Honkai: Strijder (Honkai Impact 3 Male MC)

"Ugh… Ha… something… is surging out…" Wendy clutched her chest, staggering back as her legs trembled.

She had barely managed to keep her core's power in check, hoping to preserve enough energy to protect Seele and the others when it mattered. But now it was clear—the core's power far exceeded her expectations.

In just a fleeting moment of lost control, the core's power surged through a breach. Under the influence of the high concentration of Honkai energy around her, the surge became unstoppable.

"Don't panic! I still have a suppressant here—"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A few bullets fired toward Tesla as she reached for the suppressant, only to be intercepted by the round, chubby Eins drone, saving her life.

As Tesla and Einstein caught their breath, Wendy turned, overwhelmed by a wave of emotions, her anger and hatred rising to the surface. Her once-dark eyes were now tinted a menacing green.

"Is it you!?"

Wendy growled, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Almost simultaneously, she reappeared a hundred paces away, gripping the mask of one of Gray Snake's clones and squeezing.

Crack!

In her rage-filled gaze, the mask, along with the clone's head, shattered into pieces.

Gray Snake's will, however, remained unshaken. He sent forth more clones without hesitation, who immediately began shooting at those unable to fight back.

"How dare you!?"

Boom!

Wendy's fury peaked, and with a flick of her hand, she unleashed a powerful gust, tearing both bullets and Gray Snake's clones to pieces.

Then, she held her face in her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks in an unrestrained flood. She hadn't felt tears in such a long time, yet now they poured out as if a dam had broken.

It was the uncontrollable power of the gem, dredging up and magnifying all the negative emotions she'd buried—despair, resentment, sorrow—hundreds of times over, relentlessly battering her mental defenses, coalescing into an overwhelming sense of despair and hatred.

"Aah… Aah… AAAH!"

Her anguished cries grew louder and louder, and Wendy's small frame began to float, shrouded in Honkai energy.

"I… I can't…"

"I… mustn't…"

"It's not…"

"I…"

Wendy struggled, her pained whispers coming out haltingly.

…

Not far away, Jackal's eyes lit up.

"Well done, Gray Snake! Your actions were unexpectedly effective—is this the last straw that broke the camel's back? Whatever, this is exactly what I wanted! She's on the verge of losing control!"

"Stop babbling and seize the moment."

"I know—right now!"

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a spear appeared out of nowhere, piercing straight through Gray Snake's body.

"Fire—immediately, or there won't be another chance!" Gray Snake's voice, distorted and electronic, came out in stuttering fragments. Anti-Entropy's counterattack had arrived.

Boom!

The spear impaled Gray Snake to the ground, unleashing a fierce shockwave and deafening explosion that sent Jackal flying.

She scrambled up, hurriedly setting up her device.

Whoosh!

Boom!

Another spear struck, shattering Jackal's head. But before that happened, a powerful beam of light engulfed Wendy's body.

Crash!

A slender, petite black figure landed with a thud, crushing Jackal's body and device underfoot, sending snow scattering in all directions.

Two black spears hovered in the air, reattaching themselves to the figure's back—Sin Mal had arrived.

She looked up, a slight frown appearing on her face beneath her sealed helmet.

"Am I… too late?" Sin Mal murmured.

Despite covering the distance as fast as possible, even she needed time to reach the battlefield, and it was already too late to fully control the situation.

In the sky where Wendy was floating, a twisted vortex of indescribable colors began to form as the beam from Jackal's device faded. It seemed to be absorbing all the Honkai energy from Wendy, whose small frame started to fall to the ground.

However, with the core fully released and the surrounding environment saturated with Honkai energy, as soon as she began to descend, an enormous amount of Honkai energy rushed back into her. 

Far from improving, the sudden surge and drain of energy had completely shattered Wendy's mental defenses. Her eyes became vacant, hollow.

In the next moment, she stopped absorbing energy. Instead, an even more terrifying amount of Honkai energy started radiating outward from within her.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Alarms blared in Sin Mal's ears, warning that the Honkai energy levels had breached critical limits. 

She squinted, observing the strange vortex. 

Quantum forces interfered with her vision, making it difficult to discern what exactly was happening. 

But whatever lay within that vortex radiated a massive presence like nothing she'd encountered before.

Sin Mal glanced between Wendy, who was silently emitting intense Honkai energy, and the group back at the orphanage, feeling torn about which side to prioritize.

"Are you… Miss Sin Mal?"

"A Valkyrie of Schicksal? Never mind, let's first get them out of here and ensure their safety," Sin Mal said to Rita, who had just arrived.

Rita's face turned grim as she shook her head.

"No, Wendy has lost control of the 'Gem of Desire,' and that vortex... my intuition tells me it's dangerous. Please, you go ahead. I'll stay and hold them off."

"You? Alone?"

"...My power is limited, but as a Valkyrie, it is my mission to combat Honkai and protect the innocent."

"Fine."

Without further words, Sin Mal quickly moved to where Tesla and Einstein were standing.

"Keep an eye on them!" she ordered, prying open the deformed armored vehicle and stuffing the two scientists, along with the others, inside. 

She then cast a glance at Raven's fallen body nearby. 

Frowning, she scooped it up and tossed it into the vehicle as well, securing the door shut by jamming a spear through it. 

Finally, she lifted the vehicle and carried it away.

...

Now only Rita and Wendy remained on the scene.

Rita took a deep breath, looking at Wendy, who had fallen eerily silent.

"Miss Wendy, I don't know if you can hear my voice. Please remember your purpose. I've heard of your achievements—the once-promising, brilliant Valkyrie who dedicated herself to the fight against Honkai, an inspiration to all. I… Rita, ask you to reclaim your sanity. This world has never needed your strength more than it does now."

As Rita continued speaking, her resolve wavered. She wasn't ignorant of Wendy's past; understanding it only made her words feel hollow.

If she put herself in Wendy's place—having joined with high hopes only to be cast into despair as her powers were taken, leaving her a helpless shell—Rita knew she, too, might not have lasted long. How much of her own zeal would survive in the face of such anguish and helplessness?

Then Wendy turned, her empty green eyes locking onto Rita, the only living person remaining.

Boom!!

With her instincts screaming, Rita jumped back as a massive crater formed where she'd just been. 

Wendy's vacant stare stayed on her, raising her hand as violent waves of Honkai energy erupted from her.

A series of invisible shockwaves, pulsing with strange energy, forced Rita to keep moving, dodging, unable to find an opening to attack.

'What… am I doing?'

A part of Wendy's mind felt confused, questioning her actions. Yet sorrow, rage, and hatred had woven a cage within her, trapping her consciousness in a deep abyss. 

The force guiding her actions was not her rational mind but these overpowering negative emotions.

'I… shouldn't…'

Inside, Wendy murmured to herself, while her body, driven by raw instincts, fixated on Rita, venting its uncontrollable fury.

Finally, Wendy came back to her senses. She found her hands wrapped around Rita's throat.

Rita's maid uniform was in tatters; her left arm twisted at an odd angle, blood dripping from her right hand and other injuries.

"Ri… Rita?" Wendy stammered, her voice uncertain as she let go.

Unlike in the future, Wendy's current despair had not yet driven her to abandon hope. Her deep-seated sorrow hadn't consumed her entirely, and her resistance to both Honkai and the stigma of being a Herrscher remained strong. Her past few weeks of captivity had even somewhat eased her inner anguish.

Though her compatibility with the Gem of Desire was poor, her resilience in suppressing its power was formidable. In another timeline, Wendy had endured the unbearable pain of being forcibly implanted with the gem, suffering deeply, yet she had resisted becoming a Herrscher until the very end.

Now was no different. As the concentration of Honkai energy around her began to drop and some of her pent-up emotions had been released, she quickly regained her composure.

Wendy's confidence had been justified; as long as she willed it, external forces would struggle to corrupt her into a Herrscher.

Then, her body went limp, collapsing backward, weakened.

Overhead, a shadow loomed—a gigantic Honkai beast had arrived, signaling that the Titan and drone defensive line had been breached.

The massive creature, towering as if it could reach the clouds, raised one of its mountainous limbs, preparing to strike.

"Is this… the end?" Wendy murmured, memories flashing before her eyes. 

Surprisingly, her brightest and most cherished recollections were from the past few weeks of captivity.

Then, she saw the light.

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