Honkai Impact 3rd: Yumeji Satsuki's lies

A new stream of data poured in, more complex, more dense, like a flood into the system.

But this time, Bronya was ready.

She was no longer just a garbage collector, she was now the architect of a new system.

"Begin streamlining the protocol," Bronya announced, her voice calm but firm.

I watched as she typed commands at a terrifying speed, each line of code rewritten, each algorithm streamlined. The tangled, chaotic information was untangled coldly, unforgivingly.

Lines of green light flickered across Mecha Project Bunny's screen, forming a network as dense as the human brain.

I tried to keep up, but honestly, I was almost left behind.

"Hey… do you have to do it so fast?"

Bronya didn't even spare me a glance.

"How much free time do you think we have?"

Yeah, there really isn't any.

I sighed, trying to look at what Bronya was doing. Somehow, she had started to divide Fire Cloud into three main parts:

1. Thermonuclear fusion and temperature control protocol

2. Energy conversion and detonation protocol

3. Energy particle preservation and restructuring protocol

This approach was completely different from Boost. If Boost was a skill that focused on amplification and optimization, Fire Cloud was more versatile.

But the problem was…

"Hey, I've never used it this way before?"

Bronya nodded.

"Yeah, Bronya also guessed that Yumeji hadn't tried it before. But if we want to create a sure-kill attack, we have no other choice."

I crossed my arms, staring at the data models.

We need an attack that can penetrate ChiYou's Black Armor.

That Black Armor is three times harder than the hull of a battleship.

It can't be used for direct elemental attacks.

Boost isn't strong enough.

The Feng Xuanyuan Sword doesn't have enough energy.

Fire Cloud… can create an explosion.

A light flashed in my mind.

"Hey, Bronya, if Fire Cloud can create an explosion, why don't we use it to—"

"No."

Before I could finish my sentence, Bronya interrupted.

She gave me a sharp look, then pointed at Fire Cloud's energy model on the screen.

"Do you realize? The problem isn't creating an explosion, but controlling it."

I fell silent.

Bronya continued.

"If you use Fire Cloud to create an explosion powerful enough to destroy the Black Armor, you will also explode."

"…Ah."

A simple but cruel truth.

I was so absorbed in thinking about power that I forgot the most important factor—stability.

Bronya took a deep breath, then began to draw a new diagram.

"In short, we need a method to transfer energy into the Wind Profound Ape Sword without causing an uncontrolled chain reaction."

I nodded. "Then, can we use Fire Cloud as an energy amplifier instead of just using it to create an explosion?"

"You intend to use it as a supplementary energy source?"

"Yes. Boost will absorb energy from the environment, Fire Cloud will convert that energy into a stable form and transfer it to the sword."

There was a long silence.

I could see Bronya was thinking very quickly.

She checked each parameter, each line of data, and finally, she tapped hard on the keyboard.

"Theoretically, it's possible…"

"Then let's try it."

"…But the problem is the excess energy."

Bronya emphasized that sentence, then pointed at a parameter on the screen

.

"If this system operates, the excess energy can reach a limit. If we don't control it properly, it will backfire."

I pursed my lips.

"In that case, we just need to set up a system to discharge the excess energy.".

Bronya frowned slightly.

"Discharge the excess energy? Do you think it's that simple?"

"What else is there?"

I asked again, and Bronya immediately fell silent.

She couldn't deny my idea, but she couldn't say for sure that it would work.

We were at a stalemate.

It was an ideal plan, but it had too many risks.

If I didn't control it well, I would be torn to pieces by my own energy

If I did it wrong, Fire Cloud could become a giant bomb instead of an amplifier.

If it failed… I could be torn to pieces right there on the battlefield.

We were both aware of that.

A cold wind blew by, carrying with it an invisible sense of tension.

I clenched my fists.

We couldn't stop here.

We needed a solution—a method that could balance strength and stability.

I looked at Bronya.

She was still staring at the screen, her silver-gray eyes reflecting the data that was constantly running.

Then, after a long moment, she spoke.

"…We need an intermediary."

Those words were like a bolt of lightning that tore through the night.

Immediately, I understood what Bronya was thinking.

We both turned to look at each other.

Then we said a name in unison.

"Project Bunny."

Bronya nodded.

"We'll use Mecha Project Bunny as an intermediary. It will control the flow of energy, adjust the amplification level, and release excess energy when necessary."

I smirked.

"So we have a plan."

Bronya sighed. "It's just a plan in theory."

"But it's better than nothing."

The tense atmosphere gradually eased.

We had made great progress, but the road ahead was still full of thorns.

Bronya looked at me, his eyes still cold as usual, but there was a glimmer of determination in them.

"Let's start testing."

I took a deep breath, then nodded.

The real battle… had just begun.

*********

It failed.

The problem wasn't that the method just now couldn't be implemented, but that the process was too complicated, or to put it bluntly, we didn't have enough manpower to handle all the work at once.

This was much more difficult than drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other.

I had to absorb, circulate, and transmit energy while maintaining the stability of the skill integrated into the sword that was converting the incoming energy into heat and sharpening the blade.

Even though Project Bunny had somehow miraculously acted as both a heat sink and an energy stabilizer, while Bronya fine-tuned the optimal energy output to minimize any risks during the process.

The workload was too much, I wished I could defend while absorbing energy but I didn't have the mental capacity for that.

Leaving us in a deadlock once again.

Just as we were frantically scratching our heads like crazy scientists who failed their experiments.....

-Boom!!!

A huge noise caught our attention.

It seemed that Kiana had just sent Chiyou flying with a punch so hard that she sent Xi You flying like an iron ball, causing her body to hit the cliff so hard that a 2 meter radius crater was formed on it.

Hmm. This situation that looked so classic suddenly gave me a bad feeling.

Isn't this the kind of situation where our friendly Boss would go on a killing mode and unleash a self-destruct attack?

And it seemed that this wonderful tradition was about to be inherited by Chiyou.

Oh no.

And right when I was at a dead end, an idea suddenly flashed in my mind along with the appearance of someone I didn't expect.

"What are you two doing here?" - Mei approached Bronya and I and asked that question.

Immediately after, my gaze turned towards her, more precisely towards the katana she was holding in her hand.

At this moment, although I couldn't see my face in the mirror, I bet I was grinning like some crazy guy in a drama I watched in the past.

"Yumeji, you're laughing too hard"- Bronya gave her assessment, although her face remained expressionless, there was a crazy light flashing fiercely in her eyes.

This is when two people with big ideas meet

********

The space lit up in an instant.

A light so small that it was no different from a dot of ink on paper, but the heat radiating from it caused the surrounding space to distort, twisting like a painting about to be burned.

Chiyou, the mastermind of this disaster, was standing carelessly with her left arm twisted unnaturally after Kiana's punch. A crack ran across her shoulder, the dark gray armor shattered, revealing the scorched flesh underneath.

And even though she had just been sent flying like a sandbag… she still smiled

Chiyou raised her head to the sky, her crimson eyes shining with excitement.

"Not bad, Kiana Kaslana."

She whispered, then reached out her right hand, grabbing the small dot of light hovering above her fingertip.

—The astronomical phenomenon of a star dying was being repeated right now, albeit on a much smaller scale.

The air immediately twisted.

Gravity was distorted.

The ground beneath Chiyou's feet cracked, and the surrounding rocks were pulled toward the bright spot as if swallowed by an invisible black hole.

It felt as if the surrounding space was about to collapse like a layer of glass.

In the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield seemed to have its life sucked out.

And a breath later—

"Supernova."

A flash of light erupted, emitting a heat as terrifying as a volcanic eruption.

Although it only lasted for an instant, it was enough to cause the air to evaporate, the ground to dry up and distort, and the blood in the bodies of those who witnessed the explosion to rapidly evaporate, and they felt as if the oxygen had been sucked out of their lungs.

And at that very moment—

In another place on the battlefield, Bronya and Yumeji opened their eyes wide at the same time.

Bronya's hand stopped in mid-air. Her silver-gray eyes sparkled as if they had just touched an ultimate truth.

Yumeji was no different.

The two of them turned to look at each other, and in both of their eyes, there was no panic—

Only the madness of those about to perform the craziest experiment of their lives.

Yumeji gasped.

"…This…"

Bronya narrowed her eyes.

"…We can make use of this."

In just 45 seconds before the explosion, they had guessed what attack Chiyou was about to unleash.

In just those 45 seconds, Bronya had urged Mei, Himeko, and Kiana to attack Chiyou crazily, not needing to win, just needing to buy more time.

Just 15 more seconds.

And in that one fateful minute, the moment would decide the outcome of the entire battle

That was the amount of time Bronya needed to integrate the energy shield protocol into Yumeji's Boost and Fire Cloud.

While Yumeji integrated the skill into his sword so that it would perform a chain of energy absorption and release by utilizing the data gap in the simplified skill to use it as a fuel tank and exhaust pipe like the operating mechanism of a car.

"Alright, done." Bronya took a step back, her eyes still fixed on the sword in Yumeji's hand.

It was glowing, each line on the blade emitting a flickering red-orange light like the sunset.

Yumeji took a deep breath, then pushed the scope up to the bridge of his nose.

From now on, his job was only one:

That was to balance the energy in the sword.

With the energy counter displayed on the scope, he would grasp the optimal timing to strike.

-Crap!

He had removed part of the bandages on his body to wrap it around his hand.

Then he let out a white breath.

That was because his body was freezing cold from using Mei's Xuanyuan Katana to cool himself down to the most optimal temperature possible.

Because the sword that was glowing with the sunset light had to be as hot as a newly cooled lava block.

Fire Cloud would be responsible for heat resistance.

Boost would enhance the body's resistance.

He only kept the defensive capabilities of the skills while integrating their offensive capabilities into the sword.

Now, he just needed to focus on eliminating the impact of the explosion with a single slash. He put Mei's ice blade on his waist to stabilize the temperature, and pushed the sight glasses closer to his face.

Then, Yumeji raised his head, looked towards Chiyou, and then he ran away like the wind cut through.

In exactly 10 seconds,....

Chiyou's Supernova had reached the brink of explosion.

The dazzling white light of doom quickly covered the entire space.

It was estimated that the dense energy released from this explosion could be compared to the destructive power of a Tsar Bomba.

However, despite its enormous destructive power, its energy was quickly absorbed and eliminated by a larger source of heat.

It was as if the light of the star that flashed in the night was nothing compared to the light of the sun.

That sunset light had repelled, eliminated, and absorbed the white light that destroyed creation.

The excess energy released was refined into harmless clean energy sources that nurtured life.

However, all of these majestic phenomena appeared different depending on the perspective.

And from Chiyou's perspective, the phenomenon that happened was just like a young man who had shot up into the air and made a slash from above, cutting the light in half with a fire sword that shone like a Nichirin.

Yumeji swooped down from above, the sword in his hand drawing a bright red line.

A slash so fast that it couldn't be seen.

The blade slashed down right at the center of the dazzling light.

The explosion sounded like the crackling sound of electric sparks.

After tearing apart the light, he raised the greatsword with a giant energy blade, changed, and made a horizontal slash.

Chiyou opened her eyes wide, surprise showing on her face for the first time.

She didn't have time to react.

The moment Yumeji eliminated Supernova, the sword in his hand also reached its optimal energy level.

A metallic sound rang out as Yumeji swung his sword again.

Kíiiiitttt!!!!!!!__________

-Swoosh!

And with a horizontal slash—

Like a flash of lightning

—And Yumeji gave Chiyou a deep wound that extended from her right shoulder to her left waist.

And as a side effect of the chain reaction that Yumeji and Bronya had set up for the sword

A rare incident would occur when that blade struck an object.

It was a contagious phenomenon similar to a chain reaction that created a dust explosion.

But to be more precise, that blade was like a source of infection.

Even if there was only a single piece of the sword left, it would spread to the solid mass it collided with like a virus and cause that mass of matter to explode at the atomic level.

-BOOOMMMM!!!—

The explosion born from this chain reaction was small in scale, but the destructive power it brought was enough to twist the entire space.