours left until launch, and 57 hours and 50 minutes until the meteorite fell.

On the bridge, Walter Yang leaned silently against the railing, watching Tesla perform the final tests on Arahata, speechless for a moment. When he called out "Dr. Tesla," Tesla's heart trembled. She knew that Walter's trip to the moon was certain death, but she couldn't stop him.

"Do you remember when you were little, you said you would dance with me when you grew up?"

Tesla's smile was forced.

At this time, there were 4 hours and 50 minutes left until launch.

Walter came to an empty room, warm sunlight shining on him. Looking at the old-fashioned piano in front of him, he seemed to see his younger self standing in front of the piano, playing.

"The piano... how long has it been since I touched it... I remember, I loved it when I was a kid, and I kept begging Einstein to teach me..."

"Sometimes I imagine, if I wasn't me, what kind of person would I be... maybe a pianist, a teacher, or..."

"But, since I got the name Walter..."

"I lost my father, I lost the hero who saved me, I lost my original identity, I lost my life..."

"The Herrscher's power tore apart every cell in my body. Every night of my childhood, I couldn't sleep..."

"I have never resented it, because this is Walter's mission."

"And, when I was in pain..."

Walter suddenly turned around. Tesla, dressed in formal attire, was walking towards him with her hands behind her back. He smiled from the bottom of his heart, knelt on one knee in front of her, and extended his left hand in a gentlemanly manner.

"Ms. Tesla, would you do me the honor of a dance?"

Sunlight shone into the empty room. Tesla's smile dispelled the sadness in Walter's heart. She slightly lifted the corner of her skirt.

"Don't disappoint me, Mr. Joachim."

Hearing his given name, which he hadn't heard in many years, Joachim Nokianvirtanen was stunned. Under the elegant dance steps, Walter recalled the past, as if he saw his former companions watching the dancing couple, with bright smiles on their faces.

"After becoming Walter, I lost a lot..."

"But I have never regretted it."

"Because you let me know the beauty of humanity."

"Wuwuwu, so sweet! Elysia also wants to find someone to dance with!" Elysia's eyes sparkled as she scanned the surroundings, finally stopping on Mobius.

"Professor Mobius..."

Before Elysia could finish speaking, Mobius immediately interrupted, "Elysia, don't dream. I can't dance, and even if I could, I wouldn't dance with you."

"Oh, what a pity." Elysia wasn't discouraged at all. "Looks like I have to wait for Eden to come back. Eden, my dear Eden~"

"Yaqing, you actually used so much time to describe the beauty before the war. You've set up all the flags," Mei said, feeling like she could already foresee the ending.

"This is no less than, 'Wait for me, I'll marry you when I get back,'" Kevin joked.

"He's going to die," Kalpas said coldly.

"Don't corrupt the children, Kalpas," Sakura scolded.

"Hmph, he won't survive," Kalpas rephrased in a more subtle way.

"It is precisely because of the courage to rush to death in the face of disaster that the strength of mankind can be truly reflected," Yaqing said. "The paean of mankind is the paean of courage, and the greatness of mankind is the greatness of courage."

Otto in the story regarded humans as ants, but he respected Walter because Walter had the courage and determination to die for the ants, which was exactly what he sought in the saint.

[On the other side, Ziegfried was video chatting with his wife and daughter. The adorable little Kiana asked her father to come back early. Ziegfried didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, but his face was full of smiles as he agreed and promised to bring back moon rocks as gifts for little Kiana.

Perhaps seeing through Ziegfried's concealment, Cecilia took little Kiana away from the screen, letting her play alone, leaving only Cecilia and Ziegfried facing each other.

Ziegfried comforted his wife, saying that the leader of Anti-Entropy had arranged everything. Looking at his wife's worried face, he wanted to open his mouth several times, but couldn't make a sound, and could only helplessly hang up the communication.

Sitting on the installation box, Ziegfried seemed to be trapped in darkness. Cecilia, wearing a white dress, walked behind Ziegfried like an angel.

"Honey... I can feel it. You're facing a difficult choice."

Cecilia leaned against Ziegfried's back, her hands resting on his shoulders.

"Over the years, we've learned that not every problem has a perfect solution. I've always had to sacrifice something to achieve certain goals."

"That's why you're in so much pain, wanting to protect everyone."

"But I believe the choice you make will be the right one."

Memories of Ziegfried and Cecilia began to flash by.

"Because I know the justice in your heart has never changed, no matter what kind of pain any choice might bring..."

Cecilia grasped Ziegfried's tightly clenched hand.

"I'll bear it with you."

The screen went completely black.

"Loving you always, Cecilia."

[51 hours and 50 minutes remain until the meteor falls.]