Honkai, but Behind the Scenes

[Bianka begins toark]

[All crew members present expressed support for Bianka's "reckless" action: no one likes human sacrifices]

[These common people are completely unable to stop you, so you break through to the village's "sacred land": a cave.]

[In the sacred land, Inka prepares to perform a ceremony: piercing his tongue with a rope and then offering his life to the gods]

[Bianka subdued the young man without hesitation. At the same time, you found a suicide note next to him, or an "oracle"]

[Separation of man and god]

[This is the oracle prepared by Inka. Obviously, Inka is very surprised by your appearance.]

[You asked Bianka to tell the other party that, if they want to stop this custom, there is obviously a better way than death]

[You possessed Bianka's twin weapons; at this moment, this sacred relic possessed almost infinite energy]

[Then, under Bianka's control, the 2nd Relic fired at the top of the cave at maximum power: a brilliant beam of energy pierced through the entire cave at that moment]

[This is, "The Presence of God"]

[However, correspondingly, after this attack, the entire cave showed signs of collapse, so you took the "Oracle" and quickly left here]

[Thanks to that brilliant shot, no villager doubted the authenticity of this oracle, but it is clear that you, who forcefully broke into the sacred land, are no longer welcome by the villagers.]

[This does not matter to you, after all, your goal has been achieved, Inka is not dead, this is thanks to your decision]

[Compatibility between Rita and Bianka +10%]

[Then you set off for the other side of the island, the territory called 'Federation']

[But to your surprise, the soldier who was hit by Bianka the day before now respects you very much and calls Bianka "Lord Nakum"]

[Through communication, you learned that Nakum is an honorific name for people with superhuman strength, that is, Valkyrie talent.]

[At the same time, the people of the Federation highly respect Nakum, so you easily allowed the Federation to recognize the independence of the village. And, out of curiosity, you are willing to meet with the high priest of the Federation.]

[Then, you met the High Priest of the Federation in the Federation temple]

[Her name is Esther. Before falling into the world bubble, she lived in the era of Cyrus the Great, the King of Kings. Her father is Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism.]

[Afterwards, she invited you to her palace and told you a story about the Persian snake king, Zahak]

[Zahak, a prince blessed by a witch named Cup Snake, bore two snakes on his shoulders, but eventually went astray. He needed to eat human brains every day, and was finally overthrown by the rebel army.]

"However, my father told me that the Snake King and the Cup Snake Witch were real... My father and his prince murdered the Cup Snake Witch, and then used some kind of machine in the witch's lair to give birth to me."

Esther had a gentle smile on her face.

"You were born from a machine?" A look of surprise appeared on Rita's face.

"Although it sounds incredible, according to my father's description, it is indeed so," Esther laughed.

"Unfortunately, my father did not thoroughly study the legacy of the Cup Snake Witch."

Snake... Although both parties do not come from the same world, Tian Shi inexplicably thought of Mobius.

"My story no longer makes sense, so I'll leave it at that for now."

A softer smile appeared on Esther's face.

"The night breeze has arrived, and those who sleep are anchored in the land of dreams, without pain, without sorrow... Soul, let me wash away your shame and some immorality, so that everyone can bathe again in the glory of the sun."

A religious and enchanting tone suddenly appeared in Esther's voice.

Two white snakes emerged from her shoulders.

—Those are twin snakes that can steal wisdom and power by devouring human brains.

Likewise, it is also the symbol of the Snake King.

"Come and join me, join my body in death, join my spirit in sleep—eh?!"

Whoosh--!

The silver-white sword blade pierced through her chest directly, pinning Esther's beautiful body to the wall.

"Sorry, I was distracted just now." Tian Shi sighed.

He was a little absorbed thinking about Mobius.

However, Esther still had an expression of incomprehension on her face.

Why... why would a sword suddenly cut someone by itself?

Esther couldn't hear Tian Shi's voice and could only look at the empty hilt with confused eyes.

Then, the hilt made a full circle. Esther's heart was shattered.

"Boss, your sword is really fast, accurate, and fierce," Xiao Du flattered him very subserviently. Although this is also true.

"Don't look at me like that, I've also been on the battlefield, but even without me, you can solve the problem yourself, right?"

Tian Shi sighed again.

"Doesn't this prove that you are wise and powerful, boss?"

Tian Shi pulled out the sword, and there was no bloodstain on the Durandal sword, and Esther's body, which lost strength, fell completely.

"Look, this opportunity to be a hero and save the damsel in distress doesn't come around often."

"Forget it, I still like your rebellious look..."

"Hey, hey..."

This sword seems to have completely turned into a bootlicker.

"Forget it, get them out."

There is still a large amount of high-concentration anesthetic gas in this enclosed space: this is a consequence of Tian Shi's momentary distraction.

Tian Shi held one in each hand, ready to take them both out.

[Compatibility with Rita +10%]

It seems someone isn't anesthetized.

"Um... this is..."

When Bianka woke up again, she was already on the ship.

Due to the anesthetic gas, Bianka still had some loss of strength.

"Are you awake?"

"If I'm not hallucinating right now," Bianka propped her body up with her elbows and covered her forehead.

"Why do I feel so groggy? What were we doing before?"

"You were talking to that High Priest Esther."

"Well... and then what?" Bianka suddenly blushed, "Don't tell me I fell asleep?!"

"No, I just stabbed her. I used the Durandal, aimed at her heart, and then turned around."

"What did she do to me?" After a moment of silence, Bianka asked a question that made Tian Shi look at her with admiration.

"I thought you were going to ask me why I wanted to kill her," Tian Shi smiled.

"You're not the type of person who likes to kill innocent people."

Bianka retreated into the quilt.

How could a murderer be a person capable of saying something like "the unrestrained use of violence will only lead people to the abyss of destruction"?

What's more, after spending these days together, Bianka would never suspect that Tian Shi was communicating with her with a false face.

Coupled with her inexplicable coma and general weakness, Bianka quickly realized that something was wrong.

"Actually, it's nothing. She released a high concentration of anesthetic gas and then tried to eat your brain."

"Is she some kind of zombie?"

"No, she's the Snake King, the second Snake King, an experimental subject with no sense of beauty."

Tian Shi touched Bianka's forehead, indicating for her to rest well.

"After that, we found a dragon in the blue cave behind the courtyard, and got useful information from it, about the 'Emperor' and the 'Wall', and the third crystal was also recovered.

We are about to go to our next destination: Quito, a city surrounded by volcanoes and snowy mountains."

"Dragons and stuff... I feel like I've missed a lot..."

"Nothing too interesting." Tian Shi stroked Bianka's hair again.

"I'm not a child! Stop touching my hair!"

"Yes, yes, yes... I have nothing to do."

"You usually have nothing to do...?" I don't know if Bianka's words were a refutation or something else.

"Then consider it taking advantage of someone's misfortune."

Tian Shi scratched Bianka's head.

"Um..."

Bianka completely covered her head with the quilt, but then, a mosquito-like voice murmured from the quilt.

"Umm... thank you for this time."

[Compatibility with Bianka +20%]

A few days later.

"Stop! Those who dare to follow the Third Guard! You are surrounded! Hands up!" Heavily armed soldiers surrounded Rita and Bianka. Although this situation was entirely their fault, because they were actually following footprints.

"Huh? We are A-rank Valkyries. Why should we accept your inspection?"

Obviously, Bianka's stubbornness has resurfaced...

The fact that she likes to talk about A-rank Valkyrie is quite cute after listening to it for a long time.

However, this sentence deepened the conflict again.

"Wait a minute!"

Another heavily armed warrior approached; obviously, she was an officer.

"You claim to be Valkyries... You shouldn't be the 'Valkyries' of mythology, right?"

"This voice also has an infrared signal... It's Lady Rowland!" Xiao Du suddenly jumped a meter high.

"What?"

Bianka suddenly thought.

The officer on the opposite side also took off her helmet, revealing her dazzling silver hair.

"Yes, I am Rowland Inka, the head of the Third Guard's teaching regiment of the Inka Republic."

Tian Shi suddenly felt that he might have a good relationship with the warrior in front of him.

After all, one of them is a Guardian Angel and the other can "print cards"...

Well, this joke might be a bit cold.

Rowland in front of her stared at Xiao Du who flew to her side, with a look of confusion on her face that didn't seem fake.

"But... what's your talking sword called?"

"Huh? Don't you remember me? I used to be your exclusive sacred sword, Durandal!"

"Eh, I don't remember. Are you mistaking me for someone with the same name?"

Rowland gave a somewhat innocent smile.

"Hahaha~ Sorry, my autonomous combat machine has caused you trouble."

Shakespeare stood up.

"We are actually..."

Under the explanations of Shakespeare and Rita, two eloquent ladies, Rowland probably understood what they were going to do.

"Hmm... Now that you mention it, Caledonia is indeed an extremely valuable combat power."

"Are you looking down on the strength of our Valkyries?"

Although the person in front of her might be the idol of all Valkyries, Bianka still spoke competitively.

"Even with our own hands, we can handle ordinary lower-level Honkai beasts!"

After hearing Bianka's words, Rowland showed a look of astonishment: "You know the taboo word 'Honkai'?"

"Ah? Didn't I say it? In our world, our Valkyrie is a kind of soldier who specializes in fighting against Honkai."

"Hmm... Now that you put it that way, I think I understand. It seems that Honkai is not a phenomenon unique to our continent..."

Rowland then looked at Shakespeare.

"In that case... let me guide you. You want to go to our country, right?"

[Under Rowland's guidance, you have successfully found the location of the "Waka Tunnel"]

[During this period, you learned from the call with interim mayor Miguel Ángel, that he was a spy sent by the Inka Republic and also director of the Intelligence Bureau]

[From this communication, you know the nature of the "Waka Tunnel" that passes through the center of the earth - the Waka Tunnel is the etheric anchor point]

[This world bubble is an artificial product inherited from the previous civilization. Furthermore, it is closely related to the Moonlight Throne of the previous civilization]

"As far as I know, the Moonlight Throne is a weapon of mass destruction against Honkai Energy, and it is also the main weapon carried by the Anti-Entropy giant combat weapon 'Arahato'."

Rita said softly.

"Built and directed by an executor who called herself 'Edison'."

"Ah, that's what Schicksal tells you."

Schrödinger smiled.

"The name Arahato was given by Tesla. She and Edison almost fought over the right to name it."

"Only she would come up with a name that sounds a bit childish."

Tian Shi shrugged in agreement.

"...?"

Bianka looked bewildered.

But Rita showed an expression of "as expected."

"Just some old memories." Schrödinger shrugged.

"Please continue, Ms. Miguel Ángel."

"This should be a failed attempt by the previous civilization," Miguel Ángel continued.

"Based on the available information, the purpose of the previous civilization in creating this world bubble might be to create a 'dumping ground' to store Honkai energy."

"Is it possible to transfer Honkai energy from the world to the world bubble through the Moonlight Throne Project?"

"According to our research back then, the previous civilization's Moonlight Throne Project was successful, but it also failed: their industrial capacity back then no longer allowed for mass production of the Moonlight Throne."

Schrödinger said softly.

"If the industrial capacity of the previous civilization were maintained, in just ten years, the mass-produced Moonlight Throne would be able to absorb excess Honkai energy on a planetary scale."