Honkai Impact: Starting from Wandering with Kiana

Gently touching the tattoo on his waist, it was something that appeared after that experiment, the one Jiu Xiao had mentioned as the Holy Mark.

Mei stared at the empty space ahead and asked softly:

"are u there..."

A gentle response, audible only to Mei.

"I am here..."

"I'm sorry... I don't know who you are, but I want to talk to you... I think you'll hear me..."

They say I will become a Herrscher... More than 300 million people in Changkong City will die because of me... I... I'm so scared. Just a few days ago, I didn't know what Honkai was, I didn't know what a Herrscher was, but now they're telling me I will become an Apostle of Honkai, I will become a Herrscher. I'm so scared... I'm so scared that Kiana and Jiuxiao will be hurt...

"..."

Mei poured out a lot to her, but the voice didn't reply, and in the end Mei also fell silent.

"Thank you... thank you for listening to my rambling."

"It's nothing, it's what I should do."

Mei nodded to the air in front of her, turned and went into the bedroom. She felt much better after talking it out, although she was still very scared...

And within the stigmata at Mei's waist, the stigmata's consciousness, after hearing Mei's lament, made a decision. She... would fight the Gem of Conquest for dominance, for Mei's sake... and for her own. If Mei was afraid of becoming the Herrscher of Thunder, afraid of killing those around her... then let her be the Herrscher of Thunder, let her bear all the sins...

The girl's life was unfortunate; she lost her mother at a young age, and her father was too busy with work to care for her. Fortunately, her mother taught her to treat the world with kindness... but the world seemed to reciprocate that kindness. Due to the power struggles within Anti-Entropy, Mei was kidnapped multiple times as a child, the most severe incident leaving her with deep psychological trauma. It was during that time... that she herself was born...

She wanted to tear apart those who bullied Mei... but she couldn't even make a sound. She had watched Mei being rescued, only to be imprisoned by Raiden Ryoma under the pretext of safety...

She watched helplessly as Mei cried out in pain and begged for no, but Raiden Ryoma didn't hesitate at all, directly implanting the Conquest Gem into Mei's body...

She had watched those people get close to Mei because they coveted Mei's family fortune, and she had repeatedly exhausted her strength to warn Mei to stay away from them.

She watched everything Mei went through after Raiden Ryoma went to prison... Mei was very grateful to Kiana and Jiuxiao, and she was also very grateful to them.

The Stigmata's consciousness had no face, but it possessed the same form as Mei. She slowly approached the Gem of Conquest, grasping it with all her might. The Gem of Conquest normally did not leak its Honkai energy, but when it sensed danger, it would unleash a powerful burst of Honkai energy to erode the surroundings.

The powerful Honkai energy didn't affect Mei sleeping outside, as the Stigmata's consciousness blocked it all. However, the extremely high concentration of Honkai energy impact also severely damaged the Stigmata, leaving its surface covered in traces of Honkai erosion... But for Mei... she couldn't lose. She submerged her consciousness into the Gem of Conquest, beginning a struggle with it for power and for the connection to the Imaginary Space.

Lady Raiden

At night, Mei was awakened from her deep sleep. She felt something crawl into her bed. Looking down, she saw a white fluffy ball rubbing against her.

"Kiana! What are you doing!" Mei shouted, her face pale, but instead of pushing Kiana away, she reached out and hugged her.

"Hehe, I was just worried that Mei wouldn't be able to handle it, so I came over secretly to comfort you, but when I saw you sleeping so soundly, I..." Kiana realized she had been discovered, so she stopped pretending and grabbed Mei's breasts, pinched them slightly, and said to Mei with a grin, "Mei, smile. You look so ugly with a gloomy face."

"Ah—" Mei let out a shy, soft gasp, then patted Kiana's shoulder and said reproachfully, "You idiot Kiana! Is this how you comfort people?!"

Kiana pressed her head between the two valleys, savoring the beauty of the world. After kneading for a while, she said to Mei, "See, your attention is all on me now, so you're not sad anymore, are you? Isn't comforting someone about making them feel better? My method is working really well..."

"You really are a logical genius..."

"That's right, I'm very smart!"

Mei hugged Kiana, and Kiana hugged Mei, both feeling each other's body heat. This was probably the warmest moment for Mei; if only Kiana hadn't mentioned Jiuxiao.

Unfortunately, that's impossible. Kiana seemed to suddenly remember something, looked up at Mei, and said:

"By the way, Mei, Jiuxiao said he'll disappear for a while when the Great Honkai occurs. He's going to be in charge of transferring the Honkai energy. We'll have to survive for a few days while he comes back. Let me protect you then! I'm very strong."

"Transferring the Honkai energy from the Great Collapse? Won't the people of Changkong City die?" Mei's eyes lit up; she felt a glimmer of hope.

Kiana buried her head back down and shook it, making Mei feel itchy.

"Casualties will be reduced a lot, but there's nothing we can do about those who were corrupted before the Great Collapse or killed by Honkai Beasts... But let's make it clear first, Mei, you're not allowed to commit suicide! Running away won't solve anything... and this isn't your fault."

"But..."

Mei did consider suicide... She was afraid that becoming a Herrscher would mean she wouldn't be herself anymore, and she was afraid she would hurt Kiana and the others...

Kiana grasped Mei's hand and placed it against her chest, her eyes resolute as she said, "There are no 'buts.' I can't accept the deaths of the people of Changkong City, but I can't accept Mei dying even more. If you try to escape or commit suicide, I'll knock you out and keep you by my side. If you become a Herrscher and are no longer you, then I'll defeat the Herrscher and take Mei back!"

"Kiana..."

--------

On a regular warship that Otto had equipped with Colorless Radiance, Jiuxiao and Radiance looked at the huge Honkai power reactor in front of them, which was the device that powered Radiance's Nexus system.

"Are you sure you can successfully transfer the Honkai energy from the Great Collapse?"

"Yes, I'm confident. I've already asked you to take care of Kiana and Mei before I get back."

"Don't die, come back alive."

"Ah, you too."

Chapter 52 Encounter

As the density of collapse in Changkong City increased, Destiny began organizing a large-scale evacuation, going door-to-door to persuade people to leave Changkong City for a period of time—Destiny's final ultimatum. But people are sometimes blind; unless disaster strikes, they tend to follow the crowd. In the end, only a few hundred thousand people evacuated Changkong City.

Academy City also started its school trip ahead of schedule, with all the parents leaving Academy City. The remaining people in Academy City were all sent away from Changkong City by Jiuxiao. Jiuxiao Mei, Kiana, and Huihuo all stayed at Qianyu Academy to prepare for the arrival of the Herrscher of Thunder.

Jiuxiao distributed specially made phones to Mei and the others. These were devices made of special materials and equipped with a portion of Cortana's subroutines, allowing them to call for Cortana's support at any time. They also incorporated Schicksal's advanced technology, enabling them to detect Honkai Beasts and Honkai concentration reactions.

Suddenly, the phone in Mei's hand was instantly detached, turning into a strange ball of light and dissipating. Mei grabbed her arm and immediately moved away from the others.

"I feel... something's wrong with me, you guys stay away from me."

"Mei, are you alright!" Kiana ran over to check on Mei, but was stopped by Jiuxiao.

Jiuxiao urged Cortana to quickly analyze the situation: was Mei about to undergo Herrscher transformation, or was there some other problem?

"Based on the scan results, the matter was electrolyzed into quantum form in an instant. This may be the ability of the Herrscher of Thunder. Raiden Mei is undergoing Herrscherization! Be on high alert!"

Jiuxiao frowned. There was still some distance to go before it reached the concentration required for the Great Collapse, so why was it already undergoing the Law Transformation?

"Mei, can you control this power?"

Mei tried to touch the flowers and plants next to her, but they instantly turned into quantum particles and dissipated into the air. Mei shook her head at Jiuxiao and the others and said, "I can't control it, but it should be fine as long as I don't touch it with my hands."

"We don't know what will happen next, everyone stay vigilant..."

At that moment, Cortana's alarm went off, and numerous glowing dots appeared on her phone. "Honkai Beasts detected, now surrounding our position! Prepare for battle!"

"Kiana, take Mei to the back to hide. Huihuo and I will deal with these Honkai Beasts."

Jiuxiao conjured a virtual weapon array, then sent Kiana to the rear with Mei, who was currently unable to fight, while he and Huihu stayed behind to fight the Honkai Beasts.

Kiana nodded without saying much, and ran with Mei to the rooftop of the teaching building. The rooftop offered a wide view, allowing them to call out locations for Jiuxiao and the others.

Hui Huo began to activate Honkai energy, and the Sabayon exoskeleton began to appear beside her.

Hui Huo fired a shot at a Honkai Beast in the distance, blasting the 20-meter-long ballista-class Honkai Beast into dust. Then he turned to Jiu Xiao and said, "Remember to protect me later. I can't fight in melee. If the Honkai Beast gets close, I might be killed instantly."

"Don't worry, leave the close combat to me, you can focus on shooting." Jiuxiao planted the heavy cannon in the ground, then conjured another heavy cannon and planted it in the ground again, repeating this several times to surround himself and Huihuo.

When the heavy cannon is planted in the ground, it will continuously release energy pulses to attack and slow down enemies within its range. Jiuxiao uses this effect to form an encirclement, so that if a Honkai Beast rushes into the melee range, he and Huihuo can react in time.

Meanwhile, Mei and Kiana encounter a new enemy inside the building: Bronya Zaychek.

Bronya stood not far from them, with the Heavy Bunny hovering behind her.

"Bioreactive response detected, quantity 2, Honkai sign scan initiated."

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing here, such a small child!" Kiana drew her baseball bat, ready to fight.

Bronya ignored Kiana's questioning, continuing her cold statement, "Scan complete. Honkai signs detected. Confirmed as target 'Object A'. Execute countermeasures. Commence recovery operation."

Mei crossed her arms and tentatively asked the person opposite her again, "Excuse me, little girl, who are you? And what's with the mecha on your back?"

"I am Bronya, an embedded general-purpose decisive weapon and a qualified carrier for the Heavy Armor Rabbit."

"A weaponized girl?!" "Mei, watch out!"

Mei was still in shock that her opponent was a girl weapon, but Bronya had already ordered Heavy Bunny to open fire. Kiana deflected all of Heavy Bunny's attacks with a baseball bat, then angrily said to Bronya, "You bastard, since you attacked first, I won't hold back either!"

"Target puts up resistance and requests disarmament... Granted. Heavy Bunny enters combat mode."

The two immediately engaged in fierce combat. During this time, Mei stealthily approached Bronya and then attacked Heavy Bunny. Because Bronya was entangled with Kiana, she did not immediately react to Mei's attack, and a portion of Heavy Bunny that Mei had dispelled instantly quantumized and disappeared.

"Combat strength test complete. Capture probability 24.36%, lower than estimated. Plan changed. Begin evacuation." Sensing that Heavy Bunny was severely damaged, Bronya uttered the declaration of 'jump and run' expressionlessly. Then, Heavy Bunny carried her through the ceiling and flew away.

"Damn it! Don't run! Damn it... What's wrong with that girl! She appeared out of nowhere, then attacked and ran away! So despicable!" Kiana was furious. She wanted to fight the other girl, but now the other girl was running away.

"Should we catch up? Or should we stick to the original plan and continue to the rooftop?" Mei looked at the escape route and felt that they hadn't gone very far, and were probably still somewhere preparing to ambush them.

"Let's go to the rooftop, the view is better. Seriously... I should have known better than to come into the teaching building, we won't be able to fight freely if a battle breaks out."

"Alright, alright, since we're already here, let's keep going!"

"Hmph, I'll teach that little brat a lesson next time I see her." Kiana stomped her foot angrily, then suddenly remembered something and took out her phone. "By the way, Cortana, can you analyze what's going on with that mech?"

Cortana's holographic projection appeared on the phone, displaying the scan results of Bronya and Heavy Bunny.

"Bronya has a tactical chip installed on her, and based on the scan results, she should be controlled by the chip. The technical structure of Heavy Bunny cannot be detected by the scan, but it can be confirmed that she has automatic recovery capabilities. Her attack methods are driven by Honkai energy, so she definitely has missiles, but they were not launched in the battle just now."

"Can you pinpoint her location?"

"Yes, but it's very likely a decoy, so I don't recommend pursuing it."

"Let's continue to the rooftop then. She'll definitely target us again!"