One issue was the lack of novelty; another was that writing a pure time-loop story over the length of a long novel was genuinely quite difficult. Not to mention that this book was, at its core, still a fanfic—dancing in shackles.
With the abilities of this small fry author, I really wasn't confident I could write the story well relying on nothing but a time-loop cheat.
So accordingly, I gave the protagonist another combat-oriented cheat as a way to vary the plot and provide a long-term goal for development.
Well, simply put, they were similar superpowers centered around the authority of the Twelve Herrschers.
The Herrscher of Thunder that had already appeared corresponded to Misaka's Railgun. More abilities would unfold along those lines later on.
In a few more chapters, the protagonist would obtain his second ability.
And aside from those already revealed in the synopsis, everyone could try guessing what ability each Herrscher corresponded to—basically, they were all chosen from popular anime, both current and past. (Though the author's range of knowledge wasn't actually that broad.)
After all, if the choices were too obscure, readers would have a harder time understanding them.
Of course, some of them hadn't been fully decided yet, so suggestions were welcome. (For example, the abilities corresponding to the Herrscher of Wind, the Herrscher of Domination, and the Herrscher of Corruption hadn't been completely settled yet...)
Elysia, as the Herrscher of Origin, was naturally included as well. Her ability would play a rather important role in the story's development and ending; that much had already been decided.
Although at this stage, the protagonist Ming Yu, who had enrolled at St. Freya Academy, seemed like he no longer needed the Time Reversal cheat to stay alive, there might come a time in the future when he had no choice but to rely on it frequently to save his life. (Laughs)
As an aside, after watching the Part 2 PV for Honkai Impact 3rd, I became a little pessimistic about where the game's future story was headed. Replacing the entire main cast all at once was really far too aggressive.
That was practically the same as throwing away the entire established player base. Personally, I felt it would have been better to at least let Susannah lead the team to Mars. She was weak enough to have room for growth, and her personality was somewhat like Kiana's early self, making her easier for players to accept.
And the new protagonists' character designs in Part 2... at least from what had been revealed so far, they really weren't my thing. Even their names were quite awkward and hard to remember.
The overall character designs had an obvious feeling of imitating Star Rail. They had lost that Honkai flavor, and honestly, there was a clear gap between them and Star Rail's current characters. Hopefully they could improve them.
Anyway, I still hoped Honkai Impact 3rd could keep going.
While I was at it, let's talk a little more about some of the ideas behind this book:
The previous book started directly from Queen's Advent, so it skipped over life at St. Freya Academy entirely. Back then, I also hadn't seriously researched the stories from that period.
Since this time I chose an earlier entry point, I carefully read through all the manga related to that timeline.
There were really quite a few of those old, familiar retcons and contradictions.
Common examples included things like, "Himeko's entire ship found not a single survivor, while Raven alone rescued more than a dozen children," "Theresa dispatched an A-Rank Valkyrie yet demanded that she capture a Herrscher alive," and "Honkai broke out locally in the morning, but Himeko dawdled until nighttime before arriving to rescue people—was this really a commander who had fought on the front lines for years?"
And then there were the characters' portrayals and initiative:
For example, with Bronya having lost Seele, I felt that at least in the early stages, she really should have been more grim and burdened. She shouldn't have been like in the manga, where she saw Mei and seemed to completely forget Seele as she happily enjoyed campus life.
(Of course, according to the game's development, Seele only officially became part of the main cast later on. In the earliest days, Bronya's characterization was that she liked Mei and formed a love triangle with Kiana; Seele had nothing to do with it at all. In a sense, Seele, you were the latecomer!)
As for Kiana slacking off at St. Freya, that was an old complaint. With the same bloodline and talent, Durandal was already A-Rank at twelve and advanced directly to S-Rank a few years later, while Kiana kept slacking off until Queen's Advent and still had that middling level of combat strength. She had never trained seriously at all. (Judging from Kiana's rapid growth during her Sky Ranger period later on, she really had simply been lazy in the past and unwilling to train.)
Being lazy alone wasn't really a problem, but placing that lazybones setting alongside "Theresa promised that if she became an A-Rank Valkyrie, she could help her find her father" made it rather hard to stomach.
Sometimes, I couldn't help wanting the protagonist to directly ask the grass-shoe bug during her St. Freya days: Do you really want to find your dad? You're not just saying it, are you?
As for Mei, the first heroine to practically throw herself at the protagonist, this small fry author looked into the Escape from Changkong arc and confirmed that the Herrscher of Thunder had indeed been holding back the entire time.
Known fact: Kiana and the Herrscher of Thunder fought twenty rounds on the rooftop.
Known fact: When The Three Families were fleeing through Changkong City, they encountered a large Honkai Beast. The three of them joined forces but were no match for it, and Kiana was beaten to near death and knocked unconscious.
Also known: Once the Herrscher of Thunder took over, she casually one-shotted the Honkai Beast and easily suppressed Himeko after she activated her tech.
Conclusion: The so-called rooftop battle was simply the Herrscher of Thunder holding back enormously. If she had truly wanted to kill someone, all she needed was a flick of her finger.
Of course, that was already obvious enough.
And considering the game's mid-to-late story developments, it was also plainly clear that the Herrscher of Thunder was never evil at all. She was completely the same type of person as Dark Seele.
From beginning to end, she had never done anything harmful to Mei. At most, she called her a coward or something similar;
Whenever Mei needed power, she gave it to her readily, giving it the moment she was asked;
In the few times she appeared, she was basically there to put out fires—either fighting Welt or fighting the Queen.
Honestly, with such a likable character who had a good personality and impressive abilities, I really didn't understand why the writers had to forcibly kill her off in Chapter 17.
(By the way, this was another plot issue. During the rooftop period, the one online the entire time was clearly the Herrscher of Thunder, and the one persuaded by Kiana to give up was also the Herrscher of Thunder. Yet afterward, Kiana basically ignored her completely and even called her a fake...)
They said the Herrscher of Thunder's personality had to die for Mei to fully master the Herrscher of Thunder's power... That felt rather forced.
In truth, she and Mei could have coexisted just like the two Seeles.
The Herrscher of Thunder's personality was therefore retained in this book.
The previous book actually had a whole volume dedicated to the Herrscher of Thunder big sis. She was also one of the heroines, but limited by this small fry author's writing ability, I wasn't able to give her enough scenes. This book was making up for that.
Aside from Mei, another important early character was Little Eight.
The original popularity queen of Honkai Impact 3rd was somehow shelved by MiHoYo right when she was at the height of her popularity. She went years without new battlesuits, and in the story, she hid behind Theresa's back and never emerged until Part 1 ended. It was utterly baffling.
And Jizo Mitama, the God Key that two generations of Sakura sacrificed their lives to create, never served any purpose even by the end of the game's first main story. It was never even clearly stated whose hands it was in.
From a writing perspective, that was a gun that never fired, which made it feel very strange.
(Back when Elysian Realm hadn't ended yet, I once thought Jizo Mitama would ultimately be used—the Previous Era's corruption against the Current Era's corruption. After all, that was practically the only scenario where Jizo Mitama had any chance to be useful... And it could even lead to a reunion story where Sakura and Suzu met again in another world.)
Of course, despite saying all that, I still personally liked Honkai Impact 3rd very much.
What I especially liked was the Captainverse—characters like Luna Kindred, Fallen Rosemary, Delta, Haxxor Bunny, and Yae Kasumi. I even liked them more than many of the main story characters.
Unfortunately, with this version's Story of Seasons event, it had officially come to an end.
Anyway, this year MiHoYo basically gave me the feeling of, "Hurry up and fill every hole from Part 1 and the Captainverse, then start Part 2."
Hopefully they would still have chances to make cameos in events after Part 2. Don't let it really end like this...
Although "Battleship's Bizarre Adventure" had ended, no one said they couldn't start another "Shenzhou Shipwreck Chronicles," right?
Anyway, some of the illogical parts and retcons from the early story were basically revised according to my own understanding and the needs of the plot.
And some stories that took place before the main plot, such as Joyce's story and Sirin's story, would also be inserted into the narrative through special methods.
(I am a firmly devoted fan of little purple-haired Sirin, so little Sirin would definitely appear later~)
This time, I chose to include Joyce's storyline around the time the book went premium.
Honestly, the visual novel "Anti-Entropy" was written so well. No matter how many times I read it, I felt aggrieved by the endings of Joyce and everyone else who died in battle. I really wanted to smash Otto's stupid head.
I strongly recommend that readers who haven't seen it go watch it. Search for it on Bilibili and you'll find recorded playthroughs.
And when it came to incorporating it into the book, there wasn't much room to adapt many parts. I could basically only copy it out. Fortunately, most of this portion had been completed before the book went premium. What came next was the closing portion.
Well, no spoilers for that. It would be written out tomorrow or the day after, anyway.
As for some characters who would appear in the middle and later stages of this book, since the cheats were basically related to Herrscher authorities, the various Herrschers would appear as well.
For example, Anna, whom I especially liked. (Beautiful, kind-hearted, and with a great figure. Who knew when she would win her resurrection match in-game?)
And of course Wendy. (We still didn't know how the son of Titan, who got casually stomped by other Herrschers, managed to defeat Wendy so easily.)
As for Chen Tianwu... well, he probably wouldn't become a Herrscher.
Also, although Honkai Impact 3rd was famously a yuri-oriented work, this book would not involve that kind of content. All female-female relationships from the original work would be treated as friendships, at the level of close friends.
This was a harem-oriented Honkai fanfic, so there wouldn't be any tangled-wing situations.
Speaking of which, I still hadn't pulled Luna Kindred myself...
Lastly, let me recommend one of my completed works. If you're interested, feel free to give it a read~
And finally, finally, seeing as I posted six updates today, readers, please give me a wave of first-day subscriptions!!!!
Portal
I Really Hate You After All
Using the coordinates precisely calculated by Dr. Tesla and the others, the Star of Eden that shot into the sky flew accurately toward that Honkai Fission Bomb.
Joyce and Reanna, monitoring everything from a relatively safe distance, watched the scene before them with utmost focus, waiting for the best opportunity to act.
For ordinary people, that extreme speed left no visible trace. But in the eyes of Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie and the First Herrscher, there was still a chance to seize the moment.
At the instant the Star of Eden was about to collide with the Honkai Fission Bomb, Joyce suddenly extended his hand and activated the Star of Eden with all his strength:
"Star of Eden, Zeroth Power, Pseudo-Black Hole!"
In an instant, darkness capable of devouring even light appeared in the sky. But to everyone on the ground, it was not the color of despair—it was a symbol that brought hope.
There was no sound and no aftershock. The Honkai Fission Bomb aimed at this city was effortlessly swallowed by the Pseudo-Black Hole, unable to exert any of its power.
Otto's final trump card was swallowed into nothingness just like that.
"W-We did it!"
Dr. Tesla grabbed Dr. Einstein in a hug and shouted joyfully.
Even the consistently steady and composed Dr. Einstein revealed a rare, gratified smile.
Within a single day, they had resolved two crises capable of destroying the city and protected it completely.
In the sky, Reanna slowly descended with Joyce. Perhaps because he had consecutively activated the Zeroth Power of two God Keys, his expression did not look well.
Even as the First Herrscher, he found that level of power expenditure difficult to bear.
Dr. Tesla rushed forward, just about to say something celebratory.
But at that moment, everything around them fell still.
Everyone except Ming Yu became completely motionless, frozen in place.
Then, the space before Ming Yu's eyes twisted slightly, and a blond man appeared out of thin air before him.
Otto Apocalypse.
—and not Otto from 1955 within this virtual historical scenario, but the genuine article.
Ming Yu understood at once.
"Breaking into my backyard without permission has made me rather unhappy, student Ming Yu."
The man before him spoke in a frivolous tone.
"...Wasn't it you who opened the door to this place for me?"
Ming Yu stood up and coldly watched the man who had suddenly appeared before him.
He raised his hand and fired a current of electricity, but it merely passed through the man's body without doing anything.
The man before him was probably only a projection.
"That's right. I specifically selected this historical record for you... How did it feel, following the heroes of history as they fought evil?"
Otto asked.
He did not begrudge calling Joyce a hero, nor did he mind comparing himself to evil.
"He... no, they were all great."
"Yes, Nancy Thomas Alva Edison... she truly was a genius. If she had successfully completed the Moonlight Throne's development, humanity's history of fighting Honkai would have been greatly rewritten, wouldn't it?
"Welt Joyce... the First Herrscher who fought for humanity. If he could have survived, perhaps all the new Herrschers who emerged in the future could have stood on humanity's side as well?"
Otto seriously recounted those futures that did not exist.
But in the end, he said casually:
"But what does any of that have to do with Kallen and me?"
The Moonlight Throne's power was indeed extraordinary. It could effectively utilize Honkai energy in countless fields and completely solve the troubles Honkai brought to humanity.
But conversely, the invention would undoubtedly shake the stable foundations of Schicksal's rule.
The First Herrscher choosing to fight for humanity was indeed something worthy of praise. Through three years of correspondence, Otto had long understood that Joyce possessed a soul as noble as Saint Kallen's... no, perhaps even nobler than hers.
But compared to a troublesome Herrscher who might oppose him, he would rather Joyce become a dead man incapable of doing anything.
"I have never cared what Honkai turns this world into."
He had never cared what the world would become. The only thing he wanted to do was "revive Kallen."
Before you continue