Collapse City: Starting by Creating an Anime Version of Honkai

Realizing the core was shattered, Bella's expression drastically changed.

"Nicholas..."

Shub, lying amidst the rubble, looked at the blue light in her palm and slowly closed her eyes. In her final moments, she thought of how she had finally avenged Salome.

Shigure Kira, barely able to stand, staggered to her feet, wanting to completely destroy Benares's core, but Benares was nowhere to be seen.

"I must... stop it..."

"Damn... my body is already..."

Shigure Kira collapsed, her fate unknown.]

"They are all respectable warriors," Kevin said.

"Hmph, not bad," Kalpas replied.

"They're... all dead?" Pardo said in disbelief.

"Bad Yaqing!" Elysia pointed at Yaqing, her cheeks puffed out. "You said it was a sunny, positive story?!"

Yaqing looked away.

Mobius, never one to miss a chance for drama, grabbed Yaqing's forehead and forcibly turned his head back.

"Uh..."

"Looks like we're done filming here," Shub said.

"We are, but I don't know about Kira."

[Once the core cracks, Benares will revert to being an emotionless Honkai Beast, desperately trying to return to Sirin. Crawling on the ground, Benares no longer possessed the imposing presence it had upon its debut.

"Queen will be sad..."

Bella closed her eyes as her core shattered.]

"Bellaaaaa!!!"

Chapter 45: The Eve of the Final Battle

[Still lost in the illusion, Sirin lay in bed, hugging the Benares plushie. As a Herrscher of the Void, she was intoxicated by the beauty of humanity, and she felt lost.

Just then, tears welled up in the Benares plushie's eyes and it disappeared in a flash of purple light. Sirin frantically tried to contact Bella, but all that echoed back was Bella's final whisper.

"I'm sorry, Queen..."

"I can't keep my promise to stay by your side forever."

"Please don't be sad for me..."

Sirin panicked, afraid of losing her last friend, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door. Ziegfried was outside, asking about Sirin's condition. Ziegfried's voice instantly ignited Sirin's rage.

"This man..."

"He's the one who hurt Bella's wings!"

"That's right! That must be it! It's all a trick by these ants. They use their happy lives to deceive me, and then..."

"They took the opportunity to kill Bella!"

Sirin knelt on the bed, a Void Lance materializing in her palm, and shot out. Ziegfried, who was outside the door, didn't even have time to react before he felt a tremendous force against his chest. In a dizzying spin, he realized he was already in the courtyard.]

"Honey, you're back?"

Ziegfried returned carrying a cake almost half his height, placed it on the table, and looked at the excited Sirin and the eagerly watching Bella. Cecilia was dividing the cake for the children, and the happiness of the family filled him with joy.

"Here~"

Bella, being the most polite, offered a piece of cake to Ziegfried.

"Thank you," Ziegfried said, taking it.

"You're welcome~"

Bella scampered off, received a freshly cut piece of cake from Cecilia, sat next to Sirin, and ate her cake in small bites, watching her own death scene with great interest.

[Sirin floated in the air, coldly watching Ziegfried. As she raised her hand, ready to kill Ziegfried with a Void Lance, Cecilia dove in and saved Ziegfried, urging Sirin to stop.

Cecilia's agility and calm demeanor made Sirin realize that she hadn't been hypnotized by Feather of the Wind at all, and her mentality completely collapsed, believing that she had been deceived all along.

Just as things were about to fall apart, Welt suddenly appeared, briefly restraining Sirin. He helped the injured and unconscious Ziegfried up and left the scene with Cecilia. A short distance away, Welt saw that Ziegfried was in a bad way; if he died in the illusion, he would die in reality as well.

Cecilia also explained why she hadn't been controlled by Feather of the Wind. Because she often sparred with Fu Hua, she had developed a resistance to illusions, so she knew that to leave the illusion, she had to get Sirin's permission.

"That's right."

Sirin, having broken free of her restraints, chased after them, floating in the air and looking at the three of them coldly. Welt continued to stand in front of the two without hesitation, and directly used the Moonlight Throne.]

"Welt isn't going to... sacrifice his life again, is he?" Sakura asked delicately.

"Probably not, right? How many times has this happened?" Pardo said uncertainly.

"There really are people constantly sacrificing their lives," Kevin remarked with a sigh.

"Ugh..."

"Mei, you're awake?" Kevin asked, looking at Mei as she opened her drowsy eyes.

"The movie isn't over yet...? How long was I asleep?" Mei mumbled, still dazed.

"Not long, less than half an hour," Kevin replied.

"Auntie Theresa, where's the highlight reel?" Kiana, already tired of watching, asked listlessly from Mei's embrace. This movie was just too long.

"Patience, patience," Theresa said, telling others not to rush, but she was more anxious than anyone else.

"Ha~" Little Knowledge silently got up.

Fu Hua looked over, puzzled.

Bronya rose, took a blanket, and covered the heavily sleeping Himeko, who was dead drunk.

[Welt reviewed his past plans. He won the first game, but he had no hope of winning the second. Having lost his original body, he would be completely annihilated if Sirin, who now possessed the Feather of the Wind, found him. Therefore, he had to find the right opportunity.

He notified Einstein to bring Ahalato, hoping to send Ziegfried and Cecilia into the illusion. However, Sirin's sudden attack interrupted his plan, and he had to reveal himself to save Ziegfried.

The activation of the Moonlight Throne caused Sirin great pain and opened a connection between the illusion and reality. Welt told Cecilia to take Ziegfried away, staying behind to deal with Sirin himself.

"Welt... I never thought I'd see you again."

Ziegfried woke up as they were leaving.

"That's great..."

"Goodbye... Ziegfried."

Welt gathered black and red energy in his hands, ready to risk his life to continue the battle on the moon.]

"Yang's finally wrapping up his role," Tesla said. Unlike Einstein's departure, she was used to Walter Yang's fate and even suspected he would reappear from some unknown scene later.

"Yang's vitality is truly amazing," Einstein said, taking a sip of coffee. "I suspect even if all of Anti-Entropy's characters were written out, Yang would still be alive. Is that the benefit of being a partner?"

Joyce joked, "If only I had personally negotiated with that little director, I wouldn't be relegated to the background now."

Walter Yang said, "I didn't engage in any backroom deals. When Yaqing gave me the script, that's how the character was. I just made some minor modifications."

"Oh~" Einstein raised an eyebrow, curious. "Did those include the details of a dance?"

"Uh..." Walter fell silent.

[At the bottom of the Tower of Babylon, Ziegfried and Cecilia, awakened from the illusion, opened their eyes to see Theresa waiting beside them.

The camera shifted to Einstein inside Ahalato, analyzing Sirin and explaining the current situation to the audience. The Moonlight Throne had not completely stripped Sirin of her Honkai energy as expected, but it had weakened her connection to the Herrscher core.

"Hang in there, Ahalato."

"And... Joachim!"

Inside the illusion, Walter Yang fell before Sirin once again. As Sirin prepared to deliver the final blow, her expression suddenly changed as she sensed her power fading. In reality, Ahalato had successfully extracted a Herrscher core.

The Spear of the Void pierced Walter's chest. Sirin snorted, awakened from the illusion, and shattered Ahalato with a powerful punch. Standing on the steel wreckage, Sirin was about to kill Einstein when a golden chain struck, dodging the incoming vines.

"Cecilia, you've come too..."

Sirin looked sadly at the three warriors wielding their respective Divine Keys, especially Cecilia. Her battle stance broke Sirin's heart. As Cecilia was about to say something, Sirin's power erupted.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a new space.

In reality, only Theresa remained.]

"Sure enough, Walter died again. Sakura, wanna make a bet? I bet he won't be offlined so easily," Pardo said leisurely.

"No, I also bet he won't just go offline like that," Sakura said, sensing it wouldn't be that simple either.

"People die when they are killed," Kalpas scoffed.

"Unfortunately, that saying applies to everyone, but not to Walter Yang," Kevin laughed.

Chapter 46: The Devil Who Avenges Honkai

["Judah's Oath, Zero Rated Power, activate!"]

After Theresa's powerful voice, a flashback of Otto was inserted on the screen. He was searching the Destiny Archives for information left behind by the previous civilization. The Herrscher of Binding was a typical "anti-Herrscher." Within her barrier, all Honkai energy would be nullified.

Warriors implanted with Honkai Beast factors would die within a minute of entering the barrier. Ordinary warriors would also die due to the disappearance of bioelectricity. Any electronic weapons would be unusable inside the barrier.

It was precisely the existence of this "anti-Herrscher" that led Dr. Mei to propose the idea of a "Honkai consciousness."

"That's too targeted," Pardo complained.

"Because humans have mastered the ability to use Honkai energy, a Herrscher who can nullify all Honkai energy is born. It's very reasonable, isn't it?" Mei counted on her fingers. "Mobius, don't you really think there's a Herrscher who can forcibly control nuclear weapons?"

Mobius gripped the armrest tightly, a bad feeling rising in her heart. Was she really going to have to wear that "old-fashioned" pink dress? But it was impossible to make the stubborn snake admit defeat.

"Hmph."

Mobius saw Elysia's shining eyes, scoffed, and turned to the other side.

"I'm getting more and more curious about the strength of the previous civilization. I wonder how they solved it," Kevin said, the previous civilization holding a strong attraction for him.

[Theresa breathed a sigh of relief. Judah fully unfolded, and countless golden gears appeared in the sky. Dark gold chains wrapped around Sirin, and under the power of binding, Sirin's power was disappearing. Even the Herrscher's attire couldn't hold steady and reverted to the initial experimental white coat.

Theresa, who possessed Honkai Beast genes, was in even more pain than Sirin. The Honkai Beast genes and human genes repelled each other, making her feel like her body was about to split apart. Even standing was difficult.]

Theresa launched into a flashback. In the days prior, at Destiny's headquarters, Otto had been constantly trying to persuade her, but she also had things she wanted to protect in her heart.

Theresa hurled the chain-like spear in her hand towards Sirin, but because of the pain in her body, it didn't pierce Sirin's heart. Instead, it pierced her thigh.

Having lost the Herrscher power, Sirin once again felt powerless. This familiar pain stirred up her darkest memories. She murmured the names of her former companions, and in the end, she seemed to see Bella again.

Bella opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Sirin understood.

Theresa barely managed to stand as she came before Sirin, raising the chain-spear in her hand. She didn't want to kill this girl, but to protect Cecilia and the people of this generation, she had no choice but to raise the butcher's knife.

"I'm sorry..." Theresa said.