But could those tactical mechs really gain any advantage against the Third Herrscher?
Only after personally fighting her did she truly understand the power of a Herrscher.
Bronya had originally wanted to say something to Cocolia, but she discovered that the chip's communication had abruptly been cut off.
—The Third Herrscher had blocked the electromagnetic waves, severing all communication.
She had lost her mobility, lost Project Bunny, and lost her means of contacting the outside world.
...She had truly been forced into a desperate situation.
"I can sense that there seems to be another chip inside your brain... What do you think will happen if I destroy it?"
The Third Herrscher lightly curled a finger, lifting Bronya with Honkai energy.
She extended a finger, and an intense purple glow gathered at its tip.
As that light surged, the silver-haired girl seemed to fall into extreme pain.
"Disappear, insect."
The Third Herrscher did not pour the power of lightning into her body. Instead, she used a far more unexpected authority.
Bronya's body suddenly began to vanish from the bottom up, breaking down and dispersing bit by bit.
—Though her authority appeared to be the natural power to control lightning, she also possessed the ability to decompose living beings and objects into atoms.
"..."
Bronya remained silent.
After losing her emotions, she had long since lost her fear of death.
Those who killed would eventually be killed. As the former Ural Silver Wolf, her hands had long been stained with countless lives. She had long expected that one day, she too would die by someone else's hand.
Yet whether she had served the military as a child soldier or followed Cocolia Mama's orders to carry out missions, she had never possessed the right to choose for herself.
This was her life... always living under the control and orders of others.
At the final moment of her life, the only people the girl recalled were her friends from the orphanage.
Apricot, Rosalia, and Lilia. Of course, there was also Seele...
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye without her noticing, but before it could fall, it was decomposed along with her body and completely scattered between heaven and earth, as though she had never existed.
After finishing all that, the Third Herrscher lightly clapped her hands, then turned to look into the distance as if she had sensed something.
More than a dozen dark-blue tactical mechs were flying toward Chiba Academy at high speed. It was not difficult to guess that, like the girl from before, those mechs had come for her.
The black-haired girl casually waved a hand. The sky abruptly darkened, and countless bolts of lightning descended, forming a dense barrage that struck the mechs directly.
Just like that girl's mechanical doll, these tactical mechs were easily paralyzed.
Boring, dull, useless.
Only then did the Third Herrscher look toward Ming Yu on another rooftop.
Aside from that silver-haired girl and those tactical mechs, there was another stranger here.
Those red eyes looked coldly at Ming Yu.
Unlike the silver-haired girl, he looked like nothing more than an ordinary person.
There was only one outcome for an ordinary person who came so close to her.
Sure enough, the other party waved a hand and said somewhat helplessly,
"You don't need to do anything. I'm already about done for."
As he spoke, Ming Yu lowered his head and looked at the Honkai energy patterns that had spread all across his body.
This was corrosion caused by being unable to withstand excessively intense Honkai energy. If it progressed any further, he would probably turn into a Dead Soldier.
—At his current physical condition, getting close to a Herrscher produced exactly this result.
And he had indeed witnessed the end of this timeline.
Bronya had fought to the death in order to capture the Third Herrscher... This was the ending of this timeline that he had seen.
Now, erase this future.
Here Is Reality
After erasing the future in which Bronya died in battle, Ming Yu returned to the moment when he and Xiaokong first encountered Bronya on a street in the East District.
"..."
He lightly held his head.
Erasing a future he had already experienced was probably like waking from an incomparably realistic dream.
Though that future had vanished, everything he had gone through had already become clear memories pouring into his mind.
The future could be erased, but he could not forget what he had experienced. The pain of Honkai energy corroding his entire body had not been pleasant.
Well, of course, compared to Bronya, who had lost her life in that timeline, he had it much better.
"Big brother, what's wrong?"
Xiaokong noticed that something was off with him and asked with concern.
"It's nothing. I'm just a little tired."
Ming Yu smiled and patted the girl's head. Then he adjusted his emotions and said to Bronya before him,
"Thank you for your help."
Bronya gave a slight nod, then waved goodbye to them and left the street.
Ming Yu watched the silver-haired girl gradually disappear into the distance. Taking Xiaokong's hand, he continued toward the depths of the East District.
Since he already knew that having Bronya find Raiden Mei now would lead to a life-or-death battle between them and Bronya's death, Ming Yu naturally abandoned that option.
No matter what, he would not allow a girl he knew so well to die young in Changkong City.
Even setting aside his personal feelings, if Bronya died here, what would happen to everything in the future?
Would the Herrscher of Reason have no successor from then on? Would Old Yang remain pickled in the sea forever?
Speaking of the future...
Ming Yu had originally considered running to a relatively safe city after leaving Changkong City this time, then lying low until the Honkai ended.
From now until Finality descended, there were probably only three or four years left. Not long, but not short either.
With his ability to rewind, avoiding disasters and living a decent life would be simple. If he endured those few years and waited for Kiana to become the Herrscher of Finality and eliminate the Honkai disaster, then even if the world would not be completely peaceful, there should be no dangerous enemies at least until the invasion of the Sky People in the Post-Honkai Odyssey era.
But after experiencing Bronya's death, he had no choice but to consider a possibility. He had realized there might be a problem he had previously overlooked.
—The future development of this world would not necessarily reach a Happy Ending like the main story of the Honkai Impact 3rd he knew.
This was, in the end, real reality rather than the game plot he had once known. The future would not necessarily proceed step by step as he understood it.
He already knew that Bronya encountering the Third Herrscher early would result in a tragic death... What about everyone else?
The original plot should have had Kiana searching through Chiba Academy until she finally encountered the Third Herrscher and awakened Raiden Mei's personality. But would reality here proceed like the plot he knew?
Obviously, even the current Kiana was absolutely no match for the Herrscher of Thunder—unless she was forced to unleash the power of the Herrscher of the Void within her.
What if the Herrscher of Thunder killed Kiana just as she had killed Bronya...?
Otto's crucial piece in his carefully laid plans would simply vanish.
Going further, when Aunt Himeko arrived in Changkong City aboard the Hyperion, she had also clashed with the Third Herrscher.
Even as an A-Rank Valkyrie, with the boost of the Nexus System aboard the Hyperion, she could only barely hold the Herrscher of Thunder off for a short time. She had no way to confront a Herrscher head-on.
Had Kiana not stopped the Herrscher of Thunder, it would have been entirely possible for Himeko and the entire Hyperion to be reduced to ashes on the spot.
What if Aunt Himeko also died young in Changkong City...?
Not only would "Final Lesson" be gone outright, Theresa would probably also be killed by Kiana according to Otto's script.
Like a butterfly gently flapping its wings and setting off a hurricane, many things affected the whole through a single thread. The future truly held countless possibilities.
For someone like him, who could rewind time again and again, this was especially profound.
He could not determine how the future would unfold, nor could he deny that the worse possibilities he had just considered might happen.
That future which had barely surpassed Finality through countless coincidences was merely one among innumerable futures.
...So the best approach was for him to become involved as well.
Not to avoid those dangers, but to find ways to face and resolve them.
For others, life only came once. But that was not the case for Ming Yu.
"..."
If asked whether he had feelings for those familiar girls, then of course he did.
If he began trying to interfere bit by bit from now on, perhaps he could gradually make up for regrets that had not yet happened.
Cocolia's conspiracy, Otto's conspiracy, World Serpent's Stigmata Project...
Of course, the prerequisite for all of it was that he needed enough power. Otherwise, everything was empty talk.
For now, he needed to find a way to approach the Third Herrscher—she was the focus of multiple forces in Changkong City, and without question, she was also Ming Yu's target.
Judging by the last time he had approached the Third Herrscher with Bronya, she did not seem particularly hostile toward humans and had no inclination to attack proactively.
That gave Ming Yu the necessary conditions to try approaching the Third Herrscher.
However, with his body's current resistance to Honkai energy, he could not even remain near the Third Herrscher for long. Trying to do anything seemed rather difficult.
Therefore, he needed some additional assistance.
Ming Yu shook his head and decided to take things one step at a time. In any case, he could try all sorts of possibilities.
In short, after abandoning the future in which he left with Bronya, he first needed to take Xiaokong to Raven.
Things had to be done step by step... Once Xiaokong was safe, it would be much more convenient for him to act alone.
Having settled his plans for the future, Ming Yu led the purple-haired girl beside him deeper into the East District.
Raven's Nest and the Sakura-Hued Interceptor
For Ming Yu, finding Raven's location was not difficult.
Though Changkong City was vast and the East District covered no small area, for someone who could simultaneously move in multiple directions at every intersection to conduct a "carpet search," finding Raven was only a matter of time.
Well, or rather, it was only a matter of time before Raven found him.
"Don't move."
At one branch in the road, after Ming Yu turned into the corner of an alley, a voice came from overhead.
Then, a claw suddenly extended from behind him to his neck, threatening him and preventing him from moving easily.
A chilling killing intent locked onto Ming Yu from behind, but it dissipated a few seconds later.
Raven probably had her own way of judging whether someone was trained. Once she determined that they were merely ordinary people, she dispelled her hostility.
"You... are survivors?"
After withdrawing her claw, Raven asked in surprise.
Though she had indeed saved quite a few children in Changkong City today, this was the first time she had encountered survivors like Ming Yu and Xiaokong, whose limbs were intact and whose minds were clear.
Adults fleeing blindly often met death, while young children lacked sufficient strength and courage and usually could not run very far.
The children she had already rescued had all been unconscious when she found them.
"Yes. Hello, may I ask who you are...?"
Ming Yu asked as expected.
"Mm... Just call me Raven. All right, turn around."
The gray-haired woman said casually.
Ming Yu took Xiaokong's hand and turned around, finally seeing the gray-haired woman clearly.
She had short gray hair, rose-red eyes with snake-like pupils, and wore a black cloak accented with wine-red decorations. Beneath it was a black-and-gray skintight combat suit that wrapped around her entire body, reinforced with numerous straps. Her left shoulder bore a feather decoration, and her cuffs resembled bird wings.
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